Are You Thirsty for Revival?

Many years ago, Leonard Ravenhill asked, “Will we look back with shame as we remember nights of prayer and genuine gifts of the Holy Ghost? When we were not clock watchers, and our meetings lasted for hours, saturated with holy power? Have we no tears for these memories, or shame that our children know nothing of such power?”

Many churches want to experience God and see lives radically changed, but they are missing a key ingredient of revival. Watch this candid 20-minute interview with Pastor Shane Idleman and CBN News’ Billy Hallowell to hear more about this important topic.

Editor’s Note: The transcript that follows was automatically generated and lightly edited, so please be aware there could be typos or other small errors. The Stream is working toward a transcription service that does fast, accurate, and reliable work; thank you in advance for your patience!

00:00:00:03 – 00:00:17:04
Shane idle man, it’s always a pleasure to connect with you. Now I want to talk about your church, West Side Christian Fellowship. But before we get into some of the amazing things that have been happening there at the church, let’s talk a little bit about revival from a 30,000ft level. What is genuine revival?

00:00:17:05 – 00:00:36:12
You had an interesting hit on an interesting word there. The word genuine because you know, that word is and it’s people are kind of sensitive of that word depending on what camp you’re from. You could call it a spiritual awakening. But biblically speaking, again, we have to be grounded in the word, as much as we love revival, the work of the Holy Spirit.

00:00:36:18 – 00:00:59:22
We you have to have sound doctrine. I mean, that’s your that’s your guide. That’s your that’s your foundation on and on which everything else is built. I believe when you honor that, God honors you in your pursuit of him. So, biblically speaking, a revival is, I think, of, you know, the psalmist, Psalm 85. Oh, Lord, will you not revive us again, that we may rejoice in you.

00:01:00:00 – 00:01:37:20
And, you’ve got, you know, there’s Habakkuk there’s, you know, there’s there’s, Lord, revive your work and you’ve got, Isaiah, you know, 64 oh, God, rend the heavens and come down and, and revive us. And then, just you’re looking at this, this, this word here, that it’s not revival, but it’s a revive. And so in simple terms, for a believer, many believers, I’d say the vast majority of America, and I was there, I can slip back into this is we’ve become our greatest hindrance to the deeper work of God is our satisfaction without him.

00:01:37:22 – 00:01:58:17
You know, we’re we’re kind of satisfied. We’re doing good. And, you know, hey, I go to church now and then I can still do my have my toys on the weekend, and I can, you know, I as long as God doesn’t disrupt my lifestyle, you know, we’re good, but God disrupts everything. That’s so. Revival is spiritual, what I call spiritual resuscitation.

00:01:58:19 – 00:02:19:14
You know, and as a, as a believer pursues God, you know, as a deer that pants after that brook and and it doesn’t happen overnight. Sometimes it’s it’s persevering and it’s pressing in and what’s happening at our church started 15 years ago. You know, with the heart for revival, heart for awakening. So it’s basically God reviving a, a freshness of the spirit.

00:02:19:14 – 00:02:38:13
It’s a it’s a joy returns. And and they want to have prayer meetings and they want to worship for hours and God is just revive. So you basically go from, I think, lukewarm to red hot. But that can be that’s a process sometimes. So that’s genuine. Genuine. And it doesn’t have to be on a big church corporately, which is great.

00:02:38:15 – 00:02:58:11
You know, there’s individual revival. I mean, God gave me a passion for this topic years ago when I first came back to him. So I read, you know, I read all the the Welsh revivals and like Duncan Campbell, New Hebrides, Griffin Jones, Hal Harris, you know, you get into the Great Awakenings, America, Scotland, Ireland and, holiness was preach.

00:02:58:11 – 00:03:15:10
There was a fear of God. There was repentance. So unlike what we’re seeing and a lot of what they call revivals today, it’s more like gimmicks and and giddiness and, and junk in the spirit. Or I mean, it’s just it’s, you know, we have to just be careful because it’s fear in God. It’s holiness. It’s basically seeking him.

00:03:15:10 – 00:03:32:01
The more I seek him, the more I find him. And as a result of that pursuit, God revives you. And then if you, a pastor like Wesley said, set yourself on fire and watch people come and watch you burn, you know, so it can it can really start at the top of the church, a leadership well, well.

