Revivals still work if we will do the work necessary to have revival

J. Gerald Harris

DALLAS, GA – Anyone who attended one of the Georgia Baptist Convention’s Evangelism Conferences had to be inspired and blessed by the attendance, spirit, singing and preaching of the gatherings in all three regions. In Tifton there was a spirit of revival and renewal that prevailed there. The word “revival” is defined as “a bringing or coming back into use, attention, or being after a decline – a returning to life or consciousness, a stirring up of religious faith by fervid evangelistic preaching, an improvement in condition.”

However, it may be said without fear of contradiction that things do not generally improve by happenstance. A wrecked automobile cannot be reassembled and made roadworthy without some effort and skilled reconstruction. All the ingredients to a fine meal have value, but it takes time and effort to transform meat and vegetables into a succulent and mouthwatering dinner. Babies are sweet and cuddly, but it takes time and effort on the part of parents to train those babies in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Likewise, it takes hard work to have a successful church revival, but genuine, heartfelt, life changing revivals can still happen. First, we must realize that the complacent, stagnant soul will never experience revival. We must earnestly seek to have an encounter with God that will enliven, enrich and empower us to greater Christian living. Apathy or complacency is the perfect tool the devil uses to lure us into a state of self-satisfaction, which is the opposite of revival.

Then, the church must make prayer a priority. For a church to have a weeping, reaping and sweeping revival the pastor and people must be surrendered to hard work of intercession and communion with God. It takes some frequent, fervent, focused prayer on the part of the church to have a significant moving of God’s Holy Spirit.

Dr. R. A. Torrey said, “I have a theory, and I believe it to be true, that there is not a church, chapel or mission on earth where you cannot have a revival, provided there is a nucleus of faithful people who will hold on to God until it comes.”

In addition to prayer, there must be genuine repentance. Dr. Stephen Olford, called by Billy Graham the greatest expository preacher of the 20^th century, said, “Let godly sorry do her healing work. Until we allow the consciousness of sin to wound us, we will never develop a fear of evil. It is our wretched habit of tolerating sin that keeps us in our half-dead condition.” Isaiah 1:27 states, “Zion will be restored by justice; those who repent will be revived by righteousness.” God’s people must do a thorough job of repentance.

Then, the church that desires revival must be unashamed of the Gospel. Our convention has emphasized, “Who’s your one?” If every Southern Baptist would take the Great Commission seriously and begin to pray for and share the Gospel with just one person and lead that precious soul to faith in Christ, the results would surely bring glory of God and untold blessings to the church. Churches must give evangelism the place of priority that our wonderful Lord gives it.

You may think that longing for revival is like wishing for something that died 50 years ago, but that should not be the case. There are some churches that are still having revivals with great success. One such church is Pickett’s Mill Baptist Church in Dallas. Perhaps the photos from the service on Tuesday night, March 15 will help to convey the truth that revivals still work.