The Seeds of Revival

The last great American revival was the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. We called it a Jesus Movement back then. And we called ourselves Jesus People.

Time magazine, however, dubbed this moment in time the “Jesus Revolution.” The word revolution means an upheaval, a dramatic change. It looked like America was going downhill fast, and it was. So God sent a revolution, and it changed the nation.

Our nation needs another Jesus Revolution right now. In fact, the United States of America was born during a spiritual awakening. George Whitefield, a preacher from England, proclaimed the gospel in the colonies, and thousands of people came to faith in Christ.

The obvious result was moral change in the culture because whenever people come to Christ, it changes the way they live. This became the soil that was so receptive to the seeds of liberty. In fact, I don’t think we could have had the United States of America without the incredible soil that the evangelist George Whitefield tilled.

Our nation started with an awakening, and we need another one.

God says, “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT).

The Bible says of the first-century church, “All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer” (Acts 2:42 NLT). That church turned the world upside down.

A revival is an awakening. It’s coming back to life. It’s a restoration. We can’t really start an awakening, but we can do this: We can prepare the ground for the seeds of revival.