TEXT: Psalms 85:4-7

AIM:
That we may know the necessary conditions for a Bible based revival, which also produces the expected results.

INTRODUCTION: Revival is a wake-up call to the church as the assembly of believers. Therefore, the talk about revival suggests that the spiritual state of a believer or the church is going or has gone down. Revival is therefore inevitable whenever a believer derails from the path of spiritual fervency.

THE NEED FOR A BIBLE BASED REVIVAL

We need a Bible-based revival in order

• To renew our relationship with God. Our relationship with God must be consistently checked and renewed to ensure it is cordial. In order to do this, the Body of Christ must be charged from time to time through a spiritual program.

• To maintain our relationship with God. It is not enough to renew our relationship with God. It must also be maintained and sustained through the help of the Holy Spirit.

• To remind and charge the Church for mission. The church must be reminded and charged to wake up to her mission responsibility. The church must not forget that one of the purposes for her existence is to glorify God through missions. Unfortunately, the church often seems to forget this purpose. She needs to be reminded and recharged.

• To help believers to grow in faith. A Bible-based revival brings about genuine church growth. It is a means by which the faith of believers is awakened and caused to grow. The reason why churches get little or no results for lots of money they spend on "annual revival" is because their so-called revival programs are not Bible based.

• To restore the dwindling faith. In Luke 18:8, Jesus foresaw the possibility of a dwindling faith of believers. So He asked, "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" Therefore today, more than any other time, restoration of dwindling faith is another important need for a Bible-based revival.

• To effectively confront evil forces harassing the Church. Another need for a Bible based revival is that there are lots of persecutions against the church, especially by Islam in this nation. The Church will suffer serious setbacks unless she is revived biblically.

PRECONDITIONS FOR A BIBLE-BASED REVIVAL (2 Chronicles 7:14) a true revival that is based on the principles of the Bible, believers must meet

certain necessary that include the following:

source

• Seeking God's face:
  This means to desire God's favour, and to make serious efforts to please Him who can grant that favour. These include prayer, but not limited to it. Prayer is an act of worship to God. It is more than asking from God. It also involves praises, confession, thanksgiving and petition. All these must be carried out faithfully while seeking the face of God.

• Humility:
  In order to receive from God, believers must be humble. It is when we humble ourselves that God will hear from heaven and healour land.

• Repentance:
  This means to turn away from our sinful lifestyle, and toward God.

• Holy living:
  An essential element of Christian life is a holy living. While seeking God's face, we must remember that we must keep ourselves holy because God Himself is holy (1 Peter 1:15,16).

• Studying the word of God and obeying it:
  For a true revival to happen, God's word must be studied and obeyed. It is unfortunate today, that many people are shouting, crying and calling on the name of the Lord but they are not ready to study and obey God's word.

• Submitting to the Holy Spirit in line with the word of God:
  It is also necessary for believers to submit to the control of the Holy Spirit as the word of God stipulates it.

EXPECTED RESULTS OF A BIBLE BASED REVIVAL

• Compassion from God Believers will enjoy compassion from God when there is a true revival (Jonah 4:10, 11).

• Awakening to spiritual fervency. It is also expected that
  believers will be reawakened to spiritual fervency.

• Turning from wickedness
  If people do not turn from their wicked ways, that will be an evidence that a true revival has not taken place

• The anger of God will cease. God's anger against people will cease if there is a true revival (Jonah 4:10, 11).

• Salvation of souls. It will also result into people coming to
  receive Christ into their lives (Psalm 85:7).

• Answers to prayer --- Our prayer will be answered by God if our revival is based on the word of God (2 Chronicles 7:14; 33:12-17).

• Restoration of spiritual and physical well-being. Spiritual and physical well being of members of the church are very paramount. A Bible-based revival will restore these (Psalm 85:4).

• Joy for God's people. If our revival programs are based on the Bible, the result will be joy for the church (Psalm 85:6).

source