Learning to Offer Desperate Prayers

This episode contains portions from the following programs:

"Your Prayer and God's Power, Day 3"

"The Break Came"

"A Call to Corporate Prayer"

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Dannah Gresh: “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” You know that line, right? Penned by Charles Dickens. Does it ever feel like we’re living in the worst of times?

Before he went to be with the Lord last fall, Dave Butts was able to view tough times through a lens of prayer.

Dave Butts: We're living in exciting times. By the way, it's exciting because things are also dark. The good thing is that's what helps make us desperate. It brings us to our knees before the Lord and say, "Apart from You, Lord, there is no hope."

Dannah: This is Revive Our Hearts Weekend. I’m Dannah Gresh.

What’s worrying you these days? I bet you could write a list, couldn’t ya? Everything from inflation to relational conflicts, world disasters to disagreements in the body of Christ. Whew!

But what if instead of succumbing to worry, you let those troublesome topics become invitations? That’s right. Invitations that drive you to pray!

We’ve been focusing on prayer all month here at Revive Our Hearts. Today I want to take a look at something I’ve been asking God to do—not just because there are so many problems, but because I long to see it. I’m talking about praying for revival.

Dave and Kim Butts had a burden for it so much so that started Harvest Prayer Ministries in 1993. They continued praying for spiritual awakening until Dave went home to be with the Lord just last November.

Before that happened, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth spoke with Dave and Kim. Dave said, listen to this: when God wants to accomplish something, He puts it on the heart of one of His people to pray.

Dave: Basically, when God wants something to happen on planet Earth, He places a thought within one of His people: "I want you to ask Me for this." Because He also wants to teach us to depend on Him.

Jesus taught us, "Apart from Me, you can do nothing." And I know that that's true because I've done a lot of nothing. I've done a lot of spiritual stuff that didn't work, that really was just me.

God wants everything on this planet to happen according to His will when we, the people of God, depend on Him by asking.

So prayer ultimately starts with God. It's a God thing, not us. We all think, Oh, I think I'll pray about this. Let me tell you, if it's a godly prayer, it began in the heart of God. It began with the Father.

That's why the Word of God is so important. If Kim and I are going to be able to pray with accuracy as a family, we're going to have to know what the Lord wants.

All those amazing promises of God that Jesus made . . . If you look in John chapters 14, 15, 16, and 17, six times in there Jesus says weird stuff. He says weird stuff like, "Whatever you ask, I'll give you."

Honestly, we read those things, and we're going, "You know, if it were not Jesus, I just wouldn't believe this at all." And even with Jesus, I wonder if He got it right. That's because we're imposing on Scripture our understanding of prayer. And our understanding of prayer is: Let's figure out how we can word this so we can get what we want from God.

Come on. When it comes right down to it, let's see how many people we can get to join us so we can get what we want. Let's see how much faith we can muster up so we can get God to give us what we want. And that's not the purpose of prayer. It never has been. It never will be.

Prayer is the way God has chosen to accomplish His will on planet Earth. So that's all that Book's about. I'm convinced that if the Church gets that, you'll never stop us from praying. If we can really get that, I mean, if it really sinks in to us biblically and then emotionally, we'll be a people of prayer because we're going to understand: Wow! What a privilege. I get to join with the purposes of God in accomplishing His will on this planet.

Nancy: So, let's talk then about the role of prayer in revival and spiritual awakening.

Kim Butts: How many hours do you have?

Dave: Not long.

Nancy: Just a few minutes.

Dave: Again, if God does not want to send revival, it doesn't matter what I'm praying. Really. I can pray for revival all I want, and if God has not already said, "This is what I want to do" . . . Now, here's where people struggle a little bit, because our default theology in prayer, which is wrong, our default theology says that God's going to do whatever God's going to do. That's not what Scripture teaches.

Scripture is filled with examples of God desiring something to happen, and because someone did not ask, it did not happen. Ezekiel chapter 22, verse 30, is a key example of God, "I sought for a man who would stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land." Why? "So that I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one." God was looking for someone to pray.

So now, we have to have that understanding that when God wants something to happen on planet Earth, He looks for someone who will listen to Him and pray, who will ask Him.

• If revival is to happen on planet Earth, it will happen because, first of all the Father has decided for it to happen.

• Then He will have those who will faithfully listen and then ask, and ask without ceasing, and continue to ask, and place themselves in a place before Him.

• Not trying to talk God into doing something He doesn't want to do, but pleading with God for His purposes to be accomplished.

So I believe that the very nature and the strength of the prayer movement today is an indicator that revival is coming. The very fact that so many people are passionately crying out for revival . . . and it's not always been that way. There's always been a little bit of people here and there.

