Fewer people have heard of Abel Clary or ‘Father’ Daniel Nash than of Charles G. Finney, the great revivalist of the 19th century sometimes referred to as the father of modern revivalism. The historical truth is that they were the bastion of Finney’s ministry. Nash had been infected with an eye disease that left him unable to read or see for a period of time. During this time, he gave himself most entirely to prayer. Recovering from the disease, he became a man of powerful intercession. Nash would go three or four weeks ahead of the revivalist sometimes alone or with Clary into whatever city or town Finney was to preach in and pray down revival. Nash was not timid in prayer. His praying could sometimes be heard up to half a mile away! During revivals, Clary was said to pray nearly all the time with unimaginable agony of mind. Sometimes he could not even stand on his knees and would fall prostrate and groan, praying in an astounding manner and seeking God’s face for revival and the salvation of souls. Nash and Clary were expressing passion and fervency in prayer.
Finney in his lectures on revival said, ‘I have never seen a person
sweat blood, but I do know a person who prayed until his nose bled. And people
have prayed until drenched in sweat, even in the coldest winter. Some have
prayed for hours until their strength was exhausted from the labour of their
minds. Such prayers reached and took hold on God.’
...The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes
tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]
Jas 5:16 [AMP]
The Greek translated ‘earnest’ or ‘effectual, fervent’ in the
Authorised Version is the word energeo
from which we derive the English word energy. How much energy do we expend in
our prayers? Our prayers must be fuelled with the energy of passion if they are
to make tremendous power available, dynamic in its working.
If in prayer, you want to shout, shout. Not
because God is deaf or because you are shouting Him down, but because your
passion in prayer, your fervency, your earnestness dictates it. Expend your
energy in expressing the passion in your heart. Dull, liturgical, routine,
dispassionate prayer is not what God has called us to. We can only seek God and
find Him when we seek Him with all our hearts, and volume is one of the
manifestations of passion. Yes, God is not deaf; but God is not jittery or
nervous either. If you don’t like noise, you’re in for a rude shocker when you
get to heaven! The book of Revelations refers at least 13 times to loud
shouting, worship and prayer by groups of angels (Rev 5:11,12), individual
angels (Rev 5:2), interceding martyrs (Rev 6:9,10), worshipping saints (Rev
7:9,10) etc.
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great
multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people,
and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white
robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation
to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
Rev 7:9,10
And when he had opened the fifth
seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of
God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice,
saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our
blood on them that dwell on the earth?
Rev 6:9,10Passionate worship and passionate prayer many times translates into volume. God did not ask an angel to go tell the martyrs interceding beneath the altar to keep quiet because his peace and quiet was being disturbed. We must allow people to express themselves in passionate prayer without stifling them.
However,
there is a place where words are not enough. Tears are another
expression of passion. Spurgeon calls this the liquid prayer. Passion is
not necessarily converted into volume-ask Hannah. Her passion was expressed in liquid
prayer; she wept sore. Her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. She
expressed her passion such that the priest thought she was drunk! Wow! I’ve
been there a few times.
And she was
in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore. And it came to
pass, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli marked her mouth. Now
Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not
heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. And Hannah answered and
said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk
neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD.
1Samuel 1:10,12,13,15
God answered
her in Samuel, a prophet to the nation.
Ask Hezekiah. His passion was expressed in
liquid prayer. Lying on his would-be death bed, and too weak to stand, he
turned his face to the wall and wept before God. God sent him an immediate
reply by the hand of the prophet Isaiah.
Turn again,
and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of
David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I
will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.
2Ki 20:5
God answered
him by adding 15 years to his life. Now, God does not answer tears- He answers prayer; and when our prayers are carried in the stream of
passionate tears, we enter into new levels in moving God.
The Psalmists
had a peculiar revelation of liquid prayer. They understood that God is aware
of every tear, and that our sincere tears in the place of prayer guarantee a
harvest of joy.
Thou tellest
my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy
book? Psalm 56:8
They that sow
in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious
seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with
him. Psalm 126:5,6
God sees our
passion in prayer and it moves His hand. So cry if you have to. Shout if you
have to. Scream if you have to. Do drunk if you have to. Bend over and roll if
you have to. Jesus in the days of His flesh cried out to God with loud cries
and groans.
And yes! God is not jittery!
Prayer: Father in the Name of Jesus, baptise me in passionate prayer. Let my life of prayer lose every sense of dullness. Let fire, expression, life come upon me. Let lifelessness in prayer transform to Spirit-fuelled expression.
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