“Revival” begins when God says things we want to hear. Revival ends when God begins to say things we do not want to hear.
From His perspective, He is not interested in “revival.” God wants the permanent restoration of His Presence in the lives those who make up the Church, the Body of Christ on earth. He will only be content with “Emmanuel,” God with us in the sustained sense of His Presence in our lives.
But we have had to come up with good believable reasons why God seems to move in seasons or temporary visitations. There has to be a way to explain why we never seem to experience the manifest Presence of the Lord either in our lives or the Church. It cannot possibly be our fault. It is always just the timing of God, isn’t it?
When we pray for revival, we are praying for the Presence of the Lord to be manifest among us. We all know that God is omnipresent. He is everywhere. But omnipresence is not Manifest Presence. That is , His Presence is detectable by one or more of the five natural senses. His presence is manifest when He can be sensed in the dimension of time and space. The cry of the Church that Jesus is building today is the cry for His Manifest Presence.
(From “Secrets of the Most Holy Place,” vol. 2, by Don Nori, page 84)
