Revival
Personal and corporate revival follows the Josiah (2 Kings 22-23) and Nehemiah 8-9 pattern:
1. Revelation / rediscovery / return to God's word (Psalm 119:37b-40, Jeremiah 6:16); followed by -
2. A longing after God (Isaiah 26:9) and earnestly seeking Him in prayer (Hebrews 11:6)
3. Affirmation of the attributes of God, and the saving work and person of Jesus Christ
4. Conviction, repentance, and confession of sin (John 16:8)
5. Passion for purity and holiness
6. Obedience and action
7. Great joy (1 Peter 1:8) and assurance of salvation (Hebrews 6:19, 10:22)
Psalm 85:6
Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?
Habakkuk 3:2 (HCSB)
Lord, I have heard the report about You;
Lord, I stand in awe of Your deeds.
Revive Your work in these years;
make it known in these years.
In Your wrath (toward our rebellion and sin, injustice and violence) remember mercy!
Matthew Henry's commentary of Zechariah 12:10 (On that day) "I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer...They will look on (Jesus) whom they have pieced and mourn..."
http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/zechariah/12.html
When God intends great mercy for His people, the first thing he does is to set them a-praying. He will pour out the Spirit;
As a Spirit of supplications, inclining us to, instructing and assisting us in, the duty of prayer.
As a Spirit of mourning and repentance over our sin.
As a Spirit of grace, to sanctify us and to make us gracious.
Stuart Piggin, Firestorm of the Lord: The History of Prospects for Revival in the Church and the World
Revival is a sovereign work of God the Father, consisting of a powerful intensification by Jesus of the Holy Spirit’s normal activity of testifying to the Saviour, accentuating the doctrines of grace, and convicting, converting, regenerating, sanctifying and empowering large numbers of people at the same time, and is therefore a community experience.
It is occasionally preceded by an expectation that God is about to do something exceptional; it is usually preceded by an extraordinary unity and prayerfulness among Christians; and it is always accompanied by the revitalization of the church, the conversion of large numbers of unbelievers and the diminution of sinful practices in the community.
Revival is an outburst of God's power; it is not a conglomerate of mere human energies.
C.H. Spurgeon
"The Pentecostal Wind and Fire", September 18, 1881
https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/the-pentecostal-wind-and-fire/#flipbook/
O God, send us the Holy Ghost! Give us both the breath of spiritual life and the fire of unconquerable zeal! O Thou who art our God, answer us both by wind and fire, and then we shall see Thee to be God indeed. The kingdom comes not, and the work is flagging. Oh, that Thou wouldst send the wind and the fire! Thou wilt do this when we are all of one accord, all believing, all expecting, all prepared by prayer. Lord, bring us to this waiting state!
God, send us a season of glorious disorder (Acts 4:31). Oh, for a sweep of the wind that will set the seas in motion, and make our ironclad brethren, now lying so quietly at anchor, to roll from stem to stem.
Oh, for the fire to fall again - fire which shall affect the most stolid! Oh, that such fire might first sit upon the disciples and then fall all around! O God, Thou art ready to work with us today even as Thou didst then. Stay not, we beseech Thee, but work at once. Break down every barrier that hinders the incoming of Thy might! Give us both hearts of flame and tongues of fire to preach Thy reconciling Word, for Jesus’ sake! Amen!
"The Story of God's Mighty Acts", July 17, 1859
https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/the-story-of-gods-mighty-acts/#flipbook/
Oh! men and brethren, what would this heart feel if I could but believe that there were some among you who would go home and pray for revival – men whose faith is large enough, and their love fiery enough to lead them from this moment to exercise unceasing intercessions that God would appear among us and do wondrous things here, as in the times of former generations.
New Year's Eve 1738, John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield, together with members of the Holy Club and about sixty others, were gathered for a Watch Night Service in a Moravian meeting room on Fetter Lane, London. From John Wesley’s Journal: “About three in the morning (now January 1, 1739), as we were continuing instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us, in so much that many cried out for exceeding joy, and many fell to the ground. As soon as we were recovered a little from that awe and amazement at the presence of his majesty we broke out with one voice, ‘We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord’.”
This was the birth of the Methodist movement and the British Great Awakening
Jonathan Edwards
Thoughts on the Revival of Religion in New England
A History of the Work of Redemption
It may be observed that from the fall of man to our day, the work of redemption in its effect has mainly been carried on by remarkable communications of the Spirit of God. Though there be a more constant influence of God’s Spirit always in some degree attending His ordinances, yet the way in which the greatest things have been done towards carrying on this work always has been by remarkable effusions at special seasons of mercy.
