Shoulder To Shoulder #1339 -- 5/4/23 ---- "Is Another Spiritual Awakening Eminent? (Part 11) -- The Strengthening Re-bars"
"Standing Together, Shoulder To Shoulder, As We Fight the Good Fight of Faith"
SHOULDER TO SHOULDER is a weekly letter of encouragement Bob has written since 1997, covering many topics selected to
motivate people to be strong students of the Word and courageous witnesses of Jesus Christ. It is a personal letter of
encouragement to you, written solely to help "lift up hands that hang down".
"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything." -- Albert Einstein
“There is a common, worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have, and think they have -- a cheap Christianity which offends nobody,
requires no sacrifice, which costs nothing, -- and is worth nothing.” – J. C. Ryle
Shoulder To Shoulder #1339 -- 5/4/23
Title: "Is Another Spiritual Awakening Eminent? (Part 11) -- The Strengthening Re-bars"
My Dear Friend and Fellow Kingdom Seeker:
Thank you for understanding my need to skip a week or so in writing as Jo Ann and I, along with our daughter, Cheri, and husband, Bob, took our long-anticipated AmTrak trip through CA, OR, WA, and MT. We returned from the eleven-day trip late this past Tuesday night and are still recuperating from a tiring but incredibly refreshing journey where we did nothing but visit, relax, watch, read, sleep -- and eat. The trip had been one of Jo Ann's dreams for many years but, because of an ongoing ministry schedule and two trips a year back to our home in the Missouri Ozarks, we were never able to find the time to take it. In that we sold our home of 25 years in Missouri and now live in Yuma, this Spring gave us that window of opportunity -- so we took it.
Our journey took us by car to the northern side of Los Angeles where we stayed with new friends in their "resort" style home while visiting grandson, Michael. Then, from Simi Valley, CA, we headed north through Portland to Seattle where we spent the night and got to visit granddaughter, Katya, her husband, Brandon, and our newest great grandchild (#18 we think!), Austin. From Seattle we headed west through Spokane all the way to Whitefish, MT. Arriving late morning, we rented a car and drove along one of the many scenic rivers in the area, checked into "The Lodge" on Whitefish Lake, then the following day took an all-day drive to both the west and east entrances to Glacier National Park before returning to our 11:00 PM departure back through Spokane, the Columbia River Gorge, Portland, and back to Simi Valley to the home of our new friends. Following a final lunch with Michael Tuesday, we made our way back home with a stop at Costco in El Centro for Bob and Cheri.
Although the train accommodations were considerably less than ideal for a couple of old folks, the trip was relaxing, and the scenery was sensational -- from the barren Great Salton Sea to the crashing waves along the Pacific Coast, to the view of SpaceEx, through amazingly green pasture land and blossom-filled trees, to a surprisingly clean downtown Seattle, to the spectacular mountains of Montana. In the process, we were finally able to check off the one lone mainland state west of the Mississippi River which we had never visited -- MT. (Only Alaska and seven New England states remain on our "never been there" list.)
While I didn't do as much reading as hoped for, I was able to read about a number of revivals and spiritual awakenings throughout history, some of which most people know nothing about. Most of us know a little about perhaps a dozen revivals, not realizing that there are thousands. Of the 30+ books on revival that I recently downloaded onto my tablet via Kindle, I was only able to read about one half of one book -- Revival Fire: 150 Years of Revivals, by Mathew Backholer. From the UK, Backholer is a revivalist researcher, writer, and co-founder of ByFaith Media. Author of more than 38 books on revival and spiritual awakening, he digs deep in the history, factors, and characteristics of past revivals and spiritual awakenings. It seems he has done what most authors fail to do, and that is to discover and then detail many of the countless revivals that have taken place throughout history.
In this particular book, he covers roughly a 150 year period between 1857 and 2007 when great global spiritual movements -- such as the the prayer movements, Pentecostalism, the Keswick conventions, the healing revivals, and others -- were taking place around the world. Clearly this book was somewhat restrictive in its scope and focus, but what I have read thus far has solidified much of what I already knew and believed, broadened my view of revival, and deepened my conviction as to our need for revival at this time in history.
We are, indeed, in "crisis mode", awash in godless secularism, sinking deeper in the mire of sin, and in desperate need of revival among God's people if a culture is to ever be saved -- if, indeed, we are even worth saving.
