In Psalms, chapter eighty-five, verse six, God’s people have a right to pray that He will revive them individually and corporately. Salvation and spiritual life are dependent upon God imparting to us His mercy, forgiveness, power, a life-giving spirit, and a fervent desire to do His will, as in First Corinthians fifteen, verse ten, Philippians two, verse thirteen, and First Timothy one, verses fifteen through sixteen, respectively. When we are at a low point spiritually, not experiencing spiritual blessings as God intended, we should honestly confess our inner poverty and pray that God will revive us again.
Spiritual revival will not be present if it is not based solely upon the Word of God and the earnest commitment to follow its teachings. The situation is as valid under the new covenant as under the old. Any spiritual movement not firmly based on the original and fundamental revelation of Christ and the apostles is doomed to failure or prone to emotionalism or humanism. For God’s people to experience revival and renewal, there are three things a believer must do to attain spiritual benefit: Confession of specific sins, cleansing the house of the Lord, and renewal of the covenant.
Every spiritual revival recorded in the Old Testament came from a renewed proclamation of and commitment to the Word of God. Josiah read the “words of the book of the covenant” in the people’s presence, and they returned to the Lord, as in Second Chronicles thirty-four, verses thirty to thirty-three. Jehosophat and the Levites “taught in Judah and had the book of the law of the Lord with them, as in Chapter seventeen, verse nine in Second Chronicles. Ezra also read from God’s law for six hours a day for seven days, in Nehemiah eight, verse three, and explained that the people understood the reading in verse eight of the same chapter. All lasting revivals accompany the restoration of the Word of God to its appointed place of authority and honor.