Revival or Wakefulness?

Sep 25—2025

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Why God Never Intended for Us to Fall Asleep in the First Place

Everywhere you look right now, people are talking about revival. Crowds gathering. Hearts stirred. Something is happening across the nation.

And while I thank God for every person who’s waking up, here’s a hard truth: revival was never supposed to be the goal.

God never designed His people to fall asleep in the first place.

Revival Is Not God’s Plan A

Revival is mercy.

It’s God shaking us awake when we’ve drifted into slumber.

But it’s not the blueprint.

The blueprint is constant wakefulness.

“Stay alert, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong.”

—1 Corinthians 16:13 (CSB)

Revival is the defibrillator.

But what God wanted was a steady heartbeat.

The Problem With Naps

When we treat revival like the norm, it’s like scheduling regular naps and calling it health.

But the Christian life isn’t supposed to be a cycle of slumber and shaking.

Jesus told His disciples in Gethsemane:

“Stay awake and pray, so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

—Matthew 26:41 (CSB)

The call was simple: stay awake.

Not fall asleep and hope revival comes around again to jolt you back to life.

Revival Should Lead to Rhythm

When God moves in a way that stirs hearts, that’s mercy. That’s grace.

But mercy moments should lead to faithful rhythms.

Daily devotion. Time in His Word and presence—not just at events.
Ongoing obedience. Following the Spirit’s whisper in the mundane.
Steady witness. Living out the gospel in love, not just shouting it in hype.

Revival that doesn’t lead to rhythm will fade like a campfire without fuel.

A Different Kind of Fire

The early Church didn’t live from revival meeting to revival meeting.

They lived awake—filled with the Spirit, devoted to prayer, breaking bread together daily (Acts 2:42–47).

Their flame wasn’t an occasional spark. It was a steady burn.

And that’s the call for us.

Not to chase waves of revival, but to live as carriers of fire everywhere we go.

Let’s Break the Mold

I believe in revival. I believe in God’s mercy to stir sleeping hearts.

But I don’t want to need revival.

I want to stay awake.

To break the mold means rejecting spiritual cycles of slumber.

It means cultivating daily hunger, daily faith, daily obedience.

It means choosing Jesus over hype, intimacy over moments, endurance over emotional highs.

Because the Kingdom was never meant to be revived over and over again.

It was meant to stay alive.

Reflection:

Are you living off moments of revival, or are you cultivating a daily rhythm of staying awake in Christ?

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you where you’ve gotten sleepy—and then ask Him for the grace to stay alert, steady, and burning.