Prayer2

Men and Women of Prayer

Predictably, those from history that have shown the supernatural intervention of
God time and time again—predictably those people are men and women of
prayer. And that's really what I wanted to do. I tried to test these things against
reality as I went back and tried to find those people who seemed to have altered
the course of history to some extent, and to find out what impact they played;
why they played that impact. It’s very interesting that this thing keeps coming
back up and up again and that is their fervency and perseverance in prayer.

What I want to show you as we talk about some actual people that you could
actually reach out and touch is that they are people of like passions as we are.
They are people as James would say, they are just men like us that God used
those people to accomplish a lot of tremendous things. That it is possible in a
human being’s life to do the things that Jesus did. And that’s why I want to share
these things because they really motivated me.

A man named Charles Simeon used to pray every morning from 4am to 8am. It’s
possible to do that. It was said that one could always point out George
Washington in Congress because he was the one that dropped to his knees in
fervent prayer during a session of Congress—interesting kind of thing. John
Wesley prayed from 4am to 6am every morning and still had time to preach
40,000 sermons, to write 231 books, and travel 250,000 miles on horseback.
Prayed two hours every morning and, of course, his name actually kept England
out of revolution it seems.

John Fletcher was said to have stained the walls with the breath of his all-night
prayers. He frequently stayed up all night praying, and it literally stained the
walls in the room where he was in. This is a quote from John Fletcher, “I would
not rise from my seat without lifting my heart to God." Now, I ask if that’s your
position in prayer—that you won't even stand up as we are about to leave this
building without lifting your heart in prayer? Something he did pretty frequently
that was kind of interesting—maybe we should start that? Whenever he met a
fellow disciple on the road the question that he would always ask them when he
got close enough to them ask them. "Did I meet you in prayer? Were you praying
when I bumped into you?" That was a common greeting that he always offered
those people that he knew that were disciples of Christ. “Are you praying?
Where's your life at?”

Martin Luther said, “If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil
gets the victory.” Now that’s true of a man of the word as he was. If you read
anything that he has written you'll know that that man was ready to lay down his
life for the cause of Christ no matter what else you may think of him. Certainly
we may not agree with anybody on every point, but that man had courage and
was willing to sacrifice his life for his conviction of what Christianity is about.
That man said, “If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning the devil gets
the victory.”

Francis Asbury was born in England and pretty quickly moved to the United
States and spent a lot of years here. He use to pray two hours every morning. A
man named Joseph Elaine prayed from 4am to 8am every morning. He got up late
one morning and sort of overslept. One of his famous quotes is, "How the noise
of the blacksmiths shames me. Does not my master deserve better than their
master?" He got up and heard the blacksmiths banging away on their anvils and
he said, "How embarrassing this is! Does not my master deserve more than their
earthly masters? Why should they get up before I do? How embarrassing to my
Lord.”

The Queen of England named “Bloody Mary” back in the 1500’s said, “I fear no
man; I only fear the prayers of John Knox.” Now John Knox was the same
person, by the way, that said, "I don't know how anybody could lay in bed all
night and not rise to pray even once.” How can a person go to bed at midnight
and get up at 6AM and sleep all that time without at least getting up a couple of
times to pray? And now the Queen of England who has the world in the palm of
her hands said, “I fear NOTHING except one thing—the prayers of John Knox.”

John Welsh prayed eight to ten hours every day, and his wife was not a big fan of
that. She used to rebuke him when she found him lying on the floor weeping in
prayer—but eight to ten hours every day. Rees Howells, according to his wife,
was one time faced with a massive problem in his life and in the church. He
prayed twelve hours a day for eleven months until there was an answer to that
prayer, and things came into being in a way that was harmonizing with God.

A guy named Edward Payson was from Portland, Oregon. It is said that when
they were preparing his body for burial they found the same thing they did with
the Lord’s brother, James—that he had these massive calluses on his knees, and it
was almost sagging from the weight of the calluses on his knees. This was in
Portland, Oregon, not some medieval time and place, but in Portland, Oregon.
When they went into his bedroom, they found grooves cut into the floor 6 or 7
inches long where his knees—in his fervency in prayer he would rock back and
forth on the floor. It actually carved grooves in the floor where he prayed at night.
Maybe you can understand now why he had those calluses on his knees. He was a
man of God, and a man devoted to prayer.
A woman named Susanna Wesley—who was the mother of John Wesley and also
mother of Charles Wesley, who was the author of a massive percentage of the
songs in that song book you've got in front of you there. She had twelve children,
as I remember. She use to pray for over an hour a day. The way she did that was
that she took a veil, and she put it over her head and would lay her head down on
the table. Whenever the children in the family saw that she had this veil over her
head they knew that, “We do not disturb mother now,” and the children just
backed away from her. They knew that prayer was very, very important to their
mother. They grew up with that same intention, with that same motivation. If
your children don't see you in prayer, don't expect for them to ever be that way
either.

James Dunkin preached a sermon that just totally destroyed all the people in the
room. Someone came up after him and said, “Where did you get the supernatural
power for this sermon? We have never heard anything like this in our lives.” He
said it came from thirteen hours of consecutive prayer. There was the answer—
not in Kittles and Vines and all those things, but in his relationship with the
Father.

An old-timer, Livingston of Shots, twice preached with such power that 500
people were brought to Christ in that one sitting. And just by pure coincidence
I'm sure, both times were the only two times he ever spent all night in prayer
preceding delivering a sermon. Charles Finney spent a full day in the woods
fasting and praying before he went to preach at a congregation that was known to
be as dead as nails. He went into that sermon prepared after a full day of fasting
and praying in the woods. Every single person history records—every person
except for one fell on their face in the aisles. They were crying and weeping and
asking for God’s mercy with such a loud moan that he finally had to stop the
sermon because no one could hear him. Now that happened after a full day of
praying to God and fasting in prayer.

David Brainerd was a man whose heart was for the American Indians. He was
back in the times of the Revolution. He saw these American Indians and their life
styles of heathenism. He devoted his life to converting the Indians to Christ. Here
is a quote from his diary: “I got up in the morning, and the Indians were still
committing adultery and drinking and beating their tom-toms and shouting. I
prayed from half an hour before sunrise until half an hour before sunset. There
was nowhere to pray in the Indian camp. I went into the woods and knelt in the
snow; it was up to my chin.” Bear in mind he's gone out into the woods. There's
no heater there. All he's got on and all he owned was a rawhide robe with a
leather rope around him. That's all he owned. He went out into the woods with
snow up to his chin. He said, “I wrestled in prayer until half an hour before
sunset. I could only touch the snow with the tips of my fingers. The heat of my
body had melted the snow.” He finished that time of wrestling in prayer and all
around him no longer was the snow up to his chin. He could just barely touch the
snow from the fervency of his prayer and his body heat from being out in that
snow. Now I also ought to add this, the man weighed 95 pounds and had
tuberculosis when he was doing that. That was the price he was willing to pay for
those Indians. Actually when he left that Indian community those people had
God-honoring marriages. They were people of prayer. They were people who
knew the word of God. And these so-called “savages” were converted wholly to
Christ, and their lives reflected that. He didn't pray in vain.
How Will You Respond?
I want to ask you if these things mean anything to you—if the example of Jesus,
the commands of the Bible, the practical examples of people that CAN devote
their lives to prayer—how will you respond to the grace of God? How will you
respond to the word of God? I want to remind you of this, and that is that if we’re
not obviously a house of prayer, then there’s no evidence that we’re a church of
Christ. Remember Jesus said, “MY Father’s house (I don’t know about anybody
else’s house) but MY Father’s house shall be called a house of prayer.“ —shall be
an evident characteristic of the people of God is that they’ll be a people of prayer.

Now just to show you that that’s possible as a group as well as individuals, back
in the 1700s there was a group of people that decided that they were going to
devote themselves to prayer. And they prayed around the clock—24 hours a day.
They had a prayer chain of each person was responsible for praying during an
hour of the day—around the clock, 24 hours a day, for 100 years. Non-stop, 24
hours a day, for 100 years in a little-bitty, small town. That small town sent out
over a hundred missionaries in a 25 year period, in a town not nearly as big as
Burlington. I want you to know that it is entirely possible to be a people of
prayer, but we’re going to have to work at it. We’re going to have to labor in
prayer, and wrestle in prayer, and that’s not always easy. But you’re no different
than those people, and I’m no different than those people. It’s just what we make
up our mind we’re going to do. That’s all in the world it is—if we’re going to live
our lives for the glory of God, or we’re going to live it for our own particular
pursuits. You can do whatever anybody else did.

