Revival Series Part 1

 by Jennifer A. Miskov, Ph.D. Revival Historian

*This was written before the 2020 lockdown and recent Asbury Revival outbreaks and is now a chapter in my book Sustain the Flame: Secrets to Living Saturated in God’s Presence and Holy Fire.

We hear the word “Revival” thrown around a lot these days, but what really is revival? In part one of these series, we will lay the framework for defining this term before going deeper into the realities that revival is only just the beginning and starting point, not the end all.

Semantics

Looking purely at semantics and the Scriptures to begin with, the term “revive” is used 23 times in the Old Testament in the New King James Version. It comes from the Hebrew word חָיָה châyâh which means “to live, to revive, to keep, leave, or make alive, to give life, quicken, recover, repair, restore to life, save, be whole.”[i] Notice the essence of staying alive once someone has been revived.

The first time the word revive is used in the Bible is in Genesis 45:27 when Jacob, who already grieved the loss of his son Joseph whom he thought was dead, realized that he was alive. It was then that his spirit was revived.[ii] In 1 Kings 17:22, the word goes beyond reviving hope of one’s spirit to mean resurrecting a physical human life. Here we see that Elijah prayed for a dead child who was brought back to life.[iii] Then in 2 Kings 13:21, the word was again used to describe one who was physically dead returning back to life when his body was thrown in Elisha’s grave.[iv]

The word revive is used the most in Psalms at 14 times and especially throughout Psalm 119. The Psalmist cries out for God to revive him according to His Word, His lovingkindness, His justice, and even His judgments. He also asks God to revive him in His way and His righteousness. There is also a turning back to God, deliverance from great troubles, and a hunger to be revived so that God’s people may rejoice in Him once again.[v]

In Isaiah, we discover a God who revives the spirit of the humble and the heart of the contrite ones. In Habakkuk, there is a desire for God to revive and make known His works of old once again.[vi] And don’t forget the revivals that happened under Kings Asa, Hezekiah, and Josiah along with many other personal revivals that took place in people’s lives throughout Scripture.

In the New Testament, in all other translations included, nowhere was there an equivalent of this word used. This could possibly be because the church in the New Testament didn’t need revival because they were already fully alive and living it. Persecution many times proves to help along these lines of staying burning hot in our love for Christ.

Etymology

When we look deeper into the etymology of how this word has developed over the centuries, we see that roots for revive come from the Old French word revivre (10c.) and directly from the Latin word revivere which is translated “to live again.”[vii] By the 1560s, the word revive had the sense of “returning to a flourishing state” or of feelings or activities “beginning to occur again.”[viii] In the 1650s, revival meant the “act of reviving after decline or discontinuance.” At the essence of the word, revival is the call to live again.[ix] What has since died and been forgotten, needs to become awakened once again.  

In the 1660s there was a unique take on this term as it was used for “the bringing back to the stage of a play which has not been presented for a considerable time.”[x] Might it be time for an encore in the platform of Christianity to welcome the Holy Spirit back to take center stage once again? In the early 1700s, it is believed that New England Puritan pastor Cotton Mather was one of the firsts to connect this term to religion. In one of his writings in 1702, he connected the term revival with religious awakening in the community.[xi] By 1818, the term revival was used to describe “enthusiastic religious meetings (often by Methodists) meant to inspire revival.” A few years before this in 1812, the term Revivalist was being used as “one who promotes or leads a religious revival.”[xii]

Exploring Paradigms for Religious Revival

Moving beyond semantics now into the study of revival history, there are various perspectives on religious revivals by both practioners and revival historians. For some, revival only happens within the church, and for others, it’s when the world is awakened to Christ as well. Some see revival as something that we should be living in every second of the day while others see it as episodic moves of God.[xiii] Some see it coming as a result of prayer while others see it only as a sovereign act of God. While there could be a whole separate book on this subject alone, I present a small snapshot of a few of the varying perspectives below.[xiv]

