What does the Bible say about revival?
The recent revival at Asbury University that has spread to several other Christian and secular colleges has sparked much debate. What, exactly, is revival, and why is it important? How do we pray for revival, and is there anything else we should do to encourage it? What hinders revival? How do we discern true revival – what happens when it comes? What were some tremendous historic revivals, and how did they change the world?
Christian quotes about revival
“You never have to advertise a fire. Everyone comes running when there’s a fire. Likewise, if your church is on fire, you will not have to advertise it. The community will already know it.” Leonard Ravenhill
“A revival is nothing else than a new beginning of obedience to God.” Charles Finney
“All revival begins, and continues, in the prayer meeting. Some have also called prayer the “great fruit of revival.” In times of revival, thousands may be found on their knees for hours, lifting up their heartfelt cries, with thanksgiving, to heaven.”
“Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late – and how little revival has resulted? I believe the problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply will not work.” A. W. Tozer
“I see no hope for a revival among God’s people today. They are so enamored and so cluttered up with Hollywood and newspapers and magazines and parties and bowling alleys and camping trips and everything else. How in the world are they going to get still long enough to see anything from God?” Lester Roloff
“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!” Andrew Bonar
What does revival mean in the Bible?
The word “revive” is found multiple times in the Psalms, meaning “bringing back to life” spiritually – to awaken spiritually and be restored to the right relationship with God. The Psalmists pled with God to restore their broken relationship:
- “Revive us, and we will call upon Your name. LORD God of armies, restore us. Make Your face shine upon us, and we will be saved.” (Psalm 80:18-19)
- “Will You not revive us again so that Your people may rejoice in You?” (Psalm 85:6)
Shortly after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, Peter was preaching in the temple after healing a lame man, and he urged the people: “Therefore repent and return [to God], so that your sins may be wiped away, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” (Acts 3:19-20)
The phrase “times of refreshing” carries the idea of “recovering one’s breath” or “reviving,” meant in a spiritual sense.
1. Psalm 80:18-19 (NIV) “Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name. 19 Restore us, Lord God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.”
2. Psalm 85:6 (NKJV) “Will You not revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You?”
3. Isaiah 6:5 (ESV) “And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
4. Isaiah 57:15 “For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
5. Habakkuk 3:2 (NASB) “Lord, I have heard the report about You, and I was afraid. Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make it known. In anger remember mercy.“
6. Psalm 85:4-7 “Restore us, God of our salvation, And cause Your indignation toward us to cease. 5 Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? 6 Will You not revive us again, So that Your people may rejoice in You? 7 Show us Your mercy, Lord, And grant us Your salvation.”
7. Ephesians 2:1-3 “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.”
8. 2 Chronicles 7:14 (KJV) “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
9. Acts 3:19-20 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; 20 and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you.”
10. Ephesians 5:14 “for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
How to pray for revival?
Praying for revival begins with praying for personal revival. It starts by confessing sin and asking God to expose areas that need spiritual renewal. We need to commit ourselves to personal holiness. Be sensitive to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Let go of bitterness and forgive others.
Fasting is essential for this intense type of prayer – either going without food entirely or something like the “Daniel fast,” where he abstained from certain things (Daniel 10:3). If we’re serious about praying for revival, we need to turn away from time-wasting, meaningless activities like TV or social media, and devote that time to prayer instead.
• “Turn my eyes away from looking at what is worthless and revive me in Your ways.” (Psalm 119:37)
Praying for revival might mean praying through certain Psalms that petition God for revival, like Psalms 80, 84, 85, and 86.
Praying for revival involves humbling ourselves and seeking God’s face. Love Him with all your heart, soul, and mind. And love others as you love yourselves. Let your prayers reflect that.
As we intercede for local, national, or worldwide revival, ask God to stir hearts, giving them a sense of God’s holiness and the need to repent and return to Him wholly and utterly.
Prayer for revival needs to be sustained. It may take weeks, even years, to see the fruit. The preacher Jonathan Edwards, who was instrumental in the First Great Awakening, wrote a book titled, “A Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of All God’s People in Extraordinary Prayer for a Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ’s Kingdom on Earth.” That title pretty much sums up how to pray for revival: humility, praying in agreement with others, and extraordinary prayer that is bold, fervent, and unremitting. Note that his objective was the advancement of Christ’s kingdom. When true revival comes, people get saved and restored to God in unimaginable numbers, and mission endeavors are launched to advance His kingdom.
