Christians talk about revival all the time. They pray for it and conduct revival meetings, but what is it? I came across a great definition of revival, which sums it up best.
“Revival is God bringing His people back to spiritual health. Put another way. Revival is God bringing His people to a level of submission and faith where He can bless them the way He promised.[i]” “During a spiritual revival, God supernaturally transforms believers and nonbelievers in a church, locale, region, nation, or the world through sudden, intense enthusiasm for Christianity[ii]
The word “revival” is sometimes called awakening, outpouring, or renewal. These words all describe the same thing, God intervenes in normal church life and radically shakes it up. I have lived through two revivals, and in this blog, I will describe some insights I have extracted from those experiences.
What does impartation mean?
During a revival, the Lord imparts something special to his church. The word impartation means to pass on, convey, transmit or bestow. A teacher imparts knowledge. In the case of revival, the Holy Spirit is imparted to individuals, often in a dramatic way. Some people fall when this happens. They fall because they can’t stand up when the Lord touches them. Many are overcome with peace, joy, well-being, heat, an electrical sensation, and a deep sense of God’s nearness.
A good way to envision this process is to consider that the impartation of God's presence is like oil poured from God onto a person. In most cases, God uses another person to impart the blessing He is giving.
A prophetic word given over the Toronto Blessing outpouring at the beginning was that it would be like Elijah's oil. The oil would keep pouring as long as there were jars to be filled.
January 1994 Toronto
In January of 1994, a unique move of God occurred in a small Vineyard congregation in Toronto. The power of God fell upon the people dramatically, and Christians began to manifest unusual behaviours such as laughter and shaking. Many are aware of this dramatic outpouring now called the Toronto Blessing. What many people are not aware of is that the second meeting of the Toronto Blessing renewal was a children’s meeting.
Pastor John Arnott invited Pastor Randy Clark of St. Louis Vineyard to come to our church to conduct a series of meetings hoping that some of the renewal fire that Randy was experiencing in his church would rub off on the Toronto congregation. A unique characteristic of the move of God in St. Louis was that the children had been greatly impacted and were ministering the renewal to others.
When Randy Clark came from St. Louis, his ministry team contained his twelve-year-old son, who was actively involved in the ministry team during the first renewal meetings. The second renewal meeting in Toronto occurred on Friday night and was designed as a meeting for ministering the renewal to children. Kids' songs and puppet plays were used to prepare children to receive the Holy Spirit. The presence of God mightily impacted kids. The entire event radically changed our view of what was possible with children.
We had been ministering to children for over twenty years and had three children of our own, so we were keenly interested in seeing God move in supernatural ways with kids. For the first sixteen years of our ministry, we had only once seen children willing to come forward and lay hands-on other children and pray for them in earnest. Only occasionally had we seen children truly enter into God’s presence. For the most part, we spent our time entertaining and teaching them about God, but we never really saw them become active participants in ministry. After that Friday night, everything changed.
On the Sunday morning following that Friday night, Sue and I were conducting Sunday school. God came to our Sunday school that morning. 40 children gave their lives to Christ that morning; all asked for prayer, were baptized in the Holy Spirit, and fell down under the power of the Spirit.
From 1994 to 2000, Susan and I conducted a children’s renewal meeting at the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship (Catch the Fire Toronto CTF). These meetings were designed to facilitate the impartation to the next generation. During that time, we saw firsthand what God could do with children under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. We saw:
- Children willingly and quickly enter into God’s presence and even become lost in His presence.
- Dozens of children lay on the floor under the Spirit of God.
- Children were moving in the gifts of the Spirit. They were seeing visions, giving prophetic words, healing the sick, ministering in the power of God, interceding for the lost, praying for extended periods, and soaking adults in the power and presence of God.
These children, like the hundreds of thousands of others that visited Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, were greatly impacted. Revival changes people, even children.
What happens in a true revival?
