God’s Remedy to Troubling Times throughout History Is to Bring Revival

By Bob Bakke

Unless you’re living under a rock or in a monastic retreat, you can’t escape the storm clouds gathering on the horizon of history. Storms always loom somewhere, but particularly ill winds are blowing today—and we can hear alarms sounding from every direction. Tensions are rising in every society.

In the United States various ideologies are clashing over who’s to blame for the present difficulties and the best direction for the future of America.

Anxious Americans are seeing gun sales soaring. Violent religious and philosophical hatreds play out on the evening news. Meanwhile, jihadist groups are scouring the world for weapons of mass destruction—chemical or nuclear—to employ against Western interests.

Those who remain faithful to Christ feel as though their faith is under assault from entertainers, government officials, journalists, coworkers, classmates, teachers, neighbors, and family members. Powerful voices are labeling biblical Christianity as a hate crime. Freedom of speech is eroding.

But to be honest, the earth has witnessed periods like this before. Thirty years ago, nuclear-armed communism compelled us to think the end imminent. Seventy years ago, the axis of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan threatened the world.

It’s safe to say that God expects Christians in every generation to watch carefully for the signs of Jesus’ return and to ask whether their generation will see the heavens open and Jesus descend. Even though we’ve been wrong about Jesus’ return in the past, God has still graciously answered our prayers for His greater glory.

In each of the above periods, God sent revivals, even though it wasn’t yet the new age to come. My friend David Bryant calls these revivals “approximations of the consummation.” In other words, as we are stirred to prayer because of the events of our day, God answers by giving us a taste of what the return of Jesus will be like.

But God also answers our prayers because both the Bible and history give explicit evidence that God stands ready to pour out His Spirit in troubled times if His people pursue Him in holiness. Whether Jesus comes in the next 24 hours or 24 months, or in the 24th century, one thing is crystal clear: What is happening today should compel us to be fully awake and carefully watching for signs of His coming.

In this there is no doubt. The Church and the nations of the earth need an out-pouring of the Holy Spirit that foreshadows the Lordship of Christ over all things.

Prayer Points:

• Invite the Lord to open your eyes to clearly see the storm clouds gathered on the horizon of this nation. Ask God for His perspective as to how you might pray urgently for both revival and Jesus’ soon return.
• Praise God for the historical and biblical examples of God’s willingness to pour out His Spirit in answer to the prayers of His people. Ask Him to do it again in our day.
• Pray for a stirring of holiness in God’s people and a willingness to pursue Him for revival.
• Pray that your church will be fully awake and carefully watching for the next great move of God.
• Pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our day that brings glory to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Bob Bakke is on the executive leadership team of OneCry. This article is Day 28 in the devotional prayer guide Do It Again, Lord!: 30 Days of Hope-Filled Prayer for Revival (PrayerShop Publishing). During the month of February 2026, this prayer guide is available for 50% off the retail price.