Magnificent Prayer #3 - Magnificent Prayer
Magnificent Prayer #3
Call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
Joel 1:14
[The following words are from George Mueller’s journal entry for January 3, 1842.]
This evening we had a precious prayer meeting. When the usual time for closing the meeting came, some of us wanted to continue to wait upon the Lord. I suggested that those who had bodily strength, time, and a desire to wait longer upon the Lord, do so. At least thirty remained, and we continued in prayer until after ten. I never knew deeper prayer in the Spirit. I experienced an unusual nearness to the Lord and was able to pray in faith, without doubting.
GEORGE MUELLER
Pray About It: George Mueller was one of the most successful pray-ers in Christian history. Through faith in God alone, expressed through prayer, Mueller fed and clothed thousands of orphans in the five homes he opened in obedience to God.
It’s no wonder that this man of God was partial to prayer meetings—he came to Christ in 1825 at such a meeting in a private home. Such prayer meetings among Christians were common then. Even up until recent years, many churches had weekly times set aside to gather for corporate prayer. Often this was Wednesday night. Though some churches still offer this midweek service, far too many have abandoned the practice or allowed it to turn into simply another powerless church gathering. But as Mueller noted, and as many others have found, God will show up for prayer meetings, if only the people will.
Does your church have the kind of prayer meeting where the people are reluctant to leave? Is it possible that you could host a prayer meeting in your home? It’s not necessary for there to be many in number. God will meet with just a handful.
Today, pray for the spirit of prayer to return to the church of Christ. Pray for believers to be drawn back to prayer. Pray for ministers to catch a vision for their churches to be, above all else, praying churches.
Prayer meetings are dead affairs when they are merely asking sessions. There is adventure, hope, and life when they are believing sessions, and the faith is corporately, practically, and deliberately affirmed.
NORMAN GRUBB
