America Needs Revival

We celebrated the National Day of Prayer last week. Many people have cried out to the Lord to pour out His spirit in the last days. If you read the headlines, you will know that our nation is quickly heading down the road to judgment. Leaders in our nation are calling evil good and good evil.

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah 5:20 (NASB).

With so many praying, why have we not seen revival? Only God knows the answer to that question. However, after studying revival and spiritual awakening for many years, I believe we are missing a fundamental requirement for revival.

Missing Key to Revival
Prayer is required as a prelude for revival, but it is not enough. Most revivals in history had two components. There must be an anointed preacher, evangelist or group preaching the revival message. This message includes the use of the law and the gospel message.

Revival preachers during the Great Awakenings would use the law or the 10 commandments to break up the stony ground hearts of the listeners. After the crowd was under deep conviction, the evangelist would then present the gospel message. If you present the gospel message to a crowd full of hardened hearts, the message is foolishness to them. However, when you present the gospel to a heart that has been properly prepared, the sinners will repent.

Read Acts 1:14 and Acts 2, to see what happened in the first revival meeting of the early church. In Acts 1:14, the disciples and the women were continually devoting themselves to prayer. Notice they formed a prayer group rather than praying alone. In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit is given. Then in Acts 2:14, the Spirit-filled Peter begins to preach a sermon. We took a close look at this sermon in my post “How Did Peter Preach the Gospel Message?”. In his message, he was specific about sin, told the crowed to repent and presented the gospel message, which can be found in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8.

As a result of his sermon 3000 souls were saved. This simple formula has worked for all Great Awakenings. We need dedicated prayer groups who will pray until revival comes. We need Spirit-filled pastors, evangelists and lay people who will preach/teach the revival message. Until this happens, revival will not come to America. To learn how to be Spirit-filled see my posts on “4 Steps to Being Filled With the Holy Spirit”.

Please pray that the Lord will raise up fearless prayer warriors, pastors and evangelists. If you learn the revival message, you could be the person God uses to spark revival in your church. Anyone can teach the revival message. We do not have to wait for the next Billy Graham. We can all spread the message. Will you join me in spreading the word?