I had been praying for a revival in the Seminary where I teach and the church I minister for a long time. It hasn’t come yet. I got this burden for revival from my teacher. She was a Canadian missionary who taught English at the Seminary where I did my first degree in theology. She stood up in a social gathering to make an announcement. The college was about to be shifted to a new campus about 600-kilometres away in a few months. She said that she is praying for a revival and praying that we will have it before we move to the new campus. It is almost 33 years since we moved to the new campus. Revival is yet to come!
Is God ignoring prayers for revivals? For that to be true we need to conclude that God is against revivals. Certainly not! God always want his people to be spiritually alive and constantly revive themselves. Holy Spirit, the spirit of newness is always with us.
This is simple logic. I won't' buy my son a car until he gets the driving licence. That is when he is ready to drive though he has been asking for it for a long time. I think that is the reason why revival tarries. Revival is certainly God’s plan for his people. God never denies prayer for revivals, but it gets delayed because the potential recipients are not yet ready. I want to emphasise it again—it is not denial but delay and we are responsible for the delay. Revival will come only when we are ready.
A review of the history of revivals tells us that that is how it always happened. Revivals always happened only through people who were waiting for it. Take, for example, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the 120 gathered in Jerusalem. Jesus had directed them ‘to wait for the promise of the Father’ (Acts 1:4). Waiting, they did! They went to the upper-room, they were in one accord and devoted themselves to prayer (Acts 1:14). Finally, when they were ‘altogether in one place’ in the same upper-room the Spirit was poured out on them on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4).
This pattern of waiting and preparation in prayer along with a longing for revival is behind all revivals. Sometimes God prepares them in strange ways. For example, the Ao Naga revivals in India was possible because a tribal chief dead and gone had prophesied that a man with white skin will come and preach about a new god and they have to follow that God. The people were waiting for the man with white skin to come and preach for years. The tribal memory of this prophecy was like a piece of charcoal soaked in fuel, ready to catch fire. It caught fire and covered the entire Ao Naga tribe. Now 90% of Nagas are Christians. There are similar stories of God preparing people from Malaysia and other countries.
In any revival, there is a group of people earnestly waiting and praying for it. Prayer and the longing had prepared them to receive it. Then in the process, the revival encompasses in its embrace everyone even its critics. The first flame always fell upon an individual or group who were ready for it. It is like a forest-fire starting beginning with an ember from the bonfire the careless campers didn’t put out. It started really small with a group of people longing for it.
It never happened when people are not ready for it. All that we need to do is to be ready.
Is God ignoring prayers for revivals? For that to be true we need to conclude that God is against revivals. Certainly not! God always want his people to be spiritually alive and constantly revive themselves. Holy Spirit, the spirit of newness is always with us.
This is simple logic. I won't' buy my son a car until he gets the driving licence. That is when he is ready to drive though he has been asking for it for a long time. I think that is the reason why revival tarries. Revival is certainly God’s plan for his people. God never denies prayer for revivals, but it gets delayed because the potential recipients are not yet ready. I want to emphasise it again—it is not denial but delay and we are responsible for the delay. Revival will come only when we are ready.
A review of the history of revivals tells us that that is how it always happened. Revivals always happened only through people who were waiting for it. Take, for example, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the 120 gathered in Jerusalem. Jesus had directed them ‘to wait for the promise of the Father’ (Acts 1:4). Waiting, they did! They went to the upper-room, they were in one accord and devoted themselves to prayer (Acts 1:14). Finally, when they were ‘altogether in one place’ in the same upper-room the Spirit was poured out on them on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4).
This pattern of waiting and preparation in prayer along with a longing for revival is behind all revivals. Sometimes God prepares them in strange ways. For example, the Ao Naga revivals in India was possible because a tribal chief dead and gone had prophesied that a man with white skin will come and preach about a new god and they have to follow that God. The people were waiting for the man with white skin to come and preach for years. The tribal memory of this prophecy was like a piece of charcoal soaked in fuel, ready to catch fire. It caught fire and covered the entire Ao Naga tribe. Now 90% of Nagas are Christians. There are similar stories of God preparing people from Malaysia and other countries.
In any revival, there is a group of people earnestly waiting and praying for it. Prayer and the longing had prepared them to receive it. Then in the process, the revival encompasses in its embrace everyone even its critics. The first flame always fell upon an individual or group who were ready for it. It is like a forest-fire starting beginning with an ember from the bonfire the careless campers didn’t put out. It started really small with a group of people longing for it.
It never happened when people are not ready for it. All that we need to do is to be ready.