What Is Revival — David Legge

What Is Revival — David Legge

Hello. Can you hear? Yeah. Can you hear me at the back? Yes. Good morning to you all. And thank you for turning out. I hope you're not too bleary-eyed this Saturday morning. Let me just say what a real privilege it is for me to be here and taking part in such a conference as this.

Thank you to Brother Greg for organizing this conference and, indeed, all the Revival conferences, and for his great work on sermonindex .net, which has brought you here, essentially, and I would like to publicly thank him for that and for his invitation to be here today.

Preparing the Heart to Hear from God

I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 57, please. And before we read the scriptures, let us pray, please. Now, as our heads are bowed, let me ask you a question. Every head bowed, let me ask you a question.

Have you come here to hear from God? Have you? Is your heart open? Is your mind clear? Are you ready to receive from the Word of God and from the Spirit of God what the living God wants you to know? I believe I have a message from the Lord, and I don't want it to fall on deaf ears or on bad soil.

So, it would be good just now to make a fresh account with God and confess our sins to the one who is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, that there would be a clear channel between you and the living God.

That is what we need now. So, before I preach on revival, we could have a revival just in your own heart now. Abba, holy Abba, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, we come to the throne of grace where there is grace and mercy to help in time of need.

And Lord, this is a time of need. Oh, how our land needs your grace. How our churches need your grace. How our homes and our families need your grace. How our own hearts, Lord, need your grace. And so, Lord, we pray, we are asking, we confess our sins to you, and we're asking that you will clear away all the debris and the obstacles that might be in the way of your blessing and of your pouring in your great grace into our hearts and into our lives.

Oh, living God, open now the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing from the very throne room of God that we might have not room to receive it. Oh, Lord, we go in faith our own great weakness feeling.

We go not alone against the foe. And strong in thy strength, we take our stand. We rebuke the devil in Jesus' name, and we pray that every adverse force and influence in this place would be bound, and that the mighty power and presence of God may be released into all our hearts.

Oh, do a work now, Lord, for eternity. And help me, Lord. I claim your promise to the apostle. My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in your weakness. Amen. Isaiah 57, please, and we read verse 15.

Isaiah 57 and verse 15. And I want to speak to you on what is revival. What is revival? That might seem an obvious one for a revival conference, but perhaps the answer to that question is not so obvious.

Verse 15 of Isaiah 57, for thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with him who has a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite one.

Revival as a Description of Spiritual Renewal

What is revival? Now, imagine we could engage in an exercise just now and take a poll of you folk who may be seasoned in sermon listening and in literature reading. You may have a good knowledge of the Word of God, and if we were to ask all of you, we might get many, many different answers to the question, what is revival?

And I've just thought of a few. Some might say, well, revival is getting back to the Bible, getting back to the book, and not just a knowledge intellectually of the Word of God, but experientially an obedience to God's commands and the principles and precepts of the Word.

And we would all agree that that's a part of what revival must be. And of course, if we discover the Word of God afresh, we will also see, I believe, in the pulpit a revival in Christ-centered gospel preaching.

And that's what we need in this day and age. The good news of Jesus Christ preached, but centered and focused upon the Savior, the one who alone can give hope for a dying humanity. Others might say, well, revival will come when and will result in putting prayer and intercession in its rightful place.

And when we start to get on our faces before God, and often this is what God does, He moves His people to pray before He brings revival. But in essence, that's the start of revival, isn't it? Putting prayer back in its rightful place.

Some others might say, well, it is a rediscovery of holiness in the life of the saints of God. Getting rid of all the rubbish, and the mar, and the dirt, and the blockage that there is in our lives that might be preventing God pouring in His blessing and us living in victory, overcoming the world.

And that would be right. Others might add to that, well, revival will be an overflowing love in the hearts, into the hearts of believers, and out from the hearts of believers, a love to God, a new appreciation of God and Jesus Christ.

And not only that, it won't stop there, but that will overflow in a love toward God's people. We will love one another as the body of Christ, and we will love lost people who need Christ and have no hope.

