Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

In the work of prayer, it's so easy of us to feel like Paul did in II Timothy 4: "But all forsook me..." To believe that we are the only ones burdened for and praying for reformation and revival. Of course, we know that we are not the only ones, as God always has a remnant; nonetheless, it's too easy to lapse into great depression and despair like Elijah did when we begin to think that we are alone.

In this 21st century, is there is no one who calls on Your name, and stirs and rouses himself up to take hold of You, for You have hidden Your face from us, and have made us melt and consumed us because of our iniquities? (See Isaiah 64:7.)

And though we know there is always a praying remnant, as we look out at the current state of the Christian church in the west, and as find so few people who are calling upon God's name, and so few who are stirring and rousing themselves up to take hold of Christ... it greatly grieves us. And then, in great contrast, we do find so many who are stirring and rousing themselves to do all sorts of other things, all other things except taking hold of Christ! There are Christians who are plenty busy with plenty of activities, and not that all of those are bad or sinful by any means, but how many are busy in this work of prayer?

I recently found myself recently lapsing into uncertainty, fear, doubt, bitterness, and fatigue, and I knew my reactions were sinful and were not coming from a pure heart, and it was a sure sign my eyes and my heart were not rightly fixed on Jesus and on His calling to me.

After the Lord's Supper, we read how Jesus went with all the disciples to the Mount of Olives and then Gethsemane. At that point, He took only three of those, Peter, James, and John, with Him as He prayed. Most of you know the story, how all three ended up falling asleep, while Jesus remained praying.

That rebuke / challenge / command reminded me of one of Martyn Lloyd-Jones' (a.k.a. - ML-J or The Doctor) sermons from his Revival series, which he preached in 1959 at Westminster Chapel (London), in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the 1859 revival. Lloyd-Jones was seeking and praying for revival; he'd known personal revival in his own life, and some revival showers had also fallen in his pastorate years before at Aberavon (Wales) in the late 1920's and 1930's. In those sermons, he sought to show the crucial need of revival and to stir up the flock of God to be praying for revival. The sermon I was reminded of is titled, "Preparatory Stages in Revival" (Exodus 33:7-11) (which you can listen to online and/or download here: http://www.mljtrust.org/sermons/preparatory-stages-in-revival/). In that particular sermon, The Doctor reminds us that throughout Church history, during the first stages of revival, God almost always calls out individuals to pray with Jesus, and that those who are called can't be concerned about what everyone else is doing. Each one of us who has received the burden and the calling to pray, must follow Jesus and be obedient and pray, regardless of what others are doing. As The Doctor said, "Oh, if we wait until the whole Church moves, it will never happen. It will never move. Do not worry about that. God's way is to take hold of individuals and to use them and then eventually the majority will be affected."

Today I'd like to bring you a few excerpts from Chapter 13, "Prayer and Revival" from the book "Revival" (Crossway: Wheaton, 1987). The book contains the edited transcripts of the twenty-four sermons Lloyd-Jones preached in the revival series, and Chapter 13 is the published transcript of the sermon I alluded to above. In order to get the fuller sense of the context and the complete teaching, I'd urge you listen to the entire sermon, or to get the book and read the entire sermon (as well as listen to and/or read all the other sermons in the whole series). (In addition to the sermon I cited above, you can access for free the full set of audio recordings of all the sermons in the revival series through the MLJ Trust website (http://www.mljtrust.org/) via this link: http://www.mljtrust.org/collections/revival/. And, if you love the printed page as much as I do, in addition to listening to the sermons, I'd recommend your getting hold of that book, if at all possible.)

And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp. And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door. And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. (Exod. 33.7-11). . .

