Revival for the Nations

Habakkuk 3:2 NIV

2 Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.

Revival for the Nations

As we end this series on prayer and revival, we’ve been on a journey — first, personally, to pray for our own revival where we opened our hearts to God, and then, together, to pray for our nations. Today, we’re being invited to dream even bigger. And we’re praying to the world, asking God to give His life-changing power not only here but in every nation, every culture, and every individual. This week, we go to the prophet Habakkuk who prayed in expectation of witnessing the action of God in his world. In Habakkuk 3:2 (NIV), he writes, "Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy." Habakkuk wasn’t content to hear what God had done in the past – he wanted God to do in his own. He wanted to see his own return, for God’s hand to move right then and there. That same yearning exists in believers all around the world. Looking around us, we see places shattered by war, poverty, division and despair. The need is too great—but God’s strength is greater. And just as He’s been doing it for thousands of years to renew and give hope, so He can do it again. And just as Habakkuk, we can pray boldly that God will "repeat" His marvellous deeds in our own time. Think about the revivals of the past, such as the Great Awakenings, in which lives were transformed all over America and Europe, and entire cultures affected. Or the Welsh Revival, where tens of thousands converted and entire villages transformed. These revivals weren’t accidental; they were caused by ordinary Christians like us, praying and asking God to do amazing things. The same God who so powerfully moved then is with us again, and he’s no less powerful. If He could transform whole nations in those days, He can do it today. Now the question is, are we willing to participate in this world revival? Would we be willing to ask God to infuse the world with hope, peace and renewal? And will we ask Him, as Habakkuk did, "God, repeat Thy work in our generation"? We are invited today to make that prayer our own. God’s heart beats for the whole world, and he wants us to have it, too – to pray not only for ourselves and our families but also for all people, cross-border and across culture, to ask Him to send His love, truth and healing everywhere. Do it again, Lord,’ Habakkuk said, and our generation is being asked to call for that same power and renewal.

Recognizing the Need for Global Revival

The situation in Judah in Habakkuk's day was dark, a place of bloodshed, injustice, and depravity. He was in a period of spiritual crisis when the Jews of Judah had turned their backs on God. Corruption and tyranny were rampant, and the entire structure of society was crumbling. As he looked about, Habakkuk saw innocents dying, the evil ones flourishing, and society as a whole collapsing under the pressure of immorality. The law seemed incapable of justice, and Habakkuk felt frustrated, sad, and powerless.

To make matters worse, the encroaching Babylonian Empire now threatened Judah. Habakkuk also knew that God sometimes sent other countries to discipline his nation when it walked away from God and that the Babylonian conquest would be disastrous. This coming conquest filled him with fear. More troublesome, Habakkuk dreaded the idea that God might use Babylon – a country even more corrupt than Judah – for His purposes. This conflict between justice and mercy happened in Habakkuk, perplexed about God's will and heart for His people.

This was when Habakkuk made his prayer to God. He'd heard of God's power in the past – of deliverance miracles, acts of justice, and mercy in Israel's past. Habakkuk marveled at those acts of God's grace, but he wondered why God was silent and far away when he was so desperately in need. His prayer was an appeal, a cry to God to "repeat" His previous acts, to prove his authority, and to reignite justice, mercy, and faithfulness in his people.

In Habakkuk's prayer in 3:2, we can see this desire enacted: "Lord, I have heard of your fame; I marvel at your works, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in anger remember mercy."' In this prayer, Habakkuk expresses his hope that God would not only do what He has done in the past but also save and restore his people at the exact moment they were threatened with destruction. He needed God to exercise his might so that the wounds of his people could be healed and that people would repent and begin again even as the day of reckoning approached.

We, like Habakkuk, see all of this need in our world. Spiritual darkness, sinfulness, and injustice afflict humans everywhere. We witness our societies torn apart, our communities split in ways no one can ever heal, and people are filled with pain and affliction. Habakkuk's world was unraveling in ways that are reminiscent of our own. The stakes are enormous, and we too may find ourselves – like Habakkuk – perplexed, even dismayed; where is God all along?

But Habakkuk's response is ours: to seek God, submit our troubles and doubts to Him, and ask Him to intervene. Revival isn't just for individual hearts or even for communities torn apart. As Habakkuk did, we must pray for a new movement of God's Spirit to reach every nation, every people group, and every individual. The prayer for world revival is that God can move across borders and cultures, shine in every darkness, and mend what's broken.

But throughout history, we've had prayers such as those that God has responded to. In the Great Awakenings, for instance, revival moved across America and Europe, reclaiming millions of lives and reviving entire communities. People returned to God, lives were transformed, and justice was a priority as people were looking to match their actions with their new faith.

The Welsh Revival of the first century was started by a handful of people praying hard for something to change. That revival burned like fire throughout Wales, drawing people closer to God and having a legacy that persisted for generations. The Holiness Revival did the same thing: it began as believers prayed for the Holy Spirit and evolved into an international movement that is still impacting churches across the globe.

