“Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, That the mountains might quake at Your presence—As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil—To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence!” Isaiah 64:1-2 (NASB)

Slowly, but surely more and more Christians are coming to realize that our world needs something more that any man or method can produce. Today we stand in desperate need of a mighty work of God! We need spiritual renewal (revival) among the saved! We need a spiritual awakening among the lost! It is at this point we would be wise to consider what the great old Methodist preacher, John Wesley, had to say. “Prayer is the engine that drives revival!”

If revival is the need of the hour, and prayer is the engine that drives revival, then that poses a valid question. “How should we pray for revival?” The disciples were on to something when they came to Jesus in Luke 11:1 and said, “Lord, teach us to pray!” Surely many have learned by now that the more we know about prayer, the more we understand how much we don’t know about prayer, bringing us to the place of repeating the same prayer the disciples prayed!

Add to this what Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 10 concerning the Old Testament scriptures, “These things happened as examples for us” (v 6), and “they were written for our instruction” (v 10). We are told to avoid the bad decisions of the old testament saints, but we are to adopt the good decisions! With that in mind let’s learn from Isaiah in 64:1-2 how to pray for a mighty work of revival in our day.

Notice the terms that Isaiah uses: Rend (tear) the heavens; Quake (shake) the mountains; Boil the waters (oceans, rivers); Tremble the nations! The Bible teaches God is always and every where present (theologians refer to this as His omnipresence), but Isaiah goes beyond that, asking the Lord to manifest His presence in an supernatural fashion. We see this illustrated in many of the great historic revivals. People testified in the great Welch revival in the early 1900s that the presence of God was “indisputable and inescapeable!” A woman converted in the revival in the Hebrides Islands in the mid-1900s said, “The islands were saturated with the presence of God!” Reports in the New York City newspapers in the prayer revival of 1858-59 stated that crew members sailing into New York harbor from foreign lands would fall under heavy conviction and cry out to God before the ship ever docked and anyone had an opportunity to speak to them!

It seems more than apparent that we need to learn from Isaiah and adopt his practice when it comes to praying for a mighty work of God in America today, asking the Lord to make His presence, purity and power known in an unusual way!

Jon Moore

“Surely the Lord is in this place…” Genesis 28:16

The first time I ever experienced genuine revival I was a layman, a member of a local church where we had been praying for revival for three years. We were honest with both ourselves and the Lord as we prayed. We admitted that we did not know what revival is. We knew one thing for certain. We needed what only God could give us, both as individuals and as a church body.

I have often compared the preparatory work that the Holy Spirit did prior to the coming of revival to that of a dove building her nest! She flies away and selects a twig, or a leaf, or a feather or a piece of cloth, then returns and fits it in to what she has already begun. She comes and goes numerous times. Finally, when she decides the nest is fully finished, she sits and lays her eggs, birthing new life!

The Holy Spirit would on occasion visit powerfully in one of our church services. The presence of holy God would be awesome, and the Spirit would convict of sin. Then it seemed like the Spirit would leave for a time, sometimes weeks, sometimes longer, giving us time to deal with the issues of sin both in our personal lives as well as in the life of the church. Then we would have another obvious visit of the Spirit, and He would once again convict of sin. Then there would be a period of no outward sense of His presence for a time. Then He would return. This continued for a period of about three years. Then the Spirit came and dwelled!

At this point I am going to be careful about what and how much I say. I dare not risk grieving the Spirit by touching His work with a single finger of the flesh. But I am compelled to testify that the presence of the Lord both in the building and on the grounds of that church was incredible! We had to leave the building unlocked and open 24/7. People (church members and non-church members) would come all hours of the day and night just to be in God’s presence! Consequently, we saw scores of people saved, Jews, Muslims, addicts, and one occasion even a witch!

Rev. William Macleod, pastor of the Parish Church in Uig on the Isle of Lewis (in the Hebrides Islands) off the west coast of Scotland was interviewed concerning his conversion during the Lewis Revival in the 1950’s. He was asked what it was like on the island during the Revival. His reply was short, but full of power. “You could feel God everywhere!”

If you share with me the conviction that “we are doing many of the right things in our churches, but we are doing them without the presence and power of the Holy Spirit,” then join with Phyllis and me praying believingly for a fresh coming of the Spirit in this our day…

