Prayer Power (eBook)

Chapter 1 PRAYING THE PRICE

God is limited by only two things—
unbelief and lack of prayer.

John Wesley (1703–1791)

In 1952, Albert Einstein was asked by a Princeton student what he should research for his doctoral dissertation. Einstein replied, “Find out about prayer.”

When English preacher, Sidlow Baxter was 85 years of age he said, “I have pastored only three churches in my more than sixty years of ministry. We had revival in every one. Not one of them came as a result of my preaching. They came as a result of the membership entering a covenant to pray until revival came. And it did come, every time.”4

Former Chaplain of the United States Senate, Richard Halverson noted that without prayer we are doomed to failure. “You can organize until you are exhausted. You can plan, program and subsidize all your plans. But if you fail to pray, it is a waste of time. Prayer is not optional. It is mandatory. Not to pray is to disobey God.”5

In what is today known as South Korea, in the twentieth century the church grew from 1.8% to 40.8% of the population. In China a similar phenomenon is occurring. In mainland China’s 1953 census, Christians were numbered at 660,000. No one can be sure of the current number of believers in China today. But early in 2008 speaking in Beijing University, a government official of the Department of Religious Affairs, announced that while the Government couldn’t be certain, the number of Christians could be as many as 130 million. In both countries Christian leaders identify one element being more important than any other—persistent, persevering prayer.

Pastor David Yonggi Cho whose church in Seoul grew to approximately a million members before he retired, said that any church could see this sort of phenomenal growth if they were prepared to “pray and obey”. In South Korea it is normal for believers to go to bed early to rise by 4:00am, to be in church by 5:00am, to participate in corporate prayer. It is normal to pray throughout Friday nights to 6:00am Saturday. It is normal to use the first three days of their nine days annual holiday leave at prayer retreats.

In these countries prayer is a way of life, not just a crash response to an emergency.

Supernatural Growth

Only God causes things to grow (1 Corinthians 3:7). A church is no exception to this principle. It also is a living organism. Jesus Christ is its head (Colossians 1:18). From Him life flows (John 14:6). Our part is to cooperate with Him (1 Corinthians 3:6). Unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain (Psalm 127:1). To transfer a single soul from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light from beginning to end is a supernatural process (Colossians 1:13).

It is the Father who draws (John 6:44).

It is the Holy Spirit who convicts (John 16:8–11).

The Holy Spirit causes confession to be made (1 Corinthians 12:3).

The Holy Spirit completes conversion (Titus 3:5).

The Holy Spirit strengthens and empowers (Ephesians 3:16).

The Holy Spirit guides into truth (John 16:13).

The Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts that promote unity (1Corinthians 12:15).

This builds up the Church thus avoiding disunity and strife (1Corinthians 14:12).

These fundamentals are believed by all Christians. However, the degree to which we are willing to act upon these beliefs will be reflected by the priority we give to participating in personal and the corporate prayer of the church. It is only when we realize that nothing of significance happens apart from prayer, that prayer will become more than an occasional meeting for the faithful few of the local congregation. It will become an obedience response to a Biblical imperative.

Biblical Imperative

In the Old Testament, excluding the Psalms, there are 77 explicit references to prayer. But in the far briefer span of history covered in the New Testament, the spiritual temperature heats up. There are 94 references directly relating to Jesus and prayer. The Apostles followed the example of Jesus.

Paul commands, “Pray continually, for this is God’s will for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:17–18).

Peter urges believers to be “clear minded and self-controlled” so that they can pray (1 Peter 4:7).

James declares that prayer is “powerful and effective” (James 5:17–18).

John assures us that “God hears and answers” (1 John 5:15).

The Acts of the Apostles record 36 instances of the early church growing. In 21 of those instances, it is in the context of prayer.

Many long to see growth in their church like Pentecost and soon after. The key to that possibility is in Acts 1:14. “They (were) all joined together constantly in prayer.” They were singularly united in purpose and intent. They were persistent in their practice of persevering prayer.

Acts 2:42 sums it up. “They devoted themselves…to prayer.”

Years later Paul urges the newest generation of believers to do likewise. “Devote yourselves to prayer” (Colossians 4:2).

Every significant era of accelerated growth of the church in history has been preceded by the implementation of the same prayer principle.

In History

In 1722, persecuted Moravian Brethren found refuge in Germany under the protection of the Lutheran Christian Count Nicolas von Zinzendorf. They settled at Hutberg (Watch Hill) and renamed it Herrnhut (The Lord’s Watch—Isaiah 62:1, 6–7). In August 1727 the power of the Holy Spirit fell upon those gathered in a local parish hall. As a result of this a continuous prayer movement was commenced. It was known as “Hourly Intercession”. It was uninterruptedly sustained for 100 years. During that century of continuous prayer, the Moravians commissioned over 100 missionaries who were sent out to more than 50 nations.

It was similar for other founders of international missionary movements. William Carey, Adoniram Judson, David Livingstone, Hudson Taylor and others all received their callings within the contexts of sustained prayer encounters.

During 1895–1925, John R. Mott led a movement known as the Student Christian Movement. From this, 20,000 career missionaries were commissioned. Mott attributed this extraordinary outcome to united intercessory prayer. He testified that these workers were recruited and (financially) sustained—through prayer.

Luther, Calvin, Knox, Latimer, Wesley, Finney, Moody, Cho, all “greats of God”, based the effectiveness of their ministries upon persevering prayer.

If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning,
the devil gets the victory through the day.
I have so much to do I cannot get on without
spending three hours daily in prayer.

Martin Luther

I have so much to do that I must spend several
hours in prayer before I am able to do it all.

John Wesley

Wesley would not ordain candidates for what became the Methodist ministry, unless they first covenanted to fast and pray till 4:00pm every Wednesday and Friday. No denomination in the West today would include this among their qualifications to be ordained for ministry. Could that explain the difference in effectiveness between those of Wesley’s generation and ours today?

Samuel Chadwick was of the view that the devil fears nothing from prayerless study, work and Christian activity. Satan laughs at our toil. He mocks our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.

Worse Than Today

Toward the end of the 18th century the spiritual condition in Europe was grim. France was soaked in blood as the guillotine loped heads off any who were declared enemies of the revolutionary republic. Voltaire was preaching that the church was only a system for oppressing the human spirit. In accordance with the tenets of the new morality, the Church was held in universal contempt. In England, if people dared to speak of Jesus in the public domain, they were pelted with stones, pieces of coal or rotten fruit. But unknown to the masses, long before the nadir of public opprobrium was reached, God was quietly preparing his counterattack.

In 1747, John Erskine wrote a pamphlet entitled, “A Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God’s People in Extraordinary Prayer.”6 For the next 40 years through voluminous correspondence, Erskine orchestrated a concert of prayer for God’s intervention to rescue the nation from its derelict spiritual state.

On Christmas Eve 1781, at 3:00pm people met in St Just Church in Cornwall to sing and pray. The heavens seemed to open as the Holy Spirit invaded their orderly Church of England service. The predictable liturgical formula was abandoned as worshipers prayed through the night until 9:00am Christmas Day. Having taken time out for the traditional Christmas lunch, they regathered on Christmas evening. By March 1782 they were praying daily till midnight. It was not preaching which inspired people to continue. It was lay people spontaneously praying as the Holy Spirit responded to their entreaties.

In 1784, when 83-year-old John Wesley rode through the area he wrote, “This country is all on fire and the flame is spreading from village to village.” Like wildfire, it spread uncontrollably.

Matthew Henry wrote,...