The famous revivalist Duncan Campbell defined divine awakening or revival as a, “A sudden awareness of God that grips a community”. Some of this material is taken from my book GRACE AWAKENINGS: 21 DAYS REVIVAL DEVOTIONAL Here are 5 keys to seeing one:
Key 1: Begins with prayer for a divine awakening
The Hebrides revival of 1949 began with two elderly sisters, Peggy, 84 years old and blind, and Christine, 82 years old and bent forward with arthritis. They had been stirred to pray by the low spiritual state of the young people in their parish, none of whom attended church. Their burden was so great, they decided to commit to praying twice a week from 10pm to 3 or 4am at their cottage.
One night, one of these sisters received a vision in which she saw the church crowded with young people, completely packed and an unknown minister preaching at the pulpit. They sent for their minister and told him the vision and urged him to gather his deacons to also pray twice a week also.
These prayer meetings continued for a month and a half until the Holy Spirit was poured out powerfully upon the community. This is another aspect of faith for a divine visitation: persistence in prayer until we see it, otherwise it’s not real faith (see also the parable of the persistent widow, Lk 18:1-8).
See also GOD HAS ALREADY ANSWERED for more on prayer breakthrough.
Key 2: Need faith for a divine awakening
The famous Hillsong “Hosanna” says:
“I see a near revival, stirring as we pray and seek, we’re on our knees”
By faith we need to see that revival is close and pray it into being.
In the Hebrides revival, Peggy and Christine specifically prayed the promise of Isa 44:3, “For I will pour water out on the thirsty land, and steams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring.” They challenged God to be true to His Word!! This is faith for a divine visitation.
Key 3: Humbling
George Otis, the Director of Sentinel, that researched revival all over the world wrote on why he thought the Western World was not seeing many revivals. His answer was complacency. Churches and believers were happy with what they were already experiencing and there was no desperation for a divine awakening.
Humbling is when we are desperate for change. We realise that there is no other answer than to turn urgently to the Lord. It is the humbling of our pride, when we no longer turn to our own strength. The famous revival verse 2 Chron 7:14 has this context. It summarises Solomon’s prayer at the Temple inauguration. Solomon lists different events like drought, famine, or plague or when Israel is defeated by its enemies, which require urgent attention and prayer. God replies with:
“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.”
God affirms that his people must first humble themselves. In the Bible this is strongly linked to prayer and fasting e.g Ezra 8:21, Joel 1:13-14,
Key 4: Reconciliation and Unity (Ps 133)
Here we are not talking about doctrinal unity, since believers differ in many issues outside the core evangelical beliefs. We are talking about relational unity, when leaders and believers lay down differences to work together in love for the benefit of the Kingdom.
In the move of the Spirit that hit Goiania, Brazil in the late 90s, the city was known for “the unity of the Pastors” who met regularly to pray together for one another and the city. Many churches would spend one evening a week on the hills surrounding the city, praying not just for themselves but for the whole city and for God to bless all the churches.
Ps 133 shows that God loves it when brothers live together in unity. It is like the precious oil poured on the head of Aaron when he was ordained and set apart as a priest (Lev 8:12) that greatly attracts the presence of God (Lev 9:23-24).
If we want to see a divine awakening in our local community, then there must be church-wide unity. To see city-wide revival, then there must be unity first between the church leaders and then between believers of different denominations. If we want to see national revival, then there must be a national unity between church leaders and churches, as in the Fiji revival of 2000.
Unity means that there can be no unforgiveness with family, friends or church members. If we are avoiding certain people, then we need to reconcile with them.
See also A NEW MOVE OF GOD: 7 WAYS TO GET READY for more on the new wineskin we must adopt.
Key 5: Repentance
Holiness is essential if we are to grow our intimacy with God and see Him use us powerfully. This means allowing the Holy Spirit to deal with our sins, even the smallest ones!
Duncan Campbell, who was greatly used in the Hebrides Revival of 1949 said:
“A God-sent revival must ever be related to holiness.”
It often comes out of times when God is allowed to deal with our personal sins. In 1951 Edwin Orr, the world renowned expert on the history of revival, was used by God to help spark a fresh movement of revival in Brazil. This is how it happened. He arrived at a Seminary in São Paulo and preached to the students on revival. At the last meeting he had an experience of victory over sins, which until that moment he had been unable to overcome. As a result, the students were also touched spiritually and started regular prayer meetings for revival in Brazil. This spread to 80 churches in the city praying weekly for revival!
So Edwin Orr was invited back to Brazil the next year to lead some more meetings. The impact was amazing. A divine awakening began and Orr spent 11 weeks in São Paulo alone. He then travelled to all 25 states of Brazil. The blessing continued. Thousands came to faith in the Lord. Churches were packed for prayer meetings early in the morning. Evening meetings had to be transferred to football stadiums to make room for all the people that were coming. This increase continued over the next decade! This is revival and it started with repentance.