Honestly, I remember twenty years ago arguing with pastors about revival. They were saying that revival's not needed. I know that sounds weird, but seriously, twenty years ago, that's what was going on. I don't hear that nowadays. A matter of fact, I'm hearing the opposite. I'm hearing pastors and church leaders, people everywhere, saying, "Our only hope is revival."

Well, I believe God's done that. He's put that into the heart of His people. But putting it into our heart, and then we've got to grab ahold of that by faith in prayer and then continue to pray.

It has nothing to do with our timing or anything. It's God. It's all in His hands. But we have a role in that. And, of course, that's how you always see that in Scripture. There's always a place for us, and the place is that subordinate, submissive place of prayer that says, "Lord, what We really want is for Your will to be done, for Your kingdom to come here on earth as it is in heaven."

And I believe that the revival that's to come, who knows, by the time people are listening to this, we might be in an astonishing move of God, a great awakening that changes our nation. But I will tell you this, if that is the case, it is because God's people have been listening to His heart and praying in accordance with what He wants, and, in His timing, He steps in.

Dannah: When is the last time you prayed for God to revive His people? We’ve been hearing a conversation between Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth and Dave and Kim Butts. You can find a link to that whole conversation in the show notes.

Dave was passionate about prayer, and he taught people to pray . . . really pray . . . for God to move. He did that faithfully until he went home to be with the Lord last November.

I wonder, Maybe you and I can continue that work. Would you join me in praying with desperation for the needs of our day, just like Dave spent his life doing?

This is Revive Our Hearts Weekend. I’m Dannah Gresh. 

When you hear someone talk about praying for revival, does it even seem possible? Do people seem too far gone?

Well, yeah, I have those moments of pessimism, too. But something that encourages me to pray is hearing about how God has sent revival in the past. It stirs my heart! I just love reading about it.

So, let’s listen in to another conversation Nancy had with some revival historians. I know that sounds kind of dry, but trust me this is far from that. This conversation is wet with the living water of Jesus! They’ll discuss the story of the Welsh revival in 1904. Is it any surprise that this revival was preceded by prayer?

We’re going to begin in Western Wales. A seminary student named Evan Roberts returned to his home church with a burden to share Jesus with the youth group.

Mark Bearden picks up the story.

Mark Bearden: Evan Roberts showed up unannounced. His family was shocked to see him. They said, "We thought you were at school."

He replied, "Oh no, I've come home to speak to the youth."

His parents said, "Well, we were in church on Sunday, and the pastor didn't say anything about it."

Evan Roberts replied, "He doesn't know yet."

Evan Roberts went to the pastor and shared with him that God had laid a message upon his heart.

The pastor said, "You can speak to the people Monday night. After the meeting if anyone wants to stay, you can share." And so that night as the meeting was breaking up, Evan Roberts stepped to the front. Maybe people felt sorry for him just standing there, and seventeen people stayed.

Nancy: Here's an entry in Evan Roberts' journal from that night. "Sixteen stood up to confess Christ. Praise Him. We came out of the meeting at ten p.m., and no one was tired."

One very young woman remarked, "I thought it was only nine o'clock p.m. Very good." The testimony of others was, "We have never had such meetings before."

Mark: What was fascinating about it was that it not only started there with Evan Roberts, but it simultaneously broke out all over Wales.

Nancy: It was October 31, 1904. According to church historian, Kevin Adams, important things were happening on that very night all across Wales.

Kevin Adams: Thirteen miles away, northwest, a prayer meeting was being held for God to visit them in a special way. Exactly the same date. And in north Wales on that Monday, another prayer meeting was held on that same date. Three different chapels praying that God would intervene.

Revival had broken out in each place.

The bonfire was ready and God lights three different places that slowly, very, very surely (in two and a half weeks) becomes a national bonfire of spiritual warmth which warms a nation and begins to flood across the country.

Nancy: On the next night Evan Roberts spoke again. His message was simple.

Mark: You must repent of any known sin. You must drop any questionable habit. Reconcile any wrong with any person. You must confess Christ publicly.

Kevin: What was he saying?

Nancy: Here's Kevin Adams.

Kevin: He's talking to people about the key message of Christianity. You can be sure that your sins are forgiven. Then walk with God. Listen to what He is saying to you. Obey him. And of course tell others about it.

Dr. J. Edwin Orr: Those became the four points of the Welsh Revival.

Nancy: J. Edwin Orr, a historian on revival.

J. Edwin: By ten o'clock everyone in that little meeting had responded. The pastor was so pleased. He asked Evans if he would speak the next night in the mission service.

He [Evans] preached in the mid-week service which was much larger. Thursday they converted the temperance meeting into a general meeting. On Friday they got all the classes together.

On Sunday a clergyman came to preach in the church, so Evan Roberts sat in the congregation. After the Sunday evening service, people clamored for another meeting with Evan Roberts. So the pastor said, "If I made it right with Principal Phillips, could you stay on for another week?"

And it was during that week that the revival came. The break.