It is important that we should understand that Moses was clearly led to take this particular action. He took this tabernacle out of the centre of the camp and put it outside, far from the camp. Now at this point there are many things which must detain us. The first of course, that this was an action taken by Moses, Moses himself. And I must pause with that, because you will always find as you read the history of these movements of the Spirit in the long story of the Christian Church, that generally the very first thing that happens, and which eventually leads to a great revival, is that one man, or a group of men, suddenly begin to feel this burden, and they feel the burden so much that they are led to do something about it. Look at the great history. Look at the Protestant Reformation, that mighty movement, where did it come from? How did it originate? I know that there were precursors even of that – Wycliffe, John Huss and others – but you see the real thing happened when just one man, Martin Luther, a very ordinary kind of monk, suddenly became aware of this burden. And it so burdened him that he was led to do something about it. Just one man, and through that one many, God sent that mighty movement into the Church.

The same thing could be abundantly illustrated from the stories of other revivals. Read again the story of the revival in Northern Ireland, a hundred years ago, that great movement, which led not only to so many conversions, but which quickened the whole life of the Presbyterian Church and the other churches in Northern Ireland, and transformed the whole situations. It did the same in Wales also, and in the United States of America at the same time. Now, you will find that in all these instances, the movement began with just one man. take the man who began the prayer meetings in Fulton Street in New York City in 1857, a most ordinary man, but he felt this burden, and did something about it. The revival in Northern Ireland, started with just that one man, James McQuilken. And the same was true in Wales, with one man only, called Humphrey Jones, who, feeling the power of revival in America, felt a burden for his own country and crossed the Atlantic back to Wales, and began to tell people about it. Now, I emphasise this for one reason only, that this is what I like to call the 'romantic' element in the Christian life and in the history of the Church. That is to me what is so glorious about it. I dare not pass lightly over a point like this because somebody reading this book, whom I do not know, may be the person that God is going to use. And that sort of thing can only happen in the Christian Church, it does not happen in the world. The world looks to the leaders and the great people, but God, as the Apostle Paul says in I Corinthians is constantly confounding the wise by taking hold of the foolish. He 'brings to nought the things that are ', by using the things that are not. It may be anybody. There are no rules about this matter. . .

So then, one man or a group of men may begin to feel the burden. And, therefore, I am entitled to ask whether you have felt the burden? And if you have not, what is the reason? Are you concerned about the situation? Have you got a zeal for the glory of God/ Does it grieve you to see his church as she is? If not, why not? If this is a burden that can come to anybody, has it not come to you? Let us leave it at that, but remember that it may be the action of one man. . .

So, inevitably there is a kind of separation. 'Ah,' says someone, 'are you going to divide up the Christian Church?' I am not dividing it. What I am saying is that when the Holy Spirit of God begins to deal with any one of us, there will be this separation. It will not be paraded, it will not be the Pharisees' 'I am holier than thou' attitude. No, once a man begins to be burdened for the glory of God and the state of the Church, he immediately feels this call to consecration, he 'goes out' as it were. We must not overemphasise the physical aspect. It had to be physical there, but it is the principle that matters. Oh, what I am trying to say is this. In a day of grievous immorality, ungodliness and irreligion, such as this, in a day when vice is not only shouting at us, but is arrogant and is boasting, when it is being thrown at the people everywhere - all I am asking is whether we know anything about the call to a separation from that kind of thing? We are living in days when, as Christians, we are called to go the second mile. Ordinary Christianity is not enough, more is demanded. Are we not beginning to feel that nothing can deal with this situation but a manifestation of true life and living, holy living, as it is under God? That is what these men felt.

So Moses put his tabernacle outside the camp and a long way from it. 'It must be separate,' he said. 'It has got to be holy.' And another emphasis I would draw from his action is that he is showing clearly the need of some unusual action, and of some extra effort. Now there are two things that always happen in this early stage of revival. The people who are concerned about revival, in a true sense, are not just out for a little bit of excitement, or interest, or some happiness, or phenomena, or coming with an attitude of 'something marvellous is going to happen and we are going to have a great good time' That is not how they think about it at all. And if you, my dear friends, are simply thinking about meetings, and excitement, and something wonderful, you have not begun to understand this matter.