A Narrative of Surprising Conversions on the 1735 "Great Awakening"
https://www.jonathan-edwards.org/Narrative.html
The town seemed to be full of the presence of God: it never was so full of love, nor joy...Our young people were wont to spend the time in talking of the excellency and dying love of Jesus Christ, the glory of the way of salvation, the wonderful, free, and sovereign grace of God, his glorious work in conversion of a soul, the truth and certainty of the great things of God's word...
An Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God's People in Extraordinary Prayer for the Revival of Religion and for the Advancement of Christ's kingdom on Earth.
https://ccel.org/ccel/edwards/works2/works2.viii.html
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Jonathan Edwards and the Crucial Importance of Revival” An address delivered at the Puritan and Westminster Conference of 1976, and published in The Puritans: Their Origins and Successors, by Banner of Truth Trust.
Howell Harris, in a letter to George Whitefield regarding the Great Awakening of Wales
The outpouring of the Blessed Spirit is now so plentiful and common, that I think it was our deliberate observation that not one sent by Him opens his mouth without some remarkable showers. He comes either as a Spirit of wisdom to enlighten the soul, to teach and build up, and set out the works of light and darkness, or else a Spirit of tenderness and love, sweetly melting the souls like the dew, and watering the graces; or as the Spirit of hot burning zeal, setting their hearts in a flame, so that their eyes sparkle with fire, love, and joy; or also such a Spirit of uncommon power that the heavens seem to be rent, and hell to tremble.
The Works of the Reverend George Whitefield; Containing All His Sermons and Tracts Which Have Been Already Published: with a Select Collection of Letters, 1771. “Letter to Lady H.”, London, Feb. 26, 1751
I have not known a more considerable awakening for a long time. The Lord comes down as in the days of old, and the shout of a king is amongst us. Praise the Lord, O my soul!
William Maxwell Hetherington, Lectures on the Revivals of Religion, 1840
https://books.google.com/books?id=T-kDAAAAQAAJ&dq
On Saturday, February 17th, 1739, Whitefield stood upon a mount in a place called Rose Green, his first field pulpit, and preached to about two hundred of these barbarous Kingswood colliers (coal miners)… his second audience consisted of two thousand individuals; his third, from four to five, and they went on increasing to ten, fourteen, and twenty thousand….The first evidence he observed, of having made any impression on his rude auditors, was their deep silence; the next, and still more convincing, was his observation of the white gutters made by the tears which fell plentifully down their cheeks black and unwashed from the coal-pits ….
Horatius Bonar, in Life of the Rev. John Milne of Perth, "Looking Upward"
It is not eloquence, nor argument, nor vehemence, not “fresh thought”, not the enticing words of man’s wisdom that we need for the revivification of our ministry; but the power of the Holy Ghost.
"True Revival and The Men God Uses"
A.W. Tozer
Renewed Day by Day
Why is it easier to talk about revival than to experience it? Because followers of Christ must become personally and vitally involved in the death and resurrection of Christ. And this requires repentance, prayer, watchfulness, self-denial, detachment from the world, humility, obedience and cross-carrying!
Rut, Rot or Revival
We have God. We have Christ. We have truth. We have a world needing help. We have the saints, and we have the power of prayer. We have the joy of obedience and we have the sweet wonder of His presence. We have the joy of Christian song. We have all this and we do not need garbage. We have God. All we have to do is trust in His Son Jesus Christ and obey the truth, and the Lord will manifest Himself.
James Montgomery “The Descent of the Spirit”
https://books.google.com/books?id=r-wUAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA109&lpg
“Lord God, the Holy Ghost”
http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/l/g/h/lghghost.htm
Lord God, the Holy Ghost,
In this accepted hour,
As on the day of Pentecost,
Descend in all Thy power.
We meet with one accord,
In our appointed place,
And wait the promise of our Lord,
The Spirit of all grace.
The young, the old inspire
With wisdom from above;
And give us hearts and tongues of fire,
To pray, and praise, and love.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' Revival is available on Amazon
A revival is a miracle ... something that can only be explained as the direct ... intervention of God. Men can produce evangelistic campaigns, but they cannot and never have produced a revival.
Revival sermons from the Martyn Lloyd-Jones Trust
https://www.mljtrust.org/free-sermons/revival/
"What is Revival?"
http://articles.ochristian.com/article1651.shtml
We can define it as a period of unusual blessing and activity in the life of the Christian Church. Revival means awakening, stimulating the life, bringing it to the surface again. It happens primarily in the Church of God, and amongst believing people, and it is only secondly something that affects those that are outside also. Now this is a most important point, because this definition helps us to differentiate, once and for all, between a revival and an evangelistic campaign.
