Every revival in this archive was preceded by prayer that most people never saw. Two elderly sisters in a cottage on the isle of Lewis in Scotland, praying from 10pm til 4am for youth that had left the church. A handful of men in a barn. A Sunday night group in Pensacola that met for over two years before anything happened. If you want to be part of the next one, this is where it starts.
Start with your own heart
Revival prayer that begins with other people’s sin rarely goes anywhere. Ask God to search you, and then be quiet long enough to hear the answer. Deal honestly with what He shows you — confess it, and where someone else was harmed, go and put it right.
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts. Psalm 139:23
Pray the promises back to God
The praying people of the Hebrides held God to His own word, and they were not being presumptuous — they were doing what He invited. Take Isaiah 44:3, Joel 2:28, 2 Chronicles 7:14, Psalm 85:6, Habakkuk 3:2. Read them aloud. Ask Him to do what He said.
Pray with others, and keep going
Find two or three people who will meet with you on the same night every week and refuse to give it up when nothing appears to be happening. Almost every account in the history section describes a long stretch of apparently fruitless praying before the break came.
A simple pattern to use
- Worship. Start by telling God who He is, not what you want.
- Confession. Yours first, then the church’s — stand in the gap rather than pointing at it.
- Scripture. Read a revival promise aloud and pray it back.
- Names. Pray for specific unsaved people, out loud, by name, every week.
- Silence. Leave room to listen. Write down what you sense and test it later.
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven. 2 Chronicles 7:14