I read a powerful book called Critical Mass by Mario Murrillo. In the book, he likens revival to a nuclear reaction. He writes about how God will bring a core of people together who are hungry for a move of God. They want to see Him move with their whole heart, and they begin to fervently pray. As they begin to pray, other people join them who have a similar heart.

In nuclear fission, when there is enough radioactive material fused together scientists can shoot a neutron beam into that mass to start a reaction. The beam causes those molecules to move. Eventually, this movement is going to release the power of the atom, but first critical mass must be attained. Critical mass means that you have enough nuclear material to sustain a nuclear reaction. Just like it takes atoms coming together to create a critical mass, God has been, over the past few years, causing people who have a heart for revival to be attracted to places where there is a hunger for a full-blown move of God.

When the scientists keep shooting that neutron beam into the radioactive material, and just before the nuclear reaction begin to take place, something peculiar begins to develop. Where once there was activity and expansion, all of a sudden it looks like all activity ceases and that nucleus does not expand, it actually contracts.

This is where many of the revivals that have ever hit the earth die. There have been tremendous moves of the Spirit of God; wave after wave of His glory but people failed to press the battle when they “felt” a waning in the Spirit. God intended for people to contend for revival in consistent prayer. Instead, most become discouraged and give into their feelings. He had intended revival to explode and touch an entire region or nation. If our revival stays in the reactor and never reaches the streets of the city, we have fallen short. So many revivals stop right there. Why? People are discouraged. They are worn out. They have been going to evening prayer services and early morning prayer meetings. It seems like everything they have worked for is slipping away. It seems like things may be slowing down instead of speeding up and people begin to be moved by what they see rather than the prayers that have already been invested.

It is at this point that the believer, and the scientist, have to make a decision. The scientist must decide that regardless of what may seem to be going on, they are not only going to keep that neutron beam firing, but they are going to keep pumping more and more into it until they actually have a nuclear reaction. Likewise, the believer must press the battle until the move of God comes and touches our nation. Press until it touches the world! We need to keep the beam focused until we have a nuclear reaction that sends revival out in every direction.

That is where the church is today. I will tell you, something begins to happen when this stage is reached. Murrillo calls it the “dark night of the soul.” Maybe it seems like everything you have worked for has stopped moving; you feel as if everything you have been praying for is at a standstill. But we already know what to do, KEEP PRESSING THE BATTLE!