Revival by Prayer

By Anthony S. Zimmer

Revival by Prayer is a thought-provoking book that helps you seek a closer relationship with the Lord by praying the Bible and challenges you to reconsider your definition of revival. Each section focuses on one of the 11 pillars of revival that guide you in prayerfully seeking revival in your own life: Repentance, Holiness, Suffering, Waiting for the Lord, Worship, Presence of God, Evangelism, Works of Righteousness, Salvation, Power of God, and Unity. Using the passages of Scripture in this book, you will learn to use Scripture as a template for prayer and catalyst for revival. This book is a lifelong resource for spiritual growth and personal revival as you reach new depths in your relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anthony S. Zimmer
• Release date: Oct 29, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393883654

Book preview

Anthony S. Zimmer

Revival by Prayer

Praying the Bible for Personal Revival

Copyright © 2020 by Anthony S. Zimmer

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (AMP) are taken from the Amplified Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

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Dad, you have set the example

Contents

Acknowledgement

I. REVIVAL AND PRAYER

Introduction

Revival

Prayer

II. INWARD

Repentance

Meditations of the Heart

Show Me Your Ways

Confess My Sins

A Broken and Contrite Heart

White as Snow

A Heart to Know the Lord

Fasting, Weeping, Mourning

Humble before God

Godly Sorrow

Come Near to God

Holiness

Holiness of God

Heart, Soul, and Strength

Fear of the Lord

Meditate and Obey

Search Your Heart

Mountain of the Lord

Hidden in My Heart

Holy is the Lord Almighty

Take Up the Cross

Spirit-led Life

Purity from Contamination

Suffering

Praying and Singing

Suffering and Hope

His Sufferings and His Glory

Inseparable

Suffering for the Gospel

Comfort during Persecution

Sufficient Grace

Share in Suffering

Endurance

Finished with Sin

III. UPWARD

Waiting For the Lord

Rejoice while Seeking

Wait Expectantly

Come and Talk with Me

Thirst for God

Earnest

Hope

Wait in Hope

Rend the Heavens

Wait Quietly

Ask, Seek, Knock

Worship

Fire on the Altar

His Love Endures Forever

Worthy of Praise

When Everything Fails

First Make Peace

Alabaster Jar

In the Spirit and in Truth

Living Sacrifice

Throne in Heaven

Presence of God

Show Me Your Glory

King of Glory

One Thing

Whom Have I but You

Better is One Day

To Know the Lord

The Better Thing

Remain in Me

Ordinary People

IV. OUTWARD

Evangelism

Send Me

Salt and Light

The Sower

The Great Commission

So That My House Will be Full

Open Your Eyes

I Am Sending You

The Ministry of Reconciliation

Bold and Courageous

Works of Righteousness

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

Seated with Princes

Justice for the Oppressed

Righteous Fasting

A Mighty Flood of Justice

What the Lord Requires of You

The More Important Matters of the Law

The Least of These

Love Your Enemies

Rich in Good Deeds

Salvation

The Lord is a Warrior

My Rescuer

Citizens of Jerusalem

As far as East is from West

No Record of Our Sins

Egypt and Assyria

The Suffering Messiah

Come and Dine

The Ministry of Jesus

At the Bottom of the Sea

Unquestionably Free

Saved and Transformed

Power of God

Glory and Strength

Mighty Acts of the Lord

Repeat Them in Our Day

Jesus Healed Them All

Even Greater Things

Holy Spirit Baptism

Signs and Wonders

A Demonstration of the Spirit’s Power

The Armor of God

Unity

The Blessing of Unity

One

Together

Perfectly United

The Body of Christ

One in Christ Jesus

The Bond of Peace

The Same Mindset as Jesus

Love One Another

About the Author

Acknowledgement

For reviewing early drafts of this book and sharing their insightful critiques, I am grateful to my father Pastor Ron Zimmer, Pastor Wendell Smith, Pastor Stuart Ross, my brothers John and Andrew, and my wife Pastor Tara Zimmer. This book is much better because of them. Special thanks to Luke.

