A year ago, I posted some thoughts concerning praying for revival in “Incorrect Thoughts Concerning Praying for Revival.” I was encouraged to expand that blog post into an article. The result of the encouragement was an article entitled “The Quest for True Revival.” Empower Ministries International published the article in February. You can request a copy of the article by contacting them through the Empower Ministries website.

As I have looked at the issue of the need for revival in the North American church, I have realized that I needed to change the focus of my revival prayers. The issue was not that I was praying for revival, but how I was praying for it. As I have mentioned in my blog post last year, many have prayed for revival and few have prayed sincerely. How can I make sure that my prayers are sincere?

I believe the answer lies in moving from what I desire to what God wants. It means shifting the focus from revival changing the culture to revival changing the church. So if I take the improper motives that I had for revival prayer and shift the focus, I find that I have three requests that reflect God’s heart for the North American church.

Request #1.    Revival will clean up the Church

    As I prayed for revival before, my desire was for God to clean up the moral illness of our society. When I shifted my focus from what I desired to what God wants for His church, the nature of my improper motive changed to a genuine request. Now my desire is for God to send revival to clean up the North American church. As I have mentioned before, there is virtually no difference between believers and unbelievers in thought, word and deed. The only difference is church attendance.

    When I shift my focus, I realize that the church needs to be cleaned up. The church has to get serious about it sins. It needs to recognize and acknowledge that it reflects the culture more than it does the Savior who purchased her with His blood.

    With this proper focus I am asking God to bring the church to the place where the reality of His word is manifested. The church will exemplify the words of Paul as he quotes the Old Testament, “

Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” (2 Cor. 6:17). I am asking God to allow the church to experience victory over sin, so that the words of the writer of Hebrews are realized, “let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us.” (Hebrews 12:1)

Request #2.    Revival will restore the Church

    In the past, my prayers for revival had been focused on the restoration of the nation to some former glory. But as I shifted the focus of my prayers to what God wants, my request was transformed into a desire for God to restore the church to His glory. Our natural bent is to seek glory. As I prayed for revival in the past, my desire for glory was misplaced. Selfishly I wanted God to bring the culture back to the glorious days, when the church was a respectable part of society. In reality I was not seeking the restoration of glory for the culture, but the church.

While desiring glory for the church is good, I was wrongly seeking it for the church and myself from the culture. The glory that the church should be seeking is God’s. Isaiah tells us that there is where glory truly belongs. Recording the words of God, he writes “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory.” (Isa 43:7) God created the church to bring Him glory. Selfishly I was seeking glory that did not belong to the church or me. Glory alone belongs to God. So when we shift our focus from self to God, everything we do (preaching, singing, writing, ministry) takes on new meaning as we do it for His glory. So when I pray for revival, I am praying that God will restore the church to His glory.

Request #3.    Revival will make the church like Jesus Christ

    As I shifted my focus in prayer from what I desired to what God wants, I came to a realization concerning what the ultimate desire of God is for His church. He wants the church to reflect the character and nature of His Son, Jesus Christ. Out of my false sense of comfort, I prayed for the culture to become as the church. Sadly, the church has been becoming like the culture.

    The mandate of the scripture is that believers are not to be like the world. John tells us “Do not love the world or anything in the world.” (1 John 2:15). So when I pray for revival, once again my focus shifts from the transformation of society to the transformation of the church. I want the church to become like His Son. This is what Paul was implying when he tells the Romans “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2) Praying for revival moves me to ask God to transform the church to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.