How to Develop a Revival Burden in Others
Be personally faithful in revival prayer.
Leading is not about pointing the way, but about going there first. If you want those you lead to have this particular burden, it must be growing in you.Nothing creates a proper perspective and deepened passion like time spent in God’s presence. To lead others there, you must not only go there occasionally, you must live there.I was convicted recently of my inconsistency in private, daily prayer for revival. A simple request has wonderfully begun to change that deficiency:“Lord, forgive me for my prayerlessness. If You will remind me in the first hours of the day to pray for revival, I will (by Your grace) instantly respond in prayer.” Wonderfully, not a day has passed that God has not been faithful to answer this request.
Frame current events in the context of revival.
God is speaking deeply through every act of the common day. We must “find where God is at work and join Him,” as Henry Blackaby wonderfully reminds us.What was God saying through the tragedy we face? The recent worldwide terror attacks? The political turns we’re taking as a nation? The financial demise in our nation and world? Is God asleep? Is He working and speaking through each of these moments? What is He trying to say to us?If you took our current events and placed them in the Bible, how would we interpret what is happening around us? What would His prophets be saying to the people? Isn’t this what WE should be saying?I don’t pretend to have a perfect explanation of these situation, but I am the shepherd to my people in the church where God has placed me. I must do my best, under God’s leadership, to give them understanding or a place of spiritual dialogue about these happenings
Preach words “fit for the need of the moment.”
I don’t know about you, but I sense that our nation is in a desperate crisis. Apathy and a lack of direction plague the younger generations; pride and self-reliance have chipped away at the older.In the opinion of many spiritual leaders in our nation, the judgment of God could be imminent! It is time to turn, pray, and unite for revival and spiritual awakening. As leaders, we must be preaching and teaching on these issues. We must dig deep into the Word of God and teach truth not only where our people are, but where God wants them to be going.