South African Association of Revival

“And they glorified God, saying…..that God has visited His people”.  (Luke 7:16)

In the past we have said much about what Revival is and what it is not. The verse above gives us a crisp summary of the true evidence of Revival namely that people around us would testify that God has visited His people.  This would certainly be accompanied by fear and awe at the great and mighty work of God.

“I WILL NOT LET THEE GO, EXCEPT …”

(Genesis 32:26)

To pray for Revival is not for the half-hearted or faint-hearted but for the one desperate, so desperate that we REFUSE certain things.  We know that faith without works is dead and if we say we believe, we will do the works that confirm that faith.  In this instance the work confirming that faith is firstly prayer, then more prayer and eventually prevailing prayer.  Oftentimes in our praying we have to stand firmly before the Lord and against Satan, with firm refusals.  We shall endeavour to suggest very briefly certain things we should refuse if we seek to prevail with God and thereafter with man:  

1)  Upon reading all of Scripture and particularly different Church Epistles we must come to the conclusion that God has glorious plans for His Church to be executed, realized in practice in this life.  If we consider the demands placed upon God’s people and therefore upon the Church, we must agree that these are so high they can only be honoured in circumstances of Revival.  The standard held out for His Church is a Revival standard and the exceeding great and precious promises really pre-suppose Revival conditions for their practical realization in this life.  Our Lord desires a Church that is holy, blameless, spotless, without wrinkle or any such thing and we are in little doubt that Revival is God’s special provision to prepare His Church for His imminent Return. Therefore to pray for Revival means that we refuse to under-estimate the glory-plans for His Church and that we refuse the present state that the Church finds itself in.

2)  God’s entire Word is replete with the most glorious Promises  of plenty, power, fruitfulness and the richest of blessings.The Church  is supposed to be filled with all the fullness of God and He is …’able to  do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask orthink according to the power that works in us’. (Ephesians 3:19, 20).  We can quote literally hundreds, if not thousands of such wonderful promises.  Are they to us merely beautiful words, some ideal to be realized one day in the life here after, or are we prepared to refuse to regard God’s promises as ‘pie-in- the- sky’?  To pray for Revival means that we refuse to have God’s promises as mere words that are only beautiful to read, but that they are in fact intended for us to claim them for the here and now and that God intends to see them fulfilled practically in this life.

3)  To prevail in Revival praying means that we shall refuse to limit the rich provisions made in Christ crucified.  We are complete in Him and therefore in Him we are also filled with the Godhead and reach full spiritual maturity. (Colossians 2:10).  The rich blessings of the Lord to be poured out upon us have all been purchased on the cross of Calvary and if we commence to limit His promises, we also limit the ‘purchasing power’ of Calvary’s Sacrifice and the blessed blood with which we have been redeemed.  Christ was made a curse for us so that the blessing of Abraham may come upon us and that we may receive the gift of the Spirit by faith (Galatians 3:13, 14).  The work on Calvary was without a doubt the greatest work that God had ever done.  Shall we limit this great work by our lack of faith and therefore lack of prayer? 

          4)  In the light of what we have already said we should refuse to continue in this life and particularly in the service of our Lord without experiencing the Revival so dearly purchased, divinely designed and amply described in the Word of God.  It is time that we, like Moses plead with the Lord not to take us any further unless the full manifestation of His presence goes with us, for Revival is certainly the glorious manifestation of God amongst His people.  Or are we still content with our own programs, preachers, limited moments of success and preconceived ideas as to the absolute necessity as well as the glorious possibility of Revival?

          5)  Therefore we shall refuse to limit God Who has given us all these wonderful promises.  Israel rebelled and limited God we read in Psalm 78:40, 41 and in Numbers 14:11 the Lord asks the question as to how long it would take for us to believe in Him and for how long would we continue to limit Him?  Unbelief limits God and we see the commentary of this in Hebrews 3 and over into Chapter 4, Israel losing out on the blessings of Canaan because of their unbelief.  Let God be truly the Living God in our lives as well as in our prayers and let us allow Him to have full sway also in what we believe and how we plead in terms of the glorious Word of God.

          6)   In the process I shall humbly and consistently refuse any hindrance in my life that would stand between me, my Church and Revival.  To pray for Revival means to be hard on myself in absolute honesty and humble obedience before the Lord.  No sin, untoward practice or relationship and no doubt or prayerlessness can be tolerated.  There is a wholeheartedness that is required which will be evidenced particularly in the way I conduct my own life in the light of the Word and demands of the Lord. 

