Why Revival Tarries - Part 3 — Henry Blackaby

Prayer Rooted in Unbelief

To prayer in the churches. And much of the prayer is based on unbelief. And when we pray, we're conditioning the people of God. So we pray, Lord, be with us today. And I think God would say, what do you mean, be with you?

Receiving God's Promised Presence and Power

I promised I would be with you. Why don't you pray that you would receive my presence? We can sing, Lord, show your power. He said, I've done it from the beginning of time. You don't believe me. Why don't you believe the power I've already shown you?

Did he show his power in the person and presence of Jesus? Yes. Why don't you believe him? Why are you asking him, Lord, would you show us your power? He says, I have. Your problem is you don't know how to receive it.

He said, all authority and power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Now go and I'll be with you. Did he not say he'd be with us always? Why are we praying, Lord, be with us? I've been in pastor's conferences when I hear someone stand up and say, Lord, come among us with your power.

And I want to stand up and say, my brother, he doesn't come any other way. When he is present, all his power is present. The difficulty is not with God, it's with us. We will not believe him. And we somehow don't know how to incorporate into our life what is already present.

God's Incomparable Power in Isaiah 40

I think of that enormous passage. I believe it's in Isaiah 55. You remember how God's making an inquiry. I wonder if he could say it in many a pastor's conference with many of God's people. Have you not known?

Has it not yet been told you who I am? God's people are functioning as though they have never heard. Do you remember what he says? He says, have you not known? Do you not understand? I'm the creator of the universe.

Let me turn you to the 40th chapter. Verse 21, have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, who spreads them all out like a tent.

He brings princes to nothing and he makes judges of the earth useless. To whom will you liken me? Verse 25. Or to whom shall I be equal? Says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see. Every star is known by God and it functions in its place permanently just like God said.

Why do you say, O Jacob, that my way is hidden from the Lord? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

Teaching God's People to Wait on the Lord

He gives power to the weak. To those who have no might, he increases their strength. Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. Many of God's people don't have the faintest idea how to wait on the Lord.

And they've never been taught. They've never been taught. Do you know why revival tarries? We are neglecting to teach the people of God. So they have no understanding. How God gives strength to the weak.

God's Presence in Workplaces and Institutions

How God gives understanding to the businessman. How the mighty presence of almighty sovereign God functions in corporate America and in the school systems and in the court systems. I'm watching God begin to do that.

Well, he's been doing it all along. But he simply let me be aware of it when I spoke to 800 judges, I mean, lawyers and judges. And every solitary judge that I spoke to had been through experiencing God.

And every judge was teaching it in his chambers. Now, isn't it amazing that we have eyes to see what God is doing and we never look? We see what the world is doing and condemn the judges. Why don't you look to see where God's working in the Christian judges?

He is. And I'm seeing him do some incredible things. And lawyers, for instance. Just a week ago, I was speaking in Southwest Florida. And it was a gathering of about 40 Christian judges who do estate planning for Christians.

And a group of financial planners who are gathering the wealthy believers to seek to direct their giving to missions and church planting. And the group I talked with, they told me that group alone, Christian, are handling over a trillion dollars of money in the hands of God's people.

Teaching Truth for Revival

Do you know why revival tarries? Nobody's teaching them. Jesus did. Everything he heard from the Father, he taught. And then he prayed. And he prayed specifically, Father, would you sanctify them by the truth?

Your word is truth. What truth are you giving the people of God? Are you giving them little devotional thoughts so they can feel good when they leave? Or are you bringing them face to face with God as he really is?

So that God himself is setting them apart. Radically setting them apart. For his purposes to revive. God is not reluctant to bring revival. He's waiting on us to believe what he says are the conditions of revival.

God's Sovereign Conditions for Revival

When I get in revival conferences like this, someone's going to say, Folks, you just need to know that revival is the sovereign work of God. And you can't do anything to bring it. That's not true. It is the sovereign work of God.

But the sovereign God has given us sovereign conditions that are ours to do. That when we meet his conditions, he will respond. Is that not what 2 Chronicles 7 .14 says? If my people who are called by my name will humble them.

Teaching Humility, Seeking God's Face, and Prayer

When was the last time you guided your people to understand what it means to humble themselves? When was it the last time you told them what it means to seek his face? And I've led many, many a prayer conference.

And sometimes at the end of the prayer conference, I will ask the question, Is there anything that has impacted you from this prayer conference? It is the older people who will say, I've been in church 30 years.

You're the first person who ever taught me to pray. And I'll ask them, say that again. You've been in church 30 to 40 years and nobody's taught you to pray. And they will say, nobody's taught me to pray.

Then when you say we need to humble ourselves and pray, they don't know how to pray. Nobody's taught them. And I believe that Jesus is giving us a pattern.