We have just come through one of the busiest seasons of the year for revival meetings. In reality, God chooses the season for revival. It cannot be scheduled or planned. It will not be confined to our calendar. Revival comes in God’s time and God’s way.
As I sit in meetings week after week, preaching and praying for revival, the Lord has impressed this truth on my heart…
In every revival there are divine moments that must not be missed.
Is it possible that the Lord Jesus could show up in a meeting and His own people fail to recognize Him? I fear that the Holy Spirit is often a stranger in the places where “spiritual” men conduct the annual fall or spring campaign. Discerning people know there are key moments before, during, and after a special meeting that will determine how much fruit will come and how long that fruit will remain.
G. Campbell Morgan said, “We cannot organize revival, but we can set our sails to catch the wind from heaven when God chooses to blow upon His people once again.”
It is time to get our sails up! There are three important moments that must not be missed…
- The weeks leading up to the meeting. Revival does not begin when the evangelist arrives. If it comes at all, it will be because God’s people have been praying. The soil of the soul must be prepared to receive the truth. I can always tell when I show up at a church if any prayer preparation has been made. There is no substitute for confession, petition, and intercession.
- The divine moment in the meeting. It is different in every meeting. Sometimes it comes on the first night. Sometimes on the last. Occasionally it comes at the least expected moment – in the middle of a sermon or as a song exalts Christ. It frequently comes after the truth has been given and some soul is grappling with eternity. Only God knows. It is that moment when the wind of Heaven blows and it is the most important moment in the meeting. Will we obey? At that moment we either grieve and quench the work of the Spirit or allow Him to do much more. We must not take lightly that moment when God speaks.
- The days immediately following the meeting. So many view the meeting as the end in itself. God deliver us from such thinking! It was Charles Finney who said, “Revival is nothing else than a new beginning of obedience to God.” What will grow out of the meeting? Will we be the same people in six weeks? What is the next step for my life, my family, our church? These are questions that must be answered. This is action that must be taken.
God chooses the time. We choose whether we will be prepared and what we will do when He comes. “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).
