Fan the Flame: Four Steps to Spiritual Revival

Aug 23, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Embers Buried Beneath Life’s Debris

Revival begins not with new fire but uncovering what still burns beneath layers of distraction, complacency, and unconfessed sin. Like embers smoldering under ash, our faith often lies dormant under the weight of busyness and spiritual neglect. God invites us to clear away what chokes our passion, trusting His breath can reignite what we assumed was dead. This process requires honesty about what has cooled our hearts and courage to invite His refining wind. Revival starts when we stop blaming circumstances and tend to the fire within. [42:13]

For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
(2 Timothy 1:6, NASB)

Reflection: What distractions or habits have you allowed to bury the embers of your faith? What practical step can you take today to stir up what God still burns within you?

Day 2: Waking Up to Spiritual Sleepwalking

Spiritual numbness often creeps in unnoticed, leaving us going through motions while our hearts grow distant. Like accidental naps that steal hours, we drift from prayer, Scripture, and expectancy without intent. Christ’s call to “awake, sleeper” confronts our half-alive routines, promising light to those willing to rise from the grave of apathy. Waking up means admitting we’ve settled for shadows of faith while God offers resurrection clarity. [46:54]

Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
(Ephesians 5:14, NASB)

Reflection: Where have you been “asleep” to God’s presence this week? What one intentional choice can you make today to step into His light?

Day 3: Closing the Gap Between Us and God

Distance from God isn’t His doing—it’s our drift toward lesser loves. Drawing near requires dismantling barriers: canceled prayer times, unchecked distractions, and self-reliance. Like a parent waiting for a child’s return, God responds to even hesitant steps toward Him. Nearness isn’t about perfection but positioning—clearing space to hear His heartbeat over the noise of our striving. [52:28]

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
(James 4:8, NASB)

Reflection: What practical step (e.g., 5 minutes of silence, a phone app deleted) could create space to draw near today? What makes this difficult?

Day 4: Tearing Down Brick-by-Brick Barriers

Sin isn’t just wrong actions—it’s bricks building walls between us and God. Each compromise, secret habit, or unforgiven hurt adds another layer, muffling His voice. Repentance is less about shame and more about demolition: naming each brick, handing it to God, and letting Him rebuild intimacy. Freedom comes when we stop protecting what poisons us. [58:05]

But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
(Isaiah 59:2, NASB)

Reflection: What “brick” have you been reluctant to name and surrender? Who could you safely confess this to, as Scripture commands?

Day 5: Obedience as Love’s Muscle Memory

True revival transforms duty into desire—not rule-following, but responding to love. Like athletes training muscles, we develop “obedience reflexes” through daily choices: forgiving quickly, giving generously, serving quietly. Each act of surrender rewires our hearts to crave God’s ways over our instincts. What feels burdensome becomes lifegiving as we trust the Trainer. [01:03:01]

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
(1 John 5:3, NASB)

Reflection: Where do you still view obedience as a chore rather than a love response? What small act of trust can you practice today to align with His heart?

Sermon Summary

Revival begins with a simple question: what comes to mind when that word is heard? Revival is not just a week-long event, a tent meeting, a powerful altar moment, or a feeling that fades by the next week. Revival means to revive, to make alive again, and the call to revival presses deeper than an announcement on a calendar. Revival is God doing something in a heart before he does something through a life.

The campfire image gives the shape of the whole call. The fire may look dead in the morning, but hot embers can still be buried beneath debris. Spiritual life can look the same way. Busyness, complacency, sin, and distraction can bury the fire of faith, but the embers are still there, ready for the Spirit to breathe fresh wind and fan the flame again.

The first step toward revival is to wake up. Ephesians says, “Awake, oh sleeper. Rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” Spiritual sleep is dangerous because a person can still come to church, sing the songs, lift hands, serve on a team, and go through all the motions while something inside has slowly gone numb. The awe and wonder of God can get buried under Netflix, reels, TikToks, video games, disappointment in prayer, and daily distraction. Christ promises light when the sleeping heart wakes up.

The second step is to draw near to God. James says, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” Nearness requires room. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman, leading, nudging, convicting, and inviting, but not forcing his way in. Drawing near happens through prayer, worship, the Word, gathering, and serving, but those disciplines must come with a heart that is actually seeking God, not just checking boxes.

The third step is to purify the heart through repentance. Repentance is not shame, punishment, or just feeling bad. Repentance is protection and freedom. Sin becomes like bricks in a wall between a person and the Father, and confession begins tearing those bricks down.