7)   If the above are fully applicable to me and in my daily living then I can come to the point where I humbly but tenaciously refuse to let go of my Lord.  I would refuse as desperately as Jacob did when he was clinging to Him over at the Brook Jabbok.  This is a case of prevailing with God and therefore refusing to turn away from the Throne of Grace without having received Revival.  God did not say to us: ‘Seek ye Me in vain’ (Isaiah 45:19) but in stead we see the liberal and repeated promises of the Lord Jesus Christ that whatsoever we ask in His Name He will give.  True Revival praying is refusing to be denied by God.  This means coming with boldness to the Throne of Grace as we are invited to do in Hebrews 4:16. 

             It is distinctly refusing to let Satan have his way in my own life, in God’s work, in people affecting the Lord’s work, in those who attend the services in the Church and in any circumstances where the devil is seeking to oppose, obstruct or even seek to attack and destroy the works of God.  We have the authority as the Lord gives us in Luke 9:1, 2 and 10:19, we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us and whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world.  We have been given the promise that, submitting ourselves to God we can resist the devil and he will flee from us (James 4:7).  We have been given the authority of binding and releasing as we find in Matthew 16:19 and 18:18.  It is time we firmly stand against the devil, binding him, rebuking him, resisting and standing against him in faith that is resolute and sure of its stand before God.  Revival is when Satan is distinctly driven back in faith and the Spirit of God takes over.

9)  It is refusing to have God’s work destroyed by the devil but rather ensuring that we destroy the works of the devil.  The Lord Jesus Christ was manifest to destroy the works of the devil (I John 3:8) and in John 20:21 Jesus said that ‘as the Father sent Me so send I you’.  We are His representatives and must enter into the fullness of the victory obtained by Christ and in the process achieve the purpose for which He came into the world.  Therefore there is given to us the divine authority, not only to bind the devil but to destroy his works, works that are particularly entrenched in the minds of people.  Our work is to destroy the strongholds of the devil in the imaginations and thoughts of people and bringing these unto subjection and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.  See II Corinthians 10:4, 5 and compare with this also Jeremiah 1:10. 

10)  Finally it is a matter of refusing to give up on our Lord, His wonderful Word, Jesus Christ and the work on Calvary and with these glorious assurances prevailing in prayer until the Lord comes and rains righteousness upon us.  We are reminded by what our Lord Jesus taught us in Luke 18:1 etc namely that people aught always to pray and never to faint.    

          Finally let us strengthen ourselves as we consider James 5:16 etc, remembering that Elijah was just an ordinary man but by prayer based on the Word of God he both closed and opened heaven.  Heavens are already closed relative to divine Revival blessings upon us and it is for us to prevail in prayer and open heavens so that the heaven can give its rain and ‘the earth bring forth its fruit’

Yours for revival,

Eddie Vosloo

“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a mighty rushing wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.” Acts 2:1-2

The word “Revival” over the past few years has become a real buzz word in the Christian community. When we started to seek revival in 1997 we sounded like a lone voice in the wilderness. Today revival seems to be on many peoples lips. The upside is that many more people today are aware of revival than ever before. There is however, a downside. Many who are using this term are often using it incorrectly and all too often for personal gain. As a result it has produced some misconceptions about revival.  These misconceptions about revival cause much confusion and can result in many missing the blessing altogether.

We wish in this newsletter to highlight 3 such misconceptions and give a biblical answer to them. We do believe many are caught up in these out of ignorance, so this is not an attack on anybody or organization but merely an attempt to bring clarity.

IF MY PEOPLE WHICH ARE CALLED BY MY NAME, SHALL HUMBLE THEMSELVES AND PRAY, AND SEEK MY FACE, AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS, THEN WILL I HEAR FROM HEAVEN AND WILL FORGIVE THEIR SIN AND HEAL THEIR LAND’

(2 Chronicles 7:14)

“WILT THOU NOT REVIVE US AGAIN: THAT THY PEOPLE MAY REJOICE IN THEE?”( Psalm 85:6 )

Every Christian must, and does, make a very life defining choice when he/she decide how they see God: Whether they see Him as a MEANS or as an END. The answer to this question will determine one’s conduct, worship, reverence and devotional life. The most revealing and defining thing about a Christian is our idea of God, because we live our lives as we believe God to be.

