Revival is a term that describes the process of bringing to life what was dead. It tells a tale of revitalising and rejuvenation in the life of a believer.

In today’s blog post, we shall center our study on the following key points; 

i. The causes of backslidden, weakness and deadness in faith. 

ii. The importance of revival in a believer’s life.

iii. How God revives his people; the power of restoration and advancement, its roles in a believer’s life. 

By the end of today’s study, we believe that the lukewarm and backslidden believer will be charged with fresh oil of revival to go further and do exploits. 

I] CAUSES OF BACKSLIDDEN, WEAKNESS AND DEADNESS IN FAITH.

When a person loses sight of God, especially a believer, such a person begins the journey to a state of backslidden. As we know, the backslidden believer did not wake up one day and chose to forget his faith. 

Backslidden is mostly caused by a string of events, usually unpleasant, that challenges the faith and belief of a child of God and forces them to backtrack or seek solace in places other than God. Thus beginning their journey to spiritual weakness and deadness. 

For example, a woman who has been believing God for a child, and perhaps, like Sarah, has received a word from God regarding that situation but it appears not forthcoming. 

At a time, she feels more pressure to have her baby and the devil begins to whisper different ideas in her mind, pointing out factors like age, state of the womb, etc. Anything that defies or challenges the promise of God and causes a loss of faith in his word.

When such a woman falls prey to the devil, she seeks her solution outside God’s divine direction and goes into adoption or other viable options available to her, thereby forsaking the faith in God’s ability to do what he has promised. 

Like Sarah, who decided to use her woman servant, Hagar, to ‘help’ God fulfil his promise of a child. Thus giving birth to Ishmael, who in time became an adversary to Isreal, the promised child. Genesis 16:1-15

We can see Sarah’s attempt to ‘help’ God fulfil his promise and how it ended through the verse above.

From the examples above, we can see the patterns that leads to an eventual state of backslidden. A mentality that you can do it without God leads to mistakes, backsliding and spiritual death. 

Note: A church can experience backsliding in its lack of belief or pursuit of the vision handed to them by God. 

For example, when a church whose calling is to reach out to people in the sub-urban areas, and take the gospel by evangelical conferences suddenly decides to stay statutory in its operations. Such a church will not be able to win the souls allocated for them and thus will be a backsliding believer. 

When a song minister decides to open a church and become a pastor without the approval of God, forsaking his God-given ministry and beginning another for his benefit. Such a person will not only be in a state of backsliden but will in effect, endanger the church as whole. 

II] IMPORTANCE OF REVIVAL IN A BELIEVERS LIFE

1. IT BRINGS RENEWAL, JOY, STRENGTH AND LOVE:

The need for a believer to always experience revival in their journey with God cannot be overemphasized. When one is always in a state of revival, that person will be renewed in life and will always have joy, strength, and love for God.

2. IT PRESERVES SALVATION: 

A revived person will be able to keep their faith and belief in the word of God. Read the Bible and engage in spiritual things without compulsion. Leading to a robust relationship with God. 

3. IT MAKES YOU AN INSTRUMENT IN GOD’S HANDS:

A revived person will always be an instrument in God’s hands. Such a person can be a vessel used to revive others and reignite the fire and love for God in the lives of others.

4. A LIGHT AND BLESSING TO THE WORLD:

A person who is revived will be a blessing to the world just like our Lord Jesus. A beacon of light to people, inspiring hope and courage in the lives of others, performing wonders and depopulating the kingdom of hell. 

III] HOW GOD REVIVES HIS PEOPLE: THE POWER OF RESTORATION AND ADVANCEMENT. 

There are many ways in which God revives his people. Through the word of God, we see that God uses signs, wonders, miracles, visitations, etc, to rejuvenate the faith of his people. 

However, in this content, we are diving deep into the power of restoration and advancement as a tool for revival. 

