Reformation & Revival Series Finale: Key Takeaways & Final Reflection

Davis L. Moore 

July 30, 2025 

Reformation and Revival  

Over the last five weeks, we have looked at five different books on the topic of Reformation and Revival. I don’t know about you, but for me personally this series has been very motivating and convicting, and forced me to think about various aspects of revival in a way that sparks real change in day-to-day life. When we started this series, I mentioned that our thesis for the whole series was “When God determines to revive His church, He begins by stirring up His people to pray for what He is going to do.”  

There were many themes and topics in all five of the books that we reviewed that stood out as common denominators. In this synthesis, it is my desire to bring together these ideas into one coherent thought, and to break down each of these points one at a time. 

The first thing I’d like to address, however, is why Reformation and Revival. The title and substance of this series comes from the reading I’ve done over the past several years, through personal experience, and through spiritual desire. In the summer of 2024, we did a series entitled A Summer of Scots. We looked at such writers as Robert Murray McCheyne and Horatius and Andrew Bonar. These were men who were very well acquainted with revival, witnessed revival, and lived through revival. They were also taught about revival. “Chalmers’s many students were to be extensively used both at home and overseas, and the influence of Edwards is apparent in their lives. Perhaps the most notable instance of this was in the ministry of Robert Murray McCheyne. From the days of his first pastorate at Larbert, McCheyne preached for revival and believed in revival” (Edwards, Murray 465). And so this series comes from my reading about the Summer of Scots. 

And another instance of my reading bringing this series to life was as we were going through, in the fall of 2024, the series “What Happened to Manhood?” Throughout that entire study, the idea of a connection between reformation and revival, and the importance of the family in revival, popped out to me again and again. Jonathan Williams, in his A Practical Theology of Family Worship, says, “Beeke and Jones also noted Christians have long recognized that God often uses the restoration of family worship to bring reformation and revival to the church” (13). And in a later passage, when talking about Richard Baxter, he quotes Baxter as saying “If you desire the reformation and welfare of your people, do all you can to promote your family religion. . . . You are not likely to see any general reformation till you procure family reformation” (21).  

So, the topics of reformation and revival have shown themselves time and time again in studies of entirely different topics over the last year or more. In addition to my reading, the topic of revival has been in my thinking for quite some time. I wrote a paper in college entitled A True Revival. In that paper, my goal was to define what a true revival is; it’s a movement of the Holy Spirit not a man-made meeting or event. This is vitally important to our understanding of revival, and everything that we discuss here, must be viewed through that lens. As Haykin points out, “The Holy Spirit is the only one who can revive God’s people, corporately and personally, and He does so by means of focusing their thought upon the Lord Jesus’s glory, life, cross-work, and ongoing ministry since His session at the Father’s right hand” (Haykin, p. 14). Or in the words of Iain Murray, “God works through human means and even in a revival – sometimes more so in revival - ‘to err is human’” (Wesley, p. 37).  

In this paper, however, I want to primarily focus on the idea that “When God determines to revive His church, He begins by stirring up His people to pray for what He is going to do.” What does this look like? What does it mean for us to be “stirred up to pray”? What are the signs of revival?  

There were several thoughts that stood out throughout the series in every book that we reviewed. I pointed several of them out during the series, but I want to bring them all together here. The first thing is prayer. When God determines to revive His church, the first thing He does is stir the people to pray to Him. On some occasions, we see the revival in our lifetimes, and other times we don’t. The Puritans, for instance, prayed long and hard for revival. They wanted to see the nation and the whole world revived; they never saw it.  

But, one hundred years later, God answered their prayers by sending the great awakening of the 18th century. “The Puritans long prayed and labored for a national awakening...” Haykin says, “Though these prayers and labors did not see an answer in their lifetime – Such an awakening was to come in the eighteenth century... Here is great encouragement not to give up praying if we do not see immediate fruit. Praying breath is never lost” (Haykin, p. 5). May we learn from the great example of the Puritans. They were constantly praying and working despite their never seeing the fruit of it.  

So, whether we see God moving in our lives or not, we should be praying that our children and our children’s children witness an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We are to wait patiently on the Lord. As John Newton counsels young John Ryland Jr., “A young sailor is often impatient of a short calm, but the experienced mariner, who has been often tossed with tempests, and upon the point of perishing, will seldom wish for a storm. In a word, let us patiently wait upon the Lord and be content to follow as he leads, and he will surely do us good” (Wise Counsel, p. 38). And in a different place, “Trust in him, wait for him: prayer; and faith, and patience are never disappointed. I commend you to his blessing and guidance” (p. 75). But are there examples of people praying for revival and seeing it in their lives too? Of course.  

John Newton, who was later part of a revival, told Ryland, “A revival is wanted with us here at Olney as well as with you at Northampton, and I trust some of us are longing for it. We are praying and singing for one” (Wise Counsel, p. 45). But there are so many more examples. Throughout all of the 18th century, the people were constantly praying for revival. Haykin says, “They were thus constrained to pray, ‘Return, O Lord, and visit thy churches, and revive thine own work in the midst of us” (p. 22). May we follow this example and pray for God to revive the church in our time too!  

