One of the things I like to do while I am working around the house is to listen to various radio podcasts.  Lately, I have been listening to a lot of John Piper's sermons.  I love his preaching.  His passion for God and burden for the lost combined with his powerful, expository teaching style leave me both inspired and convicted.  Here are a few quotes of his on the subject of revival that I wrote down while listening to some of his sermons:  

"What I found was the paradox that genuine, heart-felt pain over sin flows only from genuine, heart-felt pleasure in God."

"Genuine, evangelical, broken-hearted tears over sin, flows only from having fallen in love with and delighting in the beauty of God."

"The main problem in the church is not gross sinning. The main problem in the church is loving innocent things."

"The pain of genuine repentance flows from the pleasure of seeing God. Genuine grief over sin comes from genuine joy in the glory of God.

"When I pray for revival . . . in the American church . . . My first prayer is Lord pour out your spirit in such a way that your people desire Christ more than they desire anything. Pour out your spirit on this church in such a way that we are disentangled from the world and radically devoted and full of allegiance to Jesus more than we want next fall’s school, more than we want that job assignment, more than we want the wedding in August, more than we want the child, more than we want retirement. Just make us love you Father. That’s revival."

"Revival is first a white hot love for Jesus Christ that makes you ready to die gladly at any moment and leave everything behind for the surpassing worth of gaining Christ. That’s revival. That’s what I pray for first."

These were good reminders to me of what I should seek as I pray for revival in the American church in general, and in my own church specifically.  It first starts with me.  It begins with revival in my own life  -- my personal love for and brokeness before God.  Too often my focus is not on my own lack of passion for God and my own sin, but on those same deficiencies I see in others.  Too often my thoughts are consumed with my own self-righteousness rather than seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.  This is an area of my life with which  I continue to struggle and seek God for guidance.  I found Pipers thoughts on this subject extremely poignant and relevant.