During a fast you often wake up much sooner than you would plan, but you wake up feeling invigorated and ready to go. So it’s all good! It’s 5:00am, and I’ve already been up a couple hours, but my heart is burning this morning to invite us all to pray that the Lord would bring a great move of His Spirit that would result in the salvation of many.
What is this that stirs our hearts? It is the very heart of Jesus who today wants us to know that He loves those of us who have found our way into His fold. Yet He desires us to be praying for those sheep whose names we don’t even know but are out there in the world and have yet to find their way to the Shepherd. As we pray for the Roaring Fork Valley, our nation and the world, let’s remember that today there are many that don’t look like sheep, yet God knows their hearts–that they have hearts that are willing to believe. Jesus said the following, “I am the good shepherd; and I know My own, and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they shall hear My voice; and they shall become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” (John 10:14-18)
Will you join me in prayer today for all those for whom Jesus laid down His life, who have yet to hear his voice? We MUST believe in the power of prayer and its effectiveness in opening up the ears of those who need to hear the Good Shepherd’s voice.
Let me help us lay hold of a vision for the power of intercession in the salvation of the lost. Charles Finney was a leader in the Second Great Awakening in the United States. This revival in the 1800’s ended up being the greatest revival in American history and quite possibly in all the world. Through his ministry, many thousands came to Jesus Christ in America. Not to take away from the calling and anointing that was on his life to preach the Gospel, but the engine of power behind the man was a little known intercessor who entered the towns a few days ahead of Finney’s meetings and began to intercede and travail in the Spirit for the souls of men. He would continue then in prayer during the entire event. He wasn’t visible or known. He entered into the secret place of God, and there the God who sees in secret greatly rewarded his intercession in the open of Charles Finney’s meeting. As a testament to the role he played in Finney’s great revival meetings, we learn that within three or four months of Daniel Nash’s death, Charles Finney ceased his meetings and began to minister in a local church. Charles Finney knew not to move forward in the power of man, but he always counted on the power of prayer to release Holy Spirit conviction on people that would result in them coming to Christ.
The great preacher, passionate for prayer and revival, Leonard Ravenhill, once told the following story: “I met an old lady who told me a story about Charles Finney that has challenged me over the years. Finney went to a place to minister, but before he began, two men knocked on the door of her humble cottage, wanting lodging. The poor woman looked amazed, for she had no extra accommodation. Finally, for about twenty-five cents a week, the two men, none other than Fathers Nash and Clary, rented a dark and damp cellar for the period of the Finney meetings (at least two weeks), and there in that self-chosen cell, those prayer partners battled the forces of darkness.”
Another story is told by Finney: “On one occasion when I got to a town to start some meetings, a lady contacted me who ran a boarding house. She said, ’Brother Finney, do you know a Father Nash? He and two other men have been at my boarding house for the last three days, but they haven’t eaten a bite of food. I opened the door and peeped in at them because I could hear them groaning, and I saw them down on their faces. They have been this way for three days, lying prostrate on the floor and groaning. I thought something awful must have happened to them. I was afraid to go in and I didn’t know what to do. Would you please come and see about them?’”’ No, it isn’t necessary,’ Finney replied. ’They just have a spirit of travail in prayer.’
Are your hearts stirred with mine when hearing such great stories about hidden men in hidden places tapping into the power of heaven through prayer to see a great move of salvation in their world? I might not see you praying today, but heaven does. Heaven will answer! “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you…But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. (Matthew 6:6,17-18)
The Lord bless you. Remember, the Kingdom of Heaven moves forward in love. Let all we do and say today be in love.
Blessings,
Jim