The spirit of prayer and the awakening

The first great awakening of Christian history originated in a ten-day prayer meeting. We read about this handful of disciples : "All persevered with one accord in prayer" (Acts 1:14). And we see the result of this meeting... "and on that day the number of disciples increased by about 3000 people" (Acts 2:41). This alarm clock proved authentic and durable. And the Lord daily added to the Church those who were saved.

Since then, every true awakening has had its human origin in prayer. The great revival of Jonathan Edwards' time in the eighteenth century began with his famous call to prayer.

Finney himself attributed the power of this work to the spirit of prayer that reigned then. This is what he says in his autobiography :

"On our way to Rochester, as we were crossing a village about thirty miles east of that town, a brother in the ministry, of my acquaintance, having seen me on the riverboat, jumped on board to converse with me. moment with me. He only wanted to go a little way and go back. However, he was interested in the conversation and learning where I was going, he decided to continue and accompany me to Rochester.

We had been in this city for a few days when this brother was seized with so deep a conviction of sin that at one point, as we passed the street, he could not help bursting into tears. The Lord gave him a powerful prayer spirit and his heart was broken. As we prayed together, I was struck by his faith about what the Lord was going to accomplish. I remember sayin : "Lord, I do not know how it is done, but I have the assurance that you will do a great work in this city." The spirit of prayer was mightily spread, so much so that some people stood aside from the public cults to pray, being unable to contain their emotions during the preaching.

Jeremy Sourdril