"Oh, that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down that the mountains might flow down at thy presence" (Isa. 64:1,2). You will observe that in that prayer of the prophet two fundamental things are suggested. That unless God comes down, mountains will not flow and sinners will not tremble. But if God comes down, if God manifests His power, if God shows His hand, if God takes the field, mountains will flow...mountains of indifference, mountains of materialism, mountains of humanism, will flow before His presence, and nations, not just individuals, but nations, shall be made to tremble.
We haven't seen nations trembling, but we have seen communities; we have seen districts; we have seen parishes in the grips of God in a matter of hours when God comes down!
It is true that we have seen man's best endeavor in the field of evangelism leaving communities untouched. We have seen crowded churches. We have seen many professions. We have seen hundreds, yes, and thousands responding to what you speak of here as the altar call. But I want to say this, dear people, and I say it without fear of contradiction, that you can have all that without God! Now, that may startle you, but I say again, you can have all that on mere human levels!
Howard Spring was right when he wrote, "The kingdom of God is not going to advance by our churches becoming filled with men, but my men in our churches becoming filled with God." And there's a difference! Oh, no! Crowded churches, deep interest in church activity is possible on mere human levels leaving the community untouched!
The difference in successful evangelism, (and I use the word 'successful,') and revival is this: In evangelism, the two, the three, the ten, the twenty, and possibly the hundred make confessions of Jesus Christ, and at the end of the year you are thankful if half of them are standing. But the community remains untouched. The public houses are crowded, the dances, dancing ballrooms, packed. The theater and the picture houses are patronized by the hundreds. No change in the community!
But in revival, when God the Holy Ghost comes, when the winds of heaven blow, suddenly the community becomes God-conscious! A God-realization takes hold of young, middle-aged and old. So that, as in the case of the Hebrides Revival, 75% of those saved one night were saved before they came near a meeting!
The Nature of a God-sent Revival: by Duncan Campbell
Oh, Brother/Sister, let our prayers be that we may see such a movement of God in our nation, and why not say it, The entire World as well. God bless