The following two paragraphs are quotes from The Office and Work of the Holy Spirit by James Buchanan.
That such seasons of general religious revival s occurred at the feast of Pentecost were to be expected in subsequent times appears from those promises of Scripture which relate to ‘times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,’ which ensure the continued presence of Christ and his Spirit with the Church in all ages, and which declare that ‘when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.’ And that such seasons of revival have occurred at intervals along the whole line of the Church’s history is a fact which is amply confirmed by historical evidence, and sufficient to obviate any prejudice arising from the idea that such an event is novel or unprecedented… The history of the collected Church resembles the experience of individual believers in many respects, and chiefly in this, that in both there occur seasons of growth and decay, of progress and declension, each bearing a resemblance to the course of nature with its spring and winter, in seedtime and harvest.
Thus is the Reformation of the sixteenth century, a reformation in the outward state of the Church, which had its source and spring in the hearts of a few chosen men, when simultaneously in Germany, and Switzerland, and Britain, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Let there be light; and there was light.’ ‘As in spring time the breath of life is felt from the sea-shore to the mountain-top, so the Spirit of God was now melting the ice of a long winter in every part of Christendom, and clothing with verdure and flowers the most secluded valleys, and the most steep and barren rocks, Germany did not communicate the light of truth to Switzerland, Switzerland to France, France to England-all these lands received it from God, just as no one region transmits the light to another, but the same orb of splendour dispenses it direct to the earth. Raised far above men, Christ, the day-star from on high, was at the period of the Reformation as at the first introduction of the Gospel, the divine source whence came the light of the world. One and the same doctrine suddenly established itself in the sixteenth century at the domestic hearths and in the places of worship at nations the most distant and dissimilar. It was because the same Spirit was everywhere present, producing the same faith.’ A series of local revivals, on a more partial and limited scale, have occurred since the great general revival at the era of the Reformation.
The Reformation was not just a time of a dispute with Roman Catholicism which led to the Protestant view of the Church; it was a time of great revival that God raised up. While indeed Martin Luther was a human agent and perhaps the main human vessel, this was the work of the Holy Spirit. The Reformation was a time when the sovereign God raised up a few men and worked a mighty revival. Luther spent hours (3-4) each day in prayer. He is quoted as saying one day that he had so much to do that he would have to pray an extra hour. He was overheard praying and it was said that he prayed like God was in the room with him. Luther recognized that God must move if man’s work was to have any benefit at all. He recognized that in the busiest of times what is needed is not less prayer, but more. He was a man of great action, but his action started on his knees. The Reformation, while indeed a time of doctrinal reform, was also a time of revival where true prayer was rescued from forms and traditions.
If we are to see revival today, it will take far more than a recovery of the writings of men and of the doctrine of the Reformers. Our intellects can hold to their doctrines while we savor the old books and yet we might be devoid of the Spirit. Those men tasted and gloried in God and not just in the doctrines of the intellect. Indeed they had the doctrines, but God opened their minds to His glory in the Gospel and the light shone through the darkness once again. But this was a time when men prayed and when the Spirit moved. For several years we have once again had access to the writings of the giants of old. For years we have had people speak and write on prayer, but we have not had revival because the Spirit has not been given and we have not been given to prayer. We prefer to attend conferences where we are given a lot of food and a lot of things for the brain. But we have not been given over to prayer to seek the face of God to pour out His Spirit. Until we do, we will not see revival and the Reformation will be but a system of doctrine to us. Doctrine is important, and even vital, but God Himself is light and life. The doctrines of the Reformation teach us of our sovereign God and that should drive us to true and extended prayer.
God Loves... Himself 
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