Others may say, revival is a rediscovery, and it is of the ministry of the person of the blessed Holy Spirit in all of His fullness, in all of His gifts, in all of His attributes. We could go on, and I'm sure that some of the answers that you would have given to me just now may have been different, and they may well have been correct.

But let me suggest to you that none of these are a definition of what revival is. What these are are descriptions of revival, rather than a definition of revival. And often when we speak and preach about revival, and when we anticipate revival, we are speaking and anticipating about the descriptions, the attributes of a revival, but we aren't actually defining the revival.

The Trinity Illustrates the Difference Between Definition and Description

Now, let me illustrate this for you, because I don't want you to think that I'm splitting hairs and I'm making false distinctions. I believe that what I'm saying is accurate. Take, for instance, the mighty person that is God, and we understand correctly that the Bible teaches that God is a triune God.

We believe in the doctrine of the Trinity, and that is blessed Holy Three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There are three persons, but there is one substance, one essence, and that is God. And we describe our understanding of God in that area as the Trinity, but it would be wrong to say that the Trinity is God, or that the Trinity is the Godhead, because the Trinity is a description and an understanding, and I think there are a couple of blind spots even in it, and yet it is the best that we can do with our mortal minds and what we have in the Word of God to get a grasp of the ungraspable, to get a hold upon the indescribable, and that is our Almighty God.

He is indescribable in His attributes. He is indescribable in His essence, and He is the transcendent One, and that simply means He is above us. He is beyond us. He is holy. Do you know what holy means?

Well, yes, I suppose it means in part pure and undefiled, but often those are negative descriptions of what holy is. Holy literally means unique. He is one of a kind. There is none other like Him or that comes near Him.

He is separate. He is distinct from anything else that is, has been, or ever shall be. And so we often, we often need to be warned that in our attempt to describe God and even describing His attributes, we need to be aware that we are not defining God.

We cannot define God. The only definition of God is in the New Testament, I believe, where Philip came to the Lord Jesus and said, look, we've been long enough with you. Just show us the Father, and that will suffice us.

Jesus said, Philip, have you been so long with me, and have you not known that he who has seen me has seen the Father? If you want a definition of Almighty God, it's Jesus Christ. If you want to know what God looks like, you look at Jesus Christ, for He is the incarnation of this indescribable God.

But I'm using that as an illustration to show you that often we describe what revival is, and we think that we are defining it when we are only describing it. It's not wrong to describe it. Brian Edwards, in his great book on revival, gives a description of revival, and I'm quoting him.

He says, a true Holy Spirit revival is a remarkable increase in the spiritual life of a large number of God's people, accompanied by an awesome awareness of the presence of sin, with a passionate longing for holiness, and an unusual effectiveness in evangelism, leading to salvation many unbelievers.

Now that is a wonderful, all-encompassing definition of revival, but a description of revival. But it is not a definition of revival. And what we need to do this morning in answering this question, what is revival, is to get beyond descriptions and define it.

What is revival in essence? If you're like, what is revival in a nutshell? Now, I had this dilemma some time ago, and I asked the Lord, foolishly just before I went to sleep, to show me what the essence of revival is.

And I didn't get to sleep for a while, because He gave it to me. And this is what I'm giving to you just now. Verse 15 of Isaiah 57. This, I believe, is the definition of revival. Thus says the high and lofty One, who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with Him, who is a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Reaching High for the High and Lofty One

Revival in a nutshell is twofold. First of all, it is a reaching high. Revival is a reaching high to the high and lofty One. Now, a reaching high in revival, I think, is also twofold. First of all, revival often begins with a dissatisfaction of the status quo.

Is that not the case? We are fed up and rightly fed up with the way things are in our lives, in our church environment, and in our community. And so that dissatisfaction, thank God for it. If He brings it into our hearts, thank Him for it.

It will lead us to a reaching high, a desire for a higher experience in the Christian life. Now, who here this morning could say that they don't need a higher experience in their Christian life? Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

We need it, and we must have it. If we're going to have revival, we must have a dissatisfaction with the way our lives are at present and an all-encompassing desire for a higher experience in the Christian life.

Now, if that is going to happen, there must be what Hosea talks of, the breaking up of fallow ground. Now, people in Ireland know what the breaking up of fallow ground is, and I'm a city slicker, but even I know.

