Born After Midnight

Tozer writes of hearing a saying among Christians seeking revival, "Revivals are born after midnight."

If this was true it would mean prayers offered during the day would have less power.

You could also look at midnight as being metaphorical as we were tired and beaten and must feel that way in order for our prayers for revival to be heard.

All of this almost put God to where he is sadistic towards fallen men.

There can be truth to this statement in the fact that revival will come to those who want it badly enough.

God says, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled."

Hunger and thirst are physical sensations that when we experience them bad enough, they will become painful.

When seekers of God have a painful need for Him to fill them, they are.

"The average Christian is so cold and so contented with His wretched condition that there is no vacuum of desire into which the blessed Spirit can rush in satisfying fullness."

There may be a person who is seeking for God so badly that they leave the conventions we are used to and will actually cause us to question what is going on.

This person is seeking God with such a passion that we don't understand.

It could be they "stay up" praying, begging for the presence of God to be filled in their lives.

For this person, it is true that their revival may come after midnight.

Revivals come to those who have reduced their need to one thing, which is knowing and pleasing Him in such a way that Christ is first above all else.

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Colossians 1:10–18 ESV

so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

col. 1:10-18

We need to realize that long prayer vigils and crying for these things doesn't mean they are going to happen.

If these types of acts are not grounded in God, then they do no good other than to call attention to ourselves.

All good things come from our Father.

He is sovereign and will supply us with the things we need when he sees we are ready for them.

Just because we beg and plead, doesn't mean God sees us ready for revival.

When we get ourselves out of the way and allow the Spirit to fill us, that is when God is going to send a revival to us and use us for His will and cause.

There are many who will look to the Promised Land and consider what it has to offer.  But when it comes to the decision as to whether or not they want to cross over and give up there carnality, they will choose to turn back and return to the old ways.

Reflect & Apply

We each need to ask ourselves what do we want to the utmost.  Do we want a comfortable life economically for ourselves and our family?  Do we want to see our children do well?  Do we want recognition in our job or in the use of our spiritual gifts?  This list of "what do we want badly enough?" could go on and on.  However, where is our desire for revival for ourselves, our family, our church, our community, our state, and our nation?  If we really want revival "badly enough," will not our spiritual longing begin to crows our every other interest?  In addition, will not our gravitation to safe and conventional prayers be less and less?  Consider the fervent prayer for revival by the minor prophet Habakkuk in : "I have heard the report about You and I fear.  O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy."  Reflect and meditate on this prayer.  Make it your prayer!

Maybe the essence of wanting revival "badly enough" is found in the following verse: "If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land" ().

True revival has four conditions: humbling ourselves before God, praying, seeking God's face, and turning from our wicked ways.  Of course, meeting these conditions is not possible except under the leading and power of the Holy Spirit; but it will take time.  With progress in these conditions, God will hear our prayers, forgive our sin, and heal our land.  Thus, "He is unable to grant us our heart's desires till all our desires have been reduced to one."  Ask God to search your own heart as to where you are at with these four conditions.  Ask Him to help you want His will in your life.

"No, there is no merit in late hour prayers, but it requires a serious mind and a determined heart to pray past the ordinary into the unusual.  Most Christians never do.  And it is more possible that the rare should who presses on into the unusual experience reaches there after midnight."  Honestly assess where you are in light of this Tozer quote.  Serious or lightly committed mentally?  Determined or half-hearted?  What must you do to be one of these rare souls, who pursues God in prayer?