HOW REVIVAL STARTED! - 1904 - Azusa Street by Frank Bartleman
...
We had been praying for a sweeping revival for Pasadena. God was answering our
prayers. I found a wonderful work of the Spirit going on at Lake Avenue. The
altar was full of seeking souls. There was no big preacher there. One night
nearly every unsaved soul in the house got saved. It was a clean sweep for God.
Conviction was mightily upon the people. In two weeks´ time two hundred souls
knelt at the altar, seeking the Lord. The Peniel boys were underneath, and
wonderfully used of God. We then began to pray for an outpouring of the Spirit
for Los Angeles and the whole of Southern California.
I
find the following observations in my diary, written at that time: "Some
Holiness churches (foremost at that time) are going to be surprised to find God
passing them by. He will work in channels where they will yield to him. They
must humble themselves for Him to come. We are crying, `Pasadena for God!´ The
people are too well satisfied with their own goodness. They have little faith or
interest for the salvation of others. God will humble them by passing them by.
The Spirit is breathing prayer through us for a mighty, general outpouring.
Great things are coming. We are asking largely, that our joy may be full. God
is moving. We are praying for the churches and their pastors. The Lord will
visit those willing to yield to Him."
And
the same is true today of the Pentecostal people. Their ultimate failure or
success for God will be realized just at this point. We must keep humble and
little in our own eyes. Let us get built up by a sense of our own importance
and we are gone. History repeats itself in this connection. God has always
sought a
humble people. He can use no other. Martin Luther, the great reformer, wrote:
"When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ says repent, he means that the
whole life of believers on earth should be a constant and perpetual repentance.
Repentance and sorrow - i. e. true repentance - endure as long as a man is
displeased with himself - that is, until he passes from this life into
eternity. The desire of self-justification is the cause of all the distresses
of the heart." There is much need always of heart preparation, in humility
and separation, before God can consistently come. The depth of any revival will
be determined exactly by the spirit of repentance that obtains. In fact this is
the key to every true revival born of God.
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