Charles G. Finney (1792-1875), known as the father of modern revivalism, believed that we very much play a role in awakening the church and bringing sinners to repentance as led by God. He saw a need for revival to happen periodically to wake up the church because it so regularly became stagnant. He saw revival as “nothing else than a new beginning of obedience to God.”[xv] He compared revival to a crop of wheat and emphasized that God uses means to cultivate both. Finney believed that if the fire was kept burning in the church, there would have been no need for revival, but unfortunately, he saw that was rarely the case.[xvi] About revival, he wrote:

I AM TO SHOW WHAT A REVIVAL IS. It is the renewal of the first love of Christians, resulting in the awakening and conversion of sinners to God. In the popular sense, a revival of religion in a community is the arousing, quickening, and reclaiming of the more or less backslidden church and the more or less general awakening of all classes, and insuring attention to the claims of God.

It presupposes that the church is sunk down in a backslidden state, and a revival consists in the return of a church from her backslidings, and in the conversion of sinners.[xvii]

Martin Lloyd-Jones described revival as “the outpouring of the Spirit over and above his usual, ordinary work; this amazing, unusual, extraordinary thing, which God in his sovereignty and infinite grace has done to the Church from time to time during the long centuries of her history.” [xviii] Christmas Evans (1766-1838), an influential one-eyed Welsh Baptist preacher said that “Revival is God bending down to the dying embers of a fire that is just about to go out, and breathing into it, until it bursts again into flame.” Duncan Campbell of the Hebrides Revival said that “Revival is a community saturated with God.”[xix]

In his study on Pentecostalism in The Everlasting Gospel, William Faulpel sees revival as having a seven-stage process: conception, gestation, labor, birth, growth, reproduction, and maturity.[xx] He compares it to the life cycle paralleling the birth of a new baby. Mark Stibbe from the U.K. defines revival as “a season ordained by God in which the Holy Spirit awakens the Church to evangelise the lost, and the lost to their dire need of Jesus Christ.”[xxi] He distinguishes renewal as confined to the Church while revival as something that reaches beyond the church and into the world.[xxii] He likens renewal to a stream and revival to that same river becoming a “flood that disturbs boulders and overflows banks.”[xxiii]

Like Stibbe, I would also say there are special seasons, windows of opportunity, or kairos moments, where the Spirit is at work to awaken and revive the Church.[xxiv] At the turn of the twentieth century, revivals were springing up all around the world in this sacred and set apart kairos season of time.[xxv] Revival broke out in Wales in 1904-05, in India in 1905, and then in Los Angeles in 1906 at Azusa Street amongst other worldwide moves near the same time. The early twentieth century was pregnant with revival. There was something anointed, set apart, and special about that kairos moment that these saints were able to recognize and tap into. The result was revival that is still impacting us over a hundred years later.

Defining Revival

As we seek to define revival here, I would say that revival is when the fire of first love for Jesus is re-ignited in the hearts of believers. As a result, their lives are transformed, and the kingdom of God is expanded all around them in various ways that impact, shape, and reform culture and society.

Revival is for Christians whose fire has waned. If someone has never encountered God’s love for themselves, they can’t necessarily be re-awakened to it. It is only when the fire of first love has been snuffed out that one needs revival. Once that original flame is re-ignited, the awakened ones naturally influence those around them, and many times others are brought to salvation as a result.

Ultimately, revival is becoming fully alive to Jesus again. And it’s important to understand that revival is not the end goal. It is only just the beginning.

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P.S. Before you completely disagree with me, wait to read Part 2 of this series “Revival is Just the Beginning.” Both of these pieces have been written before the 2020 lockdown and recent Asbury Revival outbreaks and are featured in chapters of my new Sustain the Flame: Secrets to Living Saturated in God’s Presence and Holy Fire. See Sustain the Flame ecourse for a whole teaching on the topic of what revival is and how to steward it.