During our AmTrak journey I read about the following revivals:
+ The Prayer Meeting Revival with Jeremiah Lamphier (1857-1859)
+ The Gold Coast Revival (1875-1878)
+ The Azusa Street Revival (1906-1909)
+ The Pyongyang Great Revival (1907-1910)
+ The Rusitu Revival (1915-1920)
+ The Budapest, Hungary, Revival (1937-1938)
+ The Congo Revival (1953-1957)
+ The North Uist Revival (1957-1958)
+ The Indonesian Revival (1964-1974)
I knew about only four of them, but even within those great moves of God, I learned more details. If nothing else came from reading the first half of this book, it has sharpened my focus on revival in Christ's body being the only way for spiritual awakening to happen in our culture. It has also reminded me of just how sinister Satan is in planting fear and apathy in the hearts of Christians, how he tries to distort and pervert something that is good, and how he distracts Christians from doing the most fundamental things that will usher in revival and awakening.
Hopefully I can finish the book and read about the other revivals he described, but today I'd like to share some impressions the Holy Spirit gave me over the past ten days as He seemed to point out several essential elements that establish, strengthen, solidify, and sustain revival. In a way, you might call them "the re-bars of revival." I have addressed some of them in earlier letters, but want to share some additional thoughts. First, though, take a quick look at . . .
QUOTES FOR THE WEEK:
> ". . . the winter of 1857-1858 will be remembered as time when a great revival prevailed. It swept over the land with such power that, for a time, it was estimated that no less than 50,000 conversions occurred weekly." -- Charles Finney (regarding the Prayer Meeting Revival of 1857-1859)
> “It is safe to say that America is not just enduring a storm but a raging hurricane. Society has rejected truth and common sense and opted instead for moral relativism. But as dim as the future may seem and as hopeless as it may feel, I am here to bring you a message of hope and optimism. While we are up against formidable foes and much adversity, our God is greater.” -- Kayleigh McEnany, Serenity in the Storm: Living through Chaos by Leaning on Christ, #1 NYT Best Seller, (Former press secretary to President Donald Trump)
> "The dynamic for revival is so great, and the potential for growth is so tremendous, that all concerned with Christian discipleship must be deeply interested in revival. Our wise God has given people the power they need for sowing the seed, reaping the harvest, and gathering the sheaves. The church of Jesus Christ today must take up this challenge and move forward." -- Wesley S. K. Daniel (former staff member of the Discipleship Ministries of the United Methodist Church)
> "A necessary pre-cursor of any great spiritual awakening is a spirit of deep humiliation growing out of a consciousness of sin, and fresh revelation of the holiness and power and glory of God." -- John R. Mott
> "You never have to advertise a fire. Everyone comes running when there's a fire. Likewise, if your church is on fire, you will not have to advertise it. The community will already know it." -- Leonard Ravenhill
> "When there are dissensions, and jealousies, and evil speakings among professors of religion, then there is great need of a revival. These things show that Christians have got far from God, and it is time to think earnestly of a revival." -- Charles Finney
> "Revival begins in the individual's heart. Let it begin with you on your face alone before God. Turn from every sin that might hinder. Renew yourself to a new devotion to the Savior." -- Lee Roberson
RE-BAR THAT TENDS TO SUSTAIN AND/OR SPREAD REVIVAL:
As I mentioned above, I have written previously about some of these points, but having ten days to read and contemplate about past revivals from both scripture and subsequent history has driven me to see just how absolutely essential certain things are for revival -- and particularly for any revival that protracts into extended time or expands outwardly to other locations. If anything happened on this trip, it was the deepening and strengthening of my conviction that at least these five things are absolutely essential to genuine revival and spiritual awakening.
Fueling this conviction is the awareness of countless recent claims of revival that may well be a mere "flash in the pan", or a "slight sprinkle" of God's mercy drops. Not everything that people are calling revival is truly biblical revival. They may be meetings, prayer gatherings, rallies, or some other good thing, -- but they are not true revival. Revival may flow out of them, but they in themselves may not be revival. The litmus tests are, "time will tell", and "you will know . . . by their fruit." Is there genuine fruit, or just "ornaments"? Does it last, or is it just an enthusiastic well meaning hiccup?
These are serious issues. When we assume that "revival has come", yet there is no biblical evidence or the movement is short-lived or shows no increasing fruit, then we have to be honest with ourselves and admit that we settled for something else and/or something less than what God wanted to pour out upon us. Far too many of us want just a "taste", but don't want to attend the "feast". We want a "touch" but not a "transformation".
And that is the great danger -- especially under the circumstances in which we find ourselves as a culture, a nation, and the Body of Christ. Tragically, we run too swiftly, we expect too little, we aim too low, and we stop too soon. As a result, the opportunity God gives us to be part of the radical transformation of our part of the world is sadly wasted.
So, let me touch on those things God has reinforced in my mind during our recent trip:
1. The Sovereign Purposes of God. You and I will never understand God's sovereignty. It is a concept that is foreign to the human mind. Even though we both will acknowledge it -- and even believe in it -- even try to act within it -- we will never fully grasp it. Almost all Christians agree that God is preeminent in power and authority. What’s subject to disagreement among some is to what extent God actually applies His sovereignty and how much control He exerts over our wills, plans, and actions.
