Yesuli International Ministries

Introduction:

It is most appropriate for any teaching on prayer to end with a presentation on revival, since effective prayer plays a major role before and during a revival. Our generation is one that desperately needs the revival of God. The state of the churches as well as that of individual believers is one that can at best be described as complacent and compromising. We have become lukewarm, “neither cold nor hot” (Revelation 3:15, 16). Please understand that this is not meant to be an indictment on the Church. Neither is it meant to discourage believers. It is only meant to point us to our desperate need for revival from God, “so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed” (Hebrews 12:13).

As life can only come from God, so also revival comes only from God. It is a gift of God to His people. “Chayah” is the Hebrew verb for “revive.” The first time the “chayah” was used in the Bible was in Genesis 45:27. “But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father revived.” Jacob had been previously numb and cold, as if dead. He concluded from his sons’ clever and cunning deed of dipping Joseph’s robe of many colors in the blood of a goat they had killed, that Joseph had been torn to pieces (see Genesis 45:31-35).

From then on, Jacob lived in mourning. His spiritual life was stale and stagnant. But when he heard the news that Joseph was still alive, the old man is young again in spirit. He was restored to fresh vigor. Indeed, it seemed as if Jacob had gained new life. “Chayah” therefore means “to live anew, to quicken; to recover; to refresh; to rebuild; to restore to life.” True revival then, can only be the work of the true and living God; for it is “new life from God.” Revival is a time when the people of when the people of God experience the healing of such diseases as complacency, compromise, lack of commitment to God and lack of reverence for God.

A. Biblical Cry for Revival

 

The people of God in times past saw the desperate need to cry out to God for revival. Revival therefore is not something invented in the last century. It has been the cry of the people of God ever since God chose a people for Himself, through whom His grace and glory were put on display. The biblical cry for revival is twofold, namely the cry for God's people to be revived, and the cry for the work of God to be revived.

1. Revival of God’s People

The cry for revival rang the loudest and longest in the psalms. It appears that the psalmists were passionate about revival in their personal lives as well as about the corporate life of the people of God - as shown in the scriptural references below.

• “You who have shown me many troubles and distresses will revive me again” (Psalm 71:20).

 

• “Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself. Then we shall not turn back from You; revive us, and we will call upon Your name. O LORD of hosts, restore us” (Psalm 80:17-19).

 

• “Will You not Yourself revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? (Psalm 85:6).

 

• “My soul cleaves to the dust; revive me according to Your word” (Psalm 119:25).

 

• “Come, let us return to the LORD… He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day that we may live before Him” (Hosea 6:1-2).

 

What we learn from the above scriptural references is that revival is first and foremost for God’s believing people. God’s believing people are the ones who need revival or new life from God, the most. God’s believing children are the ones who desperately need a quickening from God to be refreshed and restored to life.

It’s also crystal clear from the scriptural references listed above that, revival among God’s believing children is both individual and collective. Notice the use of the expressions “revive me,” and “revive us” in the above scriptures. Revival occurs in our individual personal lives as well as in the corporate life of the body of Christ.

It’s also important to note from the contexts of the scriptural references listed above that, true repentance precedes the cry for revival. Repentance precedes revival. Without repentance in the individual believer’s life and in the corporate body, revival will not be granted by God. The key truth we learn from the biblical cries for revival is that true and lasting revival is the work of God.

Such a revival is a return of God’s people to God. You see, God’s people continually stray like sheep. They must return to the Shepherd of their souls (see 1 Peter 2:25). Revival is also the restoration of God’s people to God. God's people are to be spiritually restored to Him. The great need of the day is the revival of God's people. If ever the church of God is to advance in power and truly be a witness to the manifold grace of God to the glory of God, she must be renewed. To sum up, revival is a return of God’s people to God. It’s the restoration of God’s people to God. It’s the spiritual renewal of God’s people.

A. Torrey wrote:

"A revival is a time of quickening or impartation of life. As God alone can give life, a revival is a time when God visits His people, by the power of His Spirit imparts new life to them, and through them imparts life to sinners dead in trespasses and sins."

Now, it’s important at this juncture to pause and ask ourselves; why do God’s people need revival in their lives? In other words, what are the reasons why God’s people need to be revived or renewed? Below are seven reasons why the Church of Today needs God’s revival in their lives.

• Love for God has grown cold (see Matthew 24:12b). We have abandoned the love we had at first for Him, like the church of Ephesus did (see Revelation 2:4).

 

• Lack of holy and healthy reverence for God abound among the people of God.

 

• Lack of commitment to God and the cause of God.

 

• Lack of devotion to prayer abounds among believers. In other words, the labor of prayer is greatly neglected.

 

• General apathy exists among the people of God.

 

• Complacency, compromise, and comfortable living characterize the lives of Christians today.

 

• Worldliness pervades in the Church. There is little or no difference between the conduct and character of Christians and non-Christians.

 

The Bible makes it clear that God not only revives His people, but also His work among His people and the nations. This means God’s believing people must seek Him not only for their revival, but also for the revival of His work among His people and the nations.

2. Revival of God’s Work

The prophet Habakkuk was the only biblical character who earnestly cried out to the Lord his God for the revival of God’s work. His name “Habakkuk” means “he that embraces; or a wrestler.” Having seen so much violence and destruction in the land of Judah, the prophet cried out to the Lord for help (see Habakkuk 1:1-3). The answer the Lord gave Habakkuk for his cry for help shocked him. God told him that He was going to raise up the Chaldeans, a godless and ruthless nation, to judge His people (see Habakkuk 1:5-17). Knowing that judgment was inevitable at God’s appointed time for Judah, Habakkuk fervently sought God for the revival of His work.

"LORD, I have heard the report about You and I fear. O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy" (Habakkuk 3:2).

Habakkuk had a holy and healthy reverence for the Lord his God, a character quality that’s missing in believers today. With holy and healthy reverence for God, Habakkuk earnestly sought the Lord his God to revive His work in the midst of the years; setting an example for us to follow. In other words, this verse clearly teaches us that God’s believing people are to call upon God to revive His work. The prophet Habakkuk was a man who studied the history of God's works and wonders. He knew one thing, and that is that God has not changed. He is the same God who did mighty deeds in making Himself known among the nations in the past. The same God is more than willing to renew and revive His work among His people and the nations. He therefore earnestly asked God to revive His work in his time. It is now our turn to cry to our God to revive His work of making His name known in the nations.

When God revives His people and His work among them, He does so with results in mind. In other words, He always carries out His divine purposes with goals to achieve. That is to say, God does nothing in vain. In fact, He does not want us to seek Him in vain. He promises to answer us if we pray according to His will (see 1 John 5:14-15).

So now, it’s important to list some of the results of God’s reviving work. For the sake of keeping this article simple and succinct, the results of a true revival divinely generated, will be listed under three major headings. The first will focus on the ministers (such as pastors, preachers, prophets, and evangelists) and their ministries. The second will be the results among Christians. The third will center on revival’s impact in the world.

B. Results of Revival

1. Results among Ministers and their Ministries

• In a true revival, ministers gain a new love for God and His Word and a renewed faith in the power of Word of God.

 

• They become first and foremost men and women of prayer.

 

• They no longer rely on their own energy and wisdom in doing the work of God.

 

• They experience new liberty and power in preaching and presenting the truth of the Gospel.

 

• There is a renewal of their urgency in proclaiming the truth of the Gospel to the lost – with great confidence and conviction that it is the power of God

 

• Like Paul, they cry out: "If I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel" (1 Corinthians 9:16). Many have called this sense of urgency, a “passion for souls.”

2. Results among Christians

• The healthy and holy fear of God is restored among believers.

 

• Their first love for God is rekindled.

 

• Their love for God's Word and their commitment to its obedience are renewed.

 

• Believers are characterized by a true and genuine spirit of repentance to God and to one another.

 

• There is an overwhelming sense of God's holiness among believers.

 

• There is great and overflowing joy at the forgiveness of sins among Christians.

 

• Believers have a new sense of the manifestation of God's presence among them and with them.

 

• Believers no longer live like the world. They live distinct lives that truly represent and reflect the love and light of Christ.

 

• Believers gain a new passion for prayer and its devoted practice.

 

 

• A. Torrey sheds more light on this result with these eloquent and expressive words:

 

"Prayer meetings are no longer a duty but become the necessity of a hungry, importunate heart. Private prayer is followed with new zest. The voice of earnest prayer to God is heard day and night. People no longer ask, 'Does God answer prayer?' They know He does, and besiege the throne of grace day and night."

