“Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known” (Habakkuk 3:2).
Let me start by sharing three stories:
It was August 1727, and a small community of Moravian refugees, troubled by their bitter divisions and disagreements, started a humble prayer meeting in an unassuming village in Germany. They began in groups of two or three for one-hour slots, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and they continued for a staggering 110 years. During this century of intercession, the community sent out missionaries across the world and famously, had a profound impact on the life and conversion of John Wesley. The Wesleyan revival, or the First Great Awakening, was one of the greatest spiritual and social justice movements in Western history.
It was November 1949, and two sisters — Peggy and Christine Smith — both well into their 80’s began to pray twice a week. So pained and upset by the lack of young people attending their local church on the Scottish island of Lewis, that they got on their knees at 10pm and remained on their knees until 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning. This kick-started a resurgence of prayer across the island, and weeks later, an evangelist was invited to visit. During his first evening on the Island, all was quiet until suddenly at 11pm, hundreds of young people burst through the church doors claiming that they had all simultaneously become confronted by their sin, had stopped whatever they were doing and felt compelled to rush to the church. Over the next five weeks, thousands of people gave their lives to Jesus across the Isle of Lewis and outer-Hebrides. And according to journal records[1], the effects of the revival socially, missionally, and spiritually were long lasting.
It was Wednesday 8 February 2023, and students at Asbury university in Kentucky, USA, attended a routine chapel service — nothing out of the ordinary happened until a handful of students responded to an alter call and strikingly, all refused to leave. Since that Wednesday thousands of people, from all over the US and the world, have flocked to this tiny university to experience what has now been called an ‘outpouring’, characterised by spontaneous worship, prayer, public confession and readings from scripture. Christian writer Mike Cosper, after being inside the chapel himself, noted on Twitter: “Those leading and those I spoke with continued to express the same themes: a hunger for personal renewal, relief from suffering (especially anxiety, despair, and addiction), and an outpouring of the Spirit that will save souls and revive churches”.
Although Thursday 23 February marked the end of this gathering in the chapel, other colleges and churches are experiencing similar gatherings up and down the country.
Remembering the revivals that have been and noticing the same patterns in the now
Whether you have been following the events unfolding at Asbury university or not, many have noted that it is simply too early to tell if this can be characterised as a revival. Unlike the Moravian or Hebrides, we don’t yet have the ability to look back on the cascade of justice, mercy and renewal that these events like this can catalyse. We may reflect on the events of this month and conclude it was simply a two-week long worship gathering of 18 – 25 years olds. If so, brilliant. Jesus was worshiped, people were brought to faith and the world heard about what God was doing, as news of the gathering spread like wildfire over social media.
However, what has raised my faith and expectancy these last two weeks is remembering the revivals that have been and noticing the same patterns in the now. From the little German village in the 18th Century, to the 1949 prayers of Peggy and Christine Smith, to the Chapel in Kentucky packed full of Gen-Z, they all follow similar characteristics: humility, repentance and prayer. Debby Wright, national director of Vineyard churches, wrote of her visit to Asbury – “there was no hype, no emotionalism, no manipulation or stirring up, no famous names, sometimes not even a face, just a voice coming from the side of the stage.”
These movements of God are so often grass-roots led, inter-generational and transpire into a wave of holiness. And importantly, they begin with the humble few getting on their knees and praying.
Lessons from Habakkuk: How do we pray for revival?
Habakkuk is my favorite biblical prophet. He lived in the final decades of Israel’s southern kingdom, just before the occupation of the land by the Babylonian empire. I imagine him wracked with anxiety and fear at the looming evil that would soon be upon his people. But rather than turning to military planning or strategy, Habakkuk opted for one of the oldest prayerful practices in the book: remembrance. “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy” (3:2). In other words, I recall and remember the amazing works you have done in the past, and this stirs my faith to petition that they happen again.
For the past four and a half years, every morning at 8.30am my phone pings and a notification flashes onto the screen reminding me to pray this verse in Habakkuk. During the last four and half years, have I seen a revival like that of the Hebrides, or outpourings similar to Asbury? No, I haven’t. I have witnessed God do great things; friends come to know Him, provision and breakthrough in times of trial, but unlike the old ladies on the Isle of Lewis, or the faithful students in Kentucky, I haven’t seen the awakening and outpouring that my daily prayer longs for. Amidst the last few years, Babylon has felt close – a pandemic, rising anxiety, global unrest and an ongoing climate crisis – and crying out for revival has often felt fleeting. But what the Asbury outpouring has reminded me is that even when we might not see awakening, justice, and restoration in our local communities, we must choose to take a stance of victory – to hope that God is restoring goodness to the cosmos, even if we sometimes struggle to see it. We have to continue to believe and pray “Lord, I know you’ve done it before, would you do it again?”
Let’s ready ourselves for God to move
So, let’s ask ourselves, are we ready to take up the mantle? If God does it again in our local communities here in the UK, are we actually ready for it? If the Lord does indeed answer my daily prayer, and there was an outpouring like Asbury, the cost would be huge. All our nice, neat discipleship plans would have to be torn up, our differences put aside and our obsession with religiosity cast out. If thousands of people suddenly burst through your doors, desiring an encounter with a God in heaven who loves them, what would you do?
[1] When God Stepped Down from Heaven: Revival in the Hebrides. By Rev Owen Murphy.
"even when we might not see awakening, justice, and restoration in our local communities, we must choose to take a stance of victory – to hope that God is restoring goodness to the cosmos, even if we sometimes struggle to see it. We have to continue to believe and pray Lord, I know you’ve done it before, would you do it again?"
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