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The Process That Hastens Revival by Stephen Olford
"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven" (v. 14). What is the process of revival? It is a mindset occasioned by a Spirit-wrought repentance which expresses itself in:
Brokenness-- "If My people...will humble themselves" (v. 14). That word humble, in the original, is found in Judges 8:28 where we read that Midian was subdued under Gideon "so that they lifted their heads no more." It is a brokenness before God--something we need desperately in our individual lives, in our churches, and in our nation.
As we study the Scriptures we learn that God respects the brokenhearted. The psalmist says, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart...God...will not despise" (Ps. 51:17). God relieves the brokenhearted-- "The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit" (Ps. 34:18); and yet again, "God revives the brokenhearted-- "Thus says the High and Lofty One... ‘I will dwell...with him who has a contrite and humble spirit’" (Isa. 57:15).
It was my privilege to know Evan Roberts of the Welsh Revival. On September 29, 1904, Roberts heard a tremendous sermon delivered by Seth Joshua in which Joshua repeated the words "Lord, bend us! Lord, bend us!" The Spirit of God used that simple statement to break Evan Roberts’ heart. The following Monday night 17 young people in his Bible class responded after hearing Roberts tell them: "You must put away all unconfessed sin; you must put away any doubtful habit; you must obey the Spirit promptly; and you must confess Christ publicly." God’s Spirit was poured out upon His servant and the effects were felt throughout the Principality of Wales. One hundred thousand were converted within six months. Eventually that revival touched England, Ireland, the United States--especially Kentucky. It leaped across the Pacific to India. It had an effect in South Africa, and was preparatory to all missionary work in South America. But the key was that Evan Roberts first had to be broken. Such brokenness before God brings revival.
The late Bishop Festo Kivengere was an African revivalist. On one occasion I asked him to tell me why the East Africa revival in Rwanda/Uganda lasted over forty years. Supremely, of course, it was God at work; but specifically, he said, "There were two reasons. One was making sure I was walking in the light every day and that my brother was doing the same. If I saw anyone looking glum I would say to them, ‘Brother/Sister, are you walking in the light?’ If they had no answer I would add, ‘Then you are in the bushes.’ The biblical example of that is Adam. When Adam ceased to walk in the light he hid in the bushes. So Africans would confess their sins to one another and get right with God so that they could continue to walk in the light. The other secret," Kivengere added, "was brokenness." To make his point he asked, "Have you ever tried to put two balloons together when they’re inflated? The tendency is for the balloons to bounce off each other. But watch what happens when you puncture them: they just fall all over one another. Too often Christians are lifted up with pride, but when their hearts are humbled by the Spirit of God, and they pray and seek His face, then it is comparatively easy to fall all over one another in love and to find forgiveness at the foot of the cross."
With brokenness there must be prayerfulness-- "If My people...will humble themselves, and pray" (v. 14). Too often we pray for revival from wrong and selfish motives so that we will go down in history as another Jonathan Edwards, a Charles Finney, or a Jonathan Goforth. The praying talked about here is praying with transparency: "Lord, blot me out, but send revival!" Would to God that there were little groups all across our country who were praying selflessly in that fashion! Without exception, and without regard for any other factors whatsoever, each and every one of the great revivals in history has been steeped in prayer.
But once again, there must be earnestness-- "If My people...will...seek My face" (v. 14). That powerful verb seek means "to search after with earnestness." I think of Jacob who would not let go of that divine Wrestler until the blessing came. But God had to first touch the very sinew of his thigh--the center of his self-life, so to speak. A man can’t fight, a man can’t flee, when he can’t stand. God takes no pleasure in the legs of a man, the psalmist says (Ps. 147:10). When our legs give way then we begin to cling and we cry out in earnest, "I will not let You go unless You bless me" (Gen. 32:26).