All these revivals started with the lay people who saw a desperate need and asked God to help. They asked for a new move of God's Spirit, and God answered. These are reminders that if we see God's hand in and pray in trust, God can enable great, world-changing revival.

We, like Habakkuk, are to look beyond ourselves and consider the need for God's Spirit to be sent outward into the world. What if we prayed with the world in view – asking God to bring healing, hope, and salvation to people in need? What if we prayed for societies in spiritual darkness, nations in war and struggle, and people groups who've never heard the Gospel?

It can be the prayer we pray, just as Habakkuk's, that becomes "God, we know what You can do. We know of Your power and Your forgiveness. Do it again in our age." Ask God to revive the world, knowing that, just as He did in the past, He can and will move in our age.

Identifying the need is not the end. Habakkuk did not simply realize the need; he brought it to God and cried out to God. And we're supposed to follow that call, to beg God's grace for the world.

Crying Out for God to Move on a Global Scale

Habakkuk didn't merely recognize the need for God's intervention; he cried in urgency and expectation, "Repeat them in our day." Habakkuk did not simply want to hear about God's work in the past; he wanted to see it for himself. And this prayer that God move to move again, is a prayer of great confidence that God can and will do powerful things. And we, like Habakkuk, are called to ask God with the same expectation, for him to complete His work in our day and restore the world.

That kind of prayer, this kind of bold, anticipated, faith-filled prayer, has produced great movements of God throughout history. It teaches us that revival often starts with humble people who recognize a need and pray to God, asking Him to do the impossible. We can find this sort of humble, prayerful starting point in our church community here in Boswell.

And it was because of a bedridden woman and a miner's wife who loved God many years ago that the Church of the Nazarene sprang up in Jerome. One woman whose husband had been sent to work in the local mines had come with the hope that there would be a church where she and her family could worship. She and her husband had been part of a small group of individuals in Monongahela and were charter members there before they moved to Jerome. She knocked on doors, taught the Word of God, and invited others to pray. She first visited the home of a woman who had been bedridden for more than 20 years. Happy for the visits, this woman was saved and blessed through the prayers and readings they gave her. Soon her home was the site of cottage prayer meetings, where other women – desperate for a message of salvation and purity – would come.

The interest spread and the group started gathering regularly for prayer and fellowship. Soon, these meetings were a townwide movement, with neighbors being converted, lives changed, and prayers being raised for a church to be established. Their faith and solidarity intensified with each meeting. After finally finding a space to worship, the women circled the basement they'd rented and raised brooms and mops across their shoulders to praise God for hearing their prayers.

The work that began their spread to Jenner Township and Boswell. A small group began, led by the pastor from the Jerome Church. Eventually, a tent revival was held, and the Church of the Nazarene was born here.

And this is how we know that revival can begin anywhere — even in simple faith and obedience. A visit, a prayer meeting in someone's living room, and some women who believed that God would answer their prayers, and a church was born. Their simple and heartfelt prayer was the ember that lit something so much larger, a place where generations would know Christ.

Every revival starts with just a spark – one act of faith, one prayer, one little group hungry for God. It is just a little flame, but it can illuminate the whole place when dispersed. This is how revival works. A little group, a single person, can begin a process that extends much further than they could ever imagine.

And just as the Holiness movement swept into towns and states, creating churches and changing lives, our prayers can also spark a revival today. It begins with a call to God – a prayer that God would heal, revive, and rescue the world and us.

Habakkuk's radical prayer asks us to look beyond the familiar and cry for the Spirit of God to flow in all the world. It's not just for us and our neighborhoods that we're to pray, but for the future, people in need, nations in need of hope.

How about we all commit to praying specifically for the world? If we prayed for the places where war, poverty, and injustice were widespread? What if we prayed for new areas where the Gospel is still not preached, for missionaries on the frontlines, and for leaders making decisions that impact millions? When we cry out for God to travel, we are joining believers all over the globe on the same quest to have God's love and truth be revealed everywhere on the planet.

Like the women who prayed and gathered in Jerome, we could become part of an igniter that makes the world glow. Let's set aside some time each week to ask God to do His work specifically in the world. We can pray for nations, people groups, and leaders and petition God to do what he did in Habakkuk's day again and bring revival in our own world.

Where is God leading you to concentrate your prayers of revival across the globe? Are there particular people, places, or groups He has put on your heart? How can you start praying these prayers daily?

While we are all praying for God to move in the world, we also know that prayer is effective but that is just the start. And we, too, are invited to be active, part of what God is doing in the world.

Supporting Global Revival through Prayer and Action

Prayer for revival can work, but God wants us to go deeper than prayer – He wants us to become active members of his mission. Jesus's words in Matthew 28:19 also apply to all of us: "Go and make disciples of all nations." The Great Commission is not for the select few but for us all. Global revival involves prayer, committing to, helping, and partnering with others to bring God's love and truth into the world.

