Revive, Refresh, Renew

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It was a regular custom growing up for us to visit at least a couple churches on New Year’s Eve. We would band together as young believers and walk from one church to the next. Our choices were typically Nairobi Pentecostal Church (Valley Road) and Nairobi Baptist. They were close to each other and each had its own flavor and flair that we did not want to miss. There was a hunger in us to find the flame and together usher in the new year with some sort of revived, refreshed, and renewed spirit. It worked…most of the time.

Growing as a christian, I often find myself at these intersections where I need to see a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit in my life. While I do not need to go to a different church…sometimes, I do need to go to the same church, with the same people, but in pursuit of the same flame I sought as a teenager.

The hunger and pursuit that drove Moses to ask to see His face is the same hunger we desire today. The depth of hunger that drove our biblical heroes to be so deeply enamored by God’s nature is something worth giving our all for. I’m not referring to recklessness and a lack of responsibility. I’m not talking about endless meetings or even necessarily the traditional tent revivals (even though there’s nothing wrong with that). I’m not talking about something that only works for me and my personal faith. I’m not talking about getting people saved (even though that would be great)

I saw it in the eyes of the young people I used to lead as a youth pastor. I saw it with my students when we read through Tommy Tenney’s “God Chasers”. I saw it in myself as I read the historical accounts of “God’s Generals” and again as I watched the documentary on the Azusa street revival recently. I see it every time there’s a major catastrophe that we cannot explain. I see it every time my heart yearns for more. I see it in the eyes and faces of those who have encountered Him personally and have been marked and changed for life by God’s divine nature.

I’m referring to a lifelong hunger and pursuit that will drive us to be more like Jesus yet keep us in the daily grind. I’m talking about a revival so deep that we are set on fire to revive all those we encounter. I’m talking about a refreshing so endless that our cups are always overflowing into the cups of those around us. I’m talking about a renewal so real that we can’t recognize who we were before and neither can those we encounter. This can only come from a well that never runs dry, a fire that never burns out, and a power that’s all consuming.

Revive, refresh, renew…for we are hungry for more. Let us have a fire that never runs out, a flowing river that never dries out, and a constant renewal that never stops transforming us.