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NOTES

[i] Strong's H2421 https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h2421/nkjv/wlc/0-1/ “to live, whether literally or figuratively; causatively, to revive:—keep (leave, make) alive, certainly, give (promise) life, (let, suffer to) live, nourish up, preserve (alive), quicken, recover, repair, restore (to life), revive, (God) save (alive, life, lives), surely, be whole.”

[ii] “But when they told him all the words which Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived.” –Genesis 45:27 (NKJV)

[iii] “Then the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived.” –1 Kings 17:22 (NKJV)

[iv] “So it was, as they were burying a man, that suddenly they spied a band of raiders; and they put the man in the tomb of Elisha; and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.” –2 Kings 13:21.

[v] Psalm 71:20 is a call to be delivered from great troubles.Psalm 80:18 is a reviving in order to turn back to God.

Psalm 85:6 says, “Will You not revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You?” There is purpose to praise in the reviving work. We see in Psalm 119:25,107, 154 that one can be revived according to His word: “Revive me according to Your word (119:25).” Psalm 119:37 we can be revived in His way: “Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things,  And revive me in Your way.” Psalm 119:40 we can be revived in His righteousness: “Behold, I long for Your precepts; Revive me in Your righteousness.” Psalm 119:88 and 159 we can be revived according to His lovingkindness: “Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth.” In Psalm 119:149, we can be revived according to His justice: “Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness; O LORD, revive me according to Your justice.” Psalm 119:156 we can be revived according to His judgments. “Great are Your tender mercies, O LORD; Revive me according to Your judgments.” Psalm 138:7 when in trouble we can be revived: “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand. Against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me.” Psalm 143:11 we can be revived for His name’s sake: “Revive me, O LORD, for Your name's sake! For Your righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble.”

[vi] Isaiah 57:15 (NKJV) says, “For thus says the High and Lofty One, Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” And then in Habakkuk 3:2, “O LORD, I have heard Your speech and was afraid; O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy.”

[vii] https://www.etymonline.com/word/revival

[viii] https://www.etymonline.com/word/revival

[ix] According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word revival can mean: “1: an act or instance of reviving: the state of being revived: such as a: renewed attention to or interest in something b: a new presentation or publication of something old c (1): a period of renewed religious interest (2): an often highly emotional evangelistic meeting or series of meetings 2: restoration of force, validity, or effect (as to a contract).”

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/revival Accessed December 11, 2022

[x] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/revival

[xi] Collin Hansen and John Woodbridge, A God-Sized Vision: Revival Stories that Stretch and Stir (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), 31.

[xii] https://www.etymonline.com/word/revival

[xiii] Roger Finke and Rodney Stark, The Churching of America 1776-1990: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1992), 92. According to Roger Finke and Rodney Starke, while “all organizations need renewals or revivals of member commitment, it is also true that these must be episodic. People can’t stay excited indefinitely.” Most people don’t have the capacity to remain in a heightened state of being revived.

[xiv] Prayer, surrender, consecration, and repentance many times precede personal and corporate revival. In all my research on revival up to this point (over two decades), I have noticed that hunger was the one constant that drew people to seek more of God in desperation, which resulted in revival. Prayer seems to regularly play a pivotal role in this. It’s not ours to determine how God will move, but it is ours to prepare, position, partner, pray, and invite Him to move in and through us as agents of revival. We must be a people who step out in faith to reach the lost as if their salvation depended upon us. We must be a people who immediately respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit and allow Him to use our lives however He wishes because we are motived by love for Jesus.

[xv] Charles Grandison Finney (1835). Lectures on Revivals of Religion p.14

[xvi] “There is so little principle in the church, so little firmness and stability of purpose, that unless the religious feelings are awakened and kept excited, counter worldly feeling and excitement will prevail, and men will not obey God. They have so little knowledge, and their principles are so weak, that unless they are excited, they will go back from the path of duty, and do nothing to promote the glory of God. The state of the world is still such, and probably will be till the millennium is fully come, that religion must be mainly promoted by means of revivals. How long and how often has the experiment been tried, to bring the church to act steadily for God, without these periodical excitements. Many good men have supposed, and still suppose, that the best way to promote religion, is to go along uniformly, and gather in the ungodly gradually, and without excitement. But however sound such reasoning may appear in the abstract, facts demonstrate its futility. If the church were far enough advanced in knowledge, and had stability of principle enough to keep awake, such a course would do; but the church is so little enlightened, and there are so many counteracting causes, that she will not go steadily to work without a special interest being awakened.

