The prayer we need and how saints of old laboured in intercession by John Abiola

” Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time”.( Revelation 12:12).

  “As Jesus was leaving the Temple grounds, his disciples pointed out to him the various Temple buildings.

But he told them, “Do you see all these buildings? I assure you, they will be so completely demolished that not one stone will be left on top of another!”

 Later, Jesus sat on the slopes of the Mount of Olives. His disciples came to him privately and asked, “When will all this take place? And will there be any sign ahead of time to signal your return and the end of the world?”

Jesus told them, “Don’t let anyone mislead you.

 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will lead many astray.

 And wars will break out near and far, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must come, but the end won’t follow immediately.

 The nations and kingdoms will proclaim war against each other, and there will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world.  But all this will be only the beginning of the horrors to come.

 “Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because of your allegiance to me.

 And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other.

 And many false prophets will appear and will lead many people astray.

 Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.

  But those who endure to the end will be saved.

Verse 14: And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then, finally, the end will come.

 “The time will come when you will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about: the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing in the Holy Place”–reader, pay attention!

 For that will be a time of greater horror than anything the world has ever seen or will ever see again”(Mathew 24:1-21).

 

 

There has never been a period in Earth’s history where Satanic and demonic activities have achieved such great destruction of human lives as in this generation.

The satanic powers are desperate to hinder the plan of God in our time. There is a rise in the rejection of Christianity.  There is a rise in Jihadists and the rise of false pastors and churches. The moral and spiritual deterioration in the world is scary.

We now need prayer in our world like never before because a greater day of doom and destruction threatens when many will be wiped out, slipping to eternity in hell forever.

 The rise in idolatry and other evils, indicates devil and his host are making a last-minute attempt against humanity. Indeed, we need an earth-shaking and earth-sweeping revival from God!  

 Only such great spiritual revival and awakening can meet our global necessity. The hour is now! It is a crucial time, we need God’s intervention and a great move of the Holy Spirit to raise and release many more labourers to the fields of the world, but we can’t expect this moves unless we return to an altar of prayer.

 When we become desperate in our prayers to God, He will hear us, and our nations will turn back to God, and billions of sinners will be swept into God’s Kingdom.

God says in Psalms 2:8, “Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth as your possession.

We have the power in us to conquer the world for Christ. But we must ask God for it. We must be ready to pay the price of prayer, praying ceaselessly for the possession of the nations for Christ and for His supreme rulership over the earth.

In 1Samuel 2:1-26. Hannah, a woman of prayer cried and poured out her soul in earnest prayer to the Lord in desperation, and He answered her and gave her a son. She named him Samuel meaning, “heard of God.”

This is the prayer we need.

If we cry and pour out our souls in earnest prayer to the Lord in desperation for revival, He will hear and give us millions of sons and daughters that are presently still captives of the devil and religion, slipping to eternity in hell on a daily basis.

 Persecution the 500 AD

 In the 500s AD, the Church and the world were at their darkest hour. Followers of Christ faced great persecution, and anti-Christ activities were at their peak.

 John Knox, a man of prayer rose to the challenge of the moment in desperate cry, prayer, fasting, weeping, and groans, alone with God, day and night in seclusion for more than 10  years until heaven opened and a great sweeping revival came to his nation, Scotland and spread out to all the world.

Multitudes were converted to Christ. They turned back to God in his time. Why? God heard him. This is the prayer we need now. A writer wrote about the powerful prayer  of John Knox, “

Perhaps of all the prayers of Knox, “Give me Scotland, or I die” is the most quoted one.  It was not an arrogant prayer but a passionate plea, showing his intense desire for the conversion of the people of Scotland.

His prayer was an expression of his great confidence in God. One of Knox’s mottos was “one man with God is always in the majority.”

His prayer also echoes the Apostle Paul’s prayer in Romans 10:1, “my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.”

I wonder if we have the same desire for our fellow countrymen. When was the last time you prayed for your country as Knox did for his? Do we sincerely pray for our fellow countrymen’s conversion?

 Knox remained prayerful even to death. During his dying hours, “he was much engaged in meditation and prayer.

 These words were often in his mouth”: “Come, Lord Jesus. Sweet Jesus into Thy hand I commend my spirit. Be merciful, Lord, to Thy Church, which Thou hast redeemed. Give peace to this afflicted commonwealth.

