From: "The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer";
          Book 5, Chapter 12, "Prayer Undergirds Revivals"

"...As God, from the beginning, has wrought prominently through revivals, there can be no denial of the fact that revivals are a part of the divine plan. All revivals are dependent on God, but in revivals, as in other things, he invites and requires the assistance of man, and the full result is obtained when there is cooperation between the divine and the human. In other words, to employ a familiar phrase, God alone can save the world, but God chooses not to save the world alone. God and man unite for the task, the response of the divine being invariably in proportion to the desire and the effort of the human. This cooperation , then, being necessary, what is the duty which we, as co-workers with God, require to undertake? First of all, and most important of all--the point which we desire particularly to emphasize--we must give ourselves to prayer. "Revivals" as Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman reminds us, "are born in prayer. When Wesley prayed, England was revived; when Knox prayed, Scotland was refreshed.... Whole nights of prayer have always been succeeded by whole days of soul-winning."

All the true revivals have been born in prayer. When God's people become so concerned about the state of religion that they lie on their faces day and night in earnest supplication, the blessing will be sure to fall.  It is the same all down the ages. Every revival of which we have any record has been bathed in prayer. Of Richard Baxter it has been said that "he stained his study walls with praying breath; and after becoming thus anointed with the unction of the Holy Spirit he sent a river of living water over Kidderminster."  Whitfield once thus prayed, "O Lord, give me souls or take my soul."

And so we might go on multiplying illustration upon illustration to show the place of prayer in revival and to demonstrate that every mighty movement of the Spirit of God has had it sources in the prayer-chamber. Are we concerned about the coldness of the church? Do we grieve over the lack of conversions. Does our soul go out to God in midnight cries for the outpouring of his Spirit? If not, part of the blame lies at our door. If we do our part, God will do his. Around us is a world lost in sin, above us is a God willing and able to save; it is ours to build the bridge that links heaven and earth, and prayer is the mighty instrument that does the work. And so the old cry comes to us with insistent voice, "Pray, brethren, pray."

Christian Friend! Where are all the prayer closets? Where is the Christian's and Church's priority of prayer?  Where are our "Prayer Meetings" instead of "Mid-WEAK Services"?  Where are our all-night prayer meetings?  And we wonder..."Why No Revival?"  It's evident..we do NOT practice Scripture!  Follow closely! In Luke 11:1 one of Jesus' disciples did NOT ask Jesus..teach us to PREACH, PLAN PROGRAMS, DEVISE PROMOTIONS, etcs!"  NO, the disciples asked, "Lord teach us to PRAY"!  Luke 18:1, "And he spake a parable unto them to this end that men ought ALWAYS TO PRAY, and not to faint"  1 Thes. 5:17, "Pray WITHOUT CEASING"  James 5:16c, "...The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much"

Christian!  Church!  It's take so much more that scheduling a "revival meeting" once a year, for a week-end, printing up fliers, etcs, etcs. and HOPE SOMETHING HAPPENS!  It WON'T...unless God's people see the import of prayer and prioritize it in their Christian life and Church!  Let's get to it--let's get on it..our knees that is, and PRAY until we are personally revived and the church collectively revived! "Why No Revival?"  You hold the answer believer!

REVIVAL GOD'S WAY - BY LEONARD RAVENHILL - FOLLOWING QUOTES:

PAGE 24: "I see a local church adding a large room. I am not sure what it is. I am sure what it is not--it is not an extension to accomodate an expanding prayer meeting. The local "First Church" has just elected new deacons. Were they elected because they are "full of faith & of the Holy Ghost"?(Acts 6:5). Today, deacons & elders are usually "men of standing."  In the New Testament Church they were "men of kneeling"--praying men.  Who checks the prayer lives of the men to be elected? Usually no one. In other words, we will choose whom we want & hope that the Lord will mercifully bless us."

PAGE 25: "There are churches with a Senior Minister, Associate Minister, Minister of Music, Minister of Youth, & Ministers of Education. but where, oh, where is there a church with a Minister of PRAYER? Where is there a church with a room marked: "Quiet. Intercessors at Work?"

PAGE 30: "Let the fires go out in the boiler room of the church and the place will still look smart and clean, but it will be cold. The Prayer Room in the church is the boiler room for its spiritual life. When holy passion has ceased to move the intercessors in the Prayer Room, coldness ensues, power is lost, and mortification sets in. The place still looks viable, but it is no longer a birthplace of souls."

PAGE 51: "Fascinated as the disciples were with His miracle ministry, they did not request 'Lord, teach us to perform miracles'. After the greatest sermon ever preached by man(preached by the Son of Man), they did not say 'Lord, teach us to preach.'  Some place they probably eavesdropped as He prayed alone & they requested 'Lord, TEACH US TO PRAY!'' He alone, by His Spirit, can teach US TO PRAY."

PAGE 52: "God's problem in the United States and England is NOT humanism or communism or spiritism. God's problem in America and England is DEAD FUNDAMENTALISM! We mouth words about eternity,  but live and think as if time will never end. Where, oh, where are the eternity-conscious believers? Where are the souls white-hot for God because they fear His holy name and presence and so live with eternity's values in view?  If we had more sleepless nights in prayer, there would be far fewer souls to have a sleepless eternal night in hell."

RH: MAYBE IF WE TURNED THE "MID-W E A K  SERVICE" INTO "MID-WEEK P R A Y E R MEETING" WE'D SEE A DIFFERENCE IN PRAYER GETTING THROUGH TO GOD & ANSWERS COMING DOWN FROM HEAVEN!  *TRY HAVING A PRAYER-MEETING WITH PEOPLE SPLITTING UP TO  P  R  A  Y  !!