A Revival M-O by Dr. Rick Flanders

“And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.  And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.  And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.  And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people.  And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”

(The Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 2, Verses 42 through 47)

When God sends revival to a congregation of the saints, there is a natural interest in prolonging the good effects of what has happened.  One of the most important factors in extending the blessings of the revival is for the church to adopt what could be called “a revival M-O.”  Probably one of the unfortunate aspects of my childhood was that I watched too much television.  For a few years, the networks were airing a surprising number of detective shows, mysteries and crime dramas, and I watched a lot of them.  Anyone who liked the crime shows would pick up some of the supposed police lingo, and one of the terms often used by television cops was the “m-o” of a perpetrator of crime.  These letters abbreviated a Latin-based term for the criminal’s usual way of doing things, his modus operandi (means of operating).  His m-o often led to a criminal’s apprehension as investigators came to recognize his usual method of doing what he did, and were able to connect crimes with crimes.  Churches that have experienced a revival need to adopt a revival m-o, a revival-based way of doing things, in order to move forward in the way of revived Christianity.  Often the lifelessness, carnality, worldliness, and barrenness of churches in an unrevived state are caused by operating in an unrevived way.  So going forward in ministry in the new way requires a new m-o.

On the great Day of Pentecost, the church at Jerusalem experienced revival.  Not only was that day the day of transition from the Old Covenant to the New, with the coming of the Holy Spirit to live in believers, it was a revival for the one hundred twenty who waited before God the ten days before the Spirit came.  They were “filled” with the Spirit (Acts 2:1-4), and not merely “sealed” with Him (see the significance and distinction between the two by studying Ephesians 1:12-14, 4:29-30, and 5:18).  Not only did He come to dwell within them as part of the dispensational change, He took control of their lives and began to empower their witness for Christ.  They experienced a revival.  And the revival continued as the church adopted a revival m-o, described for us in Acts 2:42-47.

So what should change in a church when revival comes, so that the community will be impacted with the Gospel in the days ahead?  Right away the renewed church should adopt as the “new normal” the following things that the Jerusalem church followed:

1.       Revival theology.  The record says that they “continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine” (according to Acts 2:42).  That is what was supposed to happen.  Jesus had told the apostles that, when they baptized new disciples, they were to “teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20).  This was “the apostles’ doctrine (teaching).”  A certain kind of doctrine goes along with revival, generates it, and moves it along.  A very serious obstacle to revival in a church can be the doctrine that is taught.  But the apostles’ doctrine was favorable to the faith that is behind revival, to expecting the supernatural involvement of God in church life (see verse 43), to the ministry of the Holy Spirit (note verses 4, 17-18, 33, and 38-39), and to bold evangelism (verse 40).  A revived church will get a steady diet of revival theology from the pulpit.  For more than a century now, many Bible-believing churches have been scared away from preaching on the Holy Spirit because of the false teaching on this subject that has been spread by the Pentecostals.  But heresy about a certain doctrine is not effectively challenged by avoiding the subject.  False teaching must be met with the truth.  And spiritual Christians have always known and taught the basic Bible truths about the Spirit’s ministry, about faith, about answered prayer, and about the victory of Christ over sin and Satan, and a church today that will go forward in the revival mode must have this kind of teaching.  Fatalistic preaching that says, for all practical purposes, that “what will be will be” and that whether we pray or believe or repent or not, God will do what He was going to do all along, quenches revival fires.  We must learn again the truth about abiding in Christ (John 15) and about drawing nigh to God (James 4) and let it permeate all we do and say.

