Last week, we talked about revival and the need for humility in seeking it.
The very word, Revival implies that things aren’t as good as they need to be.
To revive something implies that there is some kind of spiritual decay or inactivity going on and it needs to be revived, to be made alive again.
As we saw last week, Revival is God deciding to send a fresh movement of his Spirit among his people. It is when he decides to grant his body, his church, a fresh experience of his spirit.
Revival is a gracious move of the spirit of God that brings renewal to the church. It can’t be bought, but it must be sought. It can’t be designed but it must be desired. And it will not come until we ask Him to send it!
Revival is always proceeded by a passionate calling on God by His people.
It is for a people who are weak!
It is for those who will humble themselves.
It for those who are burdened with the way things are.
Last week we talked about revival and our need for humility in seeking it, today I want to talk to you about revival and the important part that prayer, plays in it.
I really want to make the point that if things were O.K., we wouldn’t need to talk about revival. But, the fact is that things are not as good as they came be and so I hope that you will bear with me as we I share with you another lesson on Revival.
Revival isn’t delayed because God hasn’t given us the prescription for it. Revival is delayed, because we don’t want to take the prescription.
The Bible says very clearly, here’s what you do, in seeking revival, in asking God to come and make his presence known among his people.
You humble yourself, you fast, you pray and you mourn over the way things are in your life and in the world around you. That’s the prescription! And God says, you do that and I will hear, I will forgive and I will heal your land.
What I want to share with you this morning is another crucial element in asking God to bring revival to his people. And that is prayer in seeking his face.
In 1857, There was a young man named Jeremiah lancier, he was a young man in his thirties, he was converted in 1844 through the revival preaching of Charles finny.
This young man began to work for a church, called the North church in New York city, the church hired him to be a street evangelist. He went out month after month trying to share Christ with the people and nothing was happening.
So he happened upon an idea, he thought, what if we prayed, so he began to pass out pamphlets and fliers and put them up for many weeks.
All the pamphlet said on it was:
Come to the old North Church on Dutch street at 12:00 o’ clock Wednesday.
12:00 o’ clock Wednesday comes and nobody was there but Jeremiah. He got on his knees and began to pray. Now, before the hour was over six other men came and began to pray with him also.
They agreed to meet again the following Wednesday to do the same thing. This time eighteen people came to that prayer meeting.
They met the following Wednesday and about 30 people came. These people decided that they would start meeting every day at noon, simply for the purpose of coming together to pray.
It kept growing. More and more people kept coming to those prayer meetings.
Within six months 50,000 men were meeting everyday in New York City to pray.
It spread to Washington D.C, it spread to Philadelphia and Boston, the president of the country even went to some of those noon prayer meetings.
Before long, it had spread to ten thousand towns and cities in America. From 1857 to 1859, in a two year period, there was one million brought to Christ in America.
And what is so amazing about that is that there were only thirty million people living in America at that time, that’s an average of ten thousand people a week coming to Christ and it was all driven by prayer.
There was no big crusade, there was no famous preacher, just prayer. I tell you that story to make this point.
You don’t have revival by seeking revival, you have revival by seeking God.
The Lord says; “If my people will humble themselves and pray and seek my face.” He will hear us.
Revivals do not have a lot in common. Some times revivals are started by God using a great preacher, other times God uses songs to stir up peoples hearts for revival , , , ,
But the one thing every revival in the bible has in common is this, it is always preceded by a compassionate commitment from Gods people to beg him to return to them.
Isaiah 30:19 says: “OH, people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem you will weep no more, how gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you.”
Prayer is not the means by which we make God visit us, prayer is a confession of our need and desire to line up with God’s will in order that he might send the blessing, that he longs to send his people.
God wants to send revival, more than we want to ask for it. But God is not going to send it until we humble ourselves and ask him to send it. He waits for his people to pray.
The only place where you will find power coming before prayer, is in the dictionary. And that is why Satan , will do anything he can to keep Xians from coming together to pray.
We can have all the conferences we want to have, we can have all the retreats we want to plan, we can have all the programs we want to put into place, and Satan will let us do that, without much trembling on his part.
But the one thing that he does not want us to do, is to pray. Because he knows that there is power in prayer and nothing intimidates him more than when God’s people get on their knees in humility over the way things are and seek his face.
I believe revival is delayed, because our prayer life has decayed!
Nowhere in the bible was a revival ever launched or started by a group of people who came together and said: Lets have a revival next year, let’s form a task force to study this thing out and then let’s come up with a plan and let’s have a revival.
Revival never comes by organizing, Revival always comes by agonizing,
over the way things are, in your life, in my life and in the lives of all those who do not yet know of our God.
What does prayer for revival sound like? What are some characteristics of a revival prayer? Some characteristics of revival praying can be found in the book of Jonah.
