Day 22: The Principles of the Dry Season & the Fullness of Time

Look at any spiritual awakening in history, including those that have occurred in our country, and you’ll discover an obvious, common thread: Revival is always preceded by spiritual deadness. Number four on Burns’ list of 11 principles of revival is the Principle of the Dry Season. It can be the lawlessness in 1800 that preceded the Cane Ridge Awakening or the indifference that defined the mood and times of New York City prior to Jeremiah Lanphier’s first noontime prayer meeting in 1857.

To use the analogy of the wave action, the dry season would be the trough, the tide at its lowest ebb. This does not make the dry season any less a part of revival. God is still sovereign, still in charge. The trough is just as much a part of the wave as the whitecap. Is it possible that the dry season of your church, your community, your nation, may be part of revival? Is it possible that, at some point, we may be coming out of that trough?

Burn’s fifth principle, the Principle of Fullness of Time, furthers this idea. As it continues in all its “fullness,” dryness always leads to desperation. Out of their profound sense of dissatisfaction, often with a certain degree of gloom, people begin to cry out to God. We call that prayer. Remember the earlier story of the Hebrides Islands in the late 1940s? A small group of men meeting in a barn began to cry out, “Oh, God, move on your people.” Two women, down the road in a neighboring village, began to pray, “Oh, God, move.” They cried out because there was nowhere else to turn. Their dryness had led to desperation.

The story of the Hebrides is the story of virtually every revival. Out of a remnant, a large-scale movement is born—a movement that encompasses a large area. Strangely enough, the spiritual phenomenon that unfolds is often largely unknown! Regardless of how anonymous God’s hand is, revival occurs in “the fullness of time.” His people, in His time, demonstrate the principle of patience and faith in which the longings of God’s followers are fully expressed. Has the dry season been allowed to run its course in your life? Imagine the dry season of a nation, in the fullness of time, giving way to desperation. Imagine a remnant in our nation crying out, building momentum, leading a large-scale awakening.

Ezekiel 37:4-5 New King James Version (NKJV)
4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.

Ezekiel 37:11-14 New King James Version (NKJV)
11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13 Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. 14 I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,’ says the Lord.”

To stay up-to-date with Jesus Now Awakening:

Like us on 

Phillips, Tom (2016-11-01). Jesus Now: God Is Up to Something Big (Chapter 7 p. 160-161). BroadStreet Publishing Group LLC.