By praying for revival, we are lining up with God's desire for the world, but doing something is going one step further. It is one thing to pray for the world and another to be involved in the work of bringing salvation to them. That can be anything: funding missionaries, working with international organizations, or making local efforts that affect the world. Our contribution to revival in the world will involve making ourselves, our time, resources, and abilities all unified with God's plans for the world.

Over the ages, revivals have typically involved regular people doing extraordinary things to empower and promote the mission of God. In the early years of the Holiness movement, people did not just pray – they organized, financially sponsored missionaries and pooled resources to reach people around the world. For the Church of the Nazarene's early work in Jerome, it was not just prayer meetings that made a difference; it was the action itself. It took people to clean, prepare, and invest in constructing a physical location where God's people could meet, develop, and serve. They took the message of holiness beyond their local church. The message was carried here. Many men and women have been called into the ministry and have served the church in the United States and foreign countries.

Praying wasn't the only thing that those early believers in Jerome practiced. They contacted, connected, and took action to build a church where there was none. They remind us that God's mission demands prayer, vigilance, collaboration, and our investment of time and money.

Likewise, the modern revival is led by prayer alliances and intervention with real impact. By joining God's mission, we are joining generations of churchgoers who have made a leap of faith to plant, equip, and minister to Him.

God invites us all to participate in His mission, whether directly in our community or by serving the missionaries overseas. The Great Commission also teaches us that revival takes more than wishful thinking – it takes discipleship, doing, and partnership. Prayer is a place to begin, but we can do even more.

Here are a few of the things we can all do that can make a difference on a personal level for God's work throughout the world:

There are men and women all over the globe who have dedicated their lives to bringing God's love and truth to places in need. If we lend missionaries a hand financially, with encouraging letters or even by sharing their testimony, we join them in the mission. And although we might not be able to visit these sites, our encouragement spreads the message.

Sometimes, the field of missions starts in our own backyards. In bringing Christ's love home, we often affect lives across borders and cultures.

Many church organizations and ministries have international prayer chains, which include praying for specific needs, regions, or groups of people worldwide. These activities are a tangible means of connecting our prayers to the prayers of others worldwide, building a faith network worldwide.

Many areas of the world have never heard the Gospel. Investing time in learning about these people groups, praying specifically for them, and prayerfully sponsoring missionaries or ministries that work in these regions is an effective way to help bring about global renewal.

What is God asking you to do for Him in some tangible way? Are there missionaries, ministries, or world needs He has put on your heart? What can you do to take a step to help them — through prayer, support, or resources?

When we pray and then do, we aren't spectators, but active collaborators in God's work. We do this, we pray, and everything we do becomes an international fabric knitted by God. But if those early Jerome meetings had made an indelible mark through prayer and collaboration, so can our continuing dedication to God's mission abroad.

When we answer God's call, we realize that revival is a privilege and a responsibility. By praying and living, we're contributing to a movement that started long before us and will continue long after. Let's all play our part and let God use each of us to share His love in the world.

Revival for the Nations

As we finish this series of prayer for revival, it helps us remember just how amazing of a journey God has taken us on. We've explored what it looks like to ask for revival ourselves, in your community, and in the world. And every step of the way, we've heard that God can revival and that He wants it. He has a heart for people – people like us, our neighbors, even those of the world we will never see.

In Habakkuk's day, the prophet's prayer was also a desperate and hopeful call for God to do something in this dark and trying time. And if God heard Habakkuk's prayer, then He would hear ours. The God who moved in Habakkuk's generation brought revivals in previous ages and answered the prayers of those first gatherings in Jerome and Boswell is the God who is present with us. He's the God who can pierce darkness, bring light to the lost, and transformation where it is needed.

But as we've already seen, we don't wait for revival. We pray for it; we enter into it. God invites us not just to be witnesses but to become His hands and feet, Christ's hands and feet, in a world in need of Him. It's in the things we pray for, support, and put ourselves out there to help that all of this fits together. When we pray and respond, we're moving in a direction God has been moving since day one.

... So, let's resolve to be prayerful and practical people today. Let's strive to pray passionately for revival in our own hearts, our neighborhoods, and all over the globe. We can pray like Habakkuk, pleading with God to "repeat His works" in this present hour, to announce His presence, and to bring deliverance to the stranger.

And let's not stop there. So, let's live out our faith, support missionaries, go to our neighbors, and do whatever we can to spread God's love. We can be the church that gives, serves, encourages, and prays, knowing God is on the move to renew—and that we can be a part of it.

Let's answer God's call together. Let's pray for a world revival, not just today but as a daily promise. We need to be lifting our voices and begging God to deliver His healing, His peace, and His love to people all over the globe. And in prayer, let's be willing to do something and believe that God can work in each of us to make us a part of His purpose.