The first indication of a true and a genuine concern is that we are aware of our unworthiness and uncleanesss. We have got to separate ourselves. We have got to set up this tabernacle somehow somewhere outside the ordinary. It has got to be exceptional; it has got to be unusual. We have got to go out of our way. Now, this is the question that I want to impress upon your minds and to leave with you. In these days of exceptional evil, are you doing something exceptional? Or are you just content with coming to the services in the house of God, and doing some routine things? Of course, in the time when the Church was being blessed and all was well, people came to the house of God, they worked in the mission societies, they taught in the Sunday schools, and did all that as part of the ordinary work of the Church. I am not talking about that. What I am asking is this: have you felt that, because of the times through which we are passing, you are called to do something exceptional, to go out, as it were, to take some great deliberate action, that in a way separates you. That is the great lesson here.

And then, that I may complete this review here, I am rather interested in what we are told about the remainder of the people. They saw that Moses and one or two individuals used to go out of the camp to the tabernacle to pray. In verse 8 we read,

And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle.

There is something very wonderful about this. All they did was to look on with interest. They were aware that something was happening, but they did not know what it was and they did not understand it. They did not go out of the camp with Moses into the tent of meeting with God, and pray, and intercede. All they knew was that Moses had taken the tent outside the camp and that he and certain others periodically visited it. So they just stood at their their tent doors, watching Moses as he went and talking about him, wondering what he was doing and what exactly was happening. Now the appalling thing is that the right place for the tent was in the midst of the camp. But it was not there.

As you read the history of the Church, you will find this repeated. At first just a few people feel the call, and separate themselves, and then the others begin to say, ‘What is happening to so and so? Have you heard about this man or that woman?’ They stand at their tent doors and they look on. They have a feeling that something is happening. But they do nothing at all. Oh, if we wait until the whole Church moves, it will never happen. It will never move. Do not worry about that. God's way is to take hold of individuals and to use them and then eventually the majority will be affected. But at this stage, they simply have this vague general awareness that something is happening, and they begin to look on wistfully at the action of Moses and his few companions. . .

And so, as we finish our study of  stage one, we must ask ourselves, whether we have arrived at that stage. Do we know anything about that tabernacle and this call to separation and to urgent intercession? Those are the two things holiness and intercession on behalf of the mass of the people, and waiting in the presence of God, expecting more and more.

From Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on Isaiah 60:

"And so wonderful is all this promise that it needed the ratification with which it is closed: I the Lord will hasten it in his time--all that is here said relating to the Jewish and Christian church, to the militant and triumphant church, and to every particular believer. (1.) It may seem too difficult to be brought about, and therefore may be despaired of; but the God of almighty power has undertaken it: "I the Lord will do it, who can do it, and who have determined to do it." It will be done by him whose power is irresistible and his purposes unalterable. (2.) It may seem to be delayed and put off so long that we are out of hopes of it; but, as the Lord will do it, so he will hasten it, will do it with all convenient speed; though much time may pass before it is done, no time shall be lost; he will hasten it in its time, in the proper time, in the season wherein it will be beautiful; he will do it in the time appointed by his wisdom, though not in the time prescribed by our folly. And this is really hastening it; for, though it seem to tarry, it does not tarry if it come in God's time, for we are sure that that is the best time, which he that believes will patiently wait for."

Thank You and praise You, O Lord our God, for condescending to us – for condescending to me – and providing such blessed ratifications from Your Holy Word to sustain our faith, when all around us the bones are very many and very dry, and when we are tempted to become impatient and anxious in seeking a revival of religion. You know our frame, and You remember we are dust. Thank You for Your longsuffering compassion toward us in Jesus Christ. Forgive us for our folly, forgive me for my folly. We know full well that Your ways and Your thoughts are higher than ours. Forgive us for our impatience, and help us not to shrink back in despair or unbelief. Nothing is too hard for You, O Lord of hosts, You are the God of all flesh. We praise You that Your power is irresistible and Your purposes unalterable. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. Your Kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.

