A Glimpse of Revival

On February 8th, after a seemingly normal chapel service at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, a group of students stayed around to pray and then people just started showing up. Ten days later, this was what I experienced as I approached the campus:

You could hear the thousands of voices before you could see them. The low rumble of the hymn coming from the chapel and the lawn beyond it could be heard before you got anywhere near the crowd. Upon rounding the front of the building, it was hard not to stop in your tracks and control the tears that welled up automatically. Thousands of people – all different ages, races, ethnicities – pouring their hearts out to Jesus through song. The lawn was full and there were lines that were miles long waiting to get into the chapel where it all started. It was obvious that everyone there was there for one reason: Jesus. People were crying, singing, dancing, and praying. The students inside the chapel, with just an acoustic guitar, piano, and a singular drum, led the worship with whatever song the Spirit put on their hearts. There were no words on a screen or fancy background or cool lights, just praise in its simplest form. All the other things weren’t necessary. No one was there for a show, they were there for their Savior. Songs would break out not just in English but in languages of every person there. Some people had traveled thousands of miles to get there, not just from other states but from other countries. People were being prayed over by others they had never even met before, but it didn’t matter how well you knew the person because prayer doesn’t depend on people it depends on God.

Inside the chapel, the feeling was overwhelming. There was so much love and devotion being poured out from every single person. Healing, transforming, repenting, renewing, reviving are all words that could be used to describe what was happening in the spirits of the people that were present. People were being torn apart for Jesus.

A question someone asked was, “What makes this different from a regular church service each week?” I think the answer is that this was not planned or organized or promoted, it was not convenient for people to go, there was no time limit and it never dwindled but just grew larger. The difference is that people there had to want to be there, they had to make an effort to be there. They had to be hungry or curious or yearning for Jesus to get them there. It was not an activity that happened regularly and was already a part of the schedule, but it was possibly a once in a lifetime experience that the Holy Spirit put on the hearts of people to show up to. God was moving in a big way and people were itching to experience him and what he was doing.

I do feel that God has put it on my heart to share this though: while it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life I feel that it is important to clarify that one does not have to go to a revival to experience Jesus. The Holy Spirit is in each and every one of us and God is present with each of us wherever we are. He is there through every moment and He will always hear every time we call to him whether we are at a revival, at a church, at home on our couches, or wherever we are. It was an amazing experience but it is not the only way to experience God.

It is hard to describe it in enough detail and emotion through writing and this does not cover what God did for me personally through this experience, but I wanted to share the overall experience as best I could. If anyone has anything they would like prayer for or would like to talk about the revival or God or anything of the like please reach out to me, I would love to talk with you.