A Burden for Revival

By Dave Butts

Revival comes to those who are desperate for it. Many today are talking about spiritual awakening and even beginning to pray about it. But have we allowed God to place within us the burden necessary to pray desperately for God to show up in our midst? Are we willing to “pray the price” to see God move in a powerful way in the Church today? As I continue to learn how to move my prayers into alignment with God’s will, praying Scripture has become increasingly important. As I pray God’s Word I find myself praying in ways I would never have found myself praying before. So it is as we begin to place ourselves before the Lord in asking for a burden for revival. I have been greatly impacted by the prayer of the Psalmist in Psalm 79.

This is a powerful prayer for revival. It was prayed from a broken heart that saw the people of God under attack and the promises of God unfulfilled.

O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble. They have given the bodies of your servants as food to the birds of the air, the flesh of your saints to the beasts of the earth. They have poured out like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead. We are objects of reproach to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us. How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire? Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name; for they have devoured Jacob and destroyed his homeland. Do not hold against us the sins of the fathers; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need. Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake. Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Before our eyes, make known among the nations that you avenge the outpoured of your servants. May the groans of the prisoners come before you; by the strength of your arm preserve those condemned to die. Pay back into the laps of our neighbors seven times the reproach they have hurled at you, O Lord. Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

Praying through Psalm 79 is a great way to develop a biblical burden for revival. The text breaks down into a great outline for passionate prayer:

Recognizing your current situation is a critical place to begin. The people of Israel were oppressed . . . under attack by their enemies. They finally got to a place of desperation–“for we are in desperate need” vs.8. Until the Church today arrives at that place of desperation, we will never develop a burden for revival.
Get serious about the glory of God. Pagans were disparaging God because of the sorry situation of the Israelites. “Where is their God?” they asked. The fact that the world would ask such a question should bring great grief to God’s people. In a very real sense, this is exactly what the world is saying of the Church today: “Where is your God?”
Recognition of your current situation and passion for God’s glory will lead you to petition. It is at this point that you find Israel praying for mercy, deliverance, and forgiveness. It is a very personal sort of prayer that focuses on the needs of the people of God for restoration into the favor of God.
Taking the prayer a step further, we see the Psalmist asking God to step into the situation. In a very real sense, the Psalmist prays, “God, You answer the accusations of the enemy. By Your actions Lord, pay back the reproach that the world has heaped upon You through the sad condition of Your people.”
The result of such a prayer is worship and praise. It’s the natural result of seeing God work. Even before full-blown revival arrives, there is worship erupting from the people of God. And along with that is the commitment to pass it on to the next generation.

Praying such a prayer for revival is not a guarantee of revival. It is merely preparing the ground of the human heart for a fresh work of God. Praying with passion for revival begins to create a burden for revival among the Lord’s people. And into such a prepared state, the Lord has often poured His rain from heaven.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones speaks of this preparatory work of prayer in his book, Revival: “Our essential trouble is that we are content with a very superficial and preliminary knowledge of God, His being, His cause. . . . We spend our lives in busy activism . . . instead of realizing our own failure,(that) we are not attracting anybody to Christ and that they probably see nothing in us that makes them desire to come to Him.

“The inevitable and constant preliminary to revival has always been in a thirst for God, a thirst, a living thirst for a knowledge of the living God and a longing and a burning desire to see Him acting, manifesting Himself and His power, rising and scattering His enemies. . . . The thirst for God and the longing for the exhibition of His glory are the essential preliminaries to revival” (pages 90-91).

May our prayers for revival develop a great thirst for God, not only in our own lives, but in the lives of those around us.

Dave Butts (1953-2022) was the co-founder and president of Harvest Prayer Ministries. His popular prayer guide, Asleep in the Land of Nod has been used by hundreds of churches to help their congregations pray for revival.

Learning from Josiah’s Revival

By Dave Butts

One of the greatest recorded revivals took place in the southern kingdom of Judah during the reign of Josiah. As we pray and long for revival today, looking back at this biblical revival can help us understand more of what it is we are seeking. This account is found in chapters 34 and 35 of 2 Chronicles.

Josiah was just eight years old when he became king. As a teenager, something happened that caused him to begin to seek after the Lord. 2 Chronicles 34:3 says, “In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David.” This 16-year-old king began to develop a hunger to know God. At an age when, at least today, we expect little in the way of spiritual depth, God was stirring in the heart of this young man. Many of us who are longing for revival today believe that it will be birthed in the hearts and lives of the younger generations among us. Josiah is a good model of such a “youth-driven” revival.

Like his ancestor, David, young Josiah had learned to focus his desire on that which was truly important. It was God Himself that Josiah sought. It is God alone who truly satisfies and who, in Himself, is the only reasonable desire of His people. You will never find yourself longing for revival until you first find yourself desiring God Himself.

Perhaps the question that all of us must ask is: “What are we truly seeking in our lives at this moment?” What is it that drives us, motivates us, and gives us a reason to get up in the morning? As Christians, we can still find ourselves with an inadequate apologetic for our lives. We may have a Christian veneer, but inside, we may be seeking the same things as our non-religious neighbors. Does success drive us? Is it money or security that we are seeking? Perhaps it is happiness, personal peace, or a good family that becomes our desire.

Josiah acted upon his seeking heart when he began a process of repentance and turning from sin that impacted him personally, as well as the entire nation of Judah. In verses 3-7 of 2 Chronicles 34, we see that Josiah led the nation in purging the land of its idols. In all true revival there must be a turning from sin.

As the nation turned from idolatry, there became a natural turning toward God. The young king ordered his servants to begin to repair the abandoned temple, the place of worship for Judah. As the temple was cleaned and repaired, it was also restored as a place of worship. True worship will always be a mark of genuine revival. As the presence of the Lord is experienced by His people, worship will be the natural response of those whose hearts are set on God.

Verses 14-19 tell of an exciting discovery that was made. As the temple was being repaired, the workmen discovered the lost scrolls of the Law. Judah had fallen away so completely from God that they had literally lost God’s Word. The rediscovery of the Word set the nation up to be blessed and to experience the presence of God in a powerful way.

It is the “rediscovery” of God’s Word that is needed in our own culture today. In many lives, the Word has been lost. It has been unopened and unread. In many cases, even when it is read, it has not been revered, respected, believed or obeyed. One of the key marks of a genuine revival from God is the restoration of the authority of the Bible.

What happened next in the story of Josiah is so important for the Church today to comprehend. When the Law was found, the king had a heart that was responsive to what God had said. Josiah led the nation in repentance over its failure to obey the Word. With that repentance came a recommitment to not merely read it, but to act upon it. With Josiah leading the way, the nation had now put itself under the authority of the Word of God.

The role of leadership cannot be overstated here. As you read the following passage of Scripture, note that it was clearly the king who held the people accountable: “Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of the Lord with the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites – all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord – to follow the Lord and keep His commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the words of the covenant written in this book. Then he had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to it: the people of Jerusalem did this in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their fathers” (2 Chron. 34:29-32).

What a wonderful picture of the need for the Church today to respond to the authority of the Bible. It is not merely in reading or hearing the Word that we are changed. We are to be doers of the Word. God calls us to listen and obey. Revival breaks out where there is a radical obedience to the Bible.

We cannot finish looking at Josiah’s revival without seeing the excitement brought about by a new awareness of the Lord’s presence with His people. The first nineteen verses of 2 Chronicles 35 deal with an awesome time of celebration during which Judah celebrated the greatest Passover feast in Israel’s history. Verse 18 records, “The Passover had not been observed like this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; and none of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah.”

Great rejoicing is the result of returning to the Lord and experiencing His reviving power. It is important for the Church today to notice that it was not celebration that ushered in revival, but repentance and radical obedience to the Word of God. Celebration was the result of God’s acceptance and forgiveness.
As the Church continues to long for and to pray for revival, we would do well to look to this young man Josiah and his amazing leadership over the nation of Judah. May the Lord raise up many young men and women like Josiah who will earnestly seek the Lord, and in doing so, lead us into a still greater experience of the presence of Christ!

Personal Revival

By Dave Butts

Like a mighty wave rolling across the Church around the world, comes the cry from millions of believers, “Oh God, send a revival!” Like no time in recent history, the Church is becoming aware of its own desperate condition and the even more critical needs of our cultures. It is reassuring to know that for once, the Church is not looking to another program or strategy to try to change the world. We’re recognizing that it is going to take heaven-sent revival. Taking our cue from past revivals, Christians are praying for God to move in significant new ways in the Church. It is these praying Christians who will experience in their own lives the first fruits of revival.

