Revive Us Again

Habakkuk is my favorite Old Testament prophet and I recently taught through the book on Wednesday nights. I'm partial to the last few verses of chapter, which have been my "life verses" for the last 30 years, but the Lord has caused verse 2 of chapter 3 to burn in my heart the last few weeks. It is Habakkuk's prayer for the Lord to revive or repeat His awesome works which He had performed in the past. Basically this is Habakkuk's prayer for revival.

Habakkuk had seen the Lord work in the past. Scholars put the prophetic ministry of Habakkuk sometime after King Josiah had been killed in the Battle of Meggido with the Egyptians. During his reign, Josiah had led the nation of Judah in a great spiritual renewal. Under his leadership false idols had been torn down and removed from Jerusalem, the Temple had been restored, a scroll (probably the book of Deuteronomy) had been found, and there had been a covenant renewal ceremony. Though Habakkuk had not yet begun to prophesy during this time, he was a witness to work of the Lord in spiritually reviving his nation.

But after the death of Josiah, the nation took a turn for the worst. Habakkuk's book begins with a series of questions about how long he was going to have to cry out to God about the sin, wickedness and violence that permeated the community of God's people. By the time we get to chapter 3, the prophet is crying out for God to renew His great works during his days and have mercy on His people.

Revival is a work of God that always begins in burdened prayer from God's people. When God determines to revive His people, He first weighs on them to pray and cry out to Him. Every move of God in history has been preceded by desperate, persistent and focused prayer. As God has worked in the past, He still works now. If we are to see God "renew His works" and revive His people in our day, it will only come when God's people get serious about prayer.

Movement, Monument, Mausoleum

Ray Ortlund is the lead pastor of Immanuel Church in Nashville, TN and a board member of The Gospel Coalition ministry. He wrote and excellent article about the stages many churches are going through in our culture. Powerful and important words...

Some years ago a friend of mine used these three simple categories to objectify the sequential stages of a church’s rise and fall.

Movement

A healthy church is born as a burst of positive gospel energy. It’s a Pentecost-like explosion of joy, a vital gospel movement. Such a church has a sense of mission, even a sense of destiny. It’s exciting to be in this church. Think of a steep upward trajectory.

Monument

Given human weakness, after a time, this movement becomes a monument. The spirit of the church changes from hunger to self-satisfaction, from eagerness to routine, from daring new steps of faith to maintaining the status quo, from outward to ingrown. It’s easy not to notice this shift. The self-image of the church might still be that of a vital movement. But deep within, everything has changed. Think of leveling off.

Mausoleum

If the trend toward mediocrity is not arrested, the church will decline and become a mausoleum, a place of death. The church as an institution may have enough social momentum and financial resources to keep churning on. But as a force for newness of life, it no longer counts. Think of steep decline—indeed, a death spiral.

The responsibility of a church’s leaders is to discern when their movement is starting to level off as a monument. It is at this crucial point that they must face themselves honestly and discover why they have lost their edge, go into repentance and return to the costly commitments that made them great to begin with. They may need to deconstruct much of what they have become, which is painful and embarrassing. But if the leaders will have the humility, clarity, and courage to do this, their church will go into renewal and re-launch as a movement once more. Jesus will become real again, people will be helped again, and those bold, humble leaders will never regret the price they paid.

“Remember from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”  Revelation 2:5

Ray Ortland, The Gospel Coalition. You can read the original article here.

REVIVAL AROUND THE WORLD

God is doing remarkable things around the world. I came across an article written by Tony Cauchi that lists some of the great things God is doing. Below are some excerpts from that article:

The worldwide church has seen greater advance and growth than at any other time since the days of the apostles. For example, one hundred years ago Africa was less than 5 percent Christian but now it is approaching 50 percent. Similarly, China had only about 5 million believers when communism took control of the country but now estimates range from between 50 to 150 million believers. Reliable researchers estimate that between 25,000 and 35,000 are coming to Christ every day in China.