The fourth step is obedience. First John says God’s commandments are not burdensome, and revival produces obedience that flows from love. The Spirit of God lives in believers as helper and guide, and obedience is where knowledge and love become action. Consistency is the goal, not perfection. Revival starts when hearts wake up, draw near, repent, obey, and give God room to move until people can look around and say, “Jesus is happening.”

Key Takeaways

1. Wake up from spiritual sleep [46:21] Spiritual sleep is dangerous because it can hide inside religious motion. A person can sing, serve, and show up while the heart slowly goes numb to the awe and wonder of God. Christ gives light to the one who rises, which means awakening is not self-improvement, but a return to clarity, direction, and holy desire. [46:21]
2. Revival requires nearness to God [50:34] Distance from God is not created by his absence, but by the things allowed to crowd the heart. Nearness is not another crowded calendar item, but a decision to make room for prayer, worship, Scripture, and obedience with the right heart posture. The promise of James is tender and strong: when a person draws near, God draws near. [50:34]
3. Repentance protects and frees [55:05] Repentance is often misunderstood as shame, but God frames it as mercy. Sin builds barriers that harm the soul and separate the heart from intimacy with the Father. Confession and surrender tear down the bricks one by one, not because God wants control for control’s sake, but because he wants freedom for his children. [55:05]
4. Consistency matters more than perfection [01:01:14] Obedience does not demand a flawless life, because human weakness is real and the flesh is a daily battle. The danger is not stumbling, but staying stuck and calling disobedience normal. God’s call is to get back up, train in godliness, and let love become action again and again. [61:14]
5. Obedience turns love into action [01:03:31] Knowing God’s Word without obeying it leaves transformation unfinished. Philip’s obedience with the Ethiopian shows how one yielded step can become someone else’s life change. The Spirit still nudges, leads, and sends, and obedience is the place where trust grows muscle.

## [63:31]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[37:26] - Friend Day and Life Groups
[39:38] - What Comes to Mind With Revival?
[40:55] - The Campfire and Buried Embers
[43:19] - Revival Is More Than a Moment
[46:00] - Step One: Wake Up
[50:34] - Step Two: Draw Near to God
[55:05] - Step Three: Purify Your Heart
[59:19] - Step Four: Obedience
[60:10] - The Spirit of God Lives in You
[62:03] - Train Yourself in Godliness
[64:10] - Philip and the Ethiopian
[66:51] - How Revival Starts in a Heart
[68:32] - Invitation to Follow Jesus
[71:24] - Prayer for Revival and Life Change

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Ephesians 5:14
“For this reason it says, ‘Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.’” [46:29]

James 4:8
“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” [50:43]

1 John 5:3
“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.” [59:23]

Isaiah 59:2
“But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” [57:29]

1 Timothy 4:7-8
“But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” [01:02:06]

Observation questions

In the picture of the campfire, what was still present under the debris even when the fire looked dead, and what kinds of things were named as burying the fire of faith? [40:55]
According to Ephesians 5:14, what is promised to the sleeper who wakes up and rises? [46:29]
In James 4:8, what actions are connected together in the verse besides drawing near to God? [55:10]
What practical ways were named for drawing near to God, and what warning was given about doing those things with the wrong heart? [53:39]

Interpretation questions

If revival means being made alive again rather than chasing a spiritual moment, how does that change the way a person thinks about church events, altar moments, or emotional experiences? [43:13]
A person can still sing, serve, and show up while slowly going numb inside. Why can spiritual sleep be hard to notice, and what might make it especially dangerous in church life? [47:08]
James 4:8 says to draw near to God, and the promise is that he will draw near. What does that reveal about God’s posture toward people who take even small steps back toward him? [52:02]
Repentance is described as protection and freedom, not shame. How does that view of repentance help a person face sin more honestly instead of hiding it? [57:02]

