I remember learning about revivals in my High School English class. I always admired my teacher for talking about his faith in our public high school. He was Catholic. My goal a few times was to fill his shoes someday. Maybe I still will. :) He had us read "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Also we read "City on a Hill" by Johnathan Winthrop. Both were sermons that were given around the start of America. I was fascinated by the stories of the early revivals.
Then no move of God seemed to happen in America for a long time, until Billy Graham. It could be said millions of people were saved due to Billy Graham's revivals. He basically paved the way for Joyce Meyer and her giant conferences. The issue with her ministry though is that it was just to women, which may explain why the men seemed to be more degenerate than the women in the last 30 years. Now her ministry is slowing down, because she is currently 84. I always thought I wanted to be the next her. Who knows. It might happen. Steven Furtick seems to be keeping the torch of revival going. His church is putting out non-stop life changing worship music. Good job Elevation Church! He is doing his Elevation Nights, which are basically revival nights in cities all over America. Good job Furtick and Elevation team!
For a while Joel Osteen was doing his Night of Hope in every major city around America. I was super excited about that. I never got to go to one, but I wanted to. Greg Laurie had his Harvest America conferences for a while. I went to a bunch of his Harvest Crusades in Orange County, CA when I was a teenager and in my 20's. His revival meetings were a major reason why I kept my faith alive as much as I did. I walked out on the baseball stadium field twice to recommit my life to God. It was a very exciting experience both times!
There was the crazy era of Benny Hinn in the 90's. He tried to have revivals. Ok, he had revivals, but they seemed very staged to me. I don't think he has ever been an actual saved Christian. I think people really got healed at his meetings, simply because they had the faith to be healed. The more people that got healed caused others to be healed, because of the atmosphere of extreme faith and hope. But Benny Hinn himself is not a faith healer. Those don't even really exist. It is just a thing humans came up with to give credibility to an imposter or a fake teacher. He taught some good things, but it was all scripted. He didn't really know what he was preaching about.
About 15 years ago there was the "Lakeland Revival" led by Todd Bentley in Florida. I think the whole thing was a scam. He had 4 kids at the time, and he probably just wanted to make a lot of money off of it. I read two of his bio books. He was not filled with the Holy Spirit. I know for sure it was an evil spirit. The way he wrote about his electricity zap effect he had on those around him sounded demonic, not from God. Why would God give someone that much odd power? He wouldn't. Bentley did not know at all what he was doing in regards to God. He was not raised in church. He just had "encounters" that were demonic and false. The only reason I looked into his life was that my ex-husband considered him a guru or a prophet. I didn't see why. He was not a guru and does not deserve to be seen that way by anyone. Be careful who you choose to listen to or even worship. Most people don't deserve your total admiration at all.
Here are some Christian leaders who do deserve your admiration; Steven Furtick, Jentezen Franklin, Joyce Meyer, Charles Stanley, Beth Moore, Greg Laurie, Joel Osteen and Francis Chan. Look them up on YouTube. You will be glad you listened to them if you do.
Recently, there was the beautiful and genuine filling with the Holy Spirit in the Asbury Revival. I love that there were no major speakers who led it. It was just a bunch of people wanting to feel the Holy Spirit more. You can feel the Holy Spirit in any place at any time, but it can be more strong in settings like that, where everyone is intent on pressing in and wanting to see God better.
Revival can happen anywhere. I saw a prophetic video about revivals about to break out among all the college campuses in America. That would be tight if that happened. God's will be done. We need more of God's Holy Spirit in the world. Hopefully the God fire from Asbury will burn brighter and hotter and will inspire every other college, even the secular ones, to do the same. You never know. It could happen. And maybe every church across America will have their own small revival. Maybe they will all start having extended meetings where everyone prays for each other, where there can be spontaneous worship and testimonies for hours and no one wants to leave. It doesn't need to get weird. It can just be normal church, but more of an on fire church, where people truly want to see God. They don't care about themselves anymore. They just want to see God.
I think so many people are scared of revival, because they think it will become odd, with fake signs and wonders and healings where no one believes it was real. It doesn't have to be about all that. It can just be seeking God more for himself, and not what he does for us. That is the most pure and real form of revival, where people just want more of God and not the signs and wonders. They only care about seeing God more clearly. May we see that kind of revival all around the world soon.
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