J. Edwin Orr makes two distinctions in understanding the manifestation of the Spirit of God as it relates to people: revivals, and awakenings. "Outpourings of the Spirit are exclusively the work of God; but revivals are the work of God with the response of believers; awakenings are the work of God with the response of the people."1

When the Holy Spirit works extraordinarily among believers, particularly on a broad scale, it can be understood as an outpouring. When believers respond in repentance and life transformation, it can be understood as a revival. And when nonbelievers respond in great numbers, and masses of people across a broad geographical area are converted, it can be understood as an awakening.

When the Spirit is poured out, He operates at two levels. The first is in the revival of the church. Orr identifies three universal characteristics of genuine revivals: "an extraordinary burden of prayer, an unusual conviction of sin, [and] an uncanny sense of the presence of God." This then results in "repentance, confession, reconciliation, and restitution, with great concern for the salvation of sinners near at hand and far away.'' 2

The second level is in the spiritual awakening of the populace. Not every revival produces an awakening, though we all wish they did. In the Book of Acts, the initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit led to an instant reviving of the believers and an awakening of Jerusalem's populace. Three thousand came into the Church that day alone (2:41), after which more new believers kept coming, as "the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved" (v. 47 NIV).

In seeking to rediscover this work of the Holy Spirit, let us look at how Orr's three universal characteristics of revival have been exhibited in the past:

1. Extraordinary Burden to Pray. Before a revival ever begins, God plants in the hearts of intercessors an extraordinary burden to pray for revival. From them this motivation to pray spreads to others.

Believers are usually motivated to pray in one of several ways: for their own spiritual lives, for more outpouring of the Spirit, or for the salvation of nonbelievers. The Spirit of God commonly moves people to pray, but in times of revival, whole groups, whole congregations of people are moved to intense prayer.

Finney relates the fervency of a prayer meeting, where all the people were caught up in the Holy Spirit's inspiring presence and could do nothing but pray:

The brethren and sisters that were on their knees, began to groan, and sigh, and weep, and agonize in prayer. The deacon continued to struggle until he was about exhausted; and when he ceased my brother saith that there was nobody in the room that could get off from their knees. They could only weep and confess, and all melt down before the Lord. From this meeting the work of the Lord spread forth in every direction all over the town.3

Beginnings of the Third Great Awakening are traced in part to the famous "noonday prayer meetings" in New York City, which had a small beginning but astronomical increase:

Mr. J. C. Lanphier, a lay missionary in New York City, was greatly burdened for the salvation of souls. Almost daily in the lecture room of the old Dutch church on Fulton Street, he would go alone to pray for a genuine revival. He finally decided to invite others to join him in prayer. He announced a weekly prayer meeting to be held at noon on Thursday, the 23rd of September 1857.... Before long the numbers increased and it became a daily prayer meeting. This meeting room overflowed, and simultaneous meetings were held in the other auditoriums of the church building. The seats were all filled, passages and entrances were blocked, and hundreds were turned away for lack of room. This led to the formation of nine other daily noonday prayer meetings in New York City.4

Within six months ten thousand businessmen were gathering daily in New York City for prayer, and within two years a million converts had been added to the American churches.

In the early 1700s a group of Protestant refugees took refuge on the German estate of Nicolaus von Zinzendorf. Soon it was a thriving Christian community. With growth and diversity, pervasive conflict arose. Then in August 1727 the Holy Spirit came powerfully upon the community: "On the Lord's Day, the tenth of August, their minister Rothe was seized ... with an unusual impulse. He threw himself before God, and the whole assembly prostrated themselves with him under the same emotions."5

A few days later the people praised God, "hardly knowing whether they belonged to earth or had already gone to heaven."6 The Spirit's outpouring generated a prayer vigil in this Moravian community that continued around the clock, seven days a week, and without interruption for more than 100 years. You read that right ... 100 years! Stop and imagine it. Could this happen again today?

2. Unusual Conviction of Sin. The Holy Spirit always convicts people of sin, leading unbelievers to faith and believers to a more genuine, purified Christian life. But in a revival, the conviction of sin intensifies to extraordinary proportions. People often experience a deep revulsion toward sin, wanting to be completely free of it. Sometimes it happens with dramatic, external manifestations; sometimes quietly and orderly.

The remarkable growth of the church in Africa was influenced by the East African Revival of 1934 that continued for years and was primarily marked by repentance and confession of sin.

Jonathan Edwards, the primary leader of the First Great Awakening, wrote of the movement of God in Massachusetts in 1740: "There was scarcely a person in the town, either old or young, that was left unconcerned about the great things of the eternal world.... And the work of conversion was carried on in a most astonishing manner, and increased more and more; souls did, as it were, come by flocks to Jesus Christ."7

As the awakening spread, a nearby pastor reported that "more had been done in one week there than in seven years before."8 "Persons are first awakened with a sense of their miserable condition by nature." With some, he said, "their consciences are suddenly smitten," while "others have awakenings that come upon them more gradually."9

However it may come, the Spirit's work makes all the difference. John Wesley habitually dealt with people under severe conviction of sin as a result of God working through his preaching. Here is one example, typical of many:

A young woman followed me into the house, weeping bitterly, and crying out, "I must have Christ; I will have Christ. Give me Christ, or else I die!" Two or three of us claimed the promise on her behalf. She was soon filled with joy unspeakable, and burst out, "Oh let me die! Let me go to Him now! How can I bear to stop here any longer!"10

In the worldwide revival of 1904-07 in Korea, the Holy Spirit surprised two missionaries who had prayed for revival and were just going about their normal church ministry:

While conducting the service in the usual way, many commenced weeping and confessing their sins. Mr. Swallen said he had never met with anything so strange, and he announced a hymn, hoping to check the wave of emotion which was sweeping over the audience. He tried several times, but in vain, and in awe he realized that Another was managing that meeting; and he got as far out of sight as possible. Next morning he and Mr. Blair returned to the city rejoicing, and told how God had come to the out-station.11

As conviction of sin increased, church people began repenting of many things. This in turn opened the gates to an increased move of the Spirit across the mission field, and conviction of sin intensified yet more.

In a subsequent meeting, "Conviction of sin swept the audience. The service commenced at seven o'clock Sunday evening, and did not end until two o'clock Monday morning, yet during all that time dozens were standing weeping, awaiting their turn to confess."12

3. Powerful Sense of God 's Presence. God is always with us through the presence of His Holy Spirit. But to most of us most of the time, this is something we know by faith more than by experience. In times of revival, that presence is sometimes manifest in exceptional, dramatic ways. Though hard to categorize, it is a sensation, sometimes tangible sometimes not, that affects people's minds, emotions, wills, and occasionally bodies.

Wesley frequently experienced the manifest presence of God. It was not anything he did, for he was not a sensationalist; he was more likely to be stiff and solemn. Yet the Spirit moved mightily, as he reported:

While I was enforcing these words, "Be still and know that I am God," He began to make bare His arm, not in a closed room, neither in private, but in the open air, and before more than two thousand witnesses. One and another, and another was struck to the earth, exceedingly trembling at the presence of His power. Others cried with a loud and bitter cry, "What must we do to be saved?" And in less than an hour seven persons, wholly unknown to me till that time, were rejoicing, and singing, and with all their might giving thanks to the God of their salvation.13

Jonathan Edwards also noted the presence of a powerful but invisible force influencing the minds of people all over New England during the First Great Awakening:

Many very stupid, senseless sinners, and persons of a vain mind, have been greatly awakened. There is a strange alteration almost all over New England among young people; by a powerful, invisible influence on their minds, they have been brought to forsake those things in a general way.14

Grace Winona Woods says of the prayer meetings that initiated the revival of 1857-58, "The conviction was universal that this prayer revival was the work of God.... They were awed by the sense of Divine Presence in the prayer meetings and felt that this was holy ground. Christians were very much humbled. Impenitent men saw and felt this."15

The powerful sense of God's presence goes beyond just a feeling, beyond people sensing it in their spirits. God's presence, when manifest powerfully, sometimes gets physical. One instance of this happened at an 1823 camp meeting near Liberty, Illinois, as recorded by one of the preachers: "Brother Harris fell back in the pulpit, overcome by the influence of the Holy Spirit, and called upon me to invite the people forward for prayer.... The invitation was not sooner extended than the mourners came pouring forward in a body for prayer till the altar was filled with weeping penitents."16

The biggest meeting of the National Camp Meeting Association for the Promotion of Holiness was held at Manheim, Pennsylvania, in 1868. There the Holy Spirit swept across the congregation so powerfully that people felt what was like a strong wind. Nonbelievers were so scared by this that some stood "awestricken" and others ran away!

All at once, as sudden as if a flash of lightning from the heavens had fallen upon the people, one simultaneous burst of agony and then of glory was heard in all parts of the congregation; and for nearly an hour, the scene beggared all description.... Those seated far back in the audience declared that the sensation was as if a strong wind had moved from the stand over the congregation. Several intelligent people, in different parts of the congregation spoke of the same phenomenon.... Sinners stood awestricken, and others fled affrighted from the congregation.17

Here's a fire-kindling question: What keeps you from travailing prayer, from pouring your heart out for more of God and for revival?

1 J. Edwin Orr, "The Outpouring of the Spirit in Revival and Awakening and Its Issue in Church Growth" (self-published, 1984), 4.
2 Ibid.
3 Charles G. Finney, The Memoirs of Charles G. Finney: The Complete Restored Text, Garth Rosell and Richard Dupuis, eds. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989), 34-35.
4 Grace Winona (Kemp) Woods, The Half Can Never Be Told (Atlantic City, N.J.: World Wide Prayer Movement, 1927), 21-22.
5 Bernard Bresson, Studies in Ecstasy (New York: Vantage Press, 1966). Quoted in John Wimber, A Brief Sketch of Signs and Wonders Through the Church Age (Placentia, Calif: Vineyard Christian Fellowship, n.d.), 40.
6 Quoted in Wimber, Brief Sketch of Signs and Wonders, 41.
7 Jonathan Edwards, A Narrative of the Surprising Work of God (New York: American Tract Society, 1740), 16.
8 Ibid., 20.
9 Ibid., 28.
10 John Wesley's Journal (September 3, 1775), 6:77.
11 Jonathan Goforth, When the Spirit's Fire Swept Korea (Elkhart, Ind.: Bethel Publishing, n.d.), 8.
12 Ibid., 9.
13 John Wesley's Journal (May 20, 1739), 2:203.
14 Jonathan Edwards, Thoughts on the Revival of Religion in New England (1740), 151.
15 Woods, Half Can Never Be Told, 23.
16 Quoted in Charles Johnson, The Frontier Camp Meeting (Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1955), 135.
17 Dieter, Holiness Revival of the Nineteenth Century, 108-9.

 

 

Taken from When God Bursts In by Peter Lundell, © 2005 by Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, MO. Used by permission of publisher. All rights reserved. Visit www.BeaconHillBooks.com to purchase this title.