Preparing for Renewal
- Aaron Brooks
- Sep 29
- 5 min read
Psalm 85:4–7 (KJV)
“Turn us, O God of our salvation… Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation.”
Why this matters right now
Psalm 85 was likely written after God’s people returned from seventy years in Babylon. They were back home, but not yet back to God. They needed a fresh start. So do we.
As we head into our Renew Conference next week, we’re not chasing an event—we’re seeking the God of our salvation. Revival is God’s work, but preparation is our responsibility. Two people can sit in the same service and walk out with totally different results. The difference is the heart each person brought into the room.
What revival is (and isn’t)
Revival isn’t a meeting. It’s the Holy Spirit moving in God’s people.
Revival starts in the church, not the culture. It’s God restoring life where life once was.
Revival isn’t hype or crowd size. True revival shows up in holiness, obedience, love, and bold witness.
We can’t manufacture it. As G. Campbell Morgan said, “We cannot organize revival, but we can set our sails to catch the wind from heaven.”
Let’s set our sails.
Four Ways to Prepare Your Heart
1) Seek God in Repentance — Clean hands, pure heart
Psalm 24:3–4 Revival begins when we agree with God about our sin and turn from it. It’s easy to spot what’s wrong “out there,” but renewal stalls when we ignore what’s wrong in here—pride, bitterness, stubbornness, hidden habits.
Think of a field full of rocks and weeds. You can scatter good seed and even get showers of rain, but nothing grows until the ground is broken up. Hosea 10:12 calls this “breaking up your fallow ground.”
Revival begins when we let God shine His light into the darker corners of our lives. Confession isn’t just admitting mistakes; it’s agreeing with God about our sin, turning from it, and walking in newness. It’s not about confessing someone else’s faults but about saying, “It’s me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.”
Charles Albert Tindley, the son of a slave, taught himself to read as a boy and eventually became a powerful preacher and hymn writer. For years, he worked as a janitor at Bainbridge Street Methodist Church in Philadelphia. Years later, he returned as the pastor of the very same church.
During a particularly heavy season of ministry—financial pressures, congregational struggles, and personal burdens—Tindley was preparing a sermon when a gust of wind blew across his desk. As he tried to gather his papers, he found himself muttering, “Let nothing between.” That phrase stuck. Soon, he had written the hymn we still sing today:
Nothing between my soul and the Savior, Naught of this world’s delusive dream; I have renounced all sinful pleasure, Jesus is mine, there’s nothing between.
The hymn became his prayer: no trial, no temptation, no ambition, no sin would ever stand between him and Christ.
That’s what repentance does. It clears the way. Like breaking up rocky soil before planting, repentance makes room for God’s seed to take root and grow. If we want renewal, we must pray as David did: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23–24).
2) Saturate Yourself in the Word — A listening ear
Psalm 119:25, 18 If your Bible is closed Monday through Saturday, you’ll struggle to receive on Sunday. But when your heart is already soft with Scripture, the preached Word can take root quickly.
Jesus said the Word is seed (Matthew 13). The evangelist will sow next week, but the soil condition will be set beforeyou walk in.
How to do it this week
Read Ezra 6–9 (great “renewal” chapters).
Read slowly; pray, “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” (Psalm 119:18)
Meditate. Jot one takeaway each day.
3) Seek God in Prayer — An open heart
2 Chronicles 7:14; James 4:8
Scripture doesn’t command us to “pray for revival” as a thing; it commands us to seek God. When He is honored among His people, renewal follows.
Change the prayer:From “Lord, send revival,” to “Lord, give us Yourself. Empty us of self. Let Christ be enough for us.”
A 30-minute prayer pattern (this week):
Adore – Praise God for who He is.
Align – Ask Him to show sin and help you forsake it.
Ask – Pray for your church family, the lost, your own obedience.
Await – Sit quietly before the Lord.
John “Praying” Hyde was a missionary in India in the early 1900s who became so devoted to intercession that history remembers him simply as Praying Hyde. He once asked his prayer partners to commit themselves to five searching questions:
Are you praying for quickening in your own life, in your fellow workers, and in the church?
Are you longing for greater power of the Holy Spirit, and are you convinced that you cannot go on without His power?
Will you pray that you will not be ashamed of Jesus?
Do you believe that prayer is the great means for securing this spiritual awakening?
Will you set apart one half-hour each day to pray for this awakening?
Those questions still challenge us today. What if, as a church, we took the next seven days before the Renew Conference and actually prayed this way? What if each of us set aside thirty minutes a day, honestly asking God to clear the ground of sin, fill us with His Spirit, and prepare us for what He wants to do?
If we’ll do that, then like Hyde, we’ll discover that revival doesn’t begin in the meeting—it begins in the secret place with God.
4) Serve with Expectation — A willing spirit
Psalm 100:2; Acts 4:31Revival doesn’t end at the altar; it spills into action. A revived church becomes a witnessing church.
Come ready to:
Show up early to pray.
Welcome new faces with genuine love.
Sing with your whole heart.
Invite the unchurched and the hurting.
Expect God to work—and cooperate when He does.
Faith-Builders from History
Hebrides Revival (1949–1952): Two elderly sisters prayed Isaiah 44:3. God’s presence gripped communities—people came under conviction in fields, homes, and even on ships before a sermon was preached.
Welsh Revival (1904–1905): Thousands saved; daily life transformed—less crime, clean speech, hymns in the streets. Revival changed Mondays, not just Sundays.
A Simple 7-Day Preparation Plan
Daily: 30 minutes with the Lord
Repent: Pray Psalm 139:23–24.
Read: Ezra 6–9 (spread across the week) + one Psalm.
Request: Pray for our church, our evangelist, and one person you will invite.
Ready your hands: Choose one way to serve next week (greeting, nursery, music, prayer team, inviting).
A Guided Prayer for Our Church
“Lord, turn us. Revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You.Search us and clear the ground. Open our eyes to Your Word.Draw near as we draw near to You. Fill this place with Your presence.Shake us, fill us with the Holy Ghost, and send us out to speak Your Word with boldness.Make heaven more crowded because You renewed Your people here. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”(Psalm 85:4–7; Acts 4:31)
Join Us: Renew Conference
October 5-8 - Sunday, 5:30 PM | Monday–Wednesday, 6:30 PM Evangelist J.D. Weido, special music, and a church family seeking the Lord together.Don’t come as a spectator. Come prepared—repentant, saturated in the Word, prayerful, and ready to serve with expectation.
“Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?” (Psalm 85:6)
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