Now satan’s probably saying to you, “Hey, you don’t really have to do that. You
can’t do that anyway. After all, look at all these responsibilities that you have.”
All of those people had responsibilities, too! They were married. They had
families, and all of that. And satan’s telling you, “Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t
apply to you.” But really, secretly, what he’s saying is, “You guys can have all
the meetings that you want. You can have all the Bible studies that you want, all
the sermons that you want, all the business meetings. You can do all that kind of
stuff that you want, but please don’t bring the presence of God to bear on my
kingdom by prayer.”

He’ll use anything he can to keep you from doing that because he knows that his
life is at stake, and that you can bind up the strong man with supernatural
weapons. He knows you can do that. He’ll delude you to keep you away from
doing that. You’ve learned enough about prayer even if you’d never heard the
word before three weeks ago, and I know you knew all this before then. But
you’ve heard enough about prayer just in the last three weeks that you don’t need
to learn anymore about prayer. You don’t need to study it. You don’t need to
know the Greek. You don’t need to think about it. You don’t need to talk about it.
All you need to do is DO it. And God will bless you. Pray that He’ll give you a
heart of prayer if that’s your first prayer. Pray that He’ll cause you to desire to
pray. You know, PRAY!

Teach your children to pray. Teach other people around you to pray. Show them
how to do that. Teach them to pray over a particular scripture, to look a verse that
says, “Be kind one to another,” and to stop and to pray about that. “Father, show
me how to be kind. Show me what ‘kind’ means. Show me who you want me to
be kind to, even though they don’t deserve it. Teach me to love the way you’ve
loved me, and the way that Jesus showed we could love.” Teach people, teach
your children to pray that way, and you pray over scripture.
Pray and teach your children and your friends to pray over disasters in the
newspaper or on television. You see about a big mudslide or something on TV,
click off that television set and sit down and pray with your children about that.
There’s lives involved. There’s people involved in these things. It’s not some
little picture on the tube or words on the page. Teach them to reach out with their
life as well as with their prayers, but certainly start with prayer. Teach them to
pray over the promises of God, and you pray over the promises of God. It’s
necessary that we pray about those things to see their fulfillment. When you hear
a siren go off, or you see a police car or an ambulance or a firetruck, when you
hear that siren let that be an automatic indicator to you that you need to be in
prayer about something that’s going on out there that you don’t know about.
When you’re driving down the street and you pass a car, pray for the occupants of
that car. Pray that God will somehow touch their lives, and that God will
somehow bring them into the kingdom where they can find eternal happiness.
Pray about those things. Be instant in prayer in season and out of season. When
the phone rings before you ever pick it up, pray for the person at the other end of
that. And pray for them when you hang it up. You know, you CAN do that. You
can pray in that way. You can get pictures of all the members of the body here or
the leaders of the congregation, the leaders of the community, the leaders of the
nation and the world. Get a picture of those people, maybe put them on 3x5 cards
and pray about those people. It’s a command to pray about them, you know. We
can do that. Get a globe and a world atlas. There’s about 200 countries in the
world. Pray about each country by name and specific things you can pray about
it. It might take a while to do that, but you’ll never do it if you don’t get started.
Pray that the gospel will be open to those areas.
All these things are relatively new things for me, too. And I guess one thing that
probably jabbed me in the kidneys harder than anything was about a year ago
when Kathy and our kids were stranded in the Newark airport. They didn’t have
any money for lodging. They didn’t have money for food, nothing like that. I
asked Joshua, “Are you taking care of your mom?”

And he said, “Yeah, I am.”

I said, “Have you prayed about it?”

“Nope. Haven’t prayed about it. I didn’t even think about praying about it.”

It drove me to my knees at that one moment because I realized that I had taught
Joshua how to pray. I’ve heard some amazing prayers come out of his lips and
Melissa’s, also. I was really amazed. I was really proud of him because this kid is
really, obviously, drawing close to God because he knows how to pray. At
bedtime, at meals, I heard some amazing prayers come out of their lips. And yet,
I taught them how to pray, but I never taught them TO pray. I’d never taught
them a dependency on God. I never taught them in the situations of life to turn to
God, TURN to God. I hadn’t done that, and I’m ashamed of that. And you know
why? Because I wasn’t doing that. That wasn’t where MY heart was at. I can’t
give something I don’t have. And you all know that’s true. I was really convicted
about that. I’d made up my mind almost a year ago—that was when I really
committed myself to really understanding prayer and giving my life totally to
God in prayer.

I want you to realize that you can be a prayer warrior because you’re just flesh
and bones like everybody else is, and there’s nobody that’s ever done anything
that you can’t do. Elijah was a man like we are, is what the Bible says. And you
can be a prayer warrior, but if you’re not what you need to realize is you’re going
to miss the infinite blessings that God has associated only with those who pray.
You’re not going to see those things EVER in your life—the intervention of God
without prayer, without devotion to continual, fervent prayer.

In 2 Kings 20, a dying man added 15 years to his life by prayer. Prayer has
stopped powerful rivers and just stopped them in their tracks. Prayer has raised
the dead. Prayer has won wars. Prayer has caused water to rush from a rock.
Prayer has caused a couple of fish and a little bread to be multiplied over a
multitude of thousands of people. Prayer has shut hungry lions’ mouths. Prayer
has provided wisdom and wealth as it did in answer to Solomon’s prayer. Prayer
has actually stopped the physical universe in its tracks. Remember in Joshua
10 where Joshua prayed that the sun would stand still, and the whole solar system
grinds to a stop at the prayer of an ordinary man, prayer of a guy that was called
the servant of Moses. He was just an aide. He was an also-ran. And the whole
universe ground to a stop at that particular time.

The text we read in James 5:16, “Confess your sins one to another, and pray for
each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful
and effective. Elijah was a man just like us.” That was James, the Lord’s brother,
with calluses on his knees that had seen the supernatural intervention of God
himself—he could say that. He could say, “Elijah was just like us. There’s
nothing special about Elijah. He was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that
it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for 3 1/2 years.”
Elijah was a man just like us. You picture him in your mind sitting under a
juniper tree feeling sorry for himself, and self-pity, and doubts and fears, saying,
“Oh, God, I’m the only one out here,” and “I wish I could die.” That’s the Elijah
we’re talking about here. We’re not talking about some monumental muscle man.
We’re talking about a man just like us who God made all the forces of nature
subject to his prayer because he was man of prayer, and a man devoted to God’s
purposes. A man just like us. I want to say this as clearly as I possibly can: that in
the name of Jesus Christ, if your life is hidden in Christ all of the universe is
subject to your prayer by the promises of God, a God that can’t lie, a God that
can’t even fool us. Very clear. All the universe is subject to our prayers.
Supernatural weaponry, the Bible says. Supernatural means, “beyond the natural,
above the natural.” Whatever you see that’s natural, God says that we have
weapons that are above that, control that, have dominion over the natural.

What I’d like you to do this morning is to set your life in order. I’d like you to
recommit your life to a life of purity, a life of holiness, a life of perseverance, a
life of love, a life of service, and a life of prayer. To dedicate yourself to the life
of prayer. Being devoted, laying siege as it says of new Christians in Acts 2. Lay
siege to prayer, be devoted to that. Pray without ceasing. Pray fervently. Pray
passionately, and you’ll see the hand of God in your life. There’s no question
about that. Bind up the strong man.

A WOMAN’S PRAYER
CHANGED THE COURSE OF
HISTORY

A Woman’s Prayer Changed the Course of History

As a woman, do you struggle to pray, feeling that God is more attuned to

the prayer of Christian male professionals and religious male elites? If you
are a woman and struggle to pray with confidence or hope, the following
thoughts from Scripture are written to encourage and inspire you.
If I were to cast my vote for the individual whose prayer was the most
powerful influence in shaping the destiny of a nation, it would go to a
woman. A woman, in my opinion, wins the MVP award for the most
effective supplicant in Israel’s Scripture.[1] The prayer of a woman was a
national game changer. Don’t underestimate the power of a woman’s
prayer.

