CALLED TO PRAYER

Prayer meetings are being resurrected in churches throughout New York City. Who could have believed this would happen in “Sin City”? Not long ago over 50,000 believers gathered in Times Square to pray. And Christian conferences worldwide are becoming impromptu prayer meetings.

When the Spirit stirs — when sinners are coming to Christ; when the Spirit bears witness that now is the time to pray; when God makes a promise and begins to move — you can’t just sit back and say, “God promised it. I’m just going to ‘take it by faith.’ I’ll relax and watch Him fulfill everything He says.” No! When the Spirit moves, it is time for pressing in with fervency and faith.

When Daniel read Jeremiah’s prophecy, he calculated that Israel’s seventy years of bondage had come to an end. He realized Israel was about to be delivered from Babylon. God’s people were about to be set free! (See Daniel 9:2)

So what did Daniel do? Did he wait for God to move, “taking it all by faith”? No! Daniel declared, “I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes” (Daniel 9:3). And, of course, he prayed with abounding faith.

Prior to every great move of the Lord, the Holy Spirit calls us to fervent prayer. And every great move of the Spirit that follows is sustained by prayer.

In Jude’s epistle, we read of a last-days generation given over to fornication and sensuality. It was a time when God’s people murmured and complained. Jude prophesied of it all, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment” (Jude 14–15).

How were God’s people to prepare for this? According to Jude, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit” (Jude 20). In the darkest hour, God’s people are always to watch and pray.