True Revival: The Church's Greatest Need

Preface

Why this book on revival and its fruitage? Many today have a hunger for something more than just “playing church” and going through the motions of the Christian life. They want a genuine experience with Christ—for themselves and for the church. TR 7.1

In these pages you will find Ellen G. White addressing these longings, pointing the way to that deeper experience and warning of some pitfalls along the way. She shows that God is calling those who say they are followers of Jesus Christ to forsake the ways of the world and to recommit their lives to Him. It is time for a genuine revival and reformation in God's church. There is a work to be done, a world to be warned of its coming end. TR 7.2

This can happen only under the power of God's Spirit, and God's Spirit cannot be given to those who profess to be His people until they know by experience what repentance and reformation is. Ellen G. White wrote, “The Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon His children” (True Revival, 19). But it is the responsibility of His children to seek this gift. According to Ellen White, “the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the church is looked forward to as in the future; but it is the privilege of the church to have it now. Seek for it, pray for it, believe for it. We must have it, and Heaven is waiting to bestow it” (Evangelism, 701). TR 7.3

Being born again, justified, converted—this is the beginning. But what about growing up into Christ? What about that lifetime experience we sometimes call sanctification? Truly born-again Christians not only talk about Christ but live lives that testify that they are, in fact, followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Revival is being born again; reformation is living a life of obedience through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit that “Heaven is waiting to bestow.” TR 7.4

The Spirit-filled life results not only in personal victory over sin but also in a fresh desire and ability to share the Christian life and hope with others. Filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, God's faithful ones will proclaim the final message that will prepare a people for the Lord's return. Satan will do everything in his power to stop it. He will try to convince us that there are shortcuts—easier ways to have the fellowship with God that leads to an empowered Christian life. He will introduce counterfeits for the power of the Spirit—counterfeits so deceptive that if God's people do not maintain a deep, living relationship with Him, based on the Word of God, they will be deceived. This book will, among other things, help the reader to distinguish between the true and the false. TR 8.1

For more than 100 years Ellen White's much-loved book Steps to Christ has been a best seller. Young and old have accepted its appeal for commitment to Christ. For many, True Revival: The Church's Greatest Need will serve as a companion book, offering further guidance toward a life of genuine revival and renewal. Chapters 2-8 are taken from the little book A New Life (originally published as Revival and Beyond), and chapters 1, 9, and 10 are taken from several chapters on revival and reformation in Selected Messages, book 1, pages 121-152. TR 8.2

In these closing moments of earth's sinful history, surely God's Holy Spirit is ready to give us the power to finish our work for others and the work necessary for ourselves. Can it be that you will be one through whom God will do something special? May this book help you to experience the revival and reformation that will prepare you for the latter rain and the soon return of our Lord. TR 8.3

The Trustees of the Ellen G. White Estate