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In all accounts of true religious revival what comes to the forefront of people's experience is the conspicuous presence of God among them. To believe that God is omnipresent is one thing. To sense His omnipresence is quite another. Brian Edwards described revival as "A people saturated with God" (Revival! A People Saturated With God, Durham, England: Evangelical Press, 1990). Many remark that during times of revival the very air about them seems to breathe of God and of eternity. In a very real sense they have experienced Heaven on earth. This should not come as a surprise to the Christian, because Jesus taught us to pray for this very thing, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). Although the ultimate kingdom of God awaits the millennial reign of Christ on earth, God in His mercy gives us a foretaste of this glory during seasons of revival.

The desire for God and His glory should constantly be upon our hearts and minds. Jesus said the first and greatest commandment is that, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind" (Matthew 22:37). This love for God produces an intense desire to be in His presence and to sense His glory. This love, like all other love, is not merely a feeling. What applies to the temporal applies to the spiritual. Love for God, like love for anyone else, comes with commitment and responsibility. In the same way that faith without works is dead (James 2:20), love without works is dead too (I John 3:18). A working out and a practical expression of our love for God is given by our Lord Himself, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). If we love God with all of our being we will seek Him and His kingdom first in all of our doings. We will seek to strengthen His kingdom in our local churches primarily through conversions to Christ.

I. First, God is sovereign in revival.

We must not lose focus of the fact that our God is the Sovereign of His kingdom and without His abiding presence His kingdom is in name only. To seek first the kingdom of God without first seeking God Himself is to miss the point entirely. Moses, the great emancipator, had no such problem. Moses enjoyed such a close relationship with God that the Lord spoke to him "face to face as a man that speaketh unto his friend" (Exodus 33:11). However, this intimacy with God alone did not provide sufficient assurance for Moses in his difficult task of delivering God's people. These were God's people he thought, His very own, and he must not fail God in leading them. Moses said,

"Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people"
    (Exodus 33:13).

God told Moses that His presence indeed would go with him. However, Moses still felt insecure and wanted more verification that what God had said was indeed true. Moses said quite emphatically, "If thy presence go not up with me, carry us not up hence." He then spoke almost presumptuously to God, "I beseech thee, shew me thy glory."

What was God's response to all this? Did God become angry with Moses for his forwardness? No, rather He accommodated Moses and said, "I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee." It was God's presence that Moses wanted. It was God's presence that he got.

II. Second, we must desire God and His glory in revival.

This I believe is the key attitude that we must have, and especially feel, if we are to have revival. We must desire God Himself above all else. We must be overwhelmed with the prospect of what I believe God wants our churches to become - a place of vigorous evangelism, Christian fellowship, of preaching the law, preaching Christ, and counseling for conversion. We must have God's presence and power in revival to vindicate the truth of spiritual Christianity. Like Moses we must feel, "If thy presence go not up with me, carry us not up hence." We must be convinced that we cannot be a testimony to others of the "old paths" of doing God's work unless God Himself goes with us. We need His presence to verify and vindicate His cause. We can pray very hard for revival, but if God is not present there will be no revival. Revival is of the Lord. Revival is simply the conversion of several people at once in a local church. God must be present in a special way for this to happen.

Of course God is sovereign and He can so choose to send revival to a people regardless of their attitude toward Him. But I do not find in Scripture or in history that God has sent revival to a people that did not want Him or want some special mercy from Him. On the contrary, those like Moses that desired God frequently obtained special visitations from Him.

Consider the earnest desires of David. David, that man of God who was the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,

"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?" (Psalm 42:1).

David was preoccupied with seeking God and Him alone. He "thirsteth" for God and his soul was not satisfied, not quenched until He found Him. It should come as no surprise to us that David enjoyed the special presence of God and was mightily used of Him in revivals.

Consider the godly young man Daniel. He prayed frequently, regularly, and boldly. He prayed for many things and, he must have prayed also for a special visitation from God,

"Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words" (Daniel 10:12).

"I am come for thy words." God's visitation was the answer to Daniel's prayer. Daniel knew that to have God's presence is the best answer to prayer, for with God you have it all.

God will come, and with Him revival power, when we are thirsty for Him:

"For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground" (Isaiah 44:3).

You may remember that this was the very text that a man on the Isle of Lewis challenged God with before revival broke forth. The spiritual application of this text speaks not to thirst for something but of thirst for Someone - and that someone is God. The people in the Isle of Lewis, especially those two elderly sisters, were thirsty for God. They wanted God to bring about conversions among the young people in their church. They prayed to God, and God heard them and answered their prayer and sent a wonderful revival. Many young people were indeed converted.

And shall we not be thirsty for God too? Does not spiritual death abound in the many lost young people in our churches? Do you not yearn and thirst for souls to be converted to Christ? This will not happen unless God comes down. We despise not the day of small things, but things will not remain small when God comes in His fullness. We desire not great things for ourselves but great things for God! We must feel like Moses that the tasks of our churches are too great and too difficult. We must feel that we are insufficient for these things. Many souls remain lost. We have promises of great blessings in the Word of God, as Moses did. But to make these promises our own God must answer our prayers. Then and only then will these promises become a reality. Hear the words of the prophet Isaiah,

"Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert" (Isaiah 43:19).

God says, "I will do a new thing." "I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." We do not pray for revival for revival's sake. We do not pray for revival primarily for sinners' sake, nor for our sake. We pray for revival for God's sake, for the sake of His glory. As we pray for revival let us pray for God to come and convert sinners.

"Our sovereign God in Heaven, we desire a special visitation from Thee and Thy glory. Come down, we pray, in revival power! Do these things that only Thou canst do! Let it spring forth now! Amaze us O God! Make Thou a way of salvation for sinners in the wilderness of their spiritual death! Make Thou rivers of blessings from Thy Spirit in the conversion of their souls. Send us abundance of revival rain and bring to life that which is dead! In Jesus' name, Amen."