Like the great cloud of witnesses, help us to walk by faith by abiding in Your Word, so we might be persuaded of Your precious promises and embrace them as we ought, so we might not falter. We know that all You have spoken, You will bring to pass, and all You have purposed, You will do (Isaiah 46:11). Holy God, we know that You are all-wise and Your timing is perfect, and the day will come when You will arise once again to favor Your Church with the spirit of reformation and revival. We know that You only wait to be gracious, to be very gracious to Your people so that You might be more highly exalted, and although there may be no visible evidence of an answer, You have already heard us at the sound of our cries, and You are already answering (Isaiah 30:18-19). As we wait on Your beautiful and infallible timing, help us not to be slothful but to remain steadfast, immovable and always abounding in the Lord's work, for we know our labor in You is not in vain (I Corinthians 15:58). Though revival may seem to us to tarry, strengthen us with Your power, according to Your glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy (Colossians 1:11), so we might rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, for Your purposes and Your counsel are settled in heaven. Isaiah 46:9  Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 10  Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure... (KJV)

As well as praying and working toward reformation and revival in Your Church, we look forward to that Day when the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the seas. We long for that Day, O God, the time that You will be exalted and enjoyed and praised among all the nations, when every knee will bow at the name of Jesus, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

~ From "Recollections of Rev. E.D. Griffin, or, Incidents Illustrating His Character" by Parsons Cooke (Boston: Massachusetts Sabbath-School Society,1855), 151.

  
Luke 2:25  Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26  And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27  And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28  he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

33  And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. 34  And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed 35  (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
 
I've loved reflecting on this incident in the temple with Simeon on several levels, but would like to consider what an encouragement it is for those of us who have been longing for and praying out to God for reformation and revival in the Church...

God had put into the heart of Simeon that he would not see death before he saw the Lord's Christ. Now, I've not had a sure promise from the Lord spoken to me, "You will see reformation and revival in the Church before you die," but God has put the longing to pray for those things on my heart and He continues to put that before me, to the point where I MUST pray. However, I must confess even though the Spirit is willing, the flesh is often weak. But I must also say that I have blessed to taste and see the firstfruits of revival, and cannot despise the day of small things.

Much like Simeon had been looking forward to the coming of the Lord's Christ, those of us who have seen and been grieved over the current state of the Church particularly here in the west have been led to pray in the hope that our Savior will return again with times of reformation, refreshing and revival to the valley of dry bones.

We are in desperate need of the Holy Spirit to be upon us like Simeon, so by faith and patience we might inherit the promises, that we might be strengthened to continue to tarry in prayer and seek God's face with importunity, to be watchmen who are crying out to Him day and night to rend the heavens, to plead for Christ's baptizing fire to fall again upon His Church (should His second coming tarry). O! that our Lord might keep us steadfast, immovable and always abounding in this work of the Lord – this work of prayer – knowing full well that our labor in Him is not in vain (~ I Cor. 15:58).

I'm going to include some of a personal account, which I first wrote earlier this fall, but which I've edited & expanded upon today. I present it here in the hope that God might use it as an encouragement to your souls, for I suspect you will have, if you have not already had, similar struggles. We are all prone to doubt, and we are all tempted to question and wonder what it is we are doing and what we should be doing, to the point of great discouragement and even to the point of being on the verge of quitting. The devil is the author of every type of confusion. And there are two things the devil does not want us as God's Church to be engaged in: prayer and the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4). The Church can try any and all means, and we see so many congregations and denominations doing just that today, but the real battle and the real warfare starts when we are wholeheartedly engaged in prayer and the ministry of the Word, i.e. - when we are using God's ordained means of reforming and reviving the Church, it is then that the devil will do all he can to undermine us in any way he can. But our God has promised to equip us with all we need for doing His will:

Well, deep down, I knew it was not my invention. I knew I wasn't looking to pray for revival; it wasn't something I picked up, but rather God put it upon me. Yes, I'd read Lloyd-Jones and a few others about revival, but all of that hadn't impacted me. I was reading, but not understanding fully, though yes, I knew there was something to it. Plus, if this were my invention, I am more and more convinced that I would have long ceased to care about it or would have quit. The temptations have been far too great. But here I am keep getting called back to prayer for revival. I know my personality to be one that starts one thing and once I've gone so far with that, I can too easily put it down and start up again with a whole other thing. So certainly, it is no strength or stick-to-itiveness or desire of mine that is propelling me to keep praying for the same things over and over with no real change or visible result. God has given me this bone and anytime I start to turn away or anytime I try to toss it away, He tosses it back at me, and I MUST pick it up!

