Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? (Psalm 85:6)

Celebration of Hope has been associated with revival. What is “revival”?

Well, revival means different things to different people. For example:

• Tens of thousands gathered at a conference, prayer event or gospel rally
• Frequent occurrences of miracle healing, signs and wonders
• Explosion of prayer in homes, in churches, in offices, on campus
• Unusual openness to the Gospel among pre-believers 
• Widespread conviction of sin and mass conversions to Christ
• Churches jam-packed with worshippers and seekers every weekend
• Families coming back together in reconciliation and restoration

Are we already in revival? Visiting preachers think so. But others wonder. 

This poses a spiritual conundrum.

If we are already in revival, then we should rejoice! We should acknowledge God and give him thanks to avoid falling into a perfectionist syndrome of excessive self-criticism and nagging doubt. 

But if we’re not yet in revival, then all this talk of being already in revival will lead us down a path of pride and presumption. In thinking that we’re doing well when we’re not, we delude ourselves, like the Church in Laodicea. (Revelation 3:17) 

Twofold calling

Whither Singapore? The words of the apostle Paul are instructive:

• I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers … (Ephesians 1:16,17)
• Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. (1 Thessalonians 4:1)

It’s a call to do both: Give thanks for what God has done, and always pray for more of that.

Yes, Christians in Singapore have lots to thank God for. We have tasted His amazing wonders and blessings in our 200 years of existence as a nation. We have much to celebrate.

There are obvious signs of God at work in our city today. We hear an ever-increasing crescendo of prayer rising up to God – with one accord – calling on Him to visit our land.

Prayer is an act of humility and humility pleases God (James 4:6). Unity honours God and where He sees unity, there He commands His blessings (Psalm 133:3). This is a work of divine grace. Do not cease to give thanks!

Yet, we know there can be so much more. We long for the immeasurably more that God has in store for Singapore (Ephesians 3:20). Call it a holy yearning. Call it a “divine discontent” (PM Lee Hsien Loong). Call it a “magnificent obsession” (Billy Graham). 

Whatever, it is a very good kind of kiasuism, the biblical kind that honours the unsurpassing greatness of our God!

In essence, revival is about a people “saturated with God” (Duncan Campbell).

May this be the defining mark of our lives and our collective longing as a Christian community in Singapore. Where we are so full of God that we bring His manifest presence wherever we go. 

Where we live out our faith daily in word, in thought and in deed. Where we model strong marriages and wholesome families. 

Where we practise evangelism as a priority, passionately reaching out to the lost. Where we serve selflessly at work, uncorrupted by the lust for power, position and prestige. 

And so much more! Perhaps, we will never stop longing for revival this side of heaven. And we shouldn’t.

Towards Celebration of Hope, no matter how each of us may envisage revival, let us do the right thing: Return to God, the ultimate Source of every genuine revival, past, present and future. In so doing, there shall arise a people saturated with God, a critical mass of God-lovers sold out on doing His will and finishing His work in our generation.