Message from Bennie MostertFriends
Pray with me for this one thing: that God will pour out His Spirit of prayer and supplication (Zec.12:10) on the church that will lead to the establishing of thousands of prayer groups all over South Africa. Let us pray for this more than for anything else.
As I am researching and reading about the revivals of the past, there is one thing that stands out: revival follows when God pours out His Spirit of prayer and supplication which always results in the establishing of one or two, then dozens and eventually hundreds of prayer groups. This is what happened in all the major awakenings around the world.
- In the Early Church prayer groups were formed in the houses of Christians. As they went from house to house, having fellowship and received teaching, they were also praying from house to house.
- The First Great Awakening (1727-1742) that covered America, Britain and some countries in Europe and Scandinavia, was marked by multitudes of prayer groups that started in cities, town and regions.
- The Second Great Awakening (1789-1806) that happened on an even broader scale, started in England after a period of 7 years of prayer where local churches set aside Monday evenings to pray for revival and missions. This prayer “movement” eventually made its way to America. After 7 years of prayer, revival came.
- During the Fourth Great Awakening (1857-1861) the same thing happened from country to country, from city to city and from town to town. It happened in every nation. Also in South Africa. In Ulster, Northern Ireland, 104 prayer groups started within a few months and within a year revival came to Ulster. In Scotland in 1860 about 2000 prayer groups started to pray for revival and within a few months Scotland was in the grip of a most extra-ordinary revival.
- The decade of revival (1900-1910) started in the late 1890s when prayer groups were established all over the world and simultaneously began to pray for revival: China, Korea, India, Australia, many countries in Africa, Europe, Latin America, etc. These prayer groups were not globally organised by someone. It was just a spontaneous move of God in every nation. In 1901 R.A. Torrey went to Australia for an evangelistic campaign. When he reached Melbourne, there were 2100 prayer groups that were gathering weekly to pray for revival. This started several years before 1901. The result was a remarkable revival.
- The revival in Nagaland (1976) in North East India came after 6 years of non-stop prayer by the Baptist churches in Nagaland.
May I ask again? Pray that God will pour out His Spirit of prayer and supplication (Zec.12:10) on the church that will lead to the establishing of thousands of prayer groups all over South Africa.
May I encourage you with some things that is happening in our nation.
- In thousands of Black Churches in informal settlements and townships prayer watches that started to pray day and night, have been planted.
- Literally thousands of kids starting to pray in many places in South Africa.
- In a growing number of schools and among the young people we see prayer initiatives.
- Various prayer groups praying for the government on national, provincial and municipal level.
- In many offices in the work place (education, business, government, factories, police, etc) prayer groups have been established and are multiplying.
- We are seeing prayer groups being established in more and more prisons.
- In cities and towns there are reports of churches and groups of Christians that prayerwalk their neighborhoods.
- There are an increasing number of prayer initiatives that mobilise churches and whole cities or towns to a day or a week or other prolonged periods of prayer. (e.g. Godly Governance Network in Eastern Cape, Manne van die Woord, Mpumalanga Prayer Network, Africa Prayer Network for Change, various groups praying for the Soccer World Cup, the prayer effect of Mighty Men conferences, the Daniel and Esther conferences, L-10-T, Mobilisation of prayer through Heart Cry, Act-Up, Mothers that Care praying at schools, hundreds of people going on prayer journeys to other nations) There are more than 100 prayer networks and prayer initiatives that mobilise large numbers of people to pray.
- There is the Global Day of Prayer initiative that gathered millions in South Africa for prayer over the last 10 years.
Dear friends, there is no other way. I have not seen any other way that works. I have seen how the church got involved in many initiatives, strategies, projects and plans that failed or that had only limited success. But I have not seen that any of these produced the spiritual power to change the hearts and lives of men and women, resulting in men and women that will change their communities permanently. But I can give more evidence that where the church prayed, God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, poured out His Spirit again and again, empowering the church to do the work that it is supposed to do.
When we pray this, we are praying something that is in the will of God: for a church that will pray night and day for God to come in power (Luk.18:7; Isa.62:6-7) and for the church to be restored as a house of prayer for all nations (Matt.21:13)
Let is pray for God’s blessing and a multiplication of prayer groups.
Ef./Eph.3:20
Bennie Mostert
Jericho Walls Prayer Network
info@jwipn.com / www.jwipn.com
+27123653213 Download Full Article
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