RESTORATION AS A TOOL FOR REVIVAL IN A BELIEVERS LIFE:

Restoration as we know is the recovery of something lost. Be it an asset, wife, or in this context, your unrivalled faith in God. When we lose something dear to us, the direct effect of that loss is sorrow. 

The Bible makes us understand there is Joy in the presence of God and the joy of the Lord is our strength. Nehemiah 8:10 – “for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Sometimes, the devil causes believers to backslide by stealing something dear to them to force them into sorrow in order to exploit that situation and tempt such believers to a state of backsliding, weakness and eventual spiritual death.

We must be alert to withstand the devices of our adversary, the devil, whose goal is to kill, steal and destroy.

John 10:10a – “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:”

For example, the Bible records an account of King David – A man after God’s heart. He went to battle one of the days and came back victorious with his men. Only to find out that an enemy had raided their camp and made away with their wives and children. (1 Samuel 30:1-20)

Through the detailed account of the bible verse above, the reaction of the Valiant men to such loss was that of intense sorrow. Clouded by sorrow from the Loss of their family, they thought to stone David. Basically to commit murder. i.e the beginning of backsliding and lack of faith. 

This is the same for a lot of people. believers who have done exploits during their walk with God and returned home to the loss of a priced possession, and to some, the loss of the Holy Spirit. 

Some people have lost their relationship with God’s spirit, blinded by their results and panicking when the results seize and they are forced to notice the absence of God’s spirit.

All of these things bring sorrow, a deep feeling of loss and grief which can begin the process of backsliding and spiritual death. When the case becomes critical, God in his love and mercy deploys the transformative power of restoration.

Bringing back what was lost and making a statement of his great power. When and Only if you can turn to him for help, restoration and revival. 

Remember, during the time of David, he didn’t sit with his hands folded, or join the others to lose faith in God. He sought God’s counsel and after receiving the directive, he obeyed and was able to recover all that was lost. Thus, leading to a great revival and restoration.

In recent times, King David’s strategy will be to ask God for intervention in the prevailing matter, ask for joy and restoration through prayers, and believe he will answer. Go ahead to do his will, trust him and obey the directive he gives in the place of intimacy and consecration to God. 

Put this in practice and assuredly, you shall be restored, an epic revival will take place in your life, and many shall be saved through you.

ADVANCEMENT AS A TOOL FOR REVIVAL IN A BELIEVER’S LIFE. 

Advancement is another strong factor God uses to bring revival in the life of his people. When you are stagnant, backward, unmoving and in a terrible case of lack of progress in all things (spiritual, physical, ministerial, academics, career, etc, it brings a paralysing feeling of discouragement that can cause a believer to become too familiar, fed up and eventual backsliding in faith. 

Growth is an essential part of life and the lack of faith is fatal to the life of a person, believer and church. On the other hand, lack of growth ministers failure, discontent, low self-esteem, and many other negatives that negate God’s view of us. Forcing the innocent believer into a mind of struggle, pain, loss of faith and other spiritual fruits and virtues. Thus a backslidden person. 

To combat that devilish attack on a believer’s life, God has used advancement, growth and enlarging of Coasts to destroy discouragement and help the average believer to grow in God. 

This could be an advancement of spiritual gifts, fruits, and blessings that make for encouragement, revival, etc. In this, God can draw us back to him and keep us alive in him with joy. 

Note – Sometimes, advancement and progress are withheld to prepare us for the next level by God. However, we cannot ignore the devil’s ploys to keep us from moving forward. 

With that said, you must go to God in prayers and ask him to heal any weakness or deadness in your spiritual life, rescue you from backsliding and let the power of restoration and advancement that brings true revival be activated in your life. 

I pray that God uses this message and rescues you from the cage of backsliding, bringing restoration and advancement in every area of your life through Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Have you ever been in a state of backslidden or have testimonies of how God revived you? Share your experience in the comments! You might be encouraging someone. 

Till next time my friends, Keep the faith. 

Love, Precious.