What gives birth to a rivival is spiritual awakening. Spiritual Awakening can be defined as one or more experiences both physical and spiritual, that creates within us an alertness, a higher consciousness, mental awareness, truth and reality, convictions, which transcends our ordinary senses and self beliefs. Romans 13:11, “Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed”.
Spiritual Awakening removes spiritual Limitations and enables us to receive the power and refining fire of God. The power and refining fire of God comes to purify, validate and empower us. Spiritual Awakening comes through encounters. Encounters through the word of God, physical and spiritual experiences, dreams and visions etc. The primary purpose of spiritual awakening is rebirth and alignment into God’s will and divine purposes for our lives. 1 Thessalonians 5:6, “So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober”.
What are the 5 stages of spiritual awakening?
1. Awareness: A need for change
2. Thorough Examination:
3. Admission of our limitations:
4. Seeking God:
5. Submitting to God’s will:
Reasons for Spiritual Awakening in us:
1. Enlightenment- Knowledge, wisdom and understanding.
2. Reformation – Positive changes
3. Development – Spiritual Growth
4. Transformation – Rebukes and Corrections.
5. Elevation – Equipped for God’s use.
What Gives Birth to Spiritual Awakening wakening?
1. Love : Realisation of God of love, His words and precepts. Matthew 22:36-40. “‘Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ He replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.
1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, have fervent and unfailing love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Example: David’s love for God and His commands. Psalm 119:97, “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long”.
2. Genuine Repentance: II Chronicles 7:14 “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land”. Example: David repented wholeheartedly after Prophet Nathan rebuked Him unbehalf of the Lord. Take not your Holy Spirit from me said David in Psalm 51.
3. Deep Hunger and Thirst for God’s divine presence: You become a seeker of God in spirit and in truth. Psalm 42, 1- 2: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God”.
Eg. David desired God’s presence as the deer pants for the water. Psalm 42:1-3
4. Obedience to God and His word: 1 Samuel 15:22 “And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams”.
Example: Jesus obeyed God even unto death on the Cross of Calvary. Luke 22:42, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine be done”.
5. Purity of heart: Holiness and Righteousness: Psalm 24:3-4, “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god”.
Example: Moses seeing God and prevailed in Exodus 33:11, “Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”.
6. Sacrifice : Desiring to be, and becoming a burning and pleasing sacrifice unto God. Hebrews 12:28, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe”. Psalm 51:17, “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
Example: Paul described himself as a bond servant of God. Romans 1:1 “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God”. Acts 21:12-13, “When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
7. Destiny and Divine Callings: The person whom God has destined to use for His divine purposes, will inevitably be used by God through any means. Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations”. Example: Paul, Samuel, Jeremiah divine callings to fulfil God’s mandate on the earth. 2 Timothy 1:10, “He has saved us and called us to a holy life — not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace”.
God bless you!