There are questionable elements going back to within a few hundred years after Christ when it comes to revivals and manifestations that occur; in a nutshell I would say some are genuine that are tied into genuine tears of repentance but without discernment of course and careful attention to scriptural doctrines error can creep in. Prayer and singing are two good practices of praise which seems to have aided many of these movements in the past; but there has been a tendency for a lack of careful exposition of scriptures in sermons; women taking over men's roles; and at times as with Azusa street unruly out of control manifestations. These are things to keep in mind along with cult personalities or too much emphasis on a particular evangelist; particularly with those who have clearly benefitted from raking in large amounts of cash and or popularity and who clearly indicate fraud. We should expect this according to warnings from 2 Peter 2:3 for instance.
Restoration clearly is the precedent for revival within the church. The late night or all night prayer commonplace in the past great moves of God is rarely seen; although my former church has done it for one or two days occasionally with rotating people. Working class people such as Evan Roberts in 1904 and other businessmen prayer groups of 1857-8 are two examples of this and no doubt it is an important element. In the aforementioned case of Evan Roberts after rwo years he burned out and spent much of his life in seclusion. Preachers can take too much on themselves as he did without delegating things; nonetheless his 13 years of prayer to see such an event certainly demonstrates the fact that we should persevere on what God lays on our hearts. A balance is needed to maintain church services in the midst of vastly increasing attendance along with recognition that old stuffy comfortable lukewarm predictable services may need to be displaced enough for God to move.
There are questionable elements going back to within a few hundred years after Christ when it comes to revivals and manifestations that occur; in a nutshell I would say some are genuine that are tied into genuine tears of repentance but without discernment of course and careful attention to scriptural doctrines error can creep in. Prayer and singing are two good practices of praise which seems to have aided many of these movements in the past; but there has been a tendency for a lack of careful exposition of scriptures in sermons; women taking over men's roles; and at times as with Azusa street unruly out of control manifestations. These are things to keep in mind along with cult personalities or too much emphasis on a particular evangelist; particularly with those who have clearly benefitted from raking in large amounts of cash and or popularity and who clearly indicate fraud. We should expect this according to warnings from 2 Peter 2:3 for instance.
Restoration clearly is the precedent for revival within the church. The late night or all night prayer commonplace in the past great moves of God is rarely seen; although my former church has done it for one or two days occasionally with rotating people. Working class people such as Evan Roberts in 1904 and other businessmen prayer groups of 1857-8 are two examples of this and no doubt it is an important element. In the aforementioned case of Evan Roberts after rwo years he burned out and spent much of his life in seclusion. Preachers can take too much on themselves as he did without delegating things; nonetheless his 13 years of prayer to see such an event certainly demonstrates the fact that we should persevere on what God lays on our hearts. A balance is needed to maintain church services in the midst of vastly increasing attendance along with recognition that old stuffy comfortable lukewarm predictable services may need to be displaced enough for God to move.
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