Revival brings joy and rejoicing.
Will You not revive us again,
That Your people may rejoice in You? Psalm 85.6
A sure sign that God’s people are being revived (restored) is that they rejoice in the Lord. This has two facets.
First, revived people are joyful people. They are not burdened with fears, doubts, and anxieties, so that they live in uncertainty, depression, or despair. They are not bored with life. They do not grumble or complain, harbor no resentments, strive to realize any vain longings, nor waste time in frivolous and fleeting activities. They are all-in for the Lord and His Kingdom, continuously focused on Him, and energetic in every task, no matter how small or great, to please and honor Him. Joy is their constant deportment, bright, confident, buoyant, expressive, infectious joy. This joy makes them joy-bringers to the people around them, as their abounding hope and joy impact people in all their words and deeds.
Second, the source of their joy is not to be found in their circumstances, but in their being seated with Christ in heavenly places at the right hand of God (Eph. 2.6), where fullness of joy, the joy of the Lord Himself, is their constant ambient environment (Ps. 16.11). This high privilege and calling comes as a gift of the Lord, received by faith, and realized through prayer and meditation. By seeking the Lord for His Presence, for His face to shine upon us, to see the glory radiant in His face, to know the warmth and strength of His touch, to be stretched by His Spirit and enlarged in Him - by reading and meditation, prayer and singing, waiting patiently on the Lord - we enter His joy and dwell in it, revived, refreshed, renewed, and restored to live joyfully in Him in all we do.
Revived people are joyful people. May the Lord revive us, that we may shine as joyful lights in a dark, sad world.