Do It Again!

 You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Ephesians 3:17

I've always been fascinated by what I've read about the Hebrides revival that took place in a group of islands off the coast of Scotland in the late 1940's and early 50's. The area was considered so hardened to the Gospel that no evangelist would even go there, yet two elderly ladies, one nearly blind and the other crippled, had been praying earnestly for God to move on the village they lived in. This had gone on enough that even their pastor was moved to cry out to God, and then to a few people in their tiny church. One night, in a prayer meeting, the pastor called upon a young man to pray. He began to offer up an awkward prayer, and then abruptly stopped, saying, "Ach, what's the use of prayer if our hearts are not right with God." He then recited Psalm 24, which says in verses 3 and 4, "Who may climb the mountain of the Lord? Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols.....they alone may enter God's presence and worship the God of Israel." With that prayer, the Holy Spirit of God fell upon not only that church, but a large area right around it. When the people inside the church went out, they saw people all around the church building lying or kneeling upon the ground, weeping over their spiritual poverty in the presence of God. From there the moving of God grew stronger. In a nearby pub, 14 men who had been drinking heavily, came out of the pub, and began to cry out to God in prayer. All 14 were converted. The move of God continued to grow, and everywhere, people were turning to Christ. Duncan Campbell, an evangelist who at first was reluctant to come because he knew of the island;s reputation for hardness to the Gospel, came and was himself swept up in God's moving. He went to speak to the prisoners held in the island's jail, and beginning his prayer with only the word, "Father," the listening inmates' hearts melted before the Lord, and they too were brought to Christ. These are only a few of the happenings of that great move of God and His awakening of an island that most considered spiritually dead. All of us would do well to search out it's history on the internet. The relating of the events are powerful beyond words.

I share all of that for a very important point. Many in the church have been praying for revival.My first question would be, do any of us really understand what a true revival is? A real move of God brings about the results of the kind seen in Hebrides. People's lives are transformed. They turn away from sinful patterns and embrace the holy life of God. All things really do become new to them. Nothing is the same as it had been. People become acutely aware of their sin and acutely aware of His holiness, and their lack. The truest fruit of a real revival is that those in the midst of it desire with all their hearts to live holy lives, and in the power of His Spirit, they can and do. I think most of our western ideas about revival have to do with us having better, more lively worship and His Spirit being so present that people come and our churches grow. South American evangelist Carlos Annacondia has said, "The difference between your nation and ours concerning an awakening is that we want to win the lost of our nation and our nation with them, and you want to grow your churches." I know he's right because I once was totally guilty of that myself, and I had a lot of pastor friends who were as well. That in itself requires repentance on our part.

The second question is, do we understand what happened in that little church just before the Spirit fell? They were praying. We are praying. The young man who began that prayer was broken by the truth that all their prayers were in vain so long as their hearts weren't right with God. Have we yet come to know that too? Do we understand that before God can move upon a town, a city, a nation....a church, He must come upon me, and upon you? Do we understand that that won't happen until we confess and repent of where our hearts are not right with God, and yield them up to the only One who can make them right? The only One who can turn a heart of stone into one of flesh.

As I contemplate His moving upon that island, my heart wants to cry out, "Lord, do it again. Right here." Along with that, I need to understand, as did that young Scot, that, "Ach, what's the use of prayer when our hearts, my heart, is not right with God." If we will start there, in brokenness before Him, who knows what Almighty God will do in response. Lord, do it again, in whatever way and means you choose, but Lord, do it again.

Blessings,

Pastor O