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By Andy Johnson | 5.2.2012 What if you spent years faithfully and earnestly praying for revival to come to your community, and then one day, seemingly out of the blue, God dramatically answered your prayers?
All across your city, every day people begin crowding into the church to hear the gospel from God’s Word. On the streets, in their workplaces, in classrooms and homes all over town, previously timid church members are faithfully declaring the gospel and fruit is coming fast. Lives are transformed, marriages are saved, and most of all, one after another God’s enemies are laying down the weapons of their rebellion and are taking refuge in his glorious and merciful Son.
What if all this happened in your own town, right in front of your eyes, in that other guy’s church, just a few blocks down the street from yours?
I suspect we all know what we ought to say in response, but the words of praise and joy are likely to get caught in the backs of our throats.
This has happened before. In 1839 Robert Murray M’Cheyne learned that a great revival had broken out in his church under a guest preacher while he was away on a months-long mission trip. When the Spirit of God seems to bless the ministry of others rather than our own, some pretty important things about the real nature of our loves become glaringly visible.
“DIOTREPHES, WHO LOVES TO BE FIRST”
Of course, this battle between envy and rejoicing is nothing new. The Apostle John writes about the issue in his third letter (3 John). There, in verses five to eleven, he introduces us to two men: Gaius and Diotrephes.
Gaius loves to welcome and support faithful missionaries sent out from other churches because he loves Jesus (vv. 5-8).
Diotrephes, well…not so much. Diotrephes refuses to welcome these workers from other churches for one simple reason: John tells us plainly that Diotrephes “loves to be first” (v. 9). He has no desire to see gospel work done unless he does it. He will rejoice in no fruit unless it’s his fruit. He will tolerate no competition. Diotrephes’ actions and attitudes are, John bluntly says, “evil” (v. 11).
Evil—that’s a strong word. And frankly what frightens me most about Diotrephes is that we’re not told of any lack of doctrinal orthodoxy to justify that label. There is no mention of heresy or inadequate views of Christ. For all we know, Diotrephes’ theology looked just right on paper. But his competitive spirit exposed his supposed love for the gospel as merely love for his own group, his own ministry—ultimately love for himself. Just like any other pagan.
THE NOT-SO-SUBTLE POINT
So here comes the not-so-subtle point of this article: Do not be like Diotrephes! Instead, imitate what is good, meaning the gospel-exalting, non-competitive spirit of Gaius.
But why is this such a big deal? Because not only your heart but the very worth of the gospel in the eyes of the world is at stake.
Listen, you can talk all day about how you praise God for the blessings of gospel prosperity in your church—and you should, to some extent. And yet there will always be a lingering scent of self-interest; it’s your church, after all.
But what if you genuinely praise God for the gospel prosperity in some other church, whether in another country or even (gulp) right across town? What if you demonstrate the same delight to see Jesus’ work held up and delighted in as a result of someone else’s ministry? If you do, that shows that you love Jesus and his gospel and his glory—not just your group, your club, your ministry, your church.
That’s why it’s so important that we cultivate an attitude like Gaius’ in our hearts and in our church members’ hearts. Our love for Jesus and for his glory may never shine brighter than when we rejoice in the progress of the gospel even when there isn’t the slightest chance of us getting any of the credit.
HOW TO CULTIVATE THE SPIRIT OF GAIUS
How can you cultivate this kind of spirit in your church and in your own heart? Here are a few ways.
1. Pray and Read
First, pray and read. Start by reflecting on passages like 3 John that show the unique glory of what we might call a “disinterested delight” in the prosperity of the gospel. And pray that God would grow in you a heart that loves to encourage gospel progress, wherever it happens and whoever it happens through. Why? Because you love to see Jesus glorified.
2. Model and Teach
“The assembly were in tears while the Word was preached; some weeping sorrows and distress, others with joy and love, others with concern for the souls of their neighbors.”
Bishop Berggrav called the revival in Norway in his experience. The flames leaped to places in Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. The Lutherans called it the greatest movement of the Spirit since the Vikings were evangelized. A movement of prayer and confession flamed in Germany, France, and in other European nations.
Revival Fire by Wesley Duewel (205)
England experienced scattered revival blessings, but there was not a general revival there. One parish church had an amazing rebirth, and 950 new converts were confirmed. Thirty English bishops endorsed the revival, and the Archbishop of Canterbury called for a nationwide day of prayer. Protestant denominations gained 10 percent in four years. Revival also moved across Scotland and Ireland but to a lesser degree than in Wales.
Revival Fire by Wesley Duewel (205)
The wind of revival of the Holy Spirit carried the revival fire from nation to nation as the wonderful news of the revival in Wales reached prayer groups in many parts of the world. Christians began to believe that the renewal that they had prayed for might will be on its way. Praise God, as the news of His mighty work in wales reached them, Christians and Christian leaders in other places renewed and multiplied their efforts to seek the Lord until He answered. Holy hunger and thirst were deepened. Holy zeal was fanned into flame, and encouragement and expectancy filled many hearts.