00:03:32:01 – 00:03:53:23
And, you know, you have had you and I, I’ve talked many times over the years about these issues. It’s been very interesting watching your church, your your personal growth as a pastor and then the church’s growth and what is happening. And, you know, I don’t know how much you want to share, but of late, some of that red hotness that you’re discussing and you’re describing, you’ve seen that at Westside Christian Fellowship.

00:03:54:01 – 00:04:01:19
Talk a little bit about, I mean, you shared some videos of the last few services that you’ve had and meetings you’ve had. What is happening there?

00:04:01:21 – 00:04:21:14
Well, I think, you know, and I have to attribute it, obviously, to God’s sovereignty. And when God with many refer to is as rending the heavens, you know, when God pours down his spirit, I mean, we know he’s everywhere. I mean, let’s let’s let’s be theological here. He’s everywhere. But there’s something magnificent that takes place when God is.

00:04:21:19 – 00:04:40:02
His presence is tangible and there’s weeping and there’s confession of sin, and you just don’t want to stop worshiping it. It reminds me of Moses. The King James actually says, Lord, I beseech you, I beg you, show me your glory. And this is the second time he was up on the mountain that basically like, Lord, do it again.

00:04:40:04 – 00:05:02:07
And well, Moses, what are you talking about? God’s everywhere. Yeah, but there’s something special that happens when God just comes in. And, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, in his incredible book Preachers and Preaching, the last chapter he dedicates to a preacher must have the unction of the spirit, the fire of the spirit, that that personal revival. So to answer your question, it was a process when we first planned the church.

00:05:02:09 – 00:05:27:03
You know, God before God uses a man greatly, often breaks him or hurts him deeply. Tozer would say. And so there was a breaking process. But our church is hungry. Biblically wise people sound doctrine, love the truth. But, you know, I’m just steering the ship from of people that are already hungry. So when you’ve got a lot of people coming with expectation coming, Lord, we need to hear from you.

00:05:27:08 – 00:05:48:22
There’s no plan B for our nation, at all. So my point was, it’s a process of of years and years. And, just recently I opened up to the congregation, and this this really this really set the stage I went through after Covid. And I’ll be very brief. I’m writing a book about it, but, and the title is, I, I almost quit.

00:05:48:22 – 00:06:17:04
And why, after Covid, after so many things pastoring. I mean, a living church has a lot of, when God’s alive in a church, the enemy’s at work, too. So there’s a lot of just. I mean, people saying things about you, slandering challenges, demonic opposition. And then you add to that, as I’m getting older, my health, you know, is is, not what it used to be when I was 30 and, and, my mom passing away after Covid a little bit.

00:06:17:04 – 00:06:27:21
And so all this compounding effort, I didn’t want to go to church. I didn’t want to speak. And when a preacher doesn’t want to preach, that’s a pretty bad spot to be. And other I want to.

00:06:27:21 – 00:06:42:04
Know that about. And, you know, when you when you said that I had no idea when when I first heard that you were working on this book. You know, we’ve talked a lot over the years and I thought, gosh, you know, pastors have such a hard job. And there was so much pressure, not just I mean, there was the cultural pressure.

00:06:42:04 – 00:06:57:13
There was the Covid pressure. There was your mom. There was all the things you mentioned. And I love that you’re being open about this because pastors really do struggle. There’s a lot happening. So anyway, continue. But I just wanted to note that for all the people out there, your pastors be praying for them because it is a struggle.

00:06:57:15 – 00:07:13:23
And while and the fruit that came from this, I’ll share in just a minute. But also I have three teenagers at home and five kids, two younger than that. So you throw that in there. We also have a radio station, radio network here in Los Angeles County. So it’s just like, but, you know, you can’t quit. Like, if God calls you, that’s your anchor.

00:07:14:01 – 00:07:31:17
I mean, like Jobe, though, he slay me yet. Why trust him? But it was it was a long time. If I would get up at three in the morning, till six and just worship and like, Lord, what’s going on? And I don’t want to go to Wednesdays, I don’t want. But when once I would show up and preach, man, the just the the spiritual, appetite increase.

00:07:31:17 – 00:07:48:05
But then I would it was almost like I was in this, this funk, but for a reason. God was kind of just, I believe, preparing us, preparing the church and and just more brokenness. Because when you’re like that, you really, you know, it’s hard to be prideful about anything, even though it can all always rise up.

00:07:48:07 – 00:08:07:19
And. God, actually, the irony is, as we’re in Los Angeles County, but we’re tucked back in the rolling hills of Leona Valley, West Palm. So like, you like there’s only 1200 residents. And we have, you know, it’s like and and people have to drive, like, from all over to come to this church out there that are hungry for God.

