Revival is Always Preceded by Brokenness
by Mark Chester
King David says it this way: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)
In the Welsh Revival of 1905, Christians came to understand that “there must be a bending before there could be a mending!” The great revivalist, Charles Finney testified to the fact that “often he went through season of great brokenness” so that his appreciation for the grace and mercy of God would be enlarged.
We live in a world where brokenness is despised and frowned upon. We champion great achievement and self-effort. Meism (me, myself and I) is the dominant religion of many North Americans. It has got us into all kinds of moral and spiritual trouble. Amidst all our saturation of this worship of ourselves, let us, as Christians, glory in the fact that God does not despise brokenness. As a matter of fact, H e uses it to bring about great, life-changing experiences of the presence and power of God.
We preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ crucified, buried, risen from the dead and coming again! Jesus has, through his own death on the cross, made it possible for us to crucify the sinful nature of meism that has destroyed and ruined so much of our life experience. One of the very best definitions of the Christian life is Galatians 2:20. It says: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and give himself for me.”
How refreshing it is to live our lives for Christ rather than the destructive god of meism. The price of revival is a total renunciation of self-interest and sinfulness. The only way we can ever realize such renunciation is by a genuine, all-powerful out-pouring of the Spirit of God. He takes all our failures, sins, and self-destruction and inspires us to acknowledge our absolute brokenness before God. And then He graciously moves us to embrace God as our wholeness and life.
While C.H. Spurgeon was a pastor, 14,700 new members joined the church; 10,800 were baptized there. The church established 49 mission Sunday Schools, an orphanage, a newspaper, and a publishing house. He wrote 135 books and editted 28 others. Over 3,500 of his sermons were printed, and hundreds of them were translated into many foreign languages. His secret of success? He said, “I have often found that the place where I have seen most of my own insignificance, baseness, unbelief and depravity has been the place where I have got a blessing! Say much of what the Lord has done for you, but say little of what you have done for the Lord. Do not utter a self-glorifying sentence.”
At the writing of this, I am 47 years old. I have been pastoring for 25 years. I am more convinced than ever before that my greatest gift, apart from Christ, is a deep sense of brokenness that moves me to embrace Christ completely and cling to Him always. It is my hope that these principles of revival will challenge you to link your faith with mine and believe God for the greatest revival ever, personally, corporately and worldwide! “Will You not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in You?” (Psalm 85:6) God wants us to enjoy Him, not endure Him!
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