Revival leads to restoration. This principle of the kingdom of God holds true for an individual or for a whole nation.
For an individual, revival would mean being born again in one’s heart and then receiving the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; John 3:3). After someone receives this spiritual renewal, there begins a process of healing and restoration in his or her life.
Revival starts in the spirit and then brings restoration to every part of life; including mental, psychological, emotional, physical, social, financial and so on.
Actually, the process of “revive and restore” must be preceded by a previous stage called “repentance.” Repentance means to change one’s behavior, thoughts, decisions and attitude; to stop doing things that are wrong, immoral and unhealthy; to ask forgiveness from God and our neighbor; and to turn back to a loving and submitted relationship with our heavenly Father.
The message of the gospel of the kingdom always starts with the word “repent” (Mark 1:15, 6:12; Acts 2:38, 3:19, 17:30). So, the full process should be summarized as: “repent—revive—restore.”
What is true on the personal level is also true on the “macro” level. In Acts 1:6 (NASB), the disciples ask Yeshua to “restore the kingdom to Israel.” In Acts 1:8, Yeshua replies that first they must receive power from the Holy Spirit and be witnesses of Him from Jerusalem to the whole world.
Here Yeshua defines revival on the macro level as composed of two elements: Holy Spirit power and worldwide evangelism. Ultimately, this dynamic of revival (Holy Spirit and evangelism) will lead to restoration. As worldwide revival has two dimensions, so does worldwide restoration.
In Acts 1:6, Peter asked for the restoration of Israel. But after the Pentecost revival, his vision is expanded to the “restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21). There is a restoration of all things, and there is a restoration of the kingdom to Israel. We could summarize the process as:
- Repentance
- Revival
- Holy Spirit
- Evangelism
- Restoration
- Israel
- All Things
Revival (Holy Spirit power and evangelism) leads to restoration (Israel and all things). I serve as part of the ministry team at Revive Israel and at Tikkun International. (Tikkun means “restoration” in Hebrew.) You can see how the two ideas of revival and restoration are foundations to everything we do. “Revive and Restore” is our motto. {eoa}
Asher Intrater is the founder and apostolic leader of Revive Israel Ministries and oversees Ahavat Yeshua congregation in Jerusalem and Tiferet Yeshua congregation in Tel Aviv. Asher was one of the founders of Tikkun International with Dan Juster and Eitan Shishkoff and serves on the board of the Messianic Alliance of Israel and Aglow International. He and his wife and full-time partner in ministry, Betty, have a passion for personal prayer and devotion, local evangelism and discipleship in Hebrew and unity of the body of believers worldwide.
This article originally appeared at reviveisrael.org.
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