William J Seymour Birthing The Azusa Revival
“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the Presence of the Lord…”
Acts 3: 19
Peter explains that “times” of precious refreshing would come from the wonderful Presence of the Lord. In the early twentieth century. Charles Parham was preaching on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. William J Seymour was a man hungry after the Lord and was encouraged to attend Parham’s Bible School. After graduation, Seymour had been invited to Los Angeles, and so he went using all the money he had to get there. However, the Holiness Church where he preached was disturbed by his preaching on tongues and so padlocked the doors, refusing to let him back in. Seymour was broke and discouraged in a town where he knew no one. But the Lord opened a door for this mighty man.
What made Seymour so powerful was his heart. He was an earthen vessel that had made mistakes and had been broken by the Lord. That mercy was bigger in him and louder to him than anything else. Seymour understood how to come into the Secret Place of His Presence, for it is here we meet with Him, and here we receive the answers to our prayers.
Seymour said of the way in
He must get justified by faith. There is a Lamb without spot and blemish slain before God for him, and when he repents toward God for his sins, the Lord has mercy on him for Christ’s sake, and put eternal life in his soul, pardoning him of his sins, washing away his guilty pollution, and he stands before God justified as if he had never sinned.
There is only one way, and it never changes. Seymour understood what Paul said in that he saw no man after the flesh because Christ had died for all. When the Cross wrecks us, we see things no longer the human order but the order of the Spirit. Here every soul becomes precious not because they are worthy through their actions but because of Christ and Him alone. We must see people through that blood.
If we are to see a revival on this earth, we must first be revived, and Peter explained that this comes as we repent. We are all too often outwardly focused and pointing to the sin of others. But He calls us and exposes our hearts and how we have all fallen short. Until we are washed, we can’t draw nigh, but when we are washed and broken by His love, the proof is how we see others and act towards them. Seymour said
He hears that Jesus, “that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate” (Hebrews 13:12), and he comes to be sanctified. There is Jesus, the Lamb without blemish, on the altar. Jesus takes that soul that has eternal life in it and presents it to God for thorough purging and cleansing from all original and Adamic sin. And Jesus, the Son of God, cleanses him from all sin, and he is made every whit whole, sanctified, and holy.
Seymour wonderfully said-
They built up denominations because they did not know a better way. When people run out of the love of God, they get to preaching dress, and meats, and doctrines of men and preaching against churches. All these denominations are our brethren…. So let us seek peace and not confusion…. The moment we feel we have all the truth or more than anyone else, we will drop.
The world is looking for an ideal in which all are included, but only the Church has the answer. The world is to know us by our love in which we see each other through the blood, and we see how precious each person is to the Lord, and therefore they are precious to us as well. Seymour explained-
They have some of God’s love in their souls, but they do not have the double portion of it. The thing they need is oil in their vessels with their lamps. It is just as plain as can be.
For every truth that we stand for, we are tested for, and Seymour was truly tested and passed it. Remember
“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.”
Galatians 5: 6
Faith works by and through love. We can come having built our case in the Word and in faith but fail because we lack love. Living on this planet so often it would be easy if were not for others, especially believers who challenge our love. It is easy to love in words, but doing indeed is where the rubber meets the road.
“By this we know love, because he laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
1 John 3: 16
This is something we should seek to excel in, and that is love. His love shed abroad in our hearts sets us apart, makes us children of God, and radically changes how we see others and how we act toward them. Seymour explained-
Charity means divine love without which we will never be able to enter heaven. Gifts all will fall, but divine love will last through all eternity.
If our prayer life is to be effective, it must drip with His love. When we do pray in His love and out of His love, we can truly change society. Any other change is of the flesh and temporal. But the change that comes from the operation of the Spirit brings a transformation from the inside of a person so that they are never the same. His love lifts us to see, think and act according to His ways and thoughts.
As we seek His face and pray, we come and drink of the well of salvation and then press deeper that rivers might flow from us. Those rivers of living water are to bless others and impact the world around us. Seymour said it this way-
We have Christ crowned and enthroned in our hearts, the tree of life. We have the brooks and streams of salvation flowing in our souls but praise God, we can have the rivers. For the Lord Jesus says, “He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living
If Jesus is enthroned in our hearts and minds, then all forms of bitterness, hatred, and things of the world must be removed. We must live according to His will, and we no longer live but Christ in us. Seymour understood that there was a need for sanctification in which we stand before Him with a clean and pure heart. How can we stand for revival without these? Of this sanctification, Seymour shared-
Sanctification brings rest, sweetness, and quietness to our souls. We are one with the Lord Jesus and are able to obey His precious Word, that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4), and we are feeding upon Christ.
We hunger for His Word and to do His Word.
“But whoever keeps His Word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that WE ARE IN HIM.”
1 John 2: 5 Emphasis added
We know that we are in Him! What a place of security and confidence to know that we are in Him. If we are in Him, then all our identity in this world is lost, and we are wholly found in Him. In Him, we stand as new creations and as children.
Seymour understood the importance of commitment in prayer. He prayed for hours every day, and it was out of such intense prayer that Azusa was birthed. During the pre-revival season, as we press ever deeper and linger ever longer, we are to be changed. Seymour said-
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Oh, worship, get down on your knees, and ask the Holy Spirit to come in, and you will find Him right at your heart’s door, and He will come in. Prove Him now. Amen.
We must freely invite Him to come and expose our hearts and remove all darkness and things of this world. We must be hungry, truly filled with holy desperation for Him.
Seymour said-
The Lord Jesus says, “Ye shall be filled” (Luke 6:21). He says that to the person that hungers and thirsts after righteousness and He says they are blessed. So if there is a hunger and thirst in our souls for righteousness, we are blessed of Him. Praise His dear name!
If we are found coming to Him based on the finished work of the Cross in faith and in love, seeking to be filled, we will be satisfied. This same desperation must consume us for others. We must be broken by His love for others not because they are lovely, deserving, or qualified based on our opinions but because of Him. Something must radically change in us that His love controls us.
“For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
2 Corinthians 5: 14-17
