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The Preparation of the Church for Heaven-sent Revival

 

by Al Whittinghill

Those who understand the alarming situation in the world today and who are honest in their evaluation of

the true spiritual condition of the visible Church cannot deny that there is an urgent need for

heaven-sent revival among God’s people. There is no way that the Church, as she is today, can

answer the challenges of this dark hour or meet the desperate need of this generation to hear the Gospel.

The Church must first experience the glorious touch of the Lord in His fresh resurrection life and revival

power. There are many in the body of Christ who long to see the people of God in our day calling upon the

Lord and preparing their hearts to experience genuine revival sent from His throne.. May it become the

passion and the thrust in each of our lives to see lost souls saved, and to see dear Blood bought Church of

Jesus Christ become the glorious Church and spotless Bride that the Scriptures declare she is to be.

It is truly remarkable how many great movements of the Spirit of God have taken place throughout the

long history of the Church as the people of God have turned to Him in desperation and deep awareness of

their spiritual need. God has responded to His promises as His people have dared to truly humble themselves

in His presence, get authentically honest, and act upon the Word of God. Repeatedly throughout history God

has shown that it is His desire to bless His people in glorious ways and in gracious power as His people

honestly face the truth of His promise that He spoke in 2 Chronicles 7:14.

“If my people, which are called by my Name, shall humble themselves, and pray,

and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and

will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Every true believer realizes and knows in his heart that God has called each Christian into a deep, rich,

pure, and unbroken fellowship with Him. His Spirit witnesses this to the heart of every genuinely born again

person. We are called to share in the glorious Life that is IN His Son! But every believer also realizes, to some

degree, how frequently that true spiritual life is interrupted or diminished by our giving over to some

distraction or yielding the moment to our old nature of selfishness (We can grieve, quench or resist the Spirit

of God). The Bible calls this independence from God “sin”! There are still foes that we have to face within us

and all around us. We MUST do this in the unfailing Name of Jesus if we are to enjoy the constant joy of His

holy presence. There is no other way to experience the reality of His manifested, indwelling abiding Life. Our

God is a jealous God, and He wants His people to love Him without a rival. Our sin must be dealt with in the

manner that the Word of God says. Whenever the people of God allow unconfessed sin to remain in their

lives, or if they begin to allow idolatry to creep into their hearts, there is a loss of the sense of His presence

(Ps. 66:18). This is God’s mercy to us. He is calling to our hearts to repent. We will begin to experience a

sense of bondage and heaviness, or an unexplainable feeling of “loneliness,” that will grow and soon begin to

wreak havoc in many areas of our lives. Things will seem to get harder and harder as the loving chastening of

the Lord continues in the life, until we come to our senses and turn to Him with all our hearts. God may “lean on

us” in our circumstances, or even deal with our health, just to get our attention and strongly say to us that He

loves us and wants us to repent and return in faith to Him. He is a jealous God! Such is the sense of the

timeless truth given in 2 Chronicles 7:14. In Chapter six of 2 Chronicles (a very helpful background to

understanding chapter 7) the whole chapter is a prayer that Solomon is praying as he kneels in the sight of all

the assembled people. He is dedicating the burnt altar of sacrifice and the newly finished Temple to the Lord.

He asks God to have mercy upon them in the future if they fail to worship Him supremely and if they should

foolishly allow other things to control them. Even in the midst of chastening that would come because of sin,

Solomon asks God to have mercy upon them and call the people back to Himself. Later at night God appears

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to Solomon and confirms to Him that if His people would fulfill His gracious conditions, He would restore

their intimacy with Him, and forgive their sin. And the land that had been experiencing hard times because of

the people’s sin would also be healed. God promises that there will be blessing on every level when His

people respond to Him appropriately and fully, according to His Word.

A great number of God’s people have found these promises to be wonderously true as they have taken

them to heart, responded to Him fully, and looked to Him for authentic revival. We need this in our day more

than words can describe.

“If My people” means the Church….the people that are known by His name. “If my people will do

something….then I will do something,” says God! This is you, and this is me. How often we tend to think that

if we can just change the world, then things will get better. It is the Church that holds the key to the future,

not the world. The world cannot reform itself; it is incurably corrupted. God will use His redeemed people,

the ones whose hearts are truly His, to usher in revival when they finally become willing to face His conditions

and act on His promise. Once we realize our great need, we must also see that the Lord has placed the

initiative for His remedy with us! We can count on His response as we fulfill His gracious conditions for

revival. The desire of our covenant-keeping God is to restore and bring His people to the place of true

blessing in Him, but we must be willing to face the real issues. It must be a matter of the heart and deep

honesty. Only then will He pour out His Spirit on the Church and restore her to the place of spiritual beauty,

power and spiritual effectiveness. This verse sets before us some areas of our lives that we must deal with

individually, and as His Church, if we expect to see Him move in revival and in the restoration of spiritual

blessing:

1. We must humble ourselves. Of the ten different Hebrew words for “humble” this one means

“to subdue, to vanquish, to humiliate.” It comes from a root word meaning “to bend the knee.” It suggests

our coming before Him in complete and voluntary subjection to Him. This is a fresh dealing with

