Contact us

Revival the Hard Way

By Jackson Senyonga

"This article first appeared in July/August 2003 issue of Today's Christian. Used by permission of Christianity Today International, Carol Stream, IL 60188."

In Uganda, an evil tyrant shut down churches and massacred people by the thousands. Still, the people prayed.

The Christian church in Uganda is thriving. Despite the legacy of Idi Amin, the evil dictator who ravaged and plundered the East African country during the 1970s, Uganda is experiencing what many say is a spiritual revival. Under Amin's regime, violence and oppression prevailed, churches were ordered closed, and people died by the hundreds of thousands. But as the devastation spread, a remnant of believers began to pray. Here Jackson Senyonga, an international prayer leader and senior pastor of the 22,000-member Christian Life Church in Uganda's capital city of Kampala, explains how God brought transformation to his beleaguered nation.

In Uganda, we got our revival through devastation. The suffering of the people was beyond description, and no one came to our rescue. But God used the opportunity to wake a nation from its spiritual coma.

A remnant of believers went into the jungle. They gathered in underground caves. In desperation they prayed, "Lord, we don't know what to do. But you know." These people prayed continuously. They prayed desperate, deep, consistent, groaning prayers that never took no for an answer. They prayed until they saw a change.

Today, researchers say Uganda is one of the most transformed nations on the face of the earth. We've seen God transform the political system, the marketplace, and the church.

At 8 A.M. in the State House, people pray. The Parliament doesn't want to discuss things until they pray. The judges don't want to judge until they pray. The police are faxing prayer requests to the judges. The crime rate is dropping—down 70 percent in some communities. A major bank in the capital city of Kampala plays praise and worship music on all 11 floors.

Because God is everywhere, people are dreaming spiritual dreams. We've had Muslims and witch doctors come to our church saying, "I have never been to church in my life, but I had a dream. In my dream, I was putting on rags and rotten stuff. Somebody was telling me that I should come to church to get clean, white clothes. So I am here to find out if you give out clothes." They don't understand the dream. When you tell them the meaning of it, they burst into tears and give their lives to Jesus.

People come to our intercessors, who spend the night in the church, and say, "I cannot sleep. Something is telling me that I must give my life to Jesus." These people end up receiving Christ in the middle of the night.

At one point, aids in Uganda was at 33.3 percent. The World Health Organization predicted that Uganda's economy would collapse by 1999 or 2000 because there would be only widows and orphans left. So people sought the Lord and prayed. Today, thanks to prayer, education, and abstinence campaigns, aids has dropped to 5 percent.

Second Chronicles 7:14 says, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." God is healing Uganda! He is harvesting the nation to himself. In the next eight to ten years, it is estimated that 95 percent of the 1.8 million residents of Kampala will be Christians.

Our church started with seven people. God told me, "Move into the capital and start a church. If you will obey me, I will use your obedience to touch your church, your city, your nation, and the nations around." We went from seven to 2,000 people in two weeks, and we never read a book about church growth.

None of this is to say that I'm special and wonderful. I know this has nothing to do with me. Jesus was very serious when he said, "Apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

Still, transformation like we've experienced in Uganda is not automatic. Every time God talks about transformation and revival, he uses the word "if." God is not obligated to send it if we are not willing to satisfy the conditions. Second Chronicles 7:14 begins with, "If my people." The same condition appears in Job 8:5-6: "If you would earnestly seek God and make your supplication to the Almighty … surely now he would awake for you" (NKJV).

We have to begin the process by becoming men and women of intercession. We must desire the glory and power of God more than anything we want for ourselves. We must want God to come because we want his glory to be seen. We must want there to be fewer people in hell and more people in heaven. We must want him to come to our land and suppress evil and release good.

In America, people want things quick, big, and cheap. It's the drive-through mentality: "Give it to me now, and super-size it, for 99 cents." We want it without obedience, sacrifice, inconvenience, or discomfort. But the Bible says to seek God earnestly. Seeking means praying until you get an answer, disciplining yourself to keep on until you find what you're looking for.

In Uganda, we are living in a time of transformation. And the glory of God will transform America, too.

Continue praying. There are so many things God has done through our prayers; yet there is so much more that he wants to do. You ask, "How much longer?" Until the glory of God covers the earth as the waters cover the sea! Until revival comes.

Adapted from Pray! magazine (July/August 2003), © 2003 Jackson Senyonga. Used by permission.

Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Today's Christian magazine (formerly Christian Reader).