E. A. Annett.

When have we known such days as these, when even the placards of the secular press give more prominence to announcements of revivals than to those telling of war and revolution? Yet so it is, and we hear newsboys crying out, “Great Revival in Wales! Coming Revival in London” and that in this century of indifference and godlessness. Surely this should set us thinking. Few of us have known in our lifetime of any great religious movement. We have read of wonderful awakenings in the days of Luther, of Fox, of Wesley, of Whitefield. We have stood in thought with the crowds of tens of thousands of people listening breathlessly to the preachers of those times; perhaps we have even talked with those who were in the thick of the widespread Revival of 1859. But still, these things seem very far off to us, and we turn back almost with a sigh to the people of our own days, so thoughtless, seemingly, and so hard to move. But now, close to us, right alongside us, is this Welsh Revival, in which the Holy Spirit of God is convicting a nation, and in which the work of God is quietly but surely spreading from district to district.

Let us look at a few facts concerning this striking movement. Not yet six months old, already it is estimated that at least 80,000 people have been converted to God; regardless of denomination, churches of all kinds have been transformed and transfigured—ministers, church officers, church members, and even the little children have suddenly been brought shoulder to shoulder in unity, and purpose, and zeal. In some parts whole villages have so come under the power of God that scarcely an unconverted soul remains, and that, too, in rough mining districts. Three meetings a day, seven days a week, seem to be too few for those to meet together to praise and pray and worship God, from whose faces the awful effects of lives of sin and drinking are but slowly being effaced, even under the influence of such indescribable joy as they are experiencing. Lips that but a month since were full of cursing and bitterness are now used to utter Spirit-taught prayers of remarkable purity and spirituality. Preachers, even leaders, seem nearly unnecessary in the meetings; indeed, such a spirit of prayer, praise, and testimony pervades the meetings that preaching is constantly interrupted by the welling up of these deep waters.

The Rev. Elvet Lewis, one of the foremost Welsh preachers, said the other day that the Revival was remarkable for two things—the return to the Cross and to Prayer. Ministers who had nearly forgotten the Cross of Jesus Christ in their pulpit utterances have been brought back suddenly to “The Old-time Religion,” and are being filled with wonder and joy in seeing it still to be the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. In regard to prayer, he said that there had been before the Revival in many places small prayer meetings where they were praying for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but now the prayer meeting was the feature of each church. The outside world was wondering at the strange things that were daily happening, not under the ministration of certain gifted men, but without any apparent cause; these were the results of the wonderful prayer meetings that day after day, and many times a day were taking place almost unobserved by any but those who were in them.

We might go on to talk of many other phases of this work of God, but sufficient has been said for us to join in the prayer, “Wilt Thou not revive us again, that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?” (Ps. lxxxv. 6). God’s map has no boundary line between England and Wales, and He is as able to send a mighty Revival sweeping through England as through Wales. And there are many who believe and are praying that God will do so. Shall we not join our prayers to their prayers? But first let us pause on the threshold of the “inner chamber” (Matt. vi. 6, R.V.). and think afresh over three essential conditions of successful praying.

FAITH

We think of England, its size, its kind of people, its busy life, its scepticism, its sin, and we say, “Will God?” “Can God?”

Let us ponder prayerfully and deeply two statements from the written Word of God until they burn their way down into our hearts. I Tim. ii. 4, R.V. : “God . . . who willeth that all men should be saved;” or, as the American version has it, “Who would have all men to be saved.” That is how God feels about it, God—wishing, yearning, longing to save men, ALL men; there is enough Revival in that verse to save England.

Eph. iii. 20: “Him (God) . . . that is ABLE to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” These two verses give us the “will” and the “can.” There is nothing so destructive to unbelief as prayerful meditation on God’s promises. I do not propose to try and find out further here the meaning of these two Scriptures, but would suggest that before we get to praying we shall let our minds he grasped by the certainty that God is both willing and able to do what we are going to pray for.

CLEANSING.

A Revival in a country commences with a Revival in a district. A Revival in a district commences with a Revival in a congregation or gathering of believers. A Revival in a congregation commences with a Revival in an individual. And a Revival in an individual must be preceded by a thorough cleansing. This is shown from man’s side in Ps. lxvi. 18, and from God’s side in Ezek. xiv. 1-5. God will hear and answer our prayers when we can lift up HOLY HANDS (I Tim. ii. 8), but they must be holy, for see Ps. Xxiv. 3, 4; Isa. i.15; Isa. lix. 1-3 (noting especially the thought of the “hands” as indicative of the outward life).

Let us not hasten away from this matter of cleansing if we are at all anxious for a true Revival. Cleansing of the church makes it possible for God to work, and the only one in the church that I am fully responsible for is myself. It is not that God is unwilling to bless us unless we fulfil certain conditions, but that He is unable to do so. And so it is of the greatest importance that we carefully consider these conditions plainly revealed in His Word.

PERSISTENCE

is the third condition of successful praying. There are many passages that deal with this, such as Luke xviii. and Ephesians vi. Dr. Torrey has put the thought very simply in the words, “Pray through.” It is not that you are endeavouring to extort blessing from an unwilling God, but that there are obstacles to the blessing coming that you are not aware of—stupendous obstacles—and your persistent praying gives God a foothold down here on the battlefield, and makes it more possible for Him to do what He is yearning to do. Maybe you cannot understand it? Never mind, do it, and you will see the result (John xi. 40).

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Study what are revealed of the conditions of prayer, study what is revealed of the great heart of God, and then start praying, and hold on to it. Get others with you, if you can, but the great thing is to keep at it until the Revival comes. Hail with expectancy every little sign, even though it be but a cloud “like a man’s hand,” and we shall yet rejoice in sound of abundance of rain round our own country-sides
“O Lord, send a great Revival, and begin it in ME just now.”