By John Abiola
“If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” — 2 Chronicles 7:14.
The world is currently in her darkest season and as the darkness increases it’s unarguably evident and clear that the only thing the Church is in need of is an increase of the move of the Holy Spirit, that would project the light of Christ with great power and strength, to dominate the darkness before the light of the Church diminishes.
However, the Church must come to the awareness, that for that mighty move of the Holy Spirit can occur, the Church must need to understand the methodologies in bringing such possibilities into realities.
Hence, the motive behind this piece is to bring the Church into the current understanding of the need for strong compunction, acknowledgement and recognition of certain unholy actions or deviation that has crept into the Church.
The Church must first understand that revival is God’s Spirit brooding to re- vive meaning, to restore life to a dead state, just like the dried bones in Ezekiel 37.
Secondly, revival is what God does among the converted, the unconverted do not need revival because there is no foundation of Life to revive, so it’s the believers that needs revival, because they are the ones that have Life.
Hence, so that the Church do not mistake large crowds for revival, because there is always this deception that devil may propose to the Church, that the gatherings of five thousand men in a meeting means revival happened, remember Ezekiel 37 clearly stated that the bones in the valley were very many but there were all dried, dead and hopeless, so it’s very possible for there to be crowds, but crowds without Life, all dead and shallow in need of the Spirit to breathe life upon them.
Moving on, when we say revival, I stated earlier that there is an existence of deadness, now this dead state is often as a result of the presence of sin. Sin is what sponsors deadness, the first death that occured in Genesis 3 came as a result of the sin of disobedience, so therefore the presence of sin equates to the existence of deadness.
Secondly, deadness can also mean the presence of lukewarmness, coldness or indifference towards the things of God, which is often ignited by still an action of sin.
Because when one looks through the lens of lukewarmness or coldness, you find something ‘fleshly’ eating up the appetite for things pertaining to God.
Let’s say for example in the case of someone, feeling cold in fellowshipping with God in prayer, we may trace the root of that coldness to a sinful appetite that gradually eats up that desire to fellowship.
So, the truth is behind every revival is a visible expression of iniquity.
And that’s why God sends revival to purge the Church of impurities that can jeopardize the nature and purpose of righteousness in the Church.
Hence, that brings us back to my key headline – Repentance the nerve of every revival.
There is no revival that’s birthed outside the environs of contrite repentance.
The Holy Ghost is the agent in charge of sponsoring the expression of Revival, so the modus operandi of bringing back the power of the Spirit after a long time of isolation from his dwelling is to engage in a sincere action that can make Him persuaded to begin again to express His attributes after a long silence.
And so 2 Chronicles 17:14 says that the sincere action is Humility in Repentance. It talks about a people being called( recognized, known) by his name( identity) who will recognize their wicked ways,
Now let’s briefly dissect- wicked ways can vary in diversity, whether in coldness towards Bible study, intimacy with God in prayer. You know, it’s very easy to mask our self in the garment of Christianity and give a posture of new life when deep within there’s a void in the expression of that new life.
Let the leaders of the Church be aware that if the people fail in intimacy with God in prayers and in the word, they are failing somewhere they don’t know, and it’s needed to cry out to God for a change.
It’s as simple as that, some are to occupied, with the activities of this world that they forget the primary assignment of every believer which is to honour God in daily communion and abiding with God. This is not the ” up and grateful” pattern that Gen Z engage in, it’s the staying in God’s presence because we love that solitude of intimacy with divinity.
So, the wicked ways may not have to be only in the loud sins like ” murder and adultery” but in things we term little like ” lies, malice, bitterness and disobedience”.
Hence, 2 Chronicles 17:14 says again “and turn from their wicked ways”.
This is an action of change that comes in confession, acknowledgement and complete U-turn.
When this is done, it says again ” then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin”. Here the Lord addresses the lump of sin by an action of purging as a response to the prayer of true repentance.
THE RELEASE
The last part is ” and I will heal their land” reveals the main work which is Revival.
In other words when Revival happens it’s a gush of healing that occurs.
In Ezekiel 37, the bones were dried, dead and hopeless, but by the word of the Lord they were all healed from their state.
The ailment of spiritual laxity and lukewarmness comes to an end when revival comes.
However, what provokes that is in the confession, acknowledgement and recognition of lumps of wickedness.
Check through several corridors in the old testament of how God dealt with the Israelites, whenever things changed, in the wrong direction, what provokes God to make a U- turn to change the wrong buttons to right buttons is always true repentance.
True repentance is what controls the hand of God to heal, restore and reenergize.
True repentance is what comforts the grieved heart of the Holy Ghost and causes Him to begin to express His Power and attributes.
If we don’t acknowledge and checkmate our excesses in the Church,our strength would be limited in this last days of the Church.
Because our strength lies in the Holy Ghost, and if the same Holy Ghost is grieved with the strange happenings, doctrines or activities occuring in the Church.
Then it would be wise of us to make a U- turn.
Lastly, I established from the beginning that the world is in her darkest state, and the Church needs a stirring of the Holy Spirit. Now, it’s necessary we know that any negative thing or positive that happens in the world is dependent on the
Church, because scripture calls us salt of the earth and light of the world, hence the need for revival.
When revival hits the Church, the world is affected by it, because it’s something that can’t be hidden.
During Pentecost, the other people other than the 12 apostles heard the sound of the Holy Spirit brooding on them in the upper room which ignited comments, comments that culminated into an interaction that later led to the salvation of 3,000 sinners men.
Now the question I would ask is what sound is the world hearing in the Church?
Is it the sound of iniquities and perversion or the sound of the Holy Spirit ?
Is it the sound of lukewarmness or the sound of prayers charges?
Revival would determine the type of sound the Church would be played.
The charge is to rise and do the needful.
Let us hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying to the Church in this dark days.
Let’s arise and repent so that the Spirit of God can increase His expression in the Church.
The world is waiting for our sound, are we going to play a wrong sound or keep mute.
Revive Us Again series 133.
Revive Us Again — A Global Prayer Movement for Worldwide Revival
By Prophet John Abiola
Intercessor | Revival Voice
Nigeria Global Intercessors
For collaboration, publication, and prayer alignment:
globalintercessors7@gmail.com
nigeriaglobalintercessorsngi@gmail.com
prophetjohnabiola97@gmail.com
Revive Us Again — A Global Prayer Movement for Worldwide Revival
By Prophet John Abiola
Intercessor | Revival Voice
Nigeria Global Intercessors
For collaboration, publication, and prayer alignment:
globalintercessors7@gmail.com
nigeriaglobalintercessorsngi@gmail.com