Jon Moore

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” Psalm 51:17
After hearing about a continuous spirit of revival in Central East Africa, the door of opportunity opened for Norman Grubb to visit there in 1950. Later he wrote a little booklet entitled, “Continuous Revival” in an effort to put into words what the Lord taught him personally through that visit. According to Grubb, he learned that brokenness is the key word in continuous revival!
David learned this truth at the critical point of his own brokenness in Psalm 51. Some question why David’s repentance was acceptable to God after he had seen to the murder of the husband of Bathsheba, and Saul’s repentance was unacceptable for the sin of failing to slaughter the Amalekites that many would view as much less serious! Each was confronted for their sin by a prophet of God, Saul by Samuel, and David by Nathan, and both admitted their sin before God. However Saul’s repentance was shown to be defective, because he asked Samuel to hide the sin from the people!
It is imperative in such a time as this that we as God’s people re-learn the value the Lord places on humility. The kind of humility that leads to one’s brokenness. Listen once again to the Lord’s first condition for revival, “If My people who are called by My Name, HUMBLE themselves…”.
The enemy will always have voices that conflict with His Word of Truth! Why do you think there has been such an explosion of emphasis on self-seeking, self-reliance and self-justifying in the Christian life? We avoid brokenness at our own peril!
Micah Stampley wrote the little chorus that includes these lyrics,
“Brokenness, brokenness is what I long for. Brokenness is what I need. Brokenness, brokenness is what You want from me. Take my heart and form it. Take my mind transform it. Take my will conform it. To Yours, to Yours, O Lord!”
Amen,

Jon Moore

“…and the prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25b

Sooner or later we all have to learn that being saved by faith in Christ does not make us exempt from adversity in life! The spirits of discouragement and despair are always lurking nearby just waiting to attack when problems arise. Fortunately for us, people like the apostle Paul learned how to deal with these circumstances, and both his writing and experience under the anointing of the Holy Spirit are instruction and guidance for us today.
One day Paul and his missionary companions were falsely accused, illegally arrested, beaten severely and thrown into the deepest cell in a prison. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, all the prison cell doors were opened and their chains were unfastened. Miraculously, none of the prisoners even attempted to escape! Why didn’t the murderers, thieves, arsonists, rapists, etc. escape? The answer is found in Acts 16:25. When Paul and Silas could have been complaining about the painful and unjust things that had been done to them, instead they prayed and sang songs of praise to God, and all the while “…the prisoners were listening to them!”
Sometimes Christians wonder if their life is counting. They are not seeing people publicly coming to Christ, lives being changed before their eyes, etc. Never forget the old adage, “You are the only Bible someone is reading!” And people especially observe how we react to adversity! Anyone can be happy when things are going well, but the person without Christ wants to know if Jesus Christ makes a difference when things go bad.
Remember Christian, the prisoners are listening to you…
Jon Moore

“Anything God has ever done, He can do now.  Anything God has ever done anywhere, He can do here.  Anything God has ever done for anyone, He can do for you”…A. W. Tozer

It is a truism that the believer’s greatest hope for the future is the past!  Have you ever considered how often the Lord instructed His Old Testament people to continually teach their young of God’s great actions in the past?  “Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.” Deuteronomy 4:9.  Why did the Lord emphasize this?  Think about the story in the book of Joshua when the Lord stopped up the Jordan River at flood stage until the entire nation had crossed over.  He told the priests to reenter the river and collect twelve stones and pile them up on the new land.  “Let this be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying ,’What do these stones mean to you?’  Then you will say to them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’  So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.”  Joshua 4:6-7.

We live today in a dark time in our country, indeed in our world.  We need to be continually rehearsing for ourselves, as well as for our children and grandchildren, of the mighty acts of God through the centuries.  The fact is the greatest numerical additions (evangelism) have come in these great times of mighty spiritual awakenings, and these awakenings have always initially been sparked by a renewed awareness of both the almighty power and everywhere presence of God!

Don’t make the mistake of abandoning hope, but instead renew hope in the One who is worthy of our sure Hope.  Join with the psalmist, “Why are you in despair, O my soul?  And why have you become disturbed within me?  Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence.”

Jon

“Will You not Yourself revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You?”…Psalm 85:6

In One of his earlier lectures on revival the 18^th century revivalist, Charles Finney posed a fascinating question, “When may revival be expected?”  He then proposes seven different signs, or evidences that revival is in fact on its way.  I want to suggest three of those evidences that give me encouragement to pray in hope of the glory of God in revival.

1 – When the attention of ministers is especially directed to this particular object!  For some time pastors have been saying to me, “Revival is the only hope for our churches, the only hope for America!”  2 – When the wickedness of the wicked grieves and humbles and distresses Christians!  Increasingly I hear church people say something along the line of, “I never thought I would live to see the day in America that such and such would be taking place, or being done, or being said publicly!”  3 – When Christians have a spirit of prayer for revival!  The Godly A. T. Pierson once said, “From the day of Pentecost, there has not been one great spiritual awakening in any land which has not begun in a union of prayer, though only among two or three.  And no such outward, upward movement has continued after such prayer meetings have declined!”

Mr. Finney lists other evidences I do not yet see in our day, but I am not going to personally sit and wait!  My wife and I invite you to join us in your home as we will be in our home every Saturday night sometime between 6:00 P. M. and midnight, praying for a mighty revival in our churches, our homes, our schools, our businesses and in the streets of America!  If you make a covenant with the Lord to join us in this prayer time, let us know, either by e-mail at jmoorejmea@aol.com, or by using the comment section on our web site at www.Christfollowers.com. 

