What "REALLY" HINDERS REVIVAL?
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
on the mission field. His comments are well worth taking note of.
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"ALL HINDRANCES to REVIVAL in the CHURCH Are Due To SIN"
-by Jonathan Goforth.
[-Revivalist & Missionary in Manchuria and China, 1888-1935].
Upon returning to China in the fall of 1901, after having recuperated
from the harrowing effects of the Boxer Rebellion, I began to
experience a growing dissatisfaction with the results of my missionary work.
In the early pioneering years I had buoyed myself with the assurance
that a seed-time must always precede a harvest, and had,
therefore, been content to persist in the apparently futile struggle.
But now thirteen years had passed and the harvest seemed further
away than ever. I felt sure there was something larger ahead of me,
if I only had the vision to see what it was, and the faith to grasp it.
Restless and discontented, I was led to a more intensive study of
the Scriptures. Every passage that had any bearing upon the price
of, or the road to the enduement of power, became life and breath
to me. There were a number of books on revival in my library.
These I read over and over. So much did it become a burden on
my mind that my wife began to fear that my mind would not stand it.
Of great inspiration to me were the reports of the Welsh Revival of
1904-1905, for they made me to know that revivals were not a
thing of the past. Late in the fall of 1905 a pamphlet containing
selections from Charles G. Finney's Autobiography and Revival
Lectures were sent to me by a friend in India. It was the final
something that set me on fire!
On the front page there was a statement to the effect that a farmer
might just as well pray for a temporal harvest without fulfilling the
laws of nature, as for Christians to expect a great ingathering of
souls by simply asking for it, and without bothering to fulfill the
laws governing the spiritual harvest.
"If Finney is right," I vowed, "then I am going to find out what those
laws are, and obey them no matter what it costs!" Later a brother
missionary loaned me the full "Autobiography of Finney." It is
impossible to estimate all that book meant to me.
Now I began to see stirrings in the hearts of the people, so much
so that a native evangelist said in an awed whisper, "Why the
people are being moved on just as they were by Peter's sermon at Pentecost."
At one meeting as I spoke on "He bore our sins in His own body
on the tree," conviction seemed to be written on every face and
when I called for decisions, the whole audience stood up as a man
crying, "We want to follow this Jesus Who died for us."
About this time our Foreign Mission Secretary asked me to visit
the revival in Korea. Witnessing the Lord at work in the Korean
revival was of incalculable significance in my life because it
showed me at firsthand the boundless possibilities of the revival
method. Korea made me feel, as it did many others, that Revival
was God's plan for setting the world aflame.
The missionaries in Korea were just ordinary people. I did not
notice any outstanding people among them. It was in prayer that
they were different. Never have I been so conscious of the Divine
Presence as I was in these Korean prayer meetings. Those
missionaries seemed to carry us right up in prayer to the Throne
of God. One indeed had the feeling they were communing face
to face with God.
What impressed me was the practical nature of the revival. It was
no wild gust of "religious enthusiasm" dying with the wind upon
whose wings it had been borne. There were the usual outward
manifestations that accompany such miraculous outpourings of
spiritual power. But beyond that there were tens of thousands of
Korean men and women whose lives had been completely
transformed by the divine power.
Every one seemed almost pathetically eager to spread the "Glad
Tidings." Even little boys would run up to people on the street and
plead with them to accept Christ as their Saviour. Everywhere I
saw an evident devotion for the Holy Word. Everyone seemed to
carry a Bible. And permeating it all was that marvelous spirit of prayer.
On my return to China, I was asked by the missionaries of
Kikunsghan to tell them the story of the Korean Revival. On
Sunday evening as I drew to a close my account of the Spirit's
outpouring on the churches of Korea, it seemed the stillness of
death pervaded the assembly. The suppressed sobs became
audible here and there. In a little while missionaries were rising to
their feet and in tears were confessing their faults one to another.
Revival Is The Beginning Of A New Obedience Towards God
In the autumn of 1906, I was preparing to set out to see what
could be done about reviving the outstations. There was a matter,
however, between a brother missionary and myself that had to be
made right. I honestly felt that I was right. Nevertheless I felt it
would please the Lord for me to go and make this matter
absolutely straight. But I argued with the Lord, saying it was the
other missionary's fault, not mine, and that it was up to him to
come to me, not for me to go to him.
