Leslie Basham:Here are four reasons you should listen to Revive Our Hearts today. One, you can get some ideas on how to effectively pray for our nation. Two, you'll realize that God can use an ordinary person to stir the hearts of others. Three, you'll hear a great story. Four, you get to hear a cool accent.
Voice 1: A lady came up to me and she said, "My mother was converted in the Welsh revival." And she then said, "And, you know, she was changed and she remained changed throughout her life."
This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss for Monday, November 15.
Leslie Basham: One hundred years ago around this time God was doing something amazing in the principality of Wales. He used ordinary people like us to do it. We'll learn more this week as we relive the Welsh Revival.
Nancy, this week's series represents the fulfillment of an idea that you had almost a year ago.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss: That's right, Leslie. Last New Year's Eve some friends and I gathered in my home just to celebrate God's faithfulness and to bring in the New Year. As the evening came to a close, we gathered for a time of prayer. Several in that group began to pour out their hearts for God to send revival in the year ahead.
As we prayed, I was reminded that in 2004 we would be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 1904-05 revival that began in Wales. That revival actually began one hundred years ago this month.
As I looked forward to the marking of that revival, I was reminded of the fact that most people have never heard the story of what God did during those days. It was just as if heaven touched earth and as if God came down and visited His people in a supernatural way.
So with the help of some friends who are really familiar with this story, we've tried to recreate a bit of this history. I know that you're going to be touched and challenged, as I have been, by the story of this great revival.
Wales is a principality of Great Britain about the size of Massachusetts. At the turn of the twentieth century a little over one million [people] lived there. Many of them worked in coal mining and metal working. Most of them went to church regularly. Author and researcher Kevin Adams describes the spiritual climate of 1904.
Kevin Adams: Wales is a land with full churches and chapels. There are great preachers that go around preaching the Gospel. In Wales preaching became an art form. It was central to what was happening. In the day of no radio and no TV, the chapel was central. You'd have big meetings.
But there was something missing in their preaching. The message had gotten lost in the medium. You'd have a great preacher and they would end by singing. It was called the Welsh "hoil." (That was the word they used, the "hoil." So someone would start and then they would preach (like this and like that) and they would end in singing. And that's how they would preach.
But there was something missing: The spiritual side. They had lost the passion for the message. And a number of people realized this.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss: One of the people who recognized the need for a change was Dean Howell.
Kevin Adams: Howell wrote an article in 1903. In the article he calls on the people of Wales and he says, "The greatest need of the Welsh nation at this time is spiritual revival, not just social transformation but spiritual, heart-searching revival.
And he ends by saying: "If it was the last thing that I ever said to this nation, I want to say that it needs revival." And in three weeks time Dean Howell dies.
And suddenly people began to call on God and it was quite a powerful thing in that time. There were a number of people praying for revival, realizing that the spiritual state of the land wasn't as it should be.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Another church leader who was burdened for revival was Joseph Jenkins. He was a pastor at Tabernacle Church in a town called Newquay. His passion for prayer had recently grown, and he wanted to see the same thing happen in his congregation. In February of 1904, Joseph Jenkins saw a breakthrough while speaking to the young people of his church. Mark Beardon tells us about that night.
Mark Beardon: They were a good youth group. They weren't dynamic necessarily, but they were good, moral kids. Joseph Jenkins asked them, "What does Jesus mean to you?" There was a long, awkward silence and one young boy spoke up and he said, "Jesus is the Light of the World."
And Joseph Jenkins said, "No, that's not what I mean. What does Jesus mean to you?" And there was another awkward silence.
And a little young lady named Florie Evans, who had just been saved a few weeks"¦(She had come to visit Jenkins in the week prior because she was so troubled about her soul.) She was about fourteen years old or so. Jenkins asked her what I think was a very wise question: "How are you on the Lordship of Christ?"
She replied, "I'm not doing well because I'm afraid if I yield to Him, He'll ask some hard thing of me."
You know, what a wonderful thing, to deal with that issue at fourteen as opposed to thirty, forty or fifty.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss: On that night Florie settled the issue and fully surrendered her life to Jesus Christ as Lord.