2.       Prayer meetings.  They also continued in “prayers” (verse 42).  Pentecost was preceded by ten days of prayer.  And the prayer meetings continued afterward.  Prayer and prayer meetings played a big role in the life and work of the first church.  Find Peter and John going to the temple “at the hour of prayer” (in chapter 3).  Find the church gathered for prayer in the face of difficulty and persecution (in chapter 4).  Find them coming together for prayer again to heal and energize the Body for renewed evangelism after a trial of discord (in chapter 6).  Find them gathered in prayer meetings all over town in chapter 12 to get Simon Peter out of jail, and to save his life.  Prayer meetings were the means of the church getting things done, as Jesus taught them that they would be in Matthew 18:18-20.  Every revived church will be empowered, guided, driven, and regularly impacted by prayer meetings.  The pastors must learn to lead them in a spiritual and Biblical Matthew 18 way, and members must get into the habit of participating in them.  New Testament churches engage in prayer meetings.

3.       Healthy church life.  We find that the revived church at Jerusalem engaged in warm fellowship together (verse 42), observing the Lord’s Supper regularly (verses 42 and 46), bearing one another’s burdens (verses 44-45), and coming together often for church (verses 46-47).  Church is really good for Christians, if the church is on the right track (although we must heed the warning in First Corinthians 11:17-22). The church should pray and plan to connect the members’ lives and families together for ministry (read First Corinthians 12:12-27).

4.       Revival campaigns.  For a while, they had church every day: “continuing daily with one accord” (verse 46). Eventually the main meetings of Christians were held on Sundays (Acts 20:7), but sometimes, such as the days that followed Pentecost, they met every day.  Such protracted meetings provide believers an opportunity to exhort one another regularly and raise the spirituality of the congregation (read Hebrews 3:12-13 and 10:24-25).  So revived churches should plan to have special meetings to revive the revival.

5.       Fervent praise.  All the time, the practice of praising God was common when believers gathered together.  The church meetings were characterized by “gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people” (verses 46-47).  They were happy and exuberant meetings, not dull and formal.  The Holy Spirit “livens up church.”  “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Romans 8:6).  Church meetings should always be orderly (First Corinthians 14:26, 32-33, 40) but they should also be alive (verses 23-25).  Attention must be given to encouraging praise and testimony when we come together, letting the Lord fill the room with joy and gratitude (Ephesians 5:19-20).

6.       True Christianity.  It was the real thing that these Christians practiced.  See how they loved each other in verses 44 through 47.  Tradition must give way to scriptural reality.

7.       Ongoing evangelism.  “And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”  It was every day that the congregation took in new members who had just come to Christ.  The harvest of souls that began at Pentecost continued as the evangelization of the city (Acts 1:8) continued.  Both public and personal proclamation of the Gospel got the message of salvation to everyone in town (look up Acts 5:27-29 and 42).  A revived church must operate as an aggressively evangelistic church, with everybody witnessing and bringing people to Christ every day.

When God sends revival to a church, the people and their leaders should take a good look at how they have been doing things.  Ministry methods based mainly on public relations, hard work, manipulation, promotion, and worldly wisdom should be re-examined, and unspiritual philosophies and practices dropped.  The mission of the church must be adjusted to match Acts 1:8 and the methods book of Acts.  The people should learn to hold prayer meetings in order to cooperate with God and to get things done.  The preachers must examine their teaching in the light of revival truth.  The church should get ready for scriptural change, and be excited about it.  Everybody should re-dedicate his life to the service of Christ, and lean on the Holy Spirit for the power to spread the Gospel in the town and to minister to the needs of the saints.  Let’s have revival the way we are told in James 4:8-10, and plan to go forward on the higher plane to which we have been lifted!


Dr. Rick Flanders
Revival Ministries

Prayer Meeting Dynamics by Dr. Rick Flanders

“Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” 

(Matthew 18:18-20)

The remarkable eighteenth chapter of the book of Matthew deals with many important subjects, and should be studied thoroughly by every serious Christian. In this passage we find teaching by the Lord Jesus regarding such matters as the kingdom, ministry to children, offenses, hell fire, the church, and forgiveness. Verses 15 through 20 present a section of scripture commonly cited in the matter of “church discipline,” but the passage is really about something else: prayer meetings. Yes, verses 15 and 16 tell Christians what to do when we are wronged by a brother, and give usthe command to confront offenders and restore them. (In verses 21-35 we are taught to forgive each other and reconcile.)Verse 17 is indeed an important verse describing church discipline. Then verse 18 repeats the remarkable promise associated with “the keys of the kingdom” in Matthew 16:19. But the words of Jesus in verse 19 make clear what the main subject is. We are told that if “two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done”—two agree about what to ask. “Two” makes it a meeting, and “ask” makes it a prayer meeting. This great passage with its phenomenal promises ties the purification and unification of the church to its use of the keys of the kingdom in a prayer meeting. Read verses 15 through 20 again! Here we find our Lord’s teaching on how to conduct church prayer meetings.

