Prayer, the Holy Spirit and Revival #2 — Richard P. Belcher

Prayer, the Holy Spirit, and Revival

Turn with me tonight to the Old Testament prophet, the book of Habakkuk, chapter 3. Reference has already been made to these verses, but I want to read them. This is not the text, it's a text, because we're going to be looking at several passages, probably quoting them more than looking at them in depth.

But I do want to read this as a foundation, and then have prayer, and see if we can balance this subject out. Chapter 3, verses 1 and 2. A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, upon Shegionah. O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid.

O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known. Enwrap, remember, mercy. Let's pray. Our Father, we acknowledge again that we are only instruments. We have no power to preach, we have no power to teach, except you would grant us.

We could even stand and put together ideas and thoughts, but all is vain, unless the Spirit of God speaks. And so we pray tonight for that holy unction from upon high, that only you can grant, to a poor, helpless worm as he stands in the pulpit, to proclaim your word.

We pray not only unction for the speaker, but understanding for the hearers. For we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Tuesday night, we set before you something of the person and the work of the Holy Spirit.

We said the Holy Spirit is a person. We declared from the Scripture that he is a divine person. We spoke of some of his work. He convicts of sin. He indwells the believer. He seals the believer. He fills the believer.

And we talked about the fact that he is God's agent of sanctification. As part of his work of sanctification, he is also God's agent in the Church, and in the individual life of the Christian, for revival, for reformation, and for renewal.

We stress also that the Holy Spirit is sovereign in everything that he does. Now, perhaps when I finished the other night, some of you thought that preacher has painted himself into a corner. He has told us that the Holy Spirit is sovereign in everything he does.

The Holy Spirit is sovereign in revival. If that be so, then we don't need to pray. And on the other hand, if that preacher would admit that we need to pray, then the Holy Spirit must not be sovereign in revival.

We're wrestling again, I think you see, with the relation of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. And may I warn you that human reason always butchers the relationship of these two areas. So I don't want us to depend upon human reason.

I want us to look tonight at three areas. First of all, I want to set before you some false ideas of prayer. Generally false ideas of prayer, but we'll also relate them as we go to revival. Second, I want to set before you some biblical concepts of prayer.

False Ideas About Prayer and Divine Sovereignty

And third, I want to set before you those biblical concepts applied in a very practical way. First of all, let me mention some false ideas of prayer that are floating around in our world today. Some people have the idea that God can do nothing unless men pray.

To put it another way, God's hands are tied until somebody down here on this earth prays. This viewpoint would have to admit that God in His sovereignty has given up some of His sovereignty because He has ordained that nothing can be done without prayer.

Therefore, I would declare that God is not really sovereign because His sovereign decision to give up His sovereignty and ordain that He can do nothing without prayer has reduced God to less than a sovereign God.

Another false idea of prayer that's rather prevalent that goes along with this idea that God can't do anything unless men pray is the idea that man can change God's will when he prays. Have you ever heard that one?

Some things will happen only if men pray. And if we don't pray, then these things will never happen. Which is to say that we can somehow change God's will if we pray. Or if we don't pray, we change God's will.

Therefore, God's will is kind of open-ended. It's not set from eternity past, but God's will is set every day, day by day, depending on whether or not the human creatures upon this earth pray. If men pray, then some things happen.

God orders His will accordingly. If men don't pray for something, then God orders His will accordingly on the basis of the fact they haven't prayed. Which is to say the determination of God's will is bound to man's prayer.

Well, let me tell you this evening that both of these ideas are scripturally incorrect. The idea that God can do nothing unless we pray, or the idea that we can change God's will when we pray, are both scripturally incorrect.

Ephesians 111, and these verses are known to all of you, but I call them to your attention on the last. He is the God who works all things after the counsel of His own will. I don't read anything there about His will being predicated upon man's prayer.

We read in 1 Samuel 2, verses 6 -8, that the Lord kills and the Lord makes alive. He brings down to the grave, and He brings up. The Lord makes poor, and the Lord makes rich. He brings low, and He lifts up.

He raises up the poor out of the dust and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill to set them among the princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory. Now, I don't read there that God is dependent upon man's prayer to do that.

The thrust of the passage seems to be that the Lord is the one who does it. The Lord kills, the Lord makes alive, and it's not predicated on the fact of whether or not we pray. Daniel 4, verse 35, says He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.