11. 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NASB) “and My people who are called by My name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
12. Psalm 119:37 (NLV) “Turn my eyes away from things that have no worth, and give me new life because of Your ways.”
13. Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
14. Ezekiel 36:26 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
15. Habakkuk 3:1-3 “A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth. 2 Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. 3 God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth.”
16. Matthew 7:7 (NLT) “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.”
17. Psalm 42:1-5 “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng. 5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”
18. Daniel 9:4-6 “I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.”
19. Psalm 85:6 “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?”
20. Psalm 80:19 “Restore us, Lord God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.”
You can’t advertise a revival
In the early and mid-1900s, churches throughout the southern U.S. would advertise a week (or more) of revival during the summer months. They would bring in a special speaker, and the congregation would invite their friends and neighbors to come out to the meetings held each night. Sometimes they would get a big tent to hold the extra crowd. People were saved, and many backslidden Christians rededicated their hearts to God. It was a worthwhile endeavor, but it usually didn’t impact whole cities or launch missions endeavors.
However, some individuals who were saved or spiritually renewed at these meetings later changed the world for God. One person was the fifteen-year-old Billy Graham. Before the revival meetings, his father and other businessmen spent a whole day praying for God to raise up someone from Charlotte, North Carolina to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth. In the meetings, Billy became deeply convicted of his sinfulness and went forward to receive Christ.[i]
That being said, the world’s great revival movements didn’t happen because someone put signs up and advertised special meetings in the media. Only the Holy Spirit can bring revival. Holding and promoting special meetings are great, but we can’t manipulate the Holy Spirit. Revival isn’t an event – it’s God’s earth-shattering, sovereign work.
21. Matthew 15:8 “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
22. John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
23. John 6:29 “Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
24. Revelation 22:17 “The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”
25. John 3:6 “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”
Why don’t we see revival?
We are spiritually cold, and we let worldly things distract us and are satisfied with the status quo. We don’t commit to fervent, ongoing prayer. If we want to see a great movement of God, we need a group of saints devoted to sustained prayer with bold expectations.
We don’t understand what revival is. Many equate “revival” with emotional experiences or some sort of outward expression. While true revival can be emotional, it results in repentance, holiness, hearts on fire for God, and going out into the harvest fields to bring more into the kingdom.
26. Revelation 2:4 “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.”
27. Matthew 24:12 “Because of the multiplication of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.”
28. Matthew 6:24 (ESV) “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
29. Ephesians 6:18 “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.”
30. Jeremiah 29:13 “And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”
Revival in our own heart
Personal revival leads to corporate revival. Even one spiritually renewed person walking in obedience and intimacy with God can spark a revival that spreads to many. Personal revival begins by seriously studying God’s Word, soaking in what He has to say, and asking the Holy Spirit to help us understand and apply it to our lives. We need to obey His Word. We need to review our values, ensuring they align with God’s values. As He reveals sin in our lives, we need to confess and repent.
We need to be sure that Jesus is the Master and Lord in our lives and not try to run the show ourselves. We must review our daily schedule and checkbook: do they reveal that God has first place?
We need to commit quality time in personal praise, worship, and prayer.
- “Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.” (Ephesians 6:18)
31. Psalm 139:23-24 “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
32. Psalm 51:12 (ESV) “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.”
33. Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
34. Matthew 22:37 “And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
Stop playing games and seek God’s face.
It’s one thing to listen to a sermon or read the Scripture and another thing to internalize them. Sometimes, we go through the motions of spirituality without letting the Holy Spirit control our minds and actions.
- “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
- “When You said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.’” (Psalm 27:8)
35. 1 Peter 1:16 “for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
36. Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
37. Psalm 105:4 “Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face continually”
38. Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
39. Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
The evidence of revival
Revival begins with repentance. People feel a deep conviction for sinful patterns they once ignored or rationalized. They are cut to the heart by their sin and give themselves entirely to God, turning away from sin. Ego and pride vanish as believers seek to love and honor others above themselves.
Jesus is everything. When people are revived, they can’t get enough of worshiping God, studying His Word, fellowshipping with other believers, and sharing Jesus. They will abandon petty entertainment to spend time seeking God’s face. Revived people become passionate about prayer. There is a sense of the nearness of Christ and a keen desire for the Holy Spirit to have complete control. New meetings often crop up where businessmen, women’s groups, college students, and others meet to pray, study the Bible, and seek God’s face.