Jon Moore

“Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham…” Genesis 26:18a

“A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”  Psalm 51:17b

Dr. J. Edwin Orr the well know historian of revival once stated that he believed the powerful working of God’s Spirit during the first decade of the 1900s was the most widespread spiritual awakening of all time!  This great revival touched Europe, north America, Australia, India, South Africa, Korea, China and Latin America.  He records that over five million people in these nations were won to Christ in the first two years of this revival!  It was the most recent of the four nationwide revivals in the history of the United States.

However, years before all of this began to take place, prayer meetings for worldwide revival were being held at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, and in the annual Keswick Conventions in Britain as well as in local churches and missionary prayer meetings in places like India, the Far East, America, Britain and Latin America.

Historians generally refer to the revival that began in the town of Loughor in south wales as the “flash point” of the beginning of this mighty movement of God, and Evan Roberts was His instrument in the launching of the 1904 revival.  He traveled across the principality of Wales with a “four point message from God”!  The message was:  1) Confess every known sin and put any wrong done to man right!  2) Put away any doubtful habit!  3) Obey the Holy Spirit promptly!  4) Confess your faith in Christ publicly!

Three fourths of Robert’s meetings were initially spent in singing the great hymns of the Church, but he became more and more convinced of the priority of prayer over all else!  His battle cry was, “Bend the church and save the world”!  In most towns the moving of the Spirit began with prayer meetings led by young people.

When the revival spread to America in 1905 Methodists were the largest Protestant denomination.  After the revival arrived one of their leaders concluded, “Revival does what programs and campaigns, even though well attended, cannot do”!  More and more believers today are coming to the conclusion that it is time to re-dig the wells that were initially dug by our spiritual forefathers!  May our prayer be that this will not only be our conviction, but will be characterized by our actions…

Jon

“For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken…”  Luke 5:9

In describing a furnace that was not working the repair man made the statement, “The blower is still working, but the fire has gone out”!  To be honest that statement would be appropriate in describing the spiritual life in many individuals and churches, especially when compared to Christians and churches of days gone by.  The great old Methodist preacher John Wesley and his brother Charles are cases in point.  After their conversion and receiving the fullness of the Holy Spirit they were greatly used by the Lord in England and later in America along with George Whitfield to usher in one of the great spiritual awakenings, or revivals in history.

To quote Wesley Duewell from his book, Revival Fire, “To Wesley’s surprise, he began to experience the Holy Spirit powerfully convicting people of their sins while he preached.  Well-dressed, mature people suddenly cried out as if in the agonies of death.  Both men and women, outside and inside the church buildings, would tremble and sink to the ground.  When Wesley stopped and prayed for them, they soon found peace and rejoiced in Christ…..Wesley did not encourage these emotional reactions…..He himself always spoke in a calm, unemotional voice, but he also recognized that God’s power was at work, convicting and transforming person after person.

We would do well in this generation to learn from Simon Peter in Luke chapter 5.  He and his companions were failures!  They had previously committed to following Jesus, but had become discouraged and returned to their fishing business.  Even though they had already fished all night, he said, “I will do as you say and let down the nets”.  Even when we have failed a test of faith, our God gives makeup exams!  Let us submit to obeying His Word and trust Him to do the work by the power of His Spirit that we cannot accomplish by our own efforts.  Andrew Murray put it well, “Let us make God’s omnipotence the measure of our expectations”.  If we do, we too will be amazed at the things God can do!

Jon Moore

“But thanks be to God, Who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.”        2^nd Corinthians 2:14

Personally, I have never met anyone who wanted to be on the losing side of anything!  The Bible tells us that believers are on the winning side, but the question is, how far does that victory extend?  Paul describes the limitless measure of the believer’s victory, informing us that it permeates into every place!

When a Roman general won a battle that was significant to the state of Rome they were given a “triumph” voted on by the Roman senate.  It was a national holiday highlighted by a parade through the streets of Rome.  The conquering hero drove a gold (great value) chariot pulled by a white (victory) horse.  Attached to the back of the chariot was a chain.  At the end of the chain were soldiers of the defeated army, manacled and dragged through the streets signifying complete victory.  Bowls of incense were burned.  All of this is full of meaning and application. 

Prior to salvation we were at enmity with God, but He overcame us not with sword or spear, but by His redemptive love.  Now, like those captive soldiers behind the general’s chariot we are being carried along in the victory train of our Master and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Just as the incense associated with victory alerted all there that day (even the deaf and blind), the believer’s life gives off a spiritual fragrance to all those with which he/she comes into contact.

Sometimes we are successful in seeing people come to Christ, and sometimes we sadly see those who reject coming to Christ.  In either case whether seeming success, or seeming failure, they have been confronted with the knowledge of God both by the aroma of the witness of our life and the testimony of our lips.  What greater cause for thanksgiving?  Thank and praise the Lord!

Jon Moore