The greatest victories gained thru Prayer

Below I'm going to share a brief excerpt from something I'm writing. For now this is all I'll share, but I thought some of you might be inspired and challenged by the testimonies, as was I. I have a long ways to go before my life exemplifies this kind of devotion…yet being far from the goal doesn't keep me from moving forward! :-) 

“Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Phil 3:12-14

Greatest Victories gained thru Prayer

Charles Finney was a powerful  and noted evangelist in the early 1830’s. Through his ministry over a thousand were converted in New York one year. In Boston, over 50,000 made faith commitments to God in just one week. Some estimate that he was responsible for at least half a million conversions during his lifetime. But where did he get the power? Through prayer…consistent daily persistent prayer. He made prayer a priority.

E.M. Bounds, well known for his inspirational life of prayer and for practicing what he preached made prayer a priority in his life from 4am to 7am for many years. It was stated of Bounds, “As breathing is a physical reality to us, so prayer was a reality to him.” He was the author of numerous books on prayer that have blessed and impacted thousands.

Adoniram Judson, alive during the early 1800’s, spent forty years of his life as a missionary to the Buddhist of Burma. He translated the Bible into Burmese and founded a number of churches throughout Burma. His success he too attributed to prayer…much prayer. His encouragement to others was, “Arrange thy affairs, if possible, so that thou canst leisurely devote two or three hours every day not merely to devotional exercises, but to the very act of secret prayer and communion with God. Begin the day by rising after midnight and devoting some time amid the silence and darkness of the night to this sacred work of prayer. Let the hour of the opening dawn find thee at the same work again…Make all practical sacrifices to maintain this time of prayer. Consider that thy time is short and that business and company must not be allowed to rob thee of thy God.”

We might say this is impossible…simply fanatical! Yet Dr. Judson impressed an Empire for Christ and made an imprint in Burma that will be seen only in eternity. Inspiration reminds us over and over again:

“The greatest victories gained for the cause of God are not the result of labored argument, ample facilities, wide influence, or abundance of means; they are gained in the audience chamber with God, when with earnest, agonizing faith men lay hold upon the mighty arm of power.” 

Gospel Workers, p. 259