As Oswald Chambers wrote: "There is no other competitor for my strength!" The love of Christ constrains me! It makes no earthly sense to keep planting seeds and casting a net which bears no fruit. But when you are driven by the Spirit, you have a holy compulsion that is ever working to subdue the flesh.

And so, in short, the devil's plot to get me discouraged based on some recent circumstances has helped to firm up my resolve (well, the resolve is a divinely implanted one - Phil. 2:12-13).

But how refreshing it was for me to open up Payson's memoir, actually to a portion I'd already read previously, but I didn't really remember it until I started reading it – or else I might have picked it up to reread in conjunction w/ my reflecting on my recent disappointment. I am ashamed to say it, but I must confess how I found my frame was swayed and tossed about due to outer circumstances, so there I was once again being pulled down and choked by the mephitic air! And afterwards, almost immediately when it happened, I was grieved over my faithlessness and how despicable that was! And so I ran to the throne of grace, for I knew I had no other place to go - and I did have some sense of assurance come to me. One of the hymns I remember from my Catholic church upbringing came to mind, one I'd not sung or heard in a while:

And with that I felt some relief.

I ended up writing about disappointment. The words came quickly and wasn't planing to write about it at all, though it was very heavy on my heart. I'd been rereading something a friend had written to me about Abraham, and then I pulled up the Matthew Henry commentary on my laptop and began to wonder: "Here is this man who has got the supreme assurances of God spoken directly to him, and yet, there he is asking for more!" And after that, I read these words of Matthew Henry:

That described my state: I found it hard to reconcile - O, very, very hard! The recent providence seemed to strongly disagree with God's promises! I often find it hard day in and day out . . . week in and week out. . . .

It makes me weep for I continue to see other saints who have no SENSE of the LIVING GOD and the REFRESHING He wants to provide. . .  We have this fount of blessing, and it is bursting and meant to be shared freely among the saints, but how often are we able to do so? I know once in a while I do, and I can tell by the response, that there is a hearing but not an understanding of my words. . . For those who have not, it is just like speaking another language. Those who speak the language of Canaan do recognize the language of Canaan!

There are professing Christians who are thirsty, O! some of them are desperately thirsty, but they are not getting to the Living Water, and it grieves me to see that. I want them to get there and drink and be filled and satisfied and glorify and enjoy God there with us!  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.  Well, I tell you, no wonder the Church is in such a decrepit state: Is she crying out with the Spirit to come and drink? No, of course, not. And why not? BECAUSE SHE HAS NOT DRUNK DEEPLY OF THE SPRINGS OF LIVING WATER. How can anyone call another to a spring he's not known, much less not drunk of! Well, it's really impossible. . . .

But with that reminder from Matthew Henry, I began to fix my eyes on Jesus! – and on God's good sovereignty! – and was enabled to write:

That poem expressed some of my deep grief and recent disappointment, but with it a reassurance and a refocus on the invisible God in the midst of the continuing visible disappointments. ~ he endured as seeing him who is invisible. In the world we WILL have tribulation. And sad to say, even in the CHURCH we will have tribulation.

Now to those Payson excerpts (taken from Memoir, Select Thoughts and Sermons of the late Rev. Edward Payson, Volume 1 by Edward Payson (1783-1827) and Asa Cummings, boldface mine):

In 1816 there was revival. And later on in 1822, there was another time of revival, during which Payson wrote on February 26 that