How do people define a revival? Is it a series of meetings
with a speaker like Billy Graham and a host of people making a first-time
commitment to Christ? In contrast to that idea, I’ve heard that no one can
re-vive something that was not alive in the first place. That is, a mass event
of personal salvation in many lives is a great thing, but in the history of
revivals, the great changes that happen are because of renewal in the lives of
God’s people, a restoration to that first love for Jesus Christ.
Again, past revivals began in the church, in the people
who already know God. For whatever reasons, spiritual life has become dull and
praise to God is lacking. Then, one person or a few begin to pray for renewal.
The psalmist put it this way:
You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin. Selah You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger. Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us! Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation. (Psalm 85:2–7)
Tozer makes the same plea. He says, “We need a revival! We
need a revival of consecration to death, a revival of happy abandonment to the
will of God that will laugh at sacrifice and count it a privilege to bear the
cross through the heat and burden of the day. We are too much influenced by the
world and too little controlled by the Spirit. We of the deeper life persuasion
are not immune to the temptations of ease and we are in grave danger of
becoming a generation of pleasure lovers.”
I understand. We once visited a church where a prayer
sheet was handed out. It was letter-size, covered both sides with prayer
requests in fine print. Close to 100% of them were health issues. No requests
for spiritual growth, or salvation for family and friends, or that God would be
glorified. They were asking for the comfort of health. Not that wanting good health
is necessarily wrong, but when that occupies the value system in God’s people, it
usually indications they have strayed away from what is most important to God.
The prosperity gospel has been popular too. In our love of
abundant life, how easily we slip into thinking that God wants us healthy,
wealthy, and always happy. Deep in our hearts we know that if we are going to
follow Jesus, we may not have everything that our world declares good. Jesus
didn’t own anything. He was joyful, yet at one point agonized to the point of
sweating blood. We know nothing of the suffering the Apostles or what many Christians
endure for the sake of Christ in current times.
Tozer asks that God raises up people who will consult
their pleasures less and the great need more. That great need is not ‘heaven on
earth’ but the wonder of having eternal life right now, before we die, before
we know the joy and total peace of eternity. This good news is seldom shared by
a complacent church or one caught up in temporary needs. In the New Testament,
the Gospel was spread the most when God’s people suffered the most.
If revival means suffering, no wonder comfort-loving
people are not praying for it. If revival means admitting deadness, no wonder
proud and self-sufficient people are not interested either.
^^^^^^^^^^^
Lord, I need to be careful about being critical of those
in need of revival because three fingers point back at me. For a vibrant and
normal Christian life, I need You. For the desire to tell others about the
wonders of You and redemption, I need You. In earlier revivals, I’ve heard that
when Christians were merely passing others in the street, Your Spirit was so
evident and overwhelming that those others were immediately on their knees
crying to You for mercy. Revival is costly — but so also was redemption that
gave us new life in the first place. We have it; we are safely Your children,
but we need the kind of re-do that conforms us to every part of Your will with
great energy and confidence. Revive us again.