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Contending for the Word Q&A, November 16, 2025
Awakening Through the Word: Recognizing True Revival
Welcome back to Contending for the Word. Today we begin our third week examining true and false revival and how Christians can discern the Spirit’s authentic work from emotional imitation or spiritual confusion.
Many talk about revival today. Conferences are held and movements rise with passionate music, stirring atmosphere, and urgent promises of spiritual fire. Yet throughout Scripture and church history, the hallmark of true awakening has never been emotional excitement. It has always been a renewed hunger for the Word of God.
The Question
How do we know when God is truly awakening His people?
Awakening Always Begins With Scripture
Every genuine revival begins when God’s people are brought low by His Word, renewed in reverence for His truth, and compelled again to hear and obey Scripture.
“The unfolding of your words gives light, it imparts understanding to the simple.”
When the Word is opened, light returns. Understanding breaks in. Hearts soften. Sins are exposed. Affections are stirred toward Christ, not toward hype or emotional energy, but toward holiness and obedience.
Historical Witness
The Great Awakenings in America, the Reformation, and many missionary movements were birthed not by human enthusiasm but by a return to Scripture. People did not need fog machines, trend driven marketing, or personalities at the center. They needed the Word preached with clarity, conviction, and authority.
Where the Word is absent, spiritual counterfeits flourish. Where the Word is exalted, Christ is magnified and God’s people awaken.
Recognizing a True Awakening
- Hunger for Scripture
- Repentance over sin
- Obedience to Christ
- Discernment and sobriety
- Joy rooted in the gospel, not manufactured emotion
- Worship founded on truth rather than sensation
False revival produces noise, movement, emotional highs, and crowds without lasting fruit. True revival grows roots deep in the fertile soil of Scripture.
Call to Action
Christian, if you long for awakening, begin where God begins.
- Open your Bible.
- Tremble at His Word.
- Pray for a heart that loves truth.
- Ask the Lord to revive His church through His Word again.
Revival is not manufactured. It is granted by God and fueled by Scripture.
If this helped you, share it with a friend and pray for true awakening in your local church.
For more from Contending for the Word Q&A please visit our page at Servants of Grace or at our YouTube.
Dave Jenkins is happily married to his wife, Sarah. He is a writer, editor, and speaker living in beautiful Southern Oregon. Dave is a lover of Christ, His people, the Church, and sound theology. He serves as the Executive Director of Servants of Grace Ministries, the Executive Editor of Theology for Life Magazine, the Host and Producer of Equipping You in Grace Podcast, and is a contributor to and producer of Contending for the Word. He is the author of The Word Explored: The Problem of Biblical Illiteracy and What To Do About It (House to House, 2021), The Word Matters: Defending Biblical Authority Against the Spirit of the Age (G3 Press, 2022), and Contentment: The Journey of a Lifetime (Theology for Life, 2024). You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, or read his newsletter. Dave loves to spend time with his wife, going to movies, eating at a nice restaurant, or going out for a round of golf with a good friend. He is also a voracious reader, in particular of Reformed theology, and the Puritans. You will often find him when he’s not busy with ministry reading a pile of the latest books from a wide variety of Christian publishers. Dave received his M.A.R. and M.Div through Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.
