The following quotes are from The Office and Work of the Holy Spirit by James Buchanan.
We have been so much accustomed to look to the more slow and quiet and gradual method of maintaining and extending the kingdom of Christ, that we are apt to be startled, and even listen with some degree of incredulous surprise, when we hear of any sudden and general work of the Spirit of God; nay, we cease even to expect and to pray for any more remarkable or more rapid change in the state of the Church and world than what is usually observed under a regular ministry….Often, in the history of his Church, has he been pleased…to manifest his grace and power in a very extraordinary and remarkable manner; partly to awaken and arouse a slumbering Church; partly also to alarm and convince gainsayers; and, most of all, to teach them at once the sovereignty and the power of that grace which they are too prone to despise.
Could you then doubt that the preaching of the Gospel, accompanied by the power of the Spirit, is sufficient to revolutionize the world, to overturn the kingdom of darkness, and to erect on its ruins that kingdom of God which consists in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost? While such was the experience of the Church of God, both under the Old and the New Testament dispensations [periods of time], it remains to inquire how far we are entitled to expect the same, or similar results, from the preaching of the Gospel in modern times. It might seem that, being far removed from the age of miracles, and being left, in so far as the use of means is concerned, to depend on the mere preaching of the Word, it would be unreasonable, if not presumptuous, in us to anticipate any such remarkable success as attended the preaching of the apostles on the day of Pentecost. Yet there are some weighty considerations applicable to this question which may serve to abate the supposed improbability of such an expectation…’Ask of me,’ says the Father to his beloved Son, ‘and I will give thee the heathen for thine heritage, and the uttermost part of they earth for they possession.’ ‘In thee, and in thy seed,’ said he to Abraham, ‘shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’
The continued agency of the Spirit of God in the Church…is a doctrine which teaches us to expect great results from the faithful preaching of the Gospel…Take away the grace of the Holy Spirit, expunge those passages in the Bible which contain the promise of his enlightening, renewing and converting grace, and then you leave us with none but natural means to accomplish a supernatural work; you leave us, by our mere persuasion and importunity, to convert enmity into love, to quicken the dead to life, to raise a fallen world to heaven, then, indeed, our hopes were deluded, our expectations visionary. Our aims abortive; but leave with us the promise which God has given; grant that the Gospel is an instrument in his hands, and that the Holy Spirit is the every living and ever activeTeacher and Sanctifier of souls, then, in the strength of this truth, we can face all difficulties and rise above all discouragement; and stand unmoved amidst the mockery of the world; and preach the Gospel with confidence of ultimate success, both to Greek and barbarian, to savage and to civilized men; for the Gospel is adapted to every human heart, and the Spirit of God has power to make it effectual…Can it be doubted by any professing Christian, either that such a revival is possible, or that it is desirable?…And is not our privilege to expect, that for these things our prayers will be heard and answered?
The revival we are to expect and seek in prayer is the work of the Holy Spirit in awakening and converting souls. We are not just to do our duty in doing these, though we are to do that, but we should have an expectation that the living God will do as He has promised. While we do not know for sure the extent of what He will do in our day, we can know that our labors are not in vain. We may see revival today or tomorrow, or God may be using us to prepare the next generation for true revival. Either way, it will happen as it cannot fail to happen. The earth will be full of the glory of the Lord because the Lord has promised. We should give ourselves to prayer and preaching that is accordance with the power and the sovereignty of the grace of God. Let us not give up on God, but simply on our own wisdom and power. The Spirit of God is able to send true revival. Let us seek Him by believing prayer.
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