Revival Starts with Prayer

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As far as I can tell through my study of Scripture and church history, revival seems to always start with prayer. Certain ordinary people become burdened with the need to pray, and God visits them in such a way that they become extra-ordinary people. But the key is prayer!

Since this is so, I thought it might be of use to look at some of the guiding principles of prayer – simple, practical, but profound guidelines the Bible has for our instruction and blessing. I call them the "Seven Virtues of Prevailing Prayer."

The first virtue is come. "Come unto me," Jesus said (Matthew 11:28). "If any man is thirsty, let him come unto me" (John 7:37). Prayer in its most basic form is simply coming to Jesus – to talk with Him, to enjoy intimacy with Him – but come we must.

We don’t come to Jesus in our service for Him. That is going out for Him. We come to Jesus for Jesus alone. Set aside your busyness, your cares, the demands of your ministry and life and delight yourself in Him. Whenever someone gets alone with Jesus, he or she discovers there is a sacred aroma that draws one to the altar of God’s sacrificial grace.

Paul says it so well: "I urge you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice . . ." (Romans 12:1). Now the word present is a word used in conjunction with sacrifices on the altar. We come to Christ, we are conquered by Christ, we are sacrificed to Christ. This is the second virtue of prevailing prayer, to present ourselves, sacrificially, to the Lord.

We come to Jesus under the wooing of the Spirit. We present ourselves to Jesus in obedience to the Spirit. Then we abide in Christ by the Spirit. If there is no coming, there is no presenting. If there is no presenting, there is no abiding. Abiding in Christ, the third virtue, is simply continuing to continue on in drawing all of your resources from Him. As our Lord says, "Apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5b).

It is in the virtue of abiding that prayer really begins to take shape. "If," Jesus said, "you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you" (John 5:7). I find this promise absolutely amazing. It points in two directions: my abiding and asking and His doing. But, my focus is to be on abiding and asking; His doing will follow as a matter of course.

This verse in John also takes us to the next virtue, which is ask. All of the coming, all of the presenting, all of the abiding are of little avail if we do not ask! James tells us that we have not because we ask not (James 4:2).

There is something that always astounds me. God, the Creator and sovereign Ruler of heaven and earth, deigns to hear my prayers! Our God is a God who hears! He hears our requests. But, if we don’t ask, we don’t receive. Nothing pleases God more than to have His little ones asking of Him. It is sweet music in His ears. So ask, ask, ask.

Up until now, the virtues we have discussed are things we do — not in our own strength, mind you, but in His. Still, they are something we do in volitional faith as a response to His commands. The next two virtues are different in that they are more subjective, less objective than the previous four. The virtues of faith and belief, as found in Hebrews 11:6 and Matthew 21:22, are closely related, but entirely different in their application to prayer.

Hebrews 11:6 tells us that "without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." The focus of faith is always in relationship to the knowledge of God and Christ. When we see the word "faith" here, it means faith in Christ, faith that He exists and is all He claims to be. When we come to him, present ourselves to Him, abide in Him, and ask of Him, we must have faith that He is there and is willing and able to hear and to answer.

There is a direct correlation between faith in God and knowledge of God. The more we know of God, the more we put our trust in Him. This kind of faith is not static, buy dynamic – viable and vital, ever growing.

Now the word "belief" that is found in the verse in Matthew flows from our "faith" as found in the Hebrews verse. "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." Our faith in Christ, ever growing, ever active, ever alive to the Person and presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, produces the confidence in Him necessary to "believe" that we shall receive the things we ask for. Our "center of gravity" is focused, not on what we are to receive, but on Him, who grants in grace that for which we petition in faith. And my faith in Christ makes it possible for me to believe that what I have requested will come to pass.

But God caps this off with our last virtue, that of asking according to God’s will. Listen to what John tells us:

The obvious question is: How do we know something is the will of God? I have struggled with this, as have so many others, but it is not as difficult as it seems. First, if we have come, if we have presented ourselves, if we are abiding, it is most likely we are praying in accordance with His will.

Don’t make it any more difficult than it should be. If a person is living in the Spirit and walking by the Spirit and filled with the Spirit, then his or her prayers will be "in the Spirit." Who more than God wants us to pray according to His will? That is why Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us, and it is why the Holy Spirit intercedes in glorious agony over us.

Do we want revival? Do we really want true revival? Then practice the virtues of prayer. As surely as we pray, as surely as we seek God, revival will come.