“This is the confidence we have in approaching
God: that if we ask anything according
to His will, He hears us.” -1 John 5:14
NIV
OK,
let us be frank with one another. What
is one of the most difficult things for Christians to do regularly? We can read the Bible every day, go to church
every week, listen to Christian radio, watch Christian television, and spend
time fellow shipping with each other, but the one thing we tend to leave behind
or until last is prayer. If you are like
me (and I cannot imagine I am a rarity among believers) you do pray: “God, help me get through this today…I need
Your direction…please heal so-and-so…bless her today Lord…etc.” Do not get me wrong, these are important
things to pray, but I am talking about something more, something deeper. Have you seen any mountains move lately? When was the last revival you heard
about? Where are the Ravenhill’s, the
Graham’s, and the C.H. Spurgeon’s of this age?
These men (and many more) did marvelous things in their ministries,
bringing thousands to the Lord. Why were
they so successful? They prayed. They did not do token five to ten minute
prayers before they preached. They spent
hours, even days in prayer.
Rev.
Charles H. Spurgeon was a British Baptist preacher in the late 19th Century
who, in 1854, at the age of 20 became the pastor of New Park Street Chapel,
Southwark, London
and saw it grow from dwindling numbers at that time to thousands and finally outgrowing
their building. He was a strong man of
prayer, publishing over 130 sermons on that subject alone. He was known for preaching up to 10 sermons a
week and often spoke to at least 10,000 people in a time when there was no form
of artificial amplification. Where did
he gain all the energy to do all this? You
guessed it: prayer! How important was prayer to him? In his sermon, “The Master Key-Opening the
Gate of Heaven”, he said: “One cries, ‘I have been anxiously doing my
best.’ Perhaps you have, dear brother! Perhaps you have, dear sister! I am very
far from censuring you for doing your best; but sometimes, if you would let God
do his best it would pay you much better. You see Jacob did his best when he
divided his company and prepared a present for his brother. But it did not
amount to much. It was a very poor little best, was it not? It would have come
to nothing if he had not spread the matter before the Lord in prayer.”
Before
each crusade Dr. Billy Graham not only
spent significant time in prayer he had teams that would go into each city one
week before the crusade in order to pray that entire week to bring souls that
did not know Jesus and that they would be receptive to the gospel. Thousands were saved at each crusade. Why?
Was it eloquent preaching from this son of a farmer? No, it was through prayer that the soil of
people’s hearts were tilled and prepared for the gospel so that when it was
spoken it took root and grew (Mt. 13). Dr.
Graham shared in his book, “The Journey”, about how he was greatly influenced not
by his father-in-law, Dr. L. Nelson Bell’s, great accomplishments as a
missionary surgeon in China
for 25 years but rather Dr. Bell’s commitment to prayer. He shares, “Most mornings he would be up by four thirty or five o’clock,
alone in his study reading his well-worn Bible and spending extended time in
prayer. If anyone had an excuse to by
pass this, it was Dr. Bell -- but he saw his time alone with God as the most
important event of the day…prayer for Dr. Bell wasn’t a hurried sentence or two
at the end of the day or a hasty afterthought when facing a crisis. Prayer for him was a constant,
moment-by-moment practice that penetrated his whole life. Prayer for him was also a joyful experience,
and opportunity to come daily into God’s Presence.”
Dr.
Leonard Ravenhill, often spoken of as the voice of revival in the 20th
Century, often referred to prayer as what was lacking in the Church. I challenge you to listen to his sermons or
read his writings (some are available online).
You will find again and again him stressing the need of prayer. In chapter two of “Why Revival Tarries” he
said: “Poverty-stricken as the Church is today in many things, she
is most stricken here, in the place of prayer.
We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few
pray-ers; many singers, few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many
fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors;
many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere.” Here in the
21st Century who calls us to such fanatical and focused spiritual
action? Where is the Ravenhill for our
generation? Where is the man who will
stand firm and tell believers that “No
man is greater than his prayer life. The
pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are
straying.”
So,
in light of what these men did as a result of being mighty in prayer would you
agree that the Church is lacking “pray-ers”? Let me leave you with another quote from the
sermon of another great man of prayer. Let
it stir your spirit to go hard after God in prayer:
“Our
praying, however, needs to be pressed and pursued with an energy that never
tires, a persistency which will not be denied, and a courage which never fails.”
-E. M. Bounds
