Chapter One
Steps to Revival
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
Cleanse your hands, you sinners;
and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James 4:8, NASB
YOU KNOW HOW IT IS WITH CERTAIN TUNES.
Music has a way of unlocking memories.
Sometimes all it takes is a little snatch of melody-
someone humming as he walks by, a fragment of song
from a car radio drifting through summer-night air-
and you find yourself reliving an emotion you
thought you'd left behind years ago.
That's the way it is with me when I hear one particular
hymn.
I was living in New York City forty-five years ago
when I met Jesus Christ as my Savior. As a brand-new
believer in 1957, I volunteered to be a counselor during
the landmark Billy Graham Crusade that roused
and stirred the great city for sixteen weeks in the summer
and fall of that year.
What a kaleidoscope of memories surrounds that
event in my life! I'll never forget it. The humid nights
in Yankee Stadium . the massive crowds lined up outside
Madison Square Garden . the traffic . the excitement .
the singing . the television cameras . the fresh
outpouring of God's Spirit. Those among the opening
night throng will always remember the young black
preacher, Martin Luther King Jr., who strode up to the
podium and gave a ringing invocation. Two million
people attended that crusade back in the Eisenhower
era, and over fifty-five thousand gave their lives to Jesus
Christ-more than one-third of those under the age of
twenty-one.
One simple melody brings it all back to me.
No, it's not "Just As I Am." Nor is it George
Beverly Shea pouring forth "How Great Thou Art," a
hymn that had its first real launch in those very meetings.
The huge, joyful choir that stood behind the platform
sang a song I'd never heard before-though it
had apparently been around for many years. The
words and music wrapped themselves around my
soul
Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.
Tens of thousands of people in New York City-and
millions across America via television-did just
that back in 1957. They turned their eyes upon Jesus,
and they were never the same again. Maybe that's the
reason why this simple song always makes me think of
the word revival.
Beyond those memories, however, I really can't
imagine a better definition of the term. Revival-whether
personal or national-comes with turning
our eyes upon Him. Beholding Him. Contemplating
His holiness, beauty, and might. Gazing by faith at His
wonderful face. Allowing Jesus, with His glory and
grace, to invade our human condition. And in the light
of God's radiant presence, the allure of the world, with
its pleasures and material possessions, begins to lose its
grip on our lives. It truly does! Our hearts become satisfied
by our heavenly Father's love and care. In fact, we
can find our hearts overflowing with a real and joyful
sense of the nearness of God and with profound wonder
at His goodness and grace.
Before you feel the comfort of His presence, however,
you must first become aware of how lost and
hopeless you are apart from His help and salvation. In
fact, that's the first thing that needs to happen when
we "turn our eyes upon Jesus" and begin to earnestly
seek Him.
DUST AND ASHES
Drawing near to God's brightness, we suddenly become
aware of our condition. The sin in our lives, which we
first accepted as normal, becomes distasteful-and then
loathsome. And I speak from experience.
There came a time in my own life when I realized
the utter emptiness of what I was doing. My pursuit of
money and status was leading me to nothing but
despair. Neither my position with a large corporation
nor the small company I founded with two friends
brought anything close to lasting satisfaction. In fact,
the deeper into worldliness I went, the emptier I felt. I
would later learn the enduring truth of Augustine's
words: "Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our
hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee."
The restlessness Augustine described so well was
building to a great intensity within me, and I finally
came to the point of fully surrendering my heart, my
life, my will, my total being to the claims of Jesus
Christ. And there indeed-in Christ's salvation and in
His purpose for my life-I found rest, a kind of rest far
greater than I ever could have imagined.
Something happens when you catch a glimpse of
Him.
The apostle Paul, who zealously pursued his own
idea of righteousness before surrendering himself to
the Lord Jesus, wrote that "if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold,
all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17, KJV).
