“Revival”. What a word. It has had so many applications and uses. Yet, for Christians, it remains a word that inspires hope when used in its proper context. For those with hungry hearts for God and for deeply spiritual things, it reminds them of times in history where God visited His people with power and hope, and restored them to who they were made to be and to the divine mission that He called them to.
For just nine months- from November 1904 through August, 1905- God poured out His power and majesty on the nation of Wales. This revival has been studied for decades, and questions about it persist through modern times.
Some have suggested that the Welsh revivals were rivaled in power only by the day of Pentecost itself. This revival, like so many others before it and after it, focused greatly on one individual, even though many others were involved.
That individual was Evan Roberts, a coal miner. At a young age, he was thought to be aloof, with a powerful independent streak, constantly setting himself apart from others. While qualities like these socially aren’t what many people would desire, God used all of these in Evans life when he was immersed in the fire of revival. Due to his independent streak and his willingness to be alone when necessary, he was able to continue to listen to the Lord alone for direction and took the time needed to hear from God. The Welsh revivals were astounding. Teenagers, suddenly gripped with the fire of the Holy Spirit, were traveling the length and breadth of that country, preaching, praising and praying everywhere that they went. And the nation took notice.
Scores of people began coming to the meetings that these young people hosted, in conjunction with the local pastors. As the revival continued to spread, gambling halls and bars began to empty of patrons. Coal miners began to come to the meetings and finding the Lord.
It was said that the horses of the coal miners could no longer understand how to follow directions in the mines, since the horses were used to being sworn at and the miners, once they became Christians, were no longer swearing! It took some time to retrain the animals to clean speech.
Everywhere, people were coming to the Lord and finding forgiveness for sins, healing for sicknesses, and people were, in general, being powerfully restored to the Lord and to each other. News of the revival spread further than the borders of Wales to Great Britain and other places as well. People were not merely being “impacted” by this fresh move of God. They were being renewed, made whole, and restored to a heavenly hope for this life and for the future.
Today more than one speaker or preacher has implored God to send another move of His Spirit to mankind, with the same power and restoration that were observed during the Welsh revivals. More people than ever are crying out for a fresh move of the Holy Spirit among us, and people are getting tired of carrying unnecessary burdens throughout their lives.
Today is a good day to ask God to revive His work in our lives again. It is a good day to ask Him to send the Holy Spirit anew, to revive what has died, to restore what has been broken, and to return what has been stolen in people’s lives by sin and evil.
The Welsh revivals, like so many before, were characterized by a sense of brokenness and grief over sin and evil, and a willingness to turn from those things to embrace the Lord.
So it is today. When we look at the world around us, we are seeing, as Evan and his friends did in their day and time, that it is time to repent of our sins, collectively and individually as a people. If we are willing to ask the Lord, and as we learn to ask expectantly, He will come with revival fire and He will consume all that is not worthy of eternity and He will give us what cannot be taken away. That is worth any amount of time in prayer, and whatever we lose in the process we will find, without a doubt, that God will restore true life and living, and that will make up for any loss at all.
God is looking for someone whom He can trust with the fire of revival. In 2nd Chronicles, chapter 16, verse 9, the Bible states “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose hearts are completely His…”
This needs to be us, today, in this hour. It’s time.
Original writing by REVIVALin2020©