Pray for the Fire To Fall

As a young man in my early twenties growing up in Bulawayo, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), I often attended all-night prayer meetings in the city. We prayed for revival. Many of those who prayed literally cried out to God to open the windows of heaven and rain down showers of blessing. We prayed and prayed, but there was no revival. I don’t really think I knew then what revival was, what form it would take, or what the result would be. We just prayed for revival, for God to bless. We prayed for a citywide revival, but nothing out of the ordinary happened.

While local evangelical churches grew, there was no real revival—at least not the kind we prayed for. God certainly blessed the youth ministry and outreach I was involved in as many young people came to faith in Christ, and some of their parents started attending church. But it wasn’t what I would call a revival. Despite praying for revival over the years, I am still not entirely sure what to expect. I know what I would like to happen. But because God is sovereign and works in His own way, we can’t necessarily predict what form spiritual revival will take. All we know is that something out of the ordinary happens as followers of Christ get fired up and make a deeper commitment of their lives to Christ and people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Some revivals result in a movement, the impact of which is felt around the world.

Harold Scofield, a brilliant doctor who had served in China for many years, prayed that God would give him missionaries from British universities to serve in China. Six university students and one student from the Royal Military Academy responded. Upon acceptance into the China Inland Mission (now the Oversees Missionary Fellowship), the seven toured England and Scotland, challenging university students to engage in missionary endeavor. They were dubbed “The Cambridge Seven.” Upon their arrival in China in 1885, the CIM had 163 missionaries; the number doubled by 1890, and ten years later had risen to 800. The subtitle of J.C. Pollock’s book The Cambridge Seven reads “The true story of ordinary men used in no ordinary way.” The “seven” literally inspired thousands to think seriously about missionary service.

The martyrdom of five missionaries on the banks of the Curaray River in Ecuador’s Amazon jungle in January 1956 resulted in thousands of young people stepping forward to “fill the gap” and volunteer for missionary service around the world. God turned seeming tragedy into triumph.

Sometimes God ignites a church and an entire community is reached for Christ. Sometimes a city is impacted. The adage is true: revival begins with one individual, one church, and one community at a time.

Over the course of my early Christian life, I eagerly read about revivals. With a British heritage, the Welsh revival of 1904 and the Scottish Hebrides Revival of 1949 were always prominent. I clearly recall being with my parents in Scotland as news of the Hebrides revival was breaking. But there are many more instances of revival throughout church history.

Sadly, most revivals are short-lived. The adage is true, “God doesn’t have any grandchildren.” My heart yearns for a revival that impacts generations. I hope your heart also yearns for that.

We desperately need a spiritual awakening in America today. Are you willing to pray for that to happen? I mean are you really willing to pray for an outpouring of God’s Spirit, for followers of Christ to be completely surrendered to Him? Are you content to passively wait for God to work, or are you eager to get in on the action?

My purpose in writing this book is to help committed followers of Christ prepare for an outpouring of God’s blessing—an experience of the convicting and converting work of the Holy Spirit. I trust God will use this endeavor to ignite a spiritual awakening and revival in your life, in the life of your church, community, city, county, and country.

In the meanwhile, prayerfully consider the question: What do you think are the greatest perils facing the church today? Are they external or internal?

The group discussion questions are designed to help you and your group prayerfully think through the issues the church faces today, to challenge each member of your group to pray for and experience a personal revival as his or her heart is enflamed by the Holy Spirit, and to be the needed spark to help ignite a revival in your church and community. I trust this book will inspire you to be all that God desires you to be, for you to be “sold out” to Jesus Christ.