Message of the Month by Pastor Paul    February 2021

In the summer of 2018, I had the joy and privilege of spending a month travelling and visiting longstanding friends in the USA.  On June 29thI caught the train from Grand Central Station in New York to meet the first of my friends, Bill and Rita Gamela in Westernville, near Syracuse, NY.  

 

Bill is American and Rita is British and we first met over 25 years ago when they came to a conference that I had organised at my church. They became dear friends of my wife and I, and Bill preached for me on a number of occasions. They had moved back to America but we kept in touch over all those years.

 

When I got to their house, they were very excited to tell me about its historical connection with Charles Finney. Apparently, Daniel Nash (1775-1831) who served as Charles Finney’s prayer warrior had stayed in their farmhouse while he was praying and interceding -as he often did before Finney arrived to preach in the area. During my stay, one afternoon,  they took me to see his grave and while we were there we had a powerful prayer time together for our respective nations.

 

Charles Finney (1792–1875)the great American evangelist was instrumental in the salvation of hundreds of thousands of people in the USA and also here in Britain. Finney’s own salvation experience at the age of 29 is quite a story in itself.  Here it is in his own words:

 

"I made  up my mind that I would settle the question of my soul's salvation at once, that ifit were possible I would make my peace with God." On the evening of the same day he says: “I returned to the front office... but as I turned and was about to take a seat by the fire, I received a mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost. Without any expectation of it, without ever having the thought in my mind that there was any such thing for me, without any recollection that I had ever heard the thing mentioned by any person in the world, the Holy Ghost descended on me in a manner that seemed to go through me,  body  and  soul.  I could  feel  the  impression,  like  a  wave  of electricity,  going  through  and  through  me.  Indeed  it  seemed  to come in waves and waves of liquid love; for I could not express it in  any  other  way.  It  seemed  like  the  very  breath  of  God.  I  can recollect  distinctly  that  it  seemed  to  fan  me,  like  immense  wings. No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love.”

 

That was the Autumn of 1821 and by 1824 this highly educated lawyer was preaching the gospel. His first regular meetings were held at Evans Mills, Oneida County, New York. The people were impressed with his sermons, but for two or three weeks no one decided for Christ. Then Finney invited all who were willing to accept Christ to rise to theirfeet and all who were willing to reject him to remain on their seats. This was very unusual in those days,

and it made a  number of people so angry that they were almost ready to mob Finney. Next day he spent the day in fasting and prayer, and in the evening preached with such unction and power that a great conviction of sin swept over the people. All night long people were sending for him to come and pray with them. Even hardened atheists were brought to Christ.  

 

Finney knew the importance of powerful intercession and he was soon joined by Daniel Nash. Nash would slip quietly into a town where Finney was going to preach and he would try to get two or three people to pray with him. Sometimes he had with him a man of similar prayer ministry, Abel Clary. Together they would begin to pray fervently for God to move in the community.

 

Leonard Ravenhill the famous revivalist preacher and writer, tells of how he met an old lady: “Who told me a story about Charles Finney that has challenged me over the years. Finneywent to Bolton to minister, but before he began, two men knocked on the door of her humble cottage, wanting lodging. The poor woman looked amazed, for she had no extra accommodations. Finally, for about twenty-five cents a week, the two men, none other than Nash and Clary, rented a dark and damp cellar for the period of the Finney meetings (at least two weeks), and there in that self-chosen cell, those prayer partners battled the forces of darkness.”

 

Another record from Finney himself: “On one occasion when I got to town to start a revival a lady contacted me who ran a boarding house. She said, ‘Brother Finney, do you know a Father Nash? He and two other men have been at my boarding house for the last three days, but they haven’t eaten a bite of food. I opened the door and peeped in at them because I could hear them groaning, and I saw them down on their faces. They have been this way for three days, lying prostrate on the floor and groaning. I thought something awful must have happened to them. I was afraidto go in and I didn’t know what to do. Would you please come see about them?’ “‘No, it isn’t necessary,’ Finney replied. ‘They just have a spirit of travail in prayer.'”

 

Another states: “Charles Finney so realised the need of God’s working in all his services that he was wont to send godly Father Nash on in advance to pray down the power of God into the meetings which he was about to hold.” Not only did Nash prepare the communities for preaching, but he also continued in prayer during the meetings. “Often Nash would not attend meetings, and while Finney was preaching Nash was praying for the Spirit’s outpouring upon him. Finney stated, ‘I did the preaching altogether, and brother Nash gave himself up almost continually to prayer.’ Often while the evangelist preached to the multitudes, Nash in some adjoining house would be on his face in an agony of prayer, and God answered!

 

Nash died in 1831 but the year before that, was the beginning of the Third Great Awakening –a revival in which Finney was involved. Something like 100,000 souls were saved in just one year under his ministry. This was followed by the Fourth Great Awakening in which started in 1857 as a result of a powerful prayer movement.   This Great Awakening (often called the Prayer Meeting Revival) was phenomenal in terms of its extent, effects and lasting impact.  

 

In September 1857 which was a time of economic depression, a businessman by the name of Jeremiah Lanphier, a convert of Finney's, began a lunchtime prayer meeting on Wednesdays in a New York city church. The small but growing numbers then decided in early October to start meeting every day.

 

Within six months over 10,000 business men were gathering in similar prayer meetings across America; confessing sins, being converted and praying for revival. A million souls were saved in two years. Finney was again involved in this revival and in 1858, from February to June, around 50,000 people a week were added to the church. In Britain another million were won to Christ by 1865. The revival also swept around the world. Rapid growth was reported in continental Europe, western Russia, Australia, The South Seas, South Africa and India.

 

These days we are living in unprecedented times and I have deliberately steered well clear of all speculations andconspiracy theories about what is going on, but one thing that is very significant -wherever it is happening -is how God’s people are turning to him in deep intercessory prayer.

 

It is obvious from what we see in the past -when powerful prayer and intercession takes place, especially when it involves many people joining together in agreement -that things happen!

 

It was encouraging to hear about the DAY OF PRAYER that took place here in Britain on Friday 22 January when it was hoped, according to publicity, the that a million Christians would be praying that day “for our needy nation.”

 

The ideal is that we gather together with others of like mind to pray and I must confess that although intercession is hard work, it is always easier to pray with others.However, although we may be locked away in our own homes –these can become prayer closets where God, who sees what is done in secret (Matthew 6:6) will ‘hear from heaven, forgive our sins and heal our land.’ (2 Chronicles 7:14). I recommend that as we pray for our nations

that we consciously join our prayers with all who are praying for the same thing. There is power in agreement (Matthew 18:19).

 

LET’S KEEP IT UP –praying for our nations -and as I mentioned in the July Message –let’s pray for a new even greater JESUS MOVEMENT like the one that happened in the 1970’s among young people –a revival that spread around the world.

 

As we pray revival is on the way!