Spring Revival: A Playlist
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing. — John 15:5
Even with the COVID-19 tragedy going on, there is still something to give praise about; there is still something to hope for. Revival is in store for us this spring; in fact, it is already happening all around us. We only have to see. We cannot be swept under by waves of fear.
As we enter the midst of spring this April, flowers blooming brightly on trees, filling the air with aromas fresh and calming; as we greet the vibrant grass under our feet and the sun shining brightly into our Spirit, we know that it is God doing His singular work again. No one can do what He does, and no one is like Him. In the midst of spring, we are offered so much to be grateful for.
Even amidst the sicknesses going around, there is good to be found. We must continue to find solace and home in the springtime of our hearts – the strength of our being. Listen to this playlist and allow yourself to be encouraged and to shake off the sounds of the world, instead exchanging them for the sounds of eternal praise.
So, what am I talking about? Revival is when a dead thing comes to life. Lazarus was revived. Dead trees in the winter are revived. Revival is the result of something disconnected, seemingly irreversibly so, from the vine of life ‒ Jesus ‒ successfully closing the distance between itself and Source. And coming alive again.
We have to disconnect. We have to stop believing everything the media tells us. We have to understand that there is more that lies beyond our understanding and certainly much more beyond our fear. We have to start realizing that to be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of God, allowing our minds to be renewed by the reality of the beauty that unfolds before us on a regular basis. That is how our own revival can take place: to repent, think differently in mind and heart about our reality and begin to embrace limitlessness.
One passage describes this situation perfectly.[1]
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
A lot happened before this, so you should go back and read all of it, asking for understanding and instruction in it. Jesus wept, one of only two times he does so in the Bible. He returned to the place where Lazarus died so that God could show new work. God was pleased in the creation of His Son, the Word who’d always been with God since the beginning and shew forth his good nature in Him, and everything He did thenceforth from his birth was for his good, and ours, by extension. The second verse is this,
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. — Isaiah 41:10
This is the goal of revival: to be upheld by God. To shake off fear, to embrace faith, the Holy connection we have between ourselves and God, from Spirit to Spirit. The part of us that seeks revival, turning away from the dead things within ourselves and towards the renewal of hope in our lives, turning away from sin and being granted forgiveness, is God acting in us to be reconciled to Himself. We are His children. The part that calls out to God in us is really God in us.
It’s wild.
Although this verse does not explicitly say the word “revival” or “revive,” it is the hope of revival. It is the viv- in the word, the Latin root meaning to live. Re-vive: to live again.
- John 11:38-44 in the New International Version (NIV).
