You may already know about the 2023 revival at Asbury University. A weekly chapel gathering lasted for weeks. We drove to Kentucky to experience it ourselves. We arrived at midnight to find students sleeping on the floor because they simply did not want to leave the auditorium. In the days that followed, the crowd overflowed the building onto the steps and sidewalk.
There was a sweetness in Hughes Hall. God blanketed the room with His gentle presence and people didn’t want to leave. 10pm, 12am, 2am, they stayed. All over the room, there was weeping and giggling. There was confessing and declaring. There were people laying on the floor and people jumping up and down. And there were hour-long lines at the microphone when people shared how God had rescued them from anxiety, addiction, shame, unbelief, lying, judgement, idolatry, false identity, fear, pride and more.
Why? I believe the knowledge of God fell on the room. In a moment, God revealed to everyone who entered 1) His deep love, 2) His great power and 3) their need for redemption.
The knowledge was a gift. As people received it, God met their deep old longing for Himself. And the response was trust. Trust leads to vulnerability; vulnerability leads to surrender; and in God’s kingdom surrender leads to freedom. That’s revival- when our hunger for God is greater than any other desire or possession or habit or belief that we cling to. As we surrender things to God, He transforms us and gives the peace, joy, freedom, wholeness and abundant life that He promises in His Word.
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There’s nothing like worshiping God in unified crowd. I long to experience it again. But as for spiritual growth, God’s work at Asbury was an accelerated version of what He does in every Christian’s heart as we pursue Him at home. We do not have to walk into the glory cloud of a revival to be transformed. We can ask God for it in our armchairs and expect Him to respond.
Let’s ask God to reveal the reality of His might and love to us. He is waiting for such requests! He will answer it. Revelation grows trust; trust leads to vulnerability; vulnerability with a loving mighty God positions us for healing; and healing brings freedom, every time.
Over the past five years, God has been doing a slow revival in my and my friends’ hearts. I believe he is doing the same within many church communities. He has steadily peeled off layers of shame, judgement, bitterness, loneliness, entitlement, anxiety, pride, impure motives, bad habits and fear. He is recreating us from the inside out for our own good and for His glory.
I believe that God is equipping us to join Him in bringing a broader revival. Join me in praying for revival. Pray in groups and pray alone. Ask God to reveal trust-building truth to many soon and to yourself right now.
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-Heather
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