How to Win Souls for Christ through Revival
If you’ve been praying for revival, then it’s likely you’ve encountered difficulty. You see, Satan hates revival, and he’ll do battle with your soul to prevent you from honoring God the Father through His Son Jesus Christ. May this testimony presented here of our experiences in hosting a revival provide you with encouragement. Our purpose is to say: Never Give Up! God will work a great winning of souls to Christ through your efforts for Him.
The first thing you must remember is that God does all the work. “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts” (Zech. 4:6). Not only does the Lord move on your behalf to make the revival happen, but He also moves through His Spirit to bring about His desired results. Not many are comfortable with this notion at first because it requires a whole lot of humility. But once humility is learned, your spirit will be filled with a great sense of relief as God takes all the responsibility on Himself in Jesus’ Name.
Next comes the prayer. Prayer is the core of who we Christians are in Jesus. The Father has installed His Son as our eternal priest, seated at the Father’s right hand to intercede for us until the end of time. We must continually present our requests to God and then listen for Him to guide us. Most of us have great difficulty learning to listen to God, and the devil does an effective job of creating noise and chaos in our lives such that we may struggle to hear His still small voice.
Confess your sins and turn from your past mistakes. Find a dark, quiet place where it’s just you and God. Then wait for His voice to come to you. Have your Bible handy because it seems that He primarily communicates through His written word these days. He may direct your attention to a specific portion of Scripture. Ask, “Lord, help me understand what I am to do for you. I’m listening.”
Never stop asking for revival. God may go to work reviving His creation through you or He may choose another vessel; but either way God will hear your prayer and honor your cries for His restored favor. It’s key to listen to how He responds to your requests for revival.
Should God command you to plan and host a revival, seek His will regarding logistics in prayer. You must seek to learn at this time all that He is willing to reveal. And then seek to know more and more and more. Continue to ask Him what His plans are until you’re certain you have a complete picture of His will.
The reason for this is that you’ll likely need help. When God supplies you with helpers, it is necessary to reveal to them all that God has spoken to your heart about the revival. This will ensure a unity of effort as the believers labor unto Christ for revival.
Often, a revival benefits from a combination of worship through song, Scripture reading, personal testimony, a sermon, and an invitation to follow Jesus. Be mindful of the audience God is planning to have in attendance. An audience of mostly believers usually must be handled differently than an audience of non-believers. These are just things to pray about. Ultimately, God is the only one who knows the hearts and minds of men. And only He can truly connect with a soul and save it.
Concerning helpers, ask the Lord to supply His faithful servants, and watch Him provide you with the most useful teammates you’ve ever known. He will tell you whom to approach with regard to your divinely inspired plan for revival. Don’t fret that some fellow believers and friends will turn down your request for help. If you ask, God will assemble the perfect group to work exactly what He has planned. Be careful not to let your own interests in the success of the revival determine your attitude towards those who are not yet ready to join you.
Now that God’s plan and His workers are in place, you must again realize that success in executing the plan doesn’t depend on you or any other person. Repeat, “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit . . .’” (Zech. 4:6). You will likely need approval from some sort of official authority to host the revival. Keep praying. God will open all the doors. He will be your voice through His Holy Spirit. Rely on Him and everything will turn out exactly as He wants it.
After God secures the ground on which the revival will take place, go there to meet Him. Go as often as possible to labor earnestly over that ground in prayer. Ask other prayer-warriors to pray on the site, too. Pray the enemy out of that ground. Entreat God to send His heavenly armies to win the spiritual battle for you. Remember, the battle belongs to the Lord.
As the day of revival draws near, continue to remind yourself of what you’ve prayed for and what God has promised. You must stay focused because the devil will try to create so much noise in your life that you can hardly bear it. Satan may even succeed in putting enough fear or hesitation in your friends and helpers that they fall by the wayside. Pray for their souls, and then ask God how to replace them or move on without them.
Those who will perform in any capacity on the day of revival must yield entirely to the Holy Spirit. We often look to the preacher as the only one in need of the Holy Spirit, but that’s shortsighted. Your revival may not even have an official preacher. Ask one or more of your helpers to pray throughout the time of the revival for the Holy Spirit to bring souls to Christ. Prayer should be continual. This is another way to ensure that we humans don’t get in the way of God’s perfect plans.
Don’t bother attempting to quantify the results of your revival work. These days, we have a great tendency to worship data, but numbers and figures are man-made. We know how unreliable the work of man’s hands is. Never rely on the limited perspective of a human in determining whether you succeeded in God’s eyes. No one knows exactly what God’s doing in the unseen world.
Despite that warning, you should consider how God wants you to deal with those asking to commit or re-commit their lives to Christ because of the message of the revival. Are you growing a church? If not, have a church to recommend to them. Consider giving them a Bible and something to take home with them that explains how to follow Jesus and why their soul depends on making the right choice. His Word never returns to Him void, so you can count on somebody’s life being changed on the day of revival.
Never forget these last points: Have faith that God will do as He’s promised. Show everyone how the patient, kind love of Jesus Christ is available to them. Labor under the knowledge that months of preparation and a multitude of workers may be necessary just to bring one soul to Christ. To God be the glory, forever and ever. Amen.