Women are Equal to Men

Scripture clearly asserts the equality of women with men in worth, dignity,
and as culture-makers.[2] The first recorded words of a human being prior
to the entrance of sin and its destructive effects on human attitudes,
reinforce and assert this equality. After God formed the woman and
brought her to the awakened man, he jubilantly responded—the first
recorded words in time-space—to God’s gift of a woman by saying:

“This one now (finally!) is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall
be called ‘woman’ because she was taken out of man.” Gen 2:23

The First Man Recognizes a Woman’s Equality

Adam’s enthusiastic and spontaneous response to the woman recognized

her equality and likeness to him. His jubilant words are anchored in
respect, admiration, and recognition of her sexual differentiation.

The man’s response, the only human words recorded before the curse of
sin, sets the standard for male-female relationships. His words—untouched
by envy or pride, free from the desire to control or dominate her, are to be
normative for all who follow the God of Israel, and His living embodiment
in the Gospels, Jesus Christ. Adam’s first recorded words about a woman
form the foundation for all marriages, for all male-female relationships.
Imagine what all marriages would be like if this foundation was laid at the
beginning.

Are Women Viewed as Equal After Eve?

But is this equality between men and women reinforced by the remainder
of Israel’s Scripture? Does the Jewish Bible affirm or detract from this
equality? Israel’s Scripture affirms it. There are many cameos provided
that show women are equal to men in worship.

A Woman Prayed Directly to God

One example where this equality in worship stands out is the case of
Hannah in 1 Samuel 1 and 2. The MVP award for the most effective prayer,
in my view, is the request of this anguished woman.
Despite the insensitivity displayed by her husband Elkanah and by Eli the
priest, Hannah prayed directly to God without the intervention of a priest
or her husband. Hannah needed no go-between to get God’s attention. Her
prayer to Israel’s God stood on its own merits. Hannah went to God
directly.

“In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD… As she
kept on praying to the LORD…”

A Woman Misunderstood by Men

But Hannah was misunderstood as she prayed. Her passion in prayer

shocked and angered the bland priest who jumped to a conclusion and
misinterpreted her behavior.

“Eli…thought she was drunk and said to her, ‘How long will you keep on
getting drunk? Get rid of your wine.’” 1 Sam 1:12-14

Even when challenged by Eli the priest and accused of drunkenness,

Hannah didn’t keep quiet. Rather, she defended her right to pray directly
to God. Hannah set the record straight to an insensitive religious leader.

“‘Not so my lord,’ Hannah replied. ‘I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I

have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the
LORD. Do not interpret your servant for a wicked woman. I have been
praying here out of great anguish and grief.’”

I love her response. Hannah didn’t say, ‘I am an Israelite’ or ‘I am a

covenantal Hebrew.’ She said, ‘I am a woman…’

Like many troubled women after her, barren Hannah’s prayer was
conceived in the womb of anguish and grief. But she didn’t give up. She
kept on praying, believing that the God of Israel listened to women at
prayer. She was right.

The LORD heard the bitter cry of her soul and, in response, provided her
with a son whom she named ‘Samuel,’ “Asked of God.”[3]

A Woman’s Prayer Changed History

But the best is yet to come. The result of Hannah’s prayer, the prayer of a
woman, was the about-face of Israel. Under her son’s leadership, Israel
made a political and spiritual U-turn. Samuel the prophet, son of Hannah,
changed Israel’s downward slide toward chaos into an upward ascent that
climaxed in the glory of kingdom under King David.
Hannah’s prayer was the hinge of Israel’s history. That’s right. It was a
woman’s prayer, not a man’s sword or a king’s army, which turned the
tide of history. You want to see history changed? Put your sword back into
its sheath, order your armies to return to their homes and, instead, ask a
woman to pray. When women of faith pray, good things, big things,
happen.

A Woman’s Prayer Saved Israel

It is no coincidence that the book of 1 Samuel begins—not with the word of

a prophet or the command of a king—but with the prayer of a barren
woman, a troubled woman, a woman with a broken heart. Hannah prayed
directly to God and He heard her, despite her disadvantages—lack of
support from her husband—and initial dismissal from the priest. Yet her
anguished prayer changed the course of history. Her prayer reversed a
corrupt national trend. Hannah’s prayer saved Israel. A woman saved
Israel.

So what do you think? Does Israel’s Scripture affirm or deny women’s

equality? What does the evidence suggest?

A Woman’s Prayer Wins the MVP Award

Hannah wins the MVP award for most the effective supplicant. A woman’s
prayer did what no ordained male priest or prophet or king ever did.
Something powerful happens when women pray. Women have the ear of
God. He listens to them. He responds to them.

A Woman is a Theologian

Much more could be said about Hannah. For example, a quick look at her
literary masterpiece in 1 Samuel 2: 1-10 demonstrates that Hannah not
only could pray, she was also a top-shelf theologian who thought deeply
about God. In fact, Hannah’s poetic words in 1 Samuel 2:3-4 provide the
keys to understanding 1 and 2 Samuel. Hannah’s words unlock 1 and 2
Samuel.[4]

In addition, the psalmist quoted her words in Psalm 113:7-8. I would go as

far as to suggest that Psalm 113 was written as a literary biography of
Hannah. Hannah’s achievement as a mighty woman of God is
memorialized in Israel’s inspired hymn book. Observe the happy
conclusion of the Psalm:

“He settles the barren[5] woman in her home as a happy mother of

children.” Psalm 113:9
Just imagine: a woman ignored by her husband and dismissed by a priest,
but heard by God, a writer of Scripture, and quoted by other inspired
authors. Not bad for a lowly barren woman, wouldn’t you say?

God’s View of Women

In God’s view, women are equal to men. Their influential prayers affirm
their equality. Women are game changers when they pray. Are you
saddled with the same disadvantages as a woman that Hannah wore? Is
your heart in anguish like hers was? Don’t stop praying. God hears the
prayers of women of faith.

Do you long for a downward trend to change direction? Then, search out
some women of faith and persuade them to pray for you. Then, watch God
work and see history change.

Thank you for reading.

10 Prayer Warriors Who Changed

History
June 19, 2015 Mari-Anna Stålnacke
@flowingfaith Comments 25 comments

Today I have a pleasure to welcome Jared Brock to Flowing Faith as

a guest blogger. Jared is the author of A Year of Living Prayerfully, a
humorous travel memoir about prayer. He is the cofounder of Hope
for the Sold, an abolitionist charity that fights human trafficking one
word at a time. Jared is happily married to his best friend, Michelle,
whom he first kissed in the seventh grade.
Here’s Jared:

I recently traveled 37,000 miles around the world on a modern-day

prayer pilgrimage. I met the Pope, danced with rabbis, visited
monks, walked on coals, and revived my prayer life. I discovered a
world of prayer traditions across the Judeo-Christian faith family, and
dug into the history of our family’s greatest prayer warriors.

Here are ten I discovered along the way.

1. Francis of Assisi

Francis, the patron saint of ecology, was a nature-loving monk, and

his followers have founded dozens of hospitals and universities. He’s
one of the few saints revered in all three major branches of
Christianity.

I’m inspired by Francis’s boldness in prayer and action – in a time of

enormous war and upheaval, Francis traveled to meet the Muslim
sultan, in hopes of winning him to Jesus. While he didn’t succeed, he
didn’t get executed either. In fact, the sultan so appreciated his
boldness that Francis stayed for an entire year.

Takeaway: Where can you practice boldness in your life? Maybe it’s
a conversation you’re putting off or a new chapter you’ve been
making excuses for not moving forward.. Be bold and start today!

2. Brother Lawrence

Lawrence was a monk who washed dishes and cooked meals, and
tried to pray without ceasing. He became so famous for his habit
that someone interviewed him, and published a little book
called, The Practice of the Presence of God. The book hasn’t been
out of print in over 300 years, with over 20 million copies in English
alone.

Lawrence believed it was easy to be close to God in prayer – if you

didn’t wander far from Him during the rest of the day. I discovered
Lawrence’s home after many months of research, and the impact of
his simple prayer philosophy has helped me – and millions of people
– to constantly commune with Christ.

Takeaway: Find ways to connect the everyday to the eternal. When

you wake up, pray about being alive in Christ. As you shower, ask
God to cleanse you from unrighteousness. As you put on your
clothes, put on the armor of God. As you walk or drive to work, pray
about your spiritual journey.

