God's Idea--Pray

"The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray." 1Peter 4:7 (NIV)

It was not a good time for churches in downtown Manhattan , and the North Dutch Reformed Church on Fulton Street resorted to creative measures, hiring a businessman named Jeremiah Lanphier as a sort of outreach minister. He knocked on doors in the neighborhood and distributed pamphlets and Bibles, but response generally was dismal.

“One day as I was walking along the streets,” Lanphier wrote in his journal, “the idea was suggested to my mind that an hour of prayer, from twelve to one o’clock, would be beneficial to businessmen.” The idea blossomed: a weekly prayer time open to anyone, bankers to broom-pushers. Come when you can, leave when you must. Handbills advertised the first meeting - at noon on September 23, 1857.

Lanphier waited for the first attenders. No one showed up for the first thirty minutes. Then one man straggled in, then another. The hour ended with six men present, praying. The following week there were twenty, the next week forty. Soon a hundred. Rooms were packed. The church had to ask another church to handle the overflow. When churches ran out of room, the prayer meetings moved to theaters.

By March, 1858, the New York Times could report that Burton ’s Theater on Chambers Street was packed as famous preacher Henry Ward Beecher led a crowd of 3,000 in prayer. Some estimate that up to a million people became Christians in the 1857-58 revival.

What caused such immense interest in prayer? A stock market crash might have had something to do with it. Business leaders enslaved by money were suddenly seeking a more reliable master. But when he started his humble prayer time, Jeremiah Lanphier had no way of knowing about the impending financial collapse. He just knew people needed to pray.

William J. Petersen, 100 Amazing Answers to Prayer

 

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"Everything is possible for one who believes." Mark 9:23 (NIV)

Are you struggling to believe that God can bring revival to a nation that has turned it's back on Him? Jesus spoke these words--"Everything is possible..." Do we think our sinful, idol-worshipping nation is the one exception? It may be that we are the hindrance to revival. Do we persevere in prayer until we hear from God on the matter? If God has spoken to us through His Word or through the Holy Spirit, we must believe that He will do it!

Oswald J. Smith said, "Faith is the key that unlocks the door of God's power. 'By faith the walls of Jericho fell down.' And in revival work one of the indispensable prerequisites is a living, vital Faith."

Praying in Faith

Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark 11:24

Faith is a requirement for God to act. Manley Beasley was a great man of faith. This is part of his testimony:

I began to realize that God was waiting on me to act on His revealed truth because faith is acting on the word of God. I must not only believe He can meet a need; I must begin to act as though the need has been met, even though I might not be able to see it, feel it, smell it, taste it or hear it. I must begin acting as if it is so, when it is not so, in order for it to be so, because with God it already is so.”

I believe this means that, when we have a promise from God through His word, we need to pray and act as though God has already done it because He has (Mark 11:24). It may not look as though He has, but we are to believe that we have that thing we have asked for (1John 5:14). God already considers it done and He will bring it about in His timing.

The Prayer of Faith

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:24 (NIV)

Do we have the spiritual stamina to persevere in prayer, or do we grow weary after just a short time? What if we prayed for years and died without ever seeing the results? If God has put it on your heart to pray for revival, don't quit because it seems that nothing is happening. God wants us to "always pray and not give up" (Luke 18:1)

"The story is told of an invalid who formed the habit of praying for a Revival, daily, for some thirty towns and communities, and from time to time made this entry in his diary: "I was enabled to pray the prayer of faith for----- today." After his death Revivals swept over each of these thirty places, almost exactly in the order he had noted them down. God had spoken, and though he did not live to see any of the answers, yet he was given the assurance that he had been heard.

Oswald J. Smith, The Revival We Need, p73-74

The Power of a Holy Life

"He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace." 2Timothy 1:9 (NIV)

From Charles Finney, Autobiography, English version, p154:

"The next morning, I went into the factory, to look through it. I observed there was a good deal of agitation among those who were busy at their looms, and their mules, and other implements. On passing through one of the apartments, where a great number of young women were attending to weaving, I observed a couple of them eyeing me, and speaking very earnestly; and I could see that they were a good deal agitated, although they laughed. I went slowly towards them. They saw me coming, and were evidently much excited. One of them was trying to mend a broken thread, and her hands trembled so that she could not mend it. I approached slowly, looking at the machinery, as I passed; but this girl grew more and more agitated, and could not proceed with her work. When I came within eight or ten feet of her, I looked solemnly at her. She was quite overcome, sunk down, and burst into tears. The impression caught almost like powder, and in a few moments nearly all in the room were in tears. This feeling spread through the factory Mr. W——, the owner was present, and seeing the state of things, he said to the superintendent, “Stop the mill, and let the people attend to religion; for it is more important that our souls should be saved than that this factory run.” The gate was shut down, and the factory stopped; but where should we assemble? The superintendent suggested that the mule room was large; and, the mules being run up, we could assemble there. We did so, and a more powerful meeting I scarcely ever attended. It went on with great power. The revival went through the mill with astonishing power, and in the course of a few days nearly all in the mill were hopefully converted."

 

How to be Filled with the Spirit

"If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Luke 11:13 (NIV)

How may we be filled with the Holy Spirit? Here is a brief summary of what R.A. Torrey says in his book, Power-Filled Living:

Openly confess belief in Jesus and renunciation of sin. Acts 2:38

Renounce any sin in your life. Be specific. He is the Holy Spirit--you cannot have the Holy Spirit and sin.

Be willing to obey Him. Acts 5:32

Intensely desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit. John 7:37,38,39

Ask to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Luke 11:13

Have faith that God has done what He said He would do. 1 John 5:14,15

This is not a magic formula. It's the condition of your heart that God looks at. Do not rely on some physical manifestation as evidence of the filling--many experience no such thing. The key is to have faith that God has done what He promised. I highly recommend reading in depth about the Holy Spirit's filling, being sure to test everything by God's Word. Two excellent books are:

Power-Filled Living by R.A. Torrey

How the Holy Spirit Filled My Life by Bertha Smith

Living Water

"On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. John 7:37-39 (NIV)

As we are set free and set apart for God's purpose, He wants these rivers of living water to flow through us to touch the lives of all those with whom we have contact. In her book, How the Holy Spirit Filled My Life, Bertha Smith says that most Christians are full of themselves and the Holy Spirit. This happens because some are not willing to give up their old, fleshly desires in order to let the Spirit fill them. But many today don't understand what the Bible says about being filled with the Spirit. In her book, she gives a word picture of what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit:

"Suppose you have a pitcher of coffee and want a pitcher of water. If you empty half the coffee and fill up the pitcher with water, what do you have? A pitcher filled with coffee and water. If you leave one sip of the black liquid in the pitcher, you still have a pitcher of coffee and water. Only when you empty out all the coffee and wash the pitcher can you have a pitcher full of clear water."

 

Freedom in Christ

"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners..." Isaiah 61:1 (NIV)

"This is how it feels to be free". The Brooklyn Tabernacle Singers performed this song at Angola Prison in Louisiana. What a fitting background for a song about freedom. People in that prison can have freedom in Christ regardless of the fact that they are incarcerated. Many of us who are outside the prison walls, however, are still in chains. Jesus came to set the captives free, as it says in Isaiah 61. The world, the flesh and the devil can have no power over us, except that which we willingly surrender.

We are set free to be set apart!