Question: What is "VIVAL"

Answer: The word revival less the "re".

I realize that this answer sounds snide and rude, but I would like to make a point here. If we were to break down the word revival and analyze the meaning. The true meaning of the word revival would shock us.

• Re: Re is the Latin prefix for "again"
• Vive: is actually a French word meaning "live"

Therefore "Revive" literally means "to live again". What does this imply? Very simple the word revive/revival implies that we had to have died before we somehow was able to live again. Many churches today hold "revival" services. In the old days, revival services were special services where Christians would gather the unsaved and bring them to Salvation in Jesus. The services were usually evangelistic in nature and were geared towards the unsaved while at the same time reminding God's children to fulfill the Great Commission. If we looked at the state of the unsaved during these services, how could we call the services revival when the unsaved never "lived" in Christ to begin with? They were dead in Christ fulfilling the desires of the flesh. These people never knew Christ as their personal Savior and would have died and went to Hell if their lives were not interviened by divine purpose. Instead of being "revived" they were instead "vived".

Today, the word "revival" is considered "too ancient and too Pentecostal" to use. Therefore, we have become "Spiritually Correct" by saying the word "renewal". In most renewal services, it is the Christians going to church and getting more "refreshed" instead of renewed. We never see many souls added to the Kingdom unless people moved by the "renewal" knew how to enact the next step by "freely receiving, freely giving" to the unsaved. Here, Christians who were burned out, stressed out, tired with their everyday lives got "jumpstarted". These people were not dead and brought back to life. Instead these people were Spiritually sick and needed nursing to bring them back into a state of functionality within the Body of Christ. They almost!!! died. Almost dying is different from dying. There is a difference between being poor and being broke. When you are almost dead, you are still partially alive. The water in the glass may be half empty, but there is still a half a glass of water remaining. You are not empty. The devil convinces Christians that they are empty. Instead, most Christians are fuller than they think. Just because God did not move in a Charismatic frenzy of 'carpettime', did not manifest 'shakes' and other bizarre manifestations, or failed to lead us in the Charismatic bunny hop does not mean that we are dry, empty, and depleted. We may be in need due to Spiritual neglect, but inside every true blood bought Spirit filled Christian, the Holy Spirit is still inside of you. You may need to be "refilled", but there was an revelation by some measuring device somewhere that you were almost empty.

I can go look at the fuel guage in my truck and see that I am either 7/8 empty or 1/8 full. I see the warning sign via the red markings on the fuel guage to "get gas" i.e. "get refueled". How would I get refueled? I drive the truck to the gas station, turn off the ignition switch, take the gas cap off, activatethe gas pump, put the nozzle from the gas pump into the input of the gas tank, and press the switch on the nozzle and fill up the gas tank. What was the ingredient that allowed me to get the truck to the gas station. The 1/8 full tank of fuel in the "almost empty" fuel tank. Spiritually, I may make a measurement to determine that I am almost spiritually empty to the point of saying "Lord, fill me up." What is the main ingredient that helps me get to the "Holy Spirit Filling Station"? The remaining contents of the Spiritural nourishment in the Holy Spirit Fuel Tank. The measurement device, benchmark, or spiritual discernment alerts me to the warning level to refill and refuel. However, it takes some of the remaining fuel or Spiritual nourishment left in the "tank" to get to the place where I "fill up" with gasoline in the physical example and I "fill up" with the Holy Spirit in the spiritual example. Therefore, constant maintenance and upkeep is essential to both the running of the truck physically and to the comings and goings of the Christian spiritually.

Where am I going with this topic? Let us look at the Old Testament/Old Covenant way of life.

Throughout the Old Testament, the history of Gods people clearly shows us clear instances of how "revival" had to be implemented. Before the entering into the promise land, God told Joshua about the enemies present and what to do with the enemies. What did Joshua do instead, he started out defeating enemies but ended up making treaties with their enemies. God's chosen people ended up intermarrying their enemies and their enemies later consumed the Israelites. God, through Moses, led His chosen people out of Egypt (the world, world system, strongholds), dealt with his people until it was time to possess the land, made the people wander around for 40 more years until the old generation had died and the new generation was ready to possess the land, and performed a miracle to get his chosen people in the promise land. What do God's people do when they became assimilated back into a world system that God told them to defeat and not become a part of? They became a part of that world system again and their enemies ended up consuming them. God went and removed the Christians out of the world in order to remove the world thinking, world system, etc. from the Christian. Friends, there is a time where we "come out" of the world, isolate ourselves with God, and then go back into the world to take our promise. However, this does not mean that we are to be so isolated and seperate that we have no idea of what is going on in the world today nor it does not mean that we intermingle to the point that we cannot tell ourselves apart from the world. There is a fine line and a delicate balance here that has to be found and walked out everyday.