Many of God’s children today, see God as a MEANS to obtain their own happiness, goal, success, prosperity or simply as a solution to life’s problems. Their praise and worship becomes an expression of, or rather dependant upon, the happiness they have derived by the MEANS of God. Also the focus of such persons’ worship is their own happiness and personal sense of jubilation that their worship time brings them. Hence, the more ‘upbeat’ the worship service, the greater the happiness of man. God is not seen as the object of worship, rather the means. Happiness is seen as the objective, so again God has become the MEANS to mans happiness. As a result Churches today, are judged on their worship service,  how ‘upbeat’ and ‘jazzy’ it is and how happy and jubilant it makes the worshipper feel. Reverence and the Biblical truth of the Preached Word no longer appears most relevant.

Revival starts when God’s people start to seek HIM for who He is. Yes, often the pursuit of revival begins with the need for revival, (the healing of our land), but while it remains need orientated we still see God as a MEANS and not as the END. The need must and aught to turn to a want, a heart desire for GOD HIMSELF and not for what He can do for me. For after all is He not worth it? “ Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory and blessing.” (Rev.5:12) For is it not also written that He is the Alpha (beginning) and the Omega (END)? He is the Door, the Way, the END, He is everything. When we get to this place in our pursuit of revival, we begin to understand what the Psalmist said, that when God revives His people, they will again rejoice in HIM (END). In revival we see the glory of God and see that He is Worthy and no longer will be considered a MEANS to man’s self centeredness.

Will you not with me humble yourself anew before God, repent and confess how we have sought Him and considered Him as a MEANS to our own selfish desires. Then ask God, trusting Him, to place within us a true desire and hunger for Him. Trust Him to sanctify this desire and to intensify it. Then in simple faith, pursue God, drawing nigh to Him with clean hands and a pure heart, expecting Him to revive you.  

Revival God’s Ordained Way (Method)

Today many Churches and mission groups seek better and different  kinds of methods to obtain Church Growth, do evangelism more effectively, Church planting and the like. All such doubtless are honestly wanting to fulfill Gods Great Commission and glorify God. Unfortunately, all too often such methods are so humanistic, with one such method even suggesting that you should interview sinners and design Church around their desires! God in His Word has laid down the method, which He has not withdrawn or changed His mind about over all the ages. It is the method of revival.  Revival should never be our objective. The Glory of God aught to be our objective. God’s method of obtaining this, is revival. It is in revival the Glory of God is seen and man steps aside and God takes over. Saints are sanctified, backsliders restored and sinners saved by the mighty moving of Gods Spirit. In revival God is restored to His rightful place within the Church and is therefore and thereby glorified.  Over the past 12 years we have been seeking to align the mission we are in (Gospel Outreach), in accordance to the Revival “Method” – God’s ordained way.  Over the past few weeks we have implemented even more practical steps, procedures in accordance with Gods ordained method – Revival. We are not, by the grace of God, talking revival but doing revival, nor do we presume to have arrived, but rather walking in the light He has given us. Maybe you to have been doing the revival walk and have practical steps or insights you wish to share with us and with our fellow members of the SA Association for Revival. Would you not be so kind as to share with us and we will circulate it to the rest of the Association on your behalf. Or if you wish to hear of our practical steps we have taken over the years, please feel free to contact us.  Yours for Revival,   Trevor N Vosloo

‘IF MY PEOPLE WHICH ARE CALLED BY MY NAME, SHALL HUMBLE THEMSELVES AND PRAY, AND SEEK MY FACE, AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS, THEN WILL I HEAR FROM HEAVEN AND WILL FORGIVE THEIR SIN AND HEAL THEIR LAND’

(2 Chronicles 7:14)

Charles Finney in his book “How to experience Revival” wrote the following: “Without revival sinners will grow harder and harder despite preaching. Your children and friends will remain unsaved if there are no revivals to convert them. It would be better for them if their were no means of grace, no sanctuary, no Bible and no preaching than to live and die where there is no revival” 

Maybe we would not all agree fully with Charles Finney about such a harsh statement that he made. However, if one is honest for a moment, we need to agree it does contain some powerful elements of truth. We need to just take a look at our unsaved family members and friends to see how they rebel against the grace of God, and we will see what Charles Finney was getting at. 

