Revival Praying that Changes the World

The LORD has chosen to operate His Kingdom in this world through prayer. According to His infinite wisdom and goodness, the LORD will move, or remain silent, according to the prayers of His saints. That places a tremendous responsibility upon Christians to be people of prayer, yielded and obedient to the Savior. “In dealing with mankind,” wrote Bounds, “nothing is more important to God than prayer. Prayer is likewise of great importance to people. Failure to pray is failure in all of life. It is failure of duty, service, and spiritual progress. It is only by prayer that God can help people. He who does not pray, therefore, robs himself of God’s help and places God where He cannot help people” (Bounds, Weapon, 8).

We often rationalize our prayerlessness by convincing ourselves that no one gets hurt if we do not pray. Nevertheless, prayerlessness is sin! It is rooted in pride, selfishness, self-sufficiency and lack of surrender. By not being a person of prayer, we harm family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and the church. Lack of prayer causes sin and selfishness to run amuck in our lives. It produces lifestyles of compromise and hypocrisy that drives our children and friends away from Christ. Prayerlessness stops revival from coming so multitudes die without ever receiving salvation.

One of the first things prayer accomplishes is the transformation of the person who prays. He who does not pray stops the Spirit’s revolutionizing power in his life. The Christian either rises or falls according to his prayer life. The Holy Spirit will not force His way through the barrier of prayerlessness. We must willfully open our hearts. True prayer is an act of surrender to God. Through it we place our lives in His service so we may advance His mission of building a community of faith by rescuing lost humanity. Only from the prayer closet are men and women empowered to take a city, state or nation for the glory of God.

For the lost to be saved in great numbers the Holy Spirit must be powerfully present to convict of sin. He can awaken the consciences of the hardest sinners or coldest church folk. An eloquent preacher might stimulate the minds and emotions of people, but only the Spirit can pierce the heart and conscience. Until the church becomes a praying church, it will lack Holy Ghost power to convict sinners and transform society. “The history of revival proves that conviction comes as a result of the prayers of God’s people. Where there is fervent prayer there is deep conviction. Where there is no conviction there is lack of earnest prayer” (Paul Smith).

One divine moment of the presence of God can do more for the evangelization of the world than all the combined efforts of our programs, crusades, and church growth seminars. The Great Korean Revival of 1907 is a wonderful example of the fruit and power of prayer. Earnest preparations began as early as 1903 and grew in intensity. In 1906, Dr. Howard A. Johnston brought news to the missionaries that revival broke out in Wales and in Kassia Hills, India. The missionaries began praying at noon every day for revival. After a short period, they started to grow weary and some even wanted to discontinue the prayer meeting. Discouragement had almost stopped the revival from coming. Missionary Jonathan Goforth related, “Instead of discontinuing the prayer meeting we would give more time to prayer, not less ... We kept to it, until at last, after months of waiting, the answer came” (Jonathan Goforth, By My Spirit, 23).

The LORD visited Pyengyang on the last day of a series of meetings where missionaries and national leaders had gathered to seek God’s face for revival. It was Monday night, January 17, 1907. Graham Lee was leading the service. After a short sermon he called for prayers. The entire assembly began to pray out loud with such force that it became a roar, “like the falling of many waters,” captivating the whole congregation. The sound of weeping was heard as a spirit of heaviness and sorrow for sin broke out among the whole audience. “They began to repent of their sins publicly one by one.”

Missionary William Blair described the scene

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Glenn Meldrum, a national evangelist since 1997, was radically converted from a life of drugs through a historic revival in the 1970s. He is ordained and holds an MA in theology and church history from Ashland Theological Seminary. His 15 years of pastoral experience includes an urban, multicultural church, a rural church, and a Romanian congregation. Glenn and his wife, Jessica, yearn for God’s presence and power to be manifested through the local church to reach a perishing world.

Glenn Meldrum is also the author of Rend the Heavens; Moving Heaven to Shake Earth (published by Wisdom’s Gate) from which this article is excerpted. To order, use our handy order form on page 32 of this issue. Or, visit the Wisdom’s Gate website at www.WisdomsGate.org or call toll-free at 1-800-343-1943.