By Andrew Murray

Christians need reviving to bring them back to their first love and the healthy growth of the spiritual life. When the church is not living in full wholehearted devotion to Christ and His service, is not walking in the joy of the Lord and separation from the world—we need to pray that God’s people may truly be revived and have the life of God in power restored to them.

Intensely Devoted to Christ

What the world needs above everything is not more men and women of the ordinary type of Christians. We need Christians who are stronger in faith and holier in life, intensely devoted to Christ and His service, and ready to sacrifice all for the salvation of souls.

When God’s Spirit is poured out upon the church—and men and women, who are now struggling in feebleness, are clothed with the garments of praise and the power of the Spirit—the world will soon share the blessing. These revived believers will be ready to give themselves to God’s work; their word and witness will be in power. And the world will, in the burning fervor of the messengers of a quickened church, share in the blessing.

Nothing Less than a Revolution

To do its work the church has the promise of the power of the Holy Spirit of God. That Spirit is given to every believer to be—within him—the power of a divine and holy life. He equips the person to boldly testify about God’s power and to communicate to others what has happened in his own life. Without the power of the Holy Spirit fully recognized and experienced, the church cannot know or fulfill its calling.

A true revival means nothing less than a revolution, casting out the spirit of worldliness and selfishness and making God and His love triumph in the heart and life. As every birth has its travails and its pangs, so this entrance of a new divine life in power into a church must be preceded and accompanied by the pains of conviction and confession, by the earnest searchings of heart in which sin is discovered, is held up to shame, and condemned.

In such a work of grace many will learn how little truth or power there has been either in their conversion or their spiritual life. They will see things that they tolerated to be vile sin that nothing but the blood of Christ can wash away and the power of Christ can overcome.

A Solemn Responsibility of Believers

On those who believe that a revival is needed and is possible, rests the solemn responsibility of preparing the way of the Lord. We ask Him to open our own eyes and hearts, and those of our church, to what He thinks and says of the spiritual life He finds.

We confess our own sin and the sin of our brethren. We give ourselves to stand in the gap, to take hold of God’s strength. We ask the Spirit to give us the consciousness of being intercessors, who in tender love, and yet in holy zeal and truth, speak to God about the state in which His church is.

As one here and another there begins to see what God’s will really is concerning His church, the cause of her failure, and the path of restoration—his prayer will become more urgent and believing, and the blessing will come.

A Revived Church: Hope of a Dying World

All this must lead to the assured faith that a revived church is a possibility, a promise, and a certainty. Yes, God is able!

It needs but an act of His will and His Holy Spirit; the mighty power of God working in His church can give new life to all who long to receive Him. He can give the joy of the Holy Spirit, first in single churches and then in larger bodies. He can awaken His people, as out of sleep, to see, consent, and rejoice that they are indeed the hope of a dying world.

And God is ready! As the sun pours its light and warmth on every tiny flower to give it growth and beauty, God’s love is waiting and longing to pour itself into hearts that reach out after Him. Sometimes it may appear as if He waits long and delays His coming. But let us be sure of this: He does not wait one moment longer than is needful.

We may depend upon it, with the utmost confidence, that if His children unite in praying for a revived church as the only hope of a dying world, He will hear the prayer.

Andrew Murray (1828–1917), was a pastor and prolific writer on prayer and the deeper life. He was a champion of the South African revival of 1860. This article is excerpted from his book Revival.