As in the Days of Jonah: Thoughts on Revival
At my fiancée’s church (soon to be my church), they always start out the year with 21 days of prayer and fasting.
This year, for January 10th through the 31st, each week had a different emphasis. Week one was focussed on the refining of hearts, week two was focussed on reverence for God, and week three is focussed on revival.
On Sunday, the pastor talked about the concept of revival, and one of the message’s most poignant takeaways was the fact that revival starts in the heart of individuals.
I like this distinction, because often times revival is described by what’s going on outwardly on a corporate level.
Depending on the church tradition you’re familiar with, the word “revival” might conjure all sorts of images in your mind.
You might imagine old-style, idyllic camp meetings with fiery preacher weaving the Jericho March through the aisles, and anyone not participating was probably slain in the Spirit.
You might imagine weeknight church services with pentecostal altar calls.
You might imagine tears of joy, but you might also imagine uncontrolled shaking and laughing and screaming.
Indeed, for every person with a positive memory from Pensacola, there’s also a negative memory of Lakeland.
Depending on who tells the story and what they remember, you can praise God for revival or you can shake your fist at dysfunctional churches whose excesses have hurt congregants or even stained the reputations of Christians at large.
Indeed, depending on your history, your relationship with God, and your understanding of the Holy Spirit, the mention of revival brings limitless connotations and emotions, both good and bad.
This being understood, I will be speaking of “revival” in a positive way. Speaking objectively, every Christian should desire revival.
Every Christian should desire the Holy Spirit to move upon the hearts of men and women and children for salvation. Every Christian should desire to be strengthened in their spiritual walk, to be emboldened for evangelism, to be refined and sanctified, conforming to the image of Christ.
But we don’t need to find a move of God for this “revival” to start. Many experience-seeking Christians will go from church to church looking for the places God’s manifest presence is strongest, but if they don’t deal with their heart first, they never truly find the transformation they’re looking for.
Revival starts in the heart.
The reason I mention this is because in general, every Christian longs for revival, even if they don’t call it that.
Every Christian that prays for revival is imagining something different while they’re praying.
They’ll say “God, do that! That is the way you should move, and everything will be perfect.”
But when we pray in that way, we might end up wanting revival on our own terms. We might be demanding something of God that isn’t our decision to make.
So, here’s the real question for my Christian brothers and sisters: Can you handle a revival that looks different than you want it to look? Can you handle a revival that’s out of your control?
Can you handle a messy revival?
If revival happens and it looks differently than you expected, are you okay with that? If you see the revival, only to judge it and refuse to participate in it, then that revival will bypass you completely.
You will be one of the few un-revived and untouched.
God, bring revival! God bring revival! God…what are they doing? I don’t want that!
Christians of many denominations talk like they want a third Great Awakening to spread across America. Will we see a new wave of the Spirit changing hearts and drawing people to Him in America? I hope so. I know I’ve longed for it for years.
But if we do see a new Great Awakening-level revival, a lot of people will be disappointed.
My word of warning to you: Don’t let your ignorance, confusion, or disappointment offend you. Harboring offense towards a move of God will only separate you from that move.
An offended heart is a hard heart, and revival won’t touch it until it has repented.
Even if you don’t understand what God is doing, you should not hold offense towards God or towards any of your brothers and sisters in Christ.
God is the God of forgiveness, restoration, and reconciliation. Offense and bitterness work against the heart of God, and therefore rebel against the work of Christ.
If revival happens in a way you don’t understand it, that’s okay. Humble yourself before God and allow Him to work. If you don’t participate in the move of God, you will miss it.
But what if it’s not a genuine move of God? What if there’s deception?
Nobody is perfect. Christians of every denomination and tradition have participated in actions contrary to scripture, even in ways that grieve the Sprit and hurt those the church is supposed to help. But even so, God uses imperfect people to accomplish His will.
What can we do in those cases?
First, look at the fruit. Is Jesus being preached? Is God being glorified?
If so, let’s not be too hard on our brothers and sisters who may interpret scripture or understand God differently than you do.
Second, use scripture as a tool for edification and admonishment, but not for judgement.
Everyone has blind spots, including you. Nobody, no finite human, has the infinite God completely figured out. Be patient with the other believers. Focus on the truth of the gospel that binds you together.
The gospel is one of reconciliation and unity. The Gospel of Jesus Christ transcends cultural, ethnic, and linguistic boundaries.
The miracle of Pentecost is the power of the Holy Spirit uniting people of multiple nations and languages, the ultimate reversal of the Tower of Babel in Genesis.
Now, logically speaking, for an Awakening-level revival to hit America, it would have to transcend denominations and cultures, and it would have to grow in a way that disrupts multiple denominations and traditions, and it’s probably not going to make sense.
But since revival starts in the heart of individuals, it’s up to you to be ready for revival.
