Why Revival Tarries and the Call to the Secret Place?
What if the biggest threat to the Church isn't culture, politics, or persecution, but our own prayerlessness? In a modern Christian culture obsessed with political outrage and external battles, revival preacher Leonard Ravenhill pointed his finger directly at the spiritual decay inside the sanctuary. His piercing warning cuts through every excuse: "I wish, in America, that we were as concerned about separation from Church & sin as we are about Church & State. Church & sin - it's a monstrous problem."
Leonard Ravenhill was a British revivalist whose uncompromised, razor-sharp preaching led thousands to Jesus Christ across Great Britain and America. He didn't build his ministry on slick marketing, entertaining programs, or soft theology. Instead, Ravenhill spent decades leading relentless prayer meetings and demanding that believers confront their own lukewarmness.
In his landmark book, Why Revival Tarries, Ravenhill laid bare the tragic condition of the modern Church. He asked a question that still haunts us today: How can churches organize massive conferences, raise millions of dollars, fill busy calendars, and run flawless weekly productions—yet remain completely devoid of the fire, power, and presence of Almighty God?
Ravenhill’s answer was direct and uncompromising: Revival tarries because the Church has abandoned the secret place.
The Sin of Neglecting Prayer
We often treat prayer as an optional add-on for spiritual overachievers. But Scripture and church history teach that for the Church to neglect prayer is not a minor oversight—it is a grave sin of self-sufficiency.
God will not pour out holy revival fire on unholy compromise. We cannot entertain the world six days a week and expect the Holy Spirit to fall on the seventh. Revival is not manufactured by human effort or organizational machinery; it can only be birthed through desperate, persistent, Spirit-led intercession.
Paul commands us in Colossians 4:2:
"Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving..."
Ravenhill yearned and labored for awakening because he knew that true revival cannot be scheduled or forced by human striving—it must be prayed down. When a generation finally tires of empty religious routines, gets low on its knees, and repents of its sin, God answers with fire.
Our Prayer Focus Today
As you press into prayer and fasting today, align your intercession with these key targets:
Sovereign Revival on Earth: Asking the Lord to visit our generation with an undeniable, Holy Spirit-driven awakening that turns nations upside down.
Return to the Secret Place: Praying for every believer to cultivate an urgent, daily, personal life of hidden prayer and consecration.
A Praying, Consecrated Church: Interceding for local churches to tear down empty programs and rebuild the altar of unceasing intercession.
Separation from Sin: Asking the Holy Spirit to bring deep conviction over compromise, worldliness, and hidden sin within the Body of Christ.
Persevering without Striving: Surrendering human self-effort and learning to labor in fervent, trusting, Spirit-led prayer until breakthrough comes.
Stay Connected and Grounded
Discipleship flourishes when we return to the secret place together. Join our weekly Zoom discipleship meetings as we pray, study Scripture, and seek God’s face for revival.
To receive the meeting link, email: Joseph@crossroadsyouth.org
Lock in. Shut out the noise, enter the secret place, and pray until the fire falls!
