A REVIVAL OF REAL PRAYING

A revival of real praying would bring a revival of holiness, for prayer leads the soul into the fire of God's presence where sin cannot dwell. A revival of real praying would be a revival of missions, for when the Church touches heaven in prayer, she is compelled to touch the nations with the gospel. A revival of real praying would bring a revival everywhere. When the people of God pray in earnest, the fragrance of awakening spreads across the earth. A revival of holiness is indispensable to the full salvation which is the glory of the gospel. Without holiness, the power of revival is quenched. The coming revival must begin with a great revival of prayer. Before the Spirit is poured out, the saints must bend low before God. Revival is the Spirit of God working through praying men. When men give themselves wholly to prayer, heaven invades earth. Every mighty move of the Spirit of God has had its source in the prayer chamber. The secret kneeling of saints has always been the birthplace of public awakening. What the Church needs today is not more machinery, not better organizations, not novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The conditions of revival are always the same: earnest prayer and the outpouring of the Spirit. Wherever these are found, revival will follow. The story of every great Christian achievement is the history of answered prayer. Behind every work of God is the intercession of His people. GOD SHAPES THE WORLD BY PRAYER Men are God's method. The Church is always searching for better methods, but God is always searching for better men. A man filled with God is worth more than every plan without Him. The preacher is more than the sermon. The messenger must first be consumed by the message, for truth lives or dies in the vessel that carries it. The real sermon is made in the closet. What a man is with God alone will echo when he stands before men. A prayerless ministry is the undertaker of God's truth and the death of His Church. Where prayer ceases, power dies, and the gospel becomes a lifeless form. Prayer is absolutely dependent upon faith. It is faith that gives prayer its wings and faith that lays hold of the answer before the eyes can see it. Prayer is far-reaching in its influence and world-wide in its effects. No wall can stop it, no boundary can contain it, no nation can exclude it. Prayer goes everywhere and lays its hand upon everything. It enters homes, touches governments, changes nations, and shapes eternity. God shapes the world by prayer. The destinies of people and the direction of nations are altered when the Church prevails with God. The more praying there is in the world, the better the world will be. The more the saints kneel, the stronger will be the forces against evil in every place. Prayer is the one mark that shines most brightly in the lives of God's true servants. If they are remembered for anything, it is for the hours they spent with God. PRAYER MAKES THE MAN Prayer honors God, acknowledges His being, exalts His power, adores His providence, and secures His aid. Prayer makes a godly man and puts within him the mind of Christ. The measure of a man's likeness to Christ is the measure of his life in prayer. Praying makes the man, praying makes the preacher, praying makes the saint. What we are on our knees is what we truly are before God. Praying men are the men the Holy Ghost anoints. The Spirit of God falls upon the man who tarries with God in secret. Prayer is not learned in a classroom but in the closet. The school of prayer has no professors but the Spirit and no textbooks but the Word of God. Spiritual work is of such a nature that it demands spiritual men to do it. Fleshly strength cannot accomplish eternal things. Preaching is not the performance of an hour. It is the outflow of a life that has been hidden with God. Prayer is the greatest of all forces, because it honors God and brings Him into active aid. The hand that moves heaven moves earth as well. Prayer concerns God, whose purposes and plans are conditioned on prayer. What He has promised He will fulfill through the petitions of His people. The life, the character, and the message of the preacher are of supreme importance. His words carry only as much weight as his walk with God.