Why no revival?

 Nearly one year ago revival broke out on the campus of Asbury University. People came from around the world to witness this amazing event. The media was there to record the revival. I spoke with people who went there who talked about the feeling one had as soon as they entered the university campus, even before they attended one of the services. The revival spread to other university campuses as students from those universities went to Asbury and then returned to their own campus taking the revival with them. Many prayed that this would be the beginning of a nation-wide revival. Now, eleven months later, nothing.

We hear nothing about revival. Nothing has been changed. Evil continues to dominate the world. The church continues to be powerless to address that evil. Christianity continues to be under increasing attack around the world including the US. Churches continue to decline both in numbers and influence. Were lives changed during the Asbury revival? No doubt they were. Did good things happen because of that revival? Absolutely. But, the sense of revival did not last and our nation and churches continue their downward spiral. Why?

Back in 1959 Leonard Ravenhill wrote a great little book titled Why Revival Tarries. His words were indeed prophetic. He listed several reasons why revival tarries.

• Evangelism has become commercialized.
• The Gospel has been cheapened and replaced with an "easy-believe-ism" that demands nothing.
• We are careless of those who come to the altar to repent.
• We are fearful of preaching the Gospel as we do not want to offend anyone.
• We lack urgency in prayer.
• We steal the glory that belongs to God and boast of what wonderful things we have done.

What Ravenhill wrote in 1959 is even more true today. Churches are more interested in survival than in reaching the lost. We are more interested in being "woke" than in being biblical. We are afraid of offending anyone so we do and say nothing. In many churches, prayer is talked about more than actually done. The altar call is neglected in many churches, and why not? Their little 10 minute sermonette is unlikely to stir anyone to feel convicted of their sins anyway. Seldom does a week go by without the report of another church leader who has been removed from ministry for misconduct.

The world looks at the church and laughs. It mocks those who do attempt to stand for biblical truth, so we withdraw into our "sanctuaries" and try to not attract too much notice. After all, we do not want to risk our 501c3 status. Besides, we have enough to do to try to satisfy the members of our country club churches. One group wants the pastor to wear a suit and tie when he preaches while others want him in jeans and a t-shirt. One group demands contemporary worship while another group gets upset if the songs they sing are not in the hymn books. Heaven help someone who might sit in a member's pew since they've owned that spot for 50 years! (I actually know a judicatory minister who was asked to move twice when he visited a church because he was in someone's seat! Imagine if that had been someone who was seeking God in his life.) With all this going on, and more, we don't have time to be concerned about the lost or about seeking God for revival. It's all we can do to put out the fires in our churches.

Revival will never happen until the church once again becomes the church of Jesus Christ. Until we are unashamed and unafraid to stand for the truth of the Word of God we will never see lasting revival. Until we once again become houses of prayer revival will not come. Until we understand our mandate to reach a lost world for Jesus Christ there will never be true revival. Until God's people seek to grow in faith and holiness there can be no revival. Revival must begin first in the church before it can spread to the nation. May each of us seek revival in our own lives so the church can be revived which can then begin to spread across our nation.