After many centuries of what we now call the Dark Ages, the Reformation was a movement to restore biblical Christianity to planet earth.

The first awakening began when some people experienced first-hand what it means to know God personally! This spiritual transformation of a handful of individuals went on to impact communities and even whole countries on both sides of the Atlantic. People like George Whitfield (1714-1770) and John Wesley (1703-1791) both experienced profound conversion experiences and were highly motivated to tell others what they had found.

Like its predecessor, the Second Great Awakening also occurred when the moral and spiritual tide was once again out. It was ignited by a movement of prayer led by three Baptist ministers in the English midlands. What is now known as the Prayer Call of 1784 began with the recognition that they too needed another outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

When the revival fires that had burned brightly through the early decades of the nineteenth century began to die down, the Lord visited His people again with another move of the Holy Spirit. As with the previous revival, the Third Great Awakening began as a movement of prayer.

The Welsh Revival is regarded as the last of the great awakenings, in that it impacted not only individual communities but a whole country. Wales had already known revival previously having been impacted by the First, Second, and then the Third Great Awakenings. However, toward the end of the Nineteenth Century, there was a growing recognition that the spiritual tide was going out and they needed another gracious move of God.

Like so many other revivals in history, the Hebrides revival began with the recognition that the spiritual tide was well and truly out. A sense of dire spiritual need was then leveraged into a movement of prayer.

As we examine the pattern of revivals down through the years, it becomes clear that prayer is an essential part. Revival begins when believers become concerned by the low state of things and the spiritual tide being out. This concern then motivates people to pray and cry out to God for His help. It is then that the Lord begins to move in wonderful ways. The story of the Asbury College Revival in 1970 abundantly illustrates this truth.

The Canadian revival story illustrates how the Lord can send revival to our culture today.