May 31
Bible Reading: Acts 1:12-26
Acts 1:14, “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer.”
Economic prosperity and spiritual decline characterized the 1850s. Industries flourished and companies amassed incredible wealth. Materialism captivated people young and old. Church attendance was in decline. The Financial Panic of 1857 brought an abrupt change. Banks failed and railroads went bankrupt. Merchants and factories were closed, and vast numbers were out of work.
It was in that setting that Jeremiah Calvin Lanphier set out to enjoin businessmen in prayer for one hour at noon on Wednesdays at the North Dutch Church in New York City. He printed some handbills announcing the prayer meetings with the title, “How Often Should I Pray?” The handbill stated, “As often as the language of prayer is in my heart; as often as I see my need of help; as often as I feel the power of temptation; as often as I am made sensible of any spiritual declension, or feel the aggression of a worldly, earthly spirit. In prayer, we leave the business of time for that of eternity and intercourse with God.”
They held the first prayer meeting in September 1857. The first person to join Lanphier was a half-hour late; several others came even later. The following week, twenty attended. On October 7, there were nearly forty. The meeting was so blessed it was decided to meet daily. One week later, there were over one hundred attending. Within one month, pastors who had attended started morning prayer meetings in their own churches.
By early February, a nearby Methodist Church, that had recently opened, overflowed. By March 19, a theater opened for prayer, and half an hour before it was time to begin, the organizers had to turn people away. By the end of March, over six thousand people met daily at prayer gatherings in New York City. Many churches added evening services for prayer. Soon, there were 150 united prayer meetings each day across Manhattan and Brooklyn. Within three months, similar meetings had sprung up across America. Thousands began praying in these services and in their own homes.
The attendees of that first prayer meeting could not have imagined the fruit that would result from their prayer effort. They sensed the need, so they prayed. God did the rest. In a similar way, the disciples and others, about 120 persons in all, “were devoting themselves to prayer” (Acts 1:15). They could not have imagined all that was soon to come, as the Spirit would work through the Apostles to birth Christ’s church and ultimately turn the “world upside down” (Acts 17:6). God is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask” (Ephesians 3:20), so it’s good for each one of us to devote ourselves to prayer. Perhaps it will prove contagious, and manifold blessings will be the result.
There is no limit to how God might work when His people devote themselves to prayer!
REVIVE US, AGAIN
We praise thee, O God, for the Son of thy love,
for Jesus who died, and is now gone above.
Refrain:
Hallelujah! Thine the glory, hallelujah! Amen!
Hallelujah! Thine the glory, revive us again.
We praise thee, O God, for thy Spirit of light
who has shown us our Savior and scattered our night. [Refrain]
We praise thee, O God, for the joy thou hast giv’n
to thy saints in communion, these foretastes of heav’n. [Refrain]
Revive us again, fill each heart with thy love.
May each soul be rekindled with fire from above. [Refrain]
LookingtoJesus 