KEYS TO REVIVAL

KEY #3 - PRAYER

The value of prayer in revival cannot be overstated.  Every major revival in America and other countries began with prayer. The Second Great Awakening began in New York City when a burdened man named Jeremiah Lanphier read the times, which were not much different than today!  The financial picture of New York City (and thus most of the industrial sector of the North) was desperate and there was no move of God in America for decades.  The last revival had taken place when the controversial Charles Finney was on fire throughout the north eastern United States preaching the Gospel and leading hundreds of thousands to Christ.

Jeremiah Lanphier printed out and passed out flyers all over America’s largest city inviting men to a prayer meeting at the Fulton Street church he attended. The meeting was set for September 23, 1857 at noon. Even though thousands of flyers were handed out, not one person showed up for lunch time prayer until about 30 minutes in. Finally 6 men got together to pray for their city, businesses, community and family, where factories closing, unemployment and worse had destroyed many a family.  

One week later, 40 prayer warriors showed up at Fulton Street to pray at Lanphier’s noon time weekly prayer meeting.  From that day, it was changed to a daily noontime prayer meeting instead of weekly and within SIX MONTHS,  ten thousand (as in 10,000) New York businessmen started meeting DAILY for prayer - IN NEW YORK CITY! Today, one would be hard-pressed to find ten (10) men in one small town who would even meet weekly to pray for their families, neighborhoods or anything! What resulted out of all of this praying and seeking the Face of the Lord was that over 1 million were saved across America as the fires of revival caught the head wind and spread like, well, wild fires on the prairie. The renewal and awakening which began in New York City with one man, then six, then forty was a result of prayer, not just prayer for the natural but fervent prayer which brought repentance and sorrow of the sad human condition of the day.

Every move of God began with personal repentance and prayer, and none genuine was a result of a church or group of people sitting comfortable in their pews chanting "Lord bring revival". Every turn around in the spiritual atmosphere came out of an environment of idolatry, crime (against God and man) and general despair. It happened with the Welch Revival where bars shut down and the cops had no work to do, so they formed barbershop quartets and it happened in the Old Testament. Back then, godless men had destroyed much of the Word of the Lord, much like they are attempting to these days, and pagan "worship" abounded. Still God's word never goes away and a copy of the Word was found during the reign of King Josiah who had it read out loud.

Scripture says "Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it in the presence of the king. When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes...(2 Kings 22:10-11)." Are we rendering our spiritual hearts today as the Word of the Lord convicts us? What happened when the pure milk of the Word of God convicted the king to lead him to tear his clothes, was an acknowledgement of his and the people's sins. It cut him to the quick.

God said to the king ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel, “Regarding the words which you have heard, because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you”. (2 Kings 22:18b-19)

Revival can come and the Lord can hear us, and will react according to His own Sovereign Will. Even in the Great Awakenings from Whitefield to Lanphier and D.L. Moody to Duncan Campbell and Life Action Ministries, God did NOT move across an entire people. He only moved upon those whose hearts were set upon Him and then brought many into glory as a result of that faithfulness. The majority still rejected Him, and were and will be judged in His Wrath. Still, there is no magic to revival. King Josiah's repentance and leadership in actively getting rid of the evil junk in the lives of his people, of removing all symbols of the evil idols and allowing the Word of God to be read and taught constantly resulted in something really powerful for a time. It was that specific season for the people of Jerusalem which led to their spiritual revival at that time. It WAS the reading and preaching of the Word. Read this account right here.

To that end, finally, the Apostle Paul prayed and ask for the same in 2 Thessalonians 3: 1-5 "Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you; 2 and that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. 4 We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command. 5 May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ."

The rapid spreading of the Word of the Lord, which convicts and leads many to repentance and salvation, is how we should pray. We have the example of King Josiah's HEARING the Word and the subsequent turning of all Jerusalem to the Lord and then Paul's prayer here that the Word will led to rescue, strength, protection and then confidence and the turning of hearts unto the love of God, standing strong in the Knowledge and Faith of Jesus Christ. This is our true prayer of revival. May we never depart from it but press on daily, as we seek a strong move of the Savior across a dry and spiritually barren land.