I recently returned from a short missionary trip to Malawi. During that time we saw hundreds respond to the Gospel invitation. Yet, not being ungrateful or without praise to God, I felt disturbed about those responding, worrying how many were genuine responses, and how many would remain in the Lord.

It is in light of these two factors that I started asking questions and seeking the Lord for answers. The Lord immediately started to answer and show me some very critical things which have a direct impact on revival which I wish to share with you.

Part of what happens in the genuine pursuit of revival, as well as when the Lord in response pours out His Holy Spirit in revival, is that God takes us back to His Word and to our own doctrine (understanding of it). The Holy Spirit sanctifies our doctrinal understandings, renews and revives forgotten or neglected doctrine which now suddenly becomes alive, real and again relevant. In our pursuit of Revival at Gospel Outreach we have seen God do this for us again and again. The result has been that we have found our spirits renewed our ministry more effective and we found that we started walking where the Saints of old had trodden.

Now our modern means of Evangelism these days, in many cases needs much to be desired, and all to often we leave behind “half baked Christians.” Maybe our Lord will say to us that which He said to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:15 “ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.” These new converts are often left defeated and doctrinally confused. This confusion and defeat they bring into the church and affect the whole church: After all if one suffers, we all suffer. Today the modern Evangelist has the tendency to stress the Good News of the Gospel at the expense of the Bad News. Jesus said (Matthew 9:10)”They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” The sinners today do not know that they are “sick” (Bad News) hence they have no desire nor see the real need of the Good News. The Evangelist therefore , anxious to get decisions, tries to improve on the Good News to make it more attractive and Jesus more appealing. They start to add and promise the sinner if they take Jesus that the following comes with package: Blessings, solution to all your problems, joy, peace, happiness and a good life. In extreme cases they even promise health and wealth as part of the new and improved Gospel package. This becomes the motive to receive the Lord.

Others, as I too was instructed to do but could not, play certain triggers in evangelism. The triggers of guilt, loneliness, anxiety and regrets, thereby presenting Jesus as the one to meet your emotional needs. Hence many respond to this new and “improved” Gospel package but have never got to the point of brokenness over their own lost state, hence no godly sorrow, no repentance. This all because they do not know the Bad News that they are sinners, condemned already, unclean abiding under the wrath of a holy and righteous God, and that their righteousness is as filthy rags. As a result these new “Christians” cannot live the victorious Christian life and feel it is only possible if they try harder. So they try dig deeper. They have not seen their own insufficiency. As a result they do not see the full sufficiency of Jesus but continue in the flesh and in defeat. 

It is interesting to note that John the Baptist, he who prepared the way for the Lord, never came preaching peace, joy, happiness, blessing and health if you make room for Jesus. He came preaching repentance and the need to forsake sin and flee the wrath of God so that there could be room for Jesus and result of that is peace and joy. We have it back to front.

In light of the above I would humbly suggest that we aught to humble ourselves afresh under the mighty hand of God and take a new look at the Bad News. See again our sad state outside of Jesus, our own insufficiency, realize anew that our best deeds are as filthy rags before the Lord and that without Him we can do nothing. This would lead us to cast ourselves once more upon the Lord and His full sufficiency. This is the humbling of ourselves before the Lord which His Word instructs us to do. We become broken over our own state before the Lord. When I see myself as a sinner condemned, unclean, Jesus will never look more beautiful than at that moment.   How we see ourselves and the Lord is either the beginning of revival or the continuance of a life of defeat and struggles. The beginning of revival is when I come to the truth about myself and God and then when a church comes to a position of truth about itself and God.           

Prayer: Lord open my eyes that I may see myself as Thou seest and knowest me to be and remove all false ideas and concepts which I have about myself.

Brokenness is only obtained by pursuit.  Yours for revival,  Trevor N Vosloo

This Association was founded by a number of men across South Africa who have a hunger to see God again glorified in His Church.  These men, and fellow members, are people from different denominations, cultural backgrounds, but are all, without fail Holy people seeking a Holy God.