Jonah records for us the only revival that ever took place outside the nation of Israel. Jonah was told by God to go to the city of Ninevah and tell them, that if they do not repent, God is going to destroy their entire Nation in 40 days.
Well, after Jonah’s attempt to flee from God, because he did not want to go to Ninevah, He finally arrives in that city and gives the King, Gods message.
The King then says to his people in 3:8; “Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything, do not let them eat or drink (That’s a Fast) Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, let everyone urgently call on God and let them give up their evil ways and their violence.”
Now he just gave us some characteristics of revival prayer. # 1…Revival prayer is characterized by brokeness. The King said, “Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth”.
That’s what he said in verse 8, but now look at what he said in verse 5? In verse 5 he says: The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast and all of them from the greatest to the least of them, put on sackcloth.”
In one of Jesus’ parable in the gospel of Luke 18 there was two guys who went to pray, One a Pharisee and the other a Tax collector.
The Pharisee prays to the Lord saying: “I thank you that I am not like other men, robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like this Tax Collector, I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.
This guy probably would be appointed a deacon in almost any church in the land, I mean this guy did good works. He was an impressive man and he prayed an impressive prayer and everything he said was true. He really did pray and he really did tithe and he really did fast.
Now listen to the prayer of the Tax Collector; He stands at a distance. He didn’t even look up, he kept his eyes to the ground. He beat his breast, because of the brokeness over the way things were in his life. And all he said was: God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
And Jesus says: I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
The first guy went home dignified, the second guy went home justified. Which would you rather be? I’m telling you folks, God has given us the prescription, the only problem is that w don’t want to take it.
In the book of Psalms 51:16, we are told that the Lord, does not delight in sacrifice or in burnt offerings, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O, God you will not despise.”
God always visits his people when they reach a point of desperation. God responds to prayers of brokeness. Only a broken heart is big enough for God to dwell in, did you know that?
But broken hearts over the things that break the heart of God are rare these days and broken churches are rarer still. I want to ask you something: Are you satisfied with the things are in this congregation today?
I want to suggest to you that if we are, it is only because we compare the church to the world and the church usually remains a little less vulgar, a little less filthy, a little less greedy and a little less profane.
But, if we compared ourselves to the church of the new testament instead of to the world, I think we would be broken over the way things are.
Sometimes I think that we have gotten so used to the church being so subnormal, that if, what should be normal, started happening in our church, we would think that it was something abnormal.
I mean if people started getting excited and happy and full of praise and thanksgiving for what God has done in their lives, we wouldn’t know what to do with them.
And so # 1… Revival prayer is characterized by brokeness and # 2… It is characterized by earnestness.
By that, I mean when we pray for God to come and visit his people, we do it with intensity, we do it with zeal and enthusiasm and we are persistent in it.
The King of Nineviah said this, first: You cover yourselves with sackcloth and fast. And then he said: And let everyone urgently call on God.
To pray for revival means to pray for it Now! And pray for it like nothing you have ever prayed for before. There is only one way to pray for revival and that is to pray full throttle.
And if we are going to pray for revival, we too have to pray for it, earnestly. We have to pray for it with intensity and zeal and enthusiasm and we have to be persistent in it.
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future, then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you, you will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”
That is earnest prayer! That is urgent prayer!
The Bible doesn’t say: to Sing without ceasing, the Bible does not say to preach without ceasing. The Bible doesn’t say to give without ceasing or to teach with out ceasing, the Bible says to Pray without ceasing.
That’s what the disciples were asking of Jesus when they came to him and asked him, Lord teach us to pray.
They didn’t ask him to teach them how to pray, they asked him to teach them to pray. In Luke 11:1 it says: That one day when Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished one of his disciples said to him, Lord teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
They weren’t asking for some kind of form prayer that they could memorize and then repeat over and over again. They didn’t ask him to teach them what to pray.
What they were asking of Jesus, for was inspired by what they saw in Him and what they saw in Him, was a passion for prayer and when they saw it in his life, they wanted that.
Question: Do we want it just as bad? Do we want to have fire in our words when we come to the Lord begging him to revive us again? Do we pray with earnestness, seeking his face in humility and brokeness?
Jesus was willing to teach his disciples to pray like that and he is will to teach us the same, if we would but ask him, but we must ask him, with all of our hearts.
That’s is why he goes on and tells us in Verse 9 of Luke 11: I say to you, Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you, for everyone who asks receives , he who seeks finds and to him who knocks the door will be opened.
The bottom line in praying for revival is this; Start now! And don’t stop until it happens! Don’t give up!
Jacob wrestled with the angel of the Lord all night long, until he got what he wanted. And because was persistent in asking for a blessing, he got that and a lot more.
Remember what he said to the angel of the Lord as he wrestled with him through the night? He said: I will not let you go until you bless me.
That is how we are to pray for revival! Full throttle, Non-stop, urgently and with earnestness.
