Intercession.
* The greatest benefactor this age could have is the man who will bring the teachers and the church back to prayer. E. M. Bounds.
* Men are God's method. The church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men. What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men who the Holy Spirit can use - men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Spirit does not come on machinery but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men - men of prayer. E. M. Bounds.
Awakening.
* Revival must be considered as a necessity for the life of the church. Pentecost is not a luxury. A. Skevington Wood.
* If one will make a careful chart of the revivals of the Old Testament, he will discover that they have the following nine characteristics: They occurred in a time of deep moral darkness and national depression. They began in the heart of one consecrated servant of God, who became the energizing power behind the revival, the agent used of God to quicken and lead the nation back to faith in and obedience to God. Each revival rested upon the Word of God, and most of the revivals were the result of a return to the Word of God and of preaching and of proclaiming the law of God with power. All of the revivals were marked by a return to worship of Jehovah. Each revival witnessed a destruction of idols. In each revival there was a separation of sin. In every revival there was a return to the offering of blood sacrifices. Almost all of the revivals resulted in an experience of exuberant joy and gladness among the people of God. Finally, each revival was followed by a period of great national prosperity. Wilbur M. Smith.
* Every great revival begins with one yielded servant of God, and, of course, begins first in the heart of such a man. There is a man behind them, and behind that man is God. But this man must be, and always is, one utterly yielded to the Holy Spirit, kept clean by the Spirit's indwelling, filled with a burning passion for souls, understanding what the will of God is. and being anointed with power in such a way that, however simple his preaching and teaching great multitudes are brought to a realization of their guilt, and are led to confess the Lord as Saviour. Wilbur M Smith.
* Every revival worthy of the name begins in the restoration of the Word of God to the pulpit, and its fearless proclamation by those anointed of God to preach the Gospel. The revival under Josiah took place when " Hilkiah found the Book of the Law of the Lord". Wilbur M. Smith.
* A revival which does not rest solidly upon the Word of God will ultimately either fade out, because there is no fountain of divine truth continually refreshing it, or it will run into dangerous and sensational emotionalism, which, after it has passed, will make those who have been the subjects of such an experience dry and indifferent to the things of God, at times more easily accessible than ever to the inroads of Satan himself. The is something about the Word of God that men recognize as divine; when it is preached men know that they are hearing the Word of God, and nothing less will ever arouse a nation sunk in selfishness, self-satisfaction, and godlessness. It is the only two-edged sword that can ever pierce through the armor of self-righteousness, the only light powerful enough to expose the iniquities of the human heart. Wilier M. Smih.
* Let us never think that real revival can ever be had unless it is characterized by a return to that great and final sacrifice of the Lamb af God, who is the eternal propitiation for our sins, and by whose precious blood, atonement was forever provided for all who would confess their sins, and receive the gift of eternal life. As long as there is an ignorance of the Cross, or a perverted conception of the meaning of the Cross, or an abhorrence of the precious blood of the Son of God, as there is on the part of the great multitudes today, even in the Christian Church, a revival cannot come, at least a revival that saves the soul of men. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins, and unless the blood of Christ is preached, and the Cross lifted high before the eyes of men, how can men ever be saved, and, unless men are saved in any great measure in a great religious movement, what right have we to call such a movement a real revival? There is no forgiveness apart from the Cross, God is not reconciled apart from the Cross, eternal life will never be conferred apart from the death of Christ, and, if there is no forgiveness, no reconciliation, no receiving of eternal life, then all our efforts are in vain, and whatever a religious movement accomplishes, it is not a revival. Wilbur M. Smith.
Prophecy.
* New Agers are trying to secure some knowledge of the holy using altered states of consciousness, only to find and enter into greater levels of confusion. Christians attains through the Cross of Jesus Christ a transformed consciousness allowing them to know God, the Father. L. W.
* Probably the greatest need in the Church today is a body of men who are absolutely devoted, every selfish purpose and plan given up, to the one great end of magnifying the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of the nation. Wilbur M. Smith.