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Text Sermons : Classic Christian Writings : Expectation For Revival By Maynard James

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The urgent need for a genuine revival is the deep concern of real Christians throughout the world. From so many places come reports of barrenness and frustration, instead of fertility and spiritual achievement. And all this at a time when iniquity abounds and lawlessness, violence, and immorality are the order of the day....

The all-important question is: Can we expect revival at this late hour? Does the Bible give us definite grounds for such a hope? We believe it does.

Three examples are:

Daniel 12:10: "Many will be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly." The context shows that this prophecy applies to "the time of the end." The promise seems clear that just when the world’s cup of iniquity is full, then a great holiness revival--with persecution--will break out.

Zechariah 10:1: "Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field."

Surely the time of the "latter rain" is upon us. But how parched and dry are our spiritual pastures! From this clear statement in Zechariah it is evident that God is now waiting for His people to appropriate, through prevailing prayer, this gracious promise of heavenly showers upon a thirsty land.

Acts 2:17: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams."

It is significant that this great outpouring of the Holy Spirit (which commenced at Pentecost) was to continue until "that great and notable [or terrible] day of the Lord come" (verse 20).

Surely, then, we can expect a genuine holiness revival ere the trumpet sounds and the Heavenly Bridegroom appears to translate His saints.

It must never be forgotten, however, that there are two indispensable factors in every true revival. They are:

The Holy Spirit And
The Sanctified Christian

Not through religious gimmicks or organizing genius, but by the almighty operations of the Third Person of the Godhead do genuine revivals break out. It is His prerogative to "convince the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (John 16:8).

Apart from the Holy Spirit there can be no revival. But the Holy Spirit always pours His revival power through specially prepared channels. It was so in the mightiest revival my country of Wales ever experienced. It commenced in 1904 in a young people’s service. Soon it spread like a prairie fire. In about nine months one hundred thousand people had been "born again" of the Holy Spirit and the life of Wales was transformed. People came from various parts of the world to see the mighty workings of God in the Welsh nation.

The main channel used by God in the revival was a young examiner named Evan Roberts. For thirteen years he had prayed to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Many were the inward struggles he endured before the great blessing came. Then one morning in September, 1904, he laid his all upon God’s altar and cried in agony of soul: "Bend me, O Lord, bend me!"

Then came the fire from heaven upon the young wrestler and he was wonderfully baptized with the Holy Spirit. Through him, a prepared channel, God shook the principality of Wales.

God still waits for those who are willing to be "bent" and broken, so that they might be filled to overflowing with the spirit of true revival.

Rev. Maynard James was founder (in 1935) and editor of The Flame magazine published in United Kingdom.





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