FORTY DAYS OF PRAYER FOR AMERICA

STARTS TODAY SEPTEMBER 28 TO NOVEMBER 6, 2012

Today, Friday September 28, 2012 marks exactly 40 Days to the most pivotal election season in American history. Regardless of who wins or loses, America is in a horrible place...and spiritually decadent or lost. In some instances (not all) we are not unlike the Northern Kingdom of Israel, which had no good king and bowed down to the false gods of this corrupt world. The soul of America - corporate and personal - is in mortal danger. For the next forty days, until the November 6 General Elections, a growing number of U.S. Christian ministries have called for and are actively engaged in Intercessory Prayer; Fasting and Crying Out in desperation to the ONLY One who can redeem and change us - the HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL.

Many of these ministries are using the much quoted verse from 2 Chronicles 7:14 as the platform for corporate intercession, as the Body of Christ. However, for this verse to apply from its context where Solomon had prayed to the Lord, and the Lord then answered him, to where prayer warriors wish to extrapolate it to America in 2012 could take some doing! I encourage the reading of this portion of Scripture by clicking here. For the many Christian ministries who are this verse (2 Chronicles 7:14), please read the full context here:

Then the LORD appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. (2 Chronicles 7:12-16 ESV)

A thorough reading of this portion indicates that this is really a call for Repentance. If the hundreds of thousands of American intercessors who are pressing into the Throne Room of God, for these next forty (40) days just so that there is only some kind of an economic turnaround, with no spiritual factor in the equation, this will crash and burn big time! As I wrote here two weeks ago, America was in a similar place in the early 1850's when the Lord led a man named Jeremiah Lanphier to start a simple prayer meeting on Fulton Street in New York City, which exploded in a hurry into the Third Great Awakening. The question is, do we have that fire in the belly for the Lord, as we have for the latest iPhone5 or the NFL referee controversies?

In the hearts of serious men and women of God, there IS that passion and zeal for His House, which consumes us. Our hearts are aligned with the Holy Spirit and therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ. We see HIS big Heart breaking over the condition of His children in the west, while His saints in the persecuted church stand strong and firm in the Faith. The fire in the belly in the persecuted church is the same one we should have....and the fruit of that passion for the Christ, is sown with Repentance.

So, we say with the great prophet Joel here, in our call to National Repentance, as Day 1 starts:

Consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD. Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes. Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seed shrivels under the clods; the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are torn down because the grain has dried up. How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed because there is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep suffer. To you, O LORD, I call. For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and flame has burned all the trees of the field. Even the beasts of the field pant for you because the water brooks are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.  (Joel 1:13-20 ESV)

NOTE:

Over the next forty days, we will occasionally update, and post Scripture or prayer concerns, as the Spirit leads and the wider body of intercessors read the times, and proclaim a word to be prayed into. We WILL be praying Scripture regularly...and more on this, this coming Sunday. Amen.

GRAPHIC ABOVE AND OTHER PRAYER RESOURCES CAN BE FOUND RIGHT HERE.

PRAYER FOR AMERICA, PART 2

It seems as if a lot of bad things happen to America in September. It is almost as if September is the hangover from summer madness. We all know about September 11, 2001. However in September 1856, the signs were all around the developed cities. New York City was already the financial capitol of the world.  Exhibits A to Z are thus: the economy and accompanying social decline were picking up speed. Bankruptcy was high and morale was low. Most (obviously not all) preachers were just as ineffective as they are today and fast becoming irrelevant. Many of them had predicted doom and gloom and the end of the world which never happened. Politicians were just as horrible as they are today and unemployment just as high as 2012. Civil War talk was in the air. America was in a bad place. The enemy was domestic.

With this background, 156 years ago, a humble employee of the North Dutch Reformed Church named Jeremiah Lanphier, was given a vision by the LORD GOD, to call many to prayer. He wrote up a flyer inviting people to a prayer meeting in the church consistory on Fulton Street - anyone who could come. The prayer meeting was just that - an hour of prayer from noon to 1pm. The flyer indicated the room was open to anyone from the store clerk to the business owner. On the first day of the prayer meeting - September 23, the first man showed up at 12:30pm. Finally 6 men showed up and they prayed. There was no preaching or worship band or hysteria or... you name it. Just quiet humble prayer as the Lord delights in it. Weeks later, the numbers had doubled and tripled. 

JEREMIAH LANPHIER

Finally on October 10, the New York Stock Exchange crashed. Did you know that 10,000 immediately showed up for the noon prayer meeting called by Lanphier on Fulton Street?! They had run out of space on Fulton Street, so the prayer meeting expanded across the street to the larger John Street Methodist Church...then all over New York City....and then Chicago, Philadelphia, Louisville (Kentucky) and so on! This led to the greatest Revival ever in America - the Third Great Awakening. There has been nothing like it since, and it began with one layman, like you and I, who was used by God.

