The power of the few

In prayer, it’s not how many pray, but how dedicated they are.

I need this reminder often.

As a prayer leader at our church, I dream of the church auditorium being filled with fervent pray-ers.  There are many churches in Asia, Africa and South America where this is true – and even a few in North America.

It’s wonderful when this happens.  And God honours such church gatherings. The gospel spreads powerfully in churches and nations when large numbers gather to seek God in prayer.

But there is power in the few, as well.

After all, Jesus said in Matthew 18: “I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.  For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”

The key is praying in Jesus’ name – praying as Jesus would pray.

We get an inside look at how Jesus would pray by reading the scriptures.  There we see what mattered to Jesus.

He said that he did what the Father asked him to do.  He was here to bring glory to God through acts of love and power and in the supreme sacrifice on the cross.

So, when we want what God wants, we can be sure our prayers will be answered.

In his book Draw the Circle, Mark Batterson tells the story of Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf who formed a prayer group in the 1700s that launched the modern missionary movement.

He and a small group of men from several countries pledged to use all their wealth, gifts, and influence to reach the world for Christ.

Zinzendorf and a group of 24 men and 24 women began praying around the clock in 1727 and the Holy Spirit came upon them as he did on the disciples on Pentecost.

The Moravian prayer meeting – Zinzendorf was a Moravian – continued for 100 years.

“And those prayers reverberated all around the world in one of the greatest missionary movements the church has ever known,” Batterson writes.

“At critical junctures in history, God raises up a remnant to reestablish his reign and rule,” Batterson adds. “It’s rarely a majority.  In fact, it’s almost always a small minority.  But all it takes is a faithful few to begin a reformation.”

Inspiring words – true words, proven many times in the history of revivals