In 1727, the Moravians of Herrnhut launched a 24-hour-a-day prayer meeting that lasted for 100 years.
In the process, the prayer movement sparked missionary activity that touched all corners of the world. And it helped transform the life of John Wesley, a founder and leader in the amazing Methodist revival in England in the mid-to-late 1700s.
That influence is still felt today. In fact, the embers of that long-ago movement are now bursting into flame again as prayer leaders in England and the United States are calling prayer warriors to intense prayer for the world.
Intercessory prayer centres are springing up throughout the Western world. A number of houses of prayer have emerged across the United States and Canada where people go for prayer throughout the day and night.
As is often the case, the Holy Spirit seemed to move among a number of different people in the years leading up to the Moravian prayer revival.
Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf, who was key to the Moravian prayer movement, was influenced by his godfather Jacob Spener, a German Pietist, who urged evangelical Christians to form small Bible study and prayer groups, forerunners of similar efforts today. Spener had a big influence on Halle University where Von Zinzendorf studied.
In his book The Power of Extraordinary Prayer, Robert O. Bakke writes that Von Zinzendorf gave sanctuary on his property in Saxony to oppressed Moravian Christians. He was disturbed that disputes erupted in the Moravian community and convinced them that they should focus on what they could agree upon.
He drew up a covenant for the group and called on everyone to join together in united and sustained prayer. God began moving among them and on August 13, 1727, "the Holy Spirit was poured out on the whole community, transforming it by an enormous work of grace," writes Bakke.
From then on, there were people praying in the community round-the-clock for 100 years.
The people caught a vision for missions and went out sacrificially around the world, many of them dying while spreading the gospel. They worked with indigenous people and slaves in the United States, living with them.
In fact, James Goll writes in The Lost Art of Intercession that John Wesley was deeply impressed by the demeanour of a group of Moravian missionaries headed to the American colonies by ship. He watched as they served others on board who needed help, did not retaliate when attacked, and remained calm and worshipful in the midst of a frightening storm.
Later, Wesley attended a Moravian prayer meeting in London and was converted to Christ that night.
Goll and Pete Greig, author of Red Moon Rising, tell of their own personal experiences in visiting the little village of Herrnhut in recent years. Both were moved and say that their visits played a significant part in their own determination to encourage Christians to pray for the world around them.
Greig founded 24-7 Prayer International in 1999 and this youth-led venture has gone viral with prayer cells just about everywhere in the world.
The Moravian Christians were doing something that Jesus' disciples did after Christ's ascension to heaven, just before the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost: They spent their days in prayer.
Imagine what will happen if Christians everywhere band together to pray for God's kingdom to advance throughout our nations today.
In the process, the prayer movement sparked missionary activity that touched all corners of the world. And it helped transform the life of John Wesley, a founder and leader in the amazing Methodist revival in England in the mid-to-late 1700s.
That influence is still felt today. In fact, the embers of that long-ago movement are now bursting into flame again as prayer leaders in England and the United States are calling prayer warriors to intense prayer for the world.
Intercessory prayer centres are springing up throughout the Western world. A number of houses of prayer have emerged across the United States and Canada where people go for prayer throughout the day and night.
As is often the case, the Holy Spirit seemed to move among a number of different people in the years leading up to the Moravian prayer revival.
Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf, who was key to the Moravian prayer movement, was influenced by his godfather Jacob Spener, a German Pietist, who urged evangelical Christians to form small Bible study and prayer groups, forerunners of similar efforts today. Spener had a big influence on Halle University where Von Zinzendorf studied.
In his book The Power of Extraordinary Prayer, Robert O. Bakke writes that Von Zinzendorf gave sanctuary on his property in Saxony to oppressed Moravian Christians. He was disturbed that disputes erupted in the Moravian community and convinced them that they should focus on what they could agree upon.
He drew up a covenant for the group and called on everyone to join together in united and sustained prayer. God began moving among them and on August 13, 1727, "the Holy Spirit was poured out on the whole community, transforming it by an enormous work of grace," writes Bakke.
From then on, there were people praying in the community round-the-clock for 100 years.
The people caught a vision for missions and went out sacrificially around the world, many of them dying while spreading the gospel. They worked with indigenous people and slaves in the United States, living with them.
In fact, James Goll writes in The Lost Art of Intercession that John Wesley was deeply impressed by the demeanour of a group of Moravian missionaries headed to the American colonies by ship. He watched as they served others on board who needed help, did not retaliate when attacked, and remained calm and worshipful in the midst of a frightening storm.
Later, Wesley attended a Moravian prayer meeting in London and was converted to Christ that night.
Goll and Pete Greig, author of Red Moon Rising, tell of their own personal experiences in visiting the little village of Herrnhut in recent years. Both were moved and say that their visits played a significant part in their own determination to encourage Christians to pray for the world around them.
Greig founded 24-7 Prayer International in 1999 and this youth-led venture has gone viral with prayer cells just about everywhere in the world.
The Moravian Christians were doing something that Jesus' disciples did after Christ's ascension to heaven, just before the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost: They spent their days in prayer.
Imagine what will happen if Christians everywhere band together to pray for God's kingdom to advance throughout our nations today.
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