With many student-led meetings going on around the nation, there has been much talk about revival and what revival is and what it is not. While the Body of Christ might be divided — the Bible is consistent on what revival is.

What is Biblical Revival? What Does It Look Like?

Look no further than at Nehemiah — one of the Old Testament servant leaders and revivalists.

After mobilizing the people of God to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem in only 52 days, Nehemiah turned his administrative skills toward gathering the people of God to celebrate the Lord and their accomplishments together.

In Nehemiah, chapter 9, we see the culmination of all his hard work and in this national gathering — this humble leader, Nehemiah, became a revivalist.

Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads. Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God. (Nehemiah 9:1-3)

After Nehemiah led the people to the Law of the Lord — containing God’s instructions and plans — this leader led them to their faces in repentance.

Nehemiah understood as a leader that there would be no lasting change in the people without true repentance, humility, and renewed minds. So as a leader, he led them to freedom through the path of repentance.

Nehemiah’s Revival Strategy

He moved them to assemble — more specifically around the Word of God.

We are not meant to live alone. Everyone has his or her own part in the Body of Christ, and we need each other to function properly. Isolation leads to loneliness that leads to self-destruction. God created us to be together and to bring our gifts to work alongside each other for the purposes of His Kingdom.

We must unify around the Word of God and allow His truth to mold us all into a family that can impact the world.

They incorporated fasting.

Abstaining from food is not something we enjoy and look forward to — but it is extremely powerful in the believer’s life as we position our hearts to receive from God. This spiritual discipline is so revealing because we see how controlled we are by the flesh. It brings weakness and places us in a posture of acknowledging our need for God. It is also where we can find power from God that we won’t find anywhere else. Seeing our need for God is the first seeds of revival.

The Israelites separated themselves from the foreigners and their worldly ways.

In the story of ancient Israel, they kept running to foreign women, idols, false gods, and everything BUT the God of Israel who cared for and loved them. Nehemiah reminded them of the power of being set apart unto God, and they followed his lead and “separated themselves from all foreigners.”

There is a fine line between being IN the world but not OF the world. God wants us to impact the world, but the only way to do that is to be different in every way — separated unto Him.

They confessed their sins and their iniquities.

Confession is such a freeing exercise because we acknowledge our sins and transgressions before the Lord, and He then has the right to remove them. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman and will not run through the door of our hearts unless He is invited. Confession opens the door.

The children of Israel in this moment before the Lord confessed their sins — and not only that — they confessed their iniquities.

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities…” (Isaiah 53:5)

As I have understood it more through biblical study, transgressions are the breaking of the law and iniquities are the inclinations that we experience based on our families’ heritage or our upbringing. Jesus came to deliver us from both. On the cross He broke the power of transgressions and iniquities over our lives and reconciled us back to Himself.

They went back to the simplicity of devotion — reading the Word and confessions in prayer and worship.

Notice here in Nehemiah 9 that they returned to the simplicity of devotion — reading the Word, and confessing sin in their place of worship.

Revival is Not Complicated — It is Returning to Our First Love

In the book of Acts, we see the first century church live out a simple lifestyle of breaking bread together, devotion to the Word of God, and worship and sharing everything with each other. (Acts 2)

How far have we come from simply walking with Jesus? In 2021, Researcher George Barna surveyed that only 11% of Americans read their Bibles daily.

They remembered the Lord’s story and their part in His story.

The strength that the children of Israel leveraged to separate themselves unto God came not through their own strength but through the reading of God’s Word. This is so important for us to understand — “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” (Romans 10:17)

So many times, we try to clean ourselves up — behavior modification alone – but lasting change can only come from one place: renewing our minds in His Word.

They focused on “who” God is — His faithfulness, His character, His goodness, and His mercy.

The Israelites remembered the Lord’s story and their part in His story. Can you imagine what it was like for the children in the audience of that retelling who had never heard anything like this before? They had never heard about God’s deliverance of the Israelites through the Red Sea, the cloudy pillar by day and the pillar of fire by night.

They laid out the record of God. “You have performed Your words, For You are righteous.” (Nehemiah 9:8b)

They remembered His character — “But You are God, ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in kindness, and do not forsake them.” (Nehemiah 9:17)

Led by their leaders — the Levites and the priests — the people of Israel placed their names on a document before the Lord. They submitted to the call of God on their lives. Nehemiah led them to ultimate surrender before God.

The Simple Elements of Devotion to God

What would happen if we stopped using our energy arguing in the Body of Christ about what revival is and started leading revival through our individual lives, our families, and ministries?

Biblical leadership should encompass leading people into these simple elements of devotion unto God — like Nehemiah did. When we lead like this servant leader, we will look like a revivalist, but we, in essence, are just leading people into real Christianity.

 

Check out the new on-demand video curriculum developed by Bunni Pounds and Christians Engaged on the leadership of Nehemiah. The centuries-old leadership principles of one of the Bible’s most obscure servant leaders could be the solution for America’s current leadership crisis. Get $10 off any of their curriculum packages with the promo code: THESTREAM

Bunni Pounds is President of Christians Engaged. She is a lover of Jesus, former Congressional candidate, sixteen-year political consultant, and preacher of the gospel. Connect with her on Facebook @bunnipoundsTX, Twitter @bunnipounds, or Instagram @bunnipounds.