But the pressure continued until I cried out to the Lord saying,
"He came to my study and in tears confessed his fault. Does that
not settle the matter?"
"You hypocrite!" I seemed to hear Him say, "You know you are
not loving each other as brethren, as I have commanded you to do."
Still I would not yield.
Then came the final word from the Lord, "If you do not straighten
this thing out before you go on that trip, you may expect to fail, for
I cannot go with you." That humbled me. I did not want to go on
that difficult trip without His help.
The night before I was to start on the trip I had to lead a prayer
meeting for the Chinese Christians. All the way to the church the
pressure continued: "Go and straighten this thing out, so that I
may go with you to the outstations."
Still I would not yield. I started the meeting. It was all right while
they sang, and during the reading of the Scripture. But as soon as
I opened my mouth in prayer I became confused, for all the time
the Spirit kept saying: You hypocrite! Why don't you straighten
this thing out?" I became still more troubled while delivering a
short talk on prayer. Finally, when halfway through my talk, the
burden became utterly intolerable and I yielded.
"Lord," I promised in my heart, "as soon as this meeting is over,
I'll go and make the matter right."
Instantly something in the audience seemed to snap. In a moment
the whole atmosphere changed. Upon the meeting being thrown
open for prayer, one after another rose to their feet to pray, only to
break down, weeping. For almost twenty years we missionaries
had longed to see a tear of repentance roll down a Chinese cheek.
It was late at night when the meeting closed. As soon as I could I
hastened over to the house of my brother-missionary...the difficulty
was settled, and because I was led of the Spirit and obeyed the
Lord, the blessings on my tour of the outstations far exceeded
anything I had dared to hope for.
At each station the Spirit of judgment was made manifest.
Wrongs were righted and crooked things were made straight. At
one station, I was only able to spend one night but that night the
whole audience broke down before the Lord....
Often during the meetings, great waves of prayer would sweep the
congregation. Some one would cry, "Pray for my outstation, we
are so cold and dead." Or another would ask prayer for their
unsaved loved ones and plead with the people to join them in
prayer. Instantly scores all over the audience would respond.
It seemed nothing could resist such importunity. A number of
influential Chinese leaders had opposed the meetings and
declared they would not attend them. Special intercession was
offered upon their behalf, and some of the most broken
confessions during these meetings came from them.
Hindrances To Revival
We cannot emphasize too strongly our conviction that all
hindrances to revival in the Church are due to sin! The appalling
fact is that every sin found without the Church is found also within
the Church although perhaps to a lesser degree.
It is sin in individual Church members, whether at home or on the
foreign field, which grieves and quenches the Holy Spirit! I imagine
that we would lose much of our self-righteousness if we were to
find that pride, jealousy, envy, greed, bad temper, backbiting,
gossip, talebearing, and all their kindred are just as heinous in
God's sight as the so-called grosser sins.
All sin in the believer, of whatever kind, mars the redemptive work
of Christ. The filth and bloodguiltiness of the churches can only be
swept away by the Spirit of Judgment, and the Spirit of Burning.
In view of the prominence that is given to confession of sin in this
article, perhaps I ought to make plain my own views on the subject.
We have a strong feeling that sins committed before conversion
are under the blood of God's Son and never should be confessed.
To do so is to bring dishonor upon Christ's Calvary sacrifice.
We believe that as regards secret sin, that is sin which is only
known to the individual soul and God, to confess it at the private
altar is, as a rule, sufficient to ensure pardon and cleansing. Yet
there are times when secret acknowledgment of secret sin is not
sufficient and public confession is the only way to secure relief...
As to sin against an individual, the Scriptures are quite plain.
"Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest
that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before
the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and
then come and offer thy gift" (Matt. 5:22,24).
It is vain for us to pray while conscious that we have injured
another. Let us first make amends to the injured one before we
dare approach God at either private or public altar.
I am confident revival would break out in most churches if this
was done. Then again, as regards public sins, experience has
shown us that those can only be swept away by public confession.
True, this amounts to crucifixion; but by our willful disobedience,
we have put the Lord of Glory to open shame, and it is the price
we must be willing to pay if we are to see revival sweeping through
our churches.
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