00:08:07:20 – 00:08:34:22
So it’s just how God’s it’s just the timing and and it’s like, you know, you have to kind of want to go to church, to, to to come out there. And so I actually opened up to the congregation, I think people can hear it on March, March 30th on our, our YouTube channels. My YouTube channel, I opened up and I shared all of this just and a lot of tears and not a lot, but, you know, I just felt broken and, and, and that blessed so many people.

00:08:35:00 – 00:08:49:13
And since then, I’ve been asked to speak. Now pastors conferences and different things. And so you can see God is was using that. And then after that Sunday, it felt like a just a season of revival. People at the altar, altar full. Nobody wanted to leave as much in the prayer room. And and it was just this.

00:08:49:15 – 00:09:13:04
And then I showed up Sunday to preach, the following Sunday, which is just April, April 6th, and the first service was great. I could just I mean, I just, I was is electrified. You know, it’s just great to, to be back in the joy and plus I’m on a I was on day 25 of a fast so that that helps a little bit too, because you just start, you just start the flesh and you want more of God.

00:09:13:06 – 00:09:33:14
And the second service, which is normally the toughest. We had ladies at the church till midnight the Thursday before. We could just sense there was this, this, this, this just. It was hard, you know, you can tell there’s a, And preachers know, pastors know. You can tell when there’s the freedom when versus, you know, maybe sin in the camp and there’s a heavy spirit there.

00:09:33:14 – 00:09:51:10
And so, they just prayed and you could feel the liberty. The second service was actually, just the worship. It was you could just tell people like they’re coming to the altar all by themselves, you know? And so when it was time to go up to preach, there’s like, there’s no way I’m going to I. I’m not going to stop this, by the way.

00:09:51:10 – 00:10:11:18
Let’s, you know, get up and let’s let’s go into announcements. It was just you got a full altar. People are worshiping. So I just said, I’m not going to preach a message today. If you need to leave, you can. I understand, but we’re just going to go into worship and boom, that just, you know, ignited, about 20 minutes later, I said, hey, if you need prayer, I’m going to be down the middle line.

00:10:11:18 – 00:10:34:06
My other, pastor friend of mine, the other line, Pastor Abraham, and another line. And we just had people lined up and the prayer was, you want the fullness of the spirit, Lord, if you want to be, if you want to be filled with the spirit, you’re ready to lay it down. You want to fully surrender. I thought maybe a dozen or two dozen, you know, but we had lines on each side, back to the back for about 30 minutes of just people wanting that and then going to the altar.

00:10:34:06 – 00:10:54:10
And so we could have just kept going. We could have just kept going with that service. And so that’s the atmosphere when how long that lasts, you know, you can’t whip up revival. You can’t have revival meetings. And that’s not revival. Revival is when there’s a sovereign act of God that blesses and rains down upon a prepared people.

00:10:54:14 – 00:10:55:09
They’ve been tilling, and.

00:10:55:09 – 00:11:01:16
You feel like you you feel like within the walls of your church. Right now, though, you are having a revival within your community.

00:11:01:16 – 00:11:22:18
They’re absolutely depending. Yeah. I mean, it’s it’s and we’re unique. You know, I my calling my my preaching style and God gives us each passionate a passion for different areas. You know, if he’s called a pastor to be more political, that would be his kind of thing. If a pastor is called to be more of us, you know, we’ve got John MacArthur an hour from here and others and, you know, that’s their their wheelhouse.

00:11:22:18 – 00:11:39:21
But he he gave me a heart for revival and also gave me that to be that voice crying in the wilderness, that repentance and coming back to God and calling the nation back to him. So, yeah, we we you can tell people come hungry. There’s a sense there’s a weight, there’s a heaviness and and the seriousness of sin and holiness and pursuing God.

00:11:40:00 – 00:12:02:03
But also with that, believe it or not, you’re not that legalistic. There’s lots of of grace and mercy. You know, I just I won’t go into details in case you ever listen, but we had a guy just broken down last night at the altar, just completely undone by God. And so, yeah, it’s hard to explain it, but it’s it’s when God honors the prayers of his people that have been contending and praying.

00:12:02:03 – 00:12:15:10
But there’s a lot of churches doing great things around the United States. You see the college campuses, all the baptisms. You know, I’ve got, you know, in Texas or Florida or, you know, God, it’s it’s it’s wherever a church honors everything we just talked about, you know.

