The Lord admonished us early in the revival not to justify ourselves. The words of the prophecy were, "We were not to justify ourselves by word, letter, telegram or telephone." We saw the wisdom of this because if we had not taken heed to the admonition of the Spirit, there would have been endless controversy between those of us who were in the visitation and those who opposed it. It would have been similar to a story I once heard of two dogs fighting in a flower bed--the only thing that was settled was the flowers.
There is very little benefit, if any, in religious arguments. He that is convinced against his will is of the same opinion still. If a person does not have a revelation of what God is doing, it is very difficult for him to see it. I have met people that were in the midst of revival exclaim publicly, "Where is the revival?" The Lord is the only one who can justify our position. There is a difference between contending for the faith and justifying ourselves.
I will never forget an incident in my life. A certain brother, whom I felt had accused me wrongly to another brother whom I loved, had been quite unjust in accusing me. The Irish nature in me rose up and I wrote him a two page letter about it. In a very short period of time, instead of him asking for forgiveness, he wrote me ten pages to justify his position. After getting his letter, I remembered the word of the Lord. I wrote him saying I was sorry I had ever tried to justify myself and that he was entitled to his opinion. I have never received a word from him since. It was proven later that he was wrong.
This principle has to do with our general attitude. If we are always trying to justify ourselves, it can lead to a bitter spirit and a wrong attitude. God knew that in some areas the visitation would be rejected and we would be misunderstood. For us to retaliate in any way would spoil the very thing God was trying to accomplish, which was to bring love and unity. We know that promotion only comes from the Lord (Ps. 75:6). It is not necessarily what we try to prove, but what we can demonstrate.