{"id":144855,"date":"2023-02-21T09:58:59","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T15:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/?p=144855"},"modified":"2023-02-21T09:58:59","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T15:58:59","slug":"what-does-revival-look-like-in-my-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/articles\/topics\/parenting\/foundations\/what-does-revival-look-like-in-my-home\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does Revival Look Like in My Home?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We\u2019d survived yet another mission impossible of getting the twins down for bed followed by our nightly routine of cleaning the kitchen to get ready for another day. Right before we went to bed ourselves, we scrolled through our social media feeds, and we were shocked at what we saw: viral coverage on a college revival. We\u2019d never seen anything like it. Countless images and videos about a little Kentucky chapel service at Asbury University that turned into nonstop prayer and worship now dubbed the \u201cAsbury Revival.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thousands of people traveled from around the country to take part in campus worship at a private university where only about 1,900 students were enrolled. Thousands poured into the small college chapel, overflowing into four buildings nearby. From well-known names like Louie Giglio, Kari Jobe, and Jennie Allen<\/a> to unknown students all around the nation, it seemed like everyone wanted to be a part of the movement God was making through our Gen Z peers. We felt we were missing out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wish we could be there right now,\u201d Olivia sighed. I\u2019d never known her to leap to spur-of-the-moment decisions, but I knew all she wanted was for our family to be surrounded by an atmosphere of hands and voices lifted high with freedom ringing in the air. I wanted that, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fired up about the revival, we were two blinks away from packing our 1-year-old twins for a 10-hour road trip through the night. Then reality hit us about the doctor appointments they had the next day, and how borderline irresponsible it would be to wake them up and hit the road. But our eagerness caused us to ask ourselves, \u201cDoes our home need revival?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a revival \u2026 and does my home need one?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An easy way to understand the word \u201crevival\u201d is to think, \u201ccome alive again.\u201d In this case, come alive in Christ again<\/strong> (Psalm 80:18<\/a>, 2 Chronicles 7:14<\/a>), to be returned back to a vibrant life in Jesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we got married, Liv and I were advised to always pursue each other and passionately find ways to express our love for one another. Whether it was hiding love notes around the house, random acts of genuine kindness, or spontaneous date nights, we were to keep the energy of our love alive through continuously chasing after each other\u2019s heart. We were advised that if we detoured off continuously pursuing each other, our demands of life would pull us apart and we\u2019d run the risk of a relational decline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is similar to our home\u2019s relationship with Jesus. When we detour off passionately pursuing Christ as a family through every season, we gradually veer off into a relationship with Him that\u2019s far below the bar of the abundant life God meant for His glory and our good. When we take our focus off Christ, it shifts us toward a path that gradually becomes further from God\u2019s original plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Olivia and I are good at getting zoned in on hefty to-do lists, deadlines, and just giving our kids the best we can. If we\u2019re not careful, we can be super productive in our home life but dormant in our spiritual life as a family. We never mean it intentionally, but if we\u2019re not drifting toward God, we\u2019re drifting away from Him. We never want to find ourselves at a point of passionately pursuing our<\/em> family\u2019s plans, with God\u2019s plan for our family nowhere in sight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When God is not considered in the decisions of our lives, or even alienated from the control center, the spiritual heartbeat of our family rides a decline to eventual idleness. That<\/em> puts our homes in need of revival. <\/p>\n\n\n

What could your family do with 500 Hours? Take the challenge.<\/i><\/span> <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n

What would revival in our home look like?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re like me, trying to process what revival within my home might look like can be a little intimidating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, I have to boil it down to being like Jacob from the book of Genesis and returning to the place in our family life\u2019s rhythm where God is made the center of everything, where we take common household idols (Genesis 35:2-3<\/a>) like money, routine, and schedule, and have all those things point toward our worship of the Lord. Where we abandon our personal philosophies about marriage and family and cling to the undefeated knowledge of God on marriage and family (Ephesians 5<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s about bringing our home to a place where God is taken seriously and where we intentionally follow His Word in faith. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what does that even look like? How can we spread the fire so many of us are feeling right now into our own homes and to the generations we\u2019re raising? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My colleague Tracy Lane encourages us<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n