“Raise up faithful pastors who will take charge of Thy Church. Grant us, Lord, the perfect hatred of sin, both by evidence of Thy wrath and mercy.”

“Grant us, Lord, the perfect hatred of sin…”

What a godly prayer of Knox! Indeed, after he died on November 24, 1572 (at about age 58), Principal Smeaton, one of Knox’s contemporaries, said of him, “I know not if ever God placed a more godly and great spirit in a body so little and frail.” Knox was not perfect, but we can definitely learn from his prayer life”. John Knox’s prayer turned the world back to Christ in his generation.

It is time to pray fervently to God for the release of many more labourers to the remaining about 3 billion unreached people groups of the world.

 These people have been waiting for decades for gospel witnesses to show them the way of salvation in Christ Jesus.  This will fulfill the end-time prophecy of the gospel to all the world and the end of the age.

It is the only prophecy that positively speaks of the end-time Revival and harvest that will usher in the close of the age and Christ’s second coming as recorded in Mathew 24:14

” And this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come”.

 Therefore, It is time to pray and cry out to God for revival and harvest, Jesus says, ” The harvest is truly great, but the labourers are few: pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest”( Luke 10:2).

Jesus says again “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest”( John 4:35).

  *It is time to pray for personal, cooperate, national and global Revival .*

 Why is prayer urgently needed in our world? because there is an intense satanic onslaught and demonic activities in the world

  1. A full-scale nuclear war between the U.S.and Russia would see global food systems obliterated and over 5 billion people die of hunger

2. The Bible is about to be rewritten, and the one world religion headquarters has been established.

3. Domestic food price inflation remains high around the world, with high inflation

4.  33 Nigerian States Ravaged by Flood in Eight Months

5. The United States and Britain on Sunday warned of a possible terrorist attack in Nigeria’s federal capital Abuja.

 What is the likelihood of nuclear war?

What would happen if the US and Russia had a nuclear war? A full-scale nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia would see global food systems obliterated and over 5 billion people die of hunger.

 A global study led by Rutgers climate scientists estimates post-conflict crop production. What would happen if there was a nuclear war?

Communist China Is Reportedly Rewriting the Bible and Calling Jesus a ‘Sinner.’ But That’s Not All…Communist China Is Reportedly Rewriting the Bible. Putin Orders Russian Nuclear Weapons on Higher Alert. Amid a full-scale military assault on Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his country’s nuclear forces to move to the heightened alert status …

 The World Bank

Domestic food price inflation remains high around the world, with high inflation … with starvation, death,  and destitution. Congress of World Religions Kicks Off in Kazakhstan.  Government officials and spiritual leaders from around the globe gathered recently in Kazakhstan for the seventh Congress of the advocates of a one-world religion

Amidst all that is happening currently, see occurrences of Revival that broke out in the past because some men dared to pay the price.  These are men just like us, flesh and blood. However, they paid the price of prayer on their knees to stop demonic activities, de-populate hell, and expand heaven will millions of souls in their generation*

 John Smith

“I have often seen him come downstairs in the morning after spending several hours in prayer, with his eyes swollen with weeping.

“He would soon introduce the subject of his anxiety by saying, ‘I am a broken-hearted man; yes, indeed, I am an unhappy man; not for myself, but on account of others. God has given me such a sight of the value of precious souls that I cannot live if souls are not saved. Oh give me souls, or else I die!’” —Life of John Smith.

 “Where the result which he desired did not attend his own ministry, he would spend days and nights almost constantly on his knees, weeping and pleading before God; and especially deploring his own inadequacy to the great work of saving souls.

 “He was at times when he perceived no movement in the church, literally in agonies; travailing in birth for precious souls, till he saw Christ magnified in their salvation.”—Life of John Smith.

 David Brainerd

“God enabled me to so agonize in prayer that I was quite wet with perspiration, though in the shade and the cool wind. My soul was drawn out very much from the world, for multitudes of souls.”— David Brainerd.

 John Nelson

“If you spend several hours in prayer daily, you will see great things. “—John Nelson.

 “He made it a rule to rise out of bed about twelve o’clock, and sit up till two, for prayer and converse with God; then he slept till four; at which time he always rose.”—Life of John Nelson.

David Stoner

“Be instant and constant in prayer. Study, books, eloquence, and fine sermons, are all nothing without prayer. Prayer brings the spirit, the life, the power. “—Memoir of David Stoner.

