In the year that King Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 

 

Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings: with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

And one cried unto another, and said Holy , Holy , Holy is the Lord of Hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

And the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 

Then said I, woe is me ! I am undone : because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: formine eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. 

Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hands, which he had taken with the tongue from the altar:

 

And he laid it unto the mouth and said, Lo, this hath touch thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Also, I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here I am, send me.”

 

The man of God had been prophesising for a long time, but then he had a new encounter with Jehovah. Suddenly he shouted, “Woe is me, I am undone, the glory of God revealed to him that ,

1. He is a man of unclean lips.
2. He was dwelling among people of unclean lips.

CERTAIN THINGS HAPPEN AFTER AN ENCOUNTER WITH GOD:

1. A new encounter with Almighty God will expose your sins and your weakness.

2. It will expose the danger in which you are living.

3. It will then lead to repentance like in the case of Isaiah.

4. It will lead to restoration.

5. It will lead to commissioning.

 

When an angel brought a piece of live coal from the altar of God, he used it to touch his lip and he said, now that this has touched your lips, your sins are cleansed and then immediately God spoke, “Who shall we send?, Who shall go for us?” This is commissioning, a call to service.

6. It will lead to revival.

Isaiah responded and said, “Lord, here I am, send me.” This is revival.

 

IMPLICATIONS OF REVIVAL

By implication, when we talk about revival, the one to be revived must have been alive before or hot before but he had become lukewarm or almost cold, so he needed a new encounter with God for him to be fully awake, fully alive and hot for God.

 

For example, in Luke 10:1-17, the disciples had gone out, ministered in twos and had returned in joy with testimonies. but by the time you get to John 20:19, they had already become discouraged, they were already very cold, they did not even want to follow Jesus anymore and so they needed a personal encounter with God.

 

NEED FOR PERSONAL REVIVAL

Individual revival is very important because this is what is going to lead to national revival. Without individual revival, there will not be national revival. In Acts 2:1-4, fire fell on the disciples. They were baptised in the Holy Ghost. They had a new encounter with God. They were all revived and what was the result? A big revival broke out in the nation. (Read Acts 2:41:4:4; 4:32, 5:14). When individuals get revived then the fire will spread and there will be national revival. 

 

Causes of Slumber

Now we said the people to be revived must be people who used to be fully awake but who have fallen asleep. What are the causes of slumber? Almost invariably, people fall asleep either because they have succeeded or have attained a desired goal. They have reached a certain goal they have set for themselves and feel there is no need for struggling anymore, and so they relax and in the process of relaxation, they fall asleep and even begin to snore. In Ephesians 6:13, the Bible warns us that after we have done all things, we are to stand. We are to stand and not sit down. 

 

Philippians 3:13-15 says,

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.

 

I press forward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

 

Let us therefore , as many as be perfect, be thus minded, and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.”

 

Paul says , “I do not count myself as somebody who has attained”.

 

He said, one thing I do, I forget the past and I press forward. When you have attained a goal, you could become very comfortable. You could relax and before you know it, you become idle. And then idleness will lead to indulgence of the flesh and then before you know it trouble, big trouble can come.

 

In 1 Samuel 11:1-4, David was sleeping when Kings were supposed to be at the battlefront. He woke up from his siesta and then went on a stroll on the wall of the palace. That was when he saw the woman who was bathing and that was the beginning of his problems. When he was running from cave to cave, he had no time for adultery. But when he had attained his goal, when he became king and had so many soldiers under him, now there was no need to struggle any more and instead of standing , he slept and got into trouble.

 

SOME MAJOR SIGN TO SHOW YOU NEED REVIVAL

Now, what are the signs that somebody need a revival? These are some of the major signs to show that you need a revival.

#1 SELF-CONTENTMENT

When you feel that you have made it spiritually , you are now a pastor , and in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, you cannot go higher than a pastor , you need a revival. You might say “What else do I want, I have made it. I don’t need a revival”. This is the time you need personal revival. You must stand.

 

#2 LUKEWARMNESS

When you feel lukewarm towards the things of God. When it is time to pray, you are lukewarm. When it is time to worship God, you worship but you do it casually. When you say “Praise the Lord”, they have to wind you two to three times before you really shout Halleluiah.

 

#3 BIBLE STUDY

When you read your bible once in a while or because you have to, you need a revival. In some cases you may even become cold towards God. “He is minding His business and I am minding my own”. According to Revelation 3:15-17, the Bible says:

“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 

 

Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”

 

If any of these describes your situation, you need a revival.

HINDERANCE TO REVIVAL- WRONG FELLOWSHIP

The moment you decide that you need a revival, there are certain hinderances that will come up. The most important hindrance to revival is the wrong fellowship. According to Proverb 27;17, the Bible says “Iron sharpeneth Iron”. In other words, if you are living among those who are already backsliders, how will you know that you are a backslider yourself? In Eccl. 10:10, the Bible says, 2when iron is blunt, then there will be a problem because iron is supposed to sharpen iron and the people that are supposed to sharpen you are blunt themselves.

 

Proverbs 21:16 says that those who live among those who have gone from the path of truth are living in the congregation of the dead. If there is no revival in your congregation, everybody is lukewarm, if you are the only one who is slightly hot among them, very soon you are going to become cold yourself. If you take a piece of hot iron and you drop it in a bucket of cold water, the cold water will boil but what is going to happen to the iron? The iron will get cold because the water is absorbing the heat that the iron has, and very soon the iron and the water will become cold together.

 

DANGERS OF DELAYING REVIVAL

Now what is the danger of avoiding or delaying revival? If you don’t want personal revival quickly or you don’t want it at all, what is the danger? TOTAL DESTRUCTION.

 

“He that being often reproved hardened his neck shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy”

 

The Bible says the one who is often reproved, who hardens his neck, will perish suddenly. So if you feel today that you are not as hot as you used to be, you don’t worship the way you used to, you don’t study the Bible the way you used to, you do not pray the way you used to pray and there is no sign of revival even among the people you worship with, then you better do something about it and the solution is simple. 

 

SOLUTION 

1. You better LISTEN to the voice of God according to Psalm 95:6-8. The Bible says “Today if you hear this voice, harden not your heart”. 

2. REPENT promptly. If as the word is going out, you have heard that you need personal revival, you know that you are no longer where you should be, repent promptly like Peter did in Matthew 29:69-75. As soon as Peter discovered that he had denied his Master, he went out and wept bitterly. This was why he was restored.

 

3. You need to change the Fellowship where you are. If you are the hottest in the place and all the others are lukewarm, don’t let them kill you because Psalm 42:7 says “Deep calleth unto the deep”. It is only the deep that will call to the deep. When you see this brother is running, that sister is flying, and all of them are struggling for the best, then you will be compelled to follow their example. But if there are three of you in a car, the first one is snoring, the second one is dozing, and before you know it, you will be dozing also. 

 

4. Go to God for renewal. When you have done all these, go to the Lord for the fire of revival. Revelations 3:18-19 says if you go to Him, he will revive you. He is willing to revive you.

 

Why don’t you go to Him now if you need revival, you don’t need to bother. But if you know you need revival, go to Him now. 

 

Seek his face.

 

He will revive you.