从天上赐下的复兴
祷告的重要性
经文
撒迦利亚书十1-8
1 当春雨的时候，你们要向发闪电的耶和华求雨。他必为众人降下甘霖，使田园生长菜蔬。
2 因为，家神所言的是虚空；卜士所见的是虚假；作梦者所说的是假梦。他们白白地安慰人，所以众人如羊流离，因无牧人就受苦。
3 我的怒气向牧人发作；我必惩罚公山羊；因我─万军之耶和华眷顾自己的羊群，就是犹大家，必使他们如骏马在阵上。
4 房角石、钉子、争战的弓，和一切掌权的都从他而出。
5 他们必如勇士在阵上将仇敌践踏在街上的泥土中。他们必争战，因为耶和华与他们同在；骑马的也必羞愧。
6 我要坚固犹大家，拯救约瑟家，要领他们归回。我要怜恤他们；他们必像未曾弃绝的一样，都因我是耶和华─他们的神，我必应允他们的祷告。
7 以法莲人必如勇士；他们心中畅快如同喝酒；他们的儿女必看见而快活；他们的心必因耶和华喜乐。
8 我要发嘶声，聚集他们，因我已经救赎他们。他们的人数必加增，如从前加增一样。
信息分享
让我们继续来思考昨天提出的问题：复兴是如何开始的？我们必须明白，复兴是神主权的行动，是由神而不是由教会开始的。许多基督徒在神的主权这一个观点上持有不同的见解。有一派思想说：「复兴完全是神主权的行动，人并没有什么可以做。当神愿意时，便会赐下复兴，他不会先与受造之物商量。」很多伟大的威尔斯复兴领袖都接受这个观点，包括伊凡思（Christmas Evans）、罗兰斯（Daniel Rowlands）、伊利尔斯（John Elias）、爱德华兹（Thomas Charles Edwards）和约翰伊文思（John Evans）。
另一派思想说：「只要教会愿意付上代价，复兴可以在教会任何时候发生。」伟大的复兴家芬尼（Charles Finney）认同这个说法。他说：「教会只要愿意，随时都可以有复兴的出现，因为复兴好像种植麦子──农夫播种，到了适当的时候，麦子便会长出来。当我们愿意播下祷告的种子，在神的田地的红犁沟中劳动，我们就能经历复兴。」
我相信，事实是介乎这两派思想之间。复兴是神主权的行动，意思是只有他才能够带来复兴，但我也相信他俯就他的百姓，因着他们热切和信心的祈求，将复兴的责任从天上赐下。圣灵每次伟大的浇灌，包括五旬节在内，都是始于神的心意，不过却是因着恳切和坚持的祷告所引发开来的。
「神在恳切的祷告后赐下复兴」
进深研究
加六1-10；约十二24；传十一1；林后九6
1. 播种和收割背后的原则是什么？
2. 这与复兴有什么关系？
祈祷
天父，如果祷告是那么的重要，求您唤醒我，使我清楚明白祷告的力量和重要性，帮助我今天对代祷者的意义有一个新的异象。奉主基督的圣名祈求，阿们。
Heaven-Sent Revival
The place of prayer
Bible reading:
Zechariah 10:1-8
1 Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime; it is the Lord who sends the thunderstorms. He gives showers of rain to all people, and plants of the field to everyone.
2 The idols speak deceitfully, diviners see visions that lie; they tell dreams that are false, they give comfort in vain. Therefore the people wander like sheep oppressed for lack of a shepherd.
3 "My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders; for the Lord Almighty will care for his flock, the people of Judah, and make them like a proud horse in battle.
4 From Judah will come the cornerstone, from him the tent peg, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler.
5 Together they[a] will be like warriors in battle trampling their enemy into the mud of the streets. They will fight because the Lord is with them, and they will put the enemy horsemen to shame.
6 "I will strengthen Judah and save the tribes of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion on them. They will be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the Lord their God and I will answer them.
7 The Ephraimites will become like warriors, and their hearts will be glad as with wine. Their children will see it and be joyful; their hearts will rejoice in the Lord.
8 I will signal for them and gather them in. Surely I will redeem them; they will be as numerous as before.
Message
We continue considering the question: How do revivals begin? A revival is a sovereign act of God in the sense that it is initiated by Him and not by the Church. It is at this point - the sovereignty of God - that Christians tend to differ in their thinking. One school of thought says: "Revival is a sovereign act of God and there is absolutely nothing that man has to do with it. God sends revival when He wills and does not consult or confer with any of His creation." Many of the great Welsh revivalists, such as Christmas Evans, Daniel Rowlands, John Elias, Thomas Charles Edwards, and John Evans subscribed to this view.
Another school of thought says: "Revival can happen any time the Church wants it - providing she is willing to pay the price." The great revivalist Charles Finney believed this. "The Church," he said, "can have a revival whenever it wills, for revival is like a crop of wheat - the farmer sows and then in due course the wheat comes up. When we are willing to sow the seeds of prayer and travail in the red furrows of God's fields then as sure as night follows day - we will have a revival."
The truth, so I believe, lies somewhere between these two views. Revival is a sovereign act of God in the sense that He alone can produce it, but I believe that He deigns to hand over to His people the responsibility of bringing it down from heaven by fervent believing intercession. Every great outpouring of the Holy Spirit - Pentecost included - began in the mind of God but it broke through on earth at the point of passionate and persevering prayer
"God sends revival following passionate prayer"
Prayer
O Father, if so much depends upon prayer, then wake me up to its power and its importance. Help me this day to catch a new vision of what it means to be an intercessor. In Christ's Name I ask it. Amen.
Further study
Galatians 6:1-10
John 12:24
Ecclesiastes 11:12
Corinthians 9:6
1. What is the principle underlying sowing and reaping?
2. How does this relate to revival?
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