Prayer: Key to Revival - by Paul Yonghi Cho

Prayer has been the key to every revival in the history of Christianity.  
Before the church was born on the Day of Pentecost, Luke wrote "and
(the disciples) were continually in the temple, praising and blessing 
God." Before the missionary era of the church began, they had been in 
fasting and prayer.  The Reformation was born after a season of prayer 
and study.  John Wesley was dissatisfied with the state of the Church 
of England. This led to much prayer and fasting for John, his brother 
Charles and George Whitfield; the world-wide Methodist revival was born.  
Toward the end of the century, God raised up evangelists like Charles 
Finney, Dwight L. Moody and R.A. Torrey. These men preached under the 
anointing of the Holy Spirit, motivated by continual prayer and fasting.  
Methodists and Holiness Christians had been fasting and praying for 
revival when the Holy Spirit fell as in the second chapter of the Book 
of Acts.  This revival was later called Pentecostalism. 

God has no favorite children.  What has worked for others will also 
work for you.  What brought power to the lives of men like Luther, 
Wesley, Finney and Moody can also brig you power.  As soon as we realize 
that prayer is as important as sleeping, eating, and breathing, we will 
be amazed at how much more time will be available to us for prayer.  
More can be accomplished if each person comes to church in an attitude 
of prayer and quietly prays before the service.                     
Christian hearts are opened to receive the truth of God's Word by the 
spirit of prayer.  People's needs are met in a place totally dedicated 
to prayer and fasting.  This is why they come.  Experienced "prayer 
warriors" are assigned to each request and they fast and pray until 
they get the witness of the Holy Spirit that their prayer has been 
answered.

I begin my personal prayer time by praising and thanking the Lord for 
the great blessing He is to me.  I also praise Him for all He has done
for my family.  Then, I begin to intercede.  I pray for our president 
and government officials.  I pray for our nation so that the Angel of 
our Lord will protect us from Satanic forces that wish to destroy our 
country.  I remember my associates in the work of the Lord.  I pray for 
the missionary programs that we are involved in.  My wife and three boys 
are then held up before the Lord in prayer. A good deal of my time is 
spent praying in my spiritual prayer language.

If I were to just get up and begin my days without spending the hours 
that I spend in prayer, I would only have my natural resources to 
depend on.  Having spent time in prayer, I trust the unlimited resources 
at God's disposal.

Before I do or say anything, I pray.  This is the difference between 
acting and reacting.  To react is to allow people, situations or 
circumstances around you.  As I make a decision, I know it is the will 
of God and can stand firm in the assurance that I am acting for God. 

I get alone with my precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and spend 
time fellowshipping with Him.  I know that if I satisfy His desire, He
will allow me to have enough time to meet the duties that fall on me.  
Ministry to the Lord is before ministry to His people.  With this type 
of prayer life, I don't get to spend the hours of fellowship with other
Christians that I would surely enjoy.  However I must fulfill my calling 
as Christ's servant.  To do this effectively, I must spend my life in 
prayer. 

Revivals must not only be prayed for to begin, but they must also be 
prayed for so that they may be maintained.  Once continuous and fervent 
prayer is forgotten, the impetus of the revival is lost and all that 
is left is the momentum of the past.

We can all have power in prayer if we are willing to pay the price.  
To develop this kind of power in prayer, we must change our attitude.  
It will take violent dedication to prayer to bring the power of God 
in our lives.  Power in prayer takes time.

God cannot use a person who is not broken and completely surrendered 
to Him.  When a man is broken, his heart resists pride.  The Lord's 
continually abiding Presence will bring about two most important changes.  
The first is brokenness and the second is surrender.

Success is based on the grace of God.  We cannot do anything successful 
on our own merit, but by His divine grace we can do all things.  What 
we need to be successful is more grace.  How do we get more grace?  We
get it by being broken in humility before God.  Yet, the purpose of God 
is to break but not crush.  If we break in an attitude of humility 
before God, we will not be crushed to pieces.  God's desire was to have 
a spiritual building that could properly contain His glory.  Each of us 
is a living stone in the new spiritual temple.  If that stone is too 
hard to be fitted and refuses to be properly shaped, then that stone 
is of little value and is simply crushed to powder.  If we resist the 
purpose of God, the result is crushing, or being good for nothing in 
God's eternal purpose.

Surrender means we give up our natural right to do what we want over 
to our new master, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  We must also
realize that brokenness and surrender are not ends in themselves.  
They are simply means toward the end of being effective instruments in 
the hand of God to be used for revival.  In the past the problem has 
been that people have settled for brokenness and surrender as an end 
and not as a means.  Piety should not lead us away from the world, but
should strengthen us so that we can be effective witnesses in the 
world.  The easiest thing to do is to retreat from the challenges that
the world brings to the church today.  Yet, the purpose of God for 
breaking and causing us to surrender is to equip us to confront those 
challenges.

