Want Revival?

..I am sure in my own heart, what God is looking for is to take total possession of some men in their spirit, their soul, their mind, their will..

I went to a little college, Cliff College.
It only had one revival.

A friend of mine, he was up there in 1932 and 1933.
He’d been in World War One.
He was a drunkard, a blasphemer, and everything else.

A very precious, gorgeous lady led him to Christ and he fell in love with her, and they fixed a day for their wedding.

One day they went to an old Holiness meeting and they were singing a hymn, when he came to the stanza:
"Here I give my all to Thee,
Friends and time and earthly store,
Soul and body Thine to be
Only Thine for forevermore."

And he sang it. "Here am I to give my friends."
He thought, "She is the only friend I have in the world; we are going to be married in three months. I’ve a house stored with new furniture."

And the Lord said,
"You want to be filled with the Holy Ghost, it will cost you everything.
Postpone your wedding for three years.
Give Me all your time.
Your earthly store is all the furniture you have for the future, sell it and use it to pay to go to Cliff College."

He went to Cliff College. There were about thirty-five students there, as there were when I went there, thirty-five men. He woke up one morning with a strong craving for God. Dan Philips, was his name. He came down in his pyjamas into the lecture hall, between one and two o'clock in the morning and started crying out to God.

And he just roared:
"Lord, I’m a preacher.
Lord, I win souls, but my heart is not full of Holiness, it’s not full of love, it’s not full of the power of the Spirit, it’s not full of humility, it’s not full of gentleness, it’s not even full of peace.
Send Your fire down to this cold heart of mine."

And he cried for about half an hour, and every man in the college left his bed and they were all there in that room in their pyjamas crying to God. And the Spirit of the living God came on them. And the Holy Ghost swept through the College for weeks.

Dan didn’t think when he yielded his life, and his future wife, and all that he had in Manchester, the result would be that a whole college became revived.

We had some of the most brilliant preachers present then, Samuel Chadwick was there, Joe Brice was there..some of the outstanding preachers of England were there, but it wasn’t through their preaching that they were there.

It was when a man obeyed God, and tossed the bedclothes on one side and went down in the room that was cold and said,
"God, I need just the fire of the Holy Ghost, not for tonight, but for all my life. I want to refill my life continually with the Spirit."

It is not enough to be filled with His Holy Sprit ten years ago.
I don’t care where you were baptized.
The question isn’t were you filled ten years ago but are you filled tonight?

Are you filled with God tonight?
Are you filled with love tonight?
Are you filled with power tonight?
Are you filled with passion for the lost?

It’s not easy.
God will wreck your career.
He’ll break your lifestyle.

But if He does..if you let Him..if He can use you as an instrument to pour out His revival, one day the pillar of fire is going to come, and you know what?

We won’t need to advertise.
There will be such a meekness, such a sweetness, such a holiness, such a gentleness, such a lovingkindness like never before – that will be the true manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit.

'Lord, I am not satisfied with popularity, I am not satisfied with the favour of men, I am not satisfied, with my eloquence. Breathe on me, breath of God.

Lord, I want something tonight that I’ve never had in my life. I want the destruction of my self-life, my self-interest, my temper, my pride, my fear of man, my fear of the future, my fear of what my family, relatives and friends will think of me, please destroy all of these useless things in my life, dearest Father. Do it now.'

All hell is looking into us all at this moment. All angels are looking in.
And Jesus is waiting to see the fruit of the travail of His soul in your life..

~Leonard Ravenhill