8–10 minute read.

If you are new to the Revival Reality Blog, welcome. This is where we look beyond the hype and honestly explore Christian revival, spiritual awakening, and the sovereign work of God throughout history. Together, we ask what past moves of God can teach us about prayer, evangelism, discipleship, mission, and the kind of hunger for God that changes ordinary lives.

Why Hunger for God Matters

In our early twenties, we began gathering teenagers and young adults from several local churches to pray for revival. We told stories from historic Christian revivals and spiritual awakenings, worshipped together, and asked God to move again in our town and nation. We also stepped out into the community to share Jesus with people. Looking back, those simple choices created something powerful in us: a growing hunger for God and a deeper expectation that he could do what only he can do!

One weekend, we took the group away to spend time together and seek God. During that retreat, God met with us in ways we did not expect. We wept, laughed, prayed, worshipped, and encountered his presence deeply. Revival did not break out across our churches in the way we had imagined, but something lasting happened. Many of us were marked by God, propelled further into his purposes, and awakened to the certainty that faith was meant to become action.

We did not have all our theology neatly arranged, nor did we fully understand Christian evangelism or leadership. But we were learning something essential: remembering the works of the Lord creates appetite. When believers rehearse what God has done in Scripture, church history, revival history, and personal testimony, faith begins to increase. We started to believe that the God of the Bible is still able and willing to act in our generation.

That season set us on a pathway for life. Over the next decade, we travelled to places where people were experiencing revival and awakening. Some experiences were extraordinary; others raised many questions. Yet through it all, God reshaped our expectations. Romans 12:2 became more than a verse about personal renewal; it became an invitation to let God transform the way we thought about what was possible.

The lesson was not that revival can be manufactured by enthusiasm, technique, or religious intensity. Rather, hunger for God helps prepare our hearts to respond when he speaks. It makes us bolder in prayer, more willing in obedience, and more expectant in everyday discipleship. When we took on new ministry opportunities, we learned to pray for God to lead us beyond our plans and to do things that pointed people to him.

Remembering the Works of the Lord

It is written in Psalm 111:2-8 (NIV):

Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.

Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures for ever.

He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate.

He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant for ever.

He has shown his people the power of his works, giving them the lands of other nations.

The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy.

They are established for ever and ever, enacted in faithfulness and uprightness.

These verses help us understand why the works of God are to be pondered, remembered, and rehearsed. They are not merely ancient religious stories. They reveal who God is: gracious, compassionate, faithful, just, powerful, and covenant-keeping. If we want to understand Christian revival and spiritual awakening biblically, we must begin by remembering what God has already done.

Why does God call his people to remember his works?

• Remembering helps God’s people understand themselves as rescued, chosen, and called to live differently.
• Remembering teaches believers God’s character, not merely God’s commands.
• Remembering strengthens faith when fear, doubt, or disappointment threatens to overwhelm us.
• Remembering protects us from spiritual drift and keeps us rooted in God’s story rather than our cultural norms.
• Remembering keeps relationship alive, because love, gratitude, and trust grow when shared history is rehearsed.

Belief Becomes Real When It Leads to Action

When Jesus was asked about the work God requires, his answer was striking: to believe in the one he has sent (John 6:28-29). Biblical belief is not passive agreement (John 6:28-29). It is trust that reshapes allegiance, attitudes, desire, and behaviour. True belief in Jesus and the works of God belong together. Faith and action are not either/or; they are two sides of one living relationship.

That is difficult in a culture where belief is often separated from action. Many people hold values as expressions of identity rather than commitments that shape costly choices. We can say we care about justice, compassion, holiness, mission, or evangelism, while still arranging life around comfort, convenience, self-interest and self-protection.

This is where cognitive dissonance appears: the discomfort of holding a belief while living in contradiction to it. We ease that discomfort by rationalising our behaviour, lowering our expectations, or ignoring the gap. But if we want to see personal revival, church renewal, or wider spiritual awakening, we cannot afford to let belief remain theoretical.

It’s a form of cognitive dissonance – this is the mental discomfort of holding a belief while doing the opposite. People ease this discomfort by rationalising their behaviour or ignoring the contradiction. This cultural influence can create a disturbing dynamic in us that says we believe in what God says, but it does not change what we do, what we think or how we live.

Influential scientist and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, “Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world”.

If we say we believe in the works of the Lord but never expect to see anything of his kingdom expressed through our lives, then earthly culture may sometimes shape us more deeply than the Kingdom of God. Studying the works of the Lord should lead not only to comprehension, but also to participation. We remember so that we may respond.

The Crunch: When Hunger Becomes Obedience

The ideal is not that unbelievers must always attend special events to see God at work. What if the works of God were visible through ordinary believers in ordinary communities? What if neighbours, friends, colleagues, and family members encountered the compassion, courage, prayer, mercy, generosity, and witness of Jesus through the lives of Christians around them?

In our experience, studying, rehearsing, and remembering the works of the Lord can awaken fresh obedience. We have been privileged to serve in churches where people have pursued this way of life, and at times it felt as though anything was possible. When believers study Scripture, remember revival history, and ask God to reproduce his works among us, it creates a deeper hunger for God and a stronger desire to join in what he is doing.

That hunger brings us to the crunch. The crunch is the moment where belief becomes costly. It may be forgiveness you do not want to give, obedience that feels inconvenient, generosity that feels risky, purity that feels restrictive, courage that feels impossible, or trust when circumstances seem to argue against hope.

The crunch is where discipleship becomes visible. It is where the alignment between belief and behaviour is tested. It is also where Christian revival begins to move from longing into lived reality: not as a formula we control, but as a surrendered response to the God who revives, renews, and sends his people.

The crunch is where discipleship becomes real. It is where embodiment between beliefs and actions becomes visible.  

Questions for Reflection

1. How often do you study the works of God in Scripture, church history, and revival history? Could you make this a regular rhythm?
2. Where are you experiencing the crunch between belief and behaviour? What practical act of obedience might help close that gap?
3. Who around you needs hope, prayer, courage, healing, or a fresh encounter with God – Christian and non-Christian? What step could you take this week that is both realistic and faith-filled?

We’d love to hear what you think. Leave a comment or question, and tell us how you are learning to cultivate hunger for God in everyday discipleship.