Our current circumstances have much to do with our views of the spirit of renewal and our views of ourselves. We live in a day of confusion, where people are getting tricked into doing bad things. How much of our current personal suffering is the result of the intense delusions that accompany this turmoil.  The gospel that is watered down is having a bad effect on people. Men are more concerned with the emotional aspects of worship instead of the excitement of new converts, and they are more focused on the power of God rather than the glory of God.  The Holy Spirit creates a hunger for the word of God that is preached in power, justifying people by faith in Jesus alone. People who preach these truths with conviction and in a spirit of desperation bring a response of joy, praise, and thanksgiving to God alone, rather than to people.  One way to know someone is happy is if they are constantly eating at table of God. When men pray in the Spirit, they feel so moved by God that they can't stop thinking about how great He is.  These desires stir up the sparks in undiluted minds. Now, we are living on the foot hills of history. There is so much delusion. Thank God for the books that come out of these times of revival!

The spirit of revival resides in these books. The spirit of awakening is anti-sentimental.  When the Holy Spirit comes in power, He illuminates a person's mind and helps the person read about important writings from the past. The Holy Spirit helps a person understand those writings like they are in the present day. We learn by experience the difference between sentimentalism and spiritual awakening.  The Holy Spirit, who is alive and moving in the world, made these men feel excited, and in reading their words we are reminded that we are alive too. When we are revived we are able to love the truth.  We have to take time to rest and recharge.  When we feel that we are close to God, we feel like we are in a different time and we lose our sense of the religion of this age.

  We want to get back that feeling of national unity that used to exist.  Sometimes, when something really great happens, we feel as if we have experienced something that is totally beyond our understanding. In fact, it is not the present state of things that deceives us, it is what we experience as a result of seeing the glory of God in the person of Christ that will keep us from delusion. The spirit of revival comes to us again in these books. The Holy Spirit comes upon us so that we can be brought back to the spirit of revival and our current delusions are removed from our eyes.