 All above are quoted by Oswald J. Smith, The Revival We Need, p24-32

 William J. Petersen, 100 Amazing Answers to Prayer

 Praying Johnny

An incident is told of a place called Filey in the early days of Methodism, to which preacher after the preacher had been sent, but all to no purpose. The village was a stronghold of Satanic power, and each one in turn had been driven out until at last it was decided to give it up as a hopeless task.

 Just before the matter was finally settled, however, the now famous John Oxtoby, or “Praying Johnny” as he was called, begged the Conference to send him, and so let the people have one more chance. They agreed, and a few days afterward John set out on his journey. On the way, a person who knew him inquired where he was going. “To Filey,” was the reply, “where the Lord is going to revive His work.”

 As he drew near the place, on ascending the hill between Muston and Filey, suddenly a view of the town burst upon his sight. So intense were his feelings that he fell upon his knees under a hedge and wrestled and wept and prayed for the success of his mission.

 We have been told that a miller, who was on the other side of the hedge, heard a voice and stopped in astonishment to listen, when he heard Johnny say “Thou munna mak a feal o’ me! Thou munna mak a feal o’ me! I told them at Bridlington that Thou was going to revive Thy work, and Thou must do so, or I shall never be able to show my face among them again, and then what will the people say about praying and believing?”

 He continued to plead for several hours. The struggle was long and heavy, but he would not cease. He made his very weakness and inefficiency a plea. At length, the clouds dispersed, the glory filled his soul, and he rose to exclaim, ‘It is done, Lord. It is done. Filey is taken. Filey is taken.’

 And taken it was, and all in it, and no mistake. Fresh from the Mercy seat he entered the place and commenced singing up the streets, “Turn to the Lord and seek salvation,” etc. A crowd of stalwart fishermen flocked to listen. Unusual power attended his address, hardened sinners wept, strong men trembled, and while he prayed over a dozen of them fell on their knees, and cried aloud for mercy and found it.”

 Culled from Oswald J. Smith, The Revival We Need, p70-72

 

The mighty prayers of a feeble woman.

 “The first ray of light that broke in upon the midnight which rested on the Churches in Oneida County, in the fall of 1825 was from a woman in feeble health, who, I believe, had never been in a powerful revival. Her soul was exercised about sinners.

 “She was in an agony for the land. She did not know what ailed her, but she kept praying more and more, till it seemed as if her agony would destroy her body. At length, she became full of joy. and exclaimed: ‘God has come! God has come! There is no mistake about it, the work is begun, and is going all over the region.’ And sure enough, the work began, and her family was all converted, and the work spread all over that part of the country.” – Chas. G. Finney.

 A daily prayer for revival.

The story is told of an invalid who formed the habit of praying for a Revival, daily, for some thirty towns and communities, and from time to time made this entry in his diary: “I was enabled to pray the prayer of faith for—– today.” After his death, Revivals swept over each of these thirty places, almost exactly in the order he had noted them down. God had spoken, and though he did not live to see any of the answers, yet he was given the assurance that he had been heard.

 Oswald J. Smith, The Revival We Need, p73-74

 The burden of prayer for souls was quickly heard and answered.

Here is a scene witnessed during the first days of the movement: a crowded church: the service is over: and the congregation, reluctant to disperse, stands outside the church in silence that is tense. Suddenly a cry is heard within: a young man, burdened for the souls of his fellow men, is pouring out his soul in intercession.

 He prays until he falls into a trance and lies prostrate on the floor of the church. But heaven had heard, and the congregation, moved by a power that they could not resist, came back into the church, and a wave of conviction of sin swept over the gathering, moving strong men to cry to God for mercy.

 This service continued until the small hours of the morning, but so great was the distress and so deep the hunger which gripped men and women, that they refused to go home, and already were assembling in another part of the parish.

An interesting and amazing feature of this early morning visitation was the number who made their way to the church, moved by a power they had not experienced before: others were deeply convicted of their sin and crying for mercy, in their own homes, before ever coming near the church.

 The mighty weapon of prayer in the Hebrides revival.

Perhaps the greatest miracle of all was in the village of Arnol. Here, indifference to the things of God held the field and a good deal of opposition was experienced, but prayer, the mighty weapon of the revival, was resorted to and an evening given to waiting upon God.

 Before midnight God came down, the mountains flowed down at His presence, and a wave of revival swept the village opposition and spiritual death fled before the presence of the Lord of life.

