Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and all throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance. (Acts 26:19-20)
Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place - unless you repent. (Rev. 2:5)
Millions of American evangelicals are now speaking optimistically about a coming revival, while others speak on the subject in more guarded and cautious tones. I personally believe that revival is the church’s greatest need, and I really do believe that it will come. But as I pray, travel, minister and converse with pastors and laymen, I find myself more deeply concerned, even disturbed, than ever before about American churches. Most of us believe that the Second Coming of Christ is near; but we also believe that the Bride (the Church) has not prepared herself for the Bridegroom’s (Christ’s) return. Nor has the Church completed its task of taking the Gospel to all the people groups on planet earth so that the end may come (Matt. 24:14). Only a genuine, full-scale, historic revival will bring about the holiness and power in the lives of the people of God to make us ready to meet the Lord. Only such a revival will fill the Church with the passion and purpose to complete its mission and bring back the King.
I fear that most pastors and lay leaders in our American evangelical churches are merely wishing for revival; they are not desperate for it. They prefer at this point to go on with religious business as usual than to experience Upper Room praying and repentance. This would involve cross bearing, burden sharing, tears, days and nights of prayer and fasting. Most of us are not ready for this. American churches seem to be intoxicated by their numerical and financial successes. They are more bent on institutional survival than on spiritual revival. How and when will this change? When leaders begin to focus again on Upper Room praying! A praying remnant must prevail with God in intercession until there are visitations of the Spirit. With visitations of the Spirit there will come conviction. And with conviction in the hearts of professing men and women in the body of Christ there will come repentance.
Repentance includes more than regret, remorse or a sense of shame. If one truly repents there will be a change in him or her - a change in thinking, in choices, in attitude, in purpose, in lifestyle. The biblical idea of repentance is one of changing the heart and mind and altering the course of life. It is a turning from self to Christ, from sin to holiness, from the spirit of the age to the eternal Kingdom of God. Charles G. Finney taught that true repentance will express itself in confession of sin to God, in acknowledgment of failure before the church, in reformation of lifestyle, in willingness to make restitution where possible and in peace of mind. Repentance, he said, involves the total person: intellect, emotions and will. But we note that in both the Hebrew and the Greek, the emphasis is placed on the will or the volition of one doing the repenting.
The apostle John began his first epistle by addressing sin in the heart and life of the believer. He pointed out that sin hinders fellowship with a holy God and it must be dealt with. He wrote: This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1:5-9).
Both personal and corporate sin must be dealt with, or there can be no revival. But if genuine repentance takes place, revival will surely come. God has made it plain: If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land (II Chron. 7:14). So, Christians, let us come to God’s terms for revival: (1) Humility - a sense of personal and corporate need for revival, humbly acknowledging the same before God and the Church Body, confessing that we are not all that we can and should be; (2) Prayer - passionate, tearful, prolonged, unified intercession; (3) Seeking God’s face - developing an awareness of and a hunger for the worship of Almighty God for His sake alone; and (4) Turning from our wicked ways - repentance.
What do we need to repent of? It will require the Holy Spirit to convict individual believers and church leaders of specific sins, but I am convinced that before revival can come to the average believer and congregation in this country, we will have to deal with some of the following things that grieve the Holy Spirit and hold back revival: Selfishness - our focus on temporal and material interests and plans instead of the will of God for our lives; Pride - the smugness that causes us to feel that we are not as much in need of revival as another person or congregation or denomination; Prayerlessness - going days and weeks without a time of brokenness and confession before the Lord, no tarrying before Him for the salvation of the lost or revival in His Church, working through our own personal crises without consulting His wisdom, making our decisions without considering His will or Word; Ignoring the Holy Spirit - living as if there were no Holy Spirit to help us pray, worship, serve and witness; quenching, grieving and ignoring Him until we no longer realize that we are violating the main Source and Inspiration for the Christian life; Worldliness - our loss of the fear of God as the spirit of the world moves in with intimidation and squeezes us into its mold; Coldness of heart - content with past knowledge of eternal truth, no longer passionately searching the Scriptures, giving more and more time to television, sports, entertainments and worldly reading; having lost our first love for Christ, we are embarrassed during the frequent spiritual discussions with the Spirit-filled and find ourselves more critical of those we once enjoyed fellowship with; Self-deception - we can commit sins of the flesh with little or no disturbance of conscience and pardon our own transgressions with flip remarks about the times and the culture; our aspirations for God and true holiness are replaced by a growing need for more money, bigger cars, nicer homes, a larger retirement portfolio and more time on exotic vacations; and we don’t even recognize that the spiritual lights are going out, that we are being caught in the snares of Satan, that we are not escaping the trends of the last days as Jesus warned against them.
Oh, I could go on and on ... But will it do any good? Is anyone listening? The point is, we need revival! But it will not happen under the present conditions. Revival starts with Upper Room praying (passionate, desperate, unified, prolonged, prevailing). Such praying brings the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. These outpourings bring conviction. Conviction makes possible repentance and confession. All of these elements spell revival. But it all comes down to this: the only reason most Christians and churches do not see revival is because they are willing to go on without it. God is searching at this very hour for those who will refuse to keep going through the motions as usual. He is looking for a Moses who will pray, "Lord, I will not move another step or turn another tap until I see your glory!" (See Ex. 33:7-23). And God manifested His glory! He is looking for a Jonathan Edwards and a David Brainerd in this twenty-first century who will agree to cry out, "Lord, we cannot be satisfied with orthodox theology, sound Christian education and decency and order; we will not go on until we see your glory!" And God sent revival!
How much longer will we go on playing church? How much longer do we have? Let’s head for the Upper Room today, tomorrow may be too late. God wants to send revival. He wants to send it now, right where we are. Let’s obey Him and believe Him and call on His Name!
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