The Power of One Man's Prayer

"The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." James 5:16 (NIV)

Charles Finney told the story of a town that had not seen revival in many years--the church was nearly dead. A blacksmith in that town was at work when he felt a great burden to pray for the church. He closed his business and spent the entire afternoon in prayer. He then went to the pastor and asked him to call a church meeting, to which the pastor reluctantly agreed. That evening, the house where the meeting was to take place was overflowing with people. No one spoke at first. Then one man cried out for someone to please pray for him. That cry was followed by another, and then another, until it was discovered that people were under conviction from every part of town. All those who came under conviction stated that it began at the very time that the blacksmith had been praying.

Moving the Heart of God

"Put on sackcloth, you priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God. Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD." Joel 1:13-14 (NIV)

How many of us can say that we weep and cry out to God for the souls of the lost, for the condition of America? Not me, I am ashamed to say. Oswald J. Smith says that revival praying--prayer that moves the heart of God--is like giving birth: it doesn't happen without hard labor. As I read the accounts of great revival preachers, that is the one thing they all had in common. They labored long and hard in prayer, with powerful results. I want to pray like that. If the condition of our world breaks God's heart, shouldn't it break our hearts too? Can we really expect God to be moved by our brief and shallow petitions?

What to Preach

"For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." 1Corinthians 2:2 (NIV)

"Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah." Acts 5:42 (NIV)

What was the overwhelming message of these revival preachers who were used so mightily by God? It was the message of Paul and Peter, the message of the early church--repentance and salvation through Jesus Christ. Their passion was to reach the lost and to bring about repentance, and they never failed to see results. Not only did they see results, but peoples' lives were forever changed and they became devoted to God. How different things are today. It seems to me that we don't hear that message much anymore--as if it's too much to expect people to respond to it. And those who do respond, quickly learn that God is just one more thing they have to fit into their busy schedule. Why is this? I think there is something missing in most of today's preaching--it's the Holy Spirit's power and anointing. When He is in control, the pastor doesn't have to convince people to become Christians, or to make Jesus the Lord of their lives. Instead they ask, as the man in Acts did, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

Getting Results

"And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power. 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (NIV)

Paul stated it perfectly--It's really not about fancy speech or persuasive words. As you can see from the account of the Welsh Revival, and the story of Charles Finney, sometimes the cries of the people were so loud that the preacher couldn't even preach. This experience was repeated over and over again in various places where revival had broken out. When revival comes, it will be because the power of the Holy Spirit has come down, not because the pastor had a great sermon. The most eloquent words will fall flat if the Holy Spirit is not behind them.

Charles Finney

"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power..." 1 Corinthians 2:4

"The Spirit of God came on them in mighty, convicting power, and a Revival started. It then spread to the surrounding country until finally nearly the whole of the Eastern States was held in the grip of a Mighty Awakening. Whenever Mr. Finney preached the Spirit was poured out. Frequently God went before him so that when he arrived at the place he found the people already crying out for mercy. Sometimes the conviction of sin was so great and caused such fearful wails of anguish that he had to stop preaching until it subsided."

From The Revival We Need by Oswald J. Smith

 

The Welsh Revival

"Because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction." 1 Thessalonians 1:5 (NIV)

"It was 1904. All Wales was aflame. The nation had drifted far from God. The spiritual conditions were low indeed. Church attendance was poor. And sin abounded on every side.

Suddenly, like an unexpected tornado, the Spirit of God swept over the land. The churches were crowded so that multitudes were unable to get in. Meetings lasted from ten in the morning until twelve at night. Three definite services were held each day. Evan Roberts was the human instrument, but there was very little preaching. Singing, testimony, and prayer, were the chief features. There were no hymn books; they had learnt the hymns in childhood. No choir, for everybody sang. No collection; and no advertising.

Nothing had ever come over Wales with such far-reaching results. Infidels were converted, drunkards, thieves, and gamblers saved; and thousands reclaimed to respectability. Confessions of awful sins were heard on every side. Old debts were paid. The theatre had to leave for want of patronage. Mules in the coal mines refused to work, being unused to kindness. In five weeks 20,000 joined the churches."

From The Revival We Need by Oswald J. Smith

Producing Fruit Without the Tree

"Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." Acts 2:41-42 (NIV)

Being set apart for God's purpose and allowing Jesus to live His beautiful life through us is what will lead to a great harvest of souls. When unbelievers see something different about us--something different in our attitudes toward money and the things that money can buy, something different in the way we face adversity and show love to our enemies, they will be drawn to the Christ in us. They will recognize that there is a power at work in our lives that they cannot explain, yet they are drawn to it. Today, our focus in the church is on the wrong thing. Vance Havner said it this way:

"If the time, money, and effort spent in trying to work up evangelism in lukewarm churches were spent in calling the churches themselves to repentance, confession, cleansing, and empowering, evangelism would be the natural result. We are trying to produce the results without the cause, the fruit without the tree. The New Testament epistle writers concentrated not on stirring up Christians to evangelize but rather on developing healthy Christians through spiritual food, rest, and exercise. Healthy Christians are naturally soul-winners, by life and by lip."

Quotation taken from Repentance as a Church Priority by Vance Havner. For more information on the author, visit www.vancehavner.com.