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In the previous article in this series, I used the seven phases of revival noted by prayer leader David Bryant in his 1996 book, The Hope at Hand: National and World Revival for the Twenty-First Century. I noted how I believe we’re beyond the first stage, realisation, and are now in the second phase, which is preparation.

This is how Bryant describes this phase:

“Christians begin to persistently pray and prepare for revival. They pray both individually and corporately with a growing consensus of what revival should look like and that revival is near. The prayers are expressed in terms of joyful anticipation but also sober repentance.

Above all, ardent requests are made to God to fulfill His promises. Christians also commit themselves to reorder their lives and ministries to be ready to run with the full impact of revival when it comes. Repentance is a primary characteristic of how they pray and prepare.”

In response to that, I wrote:

“What I get from this is a process within the process, and one on which everything else hinges. The order in preparation is pray, repent, reorder. If we don’t get this process right, if we baulk at the cost of honestly confronting our own shortcomings or missteps, not to mention the habits and practices in our lives that God puts His finger on, then we will refuse to reorder in the way God requires, and we will miss out on revival.”

The necessity of this process, therefore, cannot be ignored. That’s why it must be dealt with before the other phases can be considered. And it cannot be glossed over or treated lightly.

God’s Call

Pertinent to this, as I was going through the final edit before submitting this article to my editor, I read this new article about “the Feast of Trumpets”. Here we’re informed that “… the Feast of Trumpets/Rosh Ha Shanah commences at sunset on Friday, September 15, and ends at nightfall on Sunday, September 17”.

I’m finishing this article on Friday the 15^th!

The writer then tells us that the blowing of the trumpet, the shofar, “is a call to repentance. It is a blast that is supposed to awaken. The new month of Tishrei commences with the Feast of Trumpets, and it is the beginning of a ten-day period where people repent before the Lord.”

How appropriate, then, is the timing of this for our awakening for the process Bryant described above!

This also reminds me of the classic revival prayer, “Lord, send revival! And Lord, start with me!”

In relation to this prayer, I was woken in the early hours of the morning – as is common at my age, so it definitely wasn’t a Samuel-like “voice of the Lord” – and this song was suddenly going around in my head. As it’s from over 35 years ago, I didn’t think twice about where it had come from, as this was in the final editing stage. The significance of it, I hope, will be obvious.

In fact, in a recent interview, the composer Graham Kendrick said:

“This song is a prayer for revival. A songwriter can give people words to voice something which is already in their hearts but which they don’t have the words or the tune to express, and I think ‘Shine Jesus Shine’ caught a moment when people were beginning to believe once again that an impact could be made on a whole nation.”

I believe that we are in another of those moments. May our prayers make it so!

But this is the difficult part. Are we prepared to be that honest with God, laying down our all, and allowing Him to do a refining work in us? Are those in ministry, or other service or outreach, prepared to lay it all on the altar? Are we prepared to be humbled, and have the scales removed from our eyes, like the rebel Saul of Tarsus?

Another more subtle issue I’ve noticed is people focusing on practices they perceive as problematic (and no doubt some of them might well be). These are issues they believe the church needs to be addressing, as well as the practices they perceive to be out of place or wrong. It’s less subtle when it’s prefaced by statements like “the problem with most churches/Christians”.

The issue with that should be obvious, in that none of us has access to “most churches/Christians” to enable us to make such a negative assessment. And in most cases, they’re issues or ministry areas that are of particular importance to the person making the accusation.

In short, it’s just a spiritual version of virtue signalling that’s really no different to the Pharisee in Luke 18:11-12.

On Our Knees

Contrast that with the other famous prayer consistent with the repentance and reordering process, “Lord, break my heart for what breaks Yours.”

As we’ve seen, a prime attribute of repentance is submission. This requires a dying to self in relation to our own desires and opinions, even if those opinions have some merit. Our “good” ideas are always inferior to God’s “best”.

Also, asking God to then “break our hearts” will naturally come out of a deep level of intimacy. That can only come through the kind of vulnerability that is the fruit of submission.

Another song that came to me that morning, and in relation to that prayer, is Hosanna, and in particular these words:

“I see a generation
Rising up to take their place
With selfless faith
With selfless faith

I see a near revival
Stirring as we pray and seek
We’re on our knees
We’re on our knees

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your Kingdom’s cause
As I walk from earth into eternity”

In the next instalment, I will dig down into what I believe is the root cause of the hindrances that must be dealt with before revival can be poured out.

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Photo by cottonbro studio.