During the 40 days between the resurrection of Jesus and His ascension into heaven, the disciples learned to pray. They learned to pray in the Spirit. They learned the secret of deep prayer. Of seeking God with such passion that they would not stop praying until they knew they had reached the heart of God. They prayed until the burdens of God become their own. This is what changed the world.
What happens when the Spirit breaks our heart with the things that break the heart of God? The power of heaven is released here on earth. God’s kingdom comes to us in all its fullness.
In the little town of Adams, New York, in the year 1821, a 29-year-old lawyer made his way to a secluded spot in the mountains to pray. That morning he read Jeremiah 29:12-13....
“Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”
On his way out, He declared, “I will give my heart to God, or I never will come down from there.”[i] It was on that day that He wept and pursued God in a way he had never pursued God. He sought God with all His heart.
He later declared, “It seemed as if I met the Lord Jesus Christ face to face…I fell down at His feet and poured out my soul to Him….The Holy Spirit … 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 of liquid love, for I could not express it in any other way.”[ii]
That man was Charles G. Finney, the man who God used to lead the great revivals of the 19th century. “With renewed zeal and power from on high, revival arrived locally and swept through the east. The Spirit of God came upon people with mighty convicting power. There were times when God went before him so that when he arrived at a place, he found people already crying out to God for mercy.”[iii]
“Sometimes the conviction of sin was so great and caused such fearful wails of anguish that he had to stop preaching until it subsided. At times, the convicted would lay on the ground, in fetal or prone positions, unable to move. At other times, the convicted would cry out in the middle of a service, pleading for mercy, confessing their sin before the congregation. Ministers and church members were converted. Drunks and thieves were saved. Politicians and professionals came to Jesus. Cities and counties were transformed, and a nation was set on Holy fire.”[iv]
When the Spirit comes in power, revival comes. When revival comes, all heaven breaks loose. It is not business, as usual. It is messy. People are broken and weep before God. Our sin that we have so carefully hidden from everyone here, suddenly comes out of our mouths in confession before a public audience.
Ultimately, souls are saved, many souls; and lives are radically changed. All in all, there is no pointing to man who could possibly be responsible for what happens. It is the work of God, the work of the Holy Spirit poured out on His people.
Great movements of God, like this, have come to America, China, India, Korea, Africa, England, Wales, the Pacific Islands, and many other locations. There is no reason why this can of movement cannot come to you today. God uses ordinary men and women to do extraordinary things.
The first thing that breaks the heart of God is our sin. It is the only thing that holds back a full outpouring of the Holy Spirit and revival.
Isaiah 59:2 says…
“But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”
And James 5:16…
“Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed.”
It is easy to point to the sins of others, especially the sins of groups of people that appear to be far worse than us. If we keep our focus on a community of people and put a label on them, we can keep my eyes off our own sin. If we can keep our eyes on the terrorists and their merciless killing, then we can keep our eyes off our own sin.
But in the Kingdom of God, according to 1 Peter 4:17, judgement begins with the house of God…
“For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God.”
Revival always begins with me. It cannot start anyplace else. If I am praying for revival for my church or my city, then I must begin by praying for the Spirit to be poured out on me. I begin by asking God to remove the residue of sin that still plagues me, asking God to rip it from my hands, to release my grip from the evil that I still hold onto, begging God to judge me with His righteousness and cleanse me with His holiness, so I can be free to serve Him in the power of the Kingdom.
In the time of Solomon, when he had completed the house of God, God spoke to him, specifically about the house of God, the precursor to the church. He was speaking about the people of God.
In 2 Chronicles 7:14-15, God says…
“And [if] My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.”
If we want to see the Spirit of God poured out on our church or if we want to see our city come alive for the Kingdom of God, then we must begin with humility, the recognition of our lowly place as mere men and woman before then Almighty God. We must become people of prayer. We must seek God like we have never sought Him before. Ultimately, we must turn from any sin in our lives. And when we do these things, God will finally see us and hear our prayers.
Just as our sin holds back the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, our prayers release revival, especially when we pray fervently, when we travail in prayer.
James 5:16 says…
“The effective, fervent prayer of the righteous man avails much.”
I like to translate this verse, “The travailing, prevailing prayer of the righteous man avails much.”
