Each daily devotional below begins with an excerpt from a transcript of Duncan Campbell telling the story of how the 1949 Hebridean revival began[1]
Repentance
Duncan Campbell said:-
“My dear people.. to take that to heart…“should there be no repentance.” And they called upon every individual as before God to examine his or her life in the light of that responsibility that pertains to us all, that happily in the divine mercy, we may be visited with the spirit of repentance and may turn again, under the Lord who we have so grieved, with our iniquities and waywardness, especially would they warn their young people the devil’s mantraps, the cinema and the public house.” That was a declaration by the Presbytery read in all the congregations and published in the local press.”
Historians say that one of the characteristics of this country, before the Wesley revival broke out in 1739, was the cheap gin. Gin drinking grew exponentially with the production of cheap gin. The presbytery in Barvas in Scotland recognised in 1949, that alcohol was “the devil’s man trap’ and there was need for repentance.
What is repentance? Repentance is not an invitation; it is a command (Acts 17:30–31). God commands all men to repent. Repentance is not just ‘feeling sorry’. It is not enough to be sorry about how sin affects you. It is necessary to be sorry for how sin affects God. Repentance is not confession of sin only. Repentance is forsaking all known sin. Before our prayers for our nation, or the youth of our nation, can be effectivewe should consider the land of our own heart and start breaking up our fallow ground.[2]Charles Finney in his ‘Revival lectures’ explains how, in praying for a spiritual awakening, we should break up the fallow ground in our own hearts[3]. Finney says, ‘If you mean to break up the fallow ground of your hearts, you must begin by looking at your hearts: examine and note the state of your minds and see where you are. Many never seem to think about this.’[4] It is important to draw attention away from other things and also to not to be in a hurry. ‘Examine thoroughly the state of your hearts and see whether you are walking with God every day, or with the devil. To do all this you must examine yourselves. Self-examination consists in looking at your lives, in considering your actions, in calling up the past, and learning its true character. Look back over your past. Take up your individual sins one by one, and look at them, NOT as … a glance at your past life … a sort of general confession (and asking) for pardon.’[5]
Roy Hession, in his booklet The Calvary Road, which came out of the East African revival in the 1950s, says, ‘if we are to come into this right relationship with Him (Jesus), the first thing we must learn is that our wills must be broken to His will. To be broken is the beginning of revival. It’s painful, it’s humiliating but it’s the only way. It is being “Not I, but Christ”. And a “C” is a bent “I”. The Lord Jesus cannot live in us fully and reveal Himself through us until the proud self within us is broken. This means that the hard, unyielding self, which justifies itself, wants its own way, stands up for it rights and seeks its own glory, at last bows its head to God’s will, admits it is wrong, gives up its own way to Jesus, surrenders its rights, and discards its own glory — that the Lord Jesus might have all and be all. In other words, it’s down to self and self-attitudes.’[6]
Lord you had mercy on the youth in Barvas in Lewis… but today, before praying for today’s youth, I ask first that you have mercy on me… show me my sin… my pride.. I repent… I want to forsake all known sin.
References (1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXIZOSWvXaE
(2) A. Wallis, Rain from heaven, 93.
(3) C. Finney, Revival Lectures, lecture 3
(4) C. Finney, Autobiography. CreateSpace (2014): p21
(5) C. Finney, Autobiography. CreateSpace (2014): p21
(6) R. Hession, The Calvary Road. Rickford Hills (2003): p1
UNBLOCKING THE WELL OF THE LIVING WORD 
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