by Collin Hanses and John Woodbridge
The idea behind this book is to retell some of the stories of revival that God has sent in the past several hundred years. There are stories in this book about revival in Wales, America, Korea and more. I really think that authors of this book are correct in their assessment that we need to understand the great works of God in the past if we want to be a part of the great works of God in the future, but I found that I was somewhat underwhelmed by this book. Maybe it was just me, but I couldn't fully get into the book. I did enjoy the stories and found that it was still a useful read, but I just found it didn't enthrall me like I had a hoped a book on revivals would. God has truly done some wonderful things in the past and we know he can do those same things again, and so a focus on the saints of the past, whether they were part of a revival or not, is a study well worth doing. Let us look at our glorious past and work and pray towards even greater glory in our future!
One thing that did stand out to me from reading this book, was how often revival is opposed by those within in the church. Revival almost always brings with it excesses and of course that means those excesses are the things we need to warn against if we were in a revival situation, but it made me wonder how often in those cases were people just scared of change? How many of us truly want a revival? Are we ready to have our comfortable world turned upside down by the Spirit of God?
Random Quote:
Dwight identified several means other than gospel preaching that God uses to reveal himself. These include Bible reading, prayer, talking with Christians, catechism, and self-examination. Not coincidentally, these are the same means Dwight employed as he promoted revival among Yale students. Yet even this moderate position that held God's absolute sovereignty and his ordinary means of grace in balance did not persuade everyone to support revival. Just as in his grandfather's [Jonathan Edwards] day, many venerable pastors wanted nothing to do with such outbreaks of religious fervor, no matter how orderly or biblically defensible. (page 67)
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