God’s sovereignty rests on three primary characteristics of His nature -- namely, His Omniscience, His Omnipresence, and His Omnipotence. I could take up volumes of space and hours of time listing some of the countless scriptures that describe His absolute authority over all things in all circumstances to all people for all time. That's the right, the range, and the realm of His sovereignty. He is both the Creator and the Cause. He has the Right (the authority) and the Resources (the power) to do whatever He chooses, whenever He chooses, how He Chooses, wherever He chooses, and to whom He chooses.
And that bugs us. It "rubs against the fur" of our own strong self-wills. Even when it comes to revival, we want to control its conditions, its application, and its manifestations. If we don't like what we see, we want to change it -- or even stop it. Subsequently we often struggle with the ideas of revival and spiritual awakening because we recognize that if we are to experience genuine revival, it will require us to abdicate all our own preconceived notions of what revival is, and our predetermined decisions of how it will manifest itself. When we speak of the sovereignty of God, it means He rules the universe, -- but then the debate begins over when and where His control is direct and when it is indirect.
Previously I referred to Psalm 139:1-24, one of David's songs he apparently wrote after years of experiencing God's hand on him. The Psalm is made up of four stanza's, each stanza consisting of six verses:
1) God's Omniscience -- He knows everything about everything. (v 1-6)
2) God's Omnipresence -- He is everywhere all the time. (v 7-12)
3) God's Omnipotence -- He is all powerful over all things at all times. (v 13-18)
4) David's Reaction -- His indignation that leads to inner examination. (v 19-24)
If and when revival comes, it comes directly under the supreme and undisputed sovereignty of the God of all creation. He will send it where, when, and how He chooses. The decision is based on the reality that He knows everything about everything, He is everywhere all the time, and He is all powerful over all things everywhere all the time.
As such, God knows exactly why revival is to come, He knows precisely when to send it, He knows specifically what He wants to accomplish in it, He knows the extent to which it is to reach, He knows the duration of time it needs to prolong, He knows the intent for which He sends it, -- and He knows the exact manifestations needed in order to confirm it. You and I do not have the luxury of contesting any of it.
It is because of these very factors that we have no control over revival. The expressions of biblical revival are as varied as the experiences of revival over the centuries. In the First Great Awakening it primarily was expressed through deep repentance of sin and the agonizing throes of salvation. In the Prayer Meeting Revival it was manifested mainly through prayer. In the Rusitu revival under Rees Howells and in the Keswick revival it was the consciousness of the bondage of the flesh and the need to "die to self". In the Pentecostal revival it was seen in the resurgence of certain spiritual gifts. In the recent Asbury awakening it was a sense of peace and quiet worship.
The fact that we can't control revival is what gives us our greatest struggles with it. We are fearful that something may happen that is unfamiliar to us or uncomfortable for us. This is also why no revival ever necessarily manifests itself in the same way. So, while we can study past revivals -- both in the Bible and in subsequent history -- we can never anticipate what God will do or how people will respond. God always has His reasons -- and they are always right. This lack of understanding -- and control -- often becomes the primary hindrance to revival coming, spreading, or being sustained.
The greatest danger for every Christian is to tell God how He should operate. The clay dare not demand how the Potter shapes the vessel (Jer 29:16). I can promise you that, if you take such a stubborn stance against God's agenda, revival either will not come at all -- or it will pass you by and leave you outside of His blessing, stranded in the bondage of self-will, while others are being touched and changed.
2. The Priority of Prevailing Prayer. While I will probably address this in more detail at a later time, let me say that I know of not one single revival or spiritual awakening that was not first preceded by prolonged seasons of prayer -- intercession for the conditions, and a plea for God's intervention. The renowned Andrew Murray, a 19th Century South African revivalist, writer, educator, and pastor, stated the following:
"The evangelization of the world depends on a revival of prayer. Deeper than the need for men is the need for the forgotten secret of prevailing, world-changing prayer."
On another occasion, Murray wrote, . . .
"The coming revival must begin with a great revival of prayer. It is in the closet, with the door shut, that the sound of abundance of rain will first be heard. An increase of secret prayer with ministers will be the sure harbinger of blessing."
Born in Hoboken, NJ, R. A. Torrey (1856-1928) was one of the greatest modern-day revivalists. He was an American evangelist, pastor, educator, and writer who followed the principles of the Keswick theology and associated with others such as Hannah Whitall Smith and D. L. Moody. He eventually associated with Moody and became the first President of what was to become Moody Bible Institute and pastor of what would be known as Moody Memorial Church in Chicago. He also happened to be one of my father's favorite writers, and I was blessed to have received all of Torrey's books my father had acquired over his years of ministry.
