When God stepped down from heaven in 1949 the things of earth took second place. “An awareness of God was felt everywhere. You felt His presence and His power on meadow and moorland. You met Him in the homes of people. Indeed God was everywhere, you could not escape Him.”
Conviction was so intense that people could not sleep, normal activities were halted and lost men and women cried out to God, terrified to face Him in their sins. Strong seamen could be found weeping behind their fishing boats crying out, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!”
So many young people were converted that the places of entertainment were closed due to lack of interest. “There was no quenching of our desire for the Lord and for the things of God. There was no need to entertain us or put on any special program at the church. We were just hungry for the Word of God itself.”
This is revival. It is a supernatural moving of God’s Spirit so that “the community suddenly becomes conscious of the moving of God, beginning amongst His own people.” Those who previously had no interest in the things of the Lord are suddenly gripped with a divine terror. They plead to God for mercy. Their only thought is to find relief for their souls.
Historically, revival always begins with His people. God’s desire is to make His glory known to the church with the ultimate objective of revealing Himself to those who will otherwise face Him in judgment. He wants to heal the land (2 Chr. 7:14), but waits for His people to do their part.
This was a truth that the praying saints understood living on the Isle of Lewis, one in the group of islands making up the Scottish Hebrides (pronounced hĕb´rĭ-dēz΄). Thus, in unyielding resolve, they covenanted with their God that they would prepare the way for Him to make known His manifest presence in their community. In response, God brought one of the greatest revivals Scotland has ever seen beginning with the “first wave” from 1949 to 1952.
In the late 1940’s, the ministers of the area met to discuss the low spiritual conditions of their churches and “what must be the end should there be no repentance.” Together, they composed a resolution to be read on a certain Sunday in all the churches. It called on believers to “view with concern the barrenness of the parishes” so that they would “turn again unto the Lord whom we have so grieved with our waywardness and iniquities.” It also implored the people to pray that the communities be “visited with a spirit of repentance.”
Many of the believers in the Hebrides immediately went to their knees, petitioning God to visit the islands as He had done in 1939. The Lord had brought in a great harvest through this powerful, layman’s revival. Those who experienced the ‘39 outpouring knew what they were looking for and understood the cost.
John Murdo Smith recalled, “There were watchmen on the walls of Zion who resorted to prayer and would not accept things as they were. Prayer meetings for revival were held in various Christian homes. . . . Those who engaged in prayer and believed God would answer, continued to pray until the power of God came.”