Prayer meetings are making a come-back these days, and we can be glad for it. With renewed interest in revival has come a renewal of the practice of corporate prayer, and the effects are truly wonderful. Prayer meetings, that is, meetings of Christians called for the purpose of praying, bring with them some new challenges and questions for congregations that engage in them, and it will be beneficial to get some scriptural help on the subject. The midweek services held by evangelical churches since the Second Great Awakening, although traditionally called “prayer meetings,” have mostly degenerated into something much less than actual prayer meetings. However the God-given burden for revival in these days is bringing people together more often in true meetings for prayer. As we hold prayer meetings, we ought to keep in mind a few things that are often forgotten.

1. PRAYER MEETINGS ARE ABOUT GETTING THINGS DONE.

Why shall we have prayer meetings? It seems appropriate to call “cottage prayer meetings,” as well as other prayer meetings, in connection with revival campaigns, but is propriety the main reason for them? Some say they feel good in a prayer meeting, but is the good feeling the reason we are to have them? The answer is “No” to both of those questions. Actually prayer meetings are called in order to get things done. Notice what Jesus promised in Matthew 18:19, that certain things would “be done” in response to the prayers. In John 14:13-14, Jesus promises to “do” what we ask, and in John 15:7, we are told that whatever we ask, “it shall be done.” The idea is that we can get things done, cause things actually to happen, by means of prayer meetings. Throughout the New Testament, the results of effective praying, and effective prayer meetings, are things that get done in answer to prayer (look up Matthew 7:7-11, Acts 12:5 and 7, and James 5:15-18). Prayer meetings are called to convict sinners, to supply needs, to solve problems, to change history, to revive the saints, to find direction, obtain boldness and power in evangelism, to get things done. We should expect things to happen in answer to our prayers, and we ought to come together to pray with this purpose in mind primarily.

2. AGREEMENT IN PRAYER IS EVIDENCE OF THE SPIRIT’S MINISTRY.

Matthew 18:19 is one of the most stunning promises in the Bible, and we must learn its meaning. As we have seen, it is about meeting for prayer.

“Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.”

It states plainly that when the condition of agreement is met, the prayer will be answered: “it shall be done for them of my Father.”  But what exactly is this agreeing, and why is it effective in getting the answer to a prayer?  The word in the original Greek of Matthew that is rendered “agree” in the English Bible is sumphonesosin, which looks like our word “symphony.”  It indeed has the idea of harmony.  It implies more than just making an agreement.  The promise of Jesus here means that when people in a prayer meeting come to the point of fullunity in asking for something, when thereis union of heart and soul as well as mind and language, they can expect a direct and positive answer to their request.  The truth is that onereason for having a prayer meeting and looking for unity in the praying has to do with the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus taught His disciples the night before He died that, after He would go away, He would send them the Holy Spirit as “another Comforter” Who would remain within them forever (be sure to study John 14:12-17 and John 16:5-15 in this regard).  The word translated “Comforter” in this important passage means more than One Who consoles us when we are sad.  It literally means that the Spirit is our great Helper.  He helps us succeed in every aspect of the Christian life!  We cannot live the abundant life without His supernatural help.

