The Last Holdout

"After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly." Acts 4:31 (NIV)

Strangely enough, it was the "religious" people who opposed the Lewis revival. The town of Arnol, led by a group of ministers, was resisting the move of God. Duncan Campbell and a group of 30 men decided to get together and pray. He called on a blacksmith to pray--a man whose prayers had been greatly used earlier in the revival. This was his prayer:

"God, do You know that Your honor is at stake? Do You know that Your honor is at stake? You promised to pour water on the thirsty and floods on the dry ground and, God, You are not doing it." Now my dear people, could we pray like that? Ah, but here was a man who could. Here was a man who could. He then he went on to say, "There are five ministers in this meeting and I don't know where a one of them stands in Your presence, not even Mr. Campbell." Oh, he was an honest man. "But if I know anything at all about my own poor heart, I think I can say and I think that You know that I'm thirsty! I'm thirsty to see the devil defeated in this parish. I'm thirsty to see this community gripped as you gripped Barvas. I'm longing for revival and God, You are not doing it! I am thirsty and you promised to pour water on me." Then a pause and then he cried, "God, I now take upon myself to challenge you to fulfill Your covenant engagement!" Now it was nearing two o'clock in the morning.

What happened? The house shook. A jug on a sideboard fell onto the floor and broke. A minister beside me said, "An earth tremor." And I said, "Yes." But I had my own thoughts. My mind went back to Acts chapter 4 when they prayed the place was shaken. When John Smith stopped praying at twenty minutes past two, I pronounced the benediction and left the house. What did I see? The whole community alive. Men carrying chairs, women carrying stools and asking, "Is there room for us in the churches?" And the Arnol revival broke out."

Stories--too many to tell here--can be found at the following addresses:

http://www.revival-library.org/pensketches/revivals/hebrides.html

http://www.revival-library.org/leadership/rs_dcwhengod.php