As the millennium advances, it is probable that these periodical excitements will be unknown. Then the church will be enlightened, and the counteracting causes removed, and the entire church will be in a state of habitual and steady obedience to God.”

Charles G. Finney, Lectures of Revivals on Religion (New York, NY: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1868), 9

https://www.ccel.org/ccel/f/finney/revivals/cache/revivals.pdf

[xvii] Charles G. Finney, Lectures of Revivals on Religion (New York, NY: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1868), 12

https://www.ccel.org/ccel/f/finney/revivals/cache/revivals.pdf

[xviii] Martin Lloyd-Jones, Revival (Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 1987), 199 in Collin Hansen and John Woodbridge, A God-Sized Vision: Revival Stories that Stretch and Stir (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), 35.

[xix] Duncan Campbell, The Lewis Awakening, p. 14-15

[xx] William Faupel, The Everlasting Gospel: The Significance of Eschatology in the Development of Pentecostal Thought. Journal of Pentecostal Theology Supplement Series, ed. John Christopher Thomas, Rickie D. Moore, and Steven J. Land, vol. 10. (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996).

[xxi] Mark Stibbe, Revival,The Thinking Clear Series, ed. Clive Calver (London: Monarch Books, 1998), 14, 223.

[xxii] Mark Stibbe, Revival,The Thinking Clear Series, ed. Clive Calver (London: Monarch Books, 1998), 17.

[xxiii] Mark Stibbe, Revival,The Thinking Clear Series, ed. Clive Calver (London: Monarch Books, 1998), 49.

[xxiv] Jennifer A. Miskov, “Coloring Outside the Lines: Pentecostal Parallels with Expressionism. The Work of the Spirit in Place, Time, and Secular Society?”, Journal of Pentecostal Theology 19 (2010), 94-117.

[xxv] Additionally, I introduce “sacred time” into this discussion as a “special season when revivals, awakenings, and stirrings of the Holy Spirit are concentrated and occur in higher frequency than in other times… when people all around the world experience heightened manifestations of God’s presence” at the same time. Jennifer A. Miskov, “Coloring Outside the Lines: Pentecostal Parallels with Expressionism. The Work of the Spirit in Place, Time, and Secular Society?”, Journal of Pentecostal Theology 19 (2010), 115.

by Jennifer A. Miskov, Ph.D.  

Ankeny, Iowa

October 1-2, 2022

October 1, 2022 I found myself at Heartland Church in Iowa for Fan the Flame Women’s conference (2 Timothy 1:6-8) revival fire day conference. So much prayer, fasting, and expectation preceded this beautiful assignment. I was invited earlier this year to speak at the women’s conference at Heartland church by Kate McGovern. When she was praying for who to invite, she felt God told her to watch Sid Roth. When she did, it just happened to be the episode I was on! The very next day, a beautiful one named Sandra who I had helped with her book project years ago via Writing in the Glory called Kate to suggest if she hadn’t found a speaker yet to consider inviting me. That was crazy confirmation. Immediately, when I got the invitation to go to Iowa for a revival fire women’s conference, I felt God all over it and knew deep within my spirit this was not just a nice little ministry trip, this was a God ordained and orchestrated assignment from heaven. As our team of intercessors and theirs too, prayed and fasted leading into the event, we all felt there would be a birthing and also saw that the fire of God would mark people.