Nancy: During the next week of meetings Evan Roberts continued to stress his four simple points. The people who filled the church night after night were receptive to that message.

Kevin: They responded with their hearts, and with their minds, and their emotions. The whole of them responded to this challenge.

By the end of the second week, meetings were beginning at six o'clock in the evening and were continuing until four o'clock the next morning.

I've often tried to imagine what the local drunk thinks as he is walking home (thinking he is the last person home that night), seeing the lights on in the local chapel.

And I can imagine the guy walking in the chapel and seeing not that the lights have been left on, but that the chapel is full.

In a few days, the story of the revival at Loughor had spread throughout the nation. Other churches began to hold prayer meetings. By the end of the second week, Evan Roberts is invited to come to one of the valleys east of Loughor.

Mark: G. Campbell Morgan described the services as organized chaos because the Spirit controlled the service. He said that there was no order to it, it was chaotic, but there was a perfect order of the Spirit.

He said, "One would begin to stand and quote Scripture, and another one would come under conviction and cry out in repentance." He said, "As if 'one', the people would begin to sing."

Kevin: Evans wouldn't preach in the conventional sense. I think he was reacting in many ways against the rhetoric of many of the preachers that he had heard which were very popular at that time.

But he would encourage people in his own language. He would tell people, "This is The Way. What I've experienced, you can have. You truly can have what I've got. It's excellent, it's brilliant. It can transform your life."

It was so real. It was so down-to-earth the people warmed to it. The amazing thing was that people responded, hundreds of people, all different denominations came together.

Of course, as they came together some confessed their sins, others realized that God could forgive them and transform them, and as they called on God, the emotions grew.

It was all blended together with a sound track of Welsh hymnology. If you've heard the Welsh sing, when they get excited about God, there is really nothing quite like it.

Song: "Here Is Love" (in Welsh)

Kevin: All of these things were happening and being expressed in great hymns, many which were written in the eighteenth century by the Methodists.

But now, these great hymns which were part of the DNA, if you like, of the Welsh nation, were being set alight by the Holy Spirit.

People began to realize what the hymns meant. They had sung them for years, but now they realized. One of the great hymns, of course was, "Here is Love."

Song: "Here Is Love" (in Welsh)

You know, this was sung and it seemed to sum up, if you like, the outpouring of God's love that fell upon the people at that time.

Song: "Here Is Love" 

Here is love, vast as the ocean
Lovingkindness as a flood,
Whenthe Prince of Life, our ransom
Shed for us His precious blood.

Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten
Throughout heaven's eternal days.¹ 
 

Dannah: We’ve been hearing about the 1904 Welsh Revival from Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, Mark Bearden, J. Edwin Orr, and Kevin Adams. To hear more of the story, visit Revive Our Hearts and search for the audio series, “The 1904 Welsh Revival.”

This is Revive Our Hearts Weekend. I’m Dannah Gresh.

We just heard how a revival swept a country after a few churches got a passion for prayer. How might God want to use your prayers and the prayers of your church?

Erin Davis talked with Megan Hill about the amazing opportunities believers have to join and come before the Lord every week. Megan is the author of a book called Praying Together.

They recorded this conversation at one of The Gospel Coalition’s national conferences. You’ll hear the conference unfolding around them. But that’s a picture of prayer isn’t it? Having an important conversation it the middle of the busyness of real life. Let’s listen.

Erin Davis: You say in your book, Praying Together, that the desire to write the chapter, "Praying with the Church," was what compelled you to write the entire book. I would love for you to just walk us through that chapter for the woman who's listening to this, driving in her car or mopping her floor, and she doesn't have the book handy, I would just love for you to give us a fly-over of that concept, of the church praying together.

Megan Hill: I think that certainly that's what we see in the book of Acts. The church, the early church was always praying together all the time. Acts 2:42. What did the early church devote themselves to? The apostle's teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer. That was one of the four things that the early church devoted itself to.

But I think what we see in our churches is sometimes, especially on the Lord's Day, on a Sunday worship service, prayer sort of takes a back seat. It's just a quick prayer at the beginning, or it's a quick prayer at the end. I think part of that is we don't really know what we're supposed to do. When the pastor is standing up there praying, what are we actually doing? Are we listening to him pray? Is God hearing him because he's the pastor and he's more holy than we are? What's going on?

So in the chapter, I tried to make the point that on a Sunday morning when the worship leader or the pastor or elder or whomever is praying, that we're all praying. Logistically speaking, one person has to give voice to all of our prayers, but all of us are joining our hearts in prayer.

So I make the case in this chapter that we should have substantial prayer in our worship that we should not be afraid of prayers that are somewhat lengthy, especially in a public setting. It takes a while for people to forget the roast in the oven, forget the squirming kids, and think, Okay, I'm actually praying. And if the prayer is super brief, by the time you realize, "Oh, I'm actually praying," it's done.

