FROM THE HEART
Empowered to Share
A
ccording to the Institute for the Study of
American Evangelicals, nearly 200 million Americans have no faith involvement at all in their lives. This makes America the third largest “unchurched” country in the world, behind India and China. Who will tell them about Christ if you and I don’t? When God revives His people, they gain a new burden for those who don’t know Jesus. They become bold in their witness. Believers are not only quickened to fulfill their responsibility in sharing the gospel with the lost, but something else happens as well: God moves supernaturally to awaken the hearts of unbelievers. Historically, in seasons of revival, we see intensified efforts to reach the lost, accompanied by a great harvest of souls. Dr. J. Edwin Orr was a noted revival historian of the last generation. I remember hearing him say that “in the unrevived state of the Church, saints go racing to find sinners—but in the revived state of the Church, sinners come racing to find the Savior.” They’re drawn irresistibly to Jesus by the Spirit of God. We see this illustrated in past revivals. During the Great Awakening of the 1700s, some 50,000 people were added to the New England churches out of a population of just 340,000. During the Second Great Awakening in the U.S., church membership increased ten-fold. It was said that people would rush out of their houses as the revivalists would pass down the street, begging them to come in and help them find Christ. Can you imagine that happening in your neighborhood? During the great prayer revival in New York City in 1858, the number of conversions was reported to be as high as 50,000 per week. In the revival that God sent to Wales in 1905, 100,000 conversions were reported in a five-month period. (And these were not just “professions” of faith. In fact, five years later, when skeptics set out to debunk the revival, the charge was leveled that only eighty percent of those “conversions” were still standing. Our most “successful” evangelistic efforts today can only dream of such statistics!) Can that kind of thing happen today? We heard from a woman describing the aftermath of God having met with her in revival during a Life Action summit in her local church. She wrote to say, “First, I quit
smoking after forty-three years, using no man-made helps— the power of prayer works.” She continued, “Second (and most important) was my son’s salvation. He was saved last month and baptized on Easter Sunday. I can’t tell you the joy I felt after nineteen years of prayers and tears to see that answer come.” But that’s not all. Over a short period of time following the revival that began in her own heart: My brother-in-law was saved, my mother was saved, my niece was saved, my nephew and his wife rededicated their lives to Christ, my daughter rededicated her life, my daughter’s fiancé was saved, my daughter’s friend was saved, my granddaughter was baptized, my husband is growing spiritually, my daughter’s fiancé’s sister was saved, and my son’s fiancée’s daughter was saved.
When God pours out His Spirit in an extraordinary
Of course, apart from seasons of revival, we still have to be faithful in our witness, faithful in proclaiming the gospel, faithful in calling men and women to come to faith and repentance. But when God pours out His Spirit in an extraordinary way, He enables and empowers our efforts, and fruit is borne in ways that we never dreamed possible. That makes my heart cry out, Lord, please revive Your church, “that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations” (Psalm 67:2 ESV).v
way, He enables and empowers our efforts.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss
Revive Our Hearts Radio Host
Adapted from a Revive Our Hearts radio broadcast, www.ReviveOurHearts.com.
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