Application questions

What has been burying the embers in this season of life? Is it busyness, distraction, disappointment, complacency, secret sin, or something else? What seems to be cooling affection for God right now? [42:25]
Where has faith started to drift into going through the motions? Is there any place where things are being done more out of duty than desire? [49:33]
Drawing near to God requires room. What may need to be removed or reduced this week so there is actual space for prayer, Scripture, worship, or quiet before God? [54:33]
Is there anything being protected that God is asking to be surrendered? What is hardest to place in his hands right now—bitterness, pride, an addiction, a relationship, finances, or something less obvious? [56:02]
Sin builds a wall like bricks between a person and the Father. What brick needs to come down first? What would honest confession and turning from it look like in a real and practical way this week? [58:05]
God’s commandments are not burdensome, and obedience turns love into action. What is one specific area where obedience is already known, but delayed? What might it look like to say yes instead of waiting for a better moment? [01:03:39]
Consistency matters more than perfection. After a stumble, what usually makes it hard to get back up again, and what would a consistent next step with God look like now? [01:01:29]

Sermon Clips

38s

#RepentanceIsFreedom

“And I believe if we can just change our mindset about repentance, we can actively pursue it with an open heart. Because repentance isn't a bad word. It's not about shame, it's not about punishment, it's not about condemnation. Repentance is about protection, It's about freedom. God wants freedom for us. He's a good father that wants to protect us and free us from the very things that harm us and create that distance from him.”

33s

#MakeRoomForGod

“And here's something that I really want us to grasp, it's that we can't consistently be busy or distracted and draw near to God. You can't do both. But drawing near to God is not asking us to do more, asking more of us. We don't need another thing on our calendars, but maybe we need to remove some things from them to make room to actually draw near. We have that choice.”

80s

#ConsistencyNotPerfection

“Now, we're human, right? So we've also got this flesh that we deal with, and our flesh is a daily battle. We have to lay our flesh down every single day. But this is what I really wanna make clear, is that God's not asking us for perfection, nor are we capable of perfection. We will stumble. We will make mistakes. We're going to have hard days. We are. But there's a difference in having a hard day and consistently walking in disobedience. See, consistency is the goal, not perfection. When you stumble, don't stay there. Don't get stuck. We allow so many of ourselves to stay stuck because we're afraid to get back up again. We're afraid God doesn't want us anymore, doesn't see us, doesn't hear us. We wallow in our self pity. We're so good at self sabotage. But when you get knocked down, get back up again. Try again. Consistency, not perfection.”

50s

#RevivalIsObedience

“You see, revival's not just an event. It's not just a feeling, and it's not just a moment where you come to the altar and you cry and you fervently seek God, and then you turn back around and walk out to the life that you've been living before. You see, we can't force revival, we can't manufacture the presence of God, but what we can do is obey, listen to him when he speaks. We can seek after God and find him. We can open the door and allow his spirit to awaken us and produce change. We can position our hearts to respond when he's moving.”

66s

#RevivalStartsWithYou

“You see, this can be the beginning of revival, church. It starts with us. It starts with you and me. It starts with rekindling the fire of our faith, but we've got a choice to make. Will we allow God to revive our hearts? Will we give him room to move? Will we surrender and repent? Until suddenly, we're different. Our homes are different. Our church is different. Our community is different. Until others begin to notice and ask, what happened? What happened to her? What happened to him? What's happening in that church? And we can say with full confidence that Jesus is happening. He's here. We don't have to keep saying revival's coming. It's here. It starts with you and me.”

47s

#WakeUpChurch

“Church, we've gotta wake up. You see, sleep for our bodies in the natural and the physical is restful, it's good, right? However, when we're spiritually asleep, that becomes a danger. And the problem is when we're asleep in the natural, we don't know we're asleep, right? And the same thing is with the spiritual sometimes. We don't know that we've fallen asleep. We can still come to church, we can sing the songs, we can lift our hands, serve on a team, and go through all the motions while something inside of us has slowly gone numb. We've fallen asleep.”

40s

#FanTheFlame

“You see, we've allowed things to bury the fire of our faith. Things like busyness, complacency, our sin, distraction. They've buried our fire, but we've still got embers there underneath that can be rekindled, that we can fan into flame. And revival can begin when we ask God to breathe on that again. When we ask the spirit to move in our lives, we need a fresh wind. We've got to fan the flame.”

56s

#TurnFromSin

“Revival, it requires repentance. And repentance isn't just asking for forgiveness, it's not feeling bad when you've done something wrong. Repentance is actually turning away from walking in the other direction. You see, we can acknowledge our sin, and when we acknowledge that it's there, we confront it. And then we confess it, and then we turn away from it in the other direction. And I'm gonna be a little, I don't know, harsh for a second, but not. I have been called a velvet hammer before, so I'm gonna give you some truth, but it's gonna be soft. Okay? We we cannot experience true revival while we protect the very things that God is asking us to surrender over to him.”

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