THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER - Finney
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
'modernization' of Charles Finney's writings about
his most powerful Revivals. In the previous Finney
articles you probably noticed that there were still old-
fashioned phrases and so-on. But hopefully now it is
starting to feel more like modern English. It has been
a huge job, but I believe this book is going to have
a very powerful impact. I am often affected by it
myself because it seems to me that the book is full
of the 'spirit of Revival' - the anointing that was on
Finney's life. That is how it feels to me. And I don't
know many books like that. There is something
special about this one.
-God bless you all. -Andrew Strom.
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"The Spirit of Prayer"
-by Charles Finney.
In the early days, the Lord taught me many important
truths regarding the spirit of prayer. Not long after I was
converted, a woman whom I had boarded with became
very sick. She was not a Christian, but her husband
was. He came into our office one evening and said to
me, "My wife cannot live through the night." This
seemed to pierce my heart like an arrow. It came upon
me like a crushing weight, which I could not understand
at all. And with it came an intense desire to pray for
that woman. The burden was so great that I left the
office almost immediately, and went up to the meeting
house to pray for her. There I struggled, but could not
say much. I could only groan with groanings loud and deep.
I stayed there for quite some time in this state of mind,
but got no relief. I returned to the office, but could not
sit still. I could only walk the room and agonize. I
returned to the meeting house again, and went through
the same process of struggling. For a long time I tried
to get my prayer before the Lord, but somehow words
could not express it. I could only groan and weep,
without being able to express what I wanted in words.
I returned to the office again, and still found I was
unable to rest, so I returned to the meeting house for
the third time. Suddenly God gave me power to prevail.
I was able to roll the burden upon Him, and I felt an
assurance that the woman would not die - in fact that
she would never die in her sins.
I returned to the office. My mind was perfectly quiet
and I soon went home to bed. Early the next morning
the husband of the woman came into the office. I
asked how his wife was. He said, smiling, "She's
alive, and seems a lot better this morning." I replied,
"Brother, she will not die with this sickness - you
can be sure of it. And she will never die in her sins."
I don't know how I knew this, but it was made clear
to me somehow. I had no doubt that she would
recover. She did, and soon became a Christian.
At first I did not understand what it was that I had
gone through. But shortly afterwards, as I was
discussing it with a Christian brother he said to me,
"That was the travail of your soul." He pointed me to
certain scriptures to help me understand.
Another experience which I had soon after this,
illustrates the same truth. There was a young woman
in our town who remained unconverted. Many of the
Christians were concerned about her. She was a
charming girl, and knew a lot about Christianity, but
she remained in her sins.
One of the elders of the church and myself agreed to
pray for her daily - morning, noon and night - until
she was either converted or we were unable to keep
it up. I found myself greatly distressed for her, more
and more as I continued to pray. I soon found,
however, that the elder was losing the spirit of prayer
for her. But this did not discourage me. I continued
to hold on to God with increasing intensity. I also took
every opportunity to speak plainly and searchingly
with her about her salvation.
After things had continued this way for some time,
one evening I called to see her just as the sun was
setting. As I came up to the door I heard a shriek
from a female voice, and a scuffling and confusion
inside the door. I stood and waited. The lady of the
house came to the door holding part of a book which
had obviously been torn in two. She was pale and very
upset. She held out the book and said, "Mr. Finney,
do you think my sister has become a Universalist?"
The book was a defense of Universalism. Her sister
had found her reading it, and tried to get it away from
her. It was this struggle over the book that I had heard.
I declined to go inside. The whole thing struck me in
almost the same way as the announcement that the
sick woman was about to die. It loaded me down with
great agony. As I returned to my room I felt as though
I would almost stagger under the weight that was on
my mind. I struggled and groaned and agonized, but
could not present the situation before God in words,
but only in groans and tears.
It seemed as if the discovery that that young woman,
instead of being converted, was becoming a Universalist,
horrified me to such a degree that I could not break
through with my faith and get hold of God on her behalf.
There seemed to be a darkness hanging over the
question, as if a cloud had risen up between me and
God regarding her salvation. But still the Spirit struggled
inside me with 'groanings that could not be uttered'.
However, I was forced to go to bed that night without
having prevailed. But as soon as it was light I awoke,
and the first thought I had was to cry out to God again
for that young woman. No sooner was I on my knees
than the darkness gave way and He said to me, "Yes!
Yes!" If He had spoken with an audible voice, it could
not have been more clear. It instantly relieved my
burden. My mind became filled with the greatest
peace and joy, and I felt completely certain that her
salvation was secure.
I assumed wrongly, however, in regard to the timing,
which was not something that I had really heard from
God about. I expected her to be converted immediately,
but she wasn't. She remained in her sins for several
months. I felt disappointed at the time that she was
not converted straight away, and wondered whether I
had really prevailed with God on her behalf.
Soon after I was converted, the man I was boarding
with who was a magistrate, was deeply convicted of
sin. He had been elected a member of the state
legislature. I was praying daily for him, and urging
him to give his heart to God. His conviction became
very deep. But still he delayed. My burden for him increased.
One afternoon several of his political friends had a long
meeting with him. That evening I again tried to bring his
case before God. The urgency I felt for his conversion
had become almost overwhelming. In my prayer I had
drawn very near to God. I do not remember ever being
in more intimate communion with the Lord Jesus Christ
than I was at that time. His presence was so real that
I was bathed in tears of joy and gratitude and love. It
was in this state of mind that I attempted to pray for
my friend. But the moment I did so, my mouth was
shut. I found it impossible to pray a word for him. The
Lord seemed to say to me, "No, I will not hear."
Anguish seized hold of me. I thought at first it was a
temptation. But the door was shut in my face. I didn't
know what to make of it.
The next morning I saw him, and as soon as I brought
up the question of submission to God he said to me,
"Mr. Finney, I'll have nothing more to do with it until I
return from the legislature. I am committed to carry
out certain measures in the legislature that are
incompatible with Christianity, and I have promised
that I will leave it alone until after I have returned from Albany."
>From that moment the evening before, I had had no
spirit of prayer for him at all. As soon as he told me
what he had done, I understood it. I could see that his
convictions were all gone, and that the Spirit of God
had left him. From then on he grew more hardened than ever.
When the time came he went to the legislature, and in
the Spring he returned an almost insane Universalist. I
say almost insane, because instead of having formed
his opinions from any evidence or argument, he told
me this: "I have come to this conclusion, not because I
have found it taught in the Bible, but because such a
doctrine is so opposed to the carnal mind. It is a doctrine
that is rejected and spoken against, which proves that
it is distasteful to the carnal or unconverted mind."
This was staggering to me. But everything else that I
could get out of him was as wild and absurd as this.
He remained in his sins, finally fell into decay, and
died a dilapidated old man, in the full faith of his Universalