HOW TO EXPERIENCE REVIVAL - Charles Finney

Scripture makes it plain that blessings follow when certain conditions 
are fulfilled in the hearts and lives of men.

Revival is renewed conviction of sin and repentance, followed by an 
intense desire to live in obedience to God.  It is giving up one's 
will to God in deep humility.

Expect a revival when there are dissensions, jealousies, and evil rumors 
among believers. Revival is needed when there is a worldly spirit in 
the Church.The church must put out the fires of hell which are consuming 
the wicked.

If a minister finds he has lost, in any degree, the confidence of his 
people, he should work for a revival knowing it is the only means of 
regaining their confidence.

Christians are more to blame for not being revived than sinners are for 
not being converted. 

A revival can be expected when Christians have the spirit of prayer for
a revival.  That is, when they pray as if their hearts were set on it.

Prayer is the state of the heart.  The spirit of prayer is a state of 
continual desire and anxiety for the salvation of sinners. The pray-er 
feels anxious for souls.  They are always on his mind.  He thinks 
of them by day and dreams of them by night. This is praying without 
ceasing. When this feeing exists in a church, unless the Spirit is 
grieved away by sin, there will always be a revival of Christians.

A revival is near when christians begin to confess their sins to one 
another.  Usually they confess in a general half=hearted manner.  When
there is honest breaking down and a pouring out of the heart in confession 
of sin the floodgates will soon burst open, and salvation will flow 
everywhere.

They must be willing to sacrifice their feelings, business and time to help 
the work.  Ministers must be willing to expend their energy. They must 
be willing to offend the impenitent by plain and faithful speech, and 
perhaps offend many members of the church who will not repent.  They 
must take a stand regarding the revival, whatever the consequences.  
They must be prepared to go on with the work even though they risk 
losing the affection of the impenitent and cold members of the church.  
The minister must be prepared, if it is the will of God, to be driven 
away from the place.  He must be determined to go straight forward, 
leaving the event in God's hands.

Examine and note the state of your mind.  See where you are. Check to 
see if you are walking with God every day or with the devil. You must 
look at each sin one by one.

Things that prevent revival.

*Ingratitude.
*Lack of love for God.
*Neglecting your Bible reading.
*Instances of unbelief.
*Neglect of prayer.
*Poor spiritual attitude.
*Praying with a lack of feeling or faith.
*A lack of love for the souls of your fellowmen.
*A lack of concern for unbelievers.
*Failure to deny yourself the luxuries of life?
  (If you are not doing these things, and if your soul is not agonizing 
for the unsaved, why are you such a hypocrite pretending to be a 
Christian?)
*Neglect family duties.
*Putting yourself before your family.
  (What direct efforts do you habitually make for their spiritual good?
*Watchful of your own life. 
  (How often have you entirely neglected to watch your conduct, and,
having been off your guard, sinned before the world, the church,and God?
It is wrong to neglect to watch over your brothers and sisters in 
Christ. You are under a solemn oath to watch over them. How many times 
have you seen your brethren growing cold in faith and not spoken to 
them about it?)
*Neglect of self-denial.
  (Unwilling to deny themselves any comfort or convenience for the sake 
of servant the Lord. They will not willingly suffer disgrace for the 
name of Jesus christ.  Nor will they deny themselves the luxuries of 
life to save a world from hell.They have no idea that self-denial is 
a condition of discipleship.)
*Worldly mindedness. (Have you looked at possessions as really yours? If you 
have loved property and sought after it for its own sake to gratify 
lust, ambition, a worldly spirit, or to lay it up for your family, 
you have sinned. You must repent.)
*Pride. (Vanity is a particular form of pride. Have you thought more, and taken 
more trouble and time decorating your body to go to church, than 
preparing your mind to worship god Would you take all this time with 
your looks if every person were blind?)
*Envious of those whom you thought were above you in any way. (Is it more pleasant 
to you to dwell on their faults than their virtues, their failures 
rather than their successes?)
*A critical spirit.  A bitter spirit and spoke of Christian sin a manner 
that did not show charity or love.  Love requires you tohope the best 
that a situation will permit.
*Slander.  Have you spoken unnecessarily about the faults, real or imagined, of 
members of the church or others behind their back?  You do not need to
lie to be guilty of slander.  Telling the truth with the intent to 
injure is slander.)
*Lack of seriousness.  (Are you lighthearted before God?)
Lying.  (Any kind of designed deception. If you decide to make an 
impression contrary to the naked truth, you lie. The falsehoods 
perpetuated every day in business, social situations, words, looks 
and actions, all are designed to make an impression on others for 
selfish reasons which are contrary to the truth.)
*Cheating.  (Have you dealt with an individual and done to him that which you 
would not like to have done to you?)
*Hypocrisy.  Have you confessed sins that you did not mean to stop committing?)
*Robbing God.  (Do you spend too much time with idle pastimes; more than working 
to bring people to Jesus?  Have you misapplied your talents and mental powers?)
*Bad temper.
*Hindering others from being useful.  (Have you weakened another christian's 
influence by insinuations against him?  You have not only robbed God 
of your own talents, but tied the hands of somebody else. This is done 
sometimes by taking their time needlessly; sometimes by destroying 
Christian confidence in them.)

If you find you have committed a fault against an individual, and that 
individual is within your reach, go confess it immediately. Otherwise,
Write a letter confessing the injury.  Get to work with your restitution, now.
In breaking up your fallow ground, you must remove every obstruction.

The reason for the lack of joy in your relationship with Jesus could 
be that your proud and carnal mind has covered up something which God
required you to confess and remove.It will not benefit you to examine 
yourself, unless you decide to change every fault you find in your heart, 
temper, and conduct.

Your self-examination requires a full attack. It is not a gentle 
pastime. Resolve that you will never stop until you find you can pray.
Let there be this deep work of repentance and full confession - this 
breaking down before God.

The reason so few Christians know anything about the spirit of prayer 
is that they never take the trouble to examine themselves properly.

It will do no good to preach to you while your heart is in this hardened, 
fallen state.  The farmer might just as well sow his grain on the rock,
because it will not bring forth fruit.

You may get excited without this breaking up.  You may show a kind of 
zeal, but it will not last long, and it will not take hold of sinners,
unless your heart is broken up.  Unless you are right with God and 
filled with the Spirit, your work will be mechanical and fruitless.
Without a heart ready to receive the fullness of Jesus again, the rest 
of this book is worthless to the reader.

I was acquainted with a pastor who used to keep a list of people for 
whom he was especially concerned. I have seen him pray for the people 
on his list literally in agony for them.  I have sometimes known of him 
to call on another Christian to help him pray for that person.

The Spirit of God leads individual Christians to pray for things which they 
would not pray for without being led by the Spirit.  They pray for 
things according to the will of God.

The plain truth of the matter is that the Spirit leads a man to pray. 
If God leads a man to pray for an individual, the inference from the 
Bible is that God plans to save that individual.

Devoted, praying Christians often see the things so clearly, and look 
so far ahead, that they confuse others.  They sometimes almost seem 
to prophesy. They are enabled to clearly discern the signs of the times 
so as to understand,by providence, what to expect and pray for it in faith.

How is a sinner to get conviction?  By thinking of his sins.  That is 
the way for a Christian to gain a deep awareness - by thinking about the 
subject.  God is not going to pour these things on you without any 
effort of your own.

I want you to have high ideas of the Holy Spirit and to recognize that
nothing good will be done without His influence.  No praying or
preaching will make any difference without him.
Be careful, then, not to grieve Him by slighting or neglecting His
heavenly influences when He invites you to pray.

continued ...







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