Bible Reading: Psalm 85
Key Verse: Verse 6 – “Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?”
Key Words: Wilt thou not revive us again
Revival is the church falling in love with Jesus all over again. ~ Vance Havner
In revival, the minds of people are concentrated upon things of eternity, and there is an awareness that nothing else really matters. ~ Brian Edwards
Revival restrains the righteous anger of God, restores the conscious awareness of God, and reveals the gracious activity of God. ~ Stephen Olford
In his book, The Coming Great Awakening, J. Edwin Orr summarized in one sentence his 60 years of study on prayer and spiritual awakening when he wrote: "Whenever God is ready to do something new with His people, He always sets them to praying." This was certainly true during the First Great Awakening.
In 1746, Jonathan Edwards published a book on "concerts of prayer" -- a term used in his day and repeated in subsequent prayer movements over the last 250 years. Well aware from Biblical and historical accounts that united prayer was the only way to sustain the spiritual awakening that already had begun in the colonies, Edwards called for Christians on both sides of the Atlantic to pray for revival. The title of his book summarizes what is happening throughout the Body of Christ at this hour in the growth of the prayer movement: An Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God's People in Extraordinary Prayer, for the Revival of the Church and the advancement of Christ's Kingdom on Earth.
Edwards' book, along with such classic texts as Andrew Murray's Key to the Missionary Problem and Timothy Smith's Revivalism and Social Reform, suggest there usually are five phases in every historic revival:
(1) Intercession -- God's people begin to unite in prayer for revival;
(2) Revelation -- God answers prayer by pouring out a fresh new manifestation of the person of Christ;
(3) Consecration -- as a result, God's people consecrate themselves to Him, and each other, and to the work of Christ in the world;
(4) Revitalization -- ministries are purified and rejuvenated and become more fruitful, both locally, nationally, and beyond;
(5) Expansion -- out of revival the gospel is advanced further, the church makes a greater impact upon the surrounding culture, and a general spiritual awakening takes place on many levels.
I close by asking this question: Do you really want revival? We’ll see, not by our words, but by our actions.
What to do:
✞ Lord, please revive us again!
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