• Believers experience the promise given in 2 Chronicles 7:14.

 

• Believers also have a new sense of urgency developed in them to share the message of the Gospel.

 

3. Results in the World

• There is a great conviction of sin brought upon the unsaved by the Holy Spirit. Unbelievers are convicted and those who respond to the convicting work of the Spirit are converted. A revival in which there is no conviction of sin is no revival.

 

• The Lord Jesus spoke about the coming of the Holy Spirit and one of His functions is to bring deep conviction of sin upon the unsaved (John 16:7-8). When the life of the Spirit came mightily at Pentecost, the one hundred and twenty disciples were revived, and the Spirit's work through them brought three thousand unsaved souls to repentance and regeneration (see Acts 2:14-47).

 

• When the conviction of sin is accomplished by the Spirit in the unsaved there comes regeneration and renewal of them by the Holy Spirit (see Titus 3:5).

 

• In short, we will see more happen in a week than we have seen in years.

 

• The established pattern of revival is that whenever the people of God are revived, the Spirit's work through them follows to bring regeneration of the unsaved (see Acts 2).

 

Having listed the results of revival among ministers and their ministries, among Christians, and its impact in the world, an important question arises at this juncture. What role does prayer play in revival? The book of Acts provides us with a reliable answer in its first four chapters.

 

C. The Role of Prayer in Revival 

After the Lord Jesus gloriously ascended into heaven, the disciples returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet. Upon their return, they entered the upper room where they were staying (see Acts 1:12-13). While waiting for the Father’s promise (see Acts 1:4), they devoted themselves to prayer. “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers” (Acts 1:14; ESV). What we learn from this verse is that continual devotion to prayer characterized the lives of the apostles and the early disciples of Christ. They understood that prayer was one of the essential elements needed in Christian discipleship. As such, they devoted themselves to its practice.

A significant result which came out of this continual devotion to prayer was the fulfillment of the Father’s promise. Perhaps, seeking the Father for the fulfillment of His promise was likely the main subject of their petitions during their continual devotion to prayer. The Bible says: “And when the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4; ESV).

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter delivered a message that cut through the heart of his hearers. Three thousand souls were saved on the Day of Pentecost (see Acts 2:14-41), and joined the Church. These, we are told, “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42; ESV). The Bible is making it clear here that prayer was an integral part of the life of the Jerusalem Church. In other words, believers in the Church at Jerusalem, single-mindedly devoted themselves to prayer, following the example of the apostles and the Lord Jesus, the Head of the Church.

Before God’s supernatural power was released through Peter and John to heal the crippled beggar, the Bible directed our attention to the fact that Peter and John were heading to the temple at the hour of prayer. “Now Peter and John were going to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour” (Acts 3:1; ESV).

Counting from dawn, the ninth hour, was about 3 p.m. – the time of the evening sacrifice. Prayer was lifted up to God at “the hour of prayer,” before the evening sacrifice was offered. As devout Jews who had been saved and set apart for the gospel of Jesus, Peter and John made it their practice to participate in prayer at “the hour of prayer.” Apparently, Cornelius, the Roman centurion in Caesarea synchronized his prayer schedule with that of the Jerusalem temple (see Acts 10:3, 30).

The point of all this is that prayer cannot be effectively practiced if the believer does not have it scheduled in his or her daily routine. Because Peter and John practiced prayer effectively - scheduling it in their daily routine, God was pleased to release His supernatural through them, for the healing of the lame man at the “Beautiful Gate” (see Acts 3:1-10). The release of God’s supernatural power to heal the crippled beggar also opened the door for the sharing of the good news of Jesus Christ by Peter (see Acts 3:12-26).

After the miraculous healing of the lame beggar and Peter’s second evangelistic message, the apostles were arrested and put in custody until the next day. On the next day, they were brought before the religious leaders of Israel, who, after hearing Peter’s Spirit-filled message to them, warned them to speak no more to anyone in the name of Jesus (see Acts 4:1-18). The duo’s first response to the religious leaders revealed their unshakable resolve to speak of what they have seen and heard (see Acts 4:19-20).