3. Teresa of Avila

Teresa is the Doctor of Prayer in the Catholic church – a high honor,

especially for a woman born 500 years ago. I visited her simple
monastery in Spain, just outside the beautiful walls of Avila.

Teresa believed we are all on a spiritual journey, and there are

seven “levels” in the process, ranging from practicing humility to
achieving ecstatic spiritual marriage. While the lower levels of
prayer – including the humble recognition of God’s work in our life –
is very helpful, things got a little crazy towards the end. Teresa was
said to levitate. I tend to stick to her first few ideas, trying to see
where God is at work in my life.

Takeaway: Think about the times during the day you could focus
on God more often. When do you get distracted, and how can you
incorporate God into your life in those times?

4. Benedict of Nursia

This pious monk is considered the father of Western monasticism,

and for good reason – he literally wrote the book on it. The Rule of
Saint Benedict has served as a guidebook for millions of monastics
throughout the centuries, famously summed up by the phrase “Ora
et Labora” – pray and work.

The patron saint of monks and spelunkers built a dozen monasteries

in his lifetime, but his last one was truly impressive: a hulking hilltop
fortress called Monte Cassino. I’ve visited the massive stone fortress
where Benedict died, and reflected on the impact of his prayer and
work.
Benedict believed that prayer and work aren’t mutually exclusive,
and that times of work and prayer can go together. Prayer infuses
mission with meaning.

Takeaway: Instead of trying to fix your problems by work alone,

start with prayer. Then, as you work, continue to see it as an
offering or a constant supplication. Let your work and prayer be one.

5. John of the Cross

The Christian life is beautiful, but it isn’t easy. In this life

we will have trouble. John of the Cross was no exception. His level of
devotion was so extreme that another group of monks kidnapped
and imprisoned him, bringing him out for regular public floggings. It
was during the desperate time that he wrote the epic poem Dark
Night of the Soul. He eventually tore the hinges off his cell and
escaped, and went on to found a handful of monasteries.

Like John of the Cross, and Mother Teresa many years later, I too
struggle with dark nights of the soul. John’s life encourages me to
weather those difficult times – to make Christ my rock and anchor in
the storms of life.

Takeaway: Make Jesus your firm foundation. Rather than trying to

fix or avoid our problems, take time to do the greater work in
prayer.

6. Brother Roger

Roger Schütz was 25 years old when World War II started, and he
decided that Switzerland was too safe a place for any Christian to be
during a time of war. So he bicycled to France.

One night he stopped in an almost-abandoned hilltop town called

Taize, and an elderly woman invited him in for dinner. She asked
him to stay in Taize, and he did. As the war progressed, Roger
helped Jewish refugees flee from Nazi persecution.

As the years went on, more and more people started to visit Taize –
today, almost 100,000 young people visit each year, for prayer and
meditation. My wife and I visited Taize, and it was a wonderful
experience. We prayed before breakfast, before lunch, and after
supper, and each time of prayer started with 8 minutes of silence.
Our goal was to “maintain inner silence in all things so as to dwell
with Christ.”

Takeaway: Rather than always asking for things during prayer, set
aside a moment to simply spend time with Jesus.

7. John Wesley

Literally tens of millions of people are part of the Christian faith

family because of the work of Wesley and his fellow ministers. The
tiny preacher had a big mission – he’s famous for declaring that “the
whole world is my parish.” I’ve had the opportunity to visit Wesley’s
simple house, where I discovered a curious walk-in closet off his
bedroom – his prayer room.

Wesley spent two hours in that little room every morning, and it
became known as “The Powerhouse of Methodism.” I’ve had the
opportunity to pray in that closet, using Wesley’s own Bible – he
always prayed with an open Bible, as he was always seeking a word
from the Lord.

Takeaway: As you read through the Scriptures, turn Bible verses

into prayers and pray them back to God.

8. George Muller

George Muller was a legendary prayer warrior – according to his

autobiography, he had over 5000 requests answered on the day he
prayed them. Muller started 117 schools and ran a group of
orphanages in England that took care of over 10,000 boys. He
“retired” at the age of 70 and became a traveling evangelist,
logging over 200,000 before the days of planes.

Muller had five friends who were far from Christ, and he committed
to prayer for them every day until they were part of God’s family.
After a few months, the first man came to Christ. Within 10 years,
two more had come to faith. After 25 years, the fourth man was
saved.

But the fifth man was a holdout, so Muller continued to prayer for
him every single day… for 63 years and 8 months. Muller eventually
died, and before his coffin was placed in the soil, his fifth friend
committed his life to Jesus.

Takeaway: This is called prevailing prayer – it’s a gut-it-out, long-

term commitment to doing the hard work of “moving the hand of
God by prayer alone.” Commit to praying for the long-term.

9. Nikolaus Zinzendorf

The good Count Ludwig opened his vast estate to a group of

Moravian refugees, and allowed them to start a village on his
German property. The village was called Herrnhut, meaning “the
Lord’s Watch.” Before long, they started fighting about theology and
it got so bad that Zinzendorf made them sign a vow of unity and
commitment to prayer. One thing led to another, and that prayer
meeting ran 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, for over over
hundred years straight.

I’ve visited Herrnhut, the tiny town that fuelled a massive missions
movement. It was so inspiring to see what a small group of people
can do, when fully devoted to God. I love a quote by Zinzendorf that
sums up his life: “Preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten.”

Takeaway: That’s our calling – more of Him, less of us. As you pray,
focus on thinking less of yourself and more on Christ and others.

10. You?

I’ve had the opportunity to meet dozens of amazing prayer warriors

on my journey. It’s been said that “each and every one of us could
pray a prayer that could change the course of history.”

I know it sounds cliche, but it really is true. I believe it, because

many of my closest friends were won to Christ through prayer.
Perhaps, someday, your name will be added to this list.
Back to the railroad track – and I’m sure you know where this is
going – our work is like pushing a heavy cart down an old track. But
prayer is the steam engine that gives it real power.

Rather than trying to do it ourselves, let’s stand on the shoulder of

giants and become prayer warriors in our generation. Our calling,
like Benedict, is simple: pray and work. And somewhere, somehow,
at some unknown intersection between prayer and work, God
indwells our humble offering—God indwells us—and turns human
actions into spiritual awakenings.

Who knows how it might influence the future?

Thanks, Jared!
Let us pray!

Gracious God,
We thank you and praise you
for sending us so many prayer warriors.
Help us to believe in the power of prayer
and practice it like we mean it.
Empower us to be your partners here on earth.
Fill us with your Spirit
and use us according to your plan.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Who is your favorite prayer warrior? Do you consider yourself

as a prayer warrior? Why/why not?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you believe and practice the power

of prayer!

Image courtesy of Jared Brock, design Mari-Anna Stålnacke. Linking

up today with Dance with Jesus, Faith-filled Fridays, and Faith
Barista.

May 3, 2016
Prayers That Changed History: An Interview with Tricia Goyer
Jonathan Petersen

The National Day of Prayer is May 7, 2020.

Browse resources in the Prayer section in the Bible Gateway Store.

We read stories of world-changing leaders in history books and

hear about the amazing things they did. But one part of the story is often left out: the
role of prayer in their lives and the effect it had on their singular accomplishments. How
can prayer make history?

Bible Gateway interviewed Tricia Goyer (@triciagoyer) about her book, Prayers That
Changed History (Zonderkidz, 2015).

What do you say to people who think your book’s title is audacious?

Tricia Goyer: History is the study of past events. We often don’t get the full story from
history books. The amazing thing about looking back at historical people and events
with spiritual eyes is seeing how whispered prayers impacted the course of a person’s
life—and beyond. There are times when ordinary people prayed and things happened,
such as tens of thousands of orphans being cared for (in George Muller’s case),
organizations being created (Catherine Booth), and a monumental missionary
movement happening (David Livingston). Because of prayer, history is forever changed.
I loved digging out moments when influential men and women turned to God in prayer.
It is a bit audacious, but then so are things God asks men and women to do in his
name!

What is prayer and why is it important for people to pray?

Tricia Goyer: Prayer is taking one’s eyes off of one’s circumstances and own abilities
and, instead, lifting one’s heart up to God. Jesus doesn’t physically walk by our side, as
he did with the disciples, but, instead, he leads us through the Holy Spirit. Each of us
has a special connection with the Holy Spirit when we go before God in prayer. Through
prayer we can make a difference in the world we live in, too. The difference starts with
internal changes and then leads to external ones.

