Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
Acts 2:46-47 “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”
Acts 6:7 “And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.”
Jeremiah Lanphier was joined by five others during his first lunchtime prayer meeting on September 23, 1857. The following week, there were a total of twenty prayer warriors and the week after that the number doubled to forty. As a result, Lanphier transitioned the prayer meetings to be a daily event. The numbers kept growing and the spreading results were described in the following way:
“Seeing the intense spiritual hunger and the need for more space, many pastors began opening their churches for morning and evening prayer and were astounded when their sanctuaries were filled with hungry seekers desiring to call on the name of the Lord.
A spirit of prayer seemed to be unleashed from the Fulton Street meeting to the nation. Prayer meetings began springing up in Philadelphia, Boston, Washington D.C., Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago and in a multitude of smaller cities and rural areas.”
A small step of faith and a simple act of prayer ignited a huge movement of God that far exceeded the expectations of the participants while perfectly meeting the desperate needs of the day. God’s power was not confined to a single weekly meeting in lower Manhattan. Unleashed by the spirit of prayer among His people that was prompted by an intense spiritual hunger, it spread throughout the land. The results were astonishing!
That same power is available to us today. Our small steps of faith and simple acts of prayer may ignite a huge movement of God that far exceeds our expectations while perfectly meeting the desperate needs of the day. Unleashed by a spirit of prayer among His people prompted by an intense spiritual hunger, God’s power could spread through the land. The results would be astonishing!
PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO DEMONSTRATE A SPIRIT OF PRAYER PROMPTED BY AN INTENSE SPIRITUAL HUNGER. These Christian characteristics could unleash God’s power to meet the desperate needs of the day.
ADMIN: The quote above comes from “The Great Prayer Awakening of 1857-58” by Eddie Hyatt.