I fear the revival may not be as grand as we want it or need it to be because we might not be ready, postured with the right heart.
Many of us—otherwise genuine, obedient Christians—have put on the heart of Jonah.
The Days of Jonah
Most of us fondly remember the story of Jonah. It’s an incredible story of a reluctant prophet.
We remember how God called Jonah to preach to the city of Nineveh. Jonah wanted to go to Tarshish instead, but on his way the ship faced a terrible storm sent by God.
The sailors threw Jonah overboard, and he was swallowed by a large fish. He survived in the fish for three days and nights and after much prayer, the fish vomited him out on land. After that, God called Jonah to Nineveh again, and this time Jonah went and preached a repent-or-die message, and the city repented. Their penitent response to God’s warning was strong, and God decided not to destroy them.
We remember all that, but do you remember what happened next?
Jonah 4 (CSB):
Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious. He prayed to the Lord, “Please, Lord, isn’t this what I said while I was still in my own country? That’s why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster. And now, Lord, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
The Lord asked, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
Jonah left the city and found a place east of it. He made himself a shelter there and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God appointed a plant, and it grew over Jonah to provide shade for his head to rescue him from his trouble. Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant. When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, and it withered.
As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind. The sun beat down on Jonah’s head so much that he almost fainted, and he wanted to die. He said, “It’s better for me to die than to live.”
Then God asked Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
“Yes, it’s right!” he replied. “I’m angry enough to die!”
And the Lord said, “You cared about the plant, which you did not labor over and did not grow. It appeared in a night and perished in a night. So may I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than a hundred twenty thousand people who cannot distinguish between their right and their left, as well as many animals?”
What if I told you the God of Jonah stands in judgement against the American church, who cares more about personal convenience than the salvation of hundreds of thousands of lost ones who don’t know any better?
If we want revival, we need God’s heart first, or else we’ll not be changed by the very revival we were praying for.
After all, revival starts in the heart.
Let’s look closer at Jonah’s story.
He’s angry with God that He would dare spare the evil city of Nineveh. It seems to be a righteous anger, but notice how deep his judgement goes:
“Please, Lord, isn’t this what I said while I was still in my own country? That’s why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster…”
Jonah’s mad because God is merciful. He know’s the heart of God and seems to like himself as more righteous than God.
Jonah, the faithful prophet of God, has the audacity to cast judgement on God’s mercy and compassion.
My question to you: Are you angry? Do you have the spirit of Jonah?
If so, your personal “righteousness” might stand in opposition to the mercy of the very God you claim to serve.
That’s why having God’s heart is so important!
Next, Jonah sulks on the hill above the city, futilely hoping God might destroy the city anyway. Hoping against reason that God would go against His word, His character, and His declared mercy.
Jonah’s cold, obstinate heart only finds solace in the plant that grows to shade him during the heat of the day. When God sends the worm to kill the plant, Jonah is incensed.
He tells God he has a right to care about the plant.
He did not labor for the plant or water the plant, yet he is angry when the plant is killed.
What if, for the American church, the plant is the abundance and prosperity God’s given us? Maybe it’s the favor of living in a “Christian nation,” only for the majority culture to turn against Christianity in recent decades?
In context, the plant was something that comforted Jonah, something that Jonah didn’t plant or work for, and it was something that he took for granted.
When we look at Jonah’s example, we should ask what we’re taking for granted.
By taking the plant for granted, Jonah quickly adopted an entitlement mindset.
When we pray to God, do we act entitled?
Of course, we are to pray expectantly and persistently, and yes we have authority as co-heirs with Christ, but we are also under God’s grace and authority, and He makes all the decisions, and He chooses what to give and when to give it.
Though my church experience has thankfully been free of the “name it and claim it” prosperity gospel, I do know that the attitude of spiritual entitlement is an easy, and much more subtle, trap to fall in to.
You are not God, and God is not required to give you everything you feel entitled to.
Circling back to the topic of revival, I want to reiterate—revival will not look exactly as you imagine it, and it won’t happen in the way you prefer it to happen.
Like John the Baptist in prison questioning Jesus’s messiah credentials after he’d already baptized Jesus and affirmed His messianic identity, we too can get offended or discouraged when things don’t happen as we want them to.
And like Jonah, we can get so worked up over things regarding our own convenience that we miss the city right in front of us.
God’s lesson to Jonah speaks to us today: We should care for lost more than our own convenience!
There are plenty of things to get mad about and worry about, but God’s heart beats most strongly for the lost.
He’s the Father, pacing the floor waiting for his prodigal son to return home.
He’s the Shepherd leaving ninety-nine sheep to find the one.
Yes, He cares for us in all ways, even in the little things, but for us to get the heart of God is for us to understand that He loves people even more.
Revival starts in the heart.
Revival starts in a heart beating in sync with our Heavenly Father.
Revival starts when the heart of Jesus impacts our every decision.
Revival starts with love!