I

Revival and Prayer

Introduction

A Paradigm of Revival

I have lived my entire life in the environment of revival. Since my earliest days in my father’s church, I have asked God innumerable times to send revival to my town, my nation, and the world. I have visited hot spots of genuine revival. I have attended hundreds (thousands?) of revival services with well-known and unknown revivalists. Still, when I measure my life against Jesus’ and the lives of his first disciples, I come up short. I wrote this book because I need this book for myself.

My experience, community, reason, and understanding of Scripture have led me to a paradigm of revival that is different than how revival is usually defined and practiced. This book is an exploration of that paradigm and a practical tool for personal spiritual growth.

How to Use this Book

This book has three primary goals. The first goal is to explore the theology and practice of revival. The second goal is to explore the theology and practice of prayer, with an emphasis on praying the Bible. The final goal is to be a lifelong resource for Christians to pray the Bible and to grow and maintain a lifestyle of revival.

This book begins with a chapter on revival that aims to define revival as the result of long-term discipleship. This is followed by a chapter that discusses prayer as much more than asking for things from God and suggests prayer is primarily communion with God.

Next, the book is divided into eleven pillars of revival. Each pillar is explored in a relatively short section that is immediately followed by about ten Bible passages that are related to the pillar. Each Bible passage was carefully selected and is meant to be prayed (more about this in the chapter Prayer).

To begin, I suggest you read the chapter Revival and the chapter Prayer. Then, the eleven pillars can be read/prayed in any order or combination that is most helpful to you. You can focus on each pillar for an entire month, working your way through the entire book over a year. Or you can pray one Bible passage from each pillar per day so that you pray each pillar once every eleven days. These are only some of the many ways you can use this book to pray the Bible for personal revival. Use whatever method works best for you. Whatever method you choose, keep as your goal the regular practice of praying the Bible. As you do, I believe you will grow and be a more fruitful disciple of Jesus and better represent him to those around you.

Revival

What is revival? How does it start? Why does it end? What if revival could be the norm, not the exception? Revival is normal, or perhaps it is more accurate to say revival can be normal. We need to shift our paradigm of revival. We need to rethink what revival is and what it isn’t. Revival is more than powerful services. Less like an act of God we wait for, revival is more like a move of God we grow toward. Revival is birthed and sustained by discipleship.

A Very Brief History of Revival

The Bible records many revivals. The entire book of Judges is a series of revivals. As king, Josiah turned Judah back to the Lord and tore down the places of pagan worship when the Law of the Lord was rediscovered. The prophet Elijah, in a showdown with the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel, proved undeniably the Lord, not Baal, is God of Israel.

In the New Testament, the book of Acts records the birth of the church. The revival that began in Acts 2 spread from the temple in Jerusalem to the seat of imperial power in Rome. In modern church history, revivals such as the First and Second Great Awakening, the Azusa Street Revival, and revivals in Toronto, Pensacola, and countless others around the world have advanced the gospel and transformed nations. And still do to this day.

Two Definitions of Revival

What is revival? The term revival has two common definitions. In one definition, revival is a planned series of services, usually led by a traveling preacher. This sort of revival can be as short as a single service or as long as several months.

In another definition of revival, a church suddenly experiences an increase in the works of the Holy Spirit, such as an increase in the number of unbelievers who come to salvation or in the number of miracles and spiritual gifts. This sort of revival often starts in one church and can spread to other local churches and even into the region, nation, or world.

Both definitions of revival bear abundant and eternal fruit for the kingdom of God. Even as only a short-term series of services, revival can have lifelong benefits for individuals and churches. Likewise, revivals like the Welsh Revival and the Pyongyang Revival have impacted the course of nations and affected all levels of society. Inside the church, revival awakens nominal Christians and draws sinners to repentance. Outside the church, revived Christians express the mercy of Christ and the righteousness of God by building hospitals and schools and by leading the way for social justice. The world around us is broken and desperately needs us to fulfill our assignments as ambassadors of Christ.

The Practice of Revival: Personal and Churchwide Revival

Revival is experienced in two ways, churchwide and personal. In this book, churchwide revival is a catchall term that refers to revival that is experienced by a group of people. The group can be as small as a house church or as large as a nation. Personal revival, as implied by its name, refers to an individual’s personal spirituality. Personal revival is characterized by a life of holiness, worship, unity, and more (which will be