God s Instrument in Revival Sammy Tippit The night was dark. Christians were severely persecuted. Many lost their jobs. Some went to prison for their faith, while others were beaten and even killed. Yet, it s always in the darkest night that God moves and pours out His Spirit and revives His people. His eyes go to and fro throughout the entire Earth to find a person whose heart is set completely on Him. When He finds that kind of person, He will use him as His instrument to reveal His glory to His people. In the 1970s, God found such a man in Romania. Pastor Olah Liviu, a Christian leader in Oradea, Romania, shared his vision with his church in that dark hour. We must pray that one day we will be able to stand in the great stadiums of our country and proclaim the good news, he told his congregation. Pray that we will preach that gospel on television, radio, and in the newspapers. Some of the people looked at him as though he had lost his mind. But pastor, they argued, we are persecuted. You know our situation. That would be impossible. However, there was something else that Pastor Liviu knew. With men, it may be impossible, but with God all things are possible. He knew that God was still on His throne. Even though circumstances told him otherwise, He knew that God was able to do far beyond anything they could have imagined or dreamed. Thus, he called the church to pray and pray in an extraordinary manner. He knew that prayer was the secret weapon of the church. There was a second part of the message that Pastor Liviu brought to the congregation. He told them, The Repenters must repent. The communists and atheists in the country gave Evangelical Christians the name, Repenters, because of the change they had experienced in their lives. They didn t use the word as a compliment, but rather a derogatory term. Pastor Liviu knew that revival came when the Repenters repented. Revival always brings change transformation. Therefore, he called for change, for repentance among Christians. Many of the Christians in Romania at that time had become like the world in which they lived. They were conformed unto the culture rather than unto the image of Christ. Repentance was desperately needed. Therefore, Pastor Liviu, at great risk to his life and ministry, issued a bold call for repentance among those who had come to know Christ. Many in his congregation heeded the call and repented of things in their lives that were unlike Christ. They began to seek the face of God. And God visited the congregation. Lives were transformed, and the church exploded in growth. A spiritual awakening didn t come to the nation immediately. The days became even darker. Pastor Liviu was exiled from the country. Even though the government put the pastor out of the country, they couldn t stop the work that God was about to accomplish. The pastor had shared the secret weapon with too many people. They knew how to pray boldly for God to work. They refused to quit praying. Even though the persecution became harsher, they persisted in seeking God s face.
I recall the first time that I preached in that church in 1980. I arrived at the church facility one hour prior to the beginning of the worship service. A singing group was travelling with me, and they needed to set up their equipment. No one knew that we were coming except the pastor. It was too dangerous to advertise our time of ministry there. This service was one of their typical worship services. However, it was packed as people gathered to pray and seek the face of God. Scores of people came to Christ that night. Atheists came to Christ. Persecutors of Christians came to Christ. It was an awesome moment to witness. I recall preaching another time in that church, and after the service, one of the elders came to me asking, Sammy, did the Lord work? Did the Lord work tonight? I thought his questions were odd. He should have seen the crowds on the streets listening to the message in sub zero temperatures. He should have seen scores of people praying and giving their hearts and lives to Christ. Why are you asking this? I probed. You don t understand, Sammy. I wasn t in the auditorium. I was in a room with 100 men and we were praying the entire time that you were preaching. There was another room with 100 women who were also praying while you were preaching. I was overwhelmed as I listened to this dear brother in Christ. Up until that time, I had never been in any place where 100 men and 100 women prayed in separate rooms while I preached. I travelled into the country for the following nine years, preaching the gospel. It was wonderful to see the fruit of the revival as it spread in the midst of the darkness. In 1988, I was apprehended at the border, held under guard, and deported. I was told that I would never be allowed back in the country. The last thing they told me was, As long as you live, you will never set your feet on Romanian soil. Then they put me on a train headed to Austria saying, Never. Never again will you be allowed back in Romania. But there was something that they didn t know. God was still on His throne. Pastor Liviu had taught the people to pray. And the glory of God was about to transform a nation. Then, in 1989 in one Divine moment God opened the heavens, poured out His Spirit, and Romania has never been the same. Nicolae Ceaucescu, Romania s dictator, was overthrown during Christmas of 1989. It all began when an Evangelical pastor was to be arrested by Romania s dreaded Securitate (Secret Police). Christians from many denominations gathered around his apartment to protect him. When the Securitate arrived, they fired into the crowd, wounding and killing innocent men, women, and children. In that moment, God opened the heavens and poured out His Spirit upon the nation. More than 100,000 atheists gathered in the main square of the city, Timisoara, to protest what had transpired. A pastor friend stood and began preaching. The entire crowd began shouting, Exista Dumnezeu! Exista Dumnezeu! (There is a God! There is a God!). What happened in that moment spread throughout the nation. People gathered in town squares
