This article provides biblical reasons that you can use to call on God to revive His people.
Nehemiah provides an example for us of this kind of praying (Nehemiah 1). Nehemiah 1 records Nehemiah’s prayer for the restoration of Jerusalem. The city was in ruins, and God’s name and glory were at stake. In calling on God to restore Jerusalem, Nehemiah quotes from Deuteronomy. He gives Scriptural reasons why God should restore Jerusalem.
The following prayer arguments are Scriptural reasons why God should grant genuine revival to His church. You can use these to plead with God to grant the revival that is so desperately needed. You can take these and develop other prayer arguments to use in pleading with God. The key issue is to plead with God using His own Word. Call on God to be faithful to His own Word.
- Father, the Church bears Your name. We are Your representatives in the world. We have dishonoured You and Your name through our indifference, unconcern and lack of holiness. How can You bear to allow us to continue as we are? Forgive us and have mercy on us, O God! Grant revival to us, that we might live lives worthy of Your name (2 Corinthians 5:20).
- Father, we have become a reproach to the lost world around us. Our lack of holiness and failure to deal with sin has brought on us the contempt and ridicule of the world. How can You let Your church be ridiculed? How can You stand the fact that Your church lacks influence in the world? O God, have mercy on us! Forgive us our ignorance. Revive Your church, that we may exercise a righteous influence in the world. Cause Your presence and power to be displayed in the church so that believers and unbelievers will be in awe of You. Do this, O Lord, for the sake of Your Son, who bought and established the church with His own blood! For the sake of Jesus, and His love for the church, grant revival to Your people (Acts 20:28).
- Father, You have commanded in Your Word that we must not grieve the Holy Spirit. I confess that we have grieved Your Holy Spirit. He is grieved because of our sin and our unwillingness to deal with it. I plead that You would forgive us. Give us hearts of flesh. Grant us revival to see our sin for what it is and deal with it, so Your Holy Spirit will no longer be grieved but pleased to release His power into our midst (Ephesians 4:30).
- Father, I plead that You will grant revival to show us our unbelief. We, too, cry out, “I believe, Lord; help my unbelief!” I pray that You will grant revival and increase our faith in You in our relationship with You. Forgive our lack of faith! Father, I plead that You would remove our unbelief. Have mercy on us! Grant revival so that as believers, we will have renewed faith and be able to experience the miraculous power of Jesus Christ in our midst (Hebrews 11:6; James 1:5-8).
- Father, Your gospel is the good news about Your Son, Jesus Christ. It is the glorious and gracious message that, through His Person and work, sinners can be brought into right relationship with You. It is the power of God unto salvation. Forgive us for not sharing this message and for having grown indifferent to it, failing to proclaim it continually to the lost, who are in desperate need of it. Forgive us this abominable sin! Have mercy on us, O God! Send us revival, so the gospel will go forth in power from us! For the sake of Your gospel, I plead that You will grant revival (Romans 1:16).
- Father, You have declared in Your Word that, if we call to You, You will show us great and mighty things that we do not know. I am calling out to You, O God! For the sake of Your Word, I plead for You to grant revival to Your people (Jeremiah 33:3).