Haykin later stresses the importance of prayer by saying, “How does renewal or revival come to a Christian community or congregation? A variety of answers can be given to this important question, but, from the vantage point of church history, prayer will head the list. When God’s people are driven to realize their desperate need for spiritual advance and revival, they also realize they must pray for this to happen. Only God can do the work of God, and true revival is His work. As such, they cry out to God both corporately and singly, for God to stretch forth His arm and revive His people” (p. 131). May we seek the Lord and pray constantly to Him for revival. 

In times of revival, it is also clear that prayer is a very captivating part of the worship service on the Lord’s Day. “Frequently, it seems,” Murray says, “it was not so much the preaching as the praying that arrested attention... It was thus that many for the first time heard of eternal life and of a loving heavenly father. The missioners were ready to pray in every place. On one occasion a priest looked out of his church door for an overdue wedding party he was expecting. To his surprise he saw them kneeling on the road... Long before, Augustine had once said, ‘The Christian teacher will succeed more by piety in prayer than by gifts of oratory’” (Wesley, p. 152).  

Prayer is also a gift from God. We must use this gift and He will bless us through it. “It is surely no coincidence that preceding and accompanying this growth were the concerts of prayer that many churches had established in response to the Prayer Call of 1784” (Haykin, p. 143). 

And so, we see the importance of prayer and its relationship with revival. May we learn from these historical accounts and likewise be moved to prayer in our time. 

Another theme that ran across all of the revivals of the Great Awakening was a strong view of the Holy Spirit and an understanding of our need of Him. When we have an understanding of who the Holy Spirit is and what He can do, we can have a stronger hunger for Him to do as He wills. Haykin quotes Jonathan Edwards on the importance of the Holy Spirit saying, “The Holy Spirit, in his indwelling, his influences and fruits, is the sum of all grace, holiness, comfort and joy, or in one word, of all the spiritual good Christ purchased for men in this world: and is also the sum of all perfection, glory and eternal joy, that he purchased for them in another world” (Haykin, p. 90). So, we can see that to have a revival, a strong and correct view of the Holy Spirit is vital.  

So, what does the Spirit coming look like? Murray lists five marks of the Holy Spirit’s presence. “The Spirit’s true work can be distinguished from that which is false because we know that he always (1) causes a greater esteem for Christ (2) operates against the interest of Satan’s kingdom ‘which lies in encouraging and establishing sin’ (3) promotes greater regard for the truth and the divinity of the Holy Scriptures (4) brings men to the light of truth (5) excites love to God and man, making the attributes of God, manifested in Christ, ‘delightful objects of contemplation’” (Edwards, p. 234). These are all signs of the Holy Spirit moving. Andrew Fuller, the Baptist minister likewise saw a similar thing in his experience. Haykin says, “Fuller’s experience also reveals that when the Spirit comes with His reviving power, He always comes as the Spirit of truth and brings a measure of theological renewal” (Haykin, p. 127).   

And so, we see very clearly that in order to have a revival, a high view of the Holy Spirit and an understanding of His work and power is necessary. Another thing that is vital in revival, is a high view of Christ. This comes through the work of the Holy Spirit. As Murray previously pointed out, the Holy Spirit “Causes a greater esteem for Christ” (p. 234). In every true revival, a high view of Christ is essential.  

As John Newton pointed out to Ryland, “There is no school like the school of the cross. There men are made wise unto salvation, wise to win souls. In a crucified Savior are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (243). And so we must have a strong view of this crucified Savior.  

Another man who was greatly acquainted with revival, William Grimshaw, had a very high view of Christ. “John Wesley was so taken with Grimshaw’s love for Christ and his passion for the salvation of sinners, that he once wrote, ‘A few such as him would make a nation tremble. He carries fire wherever he goes’” (Haykin 62). Wesley also had this high view of Christ. He directed his hearers to Christ. “So all were to be directed to the person of Christ and His redeeming love. What Wesley believed in this regard in 1738, he was still affirming in 1778, when he wrote in a letter, ‘Nothing in the Christian system is of greater importance than the doctrine of the atonement’” (Wesley 21). And these themes run true every revival, everywhere, in all times. We must have a high view of Christ. 

Another vital aspect of revival is conviction of sin. John Wesley again stresses the necessity of conviction of sin. “I told them,” Wesley said, “that as to religion that it was not a bare profession which would avail anyone: that the true way was to forsake sin and follow Christ, and that in order thereto, it was needful that a person should (1) be poor in spirit, feel that he is a sinner (2) mourn on the account with a broken and contrite heart; (3) forsake sin by applying to the lord for strength; (4) believe in Christ, and Him only for salvation; as it is His blood alone that cleanseth us from all unrighteousness; and (5) obey the gospel by conforming to the rules there laid down; living ‘soberly, righteously, and godly, in the present world’” (168).  

John Newton, once again counseling John Ryland, said, “They who know sin so as to hate it, have a good knowledge, and as they believe God permitted sin, they will still believe He is wise and that the permission is no impeachment of His wisdom. O it is a mercy that people need not to be learned men, fine reasoners, metaphysicians, in order to receive the gospel and be happy” (155). And so all of these things: a strong desire to pray, a strong view of the Holy Spirit, a high view of Christ, and a strong conviction of sin; are all necessary and vital to revival.  

