When Jesus taught His disciples the principles of prayer, He told them, "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift" (Matthew 5:23, 24 NIV).

We often come to God with our sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, but have broken relationships with others. In order for us to experience the manifest presence of God in our prayer lives, we must be reconciled to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Often, that requires that we make restitution. If we've cheated someone, then we must repay that person. If we've wronged them, then we must make it right with them. Too often, Christians parade around with a mask of spirituality but are lacking in genuine intimacy with God, because they've never made restitution to someone they've wronged.

Many years ago, God used an evangelist in Northern Ireland named W. P. Nicholson. A great revival came to many churches in Belfast during his times of preaching. Many came to know Christ as Savior. There's one Presbyterian church where it's said that part of the walls of the church were pushed out because of so many people in attendance. People would stand in line for hours to hear the evangelist.

Belfast was known in those days as one of the foremost ports in the world. Nicholson would preach at lunch at the shipyards, and many of the workers were converted to Christ. But there was something very special that took place during that time. Many of the workers not only made things right with God, but they also made things right with their fellow man. Many of them brought things back to the shipyard that they had stolen. So many things were returned that there wasn't room for all of the returned stolen property. It was necessary to rent a warehouse to store all of the returned stolen goods!

Prayer and revival isn't some pie-in-the-sky, funny feeling we have during times of emotional outpourings of religion. Prayer is a genuine encounter with a holy God. It brings us into the presence of the One who is ultimate reality. When we meet Him in prayer, then we will deal with real issues in our lives. He will enable us to make the most difficult decisions. Those decisions will always lead us to genuine revival.

If we want to know genuine power in our prayer lives, then we must make anything and everything right with God. And we must do whatever it takes to restore our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Prayer and restitution - a potent combination that will ultimately lead to revival.