So I make the case where, "Let's have some significant time." That was one of the four priorities in the early church, so let's not be afraid to spend some time praying.

I make the case that the elders or the pastors should lead the prayer generally speaking. In the testimony of Scripture, we see that usually it's the leaders of God's people that get the privilege of doing the leading. But, as I said, everyone is doing the praying.

Erin: And are there some practical ways that we can participate as a member of the congregation? We're sitting in our pew, and the pastor starts to pray, are there some practical ways we can feel more participatory in that?

Megan: Yes. I actually think that our duty is to say, "Amen." Maybe it's not out loud, but certainly in our heart. Saying amen is our way of saying, "Yes, Lord, that's what I want, too." So I think that you can, when the pastor is praying, you hear what he says, and in your heart, or out loud (I'm totally with saying it out loud), say, "Amen, Lord. That's what I want, too." And just forcing yourself, I think, to say, "It's my responsibility to amen this prayer before the Lord," helps me to pay attention.

Erin: What are some common misconceptions about corporate prayer?

Megan: I think one of the common misconceptions, which we mentioned already, is that people don't know what they're doing. When one person is leading, what are we all doing? So, as we said, everybody is really praying in their hearts, so we're all praying together.

I think another common misconception maybe is that prayer is somehow sort of more powerful when we pray together. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who was a famous preacher in the earlier part of the last century said that sometimes we have what he called a mathematical notion of prayer.

By which he means that we think that somehow if we pray for a certain number of minutes, if we pray a certain number of times, and, in the case of corporate prayer, if we have a certain number of people praying for something that somehow that's more . . . that's better. We have more signatures on our petition to God, so God is going to be more compelled to answer.

I think that we sometimes think that way, and I think that's not true. The Bible assures us again and again that the Lord hears the prayer of one person, that even one person who's covered in the blood of Jesus and has the Spirit is heard by God, and that the Spirit helps us when we pray and that Jesus is making intercession for us.

So if you are one person by yourself on a desert island, the Lord hears you, and that's precious to Him.

I do think that there's something special . . . I think we encourage one another, we love one another, there's something really precious about a whole bunch of people praying for something and an opportunity for God's glory to be seen in the answer.

Paul talks about giving thanks for the prayers of the people so that the many may give thanks. I think when lots of people are praying for something and the Lord answers, it's an opportunity for lots of people to thank Him, which brings Him glory.

Erin: Are there some prayer needs that are fitting for corporate worship scenario and some prayer needs that aren't, some prayer needs that are best addressed, even women praying with each other, one-on-one, and some prayers that need to stay private?

Megan: I think so. I think you have to think when you're bringing a request to the group, whatever group it is: Is it appropriate for everyone to hear this? Is this something that's okay for everyone to hear? Am I needlessly exposing someone else's sin here? Do I have a right to share this thing? Is this going to be edifying for everyone to hear?

But I think, at the same time, Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me and do not hinder them." And He prayed for them there. I think we can't be like the disciples, going, "Um, this prayer need is too insignificant. Jesus doesn't want to pray for that."

We have to welcome, even immature prayer requests, even prayer requests that seem to us to be, maybe petty or maybe a little bit off, because that's the way of Jesus.

Dannah: That’s Megan Hill, author of Praying Together. She’s been talking with Erin Davis about ways you can encourage your church to make prayer a priority.

This is Revive Our Hearts Weekend. I’m Dannah Gresh, and you can guess the one thing I hope you’ll take away from this program—I hope you pray for revival! I’ve been praying for it all year in a special way. "Lord awaken my heavenly appetites." And He has, He is! It’s been exhilarating to see it unfold in my life and, well, I just plan to spend this week praying that God awakens your heavenly appetite—including your desire to pray!

Maybe prayer feels like a new concept for you, and it’s tough to know how to begin. Revive Our Hearts has just published a book called Finding the Words to Pray. It includes fifty different prayers from Scripture, space for you to write out your own responses, and several timeless prayers from Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. 

When you help make this program and the entire ministry possible with a gift, we’d like to send the book to show our thanks. You can get Finding the Words to Pray: Fifty Scriptures to Guide Your Prayers when you make a donation of any amount at ReviveOurHearts.com, or call us at 1-800-569-5959, and be sure to request your book. 

Next week, I hope you’ll come back if your prayer life seems stuck in a box. Been there! Done that! But I’m learning that prayer is more of a lifestyle than something I do at prayer meetings or once in the morning or at meals. Come back next week, and I’ll share some encouragement for you to get out of your prayer box and develop a prayer life! 

I’m Dannah Gresh. We’ll see you next time for Revive Our Hearts Weekend.

This program is a production of Revive Our Hearts, calling you to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

¹"Here Is Love," John Lowry, Arranged by Jeffery Howard from the album Huw Priday.

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