What is it we are praying for when we ask God to send revival? To fully answer that would comprise a book and even then perhaps prove to be inadequate. Christian scholars are continuously debating the nature of revival. But praise God, though we disagree on its nature, there is near unanimity on our desperate need for it. Some of my favorite short definitions of revival are:

“. . . a movement of the Holy Spirit bringing about a revival of New Testament Christianity in the church of Christ and its related community.” J. Edwin Orr
“Revival is a community saturated with God.” Duncan Campbell
“Revival is the Church falling in love with Jesus all over again.” Vance Havner

Perhaps the one that best fits my own understanding is from Stephen Olford, who says, “Revival is ultimately Christ Himself, seen, felt, heard, living, active, moving in and through His Body on earth.” True revival is not man-centered but Christ-centered. It is not about a type of music or special experience, but a fresh revelation of Christ in the midst of His people–people often grown sleepy or slow-moving and desperately in need of a fresh awakening touch from their Savior.

Much has been written on what happens when revival touches a church, community or nation. Foundational to each of those spheres of revival is a fresh touch from Christ upon an individual. J. Edwin Orr speaks of those different spheres this way: “Such an awakening may change in a significant way an individual; or it may affect a larger group of believers; or it may move a congregation or the churches in the city or district, or the body of believers throughout a country or continent; or indeed, the larger body of believers throughout the world.”

What would it mean for an individual to experience revival? It is an important question for us to consider. Though we may long for and pray for revival for the whole Church, we certainly want to make sure that revival could come to an individual apart from the corporate aspect. Dare we begin to ask God for revival in our own lives?

I believe there is very clear correlation between what happens when a church experiences revival and when an individual Christian experiences revival. The heart of revival is when Christ shows up for church. It is when we begin to experience what we already know is true biblically and theologically concerning the presence of Christ. One of the major tenets of our faith is that when believers in Jesus gather, He Himself is present in a very special way in their midst. Jesus said, “for where two or three come together in my Name, there am I with them” (Mt.18:20). We believe His words concerning His presence as we gather. Yet Sunday after Sunday in the majority of our churches, we go through the motions without a real awareness of Jesus actually being there with us. In revival, there is an awakening to His presence. Biblical truths that had perhaps grown stale are suddenly infused with new life. The love and life of Jesus are lived out in fresh new ways as the Church gathers.
This same experience ought to mark the life of the individual Christian as we begin to experience revival personally. Colossians 1:27 says, “Christ in us, the hope of glory.” Is there a more astonishing verse in Scripture–that the Son of God has actually come to take up residence within the individual Christian? Yet we often view such a verse as dry biblical truth. It somehow fails to excite or thrill the soul. Even more telling–it fails to change the way we live.

What a difference it would make in our lives if we truly lived out the truth of Christ in us, the hope of glory; walking daily with Jesus–aware of His presence, His love, His strength, and His direction. Rather than asking the question in abstract, “What would Jesus do?” we would often throughout each day directly ask our indwelling Lord, “Jesus, what are you doing?” What a revival of changed life, character, and witness we would see among believers.

The 19th century Quaker author, Hannah Whitall Smith writes,

Dear friend, I make the glad announcement to thee that the Lord is in thy heart. Since the day of thy conversion He has been dwelling there, but thou hast lived on in ignorance of it. Every moment during all that time might have been passed in the sunshine of His sweet presence, and every step have been taken under His advice. But because thou knew it not, and did not look for Him there, thy life has been lonely and full of failure. But now that I make the announcement to thee, how wilt thou receive it? Art thou glad to have Him? Wilt thou throw wide open every door to welcome Him in? Wilt thou joyfully and thankfully give up the government of thy life into His hands? Wilt thou consult Him about everything, and let Him decide each step for thee, and mark out every path? Wilt thou invite Him into thy innermost chambers, and make Him the sharer in thy most hidden life? Wilt thou say “Yes” to all His longing for union with thee, and with a glad and eager abandonment hand thyself and all that concerns thee over into His hands? If thou wilt, then shall thy soul begin to know something of the joy of union with Christ.