all over Romania and began shouting, There is a God! There is a God! The glory of God was released upon the country. Romanian friends contacted me and said, Sammy, you must return to the country immediately. That for which we have prayed for so many years has finally happened. I left everything that I was doing, and caught a flight to Austria. Friends picked me up at the airport in Vienna, and we drove across Hungary to the Romanian border. The revolution was still in progress. We didn t know who controlled the borders. I only knew that my name was in their computers as not being welcome in Romania. We prayed the entire trip. Before the revolution, the first question at the border was always, Do you have any Bibles? If you had Bibles, you were in trouble. I ll never forget that night when we arrived at the Romanian border. It was dark, cold, and snowing. Many people were trying to leave the country. We were the only ones attempting to go into Romania. The soldiers came to our car as we drove up. They said, Get out. The first question they asked was, Are you Christians? My heart began beating rapidly. I took a deep breath, cleared my throat, and looked up saying, Yes. We re Christians. I will never forget what transpired next. The soldier threw his arms open wide and said, Welcome to the new Romania. Tears filled my eyes and my friends and I knelt and gave glory and honour and praise to God on the very spot where they told me I would never be allowed back in Romania. When we arrived in the country, I saw things that I never dreamed I would see. Common ordinary people (not necessarily church people) would run up to me on the streets and begin shouting, There is a God. There is a God. Five months later, I stood in an outdoor stadium and preached an evangelistic crusade. Right before I preached, my translator asked me, Sammy, do you know what today is? Puzzled, I responded, What do you mean? Today, he said, is the day for which our pastor taught us to pray that one day we would stand in the stadiums of our country and proclaim the gospel. And today, the television, newspapers and radio are all here to record your message. Today is the day that God answered the prayers that our pastor taught us to pray. I fell on my face and wept. Within the next four to five years, there was an incredible spiritual harvest throughout Romania. Many thousands came to Christ. New churches were planted. God visited the nation. God is willing and able to revive His people, His church, and even entire nations. But He has chosen to work through people. He doesn t necessarily look for the mighty, the wealthy, or the scholars of the day, but He always looks for the humble of heart. When He finds such a person, there is no limit to what He will do. I have often thought back to what God did in Romania and attempted to glean some insight that would help other nations experience revival. There are so many elements to such a revival. But one thing is sure, when God gets ready to transform a nation, He looks for an instrument through which He can work. The nationality, race, or church denomination doesn t matter to God. According to 2 Chronicles 16:9, the eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the whole Earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward Him (English Standard Version). God will do
extraordinary things when He finds a person who has set his heart on seeking the face of God. He found a humble, praying pastor in Oradea, Romania and transformed a nation. It s critically important that we know what kind of instrument God is seeking to use when He gets ready to revive a people. There are several characteristics of such a person that the Bible describes. First, God is looking for someone who is looking for Him. He searches for the person who is searching for Him with His whole heart. Historically, revival has descended on the wings of a small group of praying people. It was true in the Bible, and it s been true in the great spiritual awakenings throughout history. It was also true in Romania, and it s been true in every move of God that I have ever witnessed. God uses the person or persons that seek His face. He promised in His word, If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land (2 Chron. 7:14). Revival is a sovereign act of God. We can t work it up or pray it down. Revival is the wind of the Spirit of God blowing across the heart of a believer, a church, or a nation. We don t know when or where the wind of God s Spirit will blow. But we do know that it always blows where there are people praying. God s instrument in revival will always be one who seeks Him, not just His hand, but His face. God is looking for the person who desires to truly know Him, to be a friend of His. God is looking for a person who longs for an intimate relationship with Him. That person will be God s instrument in times of revival. There s another characteristic of the person God uses to bring revival to His people. God s instrument will have a clear vision and passion for revival. Many years ago, I was in the former Yugoslavia teaching on the subject of revival. A godly Christian leader came to me and very resolutely said, Oh, Sammy, I live for these things. That man was focused, single minded. One of the great needs of the hour is to have a man or woman whose eyes are focused on a mighty revival in the land. Pastor Liviu had a clear vision. He saw something that no one else saw. He saw the possibility of revival. Even though his circumstances only allowed him to externally see darkness, he was able to look unto heaven and see God s heart for the nation. He saw the possibility of revival, and he set his heart to that one great pursuit. There are many today who pursue good things, but not the best. Many pastors pursue bigger churches. Christian laymen run after riches. Young people follow entertainers. But who in our generation is in a passionate pursuit of revival among God s people? God is looking for a person who hunts for heaven and longs to see God s kingdom come to Earth. But the person God uses as His instrument in revival is not only a person with a clear vision for revival, but also a person who believes that God will send such a revival. The Bible tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith, that we must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). It s one thing to see the necessity and possibility of revival, but it s another to believe that God longs to send such a revival more than we desire it.
