Revival or We Die by Michael L. Brown

Author:Michael L. Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780768452891
Publisher: Destiny Image, Inc.

CHAPTER EIGHT

DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT YOUR HONOR IS AT STAKE?

Revival is often birthed when we get to a place of spiritual desperation, when we are sick and tired of the way we are living, when we have had it with our halfhearted commitments, when we cannot live any longer without a breakthrough. That has been a theme of this book from the opening chapter until now.

Revival can also come when we are grieved and burdened over the state of the society, when the sins of our generation mount up to heaven and we know that judgment is near. That also drives us to our knees in intercession and repentance, leading to an outpouring of mercy from on high. This, too, has been a theme throughout this book.

But there is something else that can spark revival, something else that moves us to prayer and grips us with deep travail: jealousy for the reputation of the Lord. Our hearts are broken because our Master’s name is maligned. Our souls are grieved because the people of the world despise their Creator. And it is all because of us. The Lord’s name is mocked because of our failures, because of our poor witness, because of our sins and divisions and scandals. His perfect name is degraded because we, His children, make Him look bad.

Jesus gave His life for a rebellious race, sacrificing Himself so unworthy sinners could live. Yet we drive those very sinners away from Him by our compromised conduct and loose living. Isn’t this enough to break your heart?

Leonard Ravenhill touched on this when he wrote, “The true man of God is heartsick, grieved at the worldliness of the Church, grieved at the blindness of the Church, grieved at the corruption in the Church, grieved at the toleration of sin in the Church, grieved at the prayerlessness in the Church. He is disturbed that the corporate prayer of the Church no longer pulls down the strongholds of the devil.”1 And he is grieved because we have misrepresented the Lord.

I had the privilege of praying with Leonard Raven-hill many times, and his prayers were on an entirely different level than anything I had ever heard or experienced. There was such depth and devotion and passion and precision. To pray with him was to go into the holiest place of all.

But we not only prayed together when I would stay at his house for a few days each year (I did this for the last five years of his life). He also had set times each day when he would get alone, and so, in the afternoon, no matter what company he had at his house, he would excuse himself to meet with the Lord. It was an appointment he would not break.

Virtually every time I stayed with him, the pattern would repeat itself. Brother Len would break away for his afternoon prayer time and then, an hour or two later, he would come out of his room completely undone. “Mike,” he would

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