Torrey wrote well over forty books on biblical inerrancy, soul winning, prayer, revival, the Holy Spirit, expositions on books of the Bible, and other topics. In his, Never a Revival Without Mighty Praying, Torrey stated, . . .
"Prayer will do more to bring a deep and lasting and sweeping revival, a revival that is real and lasting and altogether of the right sort, than all the organizations that were ever devised by man. The history of the Church of Jesus Christ on earth has been largely a history of revivals.
"When you read many of the Church histories that have been written, the impression that you naturally get is that the history of the Church of Jesus Christ here on earth has been very largely a history of misunderstandings, disputes, doctrinal differences and bitter conflicts.
"But if you will study the history of the living Church, you will find it has been very largely a history of revivals. Humanly speaking the Church of Jesus Christ owes its very existence today to revivals. many times the Church has seemed to be on the verge of utter shipwreck, but just then God has sent a great revival and saved it.
"Every real revival in the Church has been the child of prayer. There have been revivals without much preaching; there have been revivals with absolutely no organization; but there has never been a mighty revival without mighty praying.
"What we need more than anything else today in our own land and in all lands, is a real, mighty outpouring of the Spirit of God. The most fundamental trouble with most of our present-day so-called revivals is, that they are man-made and not God-sent. They are worked up by man's cunningly devised machinery -- not prayed down.
"Oh, for an old-time revival, a revival that is really and not spuriously of the Pentecostal pattern, for that revival was born of a fourteen days' prayer-meeting. But let us not merely sigh for it. Let us cry for it, cry to God, cry long and cry loud if need be, and then it will surely come!..."
The great authority on revival and spiritual awakening, J. Edwin Orr, wrote, . . .
“No great spiritual awakening has begun anywhere in the world apart from united prayer — Christians persistently praying for revival.”
If you study the history of revivals and spiritual awakenings, you will find that inevitably it was prayer that preceded and undergirded revival in almost every case. For example, quoting a July 6, 2019 article by Sri Lankan Youth For Christ's teaching director, Ajith Fernando, he wrote, . . .
"In Wales, it was a group of young people under seminary student Evan Roberts, who came home from seminary to seek God, sensing that he had lost his fire. Roberts started a prayer group that grew and grew and became a nationwide movement, resulting in about 100,000 people being converted and joining the church.
"In the Hebrides Islands of Scotland, two single, housebound ladies in their eighties prayed earnestly for revival.
"At the same time, in another part of their island, seven young men met regularly to prevail in prayer until revival broke.
"In Korea in the early 1900s, God spoke to the leaders of the church and revived them first, which then led to a national awakening.
"In an Indian girls’ school, it was the prodding of a devout leader, Pandita Ramabai, that fired up students to prevail in prayer and trigger revival.
'Five university students in the United States gathered at a haystack and prayed for missions and helped give birth to the great missionary movement of that nation."
By now, I'm sure you suspect that one of my favorite "hobbies" (I suppose you could call it) is that of collecting quotes. I probably have more quotes related to revival and prayer than any single subject. I won't belabor the point by listing more, but simply urge you to do your own research.
3. The Necessary Presence and Activity of the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit in bringing, using, and sustaining true revival is indisputable. Everything you and I know about Him testifies to the necessity of His presence and His activity. Since the Holy Spirit's presence and work are essential to convicting us of sin, drawing us to Christ, bringing us to salvation, placing us in the body of believers, sealing us, securing us, teaching us, guiding us, and protecting us, we should not be surprised at His active presence in the world of revival and spiritual awakening. It should be a no-brainer, and yet many believers expect to experience revival while at the same time they reject His work, His control, and His giftings.
Jesus Himself explained in great detail (see John 14 and John 15) the role the Holy Spirit will have in the life of the believer, so to disregard or resist Him in times of revival is certain to bring revival to an early end.
The Holy Spirit in revival is indispensable. As far as I can see, every single aspect of revival depends on His presence, power, and activity. It is He Who exposes and convicts of sin; it is He Who releases and exercises spiritual giftings; it is He Who guides and monitors revival's flow into "all truth" as found in God's Word; it is He Who guards and protects from error, fraudulent efforts, deception, and imitation.
And herein lies one of the causes of revival either not taking place at all, being short-lived, or getting derailed. Throughout the Book of Acts and the Epistles, revival and the Holy Spirit's work were the norms, not the exception. It is the work of the Holy Spirit that re-energizes God's people, giving them clarity, purpose, authority, power, and effectiveness. To reject what He does or tell Him what He can or cannot do borders on blasphemy. And, still, many Christians try to limit Him in what He does and how He responds during times of revival and awakening.
