Day 26
What if?
We see through the book of Acts the church’s total dependency on God through prayer. After Jesus ascended to the Father, they went into the upper room to wait on the “promise of the Father, the power of the clothing from on high”, the power of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit Himself. (Luke 24:49 & Acts 1:8). Acts 1:14 says that while in the upper room “these all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer.” For ten days they waited for the power of the Holy Spirit to come-waiting and continually devoted to prayer with one mind. After the ten days of continual prayer, the Holy Spirit came. They then left the upper room empowered by the Spirit of God, and a revival broke out in Jerusalem where three thousand souls were saved.
This is, by the way, the same Jerusalem where fifty days prior Jesus had been crucified, buried, and resurrected. The same people who wanted to stop Jesus-even to the point of killing Him-were the same ones that Peter pointed to and said of Jesus in Acts 2:23,24, “you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again.” Yet, Acts 2:31 tells us that upon this day that “when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” The same people who yelled “Crucify Him” several weeks prior were now “pierced to the heart” with the gospel asking how they should respond to it.
Who can change a heart so radically other than God? Had they not waited on the Holy Spirit and had they not spent their time in devoted prayer, their efforts would have failed, hearts would not have been pierced, and souls would not have been saved. I believe that we should for a season cease all evangelistic efforts, put away all programs, and cease striving for a moment until we come to the point of knowing He is God. When we are spending time as a congregation with one mind, devoted to prayer for the purpose of the Power of the clothing from on High, the Promise of the Father, and the Power of the Spirit falling upon us. For singular purpose of the power of God moving upon us so we will go into this world in Jesus name and proclaim, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”( Luke 4:18, 19).
So often we fuss over the spiritual condition of our communities. We also complain that no one is motivated to do anything about it. However, Jesus said in Mathew 9:37 & 38, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” There is no doubt that the harvest is plentiful. However, Jesus said we are to beseech, or pray, to the Lord of the harvest that He would send the workers.
Jesus also said in John 4:35 that “the fields are white unto harvest.” What Jesus meant by that was if the fields are not harvested soon, they will rot and be forever ruined. How desperately we need workers for the harvesting of souls! They are white unto harvest and ready for the reaping. What if the church took seriously the call to beseech, or pray to, the Lord of the harvest? Imagine the tremendous reaping of souls we would see!
Every great movement of God throughout the course of church history was sparked simply by God’s people gathered together with a hungry heart, praying and seeking God for His power to fall upon them. It has been one hundred and fifty years since the United States has seen its last great awakening. Although my heart in writing this study is to see a great awakening sweep across America, I cannot say with any certainty or authority that God will necessarily use this study to do that. However, I can say with great certainty, authority, and confidence that a great awakening will not be sparked apart from the biblical principles found in this study. This leads to the question: What if?
What if our prayer meetings were just that, prayer meetings? What if we stopped spending forty-five minutes taking up prayer requests to spend five minutes praying for them? What if the call to prayer wasn’t just something appointed in the bulletin? What if prayer wasn’t just appointed for the benediction? What if we stopped calling on just one to pray so we could all just stand around and listen? What if the phrase “we will pray about it” wasn’t just a form of tabling a motion or a way of changing the subject? What if the church took seriously the promises of the Word of God and started standing on them? What if the church of the living God, with one mind, devoted themselves to prayer and fasting for the purpose of the power of God falling down upon them? Shall we pray and discover for ourselves? . . . What if?
Day 26 Prayer Guide
- Ask God to reveal any sin or mindset that would prevent Him from hearing your prayers.
- Repent of any such hindrance and ask for God’s forgiveness.
- Ask God to remove any doubts and keep you focused on Him.
- Seek the Holy Spirit to consume you during this time to lead you. Be obedient to Him.
- Spend some time praising God for the fact that He is able. Quote some scriptures or some of His characteristics to Him in praise.
- Pray that the people of God will repent of sins and mindsets that dishonor and hinder Him.
- Pray that God would reveal prideful attitudes of self-sufficiency and bring about repentance.
- Pray that Christians will know the importance of intercessory pray and walk in it.
- Pray that God would raise up prayer warriors with a heart for revival in our churches and a great awakening in our land.
- Pray that our churches will be houses of prayer.
- Pray that the people of God will stand in faith knowing God can reclaim this land.
- Pray that our churches would be devoted to, and peruse the things that honor God.
- Pray that the people of God would see the need for revival and begin to seek God for it.
- Pray specifically for revival in your church. Pray for your pastor and church leaders.
- Pray that the people of God will be broken hearted over the lost.
- Pray that the church will be a gospel centered church with a heart to evangelize the world while starting in their own back yard.
- Pray that the power of God would fall on the church moving them to prayer and sowing the gospel seed.
- Pray for a great awakening in your community. Name off streets and neighborhoods.
- Do not be judgmental in this, but pray that if there is any within the church who do not have a genuine relationship with Jesus that God would convict their heart and save them.
- Make a list of individuals who are not saved and begin petitioning God for their salvation.
- Pray for repentance of sin and a great awakening in our nation.
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