"The key to revival is not in the pew but in the pulpit. There is an old saying that says a river will never rise higher than its source." - Leonard Ravenhill
The burden then is not on the people, but on the priests. Not on the sheep, but on the shepherds.
Joel 1:13-14
"Gird yourselves and lament, you PRIESTS;
Wail, you who MINISTER before the altar;
Come, lie all night in sackcloth,
You who MINISTER to my God;
For the grain offering and the drink offering
Are withheld from the house of your God.
Consecrate a fast,
Call a sacred assembly;
Gather the ELDERS
And all the inhabitants of the land
Into the house of the LORD your God,
And cry out to the LORD."
The call to repentance and seeking God must come from the spiritual authority of the day. The inhabitants of the land will take on the spiritual tone of their leaders. Revival will break out when the whole house of God is fully surrendered to the will of God. Our sackcloth can be removed when we see widespread revival in the land and when all the people cross over the river together. The tendency is to remove the sackcloth prematurely because it itches, not because we have seen God come down in revival fire. If the people are itching under sackcloth and repentance, it's probably because their leaders are itching too.