 God has put it in our hearts to reach out to different areas with the urgent message of Revival. To share the burden and need of Revival. With this in mind we wish to make ourselves available to you to run Revival Seminars / Campaign in your Church and or Community. We do not charge a fee but do operate on a faith basis.  The subjects which we could cover, to name but a few, are: Personal Revival  What is Revival  How of Revival  Why of Revival  Repentance  Prayer for Revival  Cost of Revival   Hunger for Revival   A Church in Revival  A Community changed by Revival

“Behold I stand at the door and knock: If any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him and he with Me’.(Revelation 3:20) Such we believe, is the final call of a grieved Lord Jesus Christ to the Church just prior to the rapture of His Church and the ushering in of the Great Tribulation.  Some do not like to admit that we are in ‘the Laodicean Age’ but the description of the Church at Laodicea, corresponds so vividly with the situation in the Church today that we actually cannot deny the applicability of that statement concerning this age.  It is true, that in the Church of God we also see the loss of the first love, the running after the doctrine of Balaam, the teachings of false prophets and in many an instance the Church that has ‘a name that thou livest, and art dead’.  In truth there are also those individual Churches to which the Letters either to Smyrna and Philadelphia could be applied and we praise our Lord that even in these evil days such ‘remnants’ still remain. However, very sobering is that five out of the seven Churches are called to repentance and plainly threatened by our Lord should they not repent.  One cannot escape the conviction that these seven final Letters under the direct dictation of our Lord Himself, are in general representative of what could be found in the Church of God, particularly in the latter days.  In very truth, where does my Church congregation fit into this picture?  The Grieved Lord. It is telling also that the Letters close with our Lord, clearly shut out from His Church knocking and asking for admission.  It is true that we apply this verse very liberally to the sinner but most sparingly to the Church of God.  The truth is that these Letters are addressed to Churches and by implication the Lord is standing here outside of the activities, worship and love of His Church and seeks admission.It is also true that in each one of these Letters there is an appeal to the individual such as ‘He that overcometh…’ and again ‘He that hath an ear to hear…’  We would suggest that the appeals in these Letters can be applied to the individual personally, to a specific Church congregation as well as to His Church at large.  Whichever way we want to look at it, we see a grieved Lord wanting to renew meaningful fellowship with His people. Revival is Jesus in His Fulness. We know from Scripture that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh.  He is also called Emmanuel and in Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.  (Colossians 2:9)  He is the Vine, the River of Life, the Tree of Life and our very Life itself.  He is the Gospel, our Sanctification and our Redemption.  Whatever virtue, whatever grace, power, provision, beauty or glory-these are all found in our Lord Jesus Christ. All are drawn together into our Lord Jesus Christ Who is the Head and Whose fulness is there to fill ‘all in all’. (Ephesians 1:22, 23). Therefore Jesus Christ in all His fulness is none other than Revival and when He enters in unhindered fulness, and with all obstacles removed out of the way, do we have Revival. Now note that His promise is very simple and plain namely if we would open the door He has committed Himself to come in.  It is time that the statement we so strongly stress with the sinner is applied where God intended it first of all to be applied namely, His own Church thus receiving the fulness of our Lord Jesus Christ. What does it mean to ‘Open the Door’? Surely this means to remove everything which bars His entrance into His own possession.  This certainly means upfront that every scrap of unbelief should be confessed and dealt with as sin for it is regrettable to say that the Church of God is largely populated by unbelieving ‘believers’.  With this, every disobedience must go and every sin dealt with relentlessly and faithfully.  This we shall first of all do in our own personal lives with heartfelt repentance and confession.  Only thereafter can we pray effectively for our own congregation and then beyond it to the Church at large.  Bear in mind that Revival starts in the Church of God and not in the sinner.  In the sinner it is a matter of conversion.  In the Church it is a matter of confessing our own prayerlessness, spiritual poverty, fruitlessness, powerlessness, lack of glory and lack of vision.  