Revival

When we journeyed to the Telford and Wrekin area of our home county, Shropshire, two weeks ago we did not know what would unfold.

As I recounted in my earlier post “Adventure” we were led to “walk in revival”.

The outcome was very much led by God’s Spirit and we are very close to being able to show you the videos that we made.

“Revival” is an emotive word for the church. We associate it with past great moves of God’s Spirit like the Welsh Revival of 1904 or the Great Awakening in the 18th century led by John Wesley.

signs of hope & revival

Our intention in making the videos was to encourage God’s family. We have all waited so long for signs of people turning to God and we need fresh impetus to our prayers.

When hope’s dream seems to drag on and on, the delay can be depressing

But when at last your dream comes true, life’s sweetness will satisfy your soul.

Proverbs 13:12 The Passion Translation

Yesterday I shared a poem called Repentance. Today, as I was sitting down early with the Lord, I asked Him again about the sort of revival that we might expect. Once again the answer seemed to emerge in a poem. But, please understand that I’m not claiming this as a prophetic poem – just something that unfolded to me.

Revival

We see the graves, we hear no sound
Those bodies lying on the ground 
Are they still living, yet asleep?
If so, we have no cause to weep 

But we shall pray with all our might
That darkness will be turned to light
And sleeping ones be woken now
With tongues of flame upon each brow

Awake, awake the time is here  
Revive, o church, Your King draws near
And broken souls cry out for God 
For rescue from earth's weary sod 

Let's tune our hearts and turn our ears
To sounds that we have longed to hear 
The cries of hungry, thirsty ones 
The ones who thought all hope was gone 

This is our joy to be revived 
So others might now come alive 
And ask for God's own eyes to see
The ones who need His family 

Awake, o church, it's not too late
Jesus is waiting at your gate 
He's bringing  broken souls to you
And He will show you what to do

To bring His message of salvation 
To those who weep in condemnation 
To give them life and hope today 
And help them walk His narrow way

The way that leads to joy and peace
So all our barren efforts cease 
And by the power of God's own Spirit 
We'll find His life and His true merit 

So, dearest church, arise and shine
New wineskins filled with God's new wine  
Cry out for souls who die in sin
Jesus is waiting to bring them in.

I’ve been trying to use a good audio resource so that you can hear the poem spoken. I’m slightly struggling with the technology! But today I’m going to use SoundCloud as I can easily add a photo. I like the image of the small waterfall trickling over rocks. It’s Cardingmill Valley. Let’s pray the waterfall increases!

I would love to hear your feedback about how we, the church, might walk in revival today.