Prayer shouldn’t always be about asking God to change things. Instead, it’s asking God
to change us and give us his heart. And once we have his heart, we care about the
things he cares about. That’s when things truly begin to change.

How did you select the people you write about?

Tricia Goyer: I started collecting stories in 1999. Every time I came across a “prayer
that changed history,” I filed it away. The file grew and there were soon too many stories
to include in one book. I chose stories by picking a sampling of men and women
throughout history. I didn’t want to focus too much on one era, but, instead, show how
prayers over generations have made an impact.

Each person’s chapter is comprised of sections, one of which is “It’s in the

Bible.” What is that about?

Tricia Goyer: When I started compiling these stories, it was amazing how similar these
historical stories were to biblical stories. For example, one night Patrick (St. Patrick) had
a dream that the people of Ireland were asking him to come to them and tell them about
God. This story reminded me of the Bible story of Paul having a dream about a man
from Macedonia asking him to come and tell him about Jesus. That’s just one example.
Over and over again I saw similarities between historical stories and biblical accounts. I
love how God’s fingerprints are all over history.

How should the Bible influence a person’s prayer life?

Tricia Goyer: The Bible should be the foundation for everything, including how we see
history.

The Bible is filled with amazing stories of what happens when people pray: the sun
standing still, the walls of Jericho falling, the mouths of lions closing. We know those are
answers to prayers because the Bible gives us an eternal perspective.

We should view history in the way we see the Bible–as a platform for God to do his
great work, starting first in the hearts of men and women and then through events and
circumstances. The more we read and understand the Bible, the more we know the
value and the power of prayer.

Reading the Bible has transformed my life, and when I view the world and history
through the lens of the Bible, I see God’s hand everywhere.

Talk about one of the people you feature in Prayers That Changed History.

Tricia Goyer: One of my favorite stories is about Corrie ten Boom. As a writer of
historical novels I’ve known about Corrie for a long time, but when I researched for this
book I discovered an amazing story of prayer. Here’s an excerpt from the book:

Prayer came naturally to Corrie. Her parents made prayer an important part of her life.
Her parents taught her to pray, and they lived an example of prayer. Corrie’s
grandfather, Willem ten Boom, felt the need to pray for Jewish people after a moving
worship service. In 1844, the ten Boom family, along with friends and neighbors, started
a weekly prayer meeting for Jewish people. Every week they specifically prayer for the
peace of Jerusalem as talked about in Psalm 122:6. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
they shall prosper that love thee” (KJV). These meetings took place every week for one
hundred years. They stopped on February 28, 1944, when Nazi soldiers came to the
house to take the family away.

I love that story! 100 years before Corrie was taken to a concentration camp for hiding
and protecting Jewish people, her family started praying for them. Corrie’s life was
changed and her testimony still continues through her books. It’s a reminder to me how
prayer can impact generations.

Of those included in your book, who would you say is the most colorful person
and what were his/her prayers like?

Tricia Goyer: One of the most colorful people in my book is Sojourner Truth. Born
Isabella Baumfree, she was born into slavery in Ulster County, New York. With the help
of friends, Isabella was able to win her freedom a year before emancipation, but her son
Isaac had been sold across state lines, which was illegal at the time. She decided to go
to court to get him back. No one thought she’d ever be able to win, but Isabella believed
God was on her side. Every night she prayed:

“Oh, God, you know how much I am distressed, for I have told you again and again.
Now, God, help me get my son. If you were in trouble, as I am, and I could help you, as
you can me, think I wouldn’t do it? Yes, God, you know I would do it.

“Oh, God, you know I have no money, but you can make people do for me, and you
must make the people do for me. I will never give you peace till you do, God.”

This, truly, is an example of persistent prayer. It reminds me that it’s okay to ask God
more than once. It’s okay to plead our case even if this labels us as colorful!
Who might be the most unexpected person to be included in your book?

Tricia Goyer: The most unexpected person might be Constantine—or maybe

Christopher Columbus. Both men are known for good and bad actions during their
lifetimes. Neither can be considered saints. Yet, both of them prayed amazing prayers
that are worth noting. There’s so much in the history books about both of these men,
and I felt it was important to share their prayers that were turning-points in their lives.
They are prayers that few people know about.

The book is published by Zonderkidz, but what might adults glean from it?

Tricia Goyer: I’ve received notes from many adult readers who love Prayers That
Changed History. I believe both children and adults will walk away with knowing more
about history. More importantly they’ll be inspired to become more bold in their own
prayer lives. Prayer changes things—but it starts by changing people.

What do you want readers to do when they finish your book?

Tricia Goyer: Well, that’s easy. I hope they’ll pray and become diligent in prayer!

What are your thoughts about Bible Gateway and the Bible Gateway App?

Tricia Goyer: I use Bible Gateway on a daily basis! I use it when working on my books
and blogs. I use it in my homeschooling. I especially love the ability to listen to Scripture
on the Bible Gateway App. As a busy mom, I often listen to it when I get ready in the
morning or fold laundry. It’s a huge blessing to me!

Bio: USA TODAY bestselling author Tricia Goyer is the author of more than 40 books,
including The One Year Book of Amish Peace: Hearing God’s Voice in the Simple
Things and the novelization for Moms’ Night Out. She’s written over 500 articles for
national publications and blogs for high traffic sites like TheBetterMom.com and
MomLifeToday.com. Tricia and her husband, John, live in Little Rock, Arkansas, where
Tricia coordinates a Teen MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group. They have six
children.

TWO PRAYING MEN CHANGED WORLD

HISTORY
Greetings and welcome to our February 2024 Creating
Connections newsletter from the Assemblies of God Office of
Hispanic and Ethnic Relations. Many of us have begun the new
year, 2024, with a commitment to pray consistently. Prayer is a
spiritual practice that can be learned. I believe it is the most
important spiritual discipline that followers and disciples of Jesus
will ever practice. When we learn to pray effectively, much is
accomplished for God’s kingdom purpose. James 5:16b says, “The
effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” A
powerful example of history changing prayer that has moved my
heart is the account found in Acts 10 when God used the Apostle
Peter to open the door for the gospel message to the Gentiles.

The principal characters in this narrative are Cornelius, a Gentile;

a Roman Centurion of what was called the Italian cohort or
regiment, living in Caesarea who was a man described as being
devout and God-fearing; and the Apostle Peter, a Jewish
fisherman from Galilee, now an apostle of Jesus Christ and a
preacher of the gospel. Up to this point, after the day of
Pentecost, the gospel had only been preached to the Jews and
reluctantly to the Samaritans. Think about this, historians tell us
that Peter did not visit Caesarea until 8 to 10 years after
Pentecost. That seems like a long time because Caesarea is only
about 70 miles from Jerusalem. You have to consider that for
centuries, strong cultural, religious, dietary, and ethnic divisions
existed between the Jews and Gentiles. Orthodox Jews would not
enter into the home of Gentiles because of the foods they ate.
Jews considered Gentile foods unholy and unclean. Commentator
William Baker writes: “Jewish tradition had extended the dietary
regulations against ‘anything impure or unclean’ to contact with
Gentiles in their homes.” Jews and Gentiles were worlds apart, so
how could the gospel message be carried from Jerusalem to the
uttermost parts of the earth? God would have to do something so
powerful and deep in the heart of the Jewish people that it would,
in the words of Commentator F.F. Bruce, “Sweep away the racial
prejudice of centuries.”
What is amazing is that God did not do this overnight or in an
instant. First of all, the apostles, including Peter had been given a
commission that the gospel would be preached in Jerusalem,
Judea, Samaria and to the remotest part of the earth. That was
clear, but how? Interestingly, Jesus had opened up the minds of
the apostles to understand the scriptures (Luke 24:45). When
Peter finally preached in Cornelius’ house, he affirmed that the
prophets of old spoke of the day when everyone would have
access to a relationship with God. Notice Peter’s words in Acts
10:43, “Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His
name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”
That was a pivotal moment in this narrative and those words
ushered in the movement of the Holy Spirit that would change
human history forever. How did God do it? It took two men, one a
Gentile and the other Jewish, both who had established a
consistent prayer life. Read with me Acts 10:1-5:

“Now there was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion

of what was called the Italian cohort, a devout man and one who
feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the
Jewish people and prayed to God continually. About the ninth hour
of the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just
come in and said to him, “Cornelius!” And fixing his gaze on him
and being much alarmed, he said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said
to him, “Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial
before God. Now dispatch some men to Joppa and send for a man
named Simon, who is also called Peter.”