America has lost its way and does not even turn to God in evil and terrible times as we have seen this week. There is no righteous, moral or faithful leadership. We have the best and fastest of social networking and instant media, yet most who are called by God to be the leaders of the church are not proclaiming "THUS SAYETH THE LORD" or calling for National Prayer Meetings or Fasting as President John Adams once did when the hounds of hell were nipping at our heels. If the preachers and pastors of America (except for the few we see standing up now and speaking for Religious Liberty and how to live or even, vote like a Christian) would rather play church and lose their credibility just like the preachers of September 1856, then you and I have to do it.  The wonderful thing is, there is nothing to it. All we need is a Bible, a quiet room and a love for Jesus and the Lost! Are you ready?

Here is the rest of Psalm 35. Choose the verse, or the verses of the passage which Holy Spirit custom fits to YOUR calling as a His Prayer Warrior, then press in. I see several which appear to match up with the situation in America today - terrorism, moral and religious crisis and more. Our enemies are not just the islamic terrorists, but even worse than them are the enemies from within....the kinds we have allowed because of our own sin of sloth, laziness and unfaithfulness to God. The only remedy is Repentance and Restoration. Here is Psalm 35 (NKJV) in full. Therefore, place names in the appropriate verse, in place of personal pronouns. This will not alter the inerrant word of God:

35 Plead my cause, O Lord, with those who strive with me;
Fight against those who fight against me.
² Take hold of shield and buckler,
And stand up for my help.
³ Also draw out the spear,
And stop those who pursue me.
Say to my soul,
“I am your salvation.”

⁴ Let those be put to shame and brought to dishonor
Who seek after my life;
Let those be turned back and brought to confusion
Who plot my hurt.
⁵ Let them be like chaff before the wind,
And let the angel^[a] of the Lord chase them.
⁶ Let their way be dark and slippery,
And let the angel of the Lord pursue them.
⁷ For without cause they have hidden their net for me in a pit,
Which they have dug without cause for my life.
⁸ Let destruction come upon him unexpectedly,
And let his net that he has hidden catch himself;
Into that very destruction let him fall.

⁹ And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord;
It shall rejoice in His salvation.
¹⁰ All my bones shall say,
“Lord, who is like You,
Delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him,
Yes, the poor and the needy from him who plunders him?”

¹¹ Fierce witnesses rise up;
They ask me things that I do not know.
¹² They reward me evil for good,
To the sorrow of my soul.
¹³ But as for me, when they were sick,
My clothing was sackcloth;
I humbled myself with fasting;
And my prayer would return to my own heart.
¹⁴ I paced about as though he were my friend or brother;
I bowed down heavily, as one who mourns for his mother.

¹⁵ But in my adversity they rejoiced
And gathered together;
Attackers gathered against me,
And I did not know it;
They tore at me and did not cease;
¹⁶ With ungodly mockers at feasts
They gnashed at me with their teeth.

¹⁷ Lord, how long will You look on?
Rescue me from their destructions,
My precious life from the lions.
¹⁸ I will give You thanks in the great assembly;
I will praise You among many people.

¹⁹ Let them not rejoice over me who are wrongfully my enemies;
Nor let them wink with the eye who hate me without a cause.
²⁰ For they do not speak peace,
But they devise deceitful matters
Against the quiet ones in the land.
²¹ They also opened their mouth wide against me,
And said, “Aha, aha!
Our eyes have seen it.”

²² This You have seen, O Lord;
Do not keep silence.
O Lord, do not be far from me.
²³ Stir up Yourself, and awake to my vindication,
To my cause, my God and my Lord.
²⁴ Vindicate me, O Lord my God, according to Your righteousness;
And let them not rejoice over me.
²⁵ Let them not say in their hearts, “Ah, so we would have it!”
Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.”

²⁶ Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion
Who rejoice at my hurt;
Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor
Who exalt themselves against me.

²⁷ Let them shout for joy and be glad,
Who favor my righteous cause;
And let them say continually,
“Let the Lord be magnified,
Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”
²⁸ And my tongue shall speak of Your righteousnessAnd of Your praise all the day long.

(Scripture is courtesy Biblegateway.com)