REVIVAL-DESIRED
When there
are few conversions under the ministrations of the church, and souls are
perishing around her, unpitied and unhelped; when there is an evident suspension or withdrawal
of those spiritual influences that are alone efficient to convince or to
comfort; when there is a visible defection from acknowledged principle, or from
attained piety, and a lukewarm formality usurping the place of a generous,
devoted, living Christianity we say a revival is required.
John MacNaughtan
The Necessity of the Revival of Religion,
Revival Commentary, v. 1, n. 2, p. 8.
Quite simply,
it is a fact of history that the church of Christ has not experienced any major
nationwide revival under the conditions of advanced modernity. On the other hand, modernity undercuts true
dependence on God's sovereign awakening by fostering the notion that we can
effect revival by human means. On the
other hand, modernity makes many people satisfied with privatized,
individualistic, and subjective experiences that are pale counterfeits of true
revival.
Dining with the Devil, Baker, 1993, p.
20.
Does
it grieve you my friends, that the name of God is being taken in vain and
desecrated? Does it grieve you that we are living in a godless age… But, we are living in such an age and the main reason we
should be praying about revival is that we are anxious to see God's name
vindicated and His glory manifested. We should be anxious to see something
happening that will arrest the nations, all the peoples, and cause them to stop
and to think again.
D.M. Lloyd-Jones
The only
people who are ever interested in revival are evangelicals, and a good way of
testing the quality of a man’s evangelicalism is his interest in revival. The institutional people do not often talk
about revival. They try sometimes to pay
lip-service to it but they do not believe in it… The true evangelical, on the other hand, is
always longing for an outpouring of the Spirit, and the great evangelical reawakenings have always been a result of an effusion of
the Holy Spirit. The evangelical by
nature is tremendously interested in revival.
D.M. Lloyd-Jones
What is an Evangelical? The Banner of Truth Trust, 1992, p. 59.
When the
vision of Christ's glory, demonstrated in the salvation of souls, becomes an
intense desire in our hearts, that is especially the
time when we must pray with fervor for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in
revival.
Erroll
Hulse
A Call to Extraordinary Prayer for Revival,
Revival Commentary, v. 2, n. 1, p. 4.
Despite its
foundational Christian heritage, America is rapidly degenerating into a godless
society. The church in America, although
highly visible and active, appears powerless to redirect the rushing secular
currents. Mired in a moral and spiritual
crisis, America’s only hope is a national revival, like God has graciously
bestowed in the past.
Erwin Lutzer
America’s Spiritual Crisis, Revival
Commentary, v. 1, n. 2, p. 12.
There
is need of a great revival of spiritual life, of truly fervent devotion to our
Lord Jesus, of entire consecration to His service. It is only in a church in
which this spirit of revival has at least begun, that there is any hope of
radical change in the relation of the majority of our Christian people to
mission work.
Andrew Murray
(Revival)
only come when He sends it. He only
sends it when His people need it. Surely
we His people need it now.
Richard Owen Roberts
Revival Terminology in History,
Revival Commentary, v. 1, n. 1.
We should not
want a revival of experience alone without true reformation. And so the term
revival is not adequate for our day unless we add the qualifiers
“reformational” or “word-driven.” It is not wrong to desire revival if we mean
a revival that is a resurgence of correct believing along with the enlivening
of our experience with God which comes out of (not apart from) that sound
doctrine.
Jim Elliff
Reformation or Revival? Christian
Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
We need
revival:
-when
we do not love Him as we once did.
-when earthly interests and occupations are more important to
us than eternal ones.
-when we would rather watch TV and read secular books and
magazines than read the Bible and pray.
-when church dinners are better attended than prayer
meetings.
-when concerts draw bigger crowds than prayer meetings.
-when we have little or no desire for prayer.
-when we would rather make money than give money.
-when we put people into leadership positions in our churches
who do not meet scriptural qualifications.
-when our Christianity is joyless and passionless.
-when we know truth in our heads that we are not practicing
in our lives.
-when we make little effort to witness to the lost.
-when we have time for sports, recreation, and entertainment,
but not for Bible study and prayer.
-when we do not tremble at the Word of God.
-when preaching lacks conviction, confrontation, and divine
fire and anointing.
-when we seldom think thoughts of eternity.
-when God’s people are more concerned about their jobs and
their careers, than about the Kingdom of Christ and the salvation of the lost.
-when God’s people get together with other believers and the
conversation is primarily about the news, weather, and sports, rather than the
Lord.
-when church services are predictable and “business as
usual.”
-when believers can be at odds with each other and not feel
compelled to pursue reconciliation.
-when Christian husbands and wives are not praying together.
-when our marriages are co-existing rather than full of the
love of Christ.
-when our children are growing up to adopt worldly values,
secular philosophies, and ungodly lifestyles.
-when we are more concerned about our children’s education
and their athletic activities than about the condition of their souls.
-when sin in the church is pushed under the carpet.
-when known sin is not dealt with through the biblical
process of discipline and restoration.
-when we tolerate “little” sins of gossip, a critical spirit,
and lack of love.
-when we will watch things on television and movies that are
not holy.
-when our singing is half-hearted and our worship lifeless.
-when our prayers are empty words designed to impress others.
-when our prayers lack fervency.
-when our hearts are cold and our eyes are dry.
-when we aren’t seeing regular evidence of the supernatural
power of God.
-when we have ceased to weep and mourn and grieve over our
own sin and the sin of others.
-when we are content to live with explainable, ordinary
Christianity and church services.
-when we are bored with worship.
-when people have to be entertained to be drawn to church.
-when our music and dress become patterned after the world.
-when we start fitting into and adapting to the world, rather
than calling the world to adapt to God’s standards of holiness.
-when we don’t long for the company and fellowship of God’s
people.
-when people have to be begged to give and to serve in the
church.
-when our giving is measured and calculated, rather than
extravagant and sacrificial.
-when we aren’t seeing lost people drawn to Jesus on a
regular basis.
-when we aren’t exercising faith and believing God for the
impossible.
-when we are more concerned about what others think about us
than what God thinks about us.
-when we are unmoved by the fact that 2.5 billion people in
this world have never heard the name of Jesus.
-when we are unmoved by the thought of neighbors, business
associates, and acquaintances who are lost and without Christ.
-when the lost world around us doesn’t know or care that we exist.
-when we are making little or no difference in the secular
world around us.
-when the fire has gone out in our hearts, our marriages, and
the church.
-when we are blind to the extent of our need and don’t think we need revival.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss