Church history

  • Awaken a hunger for Biblical preaching (accounts of revival in Virginia in the late 18th c.)

    During the past couple weeks I have been focusing here on the need for us to pray for Biblical preaching to be restored to the Church:

    During that time, the main Scripture text I have had us focus on has been the first portion of Nehemiah 8:

    Nehemiah 8:1  And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. 2  So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. 3  And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. 4  And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. 5  And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. 6  And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. 7  Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. 8  They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

    For too long Biblical preaching has been jettisoned by many in the Church all in the name of growing the Church. There is a desire to attract people to the Church, but we know that the message of the cross, the message of the helplessness and sinfulness of man is not an attractive message. The cross is an offense and Christ is the stumbling stone. We are never to make growing the Church our primary goal. The only thing that will truly attract people to the Church and to Jesus Christ Himself is the work of the Spirit of God Himself in the human heart, to bring brokenness, a spirit of repentance, poverty of spirit and the soul hunger for the salvation found in Jesus Christ alone. If we faithfully pray and lift up Christ and Him crucified, we can trust that the Holy Spirit will draw those whom He is calling to Himself.

    Let us never compromise, minimize or dumb down the preaching the Word of God in the name of Church growth or for expediency, popularity, trendiness or to gain favor with men. We are dealing with the eternal fate of the souls of men and women and boys and girls here! We're to be making disciples, not merely adding to the church rolls. The Church is not a business and must never be run based on surveys or what people say they want. God has made it clear what He wants: His Gospel to be preached to the ends of the earth to His glory! And, let us be clear about this: the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation! Yes, it's true that we may very well grow the Church in numbers through many, many other means, but how deep and lasting can such growth be if it is not rightly and solidly rooted in the right preaching of the Word of God? We need to beware of building on the sand and not on the Rock. We may very well have many souls come in through our church doors, but we must ask how many of those have truly entered into the straight and narrow gate and come into the Kingdom of God by grace through faith through the work of the Holy Spirit?

    I still intend this site to be a springboard to prayer for revival. Because of that I've primarily posted prayers based on Scripture to help lead you (and me) in prayer for revival, but I have broken with that a few times, including a couple times as of late. On occasion (including today), I have brought you some exhortations and some accounts of God's past workings in Church history because I have come to see that besides reading the Bible and seeing God's hand working powerfully among His people there to revive them (including in this account in Nehemiah), another great impetus to prayer for revival is for us to look back at the history of revival in the Church. As the apostle Paul wrote about the Old Testament history of the Church, the same thing is true of all the history of the church: that these things are written as examples for us.

    With that in mind, today I ask you to read a couple accounts of revival in 18th century Virginia. (The following excerpts are from Iain Murray's "Revival and Revivalism: The Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism 1750-1858," Banner of Truth Trust (Edinburgh: 1994, reprinted 1996).) My hope and prayer is that as you read and prayerfully consider these and reflect on them, the Holy Spirit will spur you on to pray for revival, and specifically to pray that God would awaken a hunger for Biblical preaching in the Church and the Word of God would be given its rightful place again in the Church all to God's praise, honor and glory. (Please note: since tent of meeting is a site I would like to keep devoted to prayer for revival, if you do wish to discuss these things further, I do invite you to message me and/or check out my other blogs here and here, where I do post on some of these things from time to time. Thank you.)

    Devereux Jarratt went to England for episcopal ordination in 1762 and on his return the following year became the rector of Bath parish in Dinwiddie County. In that position he stood alone 'not knowing of one clergyman in Virginia like minded with myself . . . I was called an enthusiast, fanatic, visionary, dissenter, Presbyterian, madman, and what not.' To his own hearers his evangelical preaching was 'strange and wonderful'. He summarizes their conversation about his preaching as follows: 'We have had many ministers and have heard many before this man, but we never heard any thing, till now, of conversion, the new birth, &c. – we never heard that men are so totally lost and helpless, that they could not save themselves, by their own power and good deeds; – if our good works will not save us, what will?' In his uncompromising preaching of the law and the gospel Jarratt proved to be the successor to Samuel Davies, and by 1765 there was the same evidence of concern among his people as had marked the work at Hanover County sixteen years earlier. His hearers multiplied and strangers began to attend from 'far and near'.

    Jarratt's scattered parish was served by several buildings at different locations. One of these – the Butterwood church – had to be twice enlarged. Then, in 1770-71, he record, 'we had a more considerable outpouring of the Spirit at a place in my parish called White Oak'. This proved to be the beginning of a revival period:

    In the year 1772, the revival was more considerable, and extended itself in some places, for fifty or sixty miles around. It increased still more in the following year, and several sinners were truly converted to God. In Spring, 1774, it was more remarkable than ever. The word preached was attended with such energy, that many were pierced to the heart. Tears fell plentifully from the eyes of the hearers, and some were constrained to cry out. A goodly number were gathered in this year, both in my parish and in many of the neighbouring counties. I formed several societies out of those which were convinced or converted; and I found it a happy means of building to those that had believed, and preventing the rest from losing their convictions....
    (p.64)

    David Thomas ... became 'the first Baptist preacher that ever proclaimed the Gospel of Peace in the counties of Orange and Culpepper. His preaching was in power and demonstration of the Spirit.' Although he belonged to the Regular Baptists, Thomas was working with Samuel Harris and other Separates by 1765.

    These baptist preachers' ... evangelistic preaching was the same in content to that of Whitefield and the other leaders of the 1740s....The substance of their evangelical and Calvinistic message offered no novelties. When Anglican clergy attacked Baptists as 'false prophets', they replied that they believed their opponents' 'own Articles – at least the leading ones – and charged them with denying them, a charge which they could easily substantiate.

    The new movement, however, reached further than the people in whom a hunger for biblical preaching had already been awakened; it soon extended to multitudes who had never heard the gospel before. At first regarded with suspicion and ridicule, then, for a season, exposed to persecution from the authorities, Baptists preachers pressed on with their work. No one could doubt that they believed men must be converted to God if they were to be saved. The old charge that Christians 'turned the world upside down' (Acts 17.6) was heard again. A lawyer prosecuting them in court complained, 'These men are great disturbers of the peace; they cannot meet a man upon the road but they must ram a text of Scripture down his throat'. Another complainant alleged that in Loundoun County these men were 'quite destroying pleasure'. Yet their message continued to spread, in Semple's words, 'Like the spread of a fire . . .it does not in all cases advance regularly; but a spark being struck, flies off and begins a new flame at a distance'. One writer estimates that in 1772 'as many as forty thousand Virginians may have heard the gospel from the Baptists'. The growth int he Separate Baptist churches bears out the effects of this evangelism. In 1770, according to Semple, the Separates possessed only two congregations north of the James River and about four on the south side; two years later their number appears to have grown to twenty, with twenty-one branches. In 1774 they had thirty churches south of the James and twenty-four to the north.
    (pp.65-67)

    Lord God,

    Awaken a hunger for Biblical preaching in Your people!
    Awaken a hunger to preach Biblically in Your servants!

    We praise You for men such as Devereux Jarratt and David Thomas. We pray You would raise up men like these, men who would be willing to stand alone and preach Your Word without compromise. O, to have such enthusiasts, fanatics, visionaries, dissenters, madmen and what not! These are the men of whom the world is not worthy! Men who count their own reputations and their own lives as nothing but who have an unending passion and fire to preach Your Word in season and out of season. To have evangelical preaching, strange and wonderful preaching, filling our churches! How blessed! How glorious! To have the helplessness of man so clearly preached that complacent sinners and unregenerate church-goers who hear would be convicted and pierced to the heart and cry out, "What must I do to be saved?!" and come into the sheepfold of Christ. O, that the law and the Gospel would be preached in such uncompromising ways. May we not give people what they want to hear but what they need to hear to save their souls.

    Awaken a hunger for Biblical preaching in Your people!
    Awaken a hunger to preach Biblically in Your servants!

    We pray You would clearly call and ordain and send out men to preach the good news of great joy, the Gospel of peace through Jesus Christ. How beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim peace and preach Your good news! There is no peace and no good news for men apart from the Gospel of Christ. Anoint Your servants with Your Spirit, give them a double portion of Your Spirit. May they not succumb to the temptation to rely on their own power and wisdom but wholly rely on Your power and wisdom, to Your glory alone. May Your Word be effectual to grow Your Church in Your way and in Your time as it is preached by Your chosen instruments with boldness and assurance and authority.

    Awaken a hunger for Biblical preaching in Your people!
    Awaken a hunger to preach Biblically in Your servants!

    I pray You would raise up men like these who are willing to be mocked for Biblical preaching. We know that many in the existing Church and denominational structures will balk against such preaching. Strengthen Your servants by Your Spirit so they might stand strong in the power of Your might despite the opposition they will certainly receive. May they never bow to the pressure of men but continue to be constrained by Your love and live and preach for You and not look to their own interests. May they not to count their lives as dear to themselves but be willing to do all that is necessary to preach Your Word without compromise. May they bow to You alone. May they seek to please You and not men. May they seek to serve You alone and not the world's mammon. May they fear You and not men. Keep them steadfast, immovable and abounding in Your work as You remind them that their labor in You is never in vain. The preaching of Your Word is never in vain for You have promised that in due time we will reap with joy. Raise up men who will seek first Your Kingdom rather than worldly kingdoms and acclaim. Strengthen them to go outside the camp to You, Jesus Christ, bearing Your reproach, for the sake of the elect. Keep them ever-mindful that we have no continuing city here but we seek the one to come.

    Awaken a hunger for Biblical preaching in Your people!
    Awaken a hunger to preach Biblically in Your servants!

    I pray You would take this hunger for Biblical preaching and put it into those who are now outside the existing Church. Draw all Your people from every nation, every tribe and every tongue to Mt. Zion to hear the Word of the Lord. We know Your sheep will hear Your voice, but too often what is heard in many congregations is nothing close to Your voice. No wonder why so many are left in darkness and despair. We see so many sheep who are harassed and helpless and remain so because they do not have shepherds who care for them and love them enough to preach the cross to them. The preaching of the cross alone will lead them to everlasting peace, joy and hope. We thank You for the assurance that Your sheep will not listen to strangers, but that Your irresistible grace will draw them to You as Jesus Christ is lifted up in our preaching. May we be once again be known as people who turn the world upside down. Would that we disturb the peace by preaching Christ. Many today cry out "Peace, Peace," but they are dupes of the devil. Many, many souls may feel happy and content, but they are deceived and heading for hell. They are under condemnation but they do not know of their need. They do not see the true state of their souls. How can they know of their sin if they do not hear the law preached? How can they know the way of salvation if they do not hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ clearly preached? May Your Word be preached clearly so it might awaken the dull of hearing out of their sleep and lethargy. May Your Word be preached clearly so the dead would be raised to life. May we not cater to itching ears, but steadfastly proclaim Your Word without apology. May we faithfully proclaim Your Word and trust that when that spark is lit, Your Spirit will carry it where You will to enlighten many who are now in the darkness and blinded by the prince of this age. We are sorely in need to such fire and light today, Lord! The world is cold to You and their eyes are blinded. Even many in our churches are lukewarm and have their vision clouded. We can trust that as we remain true to the preaching of Your Word, hearers will be multiplied and strangers will come from far and near.

    Awaken a hunger for Biblical preaching in Your people!
    Awaken a hunger to preach Biblically in Your servants!

    Isaiah 2:2: It shall come to pass in the latter days
    that the mountain of the house of the LORD
    shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
    and shall be lifted up above the hills;
    and all the nations shall flow to it,

    Isaiah 2:3: and many peoples shall come, and say:
    “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
    to the house of the God of Jacob,
    that he may teach us his ways
    and that we may walk in his paths.”
    For out of Zion shall go the law,
    and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

    Awaken a hunger for Biblical preaching in Your people!
    Awaken a hunger to preach Biblically in Your servants!

    Please add your prayers as His Holy Spirit leads you.

  • "People cannot take preaching...People are dying through lack of knowledge." (ML-J)

    My posts/prayers this past week have focused on our attitude toward the Word of God as we've looked at Nehemiah 8:1-8:


    Nehemiah 8:1  And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. 2  So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. 3  And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. 4  And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. 5  And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. 6  And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. 7  Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. 8  They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

    Too much of the Church has departed from the preaching of the Word of God. So many no longer have a hunger or thirst for the Word of God. We are so often attentive to any and all things but the Word of God.

    I would like to continue on in the same vein by presenting here the account of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' address at the jubilee meeting of the Scottish Evangelistic Council on May 9, 1980 in Glasgow (from Iain Murray's "David Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Volume Two: The Fight of Faith, 1938-1981," Banner of Truth: 1990, reprinted 2004, 733-734).

    According to his own words, ML-J was "not a well man" at the time: "My friend, Mr Murdoch persuaded me to come and I thank God He has given me the health and strength to be here." ML-J died the following March.

    Here's Murray's description of the events of that day:

        But they were not assembled, he [ML-J] went on, to talk about the past. The best way to celebrate a jubilee was to consider what the SEC was to do at the present time. The need of the hour, he believed, was for the prophetic note, to show what the Bible has to say to the present world situation. This brought him to his text, the twelve verses of Psalm 2, upon which he proceeded to preach for almost the whole of the following hour, beginning with the word, 'Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing . . .' .

        I cannot attempt to describe the sermon. The tape is available and should be heard by every reader of these pages. [Murray gives Ian M. Densham, 15 Ayr Terrace, St Ives, TR26 1ED, UK as the contact information to obtain this tape; I don't know if this is current or not. If you're interested, you may wish to contact the Banner of Truth Trust.] The frail, dying man was, in truth, am ambassador from heaven. Knowing the message he had to deliver, and the time he would need, I believe he tried to husband what strength he had but there was no holding back. The message took over the man and every last vestige of energy was poured out in both word and action. The divine wrath, of which the Psalm speaks, was to him a terrible, present reality and he asked the congregation:

    Do you still believe in the wrath of God? There are people in England – evangelicals – who think modern man needs entertainment. There is a mania for singing, for drama, for mime. 'People cannot take preaching.' it is said, "give them singing. Teach them how to dance . . . '. In the name of God I say that is to do violence to Scripture. The church is not here to entertain. It is here to call people to 'be wise', to be instructed', taught. People are dying through lack of knowledge. We are not here to be popular, but to tell the naked truth: 'Serve the Lord with fear, rejoice with trembling . . .' (v. 11).

        The final verse of the Psalm was alive with light and power as he pleaded, with failing voice, 'Kiss the Son, lest he be angry . . . Blessed are all they that put their trust in him'.

    (end quote)

    Let us prayerfully consider what we are to do at the present time.
    Are we not to sound the prophetic note through the clear and uncompromising preaching of the Word of God?
    How we have too easily discarded the preaching of the Word of God for lesser things.
    How can anyone truly kiss the Son if they don't receive clear teaching about the Son?

    Hosea 4
    1  Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel,
    for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.
    There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,
    and no knowledge of God in the land...

    6  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;
    because you have rejected knowledge,
    I reject you from being a priest to me.
    And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
    I also will forget your children.

    Hosea 5
    4  Their deeds do not permit them
    to return to their God.
    For the spirit of whoredom is within them,
    and they know not the LORD.


    As Dr. Lloyd-Jones said:

    People are dying through lack of knowledge. We are not here to be popular, but to tell the naked truth: 'Serve the Lord with fear, rejoice with trembling . . .' (v. 11).



    Romans 10:4  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

    5  For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6  But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7  or “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8  But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9  because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11  For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13  For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

    14  But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15  And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”


    Please add your prayers as the Holy Spirit leads you.

