昨天，我们谈到「复兴祷告」的第五个特点，就是悔罪。现在我们已经明白，在复兴之前，神的百姓祷告的特点是承认自己的罪，以及渴望与所有已知的罪断绝。我在1958年到访南韩期间，见过与这最有力的见证。相信你也知道，韩国在60年代初经历了宗教复兴，而我到访的那一年，虽然人们已极之渴望复兴的来临，但教会仍不能说是复兴。

有一天清早我去参加了一个零晨四时的祷告会。当我进入祷告会场（一间学校的大礼堂）的时候，我就意识到将要见证一些不寻常的事情。会场里有一大群人，每个人的脸上都带着敬畏和专注的表情。他们没有唱诗；忽然间在一个讯号发出以后，大家就都跪下来祷告。刚开始的时候他们都很安静，但是很快的大家就开始高声祈求，一个接着一个，在短短的几秒钟内，众人的声浪进入了高峰但是忽然又停了下来。然后有一位男士开始以高音调说话，我的传译员告诉我他在承认自己的罪和国家的罪。我没有办法以语言来充分描述他声音里所带出的强烈感情，他似乎被哭泣的痛苦和悔疚紧紧的抓着，而就在那几分钟之内，同样的悔罪的灵进入了每个人的心里，包括我自己在内。

我离开韩国时意识到自己已经见证了灵性复兴的初期，所以后来我听到复兴在韩国发生时完全不感到意外，因为复兴的标记一早已告诉了我。

We are seeing that prior to revival the prayers of God's people are characterised by contrition and a desire to break with all known sin. The closest I have ever come to witnessing this came during a visit to South Korea in 1958. As you know, Korea has been experiencing religious revival since the beginning of the 60s, but in the year that I was there, although the people were greatly expectant, the Church could not be described as being in revival.

One morning I participated in a 4 am prayer meeting. As I entered the prayer venue - a large school assembly hall - I was conscious that I was about to witness something unusual. The place was crowded and there was a tense reverent expression of attention on every face. There was no singing and at a given signal people knelt for prayer. At first there was silence but soon the people began to pray aloud, one after the other, until within seconds their voices became a crescendo which then stopped as suddenly as it had begun. A man's voice rose in high-pitched tones and my interpreter told me that he was confessing his sins and the sins of the nation. No words of mine can adequately describe the intensity that was in his voice, the agony of his sobs and the penitence that seemed to grip him. Within minutes the same spirit of penitence swept through every heart in the audience - my own included.

I came away from Korea sensing that I had witnessed the first stages of a spiritual revival. When later I heard that revival had broken out I was not surprised. The signs had told me so.