Have you ever seen someone who's said, "I've been praying that God would bring a revival to my Christian school for years. He hasn't brought a revival yet, but I'm still trusting in Him." And then you ask the man, "Well what have you done?"
"I've prayed to God."
"Well haven't you tried preaching to the students?"
"No. All I'm doing is praying and trusting that God will bring a revival." Good job for praying and and trusting in Him, but you have to do more than that. You need to preach to these people. How can there be a revival if you don't preach to them? Well now you could be saying, "but it's God's job to bring the revival." How is He going to bring revival without you first preaching to the people. God uses YOU to preach to the people. You plant the seed, you water it a little, AND THEN God will make it grow.
You can't expect a man who knows nothing of God to accept Him and go to heaven. That person first has to hear about the Word of God. And how will he hear about it? You will tell him about it. In Mark 16:15 it says, And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." It doesn't say "Pray that all creation will be saved." It says "Go into ALL the world and PREACH the GOSPEL to ALL CREATION." Once again I will say this, God uses you to start the revival. Then He works in their hearts.
Very good post. I agree with you completely. The problem as I see it is that people either try to "schedule" revivals, as if we can plan these things, or they simply "pray" for it. Both are error. Not that prayer is wrong but along with praying we should be sharing the Gospel. As you rightly points out...this is how the Lord brings about revival, when He chooses to bring it.
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