What Does Revival Look Like?

Revival is happening, but what does that mean? In my previous post on revival, I define revival as “An extraordinary movement of the Holy Spirit in God’s people to awaken them spiritually for kingdom work.” There are six different classifications of revivals. All of these start with a personal encounter with God and then spread through their adjoining circles until they reach their conclusion.

Type 1: Personal Revival: Personal revival takes place within the life of a Christian. These revivals happen when the person has returned to the joy of worshipping God and living out His purposes. This revival results in a fresh encounter fellowship with God, a redirection of life’s focus, and a new hunger for God.

Type 2: Institutional Revival: This revival usually occurs in a church or a school. This happens when one or a few Christians experience resurrection, and it spreads throughout the institution. When institutional revival happens, Christians have a renewed passion for God and a renewed focus on His priorities.

Type 3: Regional Revival: In a regional revival, the entire area is impacted to some degree by the Holy Spirit. The revival started within a church and then spread across the city, or it may spread further. When revival comes to a region, there is reconciliation in race relations and changes in morality among the people, and people are evangelized.

Type 4: Specialized Revival: This type of revival occurs with people in a particular age group. The Jesus Movement of the 1960s and 1970s is an example of a specialized revival.

Type 5: National Revival: In this revival, an entire nation is impacted by the Holy Spirit. Like all revivals, the National Revival will start with a few and then spread to the masses. A resurgence of this type will have some degree of impact on new church directions, economic changes, and social reforms. In the history of the United States, there have been four national revivals. These are the First Great Awakening (1726-1770), Second Great Awakening (1787-1843), the Layman’s Prayer Revival (1857-1859), and Global Revival (1901-1910).

Type 6: Global Revival: This revival impacts the entire world on some level. There has only been one global revival, and it is much debated among historians of its impact and occurrence.

All revivals start with one or a few and then spread to others. So today, seek the Lord and ask him to revive your heart and mind. One of my favorite exercises in praying for revival is to draw an imaginary circle around myself and pray, “God revives the sinner within this circle; he needs revival.”