When a Revival can be expected

    

　

                      Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? Psalm 85:6 KJV

　
The Psalm writer, while thinking about the goodness of the Lord in bringing them, the Jews, back from captivity and looking forward to good things before them. He breaks into a prayer for a revival, "Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?". Since God had re-established the ordinances of His house among them, he prays that there will be a revival to crown the work.
In my previous look into revival, I attempted to show what a revival is, what it is not, and that it is Word of God, planted in the right way, that will bring about a revival. I will now cover; 1. When a revival is needed. 2. The importance of a revival when it is needed. 3. When a revival can be expected.


1. WHEN A REVIVAL IS NEEDED


When there is a WANT of Christian love and unshakable confidence in our great faith, a revival is needed. When the Church is so splintered that pride and a lack of confidence among new believers of the Christian faith is so weak, A revival is needed. When Christians have sunk down into a low and backslidden state, they neither have, nor can have, the same love and confidence toward each other as when they are alive, and active, and living holy lives, a revival is needed.
God loves all people with deep love and desire to do good to others. He can not feel the feeling of quite pleasure and security toward any but those those who live a holy life because He is holy. We Christians can only love each other with the same love in proportion to their holiness before God. If Christian love is to be exactly in the image of Christ among His people, then it can only be exercised only where that image really exists! Understand what James was telling us in1:21-24, "Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was."
It is an empty call on Christians to love one another with the holy love that God shows us when they are sunk down in the muck of sin. They see nothing in each other to produce this love! When there is such a spirit within the Church, then there is a great need for revival. Our religion cannot prosper and nothing but a revival can put to death this evil spirit.
When there is a worldly spirit in the Church, it is time for revival. When Christians conform to the world in dress, in amusements, in music, in what you watch on television or the movies you would see, it shows how far they are from God. There is a need for revival.
When the Church finds its members falling into gross and scandalous sins, or are in the wake of such sins, then it is time to awaken and cry to God for a revival! When such a dark cloud hangs over a Church, it is time to ask God, "What will become of thy great Name?"
When there is a spirit of controversy in the church, a revival is needed. There can be no prosperity in the Church when there is the evil spirit of controversy is present.
When the lost become careless and stupid and extremely violent, it is time that Christians to seek God for revival. It is as much thier duty to awaken themselves as it is for a fireman to awaken when a fire breaks out in the night! Should a fireman sleep away while the city burns down? NO! As the fireman is to awaken, so is the Church! We need to be awake to battle the flames of hell that are coming on the lost people around us.


2. THE IMPORTANCE OF REVIVAL


A revival is the only possible thing that can wipe away the stains of sin upon the Church and restore it's right standing before our Father and the public around it. There must be a waking up on the part of Christians, and an outpouring of God's spirit, or the world will continue to laugh at and overlook the Church.
Nothing else will restore Christian love and confidence in our faith among Church members. Nothing else but a revival can restore it! Nothing else should be thought to bring this about. Not a fellowship meal or a "Get well" card.
Nothing but a revival could lift the spirit that so holds a Church down. It may not be God's judgment that causes a Church to not grow. But it may the stains of sin and fear of failure that will hold a Church from being what God would have that Church to be. Without a revival, prayers may only reach the ceiling and converts may never be found.
There is no other way in which a Church can be santified, grow in grace, and be fitted for Heaven. What is "growing in grace"? Is it hearing some teaching and getting some new notions about religion? No; no such thing! The Christian who does this and nothing more, is getting worse and worse, more and more hardened, and every week it is more difficult to rouse them up. Growing in grace is Godly love and confidence that is in the image of Christ spilling out into the world around us.


WHEN REVIVAL CAN BE EXPECTED


When the Spirit of God indicates that a revival is near. Pastors sermons of confessing sin one evening. The Pastor calling us to cast into the deep. Your desire for the Pastor to teach on end time events. Me being lead to teach on revival. Turn the radio on and there are preachers talking about the need to get back to the Bible in our message and conduct.
When the evil doings of the wicked grieves, humbles, and distresses Christians. Sometimes Christians don't seem to really mind anything about the wickedness around them. If they do speak of the wickedness it is a cold and unfeeling way, forgetting that they were once lost outside the faith. They are more ready to scold sinners instead of acting out of the compassion that the Son of God had for them. Only revival can take away the hardness of believers so that they will earnestly pray for sinners.
A revival may be expected when Christians have a spirit of prayer for a revival. Are you praying for revival? Are you willing to have a revival as long as it don't bother the everyday business of life and Church? Or, are you ready for God to use whatever means He brings in to usher in revival? Sometimes Christians want a revival but only if they can manage the details. Revival will come when God's children will just allow Him to move. Not second guess Him.