Many believers are upset over the state of our word today and are praying for revival.  Maybe you are.  Our world is a mess, and we are eager to see the Spirit of God move and turn things around.  But what are we praying for when we pray for revival? 

Daniel Henderson, in his book, Old Paths New Power, points out that most of the time when we pray for revival, what we want are the changes we believe should happen in our society and in our church.  Henderson asks – If God were to move in a powerful way and set everything right, would we still “be praying with the same passion after the revival as we did before the revival?”  The honest answer is probably “no” because what we want are the changes God can make – not God Himself. 

When we seek the changes rather than God, are we not being self-centered?  Don’t we just want God to make things the way we think they should be so we can be happy?  There is a difference between seeking the benefits of revival and seeking the God of revival. 

A.W. Tozer put it this way:

We make out that revival is everybody running around falling on everybody else’s neck and saying, “Forgive me for thinking a bad thought about you.  Forgive me for that nickel that I forgot to pay back.”  Or we say a revival consists of people getting very loud and noisy.  Well, that might happen in a revival, but the only kind of revival that would be here when the worlds are on fire is the revival that begins by saying “Oh God, give me Thyself!  For nothing less than Thee will do.” 

If what we want are the benefits God can give us and not God Himself, is there any question as to why God hasn’t poured out His Spirit and power on us in revival? 

If we want to see God move in power through His Spirit and His Word, we need to be asking God to purify our own hearts and bring us into full surrender to Him.  We need to ask Him to fill us with Himself and become the center of our reality.  When we get God, we will also receive all the benefits He deems best for us.  If we received all His benefits without receiving and surrendering to Him, it would be a tragedy of eternal proportions. 

When you get upset over the state of things today, what are you praying for?