You may be stunned at the source of this statement, but revival is, according to Wesley S. K. Daniel (former staff member of the Discipleship Ministries of the United Methodist Church) . . .
". . . a reawakening of the people of God by the Spirit of God. The consequence of revival is new life and power in the Body of Christ. The church receives the power of the Holy Spirit and takes the Great Commission seriously. Individuals, groups, and churches are renewed and revitalized with new life infused by the Spirit.
"Revival and renewal are the result of many factors, one of which is the consciousness of spiritual needs — the feeling that "something is missing," which leads the individual to prayer and to seek God's grace to fill that empty vacuum. The seeker studies the Word of God with prayer. This leads to repentance and a yearning for a mighty move of the Holy Spirit to change the status quo. God responds to people's earnest prayers.
". . . In seasons of revival, God makes a new energy available; renewal then results. The static, solid, hard conditions give way to God's striking, breaking, and quickening power of the Holy Spirit. A spiritual awakening is born; and new life is witnessed, bubbling up to the surface as a result of the inner work of the Holy Spirit. A new love for Christ, a new commitment to Christ, and a new dedication to the Great Commission are the welcome results of genuine revivals.
"Renewal does not stop with a church being revitalized. The new energy drives the church to proclaim the gospel near and far. The desire to share the good news of the love of God in Christ becomes a burden in the hearts of people. The concern to bring others to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ takes hold of them, and they step out in bold ventures for God. As a result of revival and renewal, the gospel is boldly proclaimed, people are discipled and perfected in their faith, new faith communities are born, growth is witnessed, and a great movement begins. God moves in history; and since God is the source of revivals, revivals can continue to happen in our churches today.
"The dynamic for revival is so great, and the potential for growth is so tremendous, that all concerned with Christian discipleship must be deeply interested in revival. Our wise God has given people the power they need for sowing the seed, reaping the harvest, and gathering the sheaves. The church of Jesus Christ today must take up this challenge and move forward."
In every genuine revival there are manifestations of some kind. Sometimes they alarm us. There are times when they comfort us. Generally speaking, they are designed to assure us of God's presence, validating what God is doing as He brings believers back from spiritual deadness into renewed vitality. During great revivals such as the Kentucky Revival of 1800 (also known as the Red River Revival in Logan County) -- which, incidentally, greatly impacted those who would become leaders in the Second Great Awakening -- people reportedly would shake, bark, or do other highly unusual things. Similar things took place that people did not understand in other revivals. Sometimes these manifestations were the work of the Holy Spirit, but often they were either sincere emotional responses or even counterfeit actions caused by demonic activity in order to discredit the revival itself.
Today the knowledge of these events -- past and present -- has caused many Christians to shy away from the very topic of revival itself, and to resist it when they sense its presence. That is tragic for two reasons: first, they take the risk of experiencing God's life-transforming opportunity in their own lives; and second, they overlook the deeper more important work of the Holy Spirit. Somehow we must get over our fear of and infatuation with the manifestations, and receive the deep work of the Holy Spirit as He shapes us more and more into Christlikeness and motivates us into more enthusiastic Christian living.
In examining the history of many revivals and spiritual awakenings, I have learned that, although there truly are times of excessive emotionalism and/or counterfeit exhibitions designed to distract or discredit, the Holy Spirit's work was still taking place as He brought peace, deliverance, healing, reconciliation, courage, boldness, and/or power to those whom He was touching.
So, if this is an area where you struggle, as I often have, I urge you to do two things: first, look beyond the manifestations and focus in the deeper inner workings that are happening; and second, employ "The Gamaliel Principle" of letting God decide what is from Him and what is not. (Acts 5:34-39) Above all, do NOT do ANYTHING that will either grieve or quench the Holy Spirit. His presence and activity are indispensable to any genuine move of revival -- and to any that is not.
4. The Primacy of God's Word. In every revival about which I have ever read, the longevity and reach of that movement have both been determined by the degree to which God's people -- particularly preachers -- glue themselves and their teachings to the truths of God's Word. The great British Baptist missionary, Hudson Taylor (1832-1905), was a missionary to China for 54 years. He famously stated, . . .
"There are three great truths; First, that there is a God; Second, that He has spoken to us in the Bible; and Third, that He means what He says."