There are two important things about Cornelius. 1) He was devout

and feared God. F.F. Bruce writes, “Many Gentiles in those days,
while not prepared to enter this Jewish community as full
proselytes, were attracted by the simple monotheism of the
Jewish way of life. Some of them attended synagogue and were
tolerably conversant with the prayers and Scripture lessons,
which they heard read in the Greek version.” Commentators
Larkin and Trites write: “‘God fearer’ was a semitechnical term for
a category of Gentile sympathizers who, to a greater or lesser
extent, embraced the theology and practice of Judaism short of
becoming proselytes.” 2) Larkin and Trites also write, “So strong
was Cornelius’s sympathy with Judaism that his spiritual
disciplines included two of the three pillars of Jewish piety:
almsgiving and regular prayer (the Jewish practice was three
times a day).” Cornelius was praying at 3 in the afternoon, which
is one of the hours the Jews had set aside for prayer. The angel
said in Acts 10:4 to Cornelius that his prayers and acts of charity
had risen up as the aroma of a meal offering as a memorial before
God. Commentator David Guzik writes: “Because of the way the
life and heart of Cornelius is described, we see a man who
obviously had a real relationship with God.”

Cornelius was commanded to send some men to Joppa and invite

Simon Peter to come to his house. We find Peter in Joppa, about
30 miles away staying in the house of Simon. It was about noon
and in Acts 10:9-15 we read:
“On the next day, as they were on their way and approaching the
city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray.
But he became hungry and was desiring to eat; but while they
were making preparations, he fell into a trance; and he saw the
sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down,
lowered by four corners to the ground, and there were in it all
kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth
and birds of the air. A voice came to him, ‘Get up, Peter, kill and
eat!’ But Peter said, ‘By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten
anything unholy and unclean.’ Again a voice came to him a
second time, ‘What God has cleansed, no longer consider
unholy.’”

Peter was in Joppa by the sea staying in the house of Simon, a

tanner by trade. You have to believe that God was preparing Peter
for cross/cultural ministry. Wave Nunnally, in his commentary on
Acts, writes: “It is evident that God is placing Peter in less-than
comfortable surroundings to stretch him spiritually and prepare
him for the upcoming greatest leap in his life. First, he is moved
out of his comfort zone in Jewish Judea, then to the very
Hellenized (Greek) coast, and finally to the home of man whose
trade was held in great suspicion because of its susceptibility to
ritual uncleanness.”

Peter never would have gone into a Gentile’s house without God
giving him a vision with a clear word: “What God has cleansed no
longer consider unholy” (Acts 10:15). Just after having this vision,
two men knocked at Simon’s door looking for Peter. The next day,
Peter accompanied them to Caesarea, where Cornelius had
gathered a large group of family and friends. Peter understood
the vision, he was obedient, and his heart was changed. The first
words out of his mouth were: “I most certainly understand now
that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man
who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him” (Acts
10:34-35). Peter preached the gospel that day, presenting Jesus
as Savior and Lord, but when Peter reached the point where he
said, “All the prophets bear witness that through His name
everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins” (Acts
10:43), suddenly the Holy Spirit fell upon all of them and they
spoke in tongues, just like the day of Pentecost. The door to the
Gentile world was now open. It’s important to understand that
when it comes to cross-cultural evangelism, a life of prayer and
sensitivity to God are key. Both Cornelius and Peter had
disciplines of prayer that they had practiced for a long time. Often
what can be routine for us, is setting us up for an extraordinary
visitation and revelation from God that can be world changing. In
2024, let’s resolve to build a consistent prayer life that makes us
available to God. Two praying men changed world history! God
can do it again! Amen!

Dennis Rivera
Director, Hispanic & Ethnic Relations
BOOKS · FAITH · PRAYER · WORDS

Why I wrote the book

and how you can share
“Prayers That Changed
History”
Today I would like to ask for your help in spreading the word and sharing about Prayers that
Changed History. I am also going to share WHY this book is so important to me! Prayer is
important, and this is something I want kids to understand!
 Why I wrote the book Prayers That
Changed History
I first got the idea for this book in 1999, and it’s been simmering ever since. As a homeschooling
mom and a Christian, I kept coming across these great stories of prayer, and I loved them! They
encouraged my own prayer life, and I wished there was a resource for my own kids. I believe in
prayer with all of my heart. I believe prayer changes history. Sometimes the answered
prayers are small. Sometimes they are huge.

The Bible is filled with amazing stories of what happens when people pray: the sun standing still,
the walls of Jericho falling, the mouths of lions closing. We know those are answers to prayer
because the Bible gives us an eternal perspective. We see these events from God’s perspective
and sometimes we can get other glimpses of prayer-at-work through historical stories and
figures. (That is my desire for this book!)

I wrote this book to:

 highlight a historical person and a moment of prayer;

 to teach children how to pray;
 and to discuss prayers through the very words of the people highlighted. (We do not have God’s point of
view in these stories, but we have the viewpoint of the people [or nation] who prayed, and in their eyes,
miracles did happen.)

As readers of faith, you and I believe in the value and the power of prayer. This is the lens
through which we see historical events. This is how the people who prayed saw them. We view
history in the way we see the Bible–as a platform for God to do is great work, starting first in the
hearts of men and women and then through events and circumstances.

Want to know how you can help spread the word about Prayers that Changed History?

Here are a few ways:

I have created some graphics that you can share with others along with some social media ideas
to help you spread the word.

Four inspiring people who prayed for change

The Benedictine motto “ora et labora” reminds us of the importance of

balancing prayer and work – of the idea of prayer as a complement to
action, a both/and rather than an either/or. Here, Emma Halgren
reflects on four people whose lives of action for social change were
undergirded by prayer.

Liberian peace activist and women’s rights advocate Leymah

Gbowee, who jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011. Photo by
Fronteiras do Pensamento. CC BY-SA 2.0
Leymah Gbowee

Leymah Gbowee was 17 and on the cusp of a bright new chapter –

university study, adventure, hopeful of fulfilling her dream of becoming
a doctor – when civil war broke out in Liberia in 1990. In the years that
followed, she experienced the horrors of war and the fear and
upheaval it brought to her family and her country. But, fuelled by her
Christian faith, she also found the courage to lead Christian and
Muslim women in a nonviolent movement that played a key role in
ending Liberia’s civil war in 2003.
In her memoir, she describes how in 2002 she had a dream in which
she heard a voice “and it was talking to me – commanding me:
‘Gather the women to pray for peace!’”1 What started with a small
group of women from local churches meeting weekly to pray grew to
become an interfaith movement, the Women of Liberia Mass Action
for Peace.
In a 2012 interview, she described why prayer had been so important
to the reconciliation process in Liberia, saying: “There’s something
special about prayer itself that changes things. It consoles you in your
faith and opens doors. Reconciliation is often a spiritual process … In
order for reconciliation to take place, you have to be reconciled with
God, yourself, and those who offended you.”2
In 2009 she gave a lecture at Eastern Mennonite University in the US,
where she had undertaken what she called a “transformative” summer
course on restorative justice in 2004 and later completed a masters
degree in conflict transformation and peacebuilding. She said her
Christian faith had been pivotal in her peacebuilding work: “I didn’t get
there by myself … or anything I did as an individual, but it was by the
grace and mercy of God … They have this song, ‘Order my steps in
your ways, dear Lord’, and every day as I wake up, that is my prayer,
because there’s no way that anyone can take this journey as a peace
builder, as an agent of change in your community, without having a
sense of faith … As I continue this journey in this life, I remind myself:
All that I am, all that I hope to be, is because of God.”3

Yorta Yorta Elder William Cooper.