Their second response is what fascinates me. They resorted to prayer, not to protest. Upon their release, Peter and John went to their believing friends and reported what the chief priests and the rulers had said to them. Hearing this, the brethren raised their voices to God in earnest and effectual prayer that they be empowered to speak His word with all boldness (see Acts 4:24-30). Essentially, they were asking God for “more trouble for themselves.” You see, they had just spoken God’s word and were arrested and imprisoned for it. Furthermore, they were sternly warned by the chief priests and the rulers to speak no more to anyone in the name of Jesus. But here they are, earnestly petitioning God to enable them to speak His word with all boldness. You see, the disciples were emboldened and encouraged by God’s sovereignty in the face of the threat of danger and difficulty of sharing the good news. As such, they didn’t request physical protection for themselves, but for greater boldness to share God’s gospel. This is a clear mark of a revived church.

God was so pleased with their prayer that He responded uniquely and unreservedly. “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31; ESV). God’s response to their prayer was unique in the sense that, never has the Bible recorded again the shaking of the place of prayer due solely to the prayers of believers. The Bible did record another shaking of the foundations of the Philippian prison in response to Paul’s and Silas’s prayers and praises (see Acts 16:25-26). Unreservedly, the Lord answered their specific request, freshly filling them with the Holy Spirit who empowered them to continue to speak the word of God with boldness. No doubt, they experienced fresh revival and renewal in their lives.

The relation between the prayers of the early disciples and the results of their prayers in the first four chapters of Acts, clearly shows that prayer does play an important role in revival. Indeed, continual devotion to prayer has always played and will always play a major role in revival.

D. The History of Revival

History has shown that the revivals of the past were preceded by devotion to prayer by a few burdened believers who refused to accept the status quo conditions around them and earnestly sought God for the revival of His people and His work in their generations.

It is reported that the great revival of 1857 in the United States began in prayer and was carried on by prayer more than by anything else.

It is also reported of D. L. Moody's work in England, Scotland and Ireland (which later spread to America), that while the spirit of prayer continued the revival grew in strength. But in the course of time less and less was made of prayer and the work fell off very perceptibly in power.

Every true revival has had its earthly origin in prayer.

Most revivals have humble beginnings. We are therefore not to despise the day of small things (see Zechariah 4:10).

E. The Holy Spirit Is Ready to Work among Believers to Bring about Revival as He Did in Times Past

 

But believers must believe Him and begin to prepare the way by their continual devotion to prayer and repentance.

Revival is costly. But its cost has already been paid by Christ who made a new and living way for us to draw near to the Father in devotion to prayer with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith (Hebrews 10:20-22).

F. The Challenge of the Church Today

• "These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer"(Acts 1:14).

 

• "And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching... and to prayer"(Acts 2:42).

 

• "They lifted their voices to God with one accord" (Acts 4:24).

 

• "Prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God"(Acts 12:5).

 

These scriptures clearly reveal the challenge facing the Church today. They are saying that it is now our turn to continually devote ourselves to prayer and experience the blessing of God’s revival of His people and His work, in our time. It’s our turn and our time to give ourselves to continual devotion to prayer with one mind and heart until the Church is revived.

Yes, we are to call unto the Lord, refusing to ourselves rest until the fresh fire of the Spirit sets our hearts ablaze to love God with all our being, becoming all that God wants us to be. And the fresh wind of the Spirit of God blows through the nations in advancing the work of the kingdom of |God.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, I would like to quote again R. A. Torrey from whose teaching on revival, I have been challenged to seek personal revival in my life.

"Doubtless one of the great secrets of the unsatisfactoriness and superficiality and unreality of many of our modern so-called revivals is that more dependence is put upon man's machinery than upon God's power, sought and obtained by earnest, persistent, believing prayer. We live in a day characterized by the multiplication of man's machinery and the diminution of God's power. The great cry of our day is work, work, work, new organizations, new methods, new machinery; the great need of our day is prayer. It was a master stroke of the devil when he got the church so generally to lay aside this mighty weapon of prayer. The devil is perfectly willing that the church should multiply its organizations and deftly contrive machinery for the conquest of the world for Christ if it will only give up prayer... It is not necessary that the whole church get to praying to begin with. Great revivals always begin first in the hearts of a few men and women whom God arouses by His Spirit to believe Him as a living God, as a God who answers prayer, and upon whose hearts He lays a burden from which no rest can be found except in importunate crying unto God."

Prayer:

“Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us! Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation” (Psalm 85:4-7; ESV).