God-Appointed Prayer for Revival

There is never such a thing as revival that does not start with prayer. God had worked in Jonah’s heart to bring him to a place of confession and preparation for ministry, evidenced by his heartfelt prayer (Jonah 2:1–9). Whenever you see revival in history, you see that it always comes out of prayer. The great revival under Jonathan Edwards in the eighteenth century began with his famous call to prayer. The marvelous work of grace among the New England Indians under David Brainerd had its origin in the days and nights that Brainerd spent before God in prayer. A remarkable and widespread display of God’s reviving power broke out in Rochester, New York, under the labors of Charles Finney. It not only spread through New England, but to Great Britain as well. And Mr. Finney attributed the power of this work to the spirit of prayer that prevailed. The Great Revival of 1859 in the United States began in prayer, and was carried on by prayer more than anything else.

A great revival in the Outer Hebrides Islands should perhaps be attributed more than anything else to the prayers of Peggy and Christine Smith. Peggy was blind, and her sister Christine was crippled with arthritis. Though unable to leave their cottage even to attend church, these two godly elderly women sought God unceasingly until He brought revival to their islands, More than two centuries earlier, a little-known pastor in Epworth, England, knelt in his study and pleaded with God to send revival to his nation. Little did Samuel Wesley know that two of his sons, John and Charles, would be the answer to his prayers. A true awakening, a true revival, always begins with prayer.

Taken from The Runaway Prophet, by David Jeremiah.