It's amazing what God can do when a few men and women pray for the Holy Spirit to move in them and the world around them.
There is, of course, the example of the first Pentecost.
In Acts 1, we read that after Christ ascended to heaven, a few followers of Jesus - men and women - "joined together constantly in prayer".
Then, at Pentecost, the Spirit descended like tongues of fire on each one and they began speaking in different languages, astonishing the people there from many nations. When Peter spoke, he preached a sermon that struck many to the heart and 3,000 became believers that day.
It's a story that has been repeated many times since that time.
One of the revival stories that I return to often is the account of the outbreak of revival in the late 1850s in the United States.
Elana Lynse tells the story in her book Flames of Revival: Igniting the Hearts of a Nation Through Prayer.
In 1857, the Old Dutch Church in Manhattan, New York hired Jeremiah Lanphier to be a "lay visitor" to reach out to the unchurched people of New York.
Among the things he did was launch a weekly noon-hour prayer meeting in his church. He printed a little pamphlet explaining what the prayer meeting was about and distributed it.
He said it was open to everyone and people could drop in whenever they wished during that hour and stay for as long as they wished. They were to pray for whatever was on their minds.
The first day, no one showed up except Lanphier as the prayer meeting began. Then, five others wandered in half way through the prayer gathering.
With this small beginning, great things happened.
Word spread and Lanphier's prayer meeting grew. Soon people were meeting daily with up to 100 attending.
News filtered out across the United States where people started meeting in churches, stores, and public halls following Lanphier's pattern.
In early 1858, there were more than 20 prayer gatherings in New York alone. At one point, someone estimated that more than 6,000 people were praying at meetings in the New York financial district in a one-hour time slot. Fire and police departments and theatres opened their doors for prayer meetings.
In Chicago, 2,000 people crowded into the Metropolitan Theatre for prayer daily.
The impact on the nation was enormous. Many became believers in Jesus Christ.
Lynse tells this delightful story: "At one large, crowded prayer meeting, a man was praying when his neighbour gave him a sharp shove with his elbow, grabbed his arm, and said, "Stop praying and tell me how I can become a Christian."
The revival even caught the attention of newspapers across the nation.
All it took was a small spark to set the United States alight.
I sense a growing movement of prayer in the United States and Canada - prayer for our nations, prayer for revival.
I want to be part of it.
There is, of course, the example of the first Pentecost.
In Acts 1, we read that after Christ ascended to heaven, a few followers of Jesus - men and women - "joined together constantly in prayer".
Then, at Pentecost, the Spirit descended like tongues of fire on each one and they began speaking in different languages, astonishing the people there from many nations. When Peter spoke, he preached a sermon that struck many to the heart and 3,000 became believers that day.
It's a story that has been repeated many times since that time.
One of the revival stories that I return to often is the account of the outbreak of revival in the late 1850s in the United States.
Elana Lynse tells the story in her book Flames of Revival: Igniting the Hearts of a Nation Through Prayer.
In 1857, the Old Dutch Church in Manhattan, New York hired Jeremiah Lanphier to be a "lay visitor" to reach out to the unchurched people of New York.
Among the things he did was launch a weekly noon-hour prayer meeting in his church. He printed a little pamphlet explaining what the prayer meeting was about and distributed it.
He said it was open to everyone and people could drop in whenever they wished during that hour and stay for as long as they wished. They were to pray for whatever was on their minds.
The first day, no one showed up except Lanphier as the prayer meeting began. Then, five others wandered in half way through the prayer gathering.
With this small beginning, great things happened.
Word spread and Lanphier's prayer meeting grew. Soon people were meeting daily with up to 100 attending.
News filtered out across the United States where people started meeting in churches, stores, and public halls following Lanphier's pattern.
In early 1858, there were more than 20 prayer gatherings in New York alone. At one point, someone estimated that more than 6,000 people were praying at meetings in the New York financial district in a one-hour time slot. Fire and police departments and theatres opened their doors for prayer meetings.
In Chicago, 2,000 people crowded into the Metropolitan Theatre for prayer daily.
The impact on the nation was enormous. Many became believers in Jesus Christ.
Lynse tells this delightful story: "At one large, crowded prayer meeting, a man was praying when his neighbour gave him a sharp shove with his elbow, grabbed his arm, and said, "Stop praying and tell me how I can become a Christian."
The revival even caught the attention of newspapers across the nation.
All it took was a small spark to set the United States alight.
I sense a growing movement of prayer in the United States and Canada - prayer for our nations, prayer for revival.
I want to be part of it.
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