Many churches have weekend or week-long camp revival meetings, but these are not true revivals. True revivals are different. A true revival is a supernaturally God-breathed event that transforms people into lovers of God, that develop a thirst and hunger for spiritual things that do not fade once the people leave the meeting.
True revivals have a long-term impact on those who attend. In many cases, faith is restored, people are saved, and ministries and marriages are restored. In some cases, biblical truths that have gone dormant are restored.
Each revival often has a different purpose, and the Lord imparts what he wants to give to accomplish the reason He started the revival in the first place.
Here are a few examples:
- 1734-43 The first great awakening revival imparted conviction of sin, and people came to Christ.
- 1800-1840 The second great awakening imparted the conviction of sin and the need for holiness.
- 1906 -1909 The Azusa Street revival imparted the manifestation of Speaking in Tongues and being baptized in the Holy Spirit.
- 1948 North Battleford Saskatchewan, the Latter-Day rain revival. It was one of the first times in modern history that impartations of an office, such as a prophet, pastor, teacher, or evangelist, were imparted to people through prophetic utterance.
- 1973-1980 Anglican Charismatic renewal restored the experience of being baptized in the Holy Spirit in the Anglican church.
- 1994 Toronto Blessing restored the truth that God is not religious (demonstrated by a manifestation of laughter) and that we can hear our heavenly Father’s voice and develop a deep personal relationship with Him.
- 1995 Pensacola/Brownville revival imparted conviction, and 200,000 people accepted Christ.
True revivals are also very messy. In all cases, there are many unusual manifestations of the Holy Spirit, such as laughing, shaking, and falling under the power of the Spirit, to mention a few. The meetings are often long, but attendees don’t want them to stop. Ministry times are the focus of these meetings. Testimonies are also a critical component of these meetings. They are not regular church meetings.
The anointing received at these meetings is contagious and can be imparted by those who receive it to others who want it. Sue and I have seen people receive the Toronto Blessing (I prefer to call it the Father's Blessing) in people's homes, parks, and even a Curves gym.
God is looking for people who want to receive, and He will fill them.
Revival outpourings don’t stop
God chooses when to pour out His Spirit and impart a revival. The places He does become portals to heaven. They are often described as places where heaven is open. Once the portal is open, He will continue to pour out His presence in that place to anyone who comes to receive the impartation given at the revival. Bethel, where Jacob encountered God in the Bible, is an example of this type of place.
Sue and I have proven this to be true. We have gone to places where revivals of the past have occurred and asked God for the anointing that was imparted there, and we were immediately overwhelmed with the presence of God. God will continue to pour out His power, His anointing, on anyone who comes and asks, anyone who will seek His presence.
Some have said I don’t have to go to a certain place or even to the church's altar to receive God’s anointing, which is true; however, God is looking for those who will seek Him and receive His presence. If you choose to do this, you will be filled.
What happens to revival? Why do they seem to stop?
I was once told the following alliteration that describes the four states of a revival.
- Man: First, an anointed person (male or female) is often a revival catalyst. God moves on that person, and they receive an impartation to share.
- Movement: During this stage, those who have received the anointing go to the world and impart the anointing to those who will receive it. It is during this stage the revival is most effective.
- Machine: During this phase, the revival becomes a fine-tuned machine of conferences and meetings. These events become very polished productions. Unfortunately, during this stage, the Holy Spirit begins to be shut out, as man’s agenda takes a front-and-center position.
- Monument: During this stage, the revival is a memory that people look back on, and the organization is all-important: pet doctrines are declared absolute. Arrogance can develop that belief that if God plans to send another revival, it will come to them first. They will often persecute the next revival that starts in another place of organization than theirs. There is no tolerance for another opinion.
Revivals also can stop or lose their zeal. I have lived through two revivals, The Charismatic revival in the Anglican church in the 1970s and the outpouring in Toronto in the 1990s. I have also reviewed past revivals, and as a result, I have listed below a few reasons why revival diminishes.
