GOSPEL LIGHT
In 1906, Satan perpetrated a great deception upon the church of Jesus Christ. Rev. William J. Seymour heard as many did about the revival that was taking place in Wales in 1904. Some estimated 100,000 people repented of their sins and placed their faith in Christ at that time. So many bars and businesses closed due to people changing their ways that many left wales at that time.
Having visited Wales, the Asuza street "revival" was begun by a copycat, Rev. Seymour, not God. In true revival, the issue is always repentance of sin. Those who say they already know Jesus in false revivals move to a higher ground of receiving the Holy Spirit. However, it has little to do with authentic holiness. Sin is never a prominent theme but adding spirituality to one's dry life becomes central.
Revival cannot originate with men any more than regeneration. No one can birth themself, and neither can a person be born again as an act of their will or faith. Creation belongs to God and God alone. God always reacts to His inwrought faith and prayers of those truly saved to move in revival, but that is a very different matter. We are talking about revivals that involve massive amounts of people to salvation, as in The Great Awakening. America experienced one from 1740 to the 1770s.
Revival for individual saints already born again is entirely different. Paul explains this reality in Ephesians 5:18, "And do not get drunk with wine, in which there is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit..." Wine is good in the Old Testament because it was weak by today's standards and took a long time to become drunk. "Those who linger long over wine, those who go to taste mixed wine. Do not look on the wine when it is red when it sparkles in the cup when it goes down smoothly; At the last, it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper." (Proverbs 23:30-32)
Never is it wise to take something good and pervert it into something evil. Contrary to false revivals, we are told by God to "be filled with the Spirit." Be filled is in the imperative mood, which means it was given as a command. God never commands us to do something done and finished by Him. Such as our justification by faith taught in Romans 4.
Furthermore, "be filled" is in the present continuous tense, which is to say "be being filled." Filled five minutes ago does not guarantee I am filled at present. Filled at present does not mean I will be filled five minutes from now. Short accounts of sin become vital when one understands that being filled depends on confessing sin. God and sin do not co-exist.
Therefore Paul told us in Ephesians 3:14-17, "For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father ...that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith."
The term dwell in verse 17 is taken from 2 Greek words that mean to settle down or feel comfortable. The person who fights against sin recognizes it and denounces it when it is present in his heart and choices, and strength with the power of the Holy Spirit makes a comfortable place for Christ to stay.
Be filled with the Holy Spirit!
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