REVIVAL PRAYERS

REVIVAL PRAYERS (Ex 26:34, I Cor 3:17)
Prayer is the key to revival. Prayer is talking with God. Prayer is coming into God’s presence and worshipping and asking God to do what we can not do.

I – THE PLACE OF PRAYER:
The greatest honor in all the world, is the privilege to come into the Holy Place of the Creator of the Universe, and to talk with Him.
The secret of New Testament praying, or praying in the days of grace is found in the Old Testament Tabernacle.
Let me paint a picture, again, of the Tabernacle and its instruments and sacrifices which allowed the priest to go into the Holy of holies, into the presence of God for worship and prayer.
The Tabernacle was the worship center of all Israel. The outer boarder was made up of beautiful white linen cloth. The dimensions were fifty cubits by one-hundred cubits. There was one means of entrance, one door, on the east side. That door represented Jesus Christ.
THE BRAZEN ALTAR
When a person approached that door, the first thing that person saw was the brazen altar. This was the place where the sacrifices were offered. There were many individuals sacrifices made every day, but once a year on the Day of Atonement, the sacrifice was made to atone for the sins of Israel.
This brazen altar represents Calvary, where our Lord was crucified. This pictures the place of Salvation (Romans 10:8-13).
The book of Hebrews makes it very clear that the final sacrifice has been made. Hebrews 9:26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
Before a person can go any farther in talking with God, he had to begin at the brazen altar, which pictures Calvary.
THE BRASS LAVER
The next piece of instrument is the brass laver. The brass laver is the instrument of cleansing. This is where the priest washed and cleansed their bodies before going into the Holy Place, the place of worship.
The brass laver was a picture of personal cleansing. This place typified First John 1:9, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Though the Lord’s sacrifice for sin was declared the final means of Salvation, personal cleansing is applied throughout the Scriptures.
First John 5: 17, says, “All unrighteousness is sin.” Sin must be confessed to the Lord.
The brazen altar and brass laver were made of brass, the symbolic metal of judgment. Jesus was judged for us on the brazen altar, thus allowing us to come into His presence, after salvation.
We judge ourselves at the brass laver, so we might have close fellowship with Him.
THE HOLY PLACE
When the priest left the brass laver, he went into the Holy Place. In the Holy Place was the place or worship. There were three instruments of worship within. There was the Table of Showbread. This represented a person feeding his soul from the Word of God.
There was secondly, the Incense Altar. This was a place of prayer, 24-7. This is where prayers were offered day and night.
The third instrument was the Golden Candlesticks. This instrument was a magnificent picture of our Lord Jesus Christ.
From His beauty comes forth light that we might see truth. In worship we see God’s will for our lives. Through worship we change our lives and begin to live to honor the Lord and not ourselves.
THE VEIL AND HOLY OF HOLIES
Then there was a veil that separated the priest from the Holy of Holies. Once a year the high priest went behind the veil with the blood of a sacrifice and sprinkled it upon the Mercy Seat and the Ark of the Covenant.
This was the most fearsome time for the priest and all Israel. If the priest had one un-confessed sin in his life, he would die.
It was here the sins of Israel were atoned for, for one more year.
When Jesus Christ died on the cross and became the final sacrifice, that veil was torn down. The place of true worship for the child of God today, is in the very presence of our Holy God.
Because the Lord is holy, sins must be confessed. Our hearts must be pure and our hands clean. When we pray, we must take the time to visit Calvary, the brass laver, the holy place and the Holies of holies.

