Unstoppable - A Gospel Movement Series

prayer – in desperation, they sought the Lord’s will.

No great spiritual awakening has begun anywhere in the world apart from united prayer – Christians persistently praying for revival. J. Edwin Orr

In 1857, Jeremiah Lanphier, a businessman burdened by the spiritual condition of his day, knelt in the back room of a small church in NYC w/ a broken heart and a simple request: “Lord, what will You have me to do?” That day, God birthed in his heart to begin a businessmen’s prayer meeting at noon one day a week for an hour. His invitation simply read, “Come when you can, leave when you must.”

On 9/23/1857, he launched the prayer meeting and found himself alone. After 30 min., 6 others joined him – so they prayed. The following week, 20 men came. The next week 40. By 1/1858 (3 mo. later), they were meeting simultaneously on three floors of the same building. By March, 6000 gathered daily in NYC, 6000 in Pittsburgh, 2000 in Chicago, 4000 in Philadelphia… By May, 50,000 people in NYC had trusted Christ for salvation. A New England newspaper reported that in entire towns had come to Christ – meaning there were no unsaved adults! It was estimated that for a period of months, 50,000 people a week were accepting Christ across America. By early 1859 (18 mo. after 1st prayer meeting), Over 1 mil. people had accepted Christ in the U.S. At that time, the population of U.S. was approx. 30 mil.

Important Spiritual Truth – God in His sovereignty has chosen to limit His activity to the prayers and obedience of His people.

God rules the world and His church through the prayers of His people. That God should have made the extension of His kingdom to such a large extent dependent on the faithfulness of His people in prayer is a stupendous mystery and yet an absolute certainty. God calls for intercessors: in His grace He has made His work dependent on them. He waits for them. Andrew Murray