Here was demonstrated the power of prevailing prayer, and that nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer except that which lies outside the will of God.

There are those in Arnol today who will bear witness to the fact that, while a brother prayed, the very house shook. I could only stand in silence as wave after wave of Divine power swept through the house, and in a matter of minutes following this heaven-sent visitation, men and women were on their faces in distress of soul.

It is true that in this village God had His “watchmen.” Thank God there are many such in Lewis and Harris; it is one of such men who, when he witnessed the mighty power of God in this village, asked that we might sing the 126th Psalm:

“When Sion’s bondage God turned back, As men that dreamed were we. Then filled with laughter was our mouth, Our tongue with melody.” Duncan Campbell, The Lewis Awakening, 1949-1953, p19

 More revival prayers were answered in the Hebrides.

Bernera is a small island off the coast of Harris, with a population of about 400. In April 1952, it was my privilege to visit this parish and witness one of the most remarkable movements of the revival, Here, as in other districts, there were men who, on their faces before God, cried for an outpouring of His Spirit; and an incident occurred which goes to demonstrate the power of prevailing prayer and to reveal how true it is that “the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.”

One morning an elder of the Church of Scotland was greatly exercised in spirit, as he thought of the state of the church and the growing carelessness toward Sabbath observance and public worship.

While waiting upon God, this good man was strangely moved, and was enabled to pray the prayer of faith and lay hold upon the promise, “I will be as the dew unto Israel.” This word from God came with such conviction and power, that he was assured that revival was going to sweep the island, and in that confidence, he rose from his knees.

 While this man was praying in his barn, I myself, taking part in the Faith Mission Convention at Bangor in Northern Ireland, was suddenly arrested by the conviction that I must leave at once and go to the Island of Bernera, where I found myself within three days!

Almost immediately after arriving, I was in the midst of a most blessed movement. Again the promise was being fulfilled, “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground.”

The first few meetings were very ordinary, but the prayers offered by elders of the congregation breathed confidence in the sure promise of God. Again and again, reference was made to the words of Psalm 50, verse 3, “Our God shall surely come.”

They did not wait long for the fulfillment of this word from God! One evening, just as the congregation was leaving the church and moving down towards the main road, the Spirit of God fell upon the people in Pentecostal power: no other word can describe it: and in a few minutes the awareness of the presence of the Most High became so wonderful and so subduing, that one could only say with Jacob of old, “Surely the Lord is in this place.”

There, under the open heavens and by the roadside, the voice of prayer was mingled with the groans of the penitent, as “free grace awoke men with light from on high.” Soon the whole island was in the grip of a mighty movement of the Spirit, bringing deep conviction of sin and a hunger for God.

This movement was different from that in Lewis in this respect, that while in Lewis there were physical manifestations and prostrations, such was not witnessed here; but the work was as deep and the results as enduring, as in any other part touched by the revival.

 Culled from Duncan Campbell, The Lewis Awakening, 1949-1953, p23-24

 

How Whitefield prayed

In 1737.

 George Whitefield was on his way to Georgia when he prayed, ‘God, give me a deep humility, a well-guided zeal, a burning love and a single eye, and then let men or devils do their worst!’ Five years later he could still record in his diary: ‘I spent most part of my time in secret prayer…..Pray that I may be very little in my own eyes, and not rob my dear Master of any part of his glory.’ Quoted Brian Edwards, Revival, p57

 

The Lewis Awakening in 1949 began with a prayer burden.

I believe this gracious movement of the Holy Spirit – The Lewis Awakening in 1949 – began in a prayer burden; indeed there is no doubt about that. It began in a small group who were really burdened. They entered into a covenant with God that they would “give Him no rest until He had made Jerusalem a praise in the earth”.

They waited. The months passed, and nothing happened until one young man took up his Bible and read from Psalm 24: “Who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart… He shall receive the blessing from the Lord.”

The young man closed the Bible and, looking at his companions on their knees before God, he cried: “Brethren, it is just so much humbug to be waiting thus night after night, month after month, if we ourselves are not right with God. I must ask myself – “Is my heart pure? Are my hands clean?”

Duncan Campbell, quoted A.Wallis, In the Day of Thy Power

 

John Abiola

Revive Us Again series 70.

Revive Us Again is a global prayer movement for Revival.

prophetjohnabiola97@g.mail.com