7 Principles that Invite Revival
Last month, the Greater Spokane area was treated to a visit from George Otis Jr, founder of the Sentinel Group. At the gathering and luncheon at Tri-County Christian Center in Deer Park, George reminded about 50 of us that Revival is possible and we need to expand our faith for what God can do here in Spokane.
In the movie The Quickening, produced by the Sentinel Group, they say…
“It is not enough for us to just wish for change. Or to hope that God will include our community in His Revival itinerary. If spiritual transformation is to become a reality, in our lives and in our neighborhood, then hope must give way to faith and commitment. Our solitary goal must be to prepare the way for the Presence of God.”
What a statement?! “Our SOLITARY GOAL must be to prepare the way for the Presence of God.”
At the luncheon, George suggested that we revisit the 7 principles that invite Revival. So I rewatched the movie The Quickening, which lays them out along with potential hindrances that can keep us from experiencing a greater visitation from the Presence of God.
1. Invite God’s presence: We need to seek God’s presence with genuine desire, recognizing that spiritual transformation begins with Him rather than with human effort. A visitation from God is the only thing that will actually transform our land.
Potential Hindrance – The Quickening describes a Lack of hunger in believers who are becoming distracted by busy lives and worldly pursuits, leaving little room for a passionate pursuit of God’s presence. Time becomes our enemy with little room for God.
Psalm 63:1 (ESV) “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
2. Pursue holiness and humility: We must humble ourselves before God, allowing Him to search our hearts, expose our motives, and lead us toward holiness.
Potential Hindrance – Spiritual blindness can keep us from recognizing our own need for cleansing. Hidden agendas, selfish ambition, hanging onto the sense of being hurt and offended, and more, can all interfere with our pursuit of God’s purposes.
Isaiah 66:2 (ESV) “But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”
3. Begin with personal obedience: We can respond faithfully to what God has already revealed in His Word. We cannot manufacture transformation, but we are responsible for obeying God and seeking Him. Revival does not begin with mass movements but with individuals willing to seek Him. Do not be discouraged when others do not have the same desire and fervency that you do.
Potential Hindrance – Lowered Expectations can cause us to spend more time talking about Jesus than we spend talking to Jesus. Our apathy causes us to replace true spiritual pursuit with religious activity because we no longer believe that God will act on our behalf. Prayer Leader Eddie Smith said “Jesus is the only Bridegroom I know, whose Bride will hardly speak to Him.”
4. Pursue biblical unity: City leaders must seek Biblical unity among believers, centered around Jesus and His kingdom purposes, without requiring every congregation or ministry to look alike. Cooperation together for the purpose of reaching our city needs to be a greater goal than growing our church.
Potential Hindrance: There is a selfish ambition and failure to recognize our need for one another that leads to a Lack of Unity. Instead of working together to reconcile our city to God, we instead focus on our own individual success. The divide continues to grow because of theological differences, jealousy, different strategies, and even a busy-ness that leaves church leaders over-extended and exhausted. God’s people must learn to give themselves to Him and to one another.
Ephesians 4:2&3 (ESV) “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
5. Pray for breakthrough: Prayer must be our foundation that seeks for and expects God CAN and WILL move in our community. Pray persistently and expectantly for God to transform lives and communities, trusting His power rather than our own ability. Put less effort in our strategies and more effort into Travailing Prayer to see miraculous things happen. We need prayer that allows God to mold us, beak us, reform us into His will as we become result oriented.
Potential Hindrance: Theological misperceptions make it easy to believe that, since God is sovereign, there is nothing that we can do to facilitate Revival. Whereas God will work according to His plan and His timing, we can prepare the way for the Presence of God. Scripture teaches us to humble ourselves before Him and seek the healing of our land. But lowered expectations can cause us to accept complacency and man-made substitutes for genuine transformation. We assume that spiritual awakening is unlikely.
Jeremiah 33:3 (ESV) “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”
6. Welcome God’s unique ways of working: We must remain attentive to God’s leading rather than assuming He must work through our preferred strategies, traditions, or expectations. God often acts in ways that we don’t expect. Revival has come in many different ways, to many different people through the years. What if the faithful pray but revival happens through the hippies (like during the Jesus Peale movement)? How will we respond?
Potential hindrance: George Otis Jr warns that pride, impatience, and an obsession with achievement can cause us to organize our way toward success without seeking God’s direction. We can be so committed to our plan that we fail to recognize God’s plan.
Isaiah 43:18–19 (ESV) “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
7. Embrace servant leadership: It is vital that we lead and serve humbly, seeking God’s glory rather than personal recognition, institutional success, or control. We need to be committed to perseverance and patience through every obstacle, set back, or waiting until God’s Presence shows up. We must remember that He is the answer and not our creativity.
Potential Hindrance: Our reliance on programs can become goal oriented instead of transformation minded. Strategizing our way into success can become more important than seeking God’s counsel and waiting upon Him. We take the stage, set the band to play, and let the production begins, BUT God often enters through a non-descriptive back door. God does not need the masses; He is looking for the surrendered. “The longer we try to organize our way into success the longer it will be before we taste actual victory.”
Zechariah 4:6 (ESV) “Then he said to me, ‘This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.’”
Closing emphasis:
As the Psalmist said “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” Psalm 85:6 (ESV)
“Lord, search us, humble us, unite us, and teach us to seek Your presence above everything else. Begin Your transforming work in us, and work through Your people for the good of Spokane and the glory of Jesus Christ.”
by Cary Peden
November 2026