An evangelistic campaign is the Church deciding to do something with respect to those who are outside. A revival is not the Church deciding to do something and doing it. It is something that is done to the Church...
The essence of revival is that the Holy Spirit comes down...an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
"The Urgent Need For Revival Today", 1959
http://sentinellenehemie.free.fr/mllyodjones1_gb.html
We must ask ourselves how we can succeed if we do not have this authority, this commission, this might and strength and power. We must become utterly and absolutely convinced of our need. We must cease to have so much confidence in ourselves, and in all our methods and organisations, and in all our slickness. We have got to realise that we must be filled with God's Spirit.
I shall see no hope until individual members of the Church are praying for revival, perhaps meeting in one another's homes, meeting in groups amongst friends, meeting together in churches, meeting anywhere you like, and praying with urgency and concentration for a shedding forth of the power of God, such as he shed forth one hundred and two hundred years ago...
"The Real Reason For Revival"
http://articles.ochristian.com/article3152.shtml
“The Living God”, address at the June 1971 annual Westminster Ministers’ Conference
https://recognizingchrist.com/2012/05/16/martyn-lloyd-jones-the-living-god/
God seems to be saying to us: ‘Prove Me now. Try Me. Risk your everything on Me. Be fools for My sake. Cast yourselves utterly upon this belief.’ Let us put it like this: Do we really believe that God can still act? That is the question; that is the ultimate challenge. Or have we, for theological or some other reasons, excluded the very possibility? Here is the crucial matter. Do we individually and personally really believe that God still acts, can act and will act – in individuals, in groups of individuals, in churches, localities, perhaps even in countries? Do we believe that He is as capable of doing that today as He was in ancient times – the Old Testament, the New Testament times, the book of Acts, Protestant Reformation, Puritans, Methodist Awakening, 1859 and 1904-5 (see below)? Do we really believe that He can still do it?
John Piper on Lloyd-Jones and revival
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/god-set-his-sermons-on-fire
Books relating to Revival published by the Banner of Truth Trust
http://banneroftruth.org/us/resource-author/banner-of-truth-trust/
J. H. Merle d’Aubigné, The Reformation in England
J. C. Ryle, Christian Leaders of the Eighteenth Century
Joseph Tracy on The Great Awakening
Arnold Dallimore, George Whitefield, the Life and Times of the Great Evangelist of the 18th-Century Revival
W. M. Baker, Making Many Glad: the Life of Daniel Baker
Edward Morgan, Life of John Elias
Jonathan Edwards, Thoughts on the New England Revival
W. B. Sprague, Lectures on Revivals
Iain H. Murray, Revival and Revivalism: The Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism 1750–1858
J. Oswald Smith, The Revival We Need
James McQuilkin and the Ulster Revival of 1859
https://banneroftruth.org/us/resources/articles/2009/the-beginning-of-the-1859-revival-in-ulster/
https://connorpresbyterianchurch.org/1859-revival/
Evan Roberts and the Welsh Revival of 1904-1905
https://www.spiritofgrace.org/articles/nl_2014/extras/00_evan_roberts.html
John Owen, Works, Vol. 9, Sermons to the Church, “Cases of Conscience Resolved”, Discourse 14
http://www.prayermeetings.org/files/John_Owen/Owen_V09_Sermons_and_Discourses.pdf
Though our persons fall, our cause shall be as truly, certainly, and infallibly victorious, as that Christ sits at the right hand of God … God can send forth his Spirit when he pleases, and give all our professors and churches a new face, in the (vigor) and the flourishing of his grace in them. When God will do this I know not: but I believe God can do this; he is able to do it,—able to renew all his churches by sending out supplies of the Spirit, whose fullness is with him, to recover them in the due and appointed time.
And more; I believe truly, that when God has accomplished some ends upon us, and hath stained the glory of all flesh, he will renew the power and glory of religion among us again, even in this nation.
Jonathan Edwards
Let us together decide to beseech Him, to plead with Him to do this again. Not that we may have the experience or the excitement, but that His mighty hand may be known and His great name may be glorified and magnified among the people.
Leonard Ravenhill Why Revival Tarries on James 5:18
The cry of our day is, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?”
The question might better be asked, “Where are the Elijahs of the Lord God?”
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Authority
Revival is the greatest need today, indeed it is the only hope. Let us decide that day by day we will spend our time before God pleading for revival. Let us remind ourselves that the God who in the past has come suddenly and unexpectedly upon the dying Church has raised her to a new period of life and victory can do the same still.