Know those green fields that you see, but if you go to a more arid land, it becomes more pertinent. When the ground has become so hard, so unyielding, so arid, lacking of water and fertility, in order for that ground to yield forth increase on the harvest, it has to be broken up.

And the farmer has to plough that ground. He has to dig it up and dig it deep, and he has to pour in water. Now, my friends, that is what we need to do if we have a desire for a higher experience in the Christian life.

We've got to be prepared to break up the fallow ground. We've got to be prepared to analyze our lives before the Holy Spirit and before God. But let me tell you that a lot of revival preaching ends there, and it must not end there, for that is not where Hosea ended.

Hosea said, sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord till He come and reign righteousness upon you. So, yes, the breaking up of the fallow ground must happen, but there must be a seeking of the Lord.

You see, this is where I'm getting to, and this is really the message that is on my heart as a burden. Yes, there's a reaching high, and that is what revival is, to a higher experience in the Christian life, but that is not where it must stop, because true revival is a desire for a higher knowledge of God.

It is a reaching high to the high and lofty one till He come, till He come and reign righteousness upon you. And so, OK, any Christian, worth their salt anyway, would want a deeper experience, wouldn't they, in the Christian life?

They would want maturity, and God, I believe, has planted that in our hearts, but do you believer today have a desire for a higher knowledge of God? Now, listen, when revival comes, God comes. When revival comes, God comes.

Now, don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I believe in the omnipresence of God. I believe God is everywhere. That is not what we're talking about. His center is everywhere, and His circumference is nowhere, as the Puritans say.

God is everywhere and as much anywhere at the same moment in time. We dwell in God. Time dwells in God, and then we live and move and have our being. That's not what we're talking about. It's not even what we're talking about when we say that when God's people are met together in the name of Christ, even two or three, He is there in the midst of us.

We believe there is a special sense, even like this morning when we're met together, but that is not what we are talking about. We are talking about a very special, a very supernatural, a distinct sense of God's presence when God comes in revival.

Now, be warned, we must not despise the omnipresence of God that we're experiencing this very moment, and we must not despise His special presence when two or three are gathered together in the midst, when we meet together on the Lord's day as the Lord's people, and we must not despise the day of small things that we are living in when there is not revival in our communities and in our nations, because even though there is no revival, God is still at work.

God is working a work in our day. If we knew it, we wouldn't believe it, though we were told it, but there is something more, and in revival, there is a special presence of God. There are special manifestations of His presence and His power, and if that is to happen, listen carefully, we must have a desire for Him.

Revival Requires Desire for God Alone

We must have a desire for Him. Our desire for revival should be ultimately a desire for God. Now, I want you to get this, because I feel that some people have a desire to spread the dominance of a particular theological outlook or an ecclesiastical denomination or tradition of doing things, and I fear that people have an all-consuming desire for the reformation of society, or they want to see restoration in the church and renewal, or they want to see the salvation of their lost loved ones and neighbors and work colleagues, or they want to see the fulfillment of the desires and passions of their heart and their life's dream and their purpose, and all of those things are good, and all of those things will be satisfied in revival, but not if we have not a desire for God and God alone.

That must be paramount. The authenticity of our desire for revival is relative to our desire for God. Now, if you remember nothing that I've said this morning, remember that. The authenticity of our desire for revival is measured and is relative to our desire for God.

I mean, who wouldn't want better conditions in their community? There's good, fine, upstanding, moral people in our community who are not born again, and they would like that. What church pastor, elder, deacon would not want more seats on the pews, more collection in the plate, more voices singing the hymns, more people out at the midweek who wouldn't want their family saved, their mother saved, their father saved, their children saved, their distant relatives saved, their estranged loved ones saved.

But do we want God? That is the question. How much do we want God? And revival comes when Christians are longing for God and God alone. Revival is the desire for God and the realization of God in all of his divine presence.

Now, Isaiah knew this. If you turn with me to chapter 64, a very well-known revival passage, you will see in Isaiah's prayer, perhaps I could have a oh, there is water here. Thank you, brother. Isaiah prayed, and this look at the theme of his prayer.

Yes, all these other descriptions are found here, but in essence, we have the definition of revival. Oh, that thou wouldst rend the heaven. And we could spend a morning on that word, oh. The heart cry of the prophet torn between the people and God, torn between the sins and the need for repentance of the people and the holy heart of the living God who loves them but is just, as we heard last night.

Oh, do you have a cry like that in your heart for Ireland? Do you have a cry like that in your heart for your community, for your church? Oh, that you would rend the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might shake at your presence.

Now, there it is. The mountains are the immovable objects that have been there since time began. And what Isaiah is saying is, if you come, these insurmountable problems, they will melt. But notice, here's the imperative thought, that you would come down, that the mountains may shake at your presence as fire burns brushwood, as fire causes water to boil, to make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence.

That's it. The presence of God. What is revival? It is a reaching high. Yes, it is a reaching high for a higher experience in the Christian life, but it's got to be more than that. It's got to be a reaching high for a greater knowledge of God.

Duncan Campbell, he was mightily used in the Hebridean revivals in Scotland, said, revival is a community saturated by God. Would you not love that? There's no better description of it, I think, than that.

I heard of an evangelist in England, quite recently, who experienced a measure of revival in a particular locality. And he was talking to an unbeliever in a shop who was complaining that people weren't coming in to buy food anymore because the minister of the local church had conducted a week or two weeks of fasting and prayer for God to move in the evangelistic mission.

He said, it was terrible. He said, drunkards were coming in and they were talking about how they feared hell and how they wanted free of their sin and so on. And this woman was lamenting. But this is one thing she said, you could feel God everywhere.

We feel God nowhere. Brian Edwards says, when we are reading the serious yet exciting stories of God and revival, the only response possible is an awesome, God has come. God has come. Is that what you want, Christian?

Is that what you want? Is He the one you want? Can you say with Francis Brooke, my goal is God Himself. Not joy, though that will come. Not peace, though that will be in your heart. Nor even blessing there, though it will be in abundance.

But my goal is God Himself, my God. Now, let me ask you a question. And this is a diagnostic question to see whether or not your desire is really for God and God Himself. In your Christian life in general and in your desire for revival, which you must have to some extent, is your desire for Him or an it, an IT, it?

What do I mean? Well, your it could be an experience. Your it could be a doctrine. Your it could be the love for your church. It could be a work that you're involved in for the Lord. It may be a scheme of biblical interpretation and theology.

Or your it may well be revival. But listen to what I'm saying. John wrote to the Christians in the early church and said, little children, keep yourselves from idols. If I could put it in the David Lake translation, keep yourselves from its things, even good things, even spiritual things, even holy things, even biblical things, theological things.

But things that can take the place of God and become idols in themselves is your desire for Him. We must always beware of replacing Him with an IT. A. B. Simpson discovered this great truth. And I just want to quote what he said.

He says it better than I could. He says, I wish to speak to you about Jesus and Jesus only. I often hear people say, I wish I could get hold of divine healing, but I cannot. Sometimes they say, I have got it.

And if I ask them, what have you got? The answer is, sometimes I have got the blessing. Sometimes it is, I've got the theory. Sometimes it is, I've got the healing. Sometimes it is, I've got the sanctification.

But I thank God we have been taught that it is not the blessing, it is not the healing, it is not the sanctification, it is not the thing, it is not the IT that you want, but it is something better. It is the Christ.

It is Himself. Plenty of people get the idea and do not get anything out of it. They get it into their head and into their conscience and into their will, but somehow they do not get Him into their life and into their spirit.

Because they have only that which is the outward expression and the symbol of spiritual reality. And it was A. B. Simpson from that discovery who wrote a hymn that is in some of our hymn books. Once it was the blessing, now it is the Lord.

Once it was the feeling, now it is His word. Once His gifts I wanted, now the giver owned. Once I sought for healing, now Himself alone. All in all forever, Jesus will I sing. Everything in Jesus, and Jesus everything.

That's it. That is revival. A reaching high for God in Christ. Nothing else, nothing more, nothing less. And what does Jesus say? If we seek first the kingdom, and He is the kingdom, all these other things will be added onto it.

