Permission for Revival has already been given!

After I came to faith, I began to attend mainly Pentecostal churches. It wasn't long before I encountered this behavior where I heard people talking about revival. Some old revival that took place about a hundred years ago, and in addition to that, there was also someone named Niilo Ylivainio in his time. Later I found out how there had been many revivals in the history of the world, even in recent decades.

The image I got from these revival talks was that there was a phenomenon where a huge amount of non-believers would suddenly feel the touch in their hearts which would make them run to churches to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

I also met people who had been following even before me this same behavior where church were asking God to once again send this once in a lifetime great revival. (I will talk more about this in another blog post).

Myself, I didn’t came to faith by an altar call or through some other believer who guided me in. I came to Jesus in my student apartment during the darkest time of my life while praying for three nights in a row which ended up Him arriving in His presence and practically evangelized me to follow Himself.

So I didn't grow up in a particular denomination or church culture. From the moment I met Jesus, I took things straight from the Bible as I understood them to be written there. When I put them into practice, I found out that they actually worked. My daily prayers became conscious goals to encounter Jesus again and again. I began to learn how to hear His voice by sharing words of knowledge to others in prayer. I also prayed for the sick who began to get better and heal. Also much much more.

In churches, I often talked to people about knowing God personally and how to meet Him here and now. Also about all of His promises and the wonderful things He does today. Some people said to me that I sound just like Niilo Ylivainio, to which I always replied:

"Who is Niilo Ylivainio?"

I didn’t learn out about Niilo until much later. I wasn't that interested in Him. I was only interested in Jesus.

In circles at the time, I was the only one I knew who prayed for the sick. There was also very little prophecying. I didn't find that many people even interested these same things in a sense that they would see themselves doing them as well. When I heard talk about these topics, people seemed to associate them often with a revival. That is, these and huge other wonderful things would happen only after revival would came. To me it seemed more as if it was believed that we would not be allowed to act in God's big plans except until revival would arrive. The idea was strange to me because huge things were already happening in my life. Just because I had taken God’s words seriously.

In fact, a few months after I came to faith, a youth revival broke out in my hometown that lasted about three or four years. God did a lot of interesting thingsthere!

Some years later, I was in church where I was something like an unofficial leader of our young adult nights. We did have a team of ten, but since I had the most experience, and me been doer type, I ended up been involved in everything.
We began to grow rapidly in a short period of time. We’re not talking about big numbers, but all kind of different people joined the church and our fellowship. Also newborn believers just "happened" to find their way to our meetings. People were baptized by water, came part of our community, began to heal, and God started to change them as people.

We also began practicing evangelism on the streets. Also words of knowledge & prophecy. Even others besides me began praying for the sick as I continued to encourage them to do so. There were many healings from various diseases, especially allergies.
Some among us came to tell how while praying for someone with different leg lengths, God had increased the length of the shorter leg to match with the longer leg. Something I hadn't encountered myself at that time. I was amazed! I couldn't be more proud of our group!

Times when I met other leaders from some other churches, I was sometimes told:

"We hear there's a revival going on at your place."

So others connected what we were doing to revival.

My conclusion of all this was that what I viewed as normal Christianity, some thought to be revival.

At that time I gave a speech of an idea I’m going to also share in this blog post:

All this time - who knows how long - as we as a church have been talking and praying for revival, we have wondered what is taking so long? What more needs to happen before the revival begins in Finland? What would be the component and initiator that would ignite all this? What is the sign God would send when all this will happen again?

It’s as if we're waiting for some kind of over earthly sign that would finally give us a permission to do everything Jesus sent us to do. Are we waiting for a light show from the sky when heavens open and the voice of the Father comes down from Heaven, saying like thunder: "Now you have a permission to act!!"

The whole idea is not even new, for it was something they already wanted from Jesus:

“Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, ‘Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.’"
Matthew 12:38 (NIV)

"The Jews then responded to him, ‘What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’”
John 2:18 (NIV)

To which Jesus replied:

"A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
Matt. 12:39-40 (NIV)

The sign has already been given! The permission has already been granted!! Permission for revival was already given 2000 years ago!! Jesus went to the cross, resurrected, and authorized His followers already to operate in everything He Himself operated while He was on earth!

Now all that remains is for us to choose whether to believe - that is, to agree with - God in what He has already done!

Or do we choose to believe - that is, to agree with - some other factor?
Like our own emotions because we don't feel that way?
Or our circumstances because things don't look like it?
Or the past because of what and how something happened, or didn’t happen, sometime in ancient past, even though God has promised to do something new today?
Or what opinion someone else has which sets itself above what God has revealed in His Word and proven to be true in practice?

Take real what Jesus said and revive to everything He talked about!!

The Revival is now!

Woooohoooooh!!

Follow the freedom!!