Powerful praying is an understanding of the will of God, and then lining up our hearts and prayers with His will. He answers this kind of praying. Jesus even said that with faith we could speak to the mountain and it would be cast into the sea. The mountain represents obstacles to revival. When we look at the mountain, we see the impossible. But when we have a clear vision of God, we comprehend that there s nothing too difficult for him. He created every mountain. It s no great task for God to remove that mountain and throw it into an ocean. That s why Pastor Liviu was God s instrument in Romania. He refused to place his faith in his circumstances or the politics of the day. He trusted in God and said, Pray that one day we will be able to stand in the great stadiums of the nation and proclaim the gospel. He didn t focus on the darkness, but believed that God would reward those that diligently sought His face. But where does such faith come from? It comes from the Word of God. Romans 10:17 says, Faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ (ESV). Therefore, God s instrument will always be a person of the Word. Great revivals in the past have been rooted in the Word of God. The Reformation was born in the hearts of men and women who aligned their lives with the Scriptures. The historical American and British revivals rose from the powerful preaching of the Word of God. Although the Welsh revival of the early 1900s and the world wide prayer revival of 1858-1860 were characterized more by prayer than Biblical preaching, they were rooted in the Biblical truth. As lives were transformed, their hearts and actions were brought in line with the Scriptures. One of the chief characteristics among Romanian believers has been their love for the Scriptures. Biblical preaching and Biblical practice have always produced fertile soil for revival. The person that God uses must be a person committed to living and proclaiming the great truths of the Bible. Another characteristic of the person that God uses in revival is that the person will always call others to repentance and forgiveness of sins. Revival descends on the wings of a band of praying men and women, but it spreads through the hands and feet of those who have tasted God s forgiveness. There are three major characteristics of the heart of the person that God uses in revival. First, there must be a spirit of brokenness in that person. Revival doesn t come through the haughty in spirit, but rather, it flows through the broken and contrite of heart. Revival is a work of God s grace, and His grace can only be applied to a humble heart. When we seek God s face, we will see Him in His holiness. The more clearly that we see Him, the more broken we become. Second, such godly sorrow causes us to rush to the cross. We fall at the cross and cry for forgiveness. Finally, as God s mercy fills our hearts, it leads to repentance, a change of heart and direction in our lives. God s instrument isn t necessarily a person who seems to have it all together, but rather is one who has been broken and is in the process of being transformed by the power of the cross. The person God uses is one who has a passionate pursuit of holiness. The heart cry of God s instrument in revival is make me more like Jesus. There s one final characteristic of the person God uses in revival that needs to be mentioned.
That person lives only for the glory of God. When revival comes, no man, organization, or institution will receive glory. All glory, honour and praise belong to Jesus. One of the great hindrances to revival in this generation is that we have many empire builders, but few kingdom seekers. God won t share His glory with anyone. That s why His instrument must have a heart that longs for the glory of God. Pastor Liviu was exiled from the country before the great outpouring of God s Spirit. He didn t see the mighty move of the Holy Spirit when God intervened in the affairs of the history of the nation. The communist thought that if they could remove the pastor from the nation, then this movement among Christians would cease. They didn t understand that what was transpiring wasn t the work of a man, but rather the work of God. It wasn t rooted in human personality, but in the glory of God. Man could be stopped. But when God is the centre, the focus, and the One who receives all the glory, nothing can stop the mighty move of God s Spirit. Revival could be defined as a manifestation of God s glory. The person God uses will have one heart beat, one passion, and one longing. God s instrument will have a single heart cry, Oh, God, it s Your glory that we need. Let us see Your glory. (Article published with permission of Sammy Tippit. For information about him or his ministry visit his website: www.sammytippit.org)