II – THE POWER OF PRAYER
In Acts, chapter one, the disciples and women prayed in one accord and God sent Pentecostal power. All through history, when God visited a nation or a island or a city or a church or an individual soul, it came in the midst of earnest, sincere prayer.
In 1903, a Dr. Hardie, began to go to different missionary centers in Korea and teach the people about prayer. The Koreans began to meet and pray faithfully at noon. A year later God’s power fell and ten thousand Koreans turned to God. This movement continued in power and spiritual results for a number of years.
The noon time hour was then changed until 4:00 PM. The reason for this was so they might pray until supper time. They wondered if God would continue to do greater things.
God did meet with them and God did do great things. Many other churches were touched by God and folks within the churches confessed their sins and many wept. Souls were saved and the churches were filled with great joy.
In one meeting, a visiting missionary with a great desire to see revival spoke of revivals elsewhere in Korea and how confession of sin and prayer brought that revival.
He spoke for quite a long time and when he finished, he said, “I felt I had spoke to long.” When he gave the benediction, nobody moved from their seats. The stillness of death reigned in the congregation. The stillness lasted six or seven minutes with nobody moving.
Then suddenly weeping broke out over the audience. Some folks stood and confessed sins. Some folks stood and asked forgiveness for bad tempers and quarrels. It was late that night before the people went home, but the Holy Spirit had met with them, refining as by fire.

In January 1907 many had gathered together for a week of universal prayer. They expected God to meet with them in a mighty way and yet all week long there was no manifestation of God’s power.
The final night about fifteen hundred people had assembled at the Central Presbyterian Church. One wrote and said, “The heavens over us seemed like brass.”
Then everyone was startled, when one of their elders, Mr. Keel, a leader in the church, stood up and said, “I am an Achan. God can’t bless because of me. I have misused money God had entrusted to me. A widow asked me to help her with her financial affairs and I abused my authority.”
Conviction of sin swept the audience. The service that began at 7:00 Sunday evening did not end until 2:00 Monday morning, as many confessed their sins and many went to the altar weeping and many made things right with others.
Here are some of the confessions.
1) A doctor boasted that he had one of the most honest cooks in Korea. The Holy Spirit convicted the cook. He stood and said, “I have been cheating the doctor all this time. I have been buying at good prices, but using much of the money the doctor gave me to build my home. He sold his home and paid the doctor back.
2) A teacher had been entrusted by the mission to buy some land. He said he had secured the land at $500. The mission station paid the bill. The teacher was convicted and stood up and said that he had bought the land at a far cheaper price and pocketed the extra money. He asked forgiveness and sold all he had to pay back the money he owed the mission.
3) One young man stood up and said he had cheated a man, Mr. Mackenzie, out of four dollars. The boy walked eighty miles to pay back the money he owed Mr. Mackenzie. Mr. Mackenzie accepted Christ and began a strong Christian.
4) A deacon stood and confessed to stealing some funds from the church. The people thought he would get peace but he did not. Later in distress, he stood and confessed to the sin of adultery.
5) A lady stood and confessed to the sin of adultery. Her husband was present. In Korea in 1907, if a wife was caught in adultery, her husband had the right to put her to death. That was the law. The husband in tears went to his wife and knelt beside her and forgave her.

Many came to the services to mock, but many came to pray. The lost scorned, but the true believers rejoiced.
A robber out of curiosity heard what was going on and came to the church and was convicted and converted. He went to the magistrate of the town and turned himself in. The astonished official said, “You have no accuser; you accuse yourself; we have no law in Korea to meet your case.” So they dismissed him.

A group of people resolved to meet every day at 4:00 in prayer until God would visit and revive the Churches of China. A year later in 1908, the Churches of China were touched by God.
Mr. Swallen said, “It paid well to have spent the several months in prayer, for when God the Holy Spirit came he accomplished more in half a day than all of us missionaries could have accomplished in half a year.”
By the end of 1907 there had been over 30,000 converts stemming from the prayers of many in 1903.
The revival continued. In 1910, thirteen thousand people signed cards in churches in Seoul alone that said, “We want to become Christians.
One island opposite the harbor had inhabitants of 17,000. The churches on that island had baptized since 1903, 4,247. That is 25% of the population.
Some churches met at 4:30 AM and prayed for months. Some met on Wednesday night and prayed for hours. Some met at 4:00 PM and prayed daily.
The key was threefold:
1) Their sins were confessed.
2) Their heart were right with God and others
3) They gave themselves to pray and seek God for a revival.