Revival Fire by Wesley Duewel (204)
…Confession of sin will occur…
Then began a meeting the like of which I had never seen before, nor wish to see again, unless in God’s sight it is absolutely necessary. Every sin a human being can commit was publicly confessed that night. Pale and trembling with emotion, in agony of mind and body, guilty souls, standing in the white light of their judgment, saw themselves as God saw them. Their sins rose up in all their vileness, till shame and grief and self-loathing took complete possession; pride was driven out, the face of man forgotten. Looking up to heaven, to Jesus whom they had betrayed, they smote themselves and cried out with bitter wailing: ‘Lord, Lord, cast us not away forever!’ Everything else was forgotten, nothing else mattered. The scorn of men, the penalty of the law, even death itself seemed of small consequence if only God forgave. We may have other theories of the desirability or undesirability of public confession of sin. I have had mine; but I know now that when the Spirit of God falls upon guilty souls, there will be confession, and no power on earth can stop it.
Eyewitness account, quoted in Young-Hoon Lee, “Korean Pentecost: The Great Revival of 1907,” AJPS 4 (2001): 77-78.
“Church altars which for years had been nothing more than pieces of furniture now became hallowed places where men met God, and brother was reconciled with brother.
Robert Coleman The Asbury Revival
Series: The Power of Praying People
Dr. Woodrow Kroll
May 6, 2010
Woodrow Kroll: Habakkuk prayed for his nation’s revival.
Tami Weissert: And we can do the same.
Woodrow Kroll: Find out why that’s important in today’s study. Hi, I’m Woodrow Kroll.
Tami Weissert: I’m Tami Weissert.
Woodrow Kroll: And this is Back to the Bible.
Tami Weissert: Well, welcome everyone! Today we’re talking about Habakkuk’s prayer for revival. But first, Wood, tell us a little bit about Habakkuk. We probably know that he is a minor prophet but, other than that, we don’t know much about him. So who was he? What was he dealing with in Israel at this time?
Woodrow Kroll: Habakkuk was the author of the eighth book of the Minor Prophets and, Tami, we don’t really know much more about him other than what’s mentioned right here in this book. Habakkuk lived during the reigns of the Judean kings Josiah and Jehoiakim. His prophetic activity took place between 612 and 589 B.C. But that’s really all we can say with certainty.
Tami Weissert: All right. When we get into Habakkuk, we’ll see some very threatening circumstances preceding his prayers for revival.
Woodrow Kroll: And yes, today, well . . . hey, there’s not a nation on this earth without it’s share of storm clouds right there on the horizon. And I think that’s why as Christians, each one of us is called to pray for our own country’s revival. Habakkuk prayed for Judah. We have to pray for Canada or India or Jamaica or the U.S.A. or Trinidad or wherever we live.
By Editorial Staff (at Forerunner.com)
Published March 2008
WILMORE, Kentucky – One morning in 1970, without warning, all heaven broke loose during Asbury College’s 10 a.m. chapel service.
“When you walked into the back of Hughes Auditorium … there was a kind of an aura, kind of a glow about the chapel,” said Dr. David Hunt, a Louisville physician who was then a student.
“I always have been reminded of the verse ‘Take off your shoes, for you are standing on holy ground.’ You just walked in and sensed that God had indeed sent His Spirit.”
The service, a routine meeting, was scheduled for 50 minutes. Instead, it lasted 185 hours non-stop, 24 hours a day. Intermittently, it continued for weeks. Ultimately, it spread across the United States and into foreign countries. Some say it is being felt even today.
| The Welsh Revival of 1904-1905 |
Evan Roberts 1878-1951 - An Overview of the Welsh Revival of 1904/1905 The REVIVAL of 1904-1905 resulted in over 150,000 people converted and added to churches and chapels in Wales. Lives were TRANSFORMED! Lifestyles were CHANGED! Homes and families were HEALED! Churches were packed and on FIRE with fervour and zeal!
All this happened when young people began to experience the reality of God’s divine power, and teams of young people, such as the one led by the most noted of the revivalist, EVAN ROBERTS and his revival party, travelled the country revolutionising the churches.
100 YEARS LATER … COULD IT HAPPEN AGAIN?
Here is love, vast as the ocean, loving kindness as the flood,
When the Prince of Life my ransom shed for me His precious blood,
Who His love will not remember, who can cease to sing His praise?
He shall never be forgotten through Heaven’s everlasting days.
On the mount of crucifixion fountains opened deep and wide
Through the floodgates of God’s mercy flowed the vast and gracious tide,
Grace and love like mighty rivers poured incessant from above
Heaven’s peace and perfect justice kissed a guilty world in love.
INTRODUCTION
Just after eleven o’clock on a Wednesday evening a hundred years ago, a solo voice rang out with the beautiful Welsh hymn “Here Is Love Vast As The Ocean”. Maybe a thousand people were in the Chapel at the time, leaning over the galleries, packing every pew and squeezing into every spare corner. They’d been here for more than four hours, in a service of intense emotion.
Meetings like it were taking place across Wales night after night, with fervent prayer and passionate singing – and similar disregard for the clock. They both excited and appalled, left many puzzled and some frightened, but it was reckoned that in less than a year, over a hundred and fifty thousand people had made a new commitment to Jesus Christ.
Whole communities changed, as men and women found themselves drawn into a powerful experience of God; and sparks from their awakening were soon to ignite fires in more than a dozen other countries.
And the hymn that soloist struck up spontaneously, about “love vast as the ocean”, was heard so often that it became known as “the love song of the revival”.
bryanaloha
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