On a practical level, how can we begin to walk in this intimate relationship with Jesus? Years ago I heard Argentine evangelist Juan Carlos Ortiz say, “to walk in the Spirit is to be continually conscious of Christ in you.” One of the major goals of my life has been to narrow the gaps of unawareness. It is so easy to get caught up in the activities of daily life–even in service to Jesus, and forget the awesome fact of the indwelling Christ.

Scriptures are so clear that our lives are hidden with Christ, that we are seated with Christ, and that we are to follow him. Paul would go so far as to say, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ living in me”(Gal.2:20). True spiritual awakening begins on a personal basis as we begin to live out daily the truth of God’s Word, “Christ in us, the hope of glory!”

Praying Men Can Make a Difference

By Dave Butts

Most church prayer ministry teams are predominately female. There’s a reason for this. In most situations, women pray more than men. C. Peter Wagner notes that of those who have been identified as being primarily intercessors, about 80% are female. Consider why this is so, remembering that we are dealing in generalities here. Women are typically more compassionate than men, which naturally leads them into praying for others.

Again, generally speaking, women are more spiritually sensitive than men. This awareness that something is happening spiritually brings about prayer. Certainly in many, if not most churches, they have had the model of praying women set before them. Women go to the prayer meeting while the men go work on the building. Stereotype? Yes…but all too often very close to the truth.

What God has perhaps allowed in the past is no longer permitted today. God is calling men to step up to the plate and do their part in prayer. The Lord today is calling ALL of the Church to prayer….both men and women, young and old. Look just at the spiritual warfare aspect of prayer. John Piper writes, “Until we know that life is war, we won’t know what prayer is for.” Prayer involves battle against spiritual forces in the heavenlies. Men —how do you feel about sending your mother or wife out to do battle while you sit at home? Isn’t that what we’ve been doing when we have looked at prayer as women’s work? It’s time to take the place of the warrior, alongside the women, as we do battle together in the Lord’s strength and victory as a people of prayer.

Consider also the issue of spiritual leadership in the home. It’s very apparent in Scripture that the Lord expects Christian men to be the spiritual leaders of their homes. Here is a truth though, that is not always understood: spiritual leaders pray! If a man is not praying, he is not a spiritual leader. Prayerless men have abdicated their place of spiritual authority and left their families open to attack. You see, this is not an abstract discussion, but a matter of very practical issues for you and your family.

I believe the place for married men to begin is to develop the habit of praying with their wives. Most Christian men do not do this. Several years ago, Leadership Journal shared how most pastors don’t pray with their wives either. There are always excuses why we don’t, but they remain mere excuses. Couples that pray together are forging strong bonds that will not easily break. A survey was taken that noted just 1 in over a thousand couples who prayed together saw their marriage fall apart. Match that up against the close to 50% figure for all other couples, including Christians.

When my wife, Kim, and I were first married, we made a commitment to pray together. We found that there never seemed to be just the right time of day to do this. We finally decided the only way it was going to work for us was to get up a half an hour earlier in the morning. Our prayer time is precious to us. I hear from Kim about the things that are important to her by just listening to her prayers. She hears me praying over her day and asking God to bless her, as I also hear her pray for me. It is a wonderful time of sharing together before the Lord, and strengthening one another.

There are some days we don’t pray together. The schedule is out of the ordinary, or we’re on a trip, or one of us is especially tired. That’s ok. It’s not a legalistic requirement that we never miss a day of prayer together. Don’t put yourself under condemnation. Praying together is a great gift to give one another. Whether it is in the morning or evening, for 5 minutes, or for an hour, it is vital for Christian couples to learn to pray together.

I believe that God is calling men to lead out in prayer as part of His strategy for retaking planet earth. As men begin to respond in prayer, God begins to move in amazing ways. Dr J. Edwin Orr said it this way, “When God gets ready to do something new with his people, He always sets them praying.”

God is doing a new thing today. If you want to be “in” on what God is doing, you must begin praying with greater passion and intensity. If you want purpose and meaning to life, and if you want your life to really count for God and to make a difference in this world…PRAY! Prayer is what God is calling His people to do today as a part of His plan for this world.

God is moving all things toward completion. I don’t pretend to know when. But I do know the key. It is evangelism. And the key to evangelism is prayer. Let me show this to you scripturally.

Jesus said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). The gospel is going to be preached to all nations…Jesus said so. Do you want to be a part of the fulfillment of these words?

