The Role of Prayer in Spiritual Revivals

Our next speaker is an authority on the history of revivals. Dr. J. Edwin Orr is Professor Emeritus of History and Missions in the School of World Missions at Fuller Theological Seminary. His writing ministry includes 20 books. His song, "Cleanse Me," has helped shape hundreds of Nazarene services. There he writes, "Search me, O God, and know my heart today. Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray. See if there be some wicked way in me. Cleanse me from every sin and set me free. O Holy Ghost, revivals come from Thee. Send a revival, start the work in me. Thy word declares, Thou wilt supply our need. For blessing now, O Lord, I humbly plead."

In this address, you will hear Dr. Orr relate the importance of prayer to spiritual revivals. Our thanks to the Nazarene Theological Seminary for making this recording available to us. We welcome Dr. Orr to the Ministers Tape Club.

The disciples said to the Lord, will this time restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the outermost parts of the earth. Disciples had been told that when Messiah came, he would restore political independence to the people. Naturally, they asked this question, but they got a very different reply to what they expected. It's not for you to know times or seasons.

Some student came to me yesterday and said, some of us are starting to pray already for a blessing of revival in this campus. Let's not pray for a flash flood, but something deep and lasting. Make this valley full of ditches, and don't give up praying in a hurry, because God doesn't answer within 24 hours. Now in this chapter, verse 14, after enumerating the names of the disciples who were present, it says, all these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

If you were to ask the average churchman what was the first institution of the Christian Church after the Ascension, he'd probably suggest the sacraments, the breaking of bread, Holy Communion, Mass. But the first institution was a prayer meeting. Armand Gueswine, a good friend of mine, says the real church is the prayer meeting. Others may attempt, but the real church is the prayer meeting. For those of you who get a burden of prayer, remember that this is the seat of power, humanly speaking. But rather I should say, because you are at the divine throne.

Now we come to chapter 2. When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. In the authorized version it says, one accord in one place. There has never been a great revival in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer. In fact, I make so bold as to say there has never been a denominational revival. You say, what about the Methodist revival? The Methodist movement was part of a general revival. That included Jonathan Edwards, who was by no means a Wesleyan, and George Whitefield, who was not a Wesleyan either. Some people say, what about the Pentecostal revival? My Pentecostal friends have been greatly surprised to find that the famous Azusa Street prayer meeting began in the aftermath of a worldwide awakening. Awakenings are general. God sends revival to all his children. It's true that a denomination may refuse revival, and by default leave it to one that will accept it. But they must be all together with one accord.

So when you pray, be Catholic in your prayers, not only for the Church of the Nazarene, but everybody that names the name of Christ. We need to pray not only for the revival of the Church, but the awakening of the masses. Should we be surprised at this? When he is come, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Try and go out on Warnell or some other street here and try and convict somebody of sin. Just try it. See how far you get. They'll tell you where to go. But how is it when the Holy Spirit works that way?

Let me give another illustration, again from primary research. This time we'll take Korea. Now you know the climate of North Korea is very severe, a bit like Alberta in Canada. The ground is frozen for about three months of the year. The farmers can't work in the fields. It's simply too cold. So they work in the barns. The Presbyterian missionaries had a wonderful idea. Why not use the worst week of the winter for a Bible school? Invite the farmers and their families into town. Let them stay with friends or other members in the church. It'll be a kind of festival occasion. And teach the Word.

One remarkable thing about Korea that accounts for the present strength of the Korean church in South Korea is the fact that both Presbyterians and Methodists, the pioneers to Korea, taught the Bible, in season, out of season. They were very faithful missionaries. Now, Frederick Franson, the founder of what is now called the Evangelical Alliance Mission Team, visited Korea in 1903. And some missionaries and national leaders came into revival. In 1905, there was an in-gathering throughout the country. In 1907, there was something utterly out of this world.

One evening, Dr. Graham Lee was leading the men's meeting. The Central Presbyterian Church was filled with men, perhaps 1,500 men. The Southgate Church was filled with women. Dr. Lee said, before we get to the business of Bible study, let's have a moment of prayer. Mr. Kim, would you open with prayer? Mr. Lee, would you conclude? One or two of us, but Mr. Lee, be ready to conclude. Mr. Kim got up to offer prayer, but there was such a spirit of prayer abroad that about half a dozen stood to their feet, waiting their turn to pray. When Kim finished, the second man prayed, and there were twelve on their feet, waiting their turn. Then another. After five had prayed, Mr. Lee thought it was his duty to conclude the prayer. He got up, and someone beat him to it every time. He couldn't offer the concluding prayer. Somebody else insisted, praying aloud, and so much so that Dr. Graham Lee, the American, called out, stop! Everyone, please! And finally he got quiet. He said, well, apparently you want to pray. All right, then. Instead of Bible study, you can pray.

What happened next he didn't expect. All fifteen hundred stood to their feet and poured out their hearts in simultaneous audible prayer. One of my students, a Southern Baptist lady, writing for her master's degree, described this as an Oriental custom. You'll find it all over Korea today. Of course, you here find it in Latin America. You find it in Africa. You find it in India, where the Spirit of God is so outpoured on people, they all want to talk to God at once. They're utterly oblivious of anyone else. Now, it said the effect was beyond description. Not confusion, but a vast harmony of sound and spirit, like the noise of the surf in a motion of prayer. And as the prayer continued, an intense conviction of sin settled upon the meeting, giving way to bitter weeping over their misdeeds. The longer it went on, the more people broke up.

For some reason I cannot fathom, there was an English nobleman in Korea at that time, Lord William Cecil. Why he was visiting Korea, I have no idea. But he was so excited about what he saw, he did what an Englishman does when he's excited. He wrote a letter to the Times in London. And if you want to read about the Korean Revival, you'll find it even in the London Times. Apparently, an elder got to his feet to confess a grudge against an American missionary. I know the American missionary. He died just about three years ago at the age of 97, William Newton Blair. He was so taken aback. This was his Korean colleague. He didn't even know the man had a grudge against him. What shall I do? He thought, I'll offer forgiveness in prayer. Sometimes I think, what did I do to offend him? But he began praying. He was going to pray, Heavenly Father, bless our dear brother who so courageously has confessed his fault, and help me. He was going to pray something like this. But he never got any further than an apogee, Heavenly Father, when according to Lord William Cecil, with a rush, a power from without, seemed to take hold of the meeting.

The Europeans described its manifestations as terrifying. Nearly everyone present was seized with the most poignant sense of mental anguish. Before each one, his sins seemed to be rising in condemnation of his life. Some were springing to their feet, pleading for an opportunity to relieve their consciences. Others were silent, but still went with agony. They were clenching their fists and beating their heads. From 8 till 2 in the morning this went on. The missionaries got together, tried to stop it, couldn't stop it. They were horror-struck. Until finally, 2 in the morning, they were able to stop the meeting. They dismissed it. Some went home to sleep. Most spent the night awake, praying.

The missionaries had an emergency meeting. They said, well, we prayed for revival. By the way, this was in the wake of the Welsh revival. That's why they were praying. But we didn't expect this storm. But after a storm, you always have a calm. So tonight, in the calm, we will teach them the word and bind up their wounds. And that night it began again. The next night it began again.

The control was taken out of the missionaries' hands, night after night. The Holy Spirit simply fell in one with conviction, another for praise, and so forth, until the whole body experienced a catharsis. I asked William Newton Blair, were there any holdouts? Oh, yes. He said, there were some. There was one elder who used to get up and mumble something but never come to the point. Then a woman's confession exposed him. They had to remove him from the office. The last they heard of him, he was commercializing his vice by running a brothel. Nine-tenths of all students in Korea were converted that year. Did you know that 79,221 converts were added to the Church in that movement?

Now, John Wesley died after 50 years of faithful work in Britain and left 70,000 Methodists in his societies. And here was an art poem of the Holy Spirit in Korea that won 79,000. This went on, touched every field, part of Korea, Methodist, Presbyterian, everywhere else. Then in 1910, an American missionary had a wonderful idea. Why not win a million souls for Christ? So they organized the Million Souls Movement. They allocated a quarter to each group. The Methodists would win so many in such and such an area, in such and such a province, and so forth. It was all organized. What happened? Well, I think I have the figure here. Instead of the million, there were 15,805 converted. Thank God for 15,805. But it's very disappointing when you're aiming at a million.

It seems to me that the Holy Spirit does not surrender his prerogatives to any committee, and nobody can plan a revival. Nobody. But the reason I quoted this was to illustrate the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. Could you imagine, for instance, what kind of spiritual force would be needed to convict the masses of America today? Sin is entrenched. I don't know if any of you have ever been to a Woodstock-type festival. What goes on there? They're supposed to be there for rock music, but they are injecting themselves with drugs, smoking marijuana. They have been known to pass women around naked. What kind of conviction of sin would overcome the entrenched sin in America? Do you realize what we are up against? Entrenched sin. People who habitually sin. People who are soaked in sin. We can't do it. Only the Holy Spirit can break them down. And when he has come, he will convict the world of sin.

That's why I say we need to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the masses. That the Holy Spirit might fall on Timothy Leary and convict him. How many he's led astray with his drugs. And the Holy Spirit may fall upon the pornographers and make them terrified. Because in a time of revival, people under conviction of sin feel the way a rat must feel when a terrier is shaking him. They tremble. Sin is so entrenched, we can't do it with our mild methods. It would take an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to bring such conviction.

How much further do we have to go? Well, you find that they responded. When they heard this, they were stabbed at heart. They said, brethren, what shall we do? He said, repent. That's the message for today. Repentance. It means change. Metanoia means change. And he promised them the gift of the Holy Spirit. Those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. Then it says they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to breaking of bread and prayers. That has stuck in my mind.

When the great revival swept Wales, the Lutheran theologians in Norway, everyone was talking about it, said we suspect very much any movement that's not wholly committed to word and sacrament. That's a high church Lutheran viewpoint. But you see, there's a quadrilateral here. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, that's word and fellowship, and breaking of bread, and sacrament and prayers. There are some people terribly formal in word and sacrament. What they need is fellowship and prayer. But there are other people, they're addicted to fellowship and prayer. They have a superficial Christian life. They need word and sacrament. It has to be a rounded message. And it says, Fear came upon all.

I wonder if you've ever heard of a missionary called Amy Carmichael. She has written some of the most exquisite missionary books in print. She's Anglican. You know, an Anglican service is liturgical. There's a time to stand, a time to kneel, a time to recite the creed, a time to offer the Lord's prayer, and so forth. Here's what Amy Carmichael said of this same revival. This is all taken from the same revival period. On October 22, to quote one of the little girls of the orphanage, Jesus came to Dornivore. He was there before, but on that day he came in so vivid a fashion, we cannot wonder that it struck the child as a new coming.

Now, the liturgical service was proceeding. Everything was in order, when suddenly, as Amy Carmichael reported, a realization of the only force of things overwhelmed the meeting. I'm not quite sure what she meant by that, just that she was overwhelmed. It was impossible even to pray. One of the lads in the high school began to pray, and then he broke down, then another, then another. Then all at once, many of the younger ones began to cry bitterly and pray for forgiveness. She found it hard to recall the details. She said it was so startling and so awful, I can use no other word. That details escaped me. Soon the whole upper half of the church was on its face on the floor, crying to God, man and woman, boy and girl, oblivious of all others. The sound was like the sound of waves or strong wind in the tree. People poured into that church, and it went on all day, of course.

But here's the thing that stuck in my mind. Amy Carmichael said, for the next fortnight, that's two weeks, life was a portion for us, much as it was for the Apostles, when they gave themselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. Everything else had to stand aside. And it suddenly struck me what the Scripture meant, they gave themselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word. They were like doctors working in an epidemic, night and day, one after another, praying with people, talking to people.

I'll give you a further illustration from the same revival period, but this time we'll go to Swaziland in South Africa. You may say, well, where did you get all this? I had to dig it up and get letters. This is from a letter written by Evelyn Richardson, a missionary of the South Africa General Mission. In Swaziland, it said, there was such a revival that the King humbled himself in church and asked the people to pray for him, a sinner. At Ezra Weenie, the power of God came down in the very first meeting. The next two days I shall never forget, we were in the church 11 and 12 hours a day, dealing with people from 6 or 7 in the morning until midnight. For two days and nights many could not eat or sleep, either because of conviction of sin or the great joy that flooded their hearts when sins were forgiven.

My interpreter when I preached in Soweto was the granddaughter of that King, a princess, a Swazi princess, Jane Dubé. And she said, yes, my grandfather humbly asked the people to pray for him. When he came into the church, everyone stood. He said, please sit down. I'm just a sinner like everyone else. Please pray for me. Evelyn Richardson said in a letter, this shows you how, I should say, bonafide the letter was. One of the King's right-hand men, a henchman, I'm not sure what his title, one of his nobles was Jeremiah. He studied at Lovedale College, but he had been paralyzed, been ill for years, scarcely able to move. He was praying under conviction, kneeling at the front. Some had helped him to come up to the front to kneel. When suddenly he leaped to his feet and started to dance for joy. Heal of his infirmity. He began jumping over benches and pews, jumped up on the organ and down again, ran around the church, ran around the missionary's home, and as Evelyn Richardson said, knocked over her precious vase and broke it. Of course, take a housekeeper to notice a thing like that. Completely healed.

Do you know that this revival swept Africa? David Barrett, who runs the big computers for the World Christian Handbook, David Barrett of Nairobi, an Englishman, says that since 1910, the growth of the Christian Church in Africa is running four times as fast as the growth of the population. Why since 1910? That's when the wave of the Welsh Revival struck Africa and began spreading throughout the whole continent. And the Lord added to the Church daily those who were being saved. That's what we need. So what do we do? How did they begin? They began with prayer, continually praying. They waited on God, and the power was in the Holy Spirit himself. His was the power.