The same story can be told of South America. I recently attended a church of over 250,000 members in Bogotá, Columbia, a nation formerly known only for its violence and drug trafficking. Across the oceans Korea is host to six of the fifteen largest churches in the world, one in Seoul numbering a staggering 773,000 members! Around thirty percent of the population in Seoul profess to follow Christ...Campus Crusade for Christ estimates we’ll see a billion new converts in the next 10 years. Such is the exponential growth of the universal Christian community.

The Western Christians’ response has been “Lord, what you have done in other nations, do here, amongst us.” The cry for ‘revival’ is everywhere. ‘Revival’ refers to the revitalisation of the existing church and the supernatural conversion of multitudes to Christ. There are Global Prayer Days, National Prayer Days with auditoriums filled with thousands of intercessors for times of prayer. There is a growing global movement to get pastors from across entire cities mobilised in unity and ‘agreement prayer.’


Public Prayer Walks are now organised in almost every major nation of the world. There are hundreds of thousands of believers who are adopting prayer retreats, prayer vigils, for set periods of time, some with fasting. These mass movements of corporate prayer meet, sometimes early in the morning, sometimes late into the night, on purposely purchased mountains, in arenas, halls and houses all over the world.

Missiologist David Barrett estimated in 1997 that 170 million Christians were committed to praying every day for revival and evangelization, with 20 million claiming that this was their primary calling as Christians. Ten million prayer groups make revival prayer one of their primary agenda, he claims, and hundreds of prayer networks are committed to mobilizing such prayer within denominations, within cities, and within whole nations.

Of course, none of this is new. It has happened before. But it has not happened to us in our generation. There have been scores of ‘revivals’ throughout history when God looked down from heaven at an ailing church and depraved world and decided that things had to change. He changed people and nations through love and power, sometimes dramatically but always beneficially. He usually came in particular seasons in response to certain principles. These are questions we have to ask, “Can we have revival today? Will these principles work for us? Is it possible for us to prepare for a visitation of God in our nation?

Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing… (Joel 2:14)

You can read the full article at http://www.revival-library.org/

I believe God wants to revive His Church in America. I believe we can experience the kind of life-changing, heaven-sent revival that has impacted our nation in the past. Will you join me in praying and preparing for a mighty work of God? In the movie Facing the Giants, the local pastor that had been praying for years for revival is speaking to the football coach, and he tells the illustration of two farmers - both farmers prayed for rain, but only one prepared his fields. And he asked the question, which one really believed it would rain? The one who prepared for the rain, is the one that had faith. Let's not just pray for revival, but let's pray in faith and prepare for God to send the rain of revival on our land.

GOD CAN DO IT AGAIN

One of the great revival stories from America's history is what is called the Great Prayer Revival of 1857-58. America was in a deplorable state morally and spiritually. God laid a burden for revival on the heart of a man by the name of Jeremiah Lanphier of New York. Jeremiah started a prayer meeting for business men from 12-1 pm at the Old Dutch Church on Fulton St. in New York. He advertised with local business men and encouraged other pastors to join in. The first week, six people came and prayed for revival. The next week 20 people came, and the next 100. And soon the floodgates opened. Within six months an estimated 10,000 out of a population of 800,000 in New York, were meeting to pray for revival every Monday from 12-1. Almost simultaneously, noon prayer meetings sprouted up across the country. Businesses would close and encourage the employees to attend prayer meetings at local churches to pray for revival.

Revival came to America. At its peak, it is estimated that 10,000 people per week were joining local churches, and 50,000 people were being saved per week. More than one million people gave their lives to Christ during this 2-year revival of the work of God. One student of revival estimated that if "a revival of like magnitude were to come to the United States today, it would result in the salvation of roughly 18 million people." (The Cure of All Ills; quoted in Becoming and Agent of Revival.)

Those numbers are remarkable, but reflect on where it all started: one man called for prayer. I'm sure Jeremiah Lanphier wasn't the only person praying for a mighty move of God, but he is the one who stepped out on faith and called on others to join in the chorus of prayer. One man made a difference, and one can again. And God can bring revival to America once more. Will you be a part of the chorus of prayer?