- People stop desiring the presence of God. I have written another blog on this phenomenon called “Desire the Fire” if you want to read more about this.
- Meetings become social gatherings where attendees spend more time talking to each other than seeking the Lord.
- Testimonies stop, and offering talks take up more time than testimonies, if testimonies happen at all.
- Division forms around doctrinal differences or political agendas. As a result, the brethren do not dwell in unity.
- Personalities strive for position and self-exaltation.
- No time is given for personal ministry. The focus moves away from receiving the impartation to other things like worship and preaching.
- The next generation does not embrace nor understand the outpouring. This can happen for many reasons. Often it is because they have seen the good, bad, and ugly of their parent’s revivals. They may love the Lord but want to distance themselves from the revival.
- Left or right extremism begins to manifest and become more important than seeking the Holy Spirit.
- Leadership failure. This type of failure is common and can happen when the revival does not transition from Man to Movement stages. Characteristics of this problem are that the “man of power of the hour” does all the ministry and preaching. Eventually, however, it does catch up with them, and the revival fails. Power corrupts, and in some situations, the leader may fall into some sin. They assume it’s ok because God keeps blessing them and that He validates their behavior. They forget the scripture Romans 11:29 "For God's gifts and His call are irrevocable...” God will keep using a person even though they are living in sin. Eventually, their sin is exposed, the followers of the revival are disillusioned, and the revival stops.
How to stay revived
I have a few suggestions about how to stay revived.
- Keep seeking to be personally filled with the Spirit. Make this a priority. Perhaps go to places where the Holy Spirit has moved in the past and ask for the impartation given there. God responds to hungry hearts. Elijah’s oil will pour into an empty vessel.
- Repent of allowing the machine or monument stages of the revival to get a foothold in your church.
- Give time for testimonies in your church. There is power in testimony.
- Be more interested in letting the Holy Spirit run His agenda for the meeting than yours. Here is a test. Is it more important to you to preach the message you prepared or to let Holy Spirit do what He wants? This is a challenge for all of us preachers. Sue once was preaching, and the Lord told her right in the middle of the sermon to stop and pray for a man who had an industrial accident. His leg was frozen, and he could not bend his knee. Initially, Sue said sure, Lord, right after I stopped preaching. The Lord said pray now, Sue. Sue stopped speaking, prayed for the man, and returned to preaching. A few minutes later, Sue noticed the man was crying. He had taken the brace off his leg. She stopped and asked if she had hurt him. He said, “No, I can’t see the scars from my knee surgery, and my knee works fine. I can fully bend my leg and don’t need my brace.” Always be open to what the Lord wants to do.
- Don’t let political, personality, or doctrinal positions become more important than unity in the body of Christ.
- Practice being a servant of all.
Close
Sue and I plan to visit the birthplace of the first great awakening in Northampton, MA, and the birthplace of the second great awakening in Rochester, New York. Our heart is to go and honour what God did there and receive the blessing He gave there. The oil is still pouring, and we plan to get it filled. We bless you to desire the Spirit's gifts and be filled with His fire.
Yours,
Bill
About the Author: William Dupley
Bill and Sue Dupley have been ministering for over 35 years, preaching and leading worship on five continents. Together they minister renewal and teach adults and children how to hear the voice of God.
Bill and Sue believe that the supernatural should be natural for all believers and that every believer can impact their world for the Kingdom of God as they hear God's will and follow His leading.
Bill and Sue are certified facilitators for Communion with God Ministries and are affiliated with Harvest Alliance. They have conducted seminars at Catch the Fire, Mission Fest, Releasers of Life, Iris Ministries, Singing Waters, and many other global churches. Their passion is for God’s family to know their Heavenly Father and to hear His voice so that they may live in the fullness of the gifts and the freedom that Jesus bought for them.
Email: [email protected]
[i] History of Revivals | Ministry127
[ii] A Brief History of Spiritual Revival and Awakening in America (churchleaders.com)
Related Resources:
How to Hear God's Voice!
