Revivals begin with God’s own people; the Holy Spirit touches their heart anew, and gives them new fervor and compassion, and zeal, new light and life, and when He has thus come to you, He next goes forth to the valley of dry bones…Oh, what responsibility this lays on the Church of God! If you grieve Him away from yourselves, or hinder His visit, then the poor perishing world suffers sorely!
Real revival comes only from God. He alone is the fountainhead. A spiritual awakening cannot be scheduled, worked up, or humanly engineered.
Quite simply, it is a fact of history that the church of Christ has not experienced any major nationwide revival under the conditions of advanced modernity. On the other hand, modernity undercuts true dependence on God’s sovereign awakening by fostering the notion that we can effect revival by human means. On the other hand, modernity makes many people satisfied with privatized, individualistic, and subjective experiences that are pale counterfeits of true revival.
Dining with the Devil, Baker, 1993, p. 20.
We are not to think that we can organize prayer as if we are in control. The very ability to pray with unction and faith is given by the Holy Spirit, and although that activity largely precedes revival, prayer also is an integral part of revival.
A Call to Extraordinary Prayer for Revival, Revival Commentary, v. 2, n. 1, p. 3.
We cannot organize revival, but we can set our sails to catch the wind from Heaven when God chooses to blow upon His people once again.
[Revival] only come when He sends it. He only sends it when His people need it. Surely we His people need it now.
Revival Terminology in History, Revival Commentary, v. 1, n. 1.
While revival originates from God, the Holy Spirit has appointed certain means to be used for the advancement of His kingdom. The foremost of these is the preaching of the Word of God accompanied by earnest prayer. Yet, no amount of human endeavor can assure results. The same is true of revival: no measured amount of our activity will guarantee an equivalent blessing, for God’s blessing is bestowed according to His good pleasure (Zech. 4:6).
Revival’s Source, Revival Commentary, v. 1, n. 1.
Revival is not something that human hands or wills can produce; it is something that only God can provide, according to His own good pleasure.
God’s Sovereignty and Prayer, Revival Commentary, v. 2, n. 1, p. 8.