William Cooper

Marking Aboriginal Sunday – on the Sunday before 26 January – has

become increasingly common in churches in recent years. Doing so
can be an act of solidarity with First Nations people, and it shines a
light on the life, ministry and advocacy of Yorta Yorta elder William
Cooper, who campaigned for land rights and political representation
for First Nations people, and issued a challenge to Australian
churches to set aside a day each year to pray for Aboriginal people.
William Cooper had converted to Christianity in 1884. As a teenager,
he came to know a Christian missionary couple at the Maloga mission
on the banks of the Murray River. They shared with him their
theological understanding that all people are God’s children, including
Aboriginal people.4 For someone who had witnessed and experienced
poverty and racism, and seen the effects of violence and
dispossession on First Nations people, this was a powerful and
galvanising message.
After church one evening, he went to Daniel Matthews and said: “I
must give my heart to God.” The two men knelt to pray, and Cooper
said that he “had peace with God, through Christ”.
He was politically active throughout his life: in 1933 – aged in his 70s
– he helped to establish the Australian Aborigines League, which
campaigned for Indigenous people to enjoy the same rights and
privileges as other Australians. In an interview in 1937, he described
why it was so important that Indigenous people had such an
organisation representing them: “instead of lifting up our people the
early comers to our country destroyed them... now our people have
nothing: all was taken from them.”5
Between 1933 and 1938, Cooper gathered nearly 2000 signatures for
a petition to the King asking for Aboriginal representation in the federal
parliament. And on 26 January 1938, when much of Australia was
marking the 150th anniversary of the arrival of British people in
Australia, Cooper and other Aboriginal leaders met for a Day of
Mourning, and called for churches to continue to set aside a day every
year, on the Sunday closest to Australia Day, for prayer and solidarity
with Indigenous people.

Dorothy Day, 1916.

Dorothy Day

Dear God,
Please enlarge our hearts to love each other,
to love our neighbour, to love our enemy as our friend.
Love and ever more love is the only solution to every problem that
comes up.
If we love each other enough, we will bear with each other’s faults and
burdens.
If we love enough, we are going to light a fire in the hearts of others.
And it is love that will burn out the sins and hatreds that sadden us.
It is love that will make us want to do great things for each other.

Dorothy Day
“I am beginning to pray daily. I began because I had to. I just found
myself praying …”. So reflected Dorothy Day in 1925, around the time
she began to reconnect with the Christian faith she had been baptised
into as a child.
Dorothy Day had encountered poverty as a young person, in the
streets of Chicago where she lived with her family, and it moved her
deeply. She also had a profound experience of God when she was
little. She described playing in the attic on a Sunday afternoon with her
sister, pretending to be a teacher as she read aloud from a Bible she
had found. “Slowly, as I read, a new personality impressed itself on
me. I was being introduced to someone and I knew almost
immediately that I was discovering God.”6
To try to live in imitation of Christ, and to encounter Christ in everyday
moments, became cornerstones of her spirituality after she converted
to Catholicism in 1927. Her usual daily practice included prayer and
meditating on Scripture, sometimes for several hours. Dorothy Day
lived out her faith in a very hands-on way. In 1933 she co-founded the
Catholic Worker movement, which stood in solidarity with the poor,
taught non-violence, and established hospitality houses – first in New
York, and then around the United States and internationally – where
the homeless and poor could find shelter and food. She herself lived in
voluntary poverty in these houses, and she was arrested numerous
times in her life, up to the age of 73, for her activism against war and
poverty and the systems that fostered them.
In such a full and busy life, in which she daily confronted the reality of
poverty and the inevitable setbacks of working for social change, she
was honest about the fact that it sometimes took effort and intention to
make space for prayer. Reflecting on Jesus’ words in Matthew 26:40
(“Could you not watch with me one hour?”), she once wrote: “That, I
have resolved, is to be my motto for the coming year … I shall
remember this whenever I am tired and want to omit prayer … The
thing to remember is not to read so much or talk so much about God,
but to talk to God. To practise the presence of God.”
Her faith was rooted, above all, in love. She wrote, “To work to
increase our love for God and for our fellow man… this is a lifetime
job. We are never going to be finished ... It is love that will make us
want to do great things for each other. No sacrifice and no suffering
will then seem too much.”

Oscar Romero was Archbishop of San Salvador from 1977 to 1980.

Oscar Romero

A month before he was assassinated, Oscar Romero said: “A Church

that does not join the poor in order to speak out from the side of the
poor against the injustices committed against them is not the true
Church of Jesus Christ.”
And in what was to be his last sermon before he was killed while
celebrating Mass in San Salvador on 24 March 1980, he urged
soldiers of the government to lay down their arms, reminding them
that “each of you is one of us. The peasants you kill are your own
brothers and sisters. When you hear a man telling you to kill,
remember God’s words, ‘thou shalt not kill’”.
This prophetic leader – like many other clergy in El Salvador at the
time – paid with his life for speaking out against a ruthless government
that presided over human rights abuses and violence against the poor,
especially farmers.
Romero spoke from the pulpit against injustice and he knew the power
of prayer. In one homily he said: “If only we had people of prayer
among those who manage the destiny of the country and the destiny
of the economy! If only they relied more on God and his techniques
rather than on their own human technology, we would have a world
that the church dreams about, a world without injustices, a world
respectful of rights, a world where all people generously participate, a
world without repression, a world without torture...”.
There is a prayer that has become known as The Romero Prayer,
even though it was not written by Romero nor ever spoken by him. It
encapsulates key elements of his theology and spirituality. It reads in
part: “We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in
realising that. This enables us to do something and to do it well. It may
be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an
opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may
never see the end results, but that is the difference between the
master builder and the worker.”9
1. Leymah Gbowee with Carol Mithers, Mighty Be Our Powers, Beast
Books, NY, 2011, p. 122.
2. “The Ceasefire Prayer Behind Leymah Gbowee's Nobel Peace
Prize”, https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/aprilweb-only/prayer-
nobel-peace-prize.html
3. "The Faith of a Peacebuilder – Leymah Gbowee",
https://emu.edu/now/podcast/2009/10/23/the-faith-of-a-peacebuilder-
leymah-gbowee/
4. Bain Attwood, William Cooper: An Aboriginal Life Story, The
Miegunyah Press, Carlton, 2021, p. 38.
5. Quoted in \Attwood, William Cooper, p. xii.
6. “An Introduction to Dorothy Day”, America: The Jesuit
Review https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2001/08/27/introductio
n-dorothy-day
7. “Lord, Teach Me to Pray: Excerpts from Dorothy Day’s Writings”
https://www.plough.com/en/topics/faith/prayer/lord-teach-me-to-pray
8. https://www.plough.com/en/topics/faith/devotional-reading/the-way-
chapter-romero
9. http://www.romerotrust.org.uk/romero-prayer

The Inspiring Faith

of Men and Women
Who Changed the
World
They were Christian and they changed our world
for the better.
By Lesli White

They Were Christian

The Bible says "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old
has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17). Some of
our world's greatest influencers and changers throughout history were
Christian and lived this model not only in their private lives but also in their
vocations. Unfortunately, many people don't know much about their faith
backgrounds and how their beliefs played into the contributions they made in
our time. Are you interested in learning more about the faith-filled motivations
behind some of the most outstanding political, scientific and humanitarian
contributors of our history? Learn more about the faith of men and women
who changed the world, inspired by the book "They Were Christians" by
Cristobol Krusen.
00:00

03:00
Abraham Lincoln

As a young man, Abraham Lincoln was a religious skeptic. Despite his

mother's efforts, he abandoned the faith of his childhood. But it was his faith
that he would later return to as an adult. Despite the skeptics, Lincoln was
deeply religious and daily sought God's guidance. He was a self-taught man
who rose to the top as president. He took the counsel of the Lord over the
result of the latest opinion poll. He was a living example of 1 Kings 22:5 "First,
seek the counsel of the LORD".
Florence Nightingale

Many recognize Florence Nightingale from history as a nurse who gave her
entire life to the cause of alleviating conditions for the poor, especially in
hospitals and workhouses, particularly during the Crimean War. What many
don't know is that Nightingale was a radical theologian and it was her mission
to change things. She knew that she was guided by God and used the
knowledge and strength provided by Him to write and publish several books
on hospital planning and organization which helped save thousands of lives.
She also realized God's role for women and did a lot to help the movement of
women, showing that nursing was an acceptable role for women to take. She
is certainly an example of how God can use an ordinary person to do
extraordinary things.
Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass, a leading American abolitionist and former slave rejected

all biblical justifications of slavery after living under the cruel institution himself.
Douglass once said "Between the Christianity of this land and the Christianity
of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference". His master's wife taught
him to read at a very young age, and as a result Douglass shared this
knowledge with other slaves, encouraging them to read the New Testament
and interpret Jesus Christ's message of equality. When he escaped slavery,
Douglass settled and joined an integrated Methodist church where he met and
befriended fellow abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. When he started his own
weekly journal, The North Star, he challenged readers to question the
contradiction between the institution of slavery and America's Christianity.
John D. Rockefeller

