IS THE ASBURY REVIVAL A TRUE REVIVAL: 5 KEY POINTS

Derrick Burns

 

On February 8, the Asbury Revival started. But is it a true revival like those in the Bible?

1. How did it start?

It started after a preach by Zach Meerkreebs ar a normal Chapel 10 am service on “Love in action” and he finished with a challenging prayer:

“But Holy Spirit if you spoke to anyone as they can pursue freedom, they can experience more of Your love to be poured out to love others. To become love in action. Would You produce fruit in this room, in these souls, these minds and these hearts.. Just do a new thing in our midst and revive us by Your love.”

Then a group of about 20 students and the worship team  felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to continue worship after the endof the service. Later around 200 students more arrived for worship at the chapel and it’s just kept going since.

Read FIVE WAYS TO ATTRACT A DIVINE VISITATION to know how to get God’s attention.

2.What happened next?

Alexandra Presta, presumably a student there, posted this article on the same day it started:

“Peers, professors, local church leaders and seminary students surround me— all of them praying, worshipping, and praising God together. Voices are ringing out. People are bowing at the altar, arms stretched wide. A pair of friends cling to each other in a hug, one with tears in her eyes. A diverse group of individuals crowd the piano and flawlessly switch from song to song. Some even sit like me, with laptops open. No one wants to leave.”

This spontaneous worship, prayer and confession has continued 24-7. People just don’t want to leave!! Now it’s meeting in other venues.

There is an excellent video about the ‘Asbury Revival’ with many testimonies.

Also THE PRICE OF REVIVAL: WHY IT WILL COST YOU BUT IS WORTH IT

3.What is True Revival?

Let’s look at what happened in Thessalonica under the preaching of Paul that he narrates in his letter to the new church (probably just around 6 months old) in 1 Thess 1. His preaching starts a revival and many people are converted, leading to the start of the Thessalonian Church.

1. “because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction” (1:5).The Gospel was preached with power by the Holy Spirit such that there was conviction of sins.
2. “you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1:9), that is they repented of their sins and turned to God.
3. “The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia–your faith in God has become known everywhere” (1:8). They testified to their new found faith everywhere such that in just 6 months, the Gospel became known in two provinces of Greece!

So revival is when the Holy Spirit comes, normally through the preaching of the Gospel, which brings about repentance, many new converts and a fire inside new believers or mature believers to take the Gospel naturally outside the Church in a way that impacts society.

We see the same in Acts 1:14. The 120 believers are all praying and worshipping together continually in the upper room but as yet this is NOT revival. It’s a prelude to revival that comes on Acts 2 through the pouring out of the Spirit and the preaching of the Gospel by Peter to the crowds.

So at the moment at Asbury, we are seeing Acts 1:14 play out, continuous prayer and worship.

See also CHARACTERISTICS OF REVIVALS : 12 ESSENTIAL FEATURES

4.The importance of reaching the lost

God sends Revival but it’s not just for the Church or believers. It’s  for the lost. Many revivals stop and don’t go on to change nations because they are focused on blessing the people of God. So eventually the Holy Spirit leaves.

Notice that the “Prayer Revival” of 1859 that started with a small weekly lunchtime prayer meeting in 1857 organised by Jeremiah Lamphier, grew to 3000 people meeting daily!! But the focus was on meeting with Jesus and praying for lost family members and friends. So the revival spread outside these prayer meetings and one million people were converted in the USA alone!

See also REVIVAL:4 HINDRANCES 

5. Conclusion

The Asbury ‘Revival’ is not technically a revival when we compare with the Bible model of Acts 2 or 1 Thess 1 that begins to spread and impact society through a hunger to share the Gospel to the unconverted outside the Church.

But I do believe God initiated something special at Asbury College, where students and visitors are sincerely humbling themselves, seeking the Lord and confessing sins which are the very conditions of 2 Chron 7:14 needed to begin a true revival.

So let’s thank the Lord for what He is doing there and let’s pray that it will turn into a true historic revival! Let’s not make the mistakes of focussing just on the people of God, but take the Gospel to the list with passion and love.

Here’s a book that will help you on your journey:

GRACE OUTPOURINGS: 21 DAYS REVIVAL DEVOTIONAL which has lots of stories taken from recent visitations for a great devotional experience

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