The Role of Prayer in Spiritual Awakening
Not many people realize that in the wake of the American Revolution, there was a moral slump. For the first time in American settlement, women were afraid to go out at night for fear of assault. Bank robberies were a daily occurrence. The Methodists were losing more members than they were gaining. The Baptists said they had their most wintry season. The Presbyterians met in general assembly to deplore the ungodliness of the country. The Congregationalists were strongest in New England. The Rev. Samuel Shepherd, pastor of a typical church in Lennox, Massachusetts, said in sixteen years he had not taken one young person into the fellowship.
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Revival Prayer
In this work Edwards speaks of the promise of God to bless His people when they come together to pray for revival. Throughout history this little work has influenced thousands of people and spurned countless little prayer groups to come together for meaningful revival prayer. Missionary pioneer William Carey tells in his biography that this work was one of the very things that inspired him to the mission field. Take special notice that Edwards challenges the reader not to seek revival per se, but to seek the very presence of God. When God comes, revival is there.
By way of disclaimer, I will say that I believe Edwards envisions more of an end-time “mass revival” movement than I am comfortable with. Perhaps this is due to his understanding of the two kingdoms. From a perspective now of over 250 years later, I would feel that such a “mass-church” concept has propagated an unhealthy ecumenism including such groups as Roman Catholics and sometimes even Mormons. While I believe that in the “last days” a great revival will come, I still believe that comparatively, the church will still look like a remnant—not a mass, one-world church.
Jesus said, “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth” (Luke 18:7-8)? Then there is the Isaiah prophesy, “Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah” (Isaiah 1:9). Also considering Paul’s thoughts to the Roman Church, “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace” (Romans 11:5).
One more thing…It should not be overlooked that one of the hallmark passages in this litany of revival prophecies quoted by Jonathan Edwards is that the prophecies of this revived church predict that they “will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” I feel that it would be a bit dishonest to take the praying part of the prophecy without the “beating-the-sword-into-plowshares part”. Rival historian, J. Edwin Orr took notice that the progress in the early revivals of the 1900s ended conspicuously when WWI began. Revival did not surface again on a large scale until after WWII. We cannot expect to be praying for revival in the hearts of people in “other lands” if we are shooting them while we pray. Could this be yet one more reason—why revival tarries?
All that being said—regardless of your belief about the size of the end-time revivals, the prophecies of Zachariah and Isaiah still stand; and these passages clearly speak of a praying people who trust the promises of God for His fullness and Holy Spirit outpouring. For that reason, I feel that this work is invaluable for its simple, straight-forward application of God’s design for true heaven-sent revival. The second part of this work is a living example of how revival praying was used to bring about a move of God in Scotland in 1744. I hope to put that in a future issue. ~Bro. Dean Taylor
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How Shall We Preach?
There are two types of preaching coming from pulpits, stemming from differing views of what constitutes the Gospel message. The one is often referred to as being “spiritual” and the other as “legalistic.” Although they should complement each other, they are often seen as contradicting one another. To make it as clear and simple as the Holy Spirit enables me to make it, please consider the following description of the two.
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