I have always recognized that God's Word was prominent in every revival and spiritual awakening. You would not assume otherwise. It's another "no-brainer". But in reading about these many historical times when revival prevailed in a given area, I noted perhaps three or four principles, some of which I've previously mentioned:
1) Public preaching and/or reading was paramount. It was obvious in all the revivals in the Bible from Ezra and Nehemiah to Jonah in Nineveh, to the Apostle Peter in Acts. It was the backbone of the First Great Awakening under men like George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, and others. The most respected -- and feared -- men leading up to and during the Revolutionary War were not the British governors and army, but rather the men in the pulpit -- men so influential in their preaching that they were often elected into positions of official leadership, they were the men to whom the British would go to announce important notices, and they were the men so threatening to the British Crown that he described them as "the Black Robe Regiment".
Such activity was not limited only to the days of the past, but even in modern times. For example, Charles Finney, D. L. Moody, Billy Sunday, and Billy Graham drew thousands to hear them preach the message of salvation. Today Franklin Graham is one of the most influential preachers in America, and just last week more than 60,000 young people gathered at Sooner Stadium on the University of Oklahoma Campus to pray and hear God's Word. It is such preaching that often initiates revival, and certainly sustains it.
2) As people encountered Christ during times of revival, an insatiable hunger for God's Word was immediate. One thing that struck me in my recent reading was how in the Korean Revival, the Pyongyang Revival, and others, both individuals, missionaries, and pastors sat aside uninterrupted periods of time for Bible study, both personally and corporately.
For example, not only did Korean churches begin extraordinary corporate prayer gatherings at 5:00 AM (which, incidentally, they still practice today some 115 years later!), but they also established Bible study classes meeting for at least a week all day long where work was laid aside and the entire time was devoted to studying the scriptures. Some such classes were enormous in number. For example, the Pyongyang General Class had its first session on January 2nd, 1907, with 1,000 people attending. It lasted two weeks, and people traveled from as far away as 100 miles to attend. A few days later evening classes began with 1,500 in attendance.
In his book, Revival Fire: 150 Years of Revivals, Backholer wrote of this phenomenon, stating, . . .
"The Pyongyang General Class . . . would last for two weeks . . . This was one of the reasons why the revival spread so far and fast, as revived Christians, 'fire carriers', traveled back to their churches and caught them alight -- revival by extension."
William Newton Blair, a Northern Presbyterian missionary from 1901-1947 and author of numerous books on the revivals in Korea, wrote, . . .
"The result of such uninterrupted Bible study is inevitably a quickening of the entire Church, a true revival of love and service."
3) Bible schools, Christian colleges, and seminaries focusing on Bible training often came as a result. Moody Bible Institute is one of many examples coming out of the Prayer Meeting Revival of 1857-1858. In both the Welsh Revival, the Hebrides Revival, the Korean Revival, and scores more, institutions of training based on biblical truth almost always emerged as a result -- lending to the prolonging of revival and awakening.
The popular pastor and author, John Piper, described it well in an article he wrote on September 20, 20212. He stated, . . .
"Therefore, my enthusiasm for spiritual awakening and unity in the body of Christ increases in direct proportion to the fullness and clarity of central gospel truths which are driving the awakening. And my enthusiasm for awakening and unity diminishes in direct proportion to the decrease of the fullness and clarity of the central biblical truths sustaining the awakening.
"I want to see God send a great spiritual awakening marked by a passionate, God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated consensus rooted in the fullness of central gospel truths. Spiritual awakening is mainly about more and more people seeing and savoring the glory of Jesus Christ. And that glory shines most brightly when his beauty is seen most clearly, and savored most dearly."
If a revival is short-lived or is somehow derailed from its original direction, it is often because the movement strayed away from basic fundamental scriptures.
5. Convulsive Repulsiveness against sin and the flesh. I still vividly remember a number of years ago when God put on my heart the question, "Do the things that bother God bother me?" Sometimes we forget that sin of any kind offends God -- and that when we willfully sin, we are offending Him. This is a reality that almost immediately surfaces during times of revival.
The reason we are rarely shamed of our sin is because we have walked away from God's presence. Oh, it's true that we've not abandoned Him or have lost our salvation, but we have allowed our attitude toward sin to change. We are content to either ignore or tolerate things that we know God hates. After all, God paid the ultimate price to forgive us of such things, and for us to treat them flippantly or casually is to treat our own salvation with disdain. It is like receiving a valued Christmas present as a child and tossing it aside as if it means nothing to us. We are ungrateful for the gift because we are ungrateful to the giver.
John R. Mott (1865-1995), was an evangelist and long-serving leader of the YMCA and the World Student Christian Federation. As an esteemed statesman, he received a Bachelor of Philosophy degree from Cornell University in 1888 and later received honorary degrees from Yale, Edinburgh, Princeton, Brown, Toronto, and other universities. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946 for his work in establishing and strengthening international Protestant Christian student organizations that worked to promote peace. said, . . .
"A necessary pre-cursor of any great spiritual awakening is a spirit of deep humiliation growing out of a consciousness of sin, and fresh revelation of the holiness and power and glory of God."