Jesus ties together prayer and evangelism in Matthew 9:37-38: “The harvest is truly plentiful but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Then, in 1 Timothy chapter 2, Paul urges prayers to be lifted up because God wants everyone saved. Again prayer and evangelism are brought together.

There are two passages of Scripture in Revelation that you may not have noticed before that are exciting in their presentation of prayer and evangelism: “Each one has a harp and they are holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints” (Revelation 5:8). “Another angel, who had a golden censor, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand” (Revelation 8:3-4).

After each of these incidents, in which the collected prayers of God’s people are poured out before God, angels are loosed upon the earth to cause events intended to bring people to repentance and salvation. God uses the prayers of His people to bring about the establishment of Christ’s Kingdom.

The second passage in Revelation comes in the midst of a half an hour of silence. Author Walter Wink explains the connection well: “Heaven itself falls silent. The heavenly hosts and celestial spheres suspend their ceaseless singing so that the prayers of the saints on earth can be heard. The seven angels of destiny cannot blow the signal of the next times to be until an eighth angel gathers these prayers…and mingles them with incense upon the altar. Silently they rise to the nostrils of God.

“Human beings have intervened in the heavenly liturgy. The uninterrupted flow of consequences is damned for a moment. New alternatives become feasible. The unexpected becomes suddenly possible, because God’s people on earth have invoked heaven, the home of the possibles, and have been heard. What happens next, happens because people prayed. The message is clear: history belongs to the intercessors.”

Dick Eastman, of Every Home for Christ, said it this way: “God’s ultimate purpose for mankind, the completion of Christ’s bride and the establishing of His eternal Kingdom on earth will result only from the release of the prayers of God’s saints.”

Graham Kendrick and Chris Robinson wrote the hymn, All Heaven Waits. See if their words call to your heart and stir within you a passion to be a man of prayer:

“All heaven waits with bated breath for saints on earth to pray,
Majestic angels ready stand with swords of fiery blade.
Astounding power awaits a word from God’s resplendent throne.
But God awaits our prayer of faith that cries, “Your will be done!”

Praying for Revival

By Dave Butts

Christians around the world are praying for revival. What are they praying for and do they have good reason to expect revival? Is revival something God wants to do for His people today? To answer these questions, we need to understand that God has always worked in the area of revival with His people. From the earliest days of Israel, on through the history of the Church, God’s method of dealing with His people has been to grant periodic times of special blessing in which His presence is made manifest and His people are drawn back to Him. The result of that is a changed society.

Perhaps the clearest view of revival can be seen by looking back at Israel in the Old Testament. Historians tell us that there are seven major revivals in the Old Testament. I would suggest that if you take away the word “major” there are somewhere between fifteen and sixteen revivals. Very clear, distinct times, in which the people of God were restored to a time of religious excitement, enthusiasm, and commitment with a resultant change in society.

You typically see something like this: Israel, as a people, called by God to make a difference…called to be a light to the Gentiles. You see them under a leader such as Moses or David, people who are living a life that causes them to be set apart from the people around them. They are worshipping God, they’re holding on to His Word, they are doing what God wants them to do. Then, typically, after a generation or so when a leader has died you see Israel begin to slide. You begin to see them move farther and farther away from obedience to the Word of God. They begin to accept idolatry from the tribes around them. Pagan practices begin to come in, with acts of immorality and all the problems associated with that – eventually times of war and even slavery.

Typically at this point of decline there arises a remnant of people who begin to pray. They begin to cry out to God asking the Lord to save them. Then, in His own timing, God sends a leader and there comes a time of revival when they begin to throw off their idolatry and paganism and restore once again the true worship of Jehovah. They begin to again hold on to the Word of God. The nation experiences a time of national prosperity, spiritual excitement and religious significance that lasts for about a generation. Then you see the cycle begin to happen again. Over and over again throughout the Old Testament: revival and decline, revival and decline.

As you move into the New Testament you see a group of people who were born in a time of revival. But we know historically that it did not last. Through the history of the Church you once again see the exact same pattern of revival and decline. It seems to be the way God deals with His people. Down through the years many countries have experienced periodic times of revival. Within the United States we have experienced three times of national revival, known as the Great Awakenings. During these times, God moved and changed the course of our nation. Many of us believe that God is getting ready to do it again in our day, in our age.