  • one sign of revival: attentiveness to the Word of God (Whitefield's Journals)

    A couple days ago, when I began to write my post May we gather as one man to hear Your Word (Nehemiah 8), I was expecting to post on Nehemiah 8:1-8, but then decided to cut it off in the middle of verse 3 because the passage was so packed.

    The end of verse three really hit me then (and it still does), particularly the word attentive:

    And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

    I had planned to post on that last portion of verse 3 yesterday, but before I began to pray/write/prepare to post on that I had been paging through George Whitefield's Journals looking for something else, and, in the providence of God, I ended up stumbling across a wonderful account of Londoners being attentive to the Word of God in much the same way we read of in Nehemiah 8.

    I had actually planned to include this account in my prayer yesterday, Give us ears to be attentive to Your words alone, but I got carried away with praying, so I would like for you to read it today (from p 88-89):

    ...for near three months successively, there was no end of the people flocking to hear the Word of God. The churchwardens and managers of charity schools, were continually applying to me to preach for the benefit of the children; and, as I was to embark shortly, they procured the liberty of the churches on weekdays,––a thing never known before. I sometimes had more than a dozen names of different churches, at which I had promised to preach, upon my slate-book at once; and, when I preached, constables were obliged to be placed at the door, to keep the people in order. The sight of the congregations was awful. One might, as it were, walk upon the people's heads; and thousands went away form the largest churches for want of room. They were all attention, and hear like people hearing for eternity.

    I now preached generally nine times a week. The early sacraments were exceeding awful. At Cripplegate, St. Ann's, and Forster Lane, how often have we seen Jesus Christ crucified, and evidently set before us! On Sunday mornings, long before day, you might see streets filled with people going to church, with their lanthorns in their hands, and hear them conversing about the things of God. Other Lecture Churches near at hand would be filled with person s who could not come where I was preaching; and those who did come, were so deeply affected, that they were like persons struck with pointed arrows, or mourning for a firstborn child...

    ...for near three months successively, there was no end of the people flocking to hear the Word of God.

    They were all attention, and hear like people hearing for eternity.

    On Sunday mornings, long before day, you might see streets filled with people going to church, with their lanthorns in their hands, and hear them conversing about the things of God.

    I've not seen people flocking to hear the Word of God in my city. Have you seen that in your city?
    I've not seen that type of attentiveness to the Word of God in my city. Have you seen that in your city?
    I've not seen the streets in my city filled with people going to Church conversing about the things of God? Have you seen that in your city?
    I've not seen that kind of hunger for the Word of God in my city. Have you seen that in your city?

    I think, no, I know it, a lot of people think those of us who are praying for revival are nuts.

    Honestly, how can you not pray for revival when you read these accounts?
    How can you not get down on your knees and beg and plead with God to revive us again?

    That is why I am praying for revival, and I hope this gives you one more reason to pray for revival.

    Martyn Lloyd-Jones spoke of the glorious possibilities God has for us as believers. This is one of those! People flocking to hear the Word of God and being attentive and hearing for eternity!

    Dare we imagine it? Yes, we must imagine it! We must never lose sight of these glorious possibilities! And then let us look to the God of glory who can impart that hunger for and attentiveness to His Word once again! He is the God who can do immeasurably above all we can ask or imagine!

    One sign of revivals is that there is an increasing desire to hear the Word of God preached rightly. We can see how wonderfully the Holy Spirit worked to make God's people attentive to His Word at the time of Whitefield. Whitefield wasn't preaching fluff. He wasn't catering to itching ears. He wasn't sugar-coating things. He was preaching Christ and Him crucified. He was preaching a Gospel of repentance and remission of sins by grace through faith in Christ. He preached of the need for souls to be born again and regenerated by the Spirit. I regret to say many people today do flock to churches, but those are churches where fluff and sugar-coated preaching is the rule. The apostle Paul's words to Timothy are evident: our churches are filled with people who no longer endure sound doctrine. They have heaped up teachers for themselves because they have itching ears. They have turned their ears away from the truth and turned to fables. Such preaching does nothing to impart life to dead souls or revive lukewarm or cold believers. I long and pray for the day when people would flock to hear the Word of God preached as it ought to be!

