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.
Jesus' words from Matthew 26 came powerfully to me in this way:
"Will YOU not pray with ME one hour?"
In other words... "No matter what everyone else is doing, even if the rest are all 'sleeping,' so to speak, I am calling you to this work of prayer along with Me." I could see that I had slid downward into the position Peter was in John 21: "What about this man?" It does no good at all for us to look around at what everyone else is doing (or is not doing). Jesus' words to each one of us are the same as they were to Peter:
"... what is that to you? You follow Me!"
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.
~ Martyn Lloyd-Jones, "Revival" (Crossway: Wheaton, 1987), 161, 163-164, 169-170, 172-173. Scripture quotations are taken from the KJV.
* * *
Might God be calling you to go out with Moses to pray?
Isaiah 51
1 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
you who seek the LORD:
look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who bore you;
for he was but one when I called him,
that I might bless him and multiply him.
Isaiah 60
22 The least one shall become a clan,
and the smallest one a mighty nation;
I am the LORD;
in its time I will hasten it.
May the zeal of a few stir up the majority!
May God hasten it in His time!
May none who are called be found disobedient to the heavenly calling!
May none who are called be found slumbering in a spiritual stupor!
Hebrews 13:20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Colossians 1:9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Please note: If you're not familiar with
my other blog (
http://naphtali-deer.xanga.com), you may not know that through his books and recordings, Dr. Lloyd-Jones has had a huge impact on me. He entered the glory everlasting in 1981, and I was saved the following year. Or, if you're new to
tent of meeting and would like to know more about my vision for this blog and my heart for revival and my calling to pray for revival, I'd recommending your reading my post
"The Ministry of the Word and Prayer" (
http://naphtali-deer.xanga.com/697480839/naphtali-news-the-ministry-of-the-word--prayer/) to get a little more background on that, as I introduced tent of meeting four years ago this month and the connection there with ML-J. (You may also like to read my very first post on this blog:
About this blog - why "tent of meeting"?, and my post from three years ago:
A year ago today, God put it in my heart (Nehemiah 2:12)).
If there are any ways I can assist you, I would love to do so. God has promised to bring people to His holy mountain and to make them joyful in His house of prayer (see Isaiah 56), but at the same time, we are always to use the means He provides. I would love to be an encouragement to you if you have received a similar burden to be praying for revival. You are welcome to post a comment or question below (usually I prefer the comments section on this blog to be devoted to prayer, but I'm making an exception with this post). Also, if you are in the Xanga network, you can message me (click here). I still feel very much like a tyro in these matters, but God has been faithful to lead and teach me, and sustain and refresh my soul time and time again. In a letter to John Wesley, George Whitefield wrote that: "The doctrine of election, and the final perseverance of those that are truly in Christ, I am ten thousand times more convinced of, if possible, than when I saw you last." Along with those doctrines, I am also ten thousand times more convinced, if possible, or I would say I am ten thousand times ten thousand times more convinced of the vital necessity for us to be praying for revival than I was when I first started this blog four years ago.
Yours by the grace of God, for the reviving of the Church of God, for the joy of all nations, to the glory of God,
Karen
Work found at
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_-_Christ_on_the_Mount_of_Olives_-_WGA07095.jpg /
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