Dear Friend,

Real revival, the "suddenly ... from heaven" kind (Acts 2:2), is not merely a series of meetings in which a high level of religious excitement, and even signs and wonders, flow but everything ends when the meetings end. Real revival continues after the meetings die down.

Its legacy is not a memory of what God once did but a growing wonder at what God is still doing. It is not a limited lake of blessings that never exceeds its shores but an unlimited river that continues flowing in every direction after the meetings cease, touching people and places faraway and near with the life-changing power of the Reviver - Jesus!

This river of life is elevating. It never leaves those it touches where it found them - on the same, low plain of spiritual dryness, indifference, carnality, or worldliness. Rather, it raises all its participants to a new, sustained, higher level of Christlike living, biblical thinking, joyful work, kingdom ministry, and, most precious of all, sustained closeness to God every moment of every day.

Before the Reviver touched these people by His Spirit, He meant little or nothing to them. Now He is everything, their love, their Lord, their life! Before they lived for prosperity, pleasure, or pride. Now they live only to know and serve the Reviver. Before they tried in vain to please everyone. Now they only want to please Him.

This kind of heavenly revival is deep and powerful, far more than a superficial religious exercise. Its participants don't merely take a dip in the pool of religious renewal, life from above invades them here below and they learn how to live an entirely new life in the Holy Spirit's river of revival.

They drink in new life daily, in quiet, solitary morning and evening watches. They follow wherever the river flows, letting the Spirit guide. They flow in a steady stream of thanksgiving, praise, and worship, in prosperity and adversity. They practice the disciplines of the true spiritual lifestyle, including seeking God, Bible study, intercession, giving, faithfulness in duty, endurance in testing, and cross-carrying.

And they also practice the lost art of self-examination. When they sense they've stepped out of reviving closeness to Christ, they humbly confess their sin, receive forgiveness, and dive back into the river of His life and ways. Walking in His ways, they find His ways always keep them near Him. And, amazingly, they discover they are revived all over again every day with the same strength, hope, and joy. The depth and power of this reviving river never decreases!

This is real revival, the "suddenly ... from heaven" kind. It never ends. It just flows on and on - over rocky tests, through whitewater persecutions, and humbling long calm stretches - and as time passes it brings ever more people into its powerful current. And into its unique, simple focus.

It is persistently, unchangeably, utterly Christ-centered! It lifts up Jesus, leads to Jesus, lauds Jesus, loves Jesus, boasts in Jesus, honors Jesus' Word, practices Jesus' works, praises Jesus' name, reveals Jesus' will, loves what Jesus loves, hates what Jesus hates and, above all, longs for Jesus' return. So, long after the revival meetings cease, real revival continues to powerfully produce everlasting life, the fruit of the Spirit, and the fruit of transformed lives.

The Spirit of real revival creates, initiates, and renews. It calls revived ones to the ministry - and new ministers are created! It calls disciples to become foreign or domestic missionaries - and new missions are initiated! It calls lukewarm and backslidden Christians back to the Reviver - and their souls, lives, and destinies are renewed! It creates new churches out of old unbelievers. It initiates long-overdue corrections in long-erring churches. It awakens fresh love, zeal, and commitment in congregations lulled to sleep by offenses, apathy, and unfaithfulness. And it doesn't stop there.

More lives change, more marriages are healed, more families are reconciled, more dead churches are restored to complete their commissions and callings. More cities turn from sin to the Savior. Whole nations become infiltrated with the river, raised to newness of life in Christ Jesus, and spiritually and morally transformed from within.

On and on the river flows, until one day its Source - the Reviver Himself! - appears to take away everyone held by the power of its flowing life. This is real revival. It is a God-honoring, God-empowered, God-sustained God-encounter, a river of the Spirit that never stops flowing, a revival meeting that never ends.

For real revival,

Greg Hinnant
Greg Hinnant Ministries