Kevin Adams: And she stands up and she says these words: "I don't know what I can say this morning, but I love the Lord Jesus with all my heart. He died for me." It's not just what she said. It's how she said it. It sort of sparked something in the meeting.
Mark Beardon: This is part of the wonderfulness of revival. You know, many of us could stand and just as sincerely say that statement, but you see God had on His heart an extraordinary work.
The late, great Jay Edwin Orr (historian on the Welsh revival): There was a hush of God in that little meeting. The result was a sudden deepening of the spiritual life of the young people. So Joseph Jenkins formed them into teams and took them around with him preaching in that part of Wales. And Mrs. Jessie Penn-Lewis wrote, "In the life of faith in London, a cloud no bigger than a man's hand had arisen in the west - The Hope of Revival."
Kevin Adams: People felt an influence in that meeting. People began to be overcome as they began to realize they weren't right with God. A depth of repentance came upon the meeting, but not just repentance, but a joy in knowing the forgiveness of sin.
Mark Beardon: And it brought such a conviction in the room that it began a movement among the young people and a deepening in their lives. Joseph Jenkins took this momentum, these stirrings of God, and he began to organize his young people into groups as he went out to preach. They would come and pray for his preaching, and they would sing for him.
Kevin Adams: And in the next few weeks, this confession by a young girl became the fuse which was lit for the Welsh Revival. One person who attacked the revival later on said, "Oh, the revival, it's just all fizz."
And the other person responded by saying, "Yes, it's just fizz, but it's fizz that leads to dynamite that explodes."
Well, the fizz, the beginning, the lighting, in February 1904 led to a dynamic explosion throughout that year.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss: We're going to hear about that explosion tomorrow, but I want you to think for a moment about the atmosphere in which this revival was born. Many knew about God but they didn't really know God. Does that sound familiar?
Kevin Adams: I'm amazed how religious America is compared to Wales today. I'm sure there are huge similarities because Wales was very religious. America is still very religious, and yet thousands are missing out on the heartfelt reality of a day-to-day walk with the Living God and a relationship with Jesus Christ. And I'm sure that was the case in 1904.
One of the key things that happened during the revival was that God touched people who already believed. But that belief was just mental and very often cultural. A key theme that runs throughout the Welsh Revival is the theme of assurance. In other words, we can be sure that God loves us, that He has done something with us. We can be sure of it!
He transforms; He loves! It's not just that God loves the world. Of course, He loves the world, but He loves me! And I know that He loves me. So there's this transformation that was going to happen in many people's lives from religion alone to spiritual reality.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss: That's Kevin Adams talking about the kind of transformation we all need. Maybe you can relate to those we heard about today who enjoyed spectacular preaching, and they were good at putting on a religious show. But like them, maybe you know that something is missing in your life.
I hope that as we learn about the Welsh Revival this week, God will revive your heart. You know, you don't have to be in the middle of an exciting religious service. You can submit your will to His, right now wherever you are.
I've been burdened to mark the 100th anniversary of the Welsh Revival in a special way. So my friend Tim Grissom and I have written a workbook called, Seeking Him: Experiencing the Joy of Personal Revival. It's a 12-week interactive study designed for individual and small groups.
Through this study you can experience the essential elements of true revival. Things like: How To Have A Clear Conscience, The Joy of Holiness, The Freedom of Forgiveness. In this book we describe revival as what happens when God's people are restored to a right relationship with Him.
I want to encourage you to get a copy of Seeking Him so you can enter into that kind of relationship.
Leslie Basham: Here's how you can get a copy of Seeking Him. Just call us at 1-800-569-5959. In January we're giving you a chance to study Seeking Him with thousands of other women. Nancy's the teacher.
We'll begin a radio series in January to coincide with the twelve chapters of Seeking Him. If you participate in the workbook and then listen to Nancy teach related material on the radio, you'll get so much out of this study. Again the number is 1-800-569-5959, 1-800-569-5959. You can also order on-line at ReviveOurHearts.com.
Tomorrow, we'll hear about an interesting prayer, "O Lord, Bend Me."
Please be back for more on the Welsh Revival on Revive Our Hearts.
Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss is an outreach of Life Action Ministries.