THE SPIRIT OF REVIVAL

Today was my day off and I planned to get caught up on some yard work that had piled up since my times of illness. I had planned to burn some leaves, but the wind was blowing a little too much so I spent the afternoon just raking them into a big pile to hopefully burn tomorrow. At times the wind was pretty stiff and swirling. When the wind was blowing in the same direction I was raking, things were good, but I occassionally found myself raking into the wind. Well, that's an activity of futility. I started to grumble a little, but decided I would set my mind on better things. I started thinking about revival and some of the Scriptures I had read this morning. I've been reading and re-reading Joel, and toward the end of Chapter 2, after the the people return to the Lord, God says,

"After this, I will pour my Spirit on everyone. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. In those days I will pour my Spirit on servants, on both men and women." Joel 2:28-29 (GW)

God says He will pour out His Spirit. As I was thinking about this I also remembered what Jesus taught in John 3 about the Spirit being like the wind. You can't control either one, but you can see the effects of them. I realized God was teaching me something very important. As long as I go in the direction the Spirit is moving, things are good. But when I move in the direction against the moving of the Spirit, it is like raking into the wind. It's frustrating, tiring, and accomplishes very little.

Revival is about going with the flow of the Spirit of God. God is always at work, always moving in my life and in the Church. My responsibility as a follower of Christ, is to realize which way the Spirit is moving and move with Him. When we are in the Spirit, we will be revived.

THE RESULTS OF REVIVAL

“Then I will repay you for the years that the mature locusts, the adult locusts, the grasshoppers, and the young locusts ate your crops. (They are the large army that I sent against you.) You will have plenty to eat, and you will be full. You will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has performed miracles for you. My people will never be ashamed again." Joel 2:25-26 (GW)

Revival is about restoration. It is first about a restoration of a right relationship with God. Joel 2:12-13 talks about returning to God with all of our heart. God awaits our return to Him. A right relationship can be restored when we come back to God with our whole heart.

But Joel also speaks about another kind of restoration. In chapter 1 and the first part of chapter 2, God speaks of the judgment that will come upon his disobedient people. An army of locusts or like locusts destroys everything. But if/when God’s people return to Him and a right relationship is restored, God’s blessings are restored as well. All that had been lost will be restored, God’s people will be blessed and God will be praised.

The result of revival is restoration. Is this a big deal? The enemy has taken so much from God’s people – he robs us of our joy, our peace, our relationships, our security, our spiritual motivation, and so much more. Revival, a right relationship with God, restores all that was lost. If you're missing some of the above things, pray for revival; give God the opportunity to do what He wants to do.

When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chron 7:13-14 (NKJV)

THE NEED OF REVIVAL

God continues to speak and move me to seeking Him for revival. Today, the Spirit's presence was unusually powerful as I prayed in the sanctuary of our church. It's hard to describe His presence. Though He is always present, today was one of those days when His presence overwhelmed me. In Scripture it talks about Jesus "praying in the Spirit." I don't know if that is what I've been experiencing, but especially in my time of prayer I sense Him taking over my thoughts and leading me to pray His words. It is an incredible experience.

I continue to study and learn about revival. One of the things I came across is a list produced by Richard Owen Roberts, of signs that revival is needed. The full list contains 25 items; I've listed only 12 here (the numbers correspond to the orinal list). The full list can be found in Promise Keepers Becoming an Agent of Revival.

1. When prayer ceases to be a vital part of a professing Christian's life.
2. When the quest for biblical truth ceases and one grows content with knowledge of eternal things already aquired.
4. When earnest thoughts about eternal things ceases to be regular and gripping.
5. When services of the church lose their delights.
7. When sports, recreation and entertainment are a large and necessary part of your lifestyle.
8. When sins of the body and of the mind can be indulged without an uproar in your conscience.
10. When the acquisition of money and goods becomes a dominant part of your thinking.
11. When you can mouth religious songs and words without heart.
13. When you can watch degrading movies and television and read morally debilitating literature.
15. When the slightest excuse seems sufficient to keep you from spiritual duty and opportunity.
17. When you pardon your own sin and sloth by saying the Lord understands and remembers that we are dust.
25. When your tears are dried up and the hard, cold spiritual facts of your existence cannot unleash them.

I confess that more than a few of these items hit home. I need revival, and that is my prayer - Lord, send revival and let it begin in me!