Now there are two things in particular that are specifically intriguing to me, that have appeared in all of the books on revival that I read, and we’ll see many quotes in this section of this paper that display them. The first thing is, revival almost always begins with the young people. This can be seen in Jonathan Edwards’s revivals. “In times of revival, we read of the parsonage study being thronged with persons. It was also Edwards’s practice with people and children who might be nervous to approach him, to invite them to the parsonage, ‘when he used to pray with them and treat them in a manner suited to their years and circumstances’” (Edwards 184).  

Joseph Tracy’s book The Great Awakening, which delves deeply into many of the revivals of that time, mentions this idea of revival starting with the young people many times. Talking about the revival in Newark, he says, “There was but little of the power of godliness appearing among us, till sometime in August 1739, the summer before Whitefield first came into these parts, when there was a remarkable revival at Newark, especially among the rising generation – this concern increased for a considerable time among the young people, though not wholly confined to them, and in November, December, and January following, it became more remarkable as well as more general” (20). Again, discussing the revival in Natick, he says, “There have been very observable strivings of the ever-blessed Spirit in the hearts of many, especially young people, in convincing and enlightening, and I hope converting them, in my neighboring towns” (125). Once again, when discussing the details of the Wrentham revival, “It was very agreeably surprising almost daily, to hear of instances of young persons (for the work of God’s Spirit seemed to be chiefly on young people), in great concern what they should do to be saved” (127). And then again, when talking about the revival in Sutton, he says, “A society of young men was formed for religious purposes, and family meetings were established in four different parts of the town” (169). And once more, when talking about the revival of Northampton, “When the exercise was over, the young people that were present removed into the other room for religious conference [fellowship]; in particularly that they might have opportunity to enquire of those that were thus affected what apprehensions they had and what things they were that thus deeply impressed their minds; and there soon appeared a very great effect on their conversation; the effect was quickly propagated through the room. Many of the young people and children that were professors appeared to be overcome with a sense of the greatness and glory of divine things ...” (198). 

And the final topic to be addressed is the great and strong desire to read excellent theology. Haykin, when talking about the life of Whitefield, explained how much of Whitefield’s life was spent reading. “Systematic reading of Puritan and pietist devotional literature also occupied much of Whitefield’s time” (136). Joseph Tracy said, “He now gave himself exclusively to religious reading; . . .” (43). Jonathan Edwards likewise read much theological writings. “As B. B. Warfield writes, ‘He fed himself on the great Puritan divines and formed not merely his thought but his life upon them’” (67). He continues, “While it is apparent that Edwards read theological writers who were his contemporaries, including promoters of ‘new divinity,’ the names which predominate in the catalogue are those of the old authors, of Reformed and Puritan persuasion: Calvin, Perkins, Van Mastricht, Sibbes, Manton, Flavel, Owen, Charnock, and so on” (68). And there are of course the famous words of Hopkins from his Life of Edwards, which said, “He commonly spent thirteen hours every day in his study” (137).  

So it’s clear from these two great men of revival that reading is essential to revival. Another prominent figure of the great awakening, John Wesley, also emphasizes the importance of reading. “Just how much Wesley had been reading the Puritans was to become apparent in 1749, when he launched his ‘Christian library’ . . . so many Puritans appeared in this Christian library that one Church of England critic put it down as an ‘odd collection of mutilated writings of dissenters of all sorts’” (53). And later, he instructed his hearers, “Read and pray daily, for it is your life. Read a little, pray and meditate much” (89). And later, “It cannot be that people should grow in grace unless they give themselves up to reading. A reading people will always be a knowing people” (90).  

So we’ve now looked at three prominent figures of the Great Awakening, which illustrate and teach us that reading is vital to revival. Let us look to one more book to ground us in understanding of the relationship of reading and revival. Joseph Tracy’s book, as he takes us through so many revivals, also stresses reading. While talking about one of Whitefield’s travels, Tracy says, “No books are in request but those of piety and devotion, and instead of idle songs and ballads, the people everywhere are entertaining themselves with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (61). When describing the revival of Plymouth, “The children forsook their plays in the streets, and persons of all denominations, except a few, gave themselves to reading the Word of God and other books of devotion. ...” (167). Again, while describing the revival of the South, he says, “Such were awakened, as they have told me, either by their own serious reflection suggested and reinforced by divine energy, or on reading some authors of the last century, particularly Bulton, Baxter, Flavel, Bunyan, etc” (395). And then finally, while discussing the revival in New England, “many of the young people were greatly reformed; they turned their meetings for vain mirth into meetings for prayer, conference, and reading books of piety” (140).  

So let us learn from these revivals of the past. May we seek the Lord in His Word, in Christ, in prayer, and in reading. The five books in this series are a great place to start, and they may even convict you to read more. Lord willing, this paper, series, and reviews, have helped you and convicted you to pray for revival, to read for revival, and be sensitive to the Spirit.