Just Like You and Me

"When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realize they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus." Acts 4:13

I quote from Chapter 9 of Thom Rainer's book, "I Will" ...

"His name was Jeremiah Lanphier. The day was September 23rd, 1857. The location was New York City. For days Lanphier had been handing out flyers about a time of prayer and he likely distributed more than 20,000 flyers by himself. He was a man of the great conviction. He was desperate for a move of God, and he knew no human-powered system or organization could manufacture such a move. So he prayed. And he called others to pray as well.

Lanphier probably had great anticipation that many would show up at noon on September 27th. The city had a population of 1 million. His flyers were likely seen by more than the original 20,000 recipients of the flyers. So he went to the borrowed Upper Room of the church and prayed and waited. For 30 minutes no one showed up. Then he heard the footsteps of a few coming to the prayer meeting. 6 other people joined him. Their numbers increase to 14 the next week then 23 the next week and the prayer meetings continue to grow.

The presence of God was so powerful, those who were in the meetings decided to have the gatherings every day. And the numbers continue to increase. By winter of 1857 the prayer meetings were filling three large churches every day, then by March of 1958, every available Public Hall and church in New York City was filled every day.

Horace Greeley, the famous newspaper editor, sent a reporter to attempt to count the numbers at those meetings. He could only make it to six locations by horse and buggy in that one hour. He still counted 6100 people. The prayer movement spread across the nation. At one season of this movement 10,000 people were becoming believers each week. More than one scholar has estimated that 1 million people became followers of Christ through these prayer meetings. A movement had begun. Today I am praying for another movement of God."

God still does the extraordinary through the ordinary. It is His Way. He is The Way. We need revival. He desires revival. We must surrender to being revived. Through prayer and through His Word. Through His Spirit and through witness, service and love, in His Name.

With conviction,
Pastor Fred

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