Revival, What is it?

What is revival? How would you describe it? Has it ever touched you personally or your church corporately? The basic definition that comes to my mind is to say revival happens when God shows up. Our Church is preparing for revival services to be held in April so the word revival has come up a lot lately. I have begun thinking along these lines and wanted to have a deeper meaning of the word and all it stands for. Our Church leadership, as well as myself, want to see something God-sent happen in our Church and our community. The dictionary defines revival as a restoration to use, acceptance, or activity. To impart new health, vigor or spirit or, my personal favorite, to bring back to life or consciousness. I ran across this scripture today in my devotions and it is a scripture that I like to post on the refrigerator door when I am longing to see God move. In Joshua 3, Israel is getting ready to wage war against the people occupying their promise land. Joshua tells the people before they go to war and see God show up on their behalf they must "Sanctify themselves". Sanctify means to be clean or to make clean. If we want God to show up we have to be made clean. I found a couple of quotes about what revival is that have helped to give me a better grasp of what I am praying God will do through a revival.

Revival is....
"The awakening or quickening of God's people to their true nature and purpose."
Robert Coleman
"The sovereign act of God, in which he restores His own backsliding people to repentance, faith, and obedience." Stephen Olford
"An extraordinary movement of the Holy Spirit producing extraordinary results."
Richard Owen Roberts

The word revival is not found in the scripture but the concept is there as early as the children of Israel when they were called to observe three feasts each year. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a seven day event where no leaven was to be found anywhere. Getting rid of the leaven in the bread became symbolic of getting rid of the sin in their lives and returning back to a right relationship with God.
Do you have any leaven that needs to be taken out? Do you need restoration back to use or activity? Perhaps, your spiritual life right now is non-existent and you need to be brought back to life. Our relationship with God is the place to start. Before we can have a true revival we must wage war on Satan and get right with God. We must sanctify ourselves or make ourselves clean and obedient so that God can do something great and awesome among us. I do not want to be the one who stands in the way of seeing God move. Do you?

Joshua 3:5 -"And Joshua said to the people, 'Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.'"
I Corinthians 5:6b-8 -"Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." NKJV