That radical transformation from old to new is exactly
what happened to me when I received the Lord. It was
as though I had walked through some sort of invisible
curtain into a whole new world. I really didn't have to
consciously think about ridding my life of sinful
things. By God's grace, I simply had no desire for them
anymore. I only wanted to know more of Jesus-His
teachings, His love, His nearness, and His power. I had
found the new wine of the Holy Spirit, which is far
more satisfying than anything the world can offer us.
Such turning from sin happens to everyone who
names Jesus as Lord and Savior. And note this: It is
almost always accompanied by an awakened awareness
of our sinfulness-and heartfelt grief over our ungodly
thoughts, words, and deeds.
Consider Job, the man God Himself described as
the most righteous man of his generation: "There is no
one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a
man who fears God and shuns evil" (Job 1:8, NIV). But
when Job caught a glimpse of God, all thoughts of personal
righteousness blew away like mist in the wind.
He cried out:
"I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You.
Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:5-6)
When Job saw God, any sense of his own goodness
or worthiness simply vaporized.
"Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth." (40:4)
Something happens when you catch a glimpse of
Him.
You can see the pattern again and again throughout
the pages of the Bible. First comes an awareness of
God, in all His power and glory. And this is immediately
followed by the acute awareness of our sin and
our unworthiness before Him. When Peter got his first
taste of the power of Jesus the Nazarene, he fell at the
Teacher's knees and cried out, "Depart from me, for I
am a sinful man, O Lord!" (Luke 5:8).
In the first chapter of Ephesians, Paul composed a
vast, sweeping anthem declaring the wisdom, majesty,
and kindness of the living God. He follows this in
chapter 2 with the blunt words: "And you were dead in
your trespasses and sins" (v. 1, NASB).
Something happens when you catch a glimpse of
Him.
I heard of a man who leaves his house very early in
the morning for his job in the city. Thoughtful husband
that he is, he tries not to waken his wife as he dresses
and readies himself for the day. Knowing his closet by
feel, he selects his clothing with care in the semidarkness
of the bedroom and slips out of the house like a silent
wraith. But sometimes as he steps off the city bus and
walks toward his office in the bright morning sunlight,
he suddenly begins to notice things he hadn't seen
before. He observes the wrinkles in his slacks, the lint
on his blazer, and the ugly stain on his tie.
What seemed perfectly acceptable in the dim light
of his bedroom becomes totally unacceptable in the
bright sunlight.
The prophet Isaiah had a similar experience. At a
critical moment in Israel's history, after the death of a
great king and leader, Isaiah had an overwhelming
vision. One day as he was going about his usual routine,
the heavens suddenly rolled back, and he found
himself staring-in terror and wonder-at the throne
of almighty God.
Almost at a loss for words (who wouldn't be?), the
prophet did his best to record what he saw and experienced:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the
Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.
Above it stood seraphim; each one had six
wings: with two he covered his face, with two
he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And
one cried to another and said:
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!"
And the posts of the door were shaken by
the voice of him who cried out, and the house
was filled with smoke. (Isaiah 6:1-4)
Something happens when you catch a glimpse of
Him.
Now Isaiah was known in Israel as a great prophet
of the Lord. He must have had a reputation as a gentleman,
a solid citizen, and a man of God. He probably
got out of bed that morning feeling just fine about his
standing with the Lord. But what seemed acceptable in
the dim light of earth suddenly became unacceptable in
the fiery radiance of heaven. In that mighty river of pure
light that flowed from God's throne, Isaiah looked at
himself and was utterly appalled.
But what he saw was infinitely worse than wrinkled
or blemished clothing. He saw the ugly stains on
his own soul. How could such a soiled, shameful creature
of dust like himself survive for more than a heartbeat
in the presence of such awesome purity? The
prophet cried out in his despair, believing death to be
near.
"Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of
unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts." (v. 5)
In Hebrew, you would have heard the piercing cry,
"Oohh-eeee!" "Woe!" Just that quickly, he saw himself
as "undone." Other translations use the words lost,
beaten, or ruined.
