The Ministry of Intercession: A Plea for More PrayerMurray, Andrew
Religion
The Ministry of Intercession: A Plea for More Prayer
Murray, Andrew
Intercessory prayer -- Christianity
Let all who are burdened with the lack of spirituality, with the low
state of the life of God in believers, listen to the call that comes to
all. If there is to be revival,--a mighty, Divine revival,--it will
need, on our part, corresponding whole-heartedness in prayer and faith.
Let not one believer think himself too weak to help, or imagine that he
will not be missed. If he first begin, the gift that is in him may be so
stirred that, for his circle or neighbourhood, he shall be God's chosen
intercessor. Let us think of the need of souls, of all the sins and
failings among God's people, of the little power there is in so much of
the preaching, and begin to cry every day, "Wilt Thou not revive us
again, that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?" And let us have the truth
graven deep in our hearts: every revival comes, as Pentecost came, as
the fruit of united, continued prayer. The coming revival must begin
with a great prayer revival. It is in the closet, with the door shut,
that the sound of abundance of rain will be first heard. An increase of
secret prayer with ministers and members, will be the sure harbinger of
blessing.
3. "_Revive Thy work, O Lord!_"--A third lesson our texts teach is that
it is to the humble and contrite that the revival is promised. We want
the revival to come upon the proud and the self-satisfied, to break them
down and save them. God will give this, but only on the condition that
those who see and feel the sin of others take their burden of confession
and bear it, and that all who pray for and claim in faith God's reviving
power for His Church, shall humble themselves with the confession of its
sins. The need of revival always points to previous decline; and decline
was always caused by sin. Humiliation and contrition have ever been the
conditions of revival. In all intercession confession of man's sin and
God's righteous judgment is ever an essential element.
Throughout the history of Israel we continually see this. It comes out
in the reformations under the pious Kings of Judah. We hear it in the
prayer of men like Ezra and Nehemiah and Daniel. In Isaiah and Jeremiah
and Ezekiel, as well as in the minor prophets, it is the keynote of all
the warning as of all the promise. If there be no humiliation and
forsaking of sin there can be no revival or deliverance: "These men have
set up their idols in their hearts. Shall I at all be inquired of by
them?" "To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a
contrite spirit, and that trembleth at My word." Amid the most gracious
promises of Divine visitation there is ever this note: "Be ashamed and
confounded for your ways, O House of Israel."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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