00:12:15:12 – 00:12:35:15
It’s well, let me let me ask you this because it is interesting to me that in March 30th, you open up candidly about the struggles that you had had as a pastor. And a lot of times I think it starts at the top, right? As you were saying, when when the pastor is willing to be vulnerable and open and it’s scary to do that.

00:12:35:15 – 00:12:54:06
And it’s like if you’re admitting that you you wanted to quit, that’s a hard thing to admit to a congregation. But do you think that by doing that and obviously it was God who did it? But I want us. I want to be careful how I word this by doing that and being so open that that opened the floodgates to people having this revival collectively within the church.

00:12:54:07 – 00:12:57:07
Was that sort of a starting point of it, in your view?

00:12:57:09 – 00:13:21:19
Yeah, I think so. And here’s why. Because, you know, God often prepares the messenger, right? He often I mean, if you look at, again, all the names I mentioned, from Evan Roberts to Duncan Campbell to, I mean, any of those people, that and I’m not saying I’m spearheading a revival. I have no clue. But there’s always there’s that prayer meeting, you know, out in the barn with three for four people when the Spirit of God comes upon them and the revival starts, there’s there’s people seeking God.

00:13:21:19 – 00:13:42:00
And so we have we actually open the church at 6 a.m. for the last seven years. So there’s a group of us worshiping from 6 to 730. And then we go into prayer and then we go into the services. So that fire is already lit. You know that. So it God’s just kind of honoring that. But yeah, I think being transparent because initially I didn’t want to share anything.

00:13:42:00 – 00:14:01:09
I mean, that’s kind of, you know, that’s a little that’s a little personal. All right. You know, and so but that’s pride and it helps so many people, so many pastors are reaching out. So many others. Me too. Me too. I didn’t know, you know, what I’m dealing with here, but yeah. And so I think God brought me through that difficult season.

00:14:01:09 – 00:14:23:18
And it could have been, of course, I believe some demonic opposition, of course. And this heaviness and just and teaching the, the wonderful principle of perseverance. I mean, isn’t that key, you know, if you he’s a rewarder, he’s a rewarder of those who diligently, diligently seek him. And and that word seek. When we look in the Hebrew language, it’s like finding a lost child, okay?

00:14:24:00 – 00:14:40:12
You’re you’re not going to you’re not going to worry about your schedule. You’ve got to find that child at any cost. And so that’s the same thing with Seeking God. So I had to I got so desperate my relationship with him, my marriage was great. And but never better. But I’m like, Laura, what is this? What’s going on?

00:14:40:12 – 00:14:58:12
This, this this this, this. I want to quit. I don’t want to do this anymore. People. People bite. She bite. You know, it’s it. And again, I think not the main congregation, but just the, the, you know, the on the fringe elements of that, you know, and then you just compound everything. Compound everything. But blood pressure’s high.

00:14:58:12 – 00:15:16:01
I’ve got signs of pre-diabetes, and I know better. I’m a I have background, health and fitness. I know, I know what to do. I just wasn’t doing it. So I maybe I should say this. One of the biggest breakthroughs was. And I opened up about this is when I got my appetites in check. I’m a I’m a emotional eater.

00:15:16:03 – 00:15:17:20
And so once you.

00:15:17:20 – 00:15:22:21
And I are similar like this, we’ve talked. You and I are very similar. We have similar struggles in this area. Yes.

00:15:22:22 – 00:15:39:08
And so once I was confessed about that and I was just going home and eating, it’s like this, I was feeding the flesh. And so the fasting, still in the midst of that, I’m going to try to go 40 days, that, that that helped with the breakthrough because if you’re constantly give even the little things, people think, oh, this big sin.

00:15:39:13 – 00:15:55:03
Yeah, those those will take you out for sure. But it’s the little things of disobedience that really add up. And and that’s where I was, you know, kind of just using that for comfort instead of just going fully to God and fasting. I know the benefits of fasting physically and spiritually.

00:15:55:05 – 00:16:22:12
Okay. So final question for you, for those who are really wanting revival in their church, they’re hearing what you’re talking about. They’re hearing all and maybe they’re pastors, maybe they’re just parishioners who want to see the people around them have the same experience. You know, you can’t make it happen, right. But what would your advice be to those people for how they could take steps to have a greater connection that maybe does lead to something like that in their churches?