Something happens when you catch a glimpse of God,
in His power and majesty and blazing holiness.
Isaiah must have fallen on his face, realizing his
true condition before the Lord. But-God be
praised!-the throne of holiness and might is also a
throne of grace. He was forgiven and cleansed from his
sin . and then God sent him out as a herald and
spokesman to the people of his nation.
In revival, God first refines and purifies His
people. Then He fills them with His power. He places
in their heart His love and compassion for those who
are lost-beaten, undone, ruined-without God and
without hope in the world.
In revival, Christians aren't trying to work up the
courage to testify about a historical figure they learned
about from a book. Instead, they radiate-they can't
help but radiate-the presence of the One whose
power continually fills their lives (see Psalm 34:5).
Revival normally begins among God's people, but
before long, like water surging through a broken levee,
revival overflows and spills out into society. The power
of God is so strong that prostitutes, drug addicts, alcoholics,
and those addicted to gambling, pornography,
and lust are set free and gloriously converted. In past
revivals .
• saloons, dance halls, and theaters have emptied
for lack of customers,
• jails have emptied for lack of criminals,
• courts have emptied for lack of disputes.
Can you imagine? Men and women found themselves
drawn to spontaneous prayer meetings like iron
filings to a magnet. Dealing with eternity became the
uppermost concern in people's lives.
In the book of Acts, we read that the building
where the believers gathered was shaken, and they
spoke forth the word of God with boldness and joy
(see 4:31).
TRANSFORMING FIRE
In revivals that have taken place in the Belgian Congo
and also in China, young children have had visions of
heaven. Some saw the second coming of Christ.
Others, who had never been taught these things, saw
the rapture of the church at the end times and believers
being swept up into heaven.
In both the Congo in the twentieth century and
during the frontier revival in the United States at the
beginning of the nineteenth century, sinners entering
prayer meetings fell to the ground where they lay for
hours as the Holy Spirit brought their lives into conformity
with His will.
In Indonesia, where believers were praying and
worshiping God, it appeared to their enemies that the
entire church building was engulfed in flames.
In China during the Boxer Rebellion, missionaries
-aware of an angry mob rushing toward their
building to kill them-huddled together to pray for
God's intervention. Later, when they inquired why the
mob had suddenly slunk away in fear, they were told,
"Your building was surrounded by flaming warriors
with raised swords."
Yes, in true revivals angels come calling, young
men see visions, and old men dream dreams. God
equips His people with gifts of the Holy Spirit, and
they witness boldly about the wonderful works of the
Lord.
During the past century in the United States, the
term revival has normally meant a church-sponsored
evangelistic meeting. Something programmed.
Something planned months ahead of time, as a visiting
pastor or itinerant evangelist comes to town for a week
or two of special services. Churches put ads in the
newspaper and notices up on their reader boards.
Those who attend are asked either to make a first-time
decision for Christ or to rededicate their lives to Him.
Can God work in such a setting?
Of course He can. And He often does.
But remember that He is ever more inclined to
draw near to us than we are to seek Him. Although
such evangelistic meetings can indeed bring about a
true revival, their measure is usually limited to the
number of people (few or many) who respond to the
evangelist's appeals.
The revival that America cries out for today, however,
does not consist of emotional preaching or even
inspired evangelism. The revival we pray for transforms
lives, empowers pastors, electrifies churches,
rolls back the spreading blight of sin and national
decay, and brings the reality of God to the entire population.
But how does such a thing come about?
How does it begin?
What are the steps to revival?
Over nine hundred years before Christ came to
earth, God gave a simple formula to Solomon, king of
Israel, just after the dedication of the newly constructed
temple in Jerusalem. Following a day when
the brightness and power of God's presence had so
filled the new temple that even the priests couldn't get
near the door, the Lord came to the king by night and
spoke to him.
Continues.
