Revival—Spiritual Sleep

Revival—Spiritual Sleep

The Three Stages of Revival and Sleep

1. People in the world are asleep. They are asleep to the necessity of being reconciled to God. Once in a while there is a revival here and there, and a few people—or more—are converted to God.

2. A person is asleep among converted people. They are asleep to the necessity of pressing in to God in order to be filled with the Spirit so they can fully and completely overcome all sin. Once in a while there is a revival where a few people press through and are baptized with the Spirit, but larger revivals of this sort—as we have just experienced among the friends— are very rare.

3. People sleep even after they have been baptized with the Spirit. They are asleep to the necessity of regularly and constantly pressing in to God to be filled with the Spirit, so that the fire of truth and love can burn brightly at all times. They are asleep to the necessity of fighting it through to the bitter end in order to carry out God’s will in all things, to be found without spot or wrinkle before God at Christ’s coming. It is extremely rare that such a revival lasts. Nevertheless, we work toward that goal—for a constant revival of that kind. And this ought to be the goal of all revivals.

The Endurance of the Revival

Revivals are always prone to dying out. People fall asleep again after they have gone on for a shorter or longer period of time. Revival #1 must, of course, cease if there is no one left who has a desire for God. Revival #2 must also—inevitably—come to a stop once everyone in the church has been baptized with the Spirit, but revival #3 need never stop because here we can draw from “unlimited” supplies. The light constantly increases, so there is always more than enough to reach out for, first for ourselves and then in the work for the salvation of all the others.

Why do revivals #1 and #2 die out prematurely, and why does revival #3 die out at all? People get tired; the flesh gains room and power. It takes something and it costs something to give yourself and all your possessions. Usually people conclude quite quickly that they ought to “go easy” on themselves and their possessions. If one should, by way of exception, be so pious that one does not get this idea so soon, it is amazing how many well-meaning and even zealous helpers you get in no time at all. It is quite “edifying” to see how zealous an otherwise sluggish person can become. A fair amount of zeal and watchfulness is displayed when it concerns quenching the Spirit. The result is a kind of “revival” in its own right.

People get tired; the next thing is that they want to sleep, and then they fall asleep. The solution is to be untiring—to continue to be untiring—until the end. The key word is untiring. In other words, it becomes a question of love, real love, perfect love, because love is absolutely tireless; it keeps going at full speed until the last drop of blood! There is no doubt about it in my heart. It believes all things, hopes and bears all things; many waters cannot quench it; it will never fail. How can we get hold of it? “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit . . . .” Rom. 5:5. That is also the very reason we read, “Praying in the Holy Spirit, [and thus] keep yourselves in the love of God . . . .” Jude 20-21.

The less you pray in the Holy Spirit, the less love you have, the sooner you get tired, the sooner all revival comes to an end, the deeper the sleep will be. Can there be constant revival? Yes, as truly as God never sleeps, so we never have to be afraid that we are inconveniencing Him with our “nagging.”

The Degree and Strength of the Revival

As there is more or less sleep, so there is also more or less watchfulness in all three stages. A person can wake up from his sleep in sin and be converted; nevertheless, there are differences in the degrees of strength of the conversion, or revival. For example, we can say that one person sees it as necessary; another sees it more necessary, a third person even more necessary; a fourth person sees it as a matter of life and death. Or: one person sees it as something that has to be done before he dies; another that he should do it in the near future; a third person before the day is over; whereas a fourth person has to get it done this very minute. One person sees salvation as being worth more than ten thousand; another person values it in the millions; a third person utterly despises all the glory of this world; whereas a fourth person sees it as folly even to bother mentioning anything at all that is of this world. Yet on the other hand there are others who cannot bring themselves to sacrifice even a little piece of jewelry for Christ’s sake, or they waver because of some derisive words, or—if it is a matter of a thousand kroner—they are prepared to forsake Christ, and because of these kroner they are ready, with the help of the worst lawyers, to wage war against their neighbor. One person sees that he has to be prepared to face opposition once in a while; another person sees that he must be prepared for constant opposition; a third person sees that there really is constant opposition; a fourth person has had his eyes opened to the fact that there are legions of opposing spirits everywhere at all times that are active in various people both inside and outside the church. One person sees it as necessary to be filled with the Spirit so he can have a real inner power to do God’s will so it is not bondage to him; another person sees that he needs a greater fullness so he can make faster progress; a third person sees that he needs to be red hot so that his desire will be filled; and a fourth person has discovered that even this heat is insufficient: he needs to be filled and fired on to the point where the heat is white.

Light is not of equal strength to everyone; therefore, the resulting seriousness varies, and with it, the resulting heat.

In other words, revival is practically unlimited in time and depth. Therefore we can all safely acknowledge that we have slept, and that we are still partially asleep. May there be a never-ending revival for as long as we live! God has raised Himself in His zeal in order to awaken us thoroughly and to keep us awake! We have found grace in His eyes. He loves us dearly! All glory to His great and holy name!

Dearly beloved brothers! Let us wake up and be serious and never more go to sleep! Let us all get up and fight till death and nevermore sit down for as long as we are on this earth. Let us not only have partaken of the Spirit, but let us always, with faithfulness and zeal, be in the Spirit, walking and fighting in the Spirit. Do not spare!!!

Soon, very soon, we are going to leave this world. Then none of us will regret having been too zealous. Yet there will be quite a bit of regret for the opposite reason. Let there be as little as possible of that kind of regret on that Day, and as much as possible of it in these days.