Introduction: Awaken from Slumber

Spiritual awakenings form the foundation and fabric of
America's religious history!
By Billy Wilson

The first Protestant prayer in the new world was prayed in 1562 by the French Huguenots who landed at the mouth of St. John's River in what is now Jacksonville, Florida. A few years later, more than 300 Huguenots were killed in Florida by the Spanish. Over 200 were massacred near St. Augustine in a place called Matanzas. The Spaniards drew a line in the sand and declared that the Huguenots would die if they stepped across the line and refused to renounce their Protestant faith. Two different groups totaling 245 men stepped across the line to their death. The Protestant leader, Jean Ribault, was martyred in the second group. Just before his death, history records that Ribault quoted Psalms 132. Part of that Psalm states:

"I will not enter my house or go to my bed- I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids, till I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob." (Psalms 132:3-5 NIV)

In my opinion, the bloodied sands of the Florida coast witnessed the beginning of an awakening covenant for America at Matanzas. Since the Matanzas massacre, God has sought for people in this nation who were fully committed to spiritual vigilance. The quest against spiritual slumber in the American church has continued throughout the centuries with varied success. This quest and struggle have provided seasons of both spiritual awakening and spiritual decline.

Throughout our history, God has chosen a variety of places and people to awaken this nation for Christ. The colonial village of Northampton, Massachusetts, became an epicenter of the First Great Awakening with Jonathan Edwards being used dramatically. The Kentucky frontier was a launch point for the Second Great Awakening with Barton Stone leading the Cane Ridge Camp Meeting. New York City's bowery district gave birth to the noon-time prayer revival of the mid 1800's led by a layman named Jeremiah Lanphier. The twentieth century began with God using a partially blind, uneducated, son of former slaves named William Seymour, to trumpet the message of Pentecost from a renovated livery stable on 312 Azusa Street in Los Angeles, California. The most recurring common denominator in these and many other moments of nationwide awakening has been the hunger and prayerful desperation of those God has used.

Presently, America is in need of a new awakening. Spiritual slumber has overtaken thousands plunging today's church into what many consider a season of apathy and ineffectiveness. Only 17% of Americans attend church on any given Sunday. The United States is now the third largest mission field in the world. The percentage of today's American youth who have a Biblical world view is at record lows while the church continues to struggle with division, fear, and the public failure of numerous leaders. The bad news is that the spiritual condition of America is at a critical stage. The good news is that America has been here before and God has brought revival out of our despair.

In the mid 18^th Century, when Jonathan Edwards went to pastor the church at Northampton, Massachusetts, he found a relatively unconverted congregation. Because of what was called the 'halfway covenant,' children and grandchildren of those in good standing were allowed full rights in the church despite the fact that they themselves were not converted. Edwards began to call for united, extraordinary prayer and declare prophetic messages like "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." The prayers of Edwards and many others in Colonial America were heard and the First Great Awakening shook the continent.

In 1737---Edwards published an account of the beginnings of this awakening called, "A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God in the Conversion of Many Hundred Souls in Northampton."

"The town seemed to be full of the presence of God. It never was so full of love, nor so full of joy and yet as full of distress as it was then. There were remarkable tokens of God's presence in almost every house."

George Whitefield and many others were also used by God to awaken the church and the culture for Christ during those years. Whitefield preached to over 30,000 people at one time and was the most famous American of his day. During that first season of national Awakening, 1 out of every 5 colonists was converted to Christ.

Second Great Awakening

Following the Revolutionary War, America entered a season of moral decline. In a population of approximately 5 million, over 300,000 were confirmed drunkards. Bank robberies were a daily occurrence, women were afraid to go out at night, and in a survey of the student body at Harvard not one Christian believer was found. Chief Justice John Marshall would write in a letter that "the church is too far gone ever to be redeemed."

In 1794, when things seemed at their worst, ministers began to call for extraordinary prayer throughout the United States. Churches were asked to set aside the first Monday of each month to pray. The call was answered with thousands of Christians once again embracing spiritual vigilance and wakefulness. Conferences for prayer and fasting were called. Camp meetings and communions turned into powerful seasons of revival.

By the turn of the 19^th century, a new season of Awakening had begun in America. In 1801, the famous Cane Ridge Camp Meeting took place near Lexington, Kentucky. At the time, there were only 1,800 people living in Lexington, which was Kentucky's largest city. Yet, during the week of the Cane Ridge Communion and Camp Meeting over 25,000 people from across the United States attended. Vanderbilt historian, Paul Conkin, stated that Cane Ridge was: "arguably… the most important religious gathering in all of American history."

One eyewitness report of Cane Ridge recorded the chaotic, holy scene that took place on the Kentucky frontier:

"Sinners dropping down on every hand, shrieking, groaning, crying for mercy, convoluted. Believers praying, agonizing, fainting, falling down in distress for sinners, or in raptures of joy! Some singing, some shouting, clapping their hands, hugging and even kissing, laughing, others talking to the distressed, to one another, or to opposers of the work and all this at once! …as to the work in general there can be no question but it is of God. The subjects of it, for the most part, are deeply wounded for their sins, and can give a clear and rational account of their conversion."

Although the Methodist Church had witnessed a significant decline in membership during the last decade of the 18^th Century, in the 30 years following Cane Ridge both the Methodists and Baptists would double their membership in America. United, extraordinary prayer and bold, prophetic declaration once again ushered in a season of spiritual awakening.

The pattern has remained the same throughout American history. In the midst of spiritual decline, God's people have humbled themselves in prayer and heaven has responded powerfully. Our spiritual history speaks hope to our hearts for this day.

God's Word to Solomon at the dedication of the temple provides insights of how God's people should respond to our present predicament. When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and prayand seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:13-14 NIV)

Most scholars agree that the book of Joel was written after the dedication of Solomon's temple. Joel's prophecy becomes a delineation of 2 Chronicles 7:14 and reveals insight into what humbling ourselves, praying, seeking His face and turning from our wicked ways looks like. Joel calls for radical action. Fasting, weeping, united praying and awakening alarms are all a practical part of Joel's call for revival in the land. God's promise remains that if His people respond correctly, He will hear, He will heal and He will pour out His Spirit on our sons and daughters. This promise must be realized for a new generation of Americans.

In response to our nation's present spiritual crisis, several hundred national leaders have united together in forming the Awakening America Alliance. In April of 2008, an Alliance Leadership Summit was called in Northampton, Massachusetts, to reflect on the First Great Awakening and the potential for a contemporary nationwide transformation. Recognizing that true awakenings bring visible change, over 75 prominent leaders discussed what a Christ awakening in today's United States would look like in the church and in the culture. The result was a Summit resolution identifying ten indicators each in these two spheres of need. These indicators will serve to focus our prayers for God to once again transform America and bring a new generation of Americans to Christ.

My prayer is that you will unite your heart with thousands of other American Christians in radical intercession for awakening in today's America. This booklet is designed to inspire and lead you into targeted prayer so that the indicators of a true Christ awakening will be realized in our nation once again.

Turning America's spiritual tide will not be easy. It will require sacrifice and courage. But, let us remember that: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. (Psalms 121:3-4 KJV)

Now in the spirit of Jean Ribault let us refuse to slumber and step across the line together to make spiritual history!