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Revival prayers by Ian Milmine [32]

Last week we asked the question, when is revival needed? The answer given by Leonard Ravenhill was, it is needed when Christians have lost their first love, their concern for the lost, and when prayer is relegated to a secondary part of personal and church life. The great evangelist Finney adds further elements that indicate the need for revival in the church. These are:

Ian Milmine, Revival's General Secretary

1) When there is a want of brotherly love, when there are dissensions and jealousies and evil gossip among Christians. Is there not gossip in our churches today, is there not a hostile attitude towards some members by others? If we are not genuinely concerned for building each other up, then revival is needed.

2) When there is a worldly spirit in the church. When Christians begin to conform to the standards of the world, or when they allow their hearts and minds to become enslaved to the world’s amusements, so that they have not the time or energy for the things of God, then revival is needed.

3) When the church finds its members falling into sins that give God’s enemies occasion for reproach. With what sadness we see the falling away of once keen Christian people – even leaders – into adulterous relationships, divorce, same sex intimate relationships, and many other vices that fall short of God’s standard. Surely it is time for revival!

4) When the wicked triumph over the church and revile the Christian Gospel. As is the case so obviously today where Christians are seen as oddities, as hindering the progress of society. When the world looks upon the Christian church in this way, revival is needed.

5) When sinners are careless and stupid, sinking into hell unconcerned. It is time for the church to stir itself and awake to proclaim the gospel. For today it is not only that people are unconcerned, many no longer know of the reality of hell. Finney compares the church’s responsibility with that of the fire brigade. If there is a major fire in the city, and the firemen were to sleep through it and not put out the fire, we would all blame them. And yet their guilt would not compare to our guilt as Christians who sleep while sinners around are sinking blindly into hell.

Yes, revival is needed, it is desperately needed. In fact it is true to say that if we do then seek the Lord for His mercies, we must accept His judgment upon sins! We are standing at a crossroads. If God does not send revival, He will have to send judgment. We can, and we must, lay hold of the horns of the altar and give God no rest until He manifests Himself once again in mighty revival power.

Oswald.J. Smith recalls a time of intense evangelism during a six week period, while he was pastor of Dale Presbyterian Church, Toronto. Night after night without a single break, they spent every moment in prayer [They would get up in the morning, go to the prayer room, and pray in turn, with fasting, all day long. They would spend half the nights in prayer, never losing an opportunity to gather in prayer.] Each public holiday, they saw to it that the entire day was spent in fasting and prayer. As a result, God came down in mighty revival power, and without any inviting or coaxing, men and women found their way to the altar and gave themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. No wonder there was deep conviction! No wonder souls were saved!

We will never prevail with God and we will never see revival until we know how to travail in prayer. May God call us to prayer, the kind of prayer that usshers in revival!

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