This list can go on and it is only as we spend time before the Lord, that we shall become more and more aware of the grave sins which must be found firstly in ourselves and then in His Church. We recall again that the appeal is to an individual and strengthen ourselves in the thought that the Lord repeatedly, throughout all the years, used individuals to bring blessing and even Revival to His people. This of course is also one of the reasons why we find few people really prepared to drive through for Revival:  It costs and the cost starts in our own selves, dealing with our own standing before the Lord and thereafter it will cost us in prayer, sacrifice and perseverance beyond what we have ever experienced in our lives.  Our faith will be tested to the utmost and the question is whether or not we are really prepared to pay this price. The solemn truth is that, if we have heard this voice, there rests on us an incredible responsibility to respond suitably because it is the voice of our Lord.  Besides, with this goes an incredible opportunity and who knows that the Lord specifically is calling your name?   Or are we ashamed at which He would find should we start opening the door?  He must be invited to come in. This is not stated but implied in the text before us.  In fact as we consider examples from Scripture it is true that He often wants to be persuaded to come in. That He comes to knock, shows His willingness and desire to enter.  One then puzzles as to why He needs to be persuaded.  The Lord went out of His way to meet with the Syro-Phoenician lady but when He came there she had to prevail with Him to heal her demon-possessed child.  Out of His own our Lord joined the two disciples on their way to Emmaus and explained to them Scripture until their hearts were burning within.  However, when they came to their house He pretended to want to go further and they had to persuade Him forcefully to come in.  The disciples in the storm saw Jesus walking on the water and He made as if He wanted to bypass them.  He doubtless deliberately visited Jericho amongst others to heal blind Bartimaeus but this man had to call out in utter desperation before the Lord stopped and healed him.  More examples abound, also from the Old Testament and we do well to consider why the Lord operates in this way. First of all it is doubtless to strengthen us in Him and in His Word and in so doing to build up our faith.  This is done in prayer.  Faith that is dormant and does not go over to persistent and prevailing prayer is really no faith at all.  Therefore, in the process He drives us to His Word and therefore to Himself.  Faith thus exercised becomes victorious faith.  Therefore our resolve is strengthened more and more as we see the unshakeable truths in His Word.   This will cause us to search more thoroughly for any obstacles in our lives or that of our Church and to deal with them faithfully before Him in prayer.  In the process we may even if possible cause others to join us as we share with them the truths that the Lord has shown us.  In this way we start moving into the initial or preliminary stages leading to Revival.   What is more and very important in our considerations is that, by prevailing in prayer we decisively defeat Satan, for this is the victory that overcomes the world even our faith.  Thus we give the Lord a platform from which He can work and exercise His almighty power to drive back Satan.  It is us exercising the authority through faith which He has given us which will bring Him to exercise the power that Satan cannot resist.  What is My Desire for Him to do when He comes in? Therefore, what is our objective in seeking Revival?  Is it for my Church or Mission to grow and be strong?  Do I have other similarly narrow or selfish motive?  It can only be for His honour and His glory.  My desire must be for Jesus and Jesus alone.   The Lord Jesus Christ must be my vision.  Regrettably we have many other visions that fill our mind and occupy our list of objectives in this.  From the Letter to the Philippians we shall recall the lessons that Christ should be our life, then He should be our mind, and thereafter our goal.  When He is our all in all, He also becomes our strength and supply. It is time for the Lord Jesus Christ again to receive the place of honour in His own Church.  He is our Lord of Holiness, fire, power, authority, wisdom, vision, fruitfulness, prayerfulness, beauty and all the other virtues we can think of.   Jesus Christ is none other than the glory of God.  At a time when across the Church at large must be written the word ‘Ichabod’ (as we said before in our earlier letter), it is now time that the glory of God again descends upon His Temple and so fills it that we as priests have no place of honour, no program and prominence of our own but the Lord Himself takes over in all His glory and majesty. Is this not a glory so wonderful, so majestic and so imperative that I should regard all else as ‘refuse’ so that I can ‘win Christ, and be found in Him…’  Am I prepared to ‘follow after, that I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Christ Jesus?’   In these last perilous days let us ‘press toward the mark for prize (that is Jesus Christ) of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus’.  (Philippians 2:7-14

