Opening Eyes: Prayer
We Love Revival Stories! But What If We Became One?
Return
G’day and Welcome back to THE HOLY GO!
Last week we started our series called “OPEN” which looks at a framework for how to partner with God to open peoples eyes to the gospel:
Oneness
Prayer
Evangelism
Neighbour Love
Last week we looked at Oneness, which can be described as the forgotten ingredient of revival. Today we turn our attention to Prayer.
Equip
As a young Salvation Army Officer (Pastor) we were told,
“If you can… Don’t make any changes or big decisions in your first 6 months.”
They wanted us to wait until we had listened to the people in the Church, got to know them, and had discerned what God was saying to us before jumping in to all our wonderful ideas.
However, when we arrived there was no prayer meeting.
Throughout our two year Training course we had prayed non stop, 24-7. Each of the students took two, three hour shifts each week. We had seen God move as He changed our hearts and answered prayer.
So at our first leadership meeting we announced we would start a prayer meeting. There was a little push back… Mostly around when we would do this. However we stood firm and said, “You pick the time. But we’re starting a prayer meeting!”
So we began an hour before the Sunday Morning service. To our surprise more than half the Church showed up! We prayed together and asked God that we would see people come to know Him.
That week, 6 young peoples eyes were opened to the God who loves them. They accepted Christ’s offer of grace and started following Jesus!
As the Church prayed, the new-believer drought was broken.
Prayer and Revival
History shows that prayer always precedes revival.
Starting in the Book of Acts we read,
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Acts 4:31
Throughout Acts we the the following pattern,
The believers prayed together,
The believers were filled with the Spirit,
The believers boldly shared the gospel.
The Apostle Paul when writing to the Church he planted in Ephesus, prays that the eyes of their hearts may be opened.1 This Church had rapidly grown and multiplied throughout Asia and yet Paul continued to pray that their eyes would be opened.
Charles Finney was a key figure in the Second Great Awakening. He saw half a million people come to Christ, and is known as the father of the modern altar call. He writes of “a spirit of prayer” being the key ingredient for the revival. (Check out his lectures on revival for a bit of fiery passion!)
Evangelist DL Moody famously kept a list of 100 names of people he was praying for. He prayed that their eyes would be opened to the gospel. By the end of his life, 96 of them had accepted Christ, and apparently the other 4 did at his funeral!
In Hernhut a divided group of believers under Count Zinzendorf experienced deep reconciliation and then made a radical commitment: continuous prayer, day and night, without interruption. This prayer meeting lasted over 100 years and became one of the great catalysts for the modern missionary movement, inspiring generations of world missions and sending Moravian missionaries all across the globe.
It is reported that prior to the Pentecostal movement taking off, before there were any crowds or attention, it was just a simple prayer meeting. Fast forward to today and this movement boasts over 700 million people!
When we look at these revivals we see two truths at work:
When we pray God changes us - we are filled with the Spirit. We are empowered to be loving and bold witnesses. This opens peoples eyes to the gospel.
God changes circumstances - peoples hearts soften, God moves in powerful and strategic ways and prayers get answered. God opens peoples eyes.
Pray Today
It’s fun looking back at what God has done on the global stage. However, today I am reminded that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”2 Or in other words, every testimony is an invitation!
These are not isolated stories. This is simply a pattern that has repeated itself since the day of Pentecost 2,000 years ago and today we are being invited to join in.
I love revival stories! But what if we became one?
The reality is that:
God loves every person on the face of the planet.3
God wants all people to come to know Him.4
God is already at work in the world around us.5
God is already drawing people to Himself.6
God has reconciled the world to Himself.7
God is no longer counting mans sins against them.8
God is the saviour of all people.9
But as the Apostle Paul says, they have been blinded to this reality.10
However, when we pray we are filled with the ability to love people in a way that opens their eyes to Christ. When we pray circumstances change, and God moves in powerful ways.
Therefore, let us join in with the story repeated through all generations, and all revivals…
Let us begin with prayer,
ask God to fill us with His Spirit,
and may we declare the gospel with love and boldness!
Activate
This weeks activation is simple: Pray.
Here’s a few ideas that may help you:
Start a prayer list - write down all the people you know who you want to see come to know Christ. Keep this list handy (phone app or in your Bible) and pray for these people regularly. I’m setting a reminder in my phone to pray daily for people at 3:16pm. (Based on John 3:16)
Start a prayer meeting - get some friends together and simply pray.
Start a Prayer Room or Pray 24-7 - Want to be like the Moravians? Check out the 24-7 Prayer Website for a ton of great resources!
Let’s Go!
Ephesians 1:18
Revelation 19:10 (NKJV)
John 3:16, 1 John 2:2
1 Timothy 2:3–4, 2 Peter 3:9
John 5:17, Acts 17:26–28, John 16:8
John 6:44, John 12:32, Acts 17:27
2 Corinthians 5:18–19, Colossians 1:19–20
1 Corinthians 13:5, 2 Corinthians 5:19, Romans 5:18
1 Timothy 4:10, John 4:42, 1 John 4:14
2 Corinthians 4:4
Amen and amen