What is this thing called revival? I believe that revival is the Church waking up to the presence of Jesus in her midst. It is nothing more and nothing less than you and I beginning to experience what we already know theologically and intellectually. You believe that Jesus is with you. Why? Because He said He would be. You don’t necessarily believe it because you feel Him, but just because Jesus said it. He said that where two or three are gathered together there am I in your midst. You also have to believe Colossians 1:27: “Christ in us, the hope of glory.”

We believe that Jesus is present when we gather as the Church. But we don’t act that way. That is not the way things happen on Sunday. You know why I know your church needs revival? The reason I know your church needs revival is when church services ended last Sunday, you went home. What would happen if Jesus was there? Let’s just suppose Jesus was there. Would you be looking at your watch? Would you be eager to leave? One of the characteristics of the great revivals was extended times of worship. They never wanted to end the service. Now obviously people had to leave, they had to take care of physical things, they had jobs that they had to go to, but as soon as they were done they were back, because that was where God was. They wanted to be in on the action. They wanted to be where God was. They wanted to experience His presence.

I want to suggest to you that revival is not strange or mystical. It is simply the Church waking up to the presence of Christ in her midst. It is almost as though God reaches out and slaps us and we wake up and we realize God is there. That is what revival is. It is God shaking us. It is God waking us up. And we recognize that Jesus really is here.

We are desperate for that in our nation today. I am not in any way a critic of the Church. The more I travel the more I fall in love with the Church of Jesus Christ. I am seeing so many wonderful things happen. Christians are doing wonderful things in the name of Jesus, acts of love, mercy and self-sacrifice. It is amazing what is happening today, and has been happening for years. We are doing all we know to do. But it isn’t working.

Most of the churches have all kinds of activities. They’ve tried all kinds of programs. They’ve given and done everything they know how to do to get the Church going and to impact society. But in all that has happened in the last fifty years in the Church in the US, are we a more moral and ethical nation because of what we have been doing as a Church? It is unbelievable when we consider the tremendous acts of sacrifice, service and ministry in the last fifty years in the Church, and yet it is apparent that the Church is going one way and our nation is moving the opposite way as fast as it can.

In a very real sense, we are at this wonderful point of despair. We are at a wonderful point of hopelessness in which the Church is beginning to recognize that we have been doing everything we know how to do and it is not working. It is time for revival. It is time to humble ourselves before God in prayer and ask Him to make Himself known in the midst of His people so that our nation can be saved and our world impacted for Christ.

How does revival come? Any student of revival will tell you that there has never been a revival without a movement of prayer. God always calls His people to prayer in anticipation of revival. I would ask you today to get serious about praying for revival. We need to shift our prayer focus to the issues that are close to God’s heart, especially that His people, His Church, would wake up and discover the presence of Jesus in our midst.

When that happens, our lives become different. When Jesus is there, suddenly things that we accepted before, are no longer acceptable. Some of the things that go on in our church and in our society are changed because it is the Lord who is present. That is why in those great revivals in the past, there was a bit of emotionalism. Suddenly they came into a church service and there was Jesus. Now they did not see Him in the flesh, but there was a powerful sense of the presence of Jesus. What do you suppose happens if you come into a church service during a revival and there is a strong sense of the presence of Jesus and you’ve been sinning all week? When you come into the presence of the awesome holiness of God suddenly there is weeping, crying out, and sometimes even falling down before God in repentance.

Heaven-sent revival is our only hope. We don’t have answers. We don’t know what to do. We don’t have any programs in our churches that are changing whole communities and our society. It’s just not happening. What we need is God.

How do you pray for revival? Psalm 85 is a good place to begin: “You showed favor to Your land, O Lord. You restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of Your people and covered all their sins. You set aside all Your wrath and turned from Your fierce anger. Restore us again, O Lord our Savior, and put away Your displeasure toward us. Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger through all generations? Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?”

Based on that passage we will find ourselves praying, “Lord, revive us again, do it again in our day.” We will come before God saying, “Lord, this is what you have done and this is what we want you to do in our life and in our nation.

–Dave Butts (1953-2022) was the co-founder and president of Harvest Prayer Ministries. His popular prayer guide, Asleep in the Land of Nod has been used by hundreds of churches to help their congregations pray for revival.