Revival by Michael Sprague

 I recently read a bleak assessment of Christian Faith in America. Does this resonate with you?

"Look at how the glory is departing. You that are aged can remember 50 years ago when the churches were in their glory. What a change there has been! Time was when the churches were beautiful. Many people were converted and willingly declared what God had done for their souls, and there were added to the churches daily such as should be saved. But conversions have become rare in this day. Look into the pulpits and see if there is such a glory as there once was. The glory is gone. The special design of providence in this country seems to be now over. We weep to think about it."

These words (condensed and paraphrased) came from a sermon by Rev. Increase Mather in 1702. They remind us that every generation is jeopardized by spiritual wandering and revitalization is critical. In fact, America has a deep and rich history of four great spiritual awakenings.

The First Great Awakening swept through the Colonies in the 1730’s and 1740’s. It was so needed. The writings of skeptics and Enlightenment thinkers pervaded the land and churches struggled to keep their doors open. Moral rot was everywhere. Colleges were hotbeds of man-centered thinking. Not one in twenty claimed Christian faith.

Prayer and powerful preaching by the likes of George Whitefield, the open-air orator and Jonathan Edwards struck the revival match in America. The message of personal spiritual redemption and personal morality spread like wildfire. The Spirit of God moved and soon as much as 80 percent of the population identified with a Christian church. A godless group of colonies became a God-fearing nation, setting the foundation of a new nation called the United States of America.

The Second Great Awakening was needed at the end of the 1700’s.

The Third Great Awakening came in 1858.  The Fourth Great Awakening in America started in Wales in 1904. Prayer meetings spread all over Wales. The effects were felt everywhere. Taverns went bankrupt. The Police started gospel quartets because crime dropped to next to nothing. The coal mines shut down for several weeks because the miners stopped using profanity causing the mules to no longer understand their directions. Revival jumped the ocean to America. Revival broke out at numbers of universities and over a million-people trusted Christ.

What characterizes revivals? Revivals emerge during the darkest hours of spiritual and moral decline; they always include prayer, the Word of God, conviction, repentance and an unmistakable move of the Spirit. True revival produces lasting fruit and ripples through the land when everything seems hopeless. Revivals cannot be manufactured. They are sovereign works of God. What can we do? Draw a box. Step into it and say, “Oh God, let the revival start with me.”

Will there be a Fifth Great Awakening in America? We pray so! Oh, may we see another move of God.