在過去一段日子，我們都在思想關於復興的各種問題，現在我們來到這討論的中段，讓我們先停下來，提醒自己一些我們考慮過的重點。我們曾說過，復興是神彎下腰，向快將熄滅的餘燼吹氣，令牠再次燃燒起來。五旬節是所有復興的模式，那是神以超越尋常的現象作出超然的顯現。神希望新約教會能有全面的復蘇，並利用復興來達到這個目的。我們為何須要復興呢？原因是教會遠離了當初的愛，墮進衰敗中。當復興來臨時，有時隻需要數星期就可達到正常基督徒活動需要數年才能實現的事情。

我們所要考慮的下一個問題是：復興是如何開始的？牠是否在虔誠的基督徒心裡形成，然後透過彼此懇切有力的代禱去實現？還是不論神的百姓如何的渴望或禱告，都是由神決定是否要賜下？

我可以清楚的告訴你，我認為復興是始於神的心意，牠是神的計劃，人可以做的很少。有很多事情是基督徒可以藉著委身和屬靈的力量帶給教會的，但這不包括復興在內。例如：傳福音、講道、教導和輔導都是我們為神所做的工作，不過復興卻是神為我們而賜下的。

Now that we are at the half-way point in our meditations on revival we pause for a moment to remind ourselves of some of the points we have been considering. Revival, we have said, is God bending down to the dying embers of a fire just about to go out and breathing into it until it bursts again into flame. The pattern for all revivals is Pentecost, which was an extraordinary visitation of God accompanied by extraordinary happenings. God is after the recovery of a fully-orbed New Testament Christianity and He has invariably used revivals to this end. The reason why we need revival is because the Church turns from its first love and falls into decline. And when revival comes it achieves, sometimes in a few weeks, what could never have been achieved in years of normal Christian activity.

The next question we must consider is this: How does a revival begin? Is it something that forms in the minds of devoted Christian people and is then brought into being through powerful intercessory prayer? Or is it something that originates in the mind of God and comes down to earth irrespective of the desires or the prayer life of His people?

I have no hesitation in saying that in my opinion revival begins in the mind of God. It is something that God plans, men and women have little to do with it. There are many things that Christians, by dedicated and committed spiritual effort, can bring to pass in the Church, but revival is not one of them. For instance, evangelism, preaching, teaching, and counselling is work that we do for God, revival is work that God does for us.