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42).
Revived people experience a deep burden for the lost. They become radical evangelists, sharing Jesus with their unsaved friends, family, colleagues, and random people they meet throughout their day. This burden often leads to going into the ministry or missions and increased financial support for these endeavors. Great revivals have often sparked new emphasis on world missions.
“We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20)
Revived people walk in incredible joy. They are consumed with the joy of the Lord, and this overflows in singing, great energy, and supernatural love for others.
“. . . and on that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy, and the women and children rejoiced as well, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from far away” (Nehemiah 12:43).
40. Joel 2:28-32 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. 30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 32 And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, even among the survivors whom the LORD calls.”
41. Acts 2:36-38 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” 37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
42. Revelation 2:5 “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”
43. Acts 2:42 “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
44. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
What happens when revival comes?
- Awakenings: revival among believers impacts society. People come to the Lord in vast numbers, churches are full, morality flourishes, crime drops, drunkenness and addictions are abandoned, and culture is transformed. The nuclear family is restored as fathers take their place as the spiritual leader of the home, and children are raised in godly families with both parents. The Great Awakenings of the past resulted in social reform movements, such as prison reforms and ending slavery.
- Evangelism and Missions soar. The Moravian Revival began the Modern Missions movement when a congregation of only 220 sent out 100 missionaries in the next 25 years. Half the student body at Yale University came to Christ in the Second Great Awakening. About half of those new converts committed themselves to ministry. College students formed the Student Volunteer Movement with the goal of “The Evangelization of the World in This Generation,” with 20,000 heading overseas in the next 50 years.
45. Isaiah 6:1-5 “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
46. Matthew 24:14 (ESV) “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
47. Nehemiah 9:3 “And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God.”
48. Isaiah 64:3 “For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.”
Great revivals in history
- The Moravian Revival: In 1722, groups fleeing religious persecution in Bohemia and Moravia found shelter in Count Zinzendorf’s estate in Germany. Their village of 220 people came from various Protestant groups, and they began quarreling about their differences. Zinzendorf encouraged them to pray and study the Scriptures on unity.
On July 27, they began praying fervently, sometimes through the night. Even the children met to pray. In one meeting, the congregation sank to the floor, overcome by the Holy Spirit, and prayed and sang until midnight. They had such a great hunger for God’s Word that they began meeting three times a day, at 5 and 7:30 AM and at 9 PM after a day’s work. They had such a desire for prayer that they began a 24-hour prayer chain that lasted for 100 years, with people committing to pray for one hour at a time.
They sent almost half of their small group out as missionaries worldwide. One group of these missionaries influenced John and Charles Wesley to place their faith in Christ. Another group met with the Wesley brothers and George Whitfield in London in 1738, sparking the First Great Awakening in England.
- The First Great Awakening: In the 1700s, the churches in America were dead, many led by pastors who weren’t saved. In 1727, Pastor Theodore Frelinghuysen of a Dutch Reformed Church in New Jersey began preaching about the need for a personal relationship with Christ. Many young people responded and were saved, and they influenced the older members to put their faith in Christ.
Several years later, Jonathan Edwards’ sermons began piercing the apathy in his Massachusetts congregation. As he preached “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” the assembly began wailing under the conviction of sin. Three hundred people came to Christ in six months. Edwards’ writings on the evidence of true revival impacted both America and England, and ministers began praying for revival.
John and Charles Wesley and their friend George Whitfield traveled through England and America, often preaching outside as the churches were too small to hold the crowds. Before the meetings, Whitfield prayed for hours, sometimes all night. John Wesley prayed for one hour in the morning and another hour at night. They preached on repentance, personal faith, holiness, and the importance of prayer. As one million people came to Christ, drunkenness and violence subsided. Small groups formed to study the Bible and encourage each other. People were physically healed. Evangelical Christian denominations formed.
- The Second Great Awakening: In the early 1800s, as the United States’ population grew and expanded west, there was a lack of churches on the frontier. Ministers began holding camp meetings to reach the people. In 1800, several Presbyterian ministers preached at a camp meeting in Kentucky for three days and two Methodist preachers on the fourth day. The conviction of sin was so strong that people collapsed to the ground.
The camp meetings continued in various places, with crowds of over 20,000 traveling long distances to attend. Pastors like the Presbyterian Charles Finney began calling people to the front to receive Christ, which had not been done before. Tens of thousands of new Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist churches were founded due to this great revival that also called for an end to slavery.
