Watch the video below by my main man Steve McVey, called Christian Religion Lie #40: “We Need a Revival“ and read my comments that follow…
This sounds good, but it’s not true. That’s the way MOST of these lies are presented… and that’s why they’re so easily believed and are so easily deceiving. If you hear something over and over from the pulpit — you start to take it as gospel… even if it’s not.
But let’s set the record straight on revivals today…
Revival is an Old Testament (Covenant) idea…
The word “revival” is not found in the New Testament anywhere. Why?
It’s because it’s an Old Testament idea. A Revival comes and goes . All it is, is an emotional uplifting, getting people excited about God and challenging them to “live better”… to “do something for God” … to stop “being in this world” and “start living for Christ”.
And what happens?
People go to revivals… they get excited… they have an emotional experience that is very powerful and they are convinced this is the “Holy Spirit moving” and they ride that wave of high emotions and excitment… only to crash months…. days… or even just hours later when they’re no longer around the stimulus of the “revival”.
Then what happens?
Well meaning Christians go back into their daily life… determined to keep this emotional high going (the emotional high they have mistaken for “being closer to God” or “being filled with the Holy Spirit”) and they’re sorely dissapointed.
It doesn’t last long… and then what? They logically assume — “What we NEED… is another revival!”
You only need a revival… if you don’t have Christ!
Christ came to put away this need for “revival”.
Before, in the OT, The Holy Spirit didn’t dwell in the body of believers. God’s spirit “came upon” believers for a certain amount of time, so that God could accomplish something through that person — and then left. (Because the ultimate sacrifice, Christ hadn’t come to take away the sins of the world yet… so the Holy Spirit couldn’t dwell in sinful people).
But now that Christ has come and as Christians, we have accepted His free gift of Salvation… we are now In Christ… and Christ is in us. (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19)
What we need instead, is a REVELATION
And when I say “revelation” — I’m not talking about some tent meeting full of emotion pumping. I’m talking about a revelation of the mind. A “renewing” of the mind — that transforms us into people who understand WHO we are IN Christ. (as the apostle Paul said in Romans 12:2).
Paul says it like this in 2 Corinthians 3: 7-11 (NIV, broken up and emphasized by me):
“7. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was,
Paul makes two important points here. The ministry of God was so glorious the Israelites couldn’t even look at Moses’ face because it was glowing — just because he was in the presence of God. That’s how awesome it was — the presence of God. BUT — that glory “fading as it was” didn’t last. Because Christ hadn’t been sacrificed and joined to all believers — that glory FADED — it didn’t LAST. Just like the “glory” that people claim to feel after a revival… it doesn’t last — it’s just an emotional high. But let’s keep the idea of how awesome that emotional high feels in mind … even though it doesn’t last…
8. will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.
Paul contends that the Ministry of the Spirit is EVEN MORE glorious than this fading emotional high (the only thing you can get from a Revival). The Ministry that brings righteousness (that is the life of Christ) is even more glorious. And says what WAS glorious has no comparison with this surpassing glory of CHRIST.
11. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!”
And then Paul closes the argument up by saying “if that seemed so glorious… and it faded away almost immediately… think of how much more glorious our position in Christ is NOW — because it LASTS forever and ever and ever!”
If Paul was talking to us today, I’m pretty sure he would of said something like…
“When you realize your position in Christ — you’ll never need that revival “feeling” again!”
Because we have accepted Christ into our lives — we are now totally COMPLETE in Christ (Colossians 2:10).
That means you don’t need a revival to make you “closer to God”… or “on fire for God”… or you don’t need to do anything at ALL for God to be more pleased with you — you are completely and totally complete in Christ.
And not only that — you’re now a saint (1 Corinthians 1:2; Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:2)
You were chosen by God… HOLY and DEARLY LOVED (Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:4)
God has done it ALL. Your job is simply to rest in His completed work (this alone is your only job)…
… and when you try to understand ALL that He has done for you… you will find the emotional high you used to get from revivals is no comparison to the bliss of joy and love you experience now that you are in Christ 
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