God in His mercy has shown a young person a vision of revival. The young person was taken to a small hut in a village. He saw a gathering of 20 young people praying for revival in the hut. They are praying for God’s Glory to fill their village and for many people to know Jesus as their saviour. Their lives were lit by revival fire. They were weeping, crying, and filled with revival fire. They have been praying for many years for revival. There expectation of revival was physically seen in their prayers. Their prayers literally reflected their hope for revival. There was a deeper burden for the spiritual condition of their village in their prayer. There are at point where revival could occur at any time. Their prayers were genuine and heartfelt.
Suddenly, among the 20 young individuals in this hut, the young person saw Jesus. Jesus was speaking to one of the 20 individuals about the hindrance to the revival. The group of young people were asking for revival necessities or needs such as a larger church, choir, finances, and so on. They expected Jesus to come and reveal His Glory, but they also expected needs of revival to be met. The prayer for needs of revival was hindering God to send to the revival.
God spoke the following points to one of members of the group of 20 people.
1) Your job is to pray for revival, not how to plan and organise revival, like provisions, needs, and finances for revival. Your focus should be only on inviting God to come and allowing God to organize the revival. Let God take care of organising the revival.
2) You do not need to build a bigger church, raise funds, or purchase more sound and music equipments. You don’t need to raise offerings or donations. God will never come or appear when money is involved. When you want a revival, stay as far away from fundraising (raising money) as possible. When God sends a revival, all of the larger churches will give their churches, resources, finances and equipment for revival. We can reuse existing church buildings, finances and equipments in revival. Even the government will share its facilities for revival.
3) Unity and love among the 20 people is important for God to send a revival. Sharing of finances or resources among 20 people is needed. Create a habitation for God in your prayers. Make a home for God in your group. God should dwell in your prayers. God will begin to move in this land from the home created in this little group.
4) Sensitivity to sins within and around you is a sign of the beginning of revival. Fast repentance for your sins and the wickedness of others. If your neighbour sins, you should be the first person to weep for them. Don’t only listen to news about the wickedness and immorality of this land; but start praying as soon as you hear of the news about this wickedness. Staying silent after listening to such news demonstrates our sensitivity to sins around us. If a person is sensitive, his eyes will be filled with tears as he stands on God’s behalf.
5) Burden that everyone around you is God’s children and pray for an insight about Hell.
6) Don’t come on scene till God comes on the scene. All preachers who preach about revival without having a specific burden from the Lord are telling motivational stories. Most preachers preach about what happens when God moves, but they don’t talk about sin and repentance. They do not lead in the path of revival but only create an excitement for revival. Revival fire is difficult to handle. When not handled correctly, it has the potential to destroy. Revival fire is like a tornado, which we can never be controlled with human strength. A revivalist under God’s authority can control the direction of this tornado in revival. Revival sermons bring repentance by focusing on a specific burden from the Lord. The work done in two revivals is not the same, but the way for revival is the same: fall on your knees before God and weep for the nation’s sins with the help of the Holy Spirit. Only being filled with burden for the lost and grieving for the spiritual state of the land may bring about revival. God must open your eyes so that you can get a glimpse of the spiritual condition of the land.
7) Get a word or message from God to communicate with the people about the spiritual state of the land. This word or message is backed up by the power of God.
8) Path of revivalist.
a) God trained prayer life is required.
b) God must transform this prayer life into an intercession-based life.
c) Transitioning from intercession life to physically bearing God’s burden
d) Transitioning from physically bearing God’s burden to physically carrying God on our life
e) Transitioning from physically carrying God to receiving a word or message from God in order to bring about revival.
f) Transitioning from receiving God’s word for revival to welcoming God on this land
g) Welcoming God to come in His power is revival.
9) Revival is a word which is used very lightly these days. When a tornado strikes the land, its similar to revival. Everything in its path is absorbed into God.
A revival is a high-voltage phenomenon in which God manifests His full power and Glory. The place will be filled with more than 10000 volts of God’s power when revival comes. The atmosphere will be charged with God’s power, and everyone in that location will be able to see God physically. Everyone irrespective of their past life can experience physical encounters with God, such as seeing angels, visions, great healings, miracles, and so on. God comes in all His power and Glory.
A revivalist who is used in Revival must also be trained to welcome and sustain this high intensity of God’s power. The process of preparing a revivalist for such a great work requires a highly intensive training and preparation which might even take a lot of years. The revivalist is trained by God Himself. God first prepares the revivalist and then uses the revivalist’s life as the spark for revival. Revivalists are not only those who preach during revivals, but also those whose prayer brought revivals. Some revivalists may not appear on the scene in revival, yet their years of prayer have sparked revivals. We talk so much about Revivalists who were seen preaching in revivals, but we don’t know about the Revivalists whose prayer (before the revival) started the revival.
Do you want to be a revivalist through whom God starts a revival via your prayers and life? Are you willing to silently pray for revival even when you’re not in the spotlight or limelight?
When God wants to send revival, he searches for a vessel through whom he can spark the revival. This vessel is prepared ahead of time. God sends revival only because of the love for His people and the spiritual condition of the land.
There is a true story about God bringing about a revival in a church through a young lady’s prayer. God instructed the young lady to pray for the spiritual condition of the church every Friday for five years. For five years, she prayed silently and faithfully for revival. On the last Friday before finishing the prayer, God told the young lady to stop the prayer as he will send the promised revival. She finished her prayer for 5 years and returned home happy. The following week, just as God had said, a revival began when a preacher began to preach. During the revival, the preacher was in the limelight. But it was this young lady’s prayer that sparked the revival. She was hidden and witnessed the revival. Do you want to be hidden revivalist?
Prayer for revival begins with God getting hold of your life. God looks at your humility and prayer life before he picks to use you for revival. Then God places you on the path of revival (described in Point 8) for many years until he completely transforms your life in order to sustain the high voltage and produce a spark for revival.
Prayer of revival and being a revivalist is not some 10 days or 1 year process. God has to train a person to pray and be a vessel for revival. Evan Roberts, known for Welsh Revival, was trained by God for revival for 13 years. The process of training can take an entire lifetime also. A man of God wanted to see revival in his lifetime. He prayed fervently for revival in his lifetime. In his lifetime he could not see revival. When he died, the next generation witnessed revival. Our prayers for revival are never in vain. It can be passed down to next generations. Today our prayer is that revival fire take hold of you, and that you begin to pray for revival. Let God see your humility and simple life, so that God can pick you up for revival.