    I will say that for those of us who are praying for revival, one of the most encouraging things we can continue to do is to read the accounts of revivals and the stories of the men and women God used during those times. Go back! Please do that! You can find books at your library or do searches online or ask me. When we look back at the work God has done in the past, it gives us hope of what God might do once again. When I read of past revivals and then look at the state of the Church today and the state of my own soul, it makes me sick to my stomach and causes me to weep to see how far we are from the glory God has for us . .  yet at the same time it also spurs me onto prayer for it gives me a vision of what is truly possible through the power of God Almighty. Yes, it seems impossible! It seems so unlikely! Yet we have a God who does the impossible and does unlikely things! He can part the Red Sea! He can cause the waters to stand up in a heap! He can cause Jericho walls to fall down! That's what makes God God after all!

    We all know that God's Holy Spirit can come in the blink of an eye and rend the heavens and open a single heart or 3000 hearts to Him. The Spirit blows when and where He wills. Such a movement of the Holy Spirit is what I have been praying for, and I know many of you are also. Yes, this is impossible with any of us, but it is possible through Him.

    When we look at the state of the Church through our human eyes, we would so quickly give up. But when we look at the Church with the eyes of faith and the assurance that God loves the Church and will never leave her or forsake her, we cannot help but persevere in prayer...after all, Jesus Himself is persevering in prayer, is He not? Truly God is the God who can do miracles today, and some of the greatest miracles God can do are to bring dead sinners to life and to take cold or lukewarm believers and ignite the with passionate fire. Many people are seeking physical healing, but let us consider how much more wondrous and amazing are the supernatural spiritual healings God desires to work in souls, souls which are currently separated from Him by that great gulf fixed or those souls which once burned hot for Him but now have left their first Love. I know I have seen touches of that reviving work in my own life and in the lives of a few others, but I am not satisfied with that. I am praying God might do such work on a large scale as we have seen happen at various times throughout history, including the time of Whitefield and the brothers Wesley. That's what revival is. It's not a sideshow. It's not a feel good experience, it's not a health and wealth prosperity gospel, but it's the power of God coming to breathe life into dead souls, or to revive into all but dead believers for His glory.

    Revival is people convicted of their sin and cut to the heart, pleading "What must we do to be saved?"
    Revival is people seeing they are unclean and their righteousness is filthy rags.
    Revival is people weeping over their sin and seeking to be holy.
    Revival is people being transformed and set free from the power of sin.
    Revival is people zealous for the glory of God and the Gospel.
    Revival is people being shaken from their apathy about their own soul and the souls of others.
    Revival is people being given a heart to weep and plead for the souls of the lost.

    Again, none of us can make revival happen, but we can plead with the Lord that He might be gracious to us, and we can be faithful to remain in His Word and give out His Word without compromise. God is sovereign and He does all things in His time, always. But let us not give up meeting Him in prayer in the tent of meeting, and let us not give up encouraging one another to pray. Perhaps God's Spirit might be poured down on us from on high! We are poor and needy! May He have mercy on us, His Church, for Jesus' sake! Amen.

    Please add your prayers that God might revive us again, that we might be attentive to His Word once more.

tent_of_meeting

"he called it the tent of meeting..."

I am burdened to pray to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for the reformation and reviving of Christ's church.

The phrase tent of meeting comes from Exodus 33:7: Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp.

This site is devoted to God first and foremost. In all that is done here, my prayer is that God is glorified and His Name magnified and Christ and Him crucified is lifted up so He might be preeminent and God might receive all the praise, honor and glory due His Holy Name. All who have come to a saving knowledge of our Father by grace through faith in the all-sufficient sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ are welcome to enter this tent of meeting to seek the Lord.

This blog is a place for all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to come and seek God's face for revival. My intention is for this tent of meeting to be a holy place where we can enter into PRAYER together to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit leads you, please enter into prayer either here (think of "comments" as prayers) or on your own.

Habakkuk 3:2 O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.

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