We read that the Israelites could not enter the Promised Land because of their unbelief. (Heb. 3:16). And the church, likewise, fails to enter into the richest blessing of God today because of the same sin.
During the Messiah’s life on earth, He could not – did not – do many mighty works in certain places because of the people’s unbelief. (Mt. 13:58. Mk. 6:5). The Master marveled at their unbelief! How much more He must marvel at the unbelief of His own blood-bought body – people who have been given His many promises, all of which are ‘yea and amen.’ Do His tremendous promises mean so little to us?
“Whatever you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” (Mk. 11:24 also Mt 17:20).
If “whatever” does not include revival, then what does the word mean? But the promise must be appropriated by faith. Faith is daring.
Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees; and looks to God alone; laughs at impossibilities, and cries: “It shall be done!”
DUNCAN CAMPBELL tells of praying with a group of believers in the Hebrides Islands in 1949:
“I found myself battling and getting nowhere as the hours passed. After midnight, between 12 and 1 a.m., I turned to a young man in the meeting and said, ‘I feel led of God to ask you to pray.’ And that dear man rose to his feet and prayed, and in his prayer he uttered words such as I had never heard in a prayer before. He said:
‘Lord, You made a promise; are You going to fulfill it? God, will You be true to Your covenant? You have said that You would pour water on the thirsty and floods upon the dry ground. I do not know how others stand in Your presence, but if I know my own heart, I know where I stand, and I tell You now that I am thirsty. Oh, I am thirsty for a manifestation of the man of Your right hand.’
“And then he said this: ‘Lord, before I sit down, I want to tell You that Your honor is at stake’.”
Have you ever prayed like that? Here is a man praying the prayer of faith. I love to believe that angels and archangels were looking over the battlements of Glory and saying to one another: “This is a man who believes God. There is a man who dares to stand solid on the promise of God and take from the throne what the throne has promised.”
Believe it, or disbelieve it – and you can verify this if you like – the house shook like a leaf. The dishes rattled on the sideboard, and an elder standing beside me said, “Mr. Campbell, an earth tremor.” I said, “Yes!” Then I pronounced the benediction immediately and walked out to find the community alive with an awareness of God.