So, when it comes to Revival praying # 1…it is always characterized by brokeness. # 2… it is always done in earnestness, it is to be done urgently. And # 3…it is to be characterized by holiness.
What did the King of Nenivah say to his people? He said: put on sackcloth and fast, that’s brokeness. He said: Call urgently on God, that’s earnestness.
And then he said:
Let them give up their evil ways and their violence, , , , , that’s Holiness.
What did God say, You want me to hear your prayers, then humble yourselves, seek my face and give up your wicked ways.
I’ll say it again folks, like I did in the beginning of this lesson, God has given us the prescription, it is we who just don’t want to take it.
Isaiah 55:6, “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts, let him turn to the Lord and he will have Mercy on him, for he will freely pardon.
In I Timothy God tells us that he wants men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer. The Lifting of hands is not the point of that verse. The point of that verse is “Holy”.
We can do all the hand lifting we want, but if our hearts are not holy, if we are not pursuing purity in our lives, God may not listen to our prayers.
Psalm 24:3 “Who can ascend the hill of the Lord? Who can stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart.”
You want to lift up your hands in worship, go right on ahead, personally, I do not have a problem with that, but before you do, you better ask yourself, is there anything in my life that is displeasing to the Lord?
By that, I mean, is there deliberate, willful sin, in your heart, either against God or your brother and sister in Christ or any man or women!
God hears the prayers of people who mean business. And after Jonah preached to them about the wrath of God, the people of Ninevah, did business with God and they got their hearts right and we need to do the same!
Look at what happened to the people of Ninevah in Jonah 3:10, it says there, that: “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.”
There are two things, more than anything else that keeps a revival from coming. #1 we are not asking for it. #2 We haven’t gotten serious enough about the holiness that God requires from his people. You know folks, that God will not dwell, where sin exists.
There is this idea that nobody is perfect and that is why we are saved by God’s grace. People say, that nobody is going to go to heaven because there perfect, which is true.
But, more often than not, the reason why people say that is because they have hidden sin in their lives. After all, God knows that we can all be perfect, he knows that we are sinners.
And so that kind of thinking allows us to justify our pet sin. It allows us to cuddle it and play with it and to keep it near by.
Getting serious about the Holiness that God requires from his people means doing what Jesus said to do in the book of Matthew, where he says: “If your right hand is causing you to sin cut it off, if your right eye is causing you to sin, pluck it out.
He said it is better for us to limp into heaven, than it is for us to leap into hell. I want to tell you again, be careful when you pray for revival, it can be painful.
There is always remorse before there is rejoicing. God wants to send revival, but revival always comes after tremendous conviction of sin in the people of God.
You know, that you can tell how many people love the church
by who comes on Sunday morning.
And you can tell how many people love the preacher
by who comes back on Sunday night.
And you can tell how many people love Jesus
by who comes to Prayer meetings.
Do you want the Lord to send revival to this place? God has given us the prescription. . . Question is: Are we willing to take it?
God will visit when he is genuinely invited.
I think our problems is, that we say we want God to come and revive us again, but we don’t really mean it. Let me explain. Have you ever told brother or sister, after hearing about a difficulty they are going through, that you would pray for them and then not do it.
You know why you didn’t do it? Cause you really didn’t mean it! That’s just what you said because you know that it is the Xian thing to say.
How often do we pray like that to God in asking him to revives us. We say we want him to come, we hope that he will come, but do we really pray for him to come.
I’m not just talking to the adults here about praying for revival, I want you young people to listen to me too, cause I want you to pray for revival also.
I want you to pray and ask God to show up some Sunday morning and to make it known to us that he is here.
A lot of young people think that church is boring, they think that Xianty is just something that people do, instead of being something that they are.
Well, if you think that church is boring, then start praying for revival and see if God doesn’t come and liven things up around here.
You too ought to be seeking the face of God, as you think about your life and your relationship to Jesus.
We need to get serious about praying for revival, we need to get serious about seeking God’s face.
What if next Sunday, I preached like this? (Turn my back towards the audience) I got a mic on, you can still hear me, right? I could still get across all the points I want to make from the sermon , this way, right?
There is no reason why I couldn’t preach like this, right? But, let me ask you something, would it bother you a little if I chose to do it this way?
I mean, there’s something just a little awkward about trying to have a conversation with someone who’s back is towards you, right?
I mean, why would anybody want to listen to anybody who won’t turn around and look at them when they are talking?
Folks that is exactly what God thinks too. Why should he listen, if we won’t turn around and talk to him?
I want you to know, that I am asking God to revive this church. And I am asking him that if there is anything in my life that is preventing revival from coming to this place, I want him to reveal it to me and I will repent.
I want to encourage each of you to do the same thing, I want to encourage you to change your ways, if they are in any way displeasing to the Lord.
I want God to visit this place. To once again, remember his people who gather here, at this place. I want that for this church, Don’t you?
Remember, if revival is going to come to this church, it must start with you!
