Revival

Dear Phyllis,

Revival is a word on many lips. There is no question that we all need revival, but I suspect that few know what revival actually is. The best definition I know is, A VISITATION OF THE SPIRIT. This is a very uncommon phenomenon, but when it happens you know it. It is the intense awareness that Jesus is here. Of course Jesus has promised to always be with us, but the soulish (intellectual) promise and the spiritual awareness are two different things.

There is a fundamental difference between the soul and the spirit. They are as much different as water and air. Water and air are two radically different environments and yet there are similarities. They both have living creatures in them. One has fish and the other birds. The way both fish and birds move around and live in their respective environments is very similar. But the environments are different. Applying this to our life, we can see that our natural (soulish) life is like a water environment and our spiritual life is like living in air. We are unique in that we are creatures who live in both worlds. By nature we have a soul, and by the new-birth we are citizens of heaven and have a unique spiritual nature. The natural man has a spirit just like the saved man, but there is a vast difference in that the natural man's spirit is dead (Eph. 2:1,5). Even with his dead spirit there is some communication or awareness of the spirit world. Spiritist are able to communicate with demons and anyone can sense an atmosphere. Both Daniel and Paul had an encounter with the Lord while they were with others but what they saw and heard was different than those who were with them. (Dan. 10:7; Acts 22:9). Those who were with Daniel were frightened and hid themselves. Those with Paul saw the light but heard nothing. I believe it is safe to say that the vast majority of our life is spent in the soul world. The soul is composed with the intellect, emotions, and will. We share this with all living creatures ranging from monkeys to ants. I believe 90% of our Christian life is soulish which is intellect, emotions, and will. But the real spiritual component is totally different.

Two weeks ago I visited my friend James' church which was very good. It had more English than I had been in in years. The songs were excellent, and everything they did was right on the money. In my mind I agreed 100% with everything they did - but with dry eyes. Last week I was back at my regular Beulah Christian Church which is almost totally Thai, and my heart burned with tears coursing down my cheeks for almost the entire song service. As they worshiped Jesus all I could do was say, “Yes, yes, yes. It's true. That's right. It is real”. There was a spiritual component there that I didn't find in James' church.

I'm sure everybody experiences this to a limited degree. This is why, when we have devotions and read the Bible, sometimes it is just words, and sometimes the Word comes alive, our hearts burn and tears flow. This is what the Emmaus disciples experienced with Jesus and they exclaimed, “Did not our hearts burn within us as He spoke to us in the way?” (Lk. 24:32). A burning heart is one of the evidences of the presence of Jesus, and frequently this is accompanied with tears.

But the awesome awareness of the presence of Jesus is something of a higher level. In 1962 Phares Huggins was holding down the Karuizawa Bible school for one year while Earl Tygert was on furlough. One night there was a musical group from the states visiting them for the weekend. It was Phares' custom to have brief devotions after a meal. After a brief reading of the Word Phares suggested, “Let's pray”. When the prayer started, suddenly, there was the intense awareness that Jesus stepped in the room. This startled everyone. Thirty minutes later eight people sat around the table in awed silence and wet faces. One of the guests that night was a senior missionary lady who had had a serious physical problem for 18 years. That was instantly gone. No one wanted to move. At last the ladies realized they had to clean the table and wash the dishes, but they were reluctant to make any noise. Kathy Yamada was another sister there. She said when she awoke the next morning the first thing that ran through her mind was, “Is Jesus still here?”. Sitting in silence she was delighted to answer that question, “Yes He is.”. Kathy said she felt like she could jump out her 2^nd floor window and float down to the ground. That awareness lasted about two weeks.

One famous visitation was at Asbury Bible College in 1975. They were having their usual morning chapel hour when suddenly Jesus showed up. The planned schedule went up in smoke and the alter was filled with weeping students. What was to be a brief 30 minute morning chapel was going strong at noon. All classes were canceled. The president was out of town at the time, but by evening the assistant director called him and said, “You better get back here immediately”. That 30 minute morning chapel lasted non-stop for three days. You can't program something like that.

Johnathon Goforth was one of the great revivalist of China. Around 1903 he was challenged by Charles Finney's book on revival. Finney's thesis was that revival was a miracle, but so is a field of corn. He said, “A Christian worker could pray for revival, but not cooperate with the laws of revival, with as much expectation as a farmer could pray for a crop of corn but not cooperate with the laws of agriculture and expect to get a good harvest.” Goforth said, 'If Finney is right, I'm going to find those laws of revival, and obey them at all cost.” That began an intense search for spiritual truth that lasted for 18 months. At the end of that time suddenly there was a radical transformation in Goforths meeting. He later wrote he had been in China for 14 years and had never seen one tear roll down a Chinese cheek. For the next several years Goforth's meetings were characterized by torrents of tears and the most startling public confession of sin. Marie Munsen and John Sung also had very similar results.

I have been much interested in revival for 60 years, but have seen very little of it. As close as I came was when I was the speaker at a pastor's conference in Korea. There were about 300 Korean pastors gathered at a Bible school in Chunju. One night there was an unusual enabling by the Holy Spirit. I was surprised to see several pastors jump up and flee out of the building. I was young at the time and didn't know the ways of the Spirit. Years later I saw this was a common phenomenon at Goforths meetings when pastors sensed

there was about to be a moving of the Holy Spirit and they didn't want to get trapped where they would have to make public confession of sin. I gave an invitation at the end of my message but I wasn't mature enough to allow the Holy Spirit to take over, and I closed the meeting too soon.

It was said of Evan Roberts that he never missed a church meeting. Roberts said, “If Jesus ever comes I don't want to miss Him.” Jesus did come and Evan Roberts was there. It happened when he was addressing a small meeting for students. But within two weeks it burst into flame of the greatest revival of the 20^th century. The Welsh revival lasted two years. There has never been anything quite like it since then.

Jesus best described this phenomenon when He said, “The wind bloweth where it listeth”. We cannot command the Wind to blow. We cannot program a moving of the Spirit. When Jesus wants to visit a person or a gathering that is totally His prerogative. I have heard a fair amount of preaching and some prayer for revival for 60 years but have seen very little of it.

But on a personal level Jesus has been kind to this poor, unworthy, man beyond expression. As I sit here on my balcony morning after morning Jesus has stopped by to fellowship with me on a level that I cannot explain. All I can say is, in His presence is the fullness of joy and at His right hand are pleasures for evermore (Ps.16:11).

Oh, thank You, thank You, thank You, Jesus,

                                                              bill