The burden for Revival

A man made to carry about a changeGod is never intimidated, nor silenced by Babylonian dizziness, drunkenness or delusion. God is not perplexed, nor is his ability to take action curtailed when encountering the Babylonian maelstrom of confusion. A relevant, heavenly plan is set in motion within any given Babylonian society to bring salvation to the afflicted as well as judgment on perpetrators. The plan is a man. The plan is a person, a prophet. The plan is a prophet who reflects the very obedience of the Lord, Jesus Christ himself. He may be a Jeremiah, a man of tears, about whom the Lord said: ”Before conception there was a concept.” - Jer 1: 5. He may be an Ezekiel, whom God asked ”Will you judge the city?” - Ez 22. 2.Before man is, there is a concept. Long before salvation is brought about, there is a plan. Before there is a prophet in making, there is a royal command. Most likely the things and the men that are not are chosen for the task to nullify the things that are, 1Cor 1: 28.Prophets are commissioned, sent by royal command. Prophets are ambassadors - speaking and acting on behalf of a peculiar nation not belonging to this world. They are seldom welcomed, at least not by the undisciplined, disobedient crowd. He is certainly recognised, but rarely accepted. To label him a recognised prophet is to disarm him and lock him into the system which he is sent to confront. A true prophet is not an attraction in crowded auditoriums.Lars Widerberg A cut from texts painting a picture of a man so desperately needed.

There is no dearth of preachers who deliver eloquent sermons on the need and nature of revival and advance elaborate plans for the spread of the Kingdom of God, but the praying preachers are far more rare and the greatest benefactor this age can have is a man who will bring the preachers, the Church and the people back to the practice of real praying.The reformer needed just now is the praying reformer. The leader Israel requires is one who, with clarion voice, will call the ministry back to their knees.E. M. BoundsThe Weapon of Prayer

There is no dearth of preachers who deliver eloquent sermons on the need and nature of revival and advance elaborate plans for the spread of the Kingdom of God, but the praying preachers are far more rare and the greatest benefactor this age can have is a man who will bring the preachers, the Church and the people back to the practice of real praying.The reformer needed just now is the praying reformer. The leader Israel requires is one who, with clarion voice, will call the ministry back to their knees.E. M. BoundsThe Weapon of Prayer

The leader Israel requires is one who, with clarion voice, will call the ministry back to their knees.We can move about and bustle and organize all we like, but we've always known that we're nothing without God. Just as we saw in Acts, PRAYER moves the hand of God, not the work of our hands.

Two important quotes from Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s diary:After spending an evening too lightly he writes – “My heart must break off from all these things. What right have I to steal and abuse my Master’s time? ‘ Redeem it’, he is crying to me”“Little done, and as little suffered. Awfully important question – Am I redeeming the time?”From “The life of Robert Murray M’Cheyne” by Andrew BonarSee also:A Revival ManifestoandJoin in Praying for Revival Now

The Burden – the Active Will of GodSome people in reading the Bible say they cannot understand why Elijah and other men had such active power with the living God. It is quite simple. God heard Elijah because Elijah had heard God. God did according to the word of Elijah because Elijah had done according to the word of God. You cannot separate the two.When we are willing to consider the active will of God for our lives, we come immediately to a personal knowledge of the cross, because the will of God is the place of blessed, painful, fruitful trouble!The Apostle Paul knew about that. He called it “the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings.” It is my conviction that one of the reasons we exhibit very little spiritual power is because we are unwilling to accept and experience the fellowship of the Savior’s sufferings, which means acceptance of His cross.How can we have and know the blessed intimacy of the Lord Jesus if we are unwilling to take the route which He has demonstrated? We do not have it because we refuse to relate the will of God to the cross.All of the great saints have been acquainted with the cross—even those who lived before the time of Christ. They were acquainted with the cross in essence because their obedience brought it to them.All Christians living in full obedience will experience the cross and find themselves exercised in spirit very frequently. If they know their own hearts, they will be prepared to wrestle with the cross when it comes.A. W. TozerFrom: “I talk back to the devil”.See also:A Revival ManifestoJoin Praying for Revival Now