Episode on Sid Roth where I share about the Welsh Revival and Azusa Street Revival

The first meeting on Saturday, I invited the women to spend some time simply waiting upon the Holy Spirit. As we “dove into the River” of His presence and waited upon Him, He began to move in power. People were weeping, others having birthing pangs as if in labor, some singing out prophetically, and others experiencing freedom simply by taking the time to hear what God wanted to say to them. After a good time of waiting upon the Holy Spirit, I proceeded to share about a teenage girl named Florrie Evans who loved the Lord Jesus Christ with all her heart and boldly proclaimed her love in a 1903 meeting in Wales. Her sold out and personal devotion to Jesus was the match that lit the revival fire that would later spread to and ignite a young coal miner named Evan Roberts who in turn led the Welsh Revival (1904-05). During and after sharing about the Welsh Revival people came up to the altar to lay their lives down and welcome the fire of God to burn in them.

I was so blessed to have Sara and Christy from School of Revival and Amy from Destiny House come all the way to Iowa to partner together in helping birth this church and region into a greater realm of the Holy Spirit. After the first meeting, Christy shared

I've had many instances of people being ignited with fire when I laid hands on them but something new took place this time; women would instantly start weeping with the laying on of hands and I would literally see Jesus over them cupping their hearts, their faces, their dreams, their visions, their families and releasing his Fatherly love so preciously that I started weeping as well. It was the most touching experience I've had while ministering. It was a love for his daughters that was like giving the gift of a Father's blessing to be fully known and fully loved in the purest form possible so that they could burn brighter for him. 

In the morning session, while standing in the back of the room after Jen took time to wait on the Holy Spirit I saw the Spirit sweep across the room touching people and releasing them from restricting lies and affirming them of their worthiness to be loved. So much love being released to fan the flame of the fire that these women were carrying with their hunger for more of Jesus. And then, at the end of the 1st session, I was led to just start prophesying to women's hurts with love from the Father. That He saw their pain, disappointments, discouragement and hopelessness but he was giving them the ability to move past it and receive the truth of how he saw them. More tears and so many redeeming hugs!! Hearts were getting filled with the spring of life like Jesus did for the Samaritan women at the well in John 4.

In the second session, we opened it up for people to share testimonies of what God had done earlier so we could all celebrate and give Him glory. In Revelation 19:10, it says that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Celebrating what God did in the past prophesies and releases breakthrough for Him to do it again! Here are a few of the testimonies that were released:

• One woman who laid her life down at the altar, was healed of mental health issues.

• Another had her voice restored to her where she had previously felt shut down. God revealed that He had always heard her!

• One woman felt fire as she laid at the altar and deep pain from her past was healed.

• Another testified that she believed she was healed from ovarian cancer.

• One saw a vision from the Lord of her dancing with Him and Him restoring her first dance.

• One woman who had been devastated by loss of many in her family within the last year was completely delivered and set free from fear, anxiety, death, and oppression from the enemy. Her countenance was visibly different the rest of the conference. 

The evening session that same night was open to men, women, and children. After waiting on the Holy Spirit and sharing about the Azusa Street Revival, God came with His power from on high and baptized people with the Holy Spirit. Many people were trembling under the mighty hand of God, on the floor, shaking, feeling electricity. God was empowering people to live boldly and become burning ones for Him. Saturday night was a commissioning where many were set apart and marked.

I got asked that night to speak at church Sunday morning by Pastor Dave who is an incredible intercessor and has a passion for revival. I felt so welcomed by him and his team all weekend long! I was so honored to continue in the flow of what the Holy Spirit was pouring out in the region. On Sunday morning, we continued in the momentum of what God had been pouring out and began by waiting upon the Holy Spirit and then diving deep into the Ezekiel 47 River. The altar was full again of those ready to dive all the way in. I found out that while we were fully immersed in the presence of the Holy Spirit and just lingering in His presence and glory, one man’s neck was fully healed. I later got a testimony that one person’s mom had come to church that day, was overcome, and weeping in the presence of God, went to the altar. She wept for about an hour there, encountered Jesus and received her prayer language!