His Cross….or brokenness! We must turn from our pride. As we get real with Him and allow the

Holy Spirit to bring our whole lives before Him, He will plow through our hearts and show us a

revelation of our pride and selfishness. Our pride has been the great hindrance! The question is “Who

shall be our God?” Ourselves or our Savior? Do we want God enough to be truly honest? We must

bend the knee before Him in united authentic submission to Him. The “I “ must be subdued and

vanquished, and we must choose for it to be so. We must deal with our self-confidence and pride in the

light of the cross. This will mean taking off our masks, coming into His light, and abandoning ourselves to

Who He is. We must ask ourselves, “Have we ever shed tears together concerning our pride?” This is

the place that God says the process of revival must start. He will wait for us to come before Him and

humble ourselves in a broken and contrite way. It is humility that draws the heart of God. Just see His

promise to humility and brokenness in Isaiah 57:15.

2. We must pray. This is the next great condition that flows right out of, and builds upon, the first. Of

the twelve Hebrew words for prayer, this one means “to judge oneself habitually in the presence of God.”

In 1 Peter 4:17 we read that “The time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God.” What

is this but a fresh dealing with His Crown….or truthfulness! We must turn from our

prayerlessness. This may be painful, but it is essential. We cannot pray for revival unless we are willing

to be changed forever! We must be specific about His Lordship in our lives as we come before Him in

humility. What needs changing in our lives in the light of His Word? As we submit to Him in brokenness

and honesty, God will search us and show us areas in our lives that He wants to change. We must agree

with God and take sides with Him against any place of resistance in our lives! A contrite heart that is

confessing a genuine willingness to be changed by God is irresistible to Him. We must allow God to

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search us with His eyes of fire. Throughout the book of Acts and the history of the Church, it is always

broken-hearted prayer by a desperate people of God that has brought revival. Zion must travail and give

herself to effectual and fervent prayer before her fruit will come. The question that we must answer is,

“Would we rather just feel right or be right?”

3. We must seek His Face. This is the third condition in this way of grace. Perhaps we have been

seeking His Hand, His help, His gifts or His blessing; but this condition demands that we seek God for

Himself….to know Him. “Face to face” is how we get to know someone. In the Hebrew this “seek” is a

very intensive word. This is a fresh dealing with His calling….or intimacy! We must turn from

our passivity. “He that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who

diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6. This is an attitude of holy desperation for God Himself, gripped with

a sense of urgency and a zeal for communion with Him. We have a desire to know and honor Him.

Habakkuk 1:13 tells us that He is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and that He cannot look on sin. We

must get radical and seek Him with a heart that is desiring to “draw near to God with a true heart in full

assurance of faith.” We must long to “walk in the light of His countenance” and to know the blessing of

His approval and communion. Knowing that our Lord cannot tolerate sin in His presence, we must seek

to “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit” and to dwell in His sweet approval. The Church

must become desperate for God Himself and not just what He can do for us.

4.We must turn from our wicked ways. Fourth, in this divinely inspired order is this great

practical step involving action. Most of us would not call our ways “wicked” because we are “church

people” and fairly respectable. But once I begin to honestly humble myself and truly, prayerfully seek His

face, I will surely discover that many of the things that I have been justifying and calling mere “weaknesses”

are, in reality, “wickedness.” The Word tells us that the wicked man must forsake his way and the

unrighteous man, his thoughts. In the light of God’s holy character many things we thought were

harmless, suddenly, in His presence, must be dealt with as sin. This is a fresh dealing with His

character….or holiness! We must turn from pollution. Small things now loom large and “pet

indulgences” will become loathsome to us in the light of Who He is. No more excusing ourselves; no

more blaming others; no more “playing dumb.” We must act on the Truth that God has shown to us. The

conviction of the Holy Spirit must be responded to practically. We must become available to His will. This

truly is the reality of what repentance means, and the presence of His holiness is the truest test of

whether or not a work is genuinely from God. Does it produce holiness and bring glory to Him? Are

we willing to face this condition?

How shall we respond now that we have seen afresh the promise of 2 Chronicles 7:14? This verse has

been set to music, discussed, studied, preached and even hung on the wall in beautiful frames in our churches

and homes. But until we take it seriously and seek to respond with our whole hearts to these divinely-given

requirements, we will remain far from Heaven-sent revival! No one wants revival for the Church more than

He who gave Himself for her that she might be a spotless Bride unto Him! Today He is on the throne of

Eternity as the glorious Lord of all, and He yearns to see His Church transformed into that which matches His

desire for her. Wherever and whenever God’s people have gone to their knees and taken this verse to heart,

God has never failed to keep His promise of blessing. God has promised! This is the great need of the

hour in which we live. May each of us give ourselves fully to being part of the preparation of the Church for

real revival. And let it begin with me. “Oh Lord, may the world become astonished by Your glory and want

to know You as they see the people of God clothed once again in the beauty of Your holiness and filled with

Your love. “

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Al Whittinghill

Ambassadors for Christ International

1355 Terrell Mill Rd. , Building 1462

Suite 100

Marietta, GA 30067

Phone: 770-980-2020

 

“If My people will...then I will...”

 

Your friend and brother in Christ,