Genuine revival shakes up the status quo. God disturbs the complacent and apathetic. When God sends revival, the comfortable get afflicted and the afflicted get comforted. Such moves of the Holy Spirit are not welcomed by all. There are always some who prefer to leave things the way they have always been. Not only do such people not accept revival, but these will also openly oppose the revival with all their might. They will be critical. They will rally people behind their crusade to resist revival.
For a couple of days, we have looked back at how God used Charles Finney. Revival broke out in each town he visited. I read a story where Finney was invited to tour a cotton mill one day. Reports are that when Finney walked in among the workers, he did not say a word. The workers stopped working and were moved to tears just looking at Finney. The owner stopped all the workers so Finney could preach. Nearly every employee got saved that day.
Another story is that in certain towns wherever one went people were either praying together, witnessing to others boldly, and talking about the revival. In some meetings hundreds met Jesus as their Savior. Some of the most resistant were worn down through persistent prayer and conviction from the Holy Spirit. Whole families came to know Jesus as their Savior. Transformation took place.
One elderly pastor did not appreciate all this. He openly complained that everywhere he went people were talking about prayer and revival. He got fed up with it. He got up in a public meeting and angrily spoke against the revival so viciously that many prayed that night for the revival not to be hindered. The next morning, they found that pastor dead in his hotel bed.
The revival in that town was not hindered. News spread far and wide by word of mouth. 500 additional souls were added to the kingdom of God. People came from surrounding towns to see for themselves if what they heard was really true. They experienced the fresh work of God for themselves.
Just like a grass fire can get out of control quickly, so can revival. Nobody can tame the move of God. He ruthlessly uncovers sin calling people to repentance. He will not tolerate hypocrisy and pretention. He can break down the most resistant heart and save any sinner. As the wind fuels grass fires, so fervent prayer is like fanning the winds to blow revival fire further and farther than can be imagined.
So, we get to these questions. Is that really something we want God to do? To the point that we will pay the price in preparation through prayer, fasting, and personal repentance? When revival comes will we openly oppose it or embrace the move of God with all that is within us?
John 10:30-39 (NASB)
30 "I and the Father are one."31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him.
32 Jesus answered them, "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?"
33 The Jews answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God."
34 Jesus answered them, "Has it not been written in your Law, 'I SAID, YOU ARE GODS'?
35 "If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),
36 do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?
37 "If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;
38 but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father."
39 Therefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp.
- In what ways have you been critical of different moves of God in the past?
- Can you identify any areas where you are not open to a fresh work of God?
- Express your deepest longings for God to move mightily.
- Plead with God to guard you against being critical of Him and His work.
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