The hunger in that region and preparation of the soil by prayer made it ever ready for a fresh wave of revival. Please continue to pray that every seed that got planted and every encounter, revelation, move of God remains and only increases in their fire and devotion for Jesus. They are perfectly positioned for a mighty move of God to spread from the heartland like wild fire. They’ve experienced revival in the past and are a praying church, positioned to steward a fresh move of the Spirit. Pray for more oil and that the fire was ignited afresh spreads across the land.

by Jennifer A. Miskov, Ph.D.

I had the opportunity to minister in Washington this past weekend (June 24-25, 2022) and wow! The hunger, expectation, and way they prepared the ground with intercession was powerful. God moved in such a marking way during the Friday night revival meeting. There was one moment I will never forget as long as I live.

After worship, I got invited up to speak. My teaching never got released in its original form because God showed up and released it in His manifested presence and power instead. As we dove into the river of the Holy Spirit and just waited upon God, He began to stir the waters. His presence descended upon us. We were not hasty to move from that place. We remained there, fixing our eyes upon Him and leaning in to see what was on heaven’s agenda for that night. While we were waiting, praying, I had a prophetic word for someone who I later found out was a pioneering leader in that region.

Even though I did not formally give the message I had prepared, the call nevertheless remained the same. I’ve always been struck by the Moravian missionaries who were willing to lay down their rights for the sake of the Gospel. Some even sold themselves into slavery so they could reach the slaves for Christ. Having several close friends who are a part of the persecuted church and hearing firsthand stories of what is happening around the world now as well as recently finishing our School of Revival intensive on the theme of Martyrdom, I felt compelled to do something I had never done before. I was in the presence of a people whom God had prepared and made ready. He was inviting, even just one, who would lay down his or her life and be willing to be martyred for the call of Christ. Technically, this is the call of every Christian when we choose to surrender our lives to Christ. But there was a weightiness and in the presence of God and river of the Holy Spirit, I asked if there might just be one who would be willing to lay down their life for the cause of Christ no matter what the cost.

I believe God is preparing the western church for persecution that we haven’t yet faced. We must be ready. So, as I was sharing about this call and encouraging people not to make this decision hastily but to really weigh the cost before responding, a young mother who had a baby strapped on her chest RAN from the back to the altar trembling under the mighty hand of God. The fire and anointing was increasing upon her there at the altar. Following her courageous act of devotion to Jesus, others soon rushed to the altar to lay down their lives in surrender, willing to pay any price.

This is the fearless mother, Stephanie, who ran to the front with her baby the night before this. Such a radical pioneer Jesus lover.

If we can get to the point where we would be willing to die for Christ, I believe the way we live would look a lot different. My friends who are literally on the front lines and experiencing some of the most horrific persecution you can imagine, they live differently. When you are on the front lines, your perspective, and the way you live your life is never casual or compromising in any way. You literally are depended upon Jesus for your very life.

All that to say, something beautiful and marking happened in Washington this past weekend that I will never forget. I am so grateful to God for crashing in and so moved and humbled by the response of these laid down lovers. I can’t wait to see how God will use their absolute yielded devotion to Him to release His love, fire, and glory to this world.

I believe this testimony is a prophetic call to many more hungry ones around the world who might be willing to lay down their rights for the sake of unity and even their lives for the cause of Christ. If that’s you, I encourage you to lay prostrate before the Lord as an act of total surrender and ask for Him to send His fire upon your life. Lay down all your rights. Ask Him to come and fill you with His Holy Spirit. Then yield quickly to the leading of Holy Spirit and see how God will use your laid down life for His glory for such a time as this.

“Embracing the call to martyrdom is not so much about aiming to die well as much as it is about aiming to love well.” –Dalton Thomas, author of Unto Death: Martyrdom, Missions, and the Maturity of the Church 

“If you have not discovered something you are willing to die for, then you are not fit to live.” –Martin Luther King Jr.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” – Romans 12:1 written by the Apostle Paul, who was later martyred for his faith

Learn more about or join our next Martyrdom School of Revival module HERE

P.S. I also got to stay on a farm, ride a horse named Jack, and enjoy the random “heat wave” they like to call it of perfect sunny Southern California weather I brought with me to Washington. Super grateful to Tracy for inviting me to be a part of what God is doing in her community, Tina and Gateway family for welcoming me, Dawnelle for her warm hospitality, and my incredible team of School of Revival and Destiny House family that came together to help birth a new thing there. Sara, Amy, and Tracy so grateful for you coming out to partner together. Such a special time!