We were created higher in stature than the angels, in that we are 
capable of understanding spiritual reality.  Satan is called "the 
prince of the power of the air."  As he has been able to exercise real
authority over the earth's atmosphere, he has been able to influence 
the nations.  Yet, God gave man authority over Satan.  As we learn how
to pray in the Holy Spirit, realizing that we have been given the 
authority, we are able to bind the forces of Satan in people, communities, 
and even in nations.  However because Satan is a liar and the father 
of lies, he tries to convince us that he is in control.  But as we 
learn to fast and pray and exercise our rightful authority, Satan and 
his forces must yield to the will of God.  There is no way we are 
going to see the will of God accomplished in our lives and ministry if
we don't learn how to pray.

How do we get to know the Holy Spirit?  We only become aware of His 
nature as we enter a life of prayer.  I had always thought of the Holy
Spirit as an experience and not as a personality... getting to know 
the Holy Spirit would require my spending time talking with Him and 
letting Him talk to me.  In my personal life, fellowship with the Holy 
Spirit has made all the difference in the world.  In the morning, I 
can sense His freshness come over my heart and I have the strength to 
go through the challenges of that day knowing that in every situation I
will be completely victorious.

Just as the Holy Spirit caused Mary to conceive, so the Holy Spirit 
can impregnate us with Living Word.  People are not just interested 
in being taught the Word, but they desire the Truth that is anointed 
by the Holy Spirit.  Daily communion with the Holy Spirit can shield 
us, not from the attacks, but from the effects of the attacks.  We 
enter His fullness through prayer. We also learn how to exercise our 
spiritual gifts through prayer.  We also learn how to exercise our 
spiritual gifts through prayer.

1 Timothy 4:14-15: How does a minister grow and develop his ministry? 
Through meditating on that ministry in prayer.

Spiritual ministry gifts are given by the Holy Spirit in accordance 
with the Father's choice.  Yet, every Christian can manifest the Holy 
Spirit.  The way to develop spiritual gifts and manifestations is to 
be dedicated to prayer.  Prayer will cause the differing gifts of 
ministry to work together and not work in competition.  Prayer will 
develop the motivation of love which will keep all spiritual gifts 
and manifestations in proper order.

The Holy Spirit can bring us to such a spiritual sensitivity that we 
are able to understand God's Word in a new and greater dimension.  
What a joy it is to prayerfully studying God's Word.  Dependency on 
the Lord increases your spiritual sensitivity. Yet, after prayer, as 
I launch out in faith, I get even more spiritual sensitivity.  The 
Christian life can become dull and routine if you don't have this type
of fellowship in prayer. 

Our potential is much greater than any of us have ever realized.  
Prayer creates the atmosphere in which we can prosper and be in health
even as our soul prospers.  God has written and is writing a book called 
"the book of remembrance."  The Lamb of God is keeping accurate records 
of the redeemed.  God keeps spiritual records.  Our prayers are 
remembered.  Persistence in prayer is important when you think in 
terms of accounting.  We don't know how long we have to pray before 
God will answer our prayers.  Some prayers require a great deal of 
repetition for there to be a response.  Whether because of spiritual 
opposition or some other reason, we are told to keep on praying.  
Never give up praying for a need!  God is faithful!  He will hear your
prayers!  He will answer as you pray and faint not!  Allow the balance
sheet of prayer to be heavily in your favor.  We have a choice as 
Christians.  We can either be anxious or we can trust in God.  We can 
have our hearts and minds full of the cares of this world, or we can 
pray.  Prayer deals with the cause and not just the effects.  The 
secret to living without anxiety is prayer.  When you pray you are 
placing the problem that has made you anxious in God's hands. Then, 
through thanksgiving, you leave the problem in God's hands and don't 
pick up the problem again. 

In Matthew, Christ teaches us to be careful that we don't practice our 
piety before people so that they admire us.  The context of Luke 11 
sets the stage for the entire definitive teaching on prayer.  He taught 
them that prayer should begin with praise:  "Hallowed be thy name!"  
He taught them that prayer should have repetition:  "Give us this day
our daily bread."  Confession should also be an integral part of prayer:  
"Forgive us our sins."  Trusting in God's protective ability was also
explained when he said:  "Don't allow us to come in to the place of 
testing, but deliver us from evil."  Our prayers should be in this 
manner of petition, devotion and intercession.

Petitioning God is basic to prayer!  We are partakers of the inheritance 
of the only begotten son of God.  The Good News is that the price has 
been paid and direct access to God is available to all men.  Yet, 
mankind has to ask and receive this great blessing of salvation. A man
must ask Christ to enter his heart.  Although the gift of salvation is 
there for everyone, it can only be appropriated by asking.  Also, the 
Holy Spirit's fullness is available simply by asking, "How much more 
shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? 
All other gifts are available through petitioning prayer.  Healing, 
deliverance, prosperity and blessing are all to be asked for.  We also 
have a right to ask for revival.  There are four conditions that must 
be met to get assurance that our petitions as Christians will be 
answered affirmatively: 








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