And none can stay His hand, and none can say, God, what are you doing? He does according to His will. His will! There's nothing said about predicating it upon prayer. In fact, I think I can find some things in the Bible that God did without anybody praying.

Where was there someone praying when God created the world? There wasn't anybody even created yet to be able to pray for God to create the world. Where was Adam and Eve? And where was their prayer when God came after they had sinned in Genesis 3, 15 and gave them a promise of the Messiah?

Were Adam and Eve on their knees praying that God would send us a Messiah? God gave the promise of the Messiah? Nobody prayed. And let me ask you, what Jew ever prayed that God would use Assyria to judge His people?

According to Isaiah 10. Now maybe you can find it in Scripture. If you do, I'd be glad to hear it. But I don't recall any Jew ever praying, Lord, you just come in here and bust up our land with that Assyrian war machine because we've been so sinful.

And what Jew ever prayed that God would destroy the temple? The fact of the matter is that Jews said to Jeremiah, God can't destroy this temple. This is His house. And what Jew ever prayed that God would destroy the city of Jerusalem?

And what Jew ever prayed that God would destroy the wall? And what Jew or Gentile ever prayed that the Messiah would die on a cross? I've set those before you just hopefully to illustrate that God's hands are not tied by our prayerlessness and that we cannot change God's will by our prayer.

Our God is sovereign. And our God can do anything He wants, anytime He wants, anywhere He wants, through anybody He wants, and without men if He so wants. Is it not this low view of God that man can somehow change God's will and God's hands are tied because we don't pray?

Is it not this low theology that has led our age into a utilitarian concept of God? I can control God and His will. God then must exist for me. And I can use God to accomplish my end. God must exist to do my bidding if I can control Him and He can't do anything unless I pray.

And so when I need something, I'll seek Him. And when I feel we need revival, I'll seek Him. When I want my church to grow, I'll pray for revival. God will send it. I'll pray for revival so I can save my face and my people will pat me on the back and say, you're doing a good job, preacher.

God exists to serve me. I pray to God earnestly and in depth for a little time during the year. Isn't that the average revival? How do we pray for revival in our Southern Baptist churches? Oh, we schedule an evangelist.

He's going to be coming in. Oh, maybe six or seven months ahead we schedule the evangelist. And then a week before the revival meeting starts, quote, unquote, question mark, whatever else you want to put there, we have cottage prayer meetings.

Nobody does much praying until the cottage prayer meeting. And then everybody begins to pray. And for a week we pray. And then during the revival meeting, maybe a few people pray. And when the revival meeting is over, nobody prays anymore.

And even the preacher and sometimes evangelist when the revival is over, or the revivalist when the meeting is over, they go back to their normal routine of prayerlessness. So I pray to God. He exists up there to help me.

So it's proper, it's right for me to pray to Him a little time out of the year so He can wait on me, so He can do my bidding, so He can maybe save my face in front of my congregation. A utilitarian God.

He's up there to serve me. I can control Him. Is this not also what has led to a manipulative view of prayer and God? I can manipulate God. God's my little puppet. I make Him dance on my strings. Is this not what has created in some men's mind a mechanical concept of prayer?

God's kind of like a machine. You put in a nickel's worth of prayer, you get a nickel's worth of blessing. You put in a thousand dollars worth of prayer, you get a thousand dollars worth of blessing. Take your pick.

Pray for an hour, hour's worth of blessing. Pray all night, a whole night's worth of blessing. God's a mechanical individual. He's a machine. We just punch the prayer in and we can manipulate God and change God's will.

And God has to do our bidding. Is this not what has brought in some men's mind a bargain concept of prayer? I can bargain with God or a gimmick concept of prayer. We can treat prayer like a gimmick. Everybody wants to study prayer.

If we can just learn when to pray, how to pray, what to pray, where to pray, how to hold our hands when we pray, how to position the body while we pray, what to pray for, what not to pray for. If we can just attend all the seminars on prayer, then we can manipulate God.

I'll have Him in my hand and when I pray, God said, revival, revival will have to come. The gimmick concept of God and prayer. But I say again, that's not the God of the Bible. God's hands are not tied by our prayerlessness.

And we cannot change God's will by our prayer. God can do anything He wants, anytime He wants, anywhere He wants, through anyone He wants, or even without men if He wants. He works when we pray, He works when we don't pray.

He works when men work, He works when men don't work. He works through human resources and He can work without them. He's God. Somebody says, Preacher, I thought you were going to get us out of that painted corner.

You've put the paint even tighter by what you've said in this first point. Well, let me start with the paint remover as we move into point number two, some biblical concepts of prayer. Let me give you some biblical concepts of prayer.

Biblical Commands to Pray

It is thoroughly biblical that God has ordained the human responsibility of prayer as one of His means of grace. Very clearly the Bible declares that man has a responsibility to pray and to seek God's face.

That's declared in the Bible again and again and again. We have a responsibility to pray and seek God's face. Matthew 6 .44, Pray for those who persecute you. Matthew 7 .7, Ask and it shall be given you.

Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened. Matthew 21 .13, My house shall be called a house of prayer. Matthew 26 .41, Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. 1 Thessalonians 5 .17, Pray without ceasing.

1 Thessalonians 5 .25, Paul cries out, Brethren, pray for us. Luke 18 .1, Men ought to always pray. Luke 21 .36, Watch ye therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things.

Ephesians 6 .18, Pray always with all prayer. I like that. Colossians 4 .2, Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving. 1 Timothy 2 .2, Paul says, I exhort therefore that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty.

1 Timothy 2 .8, Men are to pray everywhere. James 5 .13, Is any man afflicted? Let him pray. James 5 .16, Pray for one another. Philippians 4 .6, In everything by prayer. Isaiah 55 .6, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found.

Call upon him while he is near. May you add to that all the biblical examples of the great men of God in the Bible who pray. And I can say with firm conviction, that Christians have the responsibility that even comes to revise, to pray.

But let me stress second that God has ordained prayer as a means to bless man. God not only says that we're to pray, but the Bible reveals that this is one of the means, not the only means, but one of the means whereby God blesses us.

James 5 .16, The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. The effectual fervent prayer. I believe the Greek word there speaks of a runner stretching to touch the cape. And this kind of prayer that James talks about is not just a little quiet prayer, but it's a fervent prayer of the Spirit and perhaps even of the voice stretching out to touch God.

As we call upon Him, Paul asks the Romans to pray that he may have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come to them. Ephesians 1 .17 -19, Paul says he prays that God may give to these Ephesians a spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him, the eyes of their understanding being enlightened, and you know the rest of it.

That they might know the exceeding greatness of God's power towards those who believe according to the working of his mighty power. That's Paul's prayer for these Ephesians. Now, why does he pray for them?

Because he knows that our God is a God who hears and answers prayer, and that prayer is his responsibility. And it is a means whereby God not only blesses his life, but God blesses the lives of others as he prays.

Matthew 18 .19, any two of you on earth shall agree as touching anything. They shall ask, and it shall be done for them when my Father is in heaven. Mark 9 .29, Jesus said to his disciples, this kind can come forth by nothing but by fasting and prayer.

Man has a responsibility. See God's face. Man has a responsibility to pray. God has ordained prayer as a means to bless man. Let me put it another way. God is not dependent on human responsibility, but God commands man to be responsible, and God honors human responsibility in his sovereignty over all things in accordance with his will and power.

Let me say that again, not to bore you. Our God is not dependent upon human responsibility, but he commands us to be responsible, and he honors our responsibility in these areas because in his sovereignty over all things, he has ordained that we should seek his face and receive his blessing through prayer in accordance with his purpose and will.

Prayer as a Means of Grace

Now third, let me be very practical. I don't believe I can get any more practical than I'm going to be right now. Should I pray in light of God's sovereignty, in light of the Holy Spirit's sovereignty in giving revival?

Should I pray? Absolutely yes! Because God commands it, and because God has ordained it as a means to accomplish his will. Perhaps the more important question is how should I pray? How should I pray? That's perhaps the place we fail.

I'm not to pray in a utilitarian spirit, thinking that I can control God, that I can press God to do my will. I'm not to pray with a manipulative motive. I'm not to pray in some mechanical way that God, you've got to bless me because here's five hours worth of prayer, I want five hours of blessing.

We're not to pray in some negotiating manner with God. But we're to pray, and let me mention three accompaniments of prayer. We must pray with a clear concept and a craving for the glory of God to be accomplished alone.

Let me say that again. We must pray with a clear concept of the glory of God and a craving for the glory of God.

And the glory of God alone.

In fact, you do not pray if the glory of God is not your motive. You're just saying words. There is no such thing as prayer if your motive is yourself. But true prayer is based upon a clear concept of the glory of God.

But second, I must pray with a confession of sin, with a clear concept of my sin, that I'm not coming into God's presence because of anything good within me, but I'm coming into God's presence dependent upon the blood of Jesus and the work of Jesus Christ at Calvary's cross for me.

And only prayer that is based upon an understanding and a confession of sin can be in Jesus' name, that is, depending upon Jesus Christ. Because otherwise, if I don't have confession of sin, my dependency is upon me when I come into God's presence to pray.

And third, I must pray with a commitment to the word of God, to its authority, and to be obedient to that word. You're wasting your time when you pray without a commitment to the word of God and its authority.

You're wasting your time. So how should I pray? Not with a utilitarian spirit that I'm going to manipulate God or negotiate with him, but I must pray with a craving and understanding of the glory of God.

I must pray understanding my sinfulness and yet Christ's righteousness. I must pray with a commitment to the authority of God's word and with a heart that is responsive to obey as God so directs. How am I to pray for revival?

The same way. Not in some utilitarian spirit whereby I think that once a year we can maybe manipulate God to come down into our midst in a service and bless us. We just have enough people out to the cottage prayer meeting.

If we just spend enough time that week before the preacher gets there, then we can somehow see revival in the church and we can see people saved. No, no. I must pray for revival for God's glory alone.

I must pray for revival confessing my sin. I must pray for revival with a commitment to God and his word and a spirit and an attitude of obedience. How often our prayers for revival lack this motive of God's glory.

You remember Moses back in chapter 32 of Exodus. Boy, they needed a revival. The people had just set up the golden calf and danced around and played and pulled their clothes off in idolatrous practices.

And you remember God came to Moses and said, Moses, I'm going to destroy those people. They're going to die right here. That's it. My wrath burns against them. But Moses, I'm going to raise you up. Now can you imagine, use your imagination for a moment, can you imagine the modern preacher, I might even say the modern Southern Baptist preacher had he been in Moses' place, would he say something like this?

Oh, Lord, you can't destroy these people. I went to school a long time to be a preacher and a pastor. And I spent a lot of money and time to get this position. And I have a position of importance in the community.

Oh, God, if you destroy these people, my ministry is going to just fall apart right before my eyes. Oh, if you do that, God, my reputation is going to be shot before the lost world and before the brethren and before the religious world.

Everybody down at denominational headquarters is going to say, he couldn't even get those people back Sinai. Nobody will ever recommend me to a bigger church. I'll be ruined for life in the ministry.

But I've got a wife and a family.

You carry out that statement. Everybody will see me as a failure. Oh, God, revive these people so I can keep my job. Revive these people so I can be considered a great preacher. Oh, revive these people so I won't suffer humiliation.

Oh, revive these people so I can build my reputation. Oh, revive these people so I can be successful. Is that what Moses prayed? Moses' prayer was not self-centered. Moses said, Lord, why does your wrath burn against your people, the ones that you brought out of Egypt?

Oh, God, your glory is at stake here. The Egyptians are going to rise up and say, God, you brought them out here to Sinai to kill them. Oh, God, remember your covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

You swore yourself to them, God. Your glory is at stake here because your Word is at stake. Now, Moses wasn't concerned about what was going to happen to Moses. But Moses was concerned about the glory of God.

He prayed for revival of these people and for God's wrath to be turned away on the basis of God's glory. Moses didn't say, wait a minute, Lord, what was that last statement? You're going to destroy them?

What was that you said you'd do with me? You're going to raise me up to be a great nation? Well, Lord, let me change my prayer here a little. I'm being a little facetious. Let me change my prayer a little, Lord.

Well, those people, they've sinned. They bushed them in the mouth. Break their teeth. You're going to raise me up and be a... Well, that's different, Lord. How many times when we pray and even thinking about revival, is our motive really self and not the glory of God?

We want revival so that the other churches of the association will pat us on the back and say, oh boy, what a great preacher. God's blessing his church. Maybe you might even want revival so that you can speak at the conventions and the associations and at the Southern Baptist Founders Conference.

We just have great revival. How often our prayer for revival lacks the motive of God's glory. Well, you remember Daniel, let me give you a second example. Daniel down in Babylon in Daniel 9. How often our prayers for revival lack confession of sin.

Imagine again the modern preacher in Daniel's place. Lord, it's so uncomfortable here in Babylon. No air conditioning. And my wife's complaining. And the kids cry all the time. And things are so hard for me and for your people.

And Lord, this isn't really what I had in mind when I surrendered to preach. And they didn't tell me it was going to be this way back at seminary. Lord, you've punished your people long enough. And surely, Lord, I deserve something better.

Oh, woe is me. Pity me, Lord. Send revival, Lord, so we can go home. Back to the land of Judah. Out of this miserable place called Babylon. No. Daniel didn't pray that way. Daniel recognized God. Throughout this passage,.

There's a clear recognition that God is righteous.

But there's also confession of sin. The recognition of God's glory. Actually, this passage puts both of these ideas together. The recognition of God's glory. But there's also the confession of sin. We have sinned, Lord.

We've broken Your laws. Oh, God. The confession of sin. And so when we pray for revival, there must be constantly and always, in fact, continually when we pray, there should be the confession of sin. Because without the confession of sin, remember, our dependence is upon ourselves.

But it's when we confess our sin and acknowledge our helplessness and our worthlessness that we then cast ourselves upon the Lord and His power in light of our sin. Let me give you one more. Remember when Josiah repaired the temple in 2 Chronicles 34?

And then they planned a revival service. How often our prayer for revival lacks a commitment to the Word of God. Can you imagine a modern preacher back there helping Josiah plan this service where the Word of God is going to be read and then where they're going to make a...

You have with God in your heart to obey Him. A modern preacher would have said, Now, wait a minute, Josiah. We've got to make this a great service. We've got to plan everything carefully. Let's get Miss Judah of 625 B .C. to come and sing and give her testimony.

Somebody said the other day that she knows you and loves you. Surely Miss Judah will tell her. Stir her up. And you're just going to use the Word of God? That won't work. Let's get some entertaining speaker.

I know a fellow, he tells the best jokes in the pulpit. He's got the most sparkling personality. Everybody likes him. I've never heard anybody say anything bad about him. And he never mentions sin. And he'll be such an encouragement to everybody.

In fact, he won't even make people mad by preaching the Bible. He'll preach positive things. But they've seen revival in Josiah's day. No, they found the Word of God, called the people together, read the Word of God.

The people's hearts were broken by the Word. And God sent revival. Because in Josiah's day, they centered on the Word of God. And I say to you, if you're praying for revival with a heart that's not committed to the Word of God and to obey it, you are wasting your time.

Biblical Revival Versus Human Methods

What a contrast to today's, these Bible men. In Bible revivals, the glory of God was supreme. They prayed with the glory of God for the motive. The confession of sin was present. They prayed, confessing their sin.

And the Word of God was central. They even prayed for revival with hearts that were open and willing to obey the authority of God's Word. Compare that with revivals today. Man is so dominant in our revivals today.

Man's plans. How can we get people out? How can we get people out? Nobody mentions real prayer. It's Pack a Pew, these other programs. And sometimes, maybe you preachers, have you ever gone into a church and thought, how can I get these people to like me?

If I can just get them to like me on Sunday morning when we start the meeting, they'll come back the rest of the week. How can I get them to like me? Man's personality. And so men stand on the pulpit and tell jokes.

I read somewhere the other day, they were advertising a clown and a puppet conference, a church clown and puppet conference. And the advertising said, this may be the most important church conference you will attend this year.

This will be the most important church conference you may attend this year, a clown and puppet conference. And you know what I thought? I replied in my heart with one of my favorite movie actors lines.

John Wayne, in one of his movies, said all the way through, that'll be the day. That'll be the day when the most important church conference that you'll attend this year is a puppet and a clown conference.

Men's methods. Now I don't mean to be critical, but in the simultaneous meetings, we gathered together as preachers of the area, I preached a couple of them,.

And we spent a whole hour.

Talking about how to draw the net. There's this to say, if we don't draw the net just right, when it gets down to the invitation time, some poor soul is going to slip through God's hands and he's not going to be saved.

If we just don't draw the net with the greatest of care. Men's methods. How to draw the net to catch the fish. Men's stories. Boy, this story will move them. When I was a young preacher, I used to hear a good story, and I thought, boy, if I can just find a Bible passage to go with that, that'll preach.

But that's what you got. Story after story after story. Nothing wrong with illustrations. To move people for the very purpose of stirring emotions. Man's prayer. To get men to pray without any mention of what real prayer is.

David Brainerd’s Prayer and Revival

Just so we can manipulate God. How far ashore do we fall? A biblical revival. One of my favorite men of history is David Brainerd. Brainerd was born in Haddam, Connecticut on April 20th of 1718. He wasn't saved until he was 21 years of age on July 12th of 1739.

Brainerd spent years trying to be saved by his own good works, his own good feelings, his own good intentions. But on July 12th of 1739, the sovereign grace of God came to David Brainerd and opened his heart and granted him understanding that salvation is in the righteousness of Christ and not in himself.

That following September, after his salvation, he went away to college, Yale College, which is now Yale University. But David Brainerd in 1742, about three years later, when he would have graduated as a valedictorian of his class, the largest graduating class of Yale College up to that date, David Brainerd was kicked out of school.

I don't have time to tell you the details. Jonathan Edwards said that David Brainerd was a Christian in the whole episode. And no fault was to be laid at his feet. But as David Brainerd was kicked out of school, he must have wondered, what in the world can I ever do for God now?

But without schooling, he had time for much prayer and study of the Word. And his diary reflects, it always reflected, but especially from these moments on, it began to reflect a real quest for the glory of God alone, a confession of sin.

Oh, if you've ever read Brainerd's diary, he didn't just visit Romans 7. He didn't just spend a few days there. David Brainerd lived in Romans 7. And David Brainerd was the mayor of the city of Romans 7.

I don't know a man in all history who had a concept of sin, indwelling sin in the believer like David Brainerd. And he was constantly crying out to God for mercy for his soul. He was so wretched and so vile.

But his diary also reflects not only a quest for the glory of God and confession of sin, but a burden for a lost world. And it's no surprise that on July of 1742, Brainerd was licensed for the ministry.

And then he was approved for missionary service at the age of 24 in that November. He went out to an Indian village in the wilderness called Konamik. Do you think you've got a rough field? You ought to understand where Brainerd was.

No matter how hard he tried, no matter how hard he preached, there was no success. The Indians were spiritually dead, lost in the darkest night of sin. Some of them laughed, some of them mocked, but most of them just didn't care about the gospel or a missionary.

Besides the indifference of the Indians, he was very lonely, no friends, no family. He didn't have any comforts of life. He had to build his own house. His food was mostly boiled corn. He slept on the floor on a pad of straw.

The bread that he ate, he had to travel 15 miles to get, and usually when he ate it, it was moldy or sour. Then there was the peril of traveling in the wilderness. Many times David Brainerd was lost in the wilderness, traveling even in the cold of winter.

At times he would even fall into the river when there was no warm house to dry himself or to warm his body. Brainerd wasn't a well man. He was sick, very sick. But he pressed on. He pressed on preaching the word of God.

He pressed on praying for God's glory to be manifested to these Indians. He pressed on living in Romans 7, the reality of his own sin.

And helplessness and powerlessness.

And then the mission board in 1744, May of 1744, reassigned him to another area called Cross Weeks Inn. Oh, his heart was heavy as he went to this new place. Humanly speaking, there was no possibility that these Indians could ever be reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And he was sick, but he continued to pray with a glorious God as his motive. And he continued to pray, constantly confessing his sin. And he continued to pray with a heart that was open to obey the word of God.

His whole hope was God. But he worked and labored and preached. And then on June of 1744, God answered David Brainerd's prayer. He says the Indians began to gather. Ten first, and then 15, and then 30, and then 60, and then 90, and then about 100.

And he said finally in one service, the Spirit of God fell upon those Indians like a mighty rushing river, a deluge that sweeps everything and anything that stands in its way. And the Indians began to cry.

As these Indians who just a few days prior to this day had been crying out in their paganist and idolatrous heat, as when drunkards were cleansed and saved. The power of God to Brainerd's prayer that was motivated by the glory of God.