- The Welsh Revival: In 1904, the American evangelist R. A. Torrey was preaching in Wales to apathetic congregations with little results. Torrey called for a day of fasting and prayer. Meanwhile, a young Welsh minister, Evan Roberts, had been praying for revival for 10 years. On Torrey’s day of prayer, Roberts attended a meeting where he was compelled to consecrate himself wholly to God. “I felt ablaze with the desire to go through the length and breadth of Wales to tell of the savior.”
Evans began meeting with the young people of his church, urging repentance and confession of sin, public confession of Christ, and obedience and surrender to the Holy Spirit. As the young people were filled with the Holy Spirit, they began traveling with Evans to various churches. The young folks shared their testimonies as Evans prayed on his knees. Often, he didn’t even preach as waves of conviction stirred the congregations, and confession of sin, prayers, singing, and testimonies erupted.
The movement spontaneously spread throughout the churches and chapels. Hundreds of coal miners gathered underground to read the Bible, pray, and sing hymns. The rough coal miners stopped swearing, the bars were empty, crime dropped, jails emptied, and gambling stopped. Families reconciled and began praying together, people had a passion for Bible study, and many paid off their debts. Over 200,000 people came to the Lord in a year. Revival fire spread to Europe, America, Asia, Australia, and Africa.
Examples of revival in the Bible
- The Ark returns to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6): Before David became King of Israel, the Philistines had stolen the Ark of the Covenant and put it in their pagan temple, but then terrible things began happening, so they sent it back to Israel. After David became king, he determined to move the Ark to Jerusalem. David led the men carrying the Ark with dancing and grand celebration as they sacrificed to God. All the people of Israel came out with shouts of joy and blowing ram’s horns. The Ark represented the presence of God among the people and initiated a spiritual revival under David’s rule, a man after God’s own heart.
- Hezekiah reopens the temple (2 Chronicles 29-31): Hezekiah became king of Judah at age 25, after a period of great spiritual darkness, where the previous kings had closed the temple and worshiped false gods. In his first month, Hezekiah reopened the temple doors and told the priests to purify themselves and the temple. After they did this, Hezekiah offered a sin offering for all of Israel, as the priests played cymbals, harps, and lyres. Songs of praise rang out as the entire city worshiped God together. Everyone bowed down as the priests sang from the psalms of David, offering joyous praise.
Shortly after, everyone celebrated Passover for the first time in many years. After returning home, they smashed the idols of the false gods and all the pagan shrines.They then gave vast offerings of food to the temple priests, so they were piled high around the temple. Hezekiah sought the Lord wholeheartedly and influenced his people to do the same.
- God shakes the house (Acts 4). After Jesus ascended to heaven and the Holy Spirit filled all the believers in the upper room (Acts 2), Peter and John were preaching in the temple when the priests and Sadducees arrested them. The following day they hauled Peter and John before the high priests and the council, demanding they stop teaching in the name of Jesus. But Peter told them they had to do what was right in God’s eyes, and they couldn’t stop telling what they had seen and heard.
Peter and John returned to the other believers, telling them what the priests said. They all began praying:
“‘And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.’
And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:30-31)
49. 1 Samuel 7:1-13 “So the men of Kiriath Jearim came and took up the ark of the Lord. They brought it to Abinadab’s house on the hill and consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the Lord. 2 The ark remained at Kiriath Jearim a long time—twenty years in all. Samuel Subdues the Philistines at Mizpah Then all the people of Israel turned back to the Lord. 3 So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only. 5 Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah, and I will intercede with the Lord for you.” 6 When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” Now Samuel was serving as leader of Israel at Mizpah. 7 When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. 8 They said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.” 9 Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him. 10 While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. 11 The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Kar. 12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” 13 So the Philistines were subdued and they stopped invading Israel’s territory. Throughout Samuel’s lifetime, the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines.”
50. 2 Kings 22:11-13 “When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes. 12 He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Akbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant: 13 “Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.”
Conclusion
We live in days of great evil and need revival more than ever. We Christians need to repent and turn to God with all our hearts, and allow His Holy Spirit to work through us as we break away from worldly things that distract us. Our cities, nation, and world can be changed, but it takes incessant prayer and seeking His face for a return to holiness and godly values.
[i] https://billygraham.org/story/the-night-billy-graham-was-born-again/