The late, great Henry Jyatt, a great preacher in the city of London, attended the coronation of King Edward VII in Westminster Abbey at the turn of last century. As that great preacher was sitting in that great abbey, he observed with interest the assembling and seating of princes from various jurisdictions of Europe, princesses, dukes, duchesses of the realm, and others of lesser nobility.

And he was intrigued at how homage was paid to each of them, and respect, and how they were guided with dignity to their seats. And then Jyatt says, but then the king arrived, and all eyes turned away from those of lower rank, and were fixed upon him.

That's what the author to the Hebrews means when he says, look away from everything else, and fix your eyes upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our fear. Now, what is revival? A reaching high to the high and lofty one.

Bowing Low in Humility and Contrition

But come with me again, look please at verse 15. For thus says the high, Isaiah 57 verse 15, for thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place.

I dwell, that's where he resides. Headquarters are high and lofty place with him. I dwell in the high and holy place. Let that sink in with him. That's you. That's me potentially with him or her who has a contrite, a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite one.

Now, what is revival? Revival is a reaching high, but it is also a bowing low. It is also a bowing low. But here's the punchline. Now, listen, this is the message the Lord has led on my heart. Listen very carefully.

The reaching high can only be achieved by the bowing low. Have you got it? Are you getting what God is saying to your heart? The reaching high, the deeper knowledge of God, the deeper experience in the Christian life can only be attained by the bending low.

That's what this verse says. God dwells in the high and lofty place, but he dwells there with the one who is of a contrite and humble spirit. He wants to revive the spirit of the humble to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

He wants to lift us to heaven. Now, revival will overflow in many sinners coming to the Savior, but only when the saints come first to him. That is what revival is. And I firmly believe that revival starts with personal, individual revival in the life of the Christian.

Now, corporate revival is a different thing. Corporate revival has got more to do with God's sovereignty, but personal revival has got more to do with you, I think. And I want to speak to you on what the essence of revival is in these remaining moments about the bending low in your life.

If you want revival, which means if you want a deeper knowledge of God, you have got to bend low. Now, what does that mean to bend low so that God may lift you up? Well, here's what it means very simply.

Brokenness and Death to Self

First of all, it means brokenness. You don't hear too much preaching about brokenness. And can I tell you, I am not broken as I should be. And can I tell you, I am afraid to pray. I never pray that God would break me because I'm afraid of Him breaking me.

I have an inherent desire not to be broken. And we all have, if we're honest, because we have been sold a lie, a spin of this world and the devil. And do you know what it is? Broken things are useless.

My mobile phone is broken. It goes in the bin. Broken things are useful to Almighty God. And it would be better if you discovered brokenness before God had to break you. The Bible says, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Do you know what that basically means? God resists the proud, but He cannot resist the humble. That's our God. Isn't it wonderful to think that God is closest to those of a broken heart? Have you got a broken heart today?

God wants to come very close to you. His desire is not sacrifice and offering. He would not receive those. But a broken and a contrite heart, that's what He wants. Now, listen very carefully to what I'm saying.

John 12 and verse 24, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit. And dying to self and dying to selfish attitudes will bring brokenness into your life.

That's what Paul meant in Galatians 2 and 20 when he said, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me and the life that I now live. I live by the power of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Now, listen carefully. People talk about two crosses. You know, there's two crosses. There's the cross of Jesus and then there's your cross. And I don't like that because there's only one cross and you were on it with Jesus.

That's the point of the gospel. You don't have to crucify yourself all over again. And here's the great open secret to brokenness. You have been effectively put to death with Christ on the cross. You've died with Christ and your life is hid with Christ in God.

It's always past tense. It's always has been. And the problem is you're playing catch up. You're trying in your mind and your heart to catch up with what God's already done. But once you discover it has already been finished, it has already been accomplished, well then it's so much easier.

You're trying to put yourself to death. Stop it. Stop it. Stop striving. Stop trying. You're dead. You are dead. Just believe it. You died with Christ. But it's a hard thing reckoning at times and discovering that brokenness that comes from the knowledge of your death with Christ.

And it manifests itself and in the self. You see when we're critical of others and I am so guilty of this. When we are envious of others and we've all got it. When we are prideful and I have enough pride to sink a fleet of battleships.

