Prescription for Revival, Part One

CBN.com Weeping Between the Porch and the Altar

In the city of Leeds, where I lived in England, the revival came. It came because there was a little man there, he was unlettered, he had no degree, but boy, did he have a burning heart. And he labored, and he had three breakdowns, not mentally, but physically. You know why? Because he fasted so much. But he had authority.

Paul says in

, Pray for me, that utterance may be given me. In other words he means, let the Word be endued with that mysterious thing that you cant define and nobody can give. The thing that we call unction. The anointing of God! If money could buy it, my, some of you would sell your house to get it, but you cant get it with money. And you cant get it at the university.

We are trying to marry Christianityto prosperity, and popularity, and personalities.

And it isnt working. Oh, you can preach the prosperity doctrine because that feeds our carnality. Look, why dont those men that preach that go to the third world to preach it where they need it? I know wealthy people, many of them are lovely people and I believe God lets them have a ministry in supplying needs. But when the church of Jesus Christ is prosperous, she never has revival. Its when shes poor. Prayer is the language of the poor. Bow down Thine ear and hear me, for I am poor and needy.

The self-satisfied dont need to pray.

The self-sufficient dont want to pray.

The self-righteous cannot pray.

But the man who realizes, I need something outside of anything thats human at all,he wants to bathe his soul in prayer.

I went to a little Bible school in England, there were only thirty five students, but Im glad that the man who was the principal was a man of prayer - Samuel Chadwick who wrote the book The Path of Prayer. The weakest meeting in almost any church without exception is the prayer meeting. And when we are not strong in prayer we are saying to God, We can manage. (Of course, we shall pray if we have an invasion, we shall pray if we have a famine - we have a great utility God.)

Very often we say to young people, Now look, you have to read your Bible and maintain your prayer. You need to maintain your prayer life to maintain your Christian life. No! Not so. Not so. You need to maintain your Christian life in order to pray.

The greatest expositor in the world living today told me personally, I dont have any trouble. I delight to expound the Word. My books... he wrote many, many books, but he said, Ive always found prayer so tough. I just find prayer the most difficult thing in the world.

Read the Acts of the Apostles and all you read about is prayer, prayer, prayer, prayer, prayer. When they had prayed the place was shaken.

If you want to read the prayer life of Jesus you would read the Gospel according to Luke because in every instance he gives Jesus as a praying man.

I remember a series of meeting we had in Wales in 1949. After three days a lady, Mrs. Lewis, said to me, Brother Ravenhill, this is the nearest thing to the Welsh revival that weve had. That was forty years after the Welsh revival. Mrs. Lewis, whats the point of identification? Because we walk up the hill now as we walked then. And she explained, Last night, the night before, the night before that, she said it wasnt until we got to the cross roads and bid each other good night, that we realized that nobody had said a word. We were so awed with the majesty and the presence of God.

Our people dont get off the door step of the church - Hey, do you think the Cowboys will win today? Its dribble! Its nonsense!

When did you last tiptoe out of the sanctuary when you dare not say a word? The church has to rediscover two things. One, the majesty and the Holiness of God, andthe other, the sinfulness of sin.

Prayer is not the easiest thing in the world, Prayer is the hardest thing in the world. Prayer is the most demanding thing in the world.

I had the pleasure of praying very often with Duncan Campbell, a man God used in the Hebrides revival, 1950 onward. I asked him one day about a certain event, he said, Yes, thats right. When I was ministering the place was like iron; it seemed as though God was a million miles away. And my message was like throwing a rubber ball at the wall, my words came back on me. In front of him were all kinds of ministers, but he didnt say anything to the preachers and the deacons and the elders. He pointed to a boy sitting over there, called him by name and said, Laddie, will you pray? A sixteen year old high school boy! And he stood up, and he said in his Scottish way, Ach, what is the good of praying if we are not right with God? And he began to quote Psalm 24, Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? He that hath clean hands and pure heart. and so forth and so on. And when hed finished, Duncan told me, The stillness of eternity was on the building. And the boy prayed 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes, 45 minutes. And then, when he prayed as though he could see the invisible he said, Satan. Oh, Ive heard people say this almost facetiouslyin some meetings, Get the Devil out of this place.

The young boy stood there and said, Satan, I rebuke you. Get out of this territory! In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. I plead the blood of Christ, BE GONE! And just as though a switch was pulled in heaven God came on the meeting, He came on a tavern at the end of the road and people left it. He came on a dance at the end of the road and people left it.

We have to drag people to the altar; there are no altar calls in the New Testament if you want to be REALLY scriptural. Altar calls are an invention for when the Holy Ghost doesnt deal with people. This boy prayed, the Holy Ghost came and that whole community vibrated with God.

You see preacher, youve only two things to do, not twenty two. You are not supposed to be the janitor and running a business and finding about the churchs bank balance and all that junk. If you are going to be a true Biblical preacher you got two things to do according to

, give yourself continually to prayer and the Word of God. Thats all you have to do. Who is going to visit the sick? The deacons. Who is going to bury the dead? The deacons.

You see, we want the church to function our way. God bless our plans. God bless what we do. When Alexander McClaren went to that great big church in Manchester, England - and Ive ministered in that church - seats maybe a couple of thousand or so - the deacons, great bearded fellows they were in those days, asked him a host of questions which he answered.

Finally they said, Weve asked you to be the pastor of this great church. Well give you a new house, well furnish it, well buy you a carriage and pair, as we say in England, and well give you a large salary. After they went on, and on, and on, they asked, Will you accept this? And he said, All right, Ill accept it - that is if you accept my terms. You have terms? (You know most churches think when they get a pastor they are renting a Hertz car. You better come and fit in!) And what are the conditions? And he laid some down, but one vital thing that he laid down was this, I shall do no visiting.

Dr. Tozer, I loved that precious man and talked with him often, just the two of us in his office and prayed with him. Dr. Tozer never went to Bible school, he never went to the seminary. Yet he was one of the most learned men I ever met. I stayed in the house of a member of his church and she said, You know what? I have gone to his church twenty five years and he has not been in my house five times. But Ill tell you what, he spread the table, and thats all you have to do.

You know brethren, you never have to advertise a fire. You dont have to advertise it in the news paper, forget it. You let the glory of the Lord fill the temple; people will come from hundreds of miles. Because its starvation everywhere.

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