The Private Ministry of Prayer — E.A. Johnston

The Hidden Power of Private Prayer

There are individuals whose lives are lived in relative obscurity to their generation, but there is one who is deeply familiar with their powerful ministry of prayer. God has his eyes and his smile on those faithful prayer warriors who know how to gain his ear through their lives of desperate and importunate prayer.

Although the church takes little notice of them, grants no awards to them, or gives accolades for their ministry effort, their private ministry of prayer is a ministry of great power and influence in their generation.

The Biblical Foundation: Elijah’s Fervent Prayer

Their best hours are spent on their knees, on their faces, crying out to God in lives of intercession. These individuals are a gift to the church. My message tonight, friends, is entitled The Private Ministry of Prayer, and my text can be found in the book of James in chapter 5.

You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. We will be in verses 16 through 18. Let me read us this passage of scripture at this time. And here now is the word of God, and may the Spirit of the Lord be pleased to attend the reading of his holy word.

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain. And it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. Listen, friends. God will always raise up an Elijah whose prayers impact a sleeping nation. The church in each generation has had individuals who live upon their knees, whose prayers reach heaven with a holy violence.

India had her pray and hide, China her Hudson-Taylor, England her Puritans, Scotland her Covenanters, America her fiery E-M-Bounds, voices which gained the attention of the throne room, startled angels, and shook the gates of hell, making even the demons quake and tremble with their desperate prayers.

My Bible contains a record of men and women whose lives of prayer God has honored. Jacob became a prince through a night of importunate prayer. Hannah appeared drunk to Eli the priest as she prayed for her son.

But it was her intoxicated love for God and faith in God and anguished prayer that gained his ear, giving her Samuel the prophet. There's power in prayer, friends. Prayer warriors have a power from on high that man cannot touch and the devil cannot stop.

John Hyde and the Ministry of Hidden Intercession

There are individuals who have given themselves to a private ministry of prayer. Several men come to mind who typify this hidden life of prayer. One was John Hyde of India, also known as Prayin' Hyde.

This man lived on his knees and he was used of God to change the face of a nation through prayer. Another man who comes to mind was a minister who co-labored with Trolls Fanny. This man's name was Daniel Nash, or Father Nash as Fanny called him.

Daniel Nash and the Prayer Behind Revival

Father Nash had a private ministry of prayer behind the scenes of great revivals. During the Second Great Awakening, Nash would travel to a town ahead of Fanny and bathe that community in prayer before Trolls Fanny got there and Fanny would be constantly in prayer while Fanny preached.

Fanny acknowledged the important role that Daniel Nash played in the revival in his memoirs. Fanny related about Nash. He labored about in many places in central and northern New York and gave himself up to almost constant prayer, literally praying himself to death at last.

There was another man who sometimes accompanied Daniel Nash and this man's name was Cleary. They both would hole up in a house in a town and pray heaven down. One time, these men showed up in a farming community in New York and they got a basement room in a boarding house and told the lady owner that they worked for Fanny.

The lady who owned the boarding house became alarmed by the loud groans from their room and the fact they never emerged and this woman went to see Trolls Fanny about it and told them there were two men in her rented room who never came out and strange cries and groans would emerge from that room.

Fanny replied, don't worry about that, it's just Father Nash and Father Cleary praying for me. The powerful revivals that followed Trolls Fanny were birthed by the prayers of these men, especially of Daniel Nash.

Fanny said to Nash, he's the only man I know who preaches with his eyes closed and prays with his eyes open. And then there was Prayin' Payson of Portland, Maine, whose life of prayer shook his town for the glory of God.

When Prayin' Payson died, it was discovered that the wooden floor by his bed size was indented from his knees and there were grooves in the floor from where this man anguished and rocked back and forth in prayer night after night.

E.M. Bounds and Prayer as the Church’s Power

Another man who comes to my mind who was mighty in prayer in a private ministry of prayer was the great E .M. Bownes. E .M. Bownes wrote eight volumes on prayer. Listen to what Bownes said, the only condition, which is to give worldwide power to this gospel is prayer.

And the spread of this gospel will depend on prayer. The energy which was to give it marvelous momentum and conquering power over all its malignant and powerful foes is the energy of prayer. Listen friends, an effectual prayer life is cherished by the Almighty because it is those rare individuals who know God intimately in a life of faith and prayer.

Prayer as the Birthplace of Revival

Many revivals were both bathed in prayer and birthed by prayer. I like a story I heard about D .L. Moody in England during his first preaching engagement. It was in a small church where revival suddenly broke out and the building could not contain the crowds.

The work of God was so startling it aroused in Moody a desire to locate the reason behind the revival. In speaking with the church's pastor he learned of a church member who was a bedridden invalid, a young girl.

She had seen a picture of Moody in an American newspaper and began to pray to God that he would send this American preacher to her church in a mighty revival. Well, Moody visited this invalid. Her name was Marianne Adlord.

