Revival, by definition, refers to the transformation from death to life. Something that once was alive, being revived.
A fire that once burned, rekindled.
A reality we once lived in constant light of, made true again.
A lost love that once consumed our very essence, found.
To pray for revival is not primarily to pray for more - miracles, healings, crowds - instead, to pray for revival is to admit before God and men - we’ve grown cold. We’ve lost the fire, the intensity, the singular focus on God and God alone.
We’ve grown busy in other matters, distracted ourselves with earthly affairs, and abandoned the place of weeping between the porch and the altar.
To pray for revival is to acknowledge the need for repentance, to be of that breed of men and women who are willing to weep while others laugh and play. Even to weep on behalf of those who refuse to weep for themselves.
Rend your heart, lament, wail, lie all night in sackcloth, consecrate a fast, these are the instructions for revival we find in the book of Joel, chapters 1 & 2. Nothing pretty, nothing polished, nothing promoted.
These words will sound as foolishness, extreme, and unnecessary to some - and these are the such who do not pray for revival. They are content to live without it, carrying on with a bit of the world and a bit of God.
Others will hear these words and feel them instantly in a deep place. It is a language born of the Spirit and thus is heard as, “groans within ourselves” and “groanings which cannot be uttered.” Romans 8:23, 26
These are such who know personally the rending of the heart and cry out for it to be rent anew, again and for however many times it takes.
To pray for revival is to bask in and behold the beauty, majesty and splendor of Christ. He is far above, so much better, and beyond comparison. He is worthy to receive the reward of His suffering.
To pray for revival is to pray that all would be for the glory of God. His kingdom come. His will be done. Realizing that at the heart of these words is a distinction that must be drawn, a line carved out, a dividing between even the soul and the spirit - His kingdom come, not our own. His will be done, not our own. “He must increase. I must decrease.” John 3:30
Divide, divide! Purify, sanctify! Decrease, unworthy, break us! You must be lifted high, whatever it costs!
To pray for revival is to be continually knowing, living, and carrying on today as those who see clearly to that future day of the Lord, which is near. And that on that day will stand, “multitudes in the valley of decision!” Joel 3:14
It is coming! He is near! Repent, repent, while you are still able!
To pray for revival is to put down the tools of man, in favor of the ways of the Lord.
Revivals of old were not ushered in by great crowds coordinated in advance, with highly orchestrated planning and promotion. These are the ways of man, not the ways of the Lord.
Instead, “No workmen’s steel, no ponderous axes rung; Like some tall palm the noiseless fabric sprung.” (Reginald Heber)
“It [true revival] is such a manifest working of God that human personalities are overshadowed and human programs abandoned. It is man retiring into the background because God has taken the field.” (Arthur Wallis, 1956, In the Day of Thy Power)
Revivals of old were birthed in the travailing prayers of a handful gathered together - often in isolation - who each intimately knew these groans which cannot be uttered, these birth pains, and were unrelenting in their persistence to wait until He comes. “Come, lie all night in sackcloth.” Joel 1:13
I will tell of one such story in history - the Moravian Revival of 1727, birthed in Saxony, Germany, at an estate called Hernnhut, which means “the Lord’s watch.” Geoff Waugh, from his book, “Flashpoints of Revival,” recounts the unfolding of this revival started by a group “mostly made up of Moravian refugees.”
On July 16th, 1727, a single man, Count Zinzendorf, “poured out his soul in prayer accompanied with a flood of tears.”
On July 22nd, a handful of others committed to pray likewise.
On August 5th, “Zinzendorf spent the whole night in prayer with approximately 12 or 14 others.”
On August 10th, Pastor Rothe, while leading the Sunday service, “was overwhelmed by the power of the Lord about noon. He sank down in the dust before God. So did the whole congregation. They continued until midnight in prayer and singing, weeping, and praying.”
On August 13th, at a specially called communion service, “the Holy Spirit was poured out on them all.”
What started that day, August 13th, in 1727, became known as the 100-year prayer meeting. 100 years of day and night prayer, 100’s of missionaries sent out all over the world, acts of evangelism and an impact made on the hearts of men such as William Carey and John and Charles Wesley.
Does not your heart burn within you upon hearing a story like this?
Sadly, too many who claim to want revival do not.
They are content with a career rather than a calling. They view, “preaching as a profession rather than a passion.” (Ravenhill) They would rather have moderation in all things rather than giving all we have for the One thing.
Thus, compromise is preached rather than a coming out from among them.
“Revival is not welcomed by everyone, however, because it involves humility, awareness of our unworthiness, confession of sin, repentance, restitution, seeking and offering forgiveness, and following Christ wholeheartedly. It then impacts society with conviction, godliness, justice, peace and righteousness. Some people do not want that, especially if revival is accompanied by people being overwhelmed, which often happens.” (Waugh, Flashpoints of Revival, xxii)
The true state of our own heart on this matter can be seen plainly if we will stop and consider this series of questions from Charles Finney:
“Do you wish a revival? Will you have one? If God should ask you this moment, by an audible voice from heaven, ‘Do you want a revival?’ would you dare to say: ‘Yes’? If He were to ask: ‘Are you willing to make the sacrifices?’ would you answer: ‘Yes’? And if He said: ‘When shall it begin?’ would you answer: ‘Let it begin to-night—let it begin here—let it begin in my heart NOW’? Would you dare to say so to God, if you should hear His voice tonight?” (Lectures on Revival, p. 34)
Finney continues, “You see why you have not a revival. It is only because you do not want one.”
Do these words yet cut to our hearts deep enough that we would cry out one to another, “What shall we do?”
Or are we content to live without revival?