The New Testament scriptures teach that Christians can have the help of the Spirit in the business of praying. Find this amazing truth in Romans 8:26-27, Ephesians 6:18, and Jude 20-21. He will even help us know what to ask. He can make our praying effective by helping it to be informed. In other words, the Spirit can give us insight into the will of the Father in the matter about which we are praying so that we can ask for the right thing. When praying alone, the witness of the Spirit will on occasionhave some competition in our minds. Our own strong wishes often compete with the ministry of the Spirit to provide the contents of our requests. We can find ourselves unsure if the sense that we should ask for a certain thing comes from the Spirit or from our own hearts, especially when we feel strongly about a certain issue. However, in a prayer meeting, the union of yielded hearts in supplication for a particular petition can be evidence that the burden or desire is really coming from God, since so many are sensing it. How often Christians united in prayer and yielded to the Spirit experience such powerful agreement! It is a real indication that the group is asking for something that the Father will be pleased to grant.

The fact is that the wording of Matthew 16:19, Matthew 18:18, as well as Matthew 18:19 indicates that the things bound and loosed were already bound and loosed in heaven before they were requested from the earth. God already purposed to accomplish certain things, but He waits for His people to exercise faith in asking for them before actually doing them. This idea that God wills to do things that He won’t do unless we ask Him is actually taught throughout the Bible, and can regarded as the great mystery behind effectual prayer. Usually it is the written Word of God that reveals to us what the Lord really wants to do in a situation, and will do if we believe Him. This truth is behind the promise of John 15:7. But then also it is the Spirit Who applies the Word of God to our situation and shows us how to pray according to the Father’s will. . Study, when you can, such passages as Second Kings 13:14-19, Daniel 9:2-19, Matthew 6:8, and James 4:2, to see that God will have us ask for things He already wants to do give us. Study First John 5:14-15, and notice that the promise here gives us “confidence” in prayer. Asking “according to his will” is a matter of confidence and assurance, and not a form of resignation to whatever happens, as we have been taught sometimes. When we know the Father’s will, we should ask that it be done, and trust that He will do it. In a prayer meeting the ministry of the Spirit can help us see clearly what the Father wills, and how to pray.

3. HOW MANY ATTEND THE PRAYER MEETING MATTERS, AND YET IT DOESN’T.

Verse 19 says that two can attend a prayer meeting and expect great results. Verse 20 (of Matthew 18) says that two or three can attend the prayer meeting and expect Jesus to be there. Clearly a small number can have big things happen. However, in the book of Acts where we see what the early churches actually did, there is some emphasis on attendance at the prayer meetings. Acts 2:1 says that the congregation of 120 “were all with one accord in one place,” when the great prayer was answered. Later in the same chapter we are told that the expanded congregation at Jerusalem “continued” together “in prayers” (verses 41-42). Generally speaking, it was the whole congregation, now amounting to more than three thousand, kept on meeting after the day of Pentecost. The prayer meeting in chapter 4 that brought revival to the congregation seems also to have been attended by everybody. In chapter 6, “the multitude of the disciples” had been called together for a meeting that concluded as a prayer meeting, which produced a powerful resurgence of evangelism in the city. We get the idea that it mattered if everybody was there. Two or three can use the keys of the kingdom (Matthew 18:18-20), but the congregation as a whole ought to be well represented when coming as a body to present a petition. Revivalists of the past seemed to think that God’s impression of our earnestness matters and that attendance at a prayer meeting can be an indication of that earnestness. The number of folks who come to prayer meetings often indicates the spiritual level of the church. One old-time evangelist asserted that a “prayer meeting is an index to the state of religion [spiritual condition] of a church. If the church neglect the prayer meetings, or come and have not the spirit of prayer [a humble and believing spirit created by the Holy Spirit], you know of course that the religion is low. Let me go into the prayer meeting, and I can always see the state of religion there.” Certainly here we are looking at two sides of a coin, but must be strongly convinced that it is important for believers to attend prayer meetings when they are called. However, poor attendance should not discourage those who do attend in regard to the possibilities of their seeing great things happen in answer to their prayers.

4. PRAYER MEETINGS HAVE A LOT TO DO WITH REVIVAL.

Acts 4:31 records that the revival of the church in that chapter came in direct answer to the prayers offered at a prayer meeting.

