What Revival Means

Psa. 104:16 The trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted;

Without sap a tree cannot exist, much less flourish. Vitality is essential to life. There has to be revival—a living principle infused by the Holy Spirit, or else we will not be one of the trees of the LORD. Just wearing the name “Christian” still makes you dead. You have to be filled with the Spirit in order to transcend from mere existence into real life. What does that mean?

Revival is mysterious. Do you understand the circulation of the sap? What force makes it defy gravity from the root to the leaf? In the same way, the flow of God's life is a great mystery. Somehow in revival, the Holy Spirit enters into you, becoming your life! This life, once initiated feeds off the Lord Jesus, and is sustained by the food of the word.

Revival starts in secret. The roots go deep, searching through the soil of the earth. We do not see how they suck, and transfer the minerals into the fruit. It is a work “curiously wrought” way down deep in the dark. Our root is Jesus. Our true life is hid in him.

Revival is permanently active. It is always full of energy—not always in fruit-bearing, but at least in inward operation. Graces go in motion. You are not always working for him, but you are always living on him. The sap then manifests itself in producing foliage, if not fruit.

Shall we pray? God, give me revival that your grace may be externally manifested through me. If I talk with you, then I will talk more about you. Make the sap flow in revival, and people will notice from observation that I have been with Jesus. Infuse me with your Spirit so fully that it fills my conduct and conversation with life! Amen.