I am in awe of titans of prayer like Moses and Father Nash.
Father Nash? Many know of Moses' powerful prayers to God for his people, but most are unaware of Father Nash.
Father Nash - his real name was Daniel Nash - was a country preacher in northern New York state whose persistent and dedicated praying supported the great American evangelist Charles Finney in the 1820s and 1830s.
Despite success in his small church, he was voted out of his job by his congregation and was jobless when he encountered Finney. Finney recognized an amazing man of prayer when he met him and, from then on, the two worked as a team - aided by a couple of other prayer warriors.
Many of us would consider him strange today. There are stories of people overhearing him and Abel Clary, another prayer warrior, groaning as they prayed for people behind closed doors in the towns where Finney preached.
They groaned because the Holy Spirit was working on their hearts to the point where they yearned for people to come to the Lord.
I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Moses groaned, too, as he prayed for the Israelites. Moses spent a lot of time in a tent set aside for prayer - the "tent of meeting" - where people would go to seek God.
The most wonderful story of Moses' intercession is in Exodus 32-33 where the Israelite leader and prophet pleads with God to not destroy the Israelites for their disobedience. And God responds by promising to not abandon his people but to take them into the promised land.
Father Nash was like that.
One writer reported that "Finney said that the key which unlocked the heavens in the [Rochester, New York] revival was the prayer of Clary, Father Nash, and other unnamed folk who laid themselves prostrate before God's throne and besought Him for a divine out-pouring". More than 100,000 people became believers during meetings in that city.
There was strong opposition to Finney and Nash and his co-workers. On one occasion, opponents - including some church leaders - burned Finney and Nash in effigy. On other occasions, they threw rocks at the houses where they preached or fired guns nearby or tried to disturb the meetings with noisy demonstrations.
This teaches me that praying for God's kingdom to advance and spread - for people to give their lives to Christ - is vital.
I am reminded of the terrible words in Ezekiel 22:30 where God says he looked for people to "build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none".
That's a challenge to me and to praying people everywhere.
Father Nash? Many know of Moses' powerful prayers to God for his people, but most are unaware of Father Nash.
Father Nash - his real name was Daniel Nash - was a country preacher in northern New York state whose persistent and dedicated praying supported the great American evangelist Charles Finney in the 1820s and 1830s.
Despite success in his small church, he was voted out of his job by his congregation and was jobless when he encountered Finney. Finney recognized an amazing man of prayer when he met him and, from then on, the two worked as a team - aided by a couple of other prayer warriors.
Many of us would consider him strange today. There are stories of people overhearing him and Abel Clary, another prayer warrior, groaning as they prayed for people behind closed doors in the towns where Finney preached.
They groaned because the Holy Spirit was working on their hearts to the point where they yearned for people to come to the Lord.
I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Moses groaned, too, as he prayed for the Israelites. Moses spent a lot of time in a tent set aside for prayer - the "tent of meeting" - where people would go to seek God.
The most wonderful story of Moses' intercession is in Exodus 32-33 where the Israelite leader and prophet pleads with God to not destroy the Israelites for their disobedience. And God responds by promising to not abandon his people but to take them into the promised land.
Father Nash was like that.
One writer reported that "Finney said that the key which unlocked the heavens in the [Rochester, New York] revival was the prayer of Clary, Father Nash, and other unnamed folk who laid themselves prostrate before God's throne and besought Him for a divine out-pouring". More than 100,000 people became believers during meetings in that city.
There was strong opposition to Finney and Nash and his co-workers. On one occasion, opponents - including some church leaders - burned Finney and Nash in effigy. On other occasions, they threw rocks at the houses where they preached or fired guns nearby or tried to disturb the meetings with noisy demonstrations.
This teaches me that praying for God's kingdom to advance and spread - for people to give their lives to Christ - is vital.
I am reminded of the terrible words in Ezekiel 22:30 where God says he looked for people to "build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none".
That's a challenge to me and to praying people everywhere.
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