103
The Place of Prayer in Evangelism
in an effort to win the unsaved to Christ. They were backed by a faithful praying band. While the Presbyterian preached and the Methodist exhorted, this praying band were in the back room crying to God for His blessing on the work. They would select individuals in the community to pray for. In some instances these men would come into the meeting the very night they were being prayed for and be converted. The work grew to be so remarkable that ministers and multitudes of the people would drive for miles to witness the wonderful work. The history of foreign missions abounds in illustrations of the importance and power of prayer in world-wide evan gelism. All will recall “the haystack” prayer meeting and its results, and the sending out of the 100 by the China Inland Mission in 1887. Illustrations of this character could easily be multiplied. The history of the Church demonstrates beyond a question that the most important human factor in the evangelism of the world is prayer. The great need of the present hour is prayer. In our work at home and abroad we are placing more and more dependence upon men, machinery, and methods, and less and less upon God. Evangelism at home is becoming more and more mechanical, and methods are being resorted to that are more and more revolting to all spiritually minded people; while evangelism abroad is becoming more and more merely educational and sociological. What is needed above everything else today is prayer, true prayer, prayer in the power of the Holy Ghost, and prayer that meets the conditions of prevailing prayer so plainly laid down in the Word of God. All that is said thus far is more or less general, but if any thing practical is to be accomplished we must be specific. In what directions should we put forth prayer, if we would see that effective evangelism for which so many are longing? First of all, we should pray for individuals. Under God’s guidance we should select individuals upon whom we should
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker