This resolution of Daily United Prayer is based on An Humble Attempt, originally put forward by Jonathan Edwards in 1748. Its design is to encourage God's people in the duty of united extraordinary prayer; setting aside some time every day to pray for the revival of His church and the advancement of Christ's kingdom in our homes, in our churches, in our nation, and in the world.
"But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God." Acts 5:39.
These words were spoken by Gamaliel, a Pharisee and a doctor of the law, when Peter and the apostles were brought before the council after being commanded to stop preaching in the name of Jesus. Gamaliel is advising the council to give a little space to the apostles. Give it time. If this work is of men, it will come to nothing. "But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God." Those are sobering words indeed.
I believe the same applies to the "Asbury Revival" that we are seeing. In the words of Timothy Tennent, President of Asbury Seminary, "Despite the endless coverage in social media and the regular media which is calling this a revival, I think it is wise to see this, at the current phase, as an awakening. Only if we see lasting transformation which shakes the comfortable foundations of the church and truly brings us all to a new and deeper place can we look back, in hindsight and say 'yes, this has been a revival.'" There has been a lot of opinions floating around the Internet about this situation -- both good and bad. I think we can all agree that with any notable work, there can be a mixture of good and bad. This is demonstrated clearly throughout the entire Biblical record. Everything from the Exodus, to Joshua and Achan, to Ananias and Saphira, to even Judas Iscariot. There will always be tares among the wheat in this world, because the enemy is always at work.
For my part, I am cautiously optimistic and would like to stay quietly encouraged. Obviously, there are elements that concern me. And I would agree that there is the potential for a lot of harm on these young people with all this attention. But we have been praying for a great outpouring of God's Spirit among the next generation and this is certainly better news than all of the bad we have been receiving in relation to politics, transgenderism, and the high rate of suicide and depression among the youth. In the spirit of Gamaliel, let us give them space, and wait and see. "Wisdom is justified of all her children" Luke 7:35. Armen Thomassian brought what I thought was a very fair report on the situation this past Wednesday.
What do we do going forward?
We continue to pray, friends. The work will never be complete. Even if we reach a stage where we can confidently state that the Lord has worked in undeniable revival blessing in all of our churches, will that mean that God's people should finally stop praying? I do not believe so. Even after the Holy Spirit was evidently poured out on the 120 disciples in the upper room, the apostles declared that they must give themselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4).
Let us take the long view, friends. Let us stay humble. Let us not become enamored with the sensational or 'spiritual tourism'. But let us gather God's people to pray.
DAILY UNITED PRAYER unitedprayer.net
Mon-Fri @ 12pm EDT // Sat @ 10am EDT
We invite you to join our dedicated and earnest group of praying participants of all ages from around the world that meet every day over Zoom to pray. At the start of each prayer call, a different individual will bring a brief Scriptural meditation. Here's the most recent:
