When Saints Pray
Here’s a story from DL Moody's book which might inspire you. Maybe you're thinking “I'm no Moody, I can't preach and do the things he did.” Well listen to this.
The Revival in England: Moody's Unexpected Impact in 1872
He went over to England from America in 1872, and he preached at a particular church. And the writer of this biography says “the place was dead and cold in the morning service. Nobody seemed very interested. It seemed to Moody as if he had been beating the air. But the next service was at 6:30 in the evening. While he was preaching, it seemed as if the very atmosphere was charged with the Spirit of God. There came a hush from heaven upon the people, which showed that God was searching hearts. He had not been in much prayer that and couldn't understand it.
When he'd finished preaching, he asked all who would like to become Christians to rise so that he might pray for them. They rose by hundreds, as if the whole audience was getting up. Moody said to himself, ‘They don't understand me. They don't know what I mean. I've never seen so many people rise in America.’ So he said, All of you that really want to become Christians just step into the inquiry room here. They went in and crowded the room and they had to take in extra chairs to seat them. He was so surprised. And for the next ten days, the church was filled with people coming in and receiving God.”
The Power of Persistent Prayer: A Testimony of Revival
Now, here's where it gets interesting. It turns out that two sisters who belonged to the church were great prayer warriors. One of them was bedridden, and one day as she was moaning about her condition and feeling unhappy with God, she thought to yourself, ‘Now that's enough of this. I need to pray.’ She began to pray that God would revive her church. And day and night she began to pray and pray and pray but the church remained cold and dead. And then one day she read in the paper that Mr. Moody, this great evangelist, was holding great revival meetings in America, and she began to pray that God would send him to her church. And that Sunday, when Moody preached at the church, she didn't know, but her sister came in and said, ‘You won't believe it. Mr. Moody from America, who we read about in the paper all those months ago was at our church’. And the bedridden lady turned pale and said, ‘God has heard my prayer!’ She had spent that afternoon fasting and praying that God would do something great in their congregation.
And now some of you are sitting here thinking, ‘Oh, that's just coincidence.’ I don't believe it! I believe in the power of prayer.
What if you are called friends to pray faithfully, consistently for months, for a revival in your church or in the lives of the people around you? Maybe you're not Moody, but maybe you’re like that bedridden saint who prayed and prayed and prayed and God heard her prayers and answered.
The church needs prayer warriors like that, my friends. The great work of evangelizing and saving souls that Moody did was no doubt built on the prayers of the faithful people. Be a patient, consistent prayer warrior friends, and see what God does.