Industrialist and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller was a faithful Christian and

modeled his faith in all areas of his life. He would read the Bible daily, attend
prayer meetings twice a week and lead Bible study alongside his wife. He also
rested on the Sabbath and gave tens of thousands of dollars to charity.
Philanthropy was a big part of his life and he was committed to helping those
in need. His philosophy of giving was guided on biblical principles. He actively
believed and practiced Luke 6:38 "Give, and it will be given to you. A good
measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into
your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you".
Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky once said "If someone proved to me

that Christ is outside the truth and that in reality the truth were outside of
Christ, then I should prefer to remain with Christ rather than with the truth."
Christian themes were featured throughout his works, emerging more
explicitly in his later writings. He didn't have a problem critiquing Christianity in
his work either. In one of his pieces, he affirms a character who believes
passionately in Christlike love. When it came to answering the question "what
is hell?" the character replies "It is the suffering of being unable to love." His
social and political views were radical and his faith was deeply devout.
Learning More

We only explored the faith of five world changers in this gallery, but Krusen's
book touches on many more. It's a must read. Hopefully, the fascinating
profiles of these faithful history makers will encourage, entertain and inspire
you to deepen your faith, pursue excellence in your vocation and to better
serve others.

The power of prayer: 10 Prayer Warriors

Who Prayed for Hours Each Day
written by Bob Lotich, CEPF® | Saving Money

Have you ever wondered what set apart some of the greatest
spiritual leaders in history—those who shook the world with
their faith and brought about massive revivals?

As I’ve studied their lives, I keep coming back to one

undeniable truth: these people were devoted to prayer.

Not just a quick prayer before meals or a casual conversation

with God on their way to work. No, these men and women spent
hours every day in prayer. Their lives were rooted in consistent,
intentional time with God, and that’s what made all the
difference.

In a culture where it feels like we barely have time to breathe,

the idea of praying for hours a day sounds almost impossible.

But these Christian leaders understood something crucial:

prayer is the engine that drives everything else. When we
commit to deepening our prayer lives, we position ourselves to
be used by God in ways we can’t even imagine.

10 examples of Christian prayer warriors who prayed for hours daily

1. John Wesley: Two Hours of Morning Prayer

John Wesley was a man of discipline. Known as the founder of

Methodism, Wesley made prayer a central part of his daily
routine, dedicating two hours every morning to it. He didn’t
believe ministry could be effective without it, and he modeled
that for others. Wesley’s prayer life laid the foundation for a
movement that transformed England and spread across the
world. For him, prayer wasn’t an obligation; it was the fuel that
kept the fire of revival burning.
2. Martin Luther: “I Have So Much to Do That I Shall Spend Three Hours in Prayer”

Martin Luther’s prayer life was deeply intertwined with his work.
As one of the key figures of the Protestant Reformation, Luther
carried an enormous burden, yet his response to a busy life
wasn’t to cut down on prayer—it was to increase it. He famously
said, “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three
hours in prayer.” Luther recognized that the more he had to
accomplish, the more time he needed to spend in communion
with God. His boldness and courage didn’t come from his
personality but from his time with God.
3. David Yonggi Cho: Three to Five Hours Daily

David Yonggi Cho, the founder of the world’s largest church,

took prayer seriously. In fact, he would often spend three to
five hours daily in prayer during his ministry in South Korea.
His church grew to over a million members, but Cho always
emphasized that the church’s success wasn’t because of him—
it was because of prayer. Cho’s story is a reminder that God
moves through those who seek Him with all their hearts.
4. Rees Howells: Nights in Prayer for Global Impact

If anyone demonstrated the power of intercession, it was Rees

Howells. During World War II, Howells and his group of
intercessors believed their prayers were instrumental in
changing the tide of the war. They would spend entire nights
in prayer, contending for the world. Howells’ life is a powerful
reminder that prayer isn’t just for personal needs—it can literally
change the course of history.
5. Charles Finney: Hours of Prayer Before Revivals

Charles Finney, one of the leading figures in the Second Great

Awakening, believed that revival was birthed in prayer. Before
his meetings, Finney would often spend hours in prayer,
sometimes even the entire night, asking God to move in
powerful ways. His belief was simple: no prayer, no power.
Finney’s ministry saw tens of thousands come to faith, and it
was all undergirded by prayer.
6. Mother Teresa: Two Hours of Daily Prayer

Mother Teresa was one of the most well-known servants of the

poor, but what many don’t know is how central prayer was to
her life. She structured her entire day around it, starting
with two hours of prayer every morning before she went out to
serve the poorest of the poor. She would also end her day in
prayer. Her life shows us that no matter how busy we are,
there’s always time to make prayer a priority.
7. Smith Wigglesworth: Praying Every 30 Minutes

Smith Wigglesworth, known for his healing ministry, took a

slightly different approach to prayer. He didn’t necessarily pray
for long periods at once, but he was known for praying every 30
minutes throughout the day. Wigglesworth believed that
constant communication with God was the key to maintaining
spiritual power. His life is a testimony to how even short,
frequent prayers can keep us in tune with the Holy Spirit.
8. John Hyde: Hours of Prayer Before Ministry

John Hyde, also known as “Praying Hyde,” was a missionary to

India who made prayer his life’s work. He would spend hours in
prayer, often into the night, before his meetings. Hyde’s
intercession was known for being so intense that it had a
profound spiritual impact wherever he ministered. His story
reminds us that prayer isn’t just preparation for ministry—it is
the ministry.
9. John Welch: Seven to Eight Hours Daily

John Welch, a Scottish preacher, had one of the most

extraordinary prayer lives on record. He spent seven to eight
hours a day in prayer. His wife often found him in the middle of
the night, weeping for the souls of his congregation. Welch’s life
is a testimony to the power of sustained prayer over a long
period of time.
10. Susanna Wesley: Two Hours a Day

Susanna Wesley raised ten children, two of whom were John

and Charles Wesley, who went on to lead the Methodist revival.
Despite her incredibly busy life, Susanna made a habit of
spending two hours every day in prayer. She would pull her
apron over her head to create a prayer “closet,” signaling to her
children that it was her time with God. Her story is proof that no
matter how chaotic life gets, we can still make space for prayer .

What These Lives Teach Us About Prayer

So, what do these prayer warriors have in common?

They were all used mightily by God, and they all had deep,
consistent prayer lives. Whether it was John Wesley starting his
day with two hours of prayer or Rees Howells interceding
through the night, these men and women knew that nothing
significant happens without prayer.
It’s easy to feel like we don’t have time to pray, especially in our
insanely fast-paced world. But if these giants of the faith made
time for prayer—often hours each day—what’s stopping us?

The truth is, prayer isn’t an add-on to the Christian life; it’s the
foundation.

It’s where we meet God, get direction, and are filled with the
power to do what He’s called us to do.

If we want to see God move in our lives, we have to make

prayer a priority.

Whether that means waking up a little earlier, finding quiet

moments in the day, or carving out intentional time at night, it’s
worth it. After all, prayer is where God shapes us and prepares
us for the work He’s called us to do. And as the lives of these
spiritual giants show us, when we commit to prayer, God can—
and will—do extraordinary things through us.

And I’ll leave you with a quote I have had hanging on my walls
for years:

“The spiritual history of a mission or a church

is written in its prayer life.”
 ARTHUR MATHEWS

References and further study:

 https://www.flowingfaith.com/2015/06/10-prayer-warriors-who-
changed-history.html
 https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/march-web-only/
prayer-life-mentors-history-lilias-trotter-julia-foote-alice.html
 https://www.christianpure.com/the-prayer-habits-of-jesus
 https://www.str.org/w/what-we-need-to-learn-about-prayer-from-
the-early-church
 https://aleteia.org/2018/10/28/these-20-saints-teach-us-the-
importance-of-prayer