When we are irritable. When we are resentful. When we are anxious. When we are worried and fearful and troubled. That is the self. When we're shy even. People say, oh it's just the way I am. Well be careful.

To be too self-conscious and reserved can be the self. To be hard and unyielding towards other people. To have that type of an attitude towards others whether they be our brothers and sisters in Christ or not.

The great lesson and you'll get it in this book. Get them. They're free at the back. The Calvary Road by Roy Hesse and he teaches in it and he's right. That in Genesis chapter three fellowship with God was broken because of sin.

And in Genesis chapter four fellowship with man between man was broken because of sin. And it's always a natural knock-on effect that when we're not right with God. We're not right with our brother. But here's the thought I want you to get in the buying low and in the discovering of brokenness.

Do you know one of the main methods God uses in his providence to break us? Do you know what it is? Your brother or sister sitting beside you. Do you know that? And our yieldedness to God is measured by our yieldedness to men often.

Now let me define that for you so you don't misunderstand what I'm saying. God's way of breaking us is with everyone who tries us, vexes us, tests us, humiliates us. God allows people like that to come into our lives.

Why? That there might be a deeper channel in us that the life of Christ may flow through us. But what do we do? We run a mile from it. I've been in pastoral ministry and I know a wee bit about this type of thing.

Boy when that phone rings and now we've got these phones that can tell you who's ringing you and you see who's ringing and the temptation is oh I'm not in. Or you see the person coming to you after the meeting and you nearly know by the look of their eyes what type of person they are and you think to yourself oh no I'm going to be here for hours.

And we don't realize that we resist this don't we? And we resist God's breaking of us. The breaking of the self. We resist it and oh if we would just embrace it how much quicker we would realize brokenness in our lives.

And in a thousand choices every day we have the choice of being broken or not being broken. Now listen carefully. Our brother last evening masterfully brought us to the cross. But you know what? I remember hearing a Chinese Christian coming to America and he was taken by a preacher to one of these big bookstores with all the Christian books you can imagine.

And he was walking through the bookstore and he turned to this brother who thought he should be impressed by what he was saying. And he says dear brother it must be very difficult for you to be a Christian in America.

He says what do you mean? Sure look at all the resources we have. He says but the secret to this, the secret to that, the secret to the other. He says you would have to read all these books to know the secret.

All we've got is the Bible and maybe three or four books a year. And he was right. Do you know what the the open secret of the Christian life is? We were at the cross last night. That's where you get saved by simple faith.

And you know the secret of victory, the secret of revival, the secret of triumphant Christian experience. Just stay there. Don't get up. Stay there. Crucified with Christ. You see I'm not sure how broken we can get when we truly see our sins ourselves.

I think we need to see our sins on the Savior. I think we need to see what our sins did to the Son of God. And when we do we will bow beneath bloody Calvary and say with Roy Hessean Lord bend that proud stiff-necked capital I.

Help me to bend the head and die beholding him on Calvary who bowed his head for me. That will bring brokenness. But then there must be confession. The second thing if you want to bend low, brokenness and confession.

Confession, Cleansing, and Life in the Spirit

That means living in the light. First John 1. We've got to walk in the light. It does not mean being sinless but it means keeping your sins in the light and confessing them when you commit them. There's power over your sin.

Praise God. But we do fall and we do let the Lord down. But the secret is not trying to hide from God but confessing our sins and bringing everything into the light. And the blood of Jesus Christ has been promised to constantly cleanse us and make us fit before God.

Don't struggle with your sins. Bring them to the light. Be open and honest with God. Confess them and he will not only make you right before him in a fellowship light but he will give you power over them if you do not hide them from him.

Brokenness, confession, then finally filling. Brokenness, confession, and filling. Emptied that thou shouldest fill me, a clean vessel in thy hand. With no power but that thou givest, graciously with each command, channels only, blessed master, but with all thy wondrous power flowing through us, thou canst use us every day and every hour.

Andrew Murray put it like this. Just as water ever seeks and fills the lowest place, so the moment God finds you abased, bending low, broken and confessing empty, his glory and power will flow in. But God will not fill the dirty cup.