00:16:22:14 – 00:16:39:06
Well, fortunately we can’t. And I mean, we can’t make it rain. But we can plow the field right? You know, a farmer can’t make it rain, but he gets that crop ready. So a couple things that I this I think this is important because anytime this happens, you know, people want to come out, they want to fly out.

00:16:39:06 – 00:17:00:08
They want to, you know, you that you don’t have to do that. You know, I mean, unless of course, God. But you you can have personal revival wherever you’re at. So if we’re talking to leaders first, it begins with you first getting your heart right. And of course, confession of any unconfessed sin, the struggles, any addictions that there are.

00:17:00:10 – 00:17:20:09
Is there pride and arrogance, critical spirit. I guarantee a critical spirit. As soon as this goes out, we’re going to get the critical heresy hunters already putting the revival. Oh my goodness. You know, those guys never hear from God because they’re so critical. And a lot of pastors can become critical because we allow YouTube to define a genuine work of the spirit versus God’s Word.

00:17:20:11 – 00:17:39:08
You know, it’s I don’t I yeah, there’s weird videos out there. I’m not going to let that disrupt my, my pursuit of God. Give me a break. So and understand it’s perseverance. It’s pressing in. There might not be any fruit. You might lose some members before you gain some you might it might like some services are challenging, some prayer meetings are not that.

00:17:39:10 – 00:17:58:09
It’s like, wow, what happened tonight? I mean, there’s just no and but it’s pressing in. It’s persevering. So confession of sin focused on holiness and the fear of God and preaching the whole counsel of God’s Word. I believe revival follows the whole counsel of God’s Word. If I get up there and I say, oh, you know, they’re not gonna like this part.

00:17:58:09 – 00:18:15:01
This is not politically correct. No. You just like a word burning in your heart. Shut up in my bones. I’ve got to preach what God has put on my heart with love and grace. And like Leonard Ravenhill said, you have to weep before you whip and so that fire from the preacher comes out into the congregation. But that only comes from the prayer closet.

00:18:15:03 – 00:18:35:06
So you’ve you’ve got it. You’ve got to at that time with God, and you can’t expect and you can’t get bummed out and like, oh, this isn’t happening. I’ve went through months of that. I went through years of that. I mean, we’ve had seasons of it, you know, but, sometimes there’s barrenness. And so I don’t know if that answers your question, but, you know, getting your own heart right first and then persevering.

00:18:35:06 – 00:18:49:05
Because if I only persevere and I say, you know what? Forget it. Nothing’s changed in the last month. I say, you know what, Lord? I don’t care if anything changes. I’m pursuing you till the day I die. Though you slay me, yet I trust you. I’m going to keep grinding. I’m going to keep persevering because you’re worth it.

00:18:49:05 – 00:19:05:08
God, just knowing you and and you have the right attitude. God says, oh, I hear the. I hear the cries of that leader. I hear the cries of that person. I hear the cries of that mom praying for a prodigal son. I’m going to I’m going to rain down, oh God, with you when the heavens come down. And, and revive your work again.

00:19:05:12 – 00:19:27:15
Now it’s sad after and I and right here, Isaiah 64 write the famous verse around the heavens, that you would come down. But then if you keep reading, I think it’s verse seven, Isaiah says there’s no one that stirs himself up to grab hold of God. There’s no one that stirs themself up like David. You’ve got to strengthen yourself in the Lord.

00:19:27:20 – 00:19:44:12
So yes, God will run the heavens, but you’ve got to stir yourself up to to seek God and hold on even when you don’t feel like we have this idea of revival, you know, revival. I feel this joy fill all. This is great grace. What are you still going to worship when you don’t feel that? I mean, that’s the real test.

00:19:44:14 – 00:19:46:09
That’s the real test.

00:19:46:11 – 00:19:59:14
That is that is the real test. And we’re going to have you back again soon. You know, we’re going to talk more about that journey that you personally had very soon. But where can people go to find out more about West Side Christian Fellowship and all the resources that you’ve made available?

00:19:59:14 – 00:20:22:20
Well, we have, Westside Christian fellowship.org, Westside Christian fellowship.org, about an hour north of Los Angeles, tucked back in the rolling hills of Leon Valley West Palmdale actually is what it’s considered. And then also my site Shane edelman.com Shane island.com. That’s why I have articles for pastors and and resources and all my books are actually available as free downloads at the church website.

00:20:23:00 – 00:20:31:04
So my book on revival, you know, people can can just begin reading it today. The PDF is right there at Westside Christian fellowship.org.