2021 A Year of HARVEST

by Jennifer A. Miskov, Ph.D., founding Director of School of Revival

We are in a Kairos Moment

We are in a kairos moment and have an opportunity to reap a radical harvest for the Kingdom of God in this season. Before we dive into the meaning of harvest, let’s first understand the importance of this unique kairos moment we find ourselves in post 2020. Kairos is one of the Greek words in the New Testament for “time.” It is translated as “the right time,” “a set or proper time, opportunity, due season, short time” or “a fixed and definite time, the time when things are brought to crisis, the decisive epoch waited for.”

The following Scriptures below use the word kairos to describe time.

“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Mark 1:15

Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time? Luke 12:56

So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. Romans 11:5

I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2

Seizing the day, Harvest time, Esther being born for such a time as this, and us stepping into this moment we were born for all tie into the theme of a kairos moment of time. Another way to describe kairos time could be to recognize that it is a special Window of Opportunity. There is an anointing upon a kairos season in a heightened way. More is available, possible, and accessible during that time than in others.

Window of Opportunity

The Israelites were freed from bondage in Egypt with radical signs and wonders, including watching the Red Sea part before their eyes (Exodus 14). They were led by a cloud by day, and fire by night. Then they had a kairos moment, a window of opportunity to take their Promised Land. Joshua and Caleb came back with a positive faith-filled report (Numbers 14). The other ten spies spread fear throughout the camp because they chose to focus on the circumstances rather than see things through God’s perspective. The Israelites then had a choice in this window of opportunity. They could immediately respond to God’s invitation to take the land, keeping their eyes on Him and trusting in Him, or not.

Instead of stepping into all that God had for them in this unique and special kairos moment in time, the Israelites partnered with fear and hesitated to move forward. Then, when they finally later attempted to obey God’s command, that window of opportunity had closed, and it was too late. Their delayed obedience was actually disobedience. A whole generation still walked with God in the desert, however they missed out on stepping into the fullness of their destinies. Rather than enter the Promised Land, which was their truest destiny, a whole generation died off in the desert. They didn’t recognize the kairos moment they were in. There was a tragic loss. They were never given that opportunity again.

What if we are in a moment where God is inviting us to lift up our eyes to see, respond, reap, and receive the harvest? If we fail to move where He is leading, will we have to painfully wait and watch as our generation dies off before God can raise up a new remnant to swiftly respond to His leading for such a time as this?

The Harvest

Though Scriptures are timeless and speak to us on a daily basis, there are some times when certain words are highlighted and become rhema words to speak directly into our time and situations. I believe that Jesus’ words about the harvest are important for what God wants to do in 2021 and are now words for us today in the unique kairos moment we find ourselves in post 2020. Jesus says,

Don't you have a saying, ‘It's still four months until harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.”  John 4:35 (NIV)

“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Luke 10:2 (NIV)

The word used for harvest in the verses above comes from the Greek word therismos which means “harvest” or “the act of reaping.” Figuratively, it means the act of gathering people into the kingdom of God and it occurs 13 times in 8 verses. This word comes from therizō which means to “reap” found in Galatians 6:9 that says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (see also 2 Corinthians 9:6). The word for reap comes from primary word theros which means “to heat” or “summer” as used in Mark 13:28 that says, “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.”

Heat, reap, summer, all build toward the harvest. In other words, turn up the heat, the summer season is coming to reap a bountiful harvest.

Kairos and Harvest

There is also another word used for Harvest (Karpos) which means Fruit and is used 66 times in 56 verses. It is interesting to note that there are several consistencies of kairos time being linked to the harvest or even being translated as harvest time within both uses of the word for harvest.