She had a private ministry of prayer which shook her entire town in England in revival, but she was so weak she could not even get out of bed to attend the meetings, but she could move God with her emboldened life of prayer.

Years after that time when Moody was preaching, that church got a new pastor, a young man by the name of G. Campbell Morgan, and he paid this invalid girl a visit and he wrote about it in a book on prayer.

Here are G. Campbell Morgan's words. When in 1901 I was leaving England for America, I went to see her. She said to me, I want you to reach that birthday book. I did so, and turning to February 5th, I saw in the handwriting I knew so well, D .L. Moody, Psalm 91.

Then Marianne Adlord said to me, he wrote that for me when he came to see me in 1872, and I prayed for him every day until he went home to God. Now will you write your name on your birthday page, and let me pray for you until either you or I go home.

Then G. Campbell Morgan commented, I shall never forget writing my name in that book. To me, the room was full of the presence. I like that story, don't you friends? God delights to use the infirm and weakened body who can do mighty things for God in prayer.

The Lewis Revival and Prayer in Weakness

Another story of a hidden life of prayer is found behind the scenes of the Lewis Revival under Duncan Campbell. In the village of Barvis lived two elderly sisters, Peggy and Christine Smith. They were 84 and 82.

Peggy was blind, and her sister almost bent over with arthritis. They were unable to attend worship at their church because of their infirmities, but their humble cottage became a sanctuary, where they met their God and prayed revival down on the island.

These two old women spent the night in desperate prayer for revival to come. Peggy related about this night of prayer, before the morning light broke, we saw the enemy retreating, and our wonderful lamb taking the field.

Praying in the Holy Ghost

Listen friends, there is almighty power behind a private ministry of prayer, but if we desire to have prayer lives which move mountains of resistance and shake the gates of hell, then we must stay on our knees in brokenness and importunity until the answer is gained.

Jude speaks of praying in the Holy Ghost. But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. To pray in the Holy Ghost means that you first must be anointed by the Holy Ghost, filled with the Holy Ghost, and sensitive to the Holy Ghost, for to pray in the power of the Spirit means unobstructed access to the Almighty, influence to gain His attention, and power to attain answers to our plead and petitions.

For praying in the Holy Ghost storms the portals of heaven with violence and shuts up the heavens from rain, and makes fire fall upon the drenched altar of sacrifice, it makes kings tremble and kingdoms shake.

For a man praying in the power of the Holy Ghost has the ability to shake strong cities off their foundations, and the potential to send mountains tumbling into the sea, to startle the very angels of heaven, and rattle the red hot gates of hell.

A man full of the Spirit, and anointed with the Spirit, and praying in the Spirit, knows no resistance, has no opposition, fears no earthly mortal, and conquers all unearthly enemies. For praying in the power of the Holy Ghost is the essence that makes prayer effectual and fervent, as the Apostle declares, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

For a righteous man, to be praying with fervency and heat in the Holy Ghost is to have great influence upon one's generation, and avail much for eternity, friends. The power of prayer is the missing ingredient in the modern church of today, that's why she has no influence upon society, and no power over the devil.

The Cost of a Life of Prayer

A private ministry of prayer has its foundations shaped through seasons of trial and adversity. For a prayer life that grips the attention of the heavenly throne room is not built beneath calm sunny skies, but shaped during dark, sorrow-filled nights.

A serious prayer life is hammered out on the anvil of pain and anguish, desperation and despair, when hope hangs on a tattered thread, and all human resources are gone. There and only there does the answer to the request come.

Here is where the vital prayer life commences, which gains the cup-dear the Almighty, as he leans over to listen more intently to the pathetic sobs and anguished heart-cries, which in desperation reach out for his robe of righteousness, to grab hold of, and not let go until the answer is gained.

To become a person of prayer is to be a shrill, holy note, which continually rings the ears of angels, and rattles the gates of glory. There is a cost to a life of prayer. Listen, friends. A true prayer life is not born out of comfort and prosperity, but through trials and adversities.

In your leanness, you will learn to lean upon Him. Through your rolling on stormy seas, you will learn how to effectively storm heaven's portals for deliverance. When friends fail, disappoint, and desert you, you will seek and find favor with your faithful friend, Jesus.

Prayer’s Influence on the Church and Its Generation

A desperate life of prayer shakes the gates of hell and influences your generation, all for the glory of God. A strong prayer life will make you fear God and not man, and that's what we need in our pulpits today, friends.

A preacher is only as tall in the pulpit as he is long on his knees in prayer. A private ministry of prayer is often a life of seclusion, where social graces aren't cultivated, but a walk with God is exercised.

I believe, friends, that the few who are called to this private ministry are great favorites of God. Well, it is my prayer that this message has encouraged you to become a better person of prayer. Let us go now to God in prayer, and ask Him to enable us, and equip us, and anoint us in the power of the Holy Ghost.

Let us pray.