Fervent prayer is travailing prayer. It is the prayer of anguish. It is what we feel and express to God when He breaks out heart with the things that break His heart. We pray with the heart of God.
I first experienced travail in prayer a few years ago when I was driving from Denver to Jefferson, Colorado. A couple of miles from the top of Kenosha pass, I was overcome by the Spirit of God. I began to weep for my own sin. Sobs turned to wailing and wailing turned to anguish. I was in such travail that I had to pull over to the side of the road. I plead with God to remove the stain of sin and the propensity to sin from my heart, to cut it out or rip it out. I was in torment over the damage that my sin does to my relationship with God.
My heart was crying out with the words of David, “Against you and you only have I sinned, Lord.” I do not know how long I was on the side of the road, but I do know that I could not stop weeping and pleading with God. Eventually, my travail went from to being broken for my own sin to being broken for the lost and praying for all South Park from the top of Kenosha Pass. I was broken and shaken by the Spirt of God. I was overcome by the powerful presence of God in a way that I have rarely been broken.
I experienced fervent prayer, travailing prayer. It is the prayer of anguish. It is what we feel and express to God when He breaks out heart with the things that break His heart.
I am still learning what it means to travail in prayer. And I am convinced that we cannot prevail in prayer if we do not travail in prayer.
Daniel travailed in prayer. In Daniel 9:3-4 he says…
“So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed…”
The Message translation captures Daniel’s anquish in prayer…
“I turned to the Master God, asking for an answer - praying earnestly, fasting from meals, wearing rough penitential burlap, and kneeling in the ashes. I poured out my heart, baring my soul to God, my God: Yet we have sinned in every way imaginable.”
Ezra travailed in prayer. In Ezra 9 he describes his anguish before God.
First, in Ezra 9:3-4, he says…
“When I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled.”
He was so stunned and in such anguish that he could not move.
In Ezra 9:4 , he says that he…
“…sat there appalled until the evening sacrifice.”
And in Ezra 9:5-6…
“But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the LORD my God; and I said, ‘O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown even to the heavens.’ Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the LORD my God…and prayed: ‘I am too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to you, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.’”
Nehemiah travailed. When he heard the news of the disrepair of Jerusalem and when He felt the wait of his sin.
In Nehemiah 1:4, he says…
“…I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.”
If we desire to see the work of God prevail, we must learn to travail in prayer. We must ask the Father to break our hearts with the things that break His heart. The great men and women of God in history were ordinary men and women like you and me, and they were men and women who travailed in prayer. What is it that can transform us from life like the cowardly disciples before the cross into the brave men who changed the world? It begins with travailing prayer.
WORSHIP: Our God is a holy God. His heart breaks when His children are living in sin and not walking in the ways that please Him. His heart breaks because He longs for His children to experience the fullness of the kingdom. Take some time to reflect on the holiness of God. What does it mean that He is light and in Him there is not darkness at all? As you worship Him in His perfect holiness, ask Him to shine the light of His holiness deep in your heart so you can see the truth about what is inside.
PRACTICE: Following your time of worship, write down any sin that currently grips your life, especially the sin that you cannot seem to overcome. Describe why you think this particular sin seems to have such a stronghold on you. Then spend some time confessing your sin to God and asking the Spirit to break your heart with the things that break the heart of God. This is the beginning of overcoming.
MEDITATION: Meditate on the power of God. Think about the fact that there is nothing He cannot do. He can overcome any sin. He can heal any wound or sickness. He can bring into existence that which does not exist. He can raise people from the dead. There is nothing He cannot do. As you are meditating, imagine His power descending from heaven and landing upon the areas where you struggle and upon the battles that you face. What change would the power of God effect?
ABIDING: By this time, it is very possible that the Father, your Spiritual Director, has led you to a place in Scripture where He wants you to abide. As you go back and read through this teaching one more time, ask the Father if there is anything in these passages specifically for you. Look for the things that reinforce what God is teaching you at this time. Write down anything you hear from Him. Spend some extra time listening to see if the Spirit has anything more to say to you or if there is a deeper teaching for you today. Write down whatever you hear. Ask the Father if there is someone, He wants you to share this with and follow through with His assignment.