Why Revival Tarries [Paperback]

Leonard Ravenhill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2004

Leonard Ravenhill's call to revival is as timely now as it was when &supl;rst published over forty years ago. The message is fearless and often radical as he expounds on the disparity between the New Testament church and the church today. Why Revival Tarries contains the heart of his message. A.W. Tozer called Ravenhill "a man sent from God" who "appeared at [a] critical moment in history," just as the Old Testament prophets did. Included are questions for group and individual study. Ravi Zacharias refers to this as "the book that shaped me...more dramatically than any other..."

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Leonard Ravenhill was born in 1907 in England. He became of one England's foremost evangelists, preaching with vigor and power. He emigrated with his family to the United States in midlife, where he continued his ministry. The author of several books, including Revival God's Way and Revival Praying, we went home to be with the Lord in 1994.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Bethany House Publishers (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764229052
• ISBN-13: 978-0764229053
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,240 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Leonard Ravenhill was born in 1907 in the city of Leeds, in Yorkshire, England. After his conversion to Christ, he was trained for the ministry at Cliff College. It soon became evident that evangelism was his forte, and he engaged it with both vigor and power. Eventually he became one of England's foremost outdoor evangelists. His meetings in the war years drew traffic jamming crowds in Britain, and great numbers of his converts not only followed the Savior into the Kingdom, but into Christian ministry and the world's mission fields. In 1939 he married an Irish nurse named Martha. Together they had three sons. Paul and David are ministers, and Philip is a teacher. Leonard went home to be with the Lord in November of 1994.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Devastating!, August 1, 2006

By 

For.evi.dence "For.evi.dence" (Riverside, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Why Revival Tarries (Paperback)

This book should come with a warning label on it saying: "If you want to destroy your life go ahead and read this book!" This book absolutely destroyed me in every way possible. I remember recieving this book from a friend in Philly and was in a bad season in my life and also remembering being scared to read the book. No wait I wasn't scared to read it I was absolutely terrified, and my pre-concieved notions were correct. Once I picked up that book I was as good as dead. I began to weep and groan for weeks and weeks. The burning words in those pages completely consumed me and scathed me. I was skinned and hung up for death. Everything in my life was burnt up and left in an ash heap before my feet, so that I had to turn to God and say what now? He replied and said do what I have always wanted you to do, die! Everything changed for me, prayer life, ministry, preaching, relationships, church, conduct, and everything else. I walked away broken, battered, and bruised from this book and have never been the same. So with that read this book unless you want to live in your 'normal' Christian life, but if you have enough guts to actually do what the bible says, let Ravenhill expose your fakeness and start all over again from step one!

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Book That Will Go Through You, March 1, 2005

By 

Roy Ingle "The Seeking Disciple" (Lexington, SC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Why Revival Tarries (Paperback)

Leonard Ravenhill was a man of passion. His books represent just a taste of that passion. No other book in the 20th century so captured the heart of a man like this book. Brother Leonard longed for revival. He believed that the Church was playing games with a holy God and that the need of the hour was for genuine revival praying.

This book is not a how to of prayer. It is much more. It is a call to prayer. It is a much needed rebuke of our spiritual laziness and apathy (Amos 4:1). We need men and women of faith to rise up and pray with all their might (1 Samuel 12:23; 1 Thess. 5:17). The sad reality is that the early Church was birthed in prayer (Acts 1:14) but today's church knows nothing of prayer. The prayer meeting, writes Ravenhill, is the Cinderella of the Church.

Let this book go through you and may God use it to spark a hunger for Spirit-filled praying (Eph. 6:18; Jude 20).

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Prophetic Unction for Today!, June 7, 2005

By 

Gerald Khoo (Singapore) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Why Revival Tarries (Paperback)

This book was written in 1959, and 45 years later, what Ravenhill writes is still applicable today! This book is a prophetic call to the Church to wake up and be the Church of God. I picked up this book as it was highly recommended in another book that impacted me (Growing Deep in God by Edmund Chan), and I have found it deeply ministering.

Ravenhill writes with many one liners that cuts to the chase in the heart of the matter that he is communicating. Phrases like "No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying", "Many pray, but few have faith", "God does not want partnership with us, but ownership of us", and "Our eyes are dry because our hearts are dry" are just some of these phrases that speak mountains of the situation in the Church today.

I do not agree with everything Ravenhill writes about, but I read beyond the words and understand his heart from which he writes this book. Ravenhill's desire for God comes across strongly, and anything that is apart from God or does not seem to fit into his godly values would seem as "sin" and hence to be dealt with. Hence, I recommend this book to your reading (and read beyond the words to catch the fire that burns in Ravenhill's heart), and also Edmund Chan's Growing Deep in God. I find that as I read these 2 books, it is like God doing an open heart surgery on me, revealing the true nature of my heart so that I can repent and have God place a new heart in me (Ezekiel 36:26).