REVIVAL FIRE

As I watch the news and see our nation erupting in pain, suffering and violence, my heart is grieved and my spirit aches for God to pour out revival in our midst – that there might be a great move of His Spirit, a re-establishment, restoration and renewal of the family…and hearts that are turned to Jesus resulting in Christlike obedience and behavior. Yet, without repentance on the part of God’s people, passionately and humbly crying out for forgiveness and reverencing the Name above all names, God is not compelled to respond with healing in our increasingly broken land.
Why is the Church so impotent in this crucial hour? Why are we complacent and inactive? Why are we turning our heads away from the ugly realities of our culture, wringing our hands in despair and worrying? Why are we hiding our lights under bushels rather than living out the life of Christ in us – the hope of glory?

I’ve been reading Wesley Duewel’s classic, Revival Fire again! It stirs my soul and makes me long for God to move in extraordinary ways to awaken His slumbering people! Duewel states, “God is infinitely original in His working…God’s mighty work of salvation has transformed the most hopeless situations and the most spiritually damaged people. The more widespread any revival movement becomes, the more transforming are the moral effects in the areas where God’s holy fire has burned.” How I long to see our nation burn with the fire of God instead of the fire of hatred and unrest and pain!

Greg Frizzell, author and proponent of city-wide united prayer movements has shared that two important principles are needed for God to move in the midst of His people in revival. First, he says, “Genuine revival is closely related to a dramatic increase in both the amount and intensity of Spirit-anointed prayer among God’s people.” Second, “Revival comes when God’s people have an ‘increased sorrow over sin’ and a ‘desperate hunger’ for a transforming ‘new relationship’ with God.”

As we pray, God will reveal sinfulness that requires heartfelt repentance. Yet, God’s people do not know how to pray, and generally balk at anything that looks like corporate prayer. Personal revival can certainly come; however, for lasting, sustainable moves of God to take place in the midst of God’s people, we must come together – as families, as the local church, and in communities – crying out for God to restore us to right relationship with Him. 2 Chronicles 7:14 promises that God will hear and answer and heal our land! How can we not take Him up on this amazing guarantee of His presence in our midst?

I have great hope that as God’s people cry out to Him day and night, repenting of our sins and seeking His face for righteousness to be restored to our lives, our families, our churches, and our nation…God will hear and bring the healing we so desperately need.

Ten Specific Prayers for Revival and Spiritual Awakening

Taken from: A Powerful Prayer Life by Gregory Frizzell

1. Ask God to bring deep conviction of sin, spiritual brokenness, a holy fear of God and genuine repentance among His people. There will be no revival without these elements and only God can produce them in His people. After all we cannot program or work up genuine brokenness and repentance. (2 Corinthians 7:10)

2.Pray for deep cleansing, genuine repentance, and spiritual power to engulf pastors and Christian leaders. Revival and spiritual awakening are extremely unlikely without a mighty move of God in pastors and Christian leaders. Renewed pastors are absolutely crucial to a move of God in our day! (Ephesians 6:14-20)

3.Pray for God to bestow spiritual hunger in His people and draw them to fervent intercession. God has to grant people the genuine faith and the fervent desire for prayer. With all our promotion and programming, we cannot “produce a genuine prayer movement. (Philippians 2:13)

4.Pray that God will bring loving unity in our churches and a deep harmony between our churches. Many churches need healing among members and many churches need to stop competing jealously with other churches. (John 13:35)

5.Pray for God to fill His people with a passion to see people saved. (Only God can give a genuine burden for souls.) Until God’s people intensely pray for the lost and do aggressive soul winning revival will tarry. Be sure you are constantly praying for many lost people by name. (Romans 9:1-3)

6.Pray for God to give His people a passion for missions and starting churches. Great revivals produce an explosion of mission projects, new ministries and new church starts. Only God can grant a genuine passion for missions. (Matthew 28:19)

7.Pray that God will call thousands into ministry, missions and Christian service. Many churches are dying for lack of soul winners, teachers and church workers. Furthermore, we can start only as many churches as we have church planters to start them. (Matthew 9:37)

8.Pray that God will pour out His Spirit like a mighty purifying flood. Ask God to purify our “motives as we pray for revival. After all it is possible to pray for revival for selfish or ambitious reasons. Our motives must be solely for: (a) the glory of God, and (b) the increase of the kingdom of God. We must not prayfor revival just to solve our own problems or make our church successful in the eyes of men. (James 4:2)

9. Pray for a mighty move of conviction and salvation upon communities of cultural influence. Some key examples are Hollywood actors and producers, government officials, educators, teachers, and college professors, news and media people, talk shows hosts, comedians, homosexual activists groups, and the music industry. (1 Timothy 2:1-2) Provide specific lists for your congregation.

10.Specifically pray for God to pour out His Spirit in a fashion even greater than He did in America in 1858 and Wales in 1904. (Ten percent of Wales’ population was saved in five months!) Ask God for a modern day of Pentecost in the United States and Canada. (Mark 11:22-24; John 14:13-14.)