With Warm Greetings in our Lord Jesus Christ, Yours for Revival      Eddie Vosloo (Rev)

‘OH LORD, REVIVE THY WORK IN THE MIDST OF THE YEARS…’ (Habakkuk 3:2)

It is heartening to hear that more and more of God’s servants are seeing the need for Revival and encouraging others to pray for Revival.  However, it also seems that there is a distinct vagueness, not only about what Revival really is but also whether or not we can or should have it in these desperate days.  It is striking to notice that most of the books on Revival draw richly from the Old Testament and there is nothing wrong with that.  However the New Testament considerations seem to be left out of it quite substantially as if we are uncertain as to what these Scriptures really teach about this desperately needed intervention from the Lord.  Therefore in this Prayer Letter, we want to give some brief considerations why we can and must have Revival and shall give some arguments based chiefly on New Testament considerations.  Some of these points will be overlapping and in this letter we shall not elaborate on any of them but rather place them before the reader for prayerful further consideration.  At a later stage we may well expand on some of these points:

The Church of Christ:

1). As we study the Gospels, the Book of Acts and the Epistles we cannot but agree that the declared standard of Christ for His Church is that which it would experience in Revival conditions. 

2). Revival is the only way in which the rich promises of God to His Church in the New Testament can be realized.

3). Similarly, the impossible demands placed on the Church of Christ necessitate that we have Revival so that we can be enabled to do what He commands us to do. 

“…Who knows whether you are come to the Kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14b)

This was the challenge from the lips of Mordecai to Esther who held the key to the safety of the Jews at a time when the very existence of all God’s people was threatened by a cruel, proud, ambition-hungry and powerful Haman.   Little did Esther realize at the beginning what great demands would be placed on her as the only one available to plead the cause of God’s people.  In the process she would have to risk her life, use all her beauty, charm and wisdom to gain the favour of the king and have the golden scepter of acceptance stretched out to her.  What is more, she would have to reveal her own Jewish identity and then expose the enemy face to face in the presence of the king while pleading convincingly for her own people.  Not only this, but she would have to direct the action of her people in the day of crisis (together of course with Mordecai) and when the crisis came, be unrelenting in her stand for the utter defeat and destruction of the enemy.  In fact, some critics have even accused her of being far too extreme in her stand but there was good reason for it. 

We know the story.  She had the golden scepter of acceptance outstretched to her more than once and on top of this received the king’s ring of authority (given to Mordecai).  The king even went beyond this and we see the picture of Mordecai coming from the presence of the king dressed in royal apparel with a great crown of gold upon his head.  This was certainly public attestation from the king for everyone to see.

                  SOUTH AFRICAN

ASSOCIATION FOR REVIVAL 

For more than 10 years now we have been humbling ourselves before the Lord, seeking His face for the gracious outpouring of His Spirit upon us and His Church at large.  In the process we have searched Scripture diligently and endeavoured to direct our lives as well as our ministry in terms of what we have found there.  During this time the Lord dealt with us extensively

and we have made many precious discoveries as we wrestled in prayer while searching

the  Scriptures.

We humbly and sincerely believe that the time of God’s gracious visitation upon His Church is at hand.  With this in mind we are ready to share what the Lord has shown us and want to seek to create awareness of true Biblical Revival and at the human level promote and facilitate it as much as possible. 

By no means do we seek to infer that we know everything about Revival but we know that there are many of God’s sincere people seeking for this gracious outpouring of the Spirit upon His Church. 

We do not think that in this quest for Revival there is necessarily strength in numbers, but it is our desire to create a broad base of awareness and sharing concerning this glorious and essential event.  Thus we would be encouraging one another bringing about a focus on this great need in the Church, effective prayer for it and a new look at the Book and at the glorious achievements of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Revival is none other than Jesus glorified and that will be our aim. 

With the above in mind, four members of Gospel Outreach namely: Pastor Hector Matyumza, Reverend A R Sylvester, Reverend E Vosloo and Pastor T N Vosloo have agreed together to form the South African Association for Revival.  This was launched on Pentecost Sunday, 27^th May 2007 at our morning service.  We expect that there will yet be at least two further signatories outside of Gospel Outreach to the newly drafted constitution for this Association. 

This letter is addressed to you, and you may pass it on to others who may also be interested, to affiliate with this Association.  Please email us should require a copy of the extracts from our constitution.  To affiliate does not constitute any financial liability, nor are you expected to subscribe to our constitution but to the deep and desperate need of Revival.

Affiliates will have their names placed on a special mailing list so as to receive Newsletters and articles together with other matters of interest concerning Revival.  As opportunity offers, the members will arrange for conferences and special meetings on Revival and affiliates will be invited to join these conferences, as they are able.We are starting with a very small group of people to whom this Newsletter is being mailed but we expect that, as the Lord prospers this, there will be a true spread of the ‘fire’.     

This is no platform for us to attack any Church or promote a particular ‘pet doctrine’, but to have our hearts united in seeking the Lord for what is most desperately needed in the