In 1 Kings 18:41 Elijah tells his servant to go look toward the horizon, as there was ‘the sound of heavy rain’ in his spirit. The servant dutifully climbed the mountain and reported ‘nothing is there’! Of course, the rain was on its way – Elijah could sense it before the servant could see it.

What about the rains of revival in our nation? Can you sense them?

Isn’t it amazing how subjective spiritual realities can be? In a single service, one person can feel like it’s heaven, another feels it’s hell! One feels excited at God’s works, while the next yawns passively. I am told the next village down from the centre of the Welsh Revival was completely untouched by it, while other villages further afield joined in the blazing visitation!

What about you and I – would we sense revival if it came? In fact, is it already underway?

How about approaching revival from a factual base? Do you realise you live in an age when more people are born again than ever before – in fact, there are more people born again living on planet earth right now, than have ever been born again in history! There are more people raised from the dead than ever, waves of church planting are rising across the world and more people are filled with the Spirit than ever. Moves of prayer are surging across the planet in ways that have only ever accompanied revival in past times. While the Welsh Revival saw 100,000 people saved – I have been in a single Reinhard Bonnke service when over 1 million have responded to Christ. We have come a long way in the last 100 years!

Perhaps much more is underway than we think? Perhaps we need to position ourselves to see more of God’s workings?

God questioned the prophets, like Jeremiah, repeatedly, asking ‘What do you see?’ as if an eye test was a requirement for co-operating with God’s purposes. It would appear that accurately seeing and sensitively hearing is a big deal to God. Maybe we need to step aside from the fearful news coverage, or the humdrum of day to day life, and research what God is doing in the world – you would be surprised to see a revival is underway. And when you can see it, you can join in!

Jarrod Cooper is an author, songwriter and speaker with a vision of revival across the nation. He is the leader of Revive Church in Hull and East Yorkshire, and has a passion to inspire others through ministry and worship.