Our Great Awakening

“I have given them the glory You have given Me. May they be one as We are one. I am in them and You are in Me. May they be completely one, so the world may know You have sent Me and loved them as You have loved Me” (John 17:22-23).

During the mid-1700s, there was a spiritual movement known as The Great Awakening. People had come to rely on human knowledge, reason, and facts more than they did on faith. Rationalism had taken the place of a spiritual relationship with the Lord.

But then came a revival—a great awakening that started spreading from one community to another. Hearts woke up, and the Spirit spread like wildfire.

How does revival happen? We often think of revival as some mystical force that comes down from the heavens in smoke and light to give us a spiritual boost, but revival happens from within. We love to feel safe and cozy in our Christian bubble, getting fed and receiving blessings and staying in our holy huddle away from the big, bad, mean world. But we are the message bearers, and if we stay in one place, the message is never delivered.

We can’t stay in our holy huddle and hide away from the world. We huddle, and then we scatter.

Picture this: The message of hope is like a candle with a lit flame. We are all holding a flaming candle, but if we never take that candle outside the walls of our churches, then the light can’t spread—it stays confined. But what would happen if every person took their flaming candle and used it to light the world’s candles? How different would our communities look? How different would the world look?

Revival breaks loose when we move.

Scripture tells us that we are children of light, and Paul reminds us not to be asleep but to be sober—awake, alert, and ready for the task (1 Thessalonians 5:5). So many of us want to see revival in our communities, our families, and our countries, but it seems like such an impossible mission—it seems as if the devil has worked his way into every corner of the world. Deception has taken the place of truth, and fear has taken the place of security.

But the devil doesn’t have you. He might prod you and tempt you to focus on nothing but the impossible odds, but it’s all a ruse. Impossible odds are where God does His greatest work. The thing the devil wants you to do more than anything is nothing, because if the light isn’t moving, the darkness lingers.  


Don’t be asleep—don’t choose to do nothing. Revival is the result of our awakening.