“And when they had prayed, the place was shaken there they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.”

Revival is the work of God by which He lifts His people up to the place where He can bless them (read James 4:8-10). He does this in answer to beseeching prayer. This truth is taught both in the Old and in the New Testament scriptures. When Israel needed revival, they gathered for prayer (read First Samuel 7, Second Chronicles 30, Nehemiah 9, and Joel 2). When the New Testament churches needed a new filling of the Spirit of God, they gathered to pray (Acts 2, 4, 8, and 19). So if a church needs and wants revival, they should have prayer meetings. Find in the Bible the revivals that happened after prayer meetings. Find in history the role prayer meetings always have in revival. When believers wither in defeat, sorrow, sin, and retreat, they ought to call a revival prayer meeting as soon as possible.

5. PRAYER MEETINGS ARE SOMETIMES INVADED AND ATTACKED BY THE ENEMY.

When Christians pray together and seek to be led by the Holy Spirit, sometimes they must deal with other spirits. This is why First John 4:1-6 was put in the Bible. It admonishes us to “try the spirits whether they are of God,” and gives us instruction about how to do this. We find in this very important passage that evil spirits are often represented by imposters who represent themselves as speaking for God, but the praying Christians are really dealing with spirits, rather than just with flesh and blood (do study again Ephesians 6:10-20). Some, we are told in First Corinthians 12, will receive a gift of “discerning of spirits.” The leaders of a prayer meeting must be watchful to spot the involvement of evil influences, and bold to squash them. Sometimes good prayer meetings are hindered by prayers that preach rather than petition, insert inappropriate subject matter, by individuals inappropriately dominating the meeting, by the articulation of doctrine and ideas, and by other obvious distractions that come from the enemy. Under the guidance of God, a leader must silence a problem pray-er kindly but boldly. The one causing the problem may be sincere but misguided, but the bad influence must still be challenged. Wisdom is required, but wisdom is promised in James 1:5. We must learn spiritual warfare in the conducting of prayer meetings.

6. PRAYER MEETINGS ARE THE BIBLE WAY OF MEETING CHALLENGES AND SOLVING PROBLEMS.

Notice how they were used in the Jerusalem church: to prepare to evangelize the world (Acts 1), to keep a revival going (Acts 2), to obtain boldness to continue in the work in the face of opposition (Acts 4), to heal discord and re-start the work (Acts 6), and to get a preacher out of jail (Acts 12)! Jesus taught the apostles how to have prayer meetings, and they led the church to have them often. This is a new route for many of us to take, but the prayer-meeting method is the Bible way to meet the needs of the church and to take the cause of the Gospel forward.

7. PRAYER MEETINGS LED BY THE SPIRIT WILL PROMOTE HARMONY IN THE CHURCH.

When the Christians united in asking for revival, the church could expect to experience it. See this vividly in Acts 1:12-2:4, and then again in Acts 4:23-31. One requirement for corporate revival, we might conclude, is unity of purpose in prayer, and in the prayer meetings. However, after revival came, there was another deeper kind of unity in the body. This was unity of heart. Acts 2:46 says that there was “gladness and singleness of heart” in the Spirit-filled Jerusalem church. Acts 4:32 says that after the revival that resulted from the prayer meeting that was called because of threats made against the evangelizing church (read the whole chapter), “the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.” The unity that results from revival is a unity of heart generated by union with God (read how Jesus described it in John 17:18-21). Certainly a byproduct of Spirit-filled prayer meetings is harmony. Whatever disrupts harmony among believers also hinders the effectiveness of their prayers (remember Matthew 5:23-24 and 6:9-15, and also Mark 11:22-26). Whenever such hindrances are taken away by humble deference to others, real unity can come. And the presence of the Holy Spirit within us makes us truly one Body (meditate upon Ephesians 2:14-22 and 4:1-16). Let’s follow the leadership of God in these critical days, and gather often for real prayer meetings! May we join the Lord as He guides us down the revival road!

Dr. Rick Flanders
Revival Ministries