III – THE PETITIONS OF PRAYER
In Psalms 85, the Psalmist comes before God with praise and petitions.
A – PRAISED FOR GOD’S FORGIVENESS
1 LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.
1 – Look at God’s favor: Israel had fallen far from God and was thrown into captivity. Now, they had just returned from seventy years of Babylonian captivity. For this they acknowledged the favor of the Lord.
Can we not pray and praise God for his kindness towards America. Truly God has favored our land. He gave us our freedom which we have experienced for over two-hundred years ago.
We live in a land founded on the Bible and Jesus Christ. We have had great liberty and freedom. This is the land of plenty. Can we not praise Him for this?
(I don’t mean to be a fatalist, but America is in the process of entering into captivity, for God has not been favored but neglected for to long.)

2 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.
2 – Look at God’s Forgiveness: Israel often found them selves in trouble. The Babylonian captivity was the discipline hand of God. From this, they were delivered because of their prayers and God’s forgiveness.
Can we not praise God for our salvation, because He forgave us of our sins? If we are saved, we have much to be joyful over. We have much to look forward to each day, as well as in the near future. We can daily come into God’s presence and pray for our family, our friends and freedom. What a great honor!
3 Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.
3 – Look at God’s Fury: God is holy. Sin stirs up God’s wrath. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God, but America is about to begin to taste God’s wrath.
There is no way to escape God’s wrath, except through the brazen altar and the brass laver. Christ is our sacrifice for sin and the brass laver is our personal cleansing. This is what turns God’s fury.
We can praise the Lord because we will never face the wrath of God personally. We will never face eternal damnation. We will not have to face the tribulation of this world. Praise the Lord.
B – PRAYER FOR GOD’S FULLNESS
The Psalmist now offers a prayer to receive the fullness of God’s mercy.
Scholars have suggested that this Psalm is sung between two choirs. One choir sings the first three verses, offering praise to God. The second choir makes this prayer or petition to God, because, though they are delivered from Babylon, they have sinned so wickedly, they can’t help but wonder, “Will God totally forgive them?”
1 – National repentance is needed
4 Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.
5 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?
For God to hold back his hand of judgment on a nation and bless that nation, a nation must repent.
For God to hold back His anger on a church and give His blessing on a church, that church must repent.
For God to hold back his hand of chastening on a family, that family must repent, and for God to hold back his punishment on an individual, that individual must repent. This is what the Psalmist is saying.
A person, who is seeking God, will feel unworthy of God’s forgiveness. He will feel as if God is going to be angry with him all the days of his life, but that person must remember that God is God. He is not human. He does not act like man. He forgives and forgets.
If man truly with a repetitive heart, will turn and confess his failures, God will forgive. Will God pass those sins to the next generation? Not if there is a true repentance.
Sadly, if you recall history, 90% of the Jews chose to live in the world of Babylon and Persia, rather than in Jerusalem, the house of God.
B – National revival is needed
6 Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?
7 Show us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation.
God’s people must ask for a reviving from God. They must really desire a reviving, a cleansing, a refreshing, before God will send it.
Some folks really don’t want a revival. They are content where they are and don’t want God to interfere in their lives.
It may be that, that a person like that is unsaved or blinded by sin.
But, as a person takes a bath or shower and washes his hair and puts on new clothing and comes out feeling refreshed outwardly, a reviving of God in the lives of His children is a freshness inwardly.
A reviving is a mighty work of God in his people that causes them to repent of sin and renew their lives spiritually.
***When revival truly comes, your home-life will become wonderful. Your relationship to your mate will become peaceful. Worship will be enjoyable. Your church will focus on Jesus Christ. He will be the theme of each song and the focus of each message.
When revival came upon England in the days of the Wesley’s and to Wales in the days of Evan Roberts, it changed the nation morality.
Revival in a church or a family will cause sin to cease. Drunkenness, immorality, crime, dishonesty, lying, fornication will cease. Anger, bitterness, greed, pride will die within.
Then, souls will be saved from without. We can never expect God to save the souls of our lost love ones, if we will not first ask God to revive us.
Our motives must be pure. Our motives for revival must be to drawn nearer to God, not to get our way.
We are living in a day of a lot of commotion and emotion in churches, but very of God’s motion in our midst. How do I know?
When God comes down, sins are confessed and lives are changed. Much prayer and much praise are given to God.