When the harvest (karpos) time (kairos) approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit (karpos). Matthew 21:34 (NIV)

At harvest time (kairos) he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit (karpos) of the vineyard. Luke 20:10 (NIV)

Let both grow together until the harvest (therismos). At that time (kairos) I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn. Matthew 13:30 (NIV)

Might there be a specific God appointed time to bring in the harvest like it says in Matthew 13:30? Might God have been waiting for a fullness of time to bring in a billion-soul harvest with one concentrated sweep into the Kingdom? What if Mark 4:29 is a now word for us today?

“As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” Mark 4:29

What if our world post 2020 is ripe, ready to be reaped because the harvest has now come?

It’s Harvest Time in this Kairos Moment

God has entrusted us with this unique season, this kairos moment in history, to bring in and steward this ripe and incoming harvest. He has entrusted us to carry hope to the hopeless, peace to the fear stricken, and healing to the brokenhearted. He has given us the opportunity to extend the invitation to share the love and transformative power of Jesus with the world in a time when there’s no other hope. He has repositioned us to be in perfect alignment for what He’s pouring out all around us, His new wine in increasing measures and a harvest of souls like never before.

There is a time for sowing and a time for reaping. I believe the openness to the Gospel following the 2020 pandemic and shut down will be greater than in seasons before. There is a new grace and a fresh invitation to the Gospel now more than ever. This is a time set apart for harvesting. Though I don’t know much about farming, I do know there is a time for sowing and time for reaping. And if the harvesters don’t collect the fruit during harvest time, it could die off.

Because the revival we’ve been praying for our whole lives is imminently upon us and is already here, there is a need to position ourselves to steward the incoming billion soul harvest well. We can only do this with and in family. We don’t have much more time to prepare our nets before they will be nearly busting at the seams beyond full capacity.

We are in a Kairos moment. 

The Harvest is ripe.

Get your nets ready.

Everyone has an important part to play in this incoming harvest

Some of you had a tough year and need to spend some time in God’s presence and with healthy people allowing Him to heal and restore your soul so that you will be able to pour out from a place of overflow. Also realize that in the act of loving others, your healing will spring forth (Isaiah 58). Others are ready to dive in and will begin reaping the harvest. Still others will be needed to steward and disciple the incoming harvest in family. Some will be able to invest into the harvest at this time. A few great ministries already on the front lines in bringing in the harvest that I know personally, support, and believe in are Heidi & Rolland Ministries, Iris Global, Parker & Jessi Green, and Saturate OC. Ask the Holy Spirit how He wants you to partner with this incoming harvest and then take some risks in this kairos moment and see what God does. You might be surprised by how much He will use your one little act of faith in this unique season.

5 Practical keys to position yourself to steward the incoming harvest

• Remain full of the oil of His presence. Cultivate intimacy with Jesus so you are full of love and immediately willing to respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit

• Get connected with a burning tribe of Jesus lovers so that you can stay burning and welcome the incoming harvest into a family. I would love to have you join me and the School of Revival family!

• Write down a list of people of at least 5 people you can begin praying for

• Be intentional to reach out to love, share your testimony with, offer to pray for some on your list

• Reach out to others you know who are already bringing in the harvest, sow into them, serve them, partner with them, learn from them

You are born for such a time as this!

Blessing your new year to be filled with the presence of Jesus in increasing measures, surrounded with a family of burning ones to inspire you toward your destiny, and supernatural faith to step out and fulfill every good work God has destined for you to complete. All for His glory!

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Join us in our upcoming School of Revival 301 on the theme of The Harvest

For those who want to grow in this area of both reaping, gathering, and stewarding the incoming harvest, join our School of Revival family as we dive deeper into this theme together with activations. Connect with other burning ones from around the world in a small group where you are seen, known, celebrated, and activated to fulfill your God-given destiny from a place of Holy Spirit fire, intimacy with Jesus, and connection with family. Only about 20 spots left. Hope to see you there!