But, when revival comes, we find ourselves standing in the glory and presence of God. We will never see our sin as it is, and we will never see ourselves as we are until we see God as He is. This, again, draws me back to Isaiah's vision as he described it in chapter six.
"In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
"And one called out to another and said, 'Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.' And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.
"Then I said, 'Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts'." (Isa 6:1-5)
When revival comes, one of the very first thing that happens is that God's people are painfully confronted with their own sin because, finally, they have been fronted by a glorious and righteous God. Their offense against Him is so graphic that they can only grieve and repent. One of the true tests of whether or not revival is genuine -- or has truly yet come -- is to see how Christians treat sin. In virtually every single revival and spiritual awakening I've ever studied, dealing with the sins of the believers has been a dominant factor. If there is no godly sorrow, there is no repentance. If there is no repentance, there is no revival.
Our repulsiveness over sin must so great that we actually abhor it. That is rare among Christians today.
6. Desperate abandonment and surrender to God. As long as we think we can do something that persuades God to bring revival, or that we can do something on our own to create revival, we will never experience revival -- at least the real thing. God made that clear to Solomon at the dedication of the First Temple:
"If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (II Chron 713-14)
One of the men God put in our lives early in the West Plains Revival if 1966-1969 was Dr. Charles Culpepper, a retired missionary who had experienced the Shantung Revival in China. I told something of his story several letters ago. Out of that experience, he went on to write at least two books, The Shantung Revival, and Total Abandonment To The Will of God. In it he described the necessity of surrendering everything to Christ, holding nothing back. Andrew Murray addressed the same issue in his classic, Absolute Surrender.
It seems that one of our greatest struggles is in turning loose of everything in submission to Christ. There remains within us the struggle over ownership, supremacy, and control. We simply do not like to let go. Even when we know in our minds and desire in our hearts it is the thing to do, our will refuses to surrender. It is not until circumstances break us that we fully surrender. Yet, it is an essential ingredient of revival.
God's prescription for revival -- that is, His presence, His glory, His power, and His blessing -- has never changed. James described it well; our will must be broken to God's will. This was the essence of Evan Roberts' prayer that led to the Welsh Revival. While his school master prayed, "Lord, bend us!", Roberts prayed, "Lord, bend ME!" God did, and the rest is history. One of the greatest revivals in history began and swept throughout Europe and into North America.
Others have described this principle of brokenness and surrender in their own ways:
"Supplication comes from a place of intrinsic desperation resulting from a broken and contrite heart." -- Robin Bertram
"God is looking for broken men who have judged themselves in the light of the cross of Christ. When He wants anything done, He takes up men who have come to the end of themselves, whose confidence is not in themselves, but in God." -- Harry Ironside
"Brokenness is the stripping of self-reliance and independence from God. The broken person has no confidence in his own righteousness or his own works, but he is cast in total dependence upon the grace of God working in and through him." -- Nancy Leigh DeMoss
"The depth of our repentance will determine the depth of our revival." -- Frank Bartleman
"Revival, no matter how great or small in its ultimate scope, always begins with individual believers whose hearts are desperate for God, and who are willing to pay the price to meet Him." -- Del Fehsenfeld, Jr.
"Every revival in history seems to be the result of a few people becoming so hungry for God that they wanted Him more than oxygen. Those who have such hunger will not be denied. It's time to seek a revival that becomes the most famous address in the world. It's time to seek a move of God that won't quit moving." -- Rick Joyner
7. Extraordinary salvation of unbelievers in large numbers.
"During true revival, thousands of lost people are suddenly swept into the Kingdom of God. Scenes of the lost coming to the Savior in great, and unprecedented numbers, are common." -- Henry Blackaby
My letter is already much too long, so let me simply say that as far as I can tell from my limited study of revival and spiritual awakening, there has never been any revival of Christians, whether individually, corporately, or nationally, that did not result in the massive salvation of unbelievers. It happened with Jonah in Nineveh when tens of thousands believed. It happened with Peter when 3,000 men alone were saved and on another occasion 4,000 were converted. Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield saw thousands come to Christ, as did Charles Finney, the Wesley's, and many others who had seen revival.
In the First and Second Great Awakenings, the Prayer Meeting Revival and the 1800 Kentucky Revival it was common to see hundreds or even thousands born again within a short period of time.
During the Prayer Meeting Revival it was known that over a million people came to Christ in a brief period of time. Both in the Hebrides and Welsh revivals there are records of entire villages coming to faith in Christ. On one island north of the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides an entire village of 1,500 people came to Christ. In another island there were only three unbelievers left on the island within a year of the revival's outbreak.
Even in modern days the pattern was the same. Whereas church membership was shrinking and attendance was waning among most mainline churches, evangelical churches were growing. Even churches who felt excited over seeing six, eight, or ten new believers in a year being born again, those who were often experiencing revivals would instead see hundreds coming to Christ. I still remember the church where I served in West Plains, MO, saw over 300 come to Christ in the first few months, and my pastor baptizing 47 people in one service. The Gateway Church in Roswell, NM, experienced revival approximately 40 years ago and in a year's time saw over 3,000 people born into the Kingdom of Heaven.
It is inconceivable to think that any local church or region that is experiencing true revival could do so without it impacting the unbelievers and many of them coming to Christ. I will never forget my reaction many years ago when I heard the late Ron Dunn state that he felt Satan was content to let a few people come to Christ in any local church in order to make them content enough that they wouldn't expect to see hundreds or thousands. Manley Beasley was known for his pithy and pointed remarks, such as when you experience revival, "You'd have to backslide on God to keep people from coming to Christ through your witness."
An automatic result of genuine revival is ultimately the salvation of many people. Every revival recorded throughout history gives statistical evidence of massive conversions and dramatic increase in church attendance as new believers are added. One of the most accurate ways to determine the spiritual climate of your church is to look at how many people are actually coming to a saving knowledge and faith in Jesus Christ. That tells more than just about anything else.
FINALLY:
During the Prayer Meeting Revival of 1857-1858, the Methodist Advocate for January, 1858 reported ten common characteristics of the revival itself and how it impacted both the church, Christians in general, and the lost in particular:
"> Few sermons were preached.
> Lay brethren were eager to witness.
> Seekers flocked to the altar.
> Nearly every seeker had been blessed.
> Experiences enjoyed remained clear.
> Converts were filled with holy boldness.
> Religion became a daytime social topic.
> Family altars were strengthened.
> Testimony given nightly was abundant.
> Conversation was marked by a pervading seriousness."
May I say with all candor that if you long for revival -- I mean, true biblical revival -- but carry in your heart the temptation to bypass any of these seven factors, the likelihood of you ever experiencing revival --real revival -- is remote at best. Revival comes, extends, spreads, and succeeds proportionate to the reinforcing presence of these seven things:
1. The Sovereign Purposes of God.
2. The Priority of Prevailing Prayer.
3. The Necessary Presence and Activity of the Holy Spirit.
4. The Primacy of God's Word.
5. Convulsive Repulsiveness against sin and the flesh.
6. Desperate abandonment and surrender to God.
7. Extraordinary salvation of unbelievers in large numbers.
Is it possible, then, for us to use these seven element as somewhat of a litmus test to see where we are -- both personally and corporately as the Body of Christ? I believe we can -- and should. So, . . .
Do I acknowledge God's absolute sovereignty in what is going on in my life, my community, my church, and my country? Do I agree that He is in total control, orchestrating life's affairs to accomplish a divine agenda?
Am I burdened enough that I prevail in prayer over specific matters, or do I just pray "generically" as I think about it over whatever comes to mind without expecting anything much to change?
Am I giving the Holy Spirit free reign in my life, in the life of my church, and in the life of my country -- including its economic and political mess?
Is my life being lived by the blueprint of God's Word instead of the threats of intimidators and the whims of the culture?
Does sin really sicken me? Am I offended by the things that offend God?
Have I entered into what Andrew Murray described as "Absolute Surrender" -- a total abandonment to the will of God, no matter what?
Do I have such a burden for unbelievers that I will do anything and everything necessary to share the message of salvation -- at least with those I know -- and along any and every pathway life takes me?
"Revival begins in the individual's heart. Let it begin with you on your face alone before God. Turn from every sin that might hinder. Renew yourself to a new devotion to the Savior." -- Lee Roberson
Our answers to those questions will give us a good idea of just where we are in the matter of desiring and experiencing revival, for they are the elements present leading up to, sustaining, and following revival -- true revival. Any event or season that is barren of these elements begs the question as to whether or not what is going on is genuine biblical revival.
"Restore us, O God of our salvation, And cause Your indignation toward us to cease.
Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?
Will You not Yourself revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You?
Show us Your lovingkindness, O LORD, And grant us Your salvation." (Psalm 85:4-7)
In His Bond, By His Grace, and for His Kingdom,
Bob Tolliver -- Romans 1:11
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"Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness,
examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so." -- Dr. Luke (Acts 17:11)
"A fire kept burning on the hearthstone of my heart, and I took up the burden of the day with fresh courage and hope." -- Charles F. McKoy
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Copyright May, 2023
"If Jesus had preached the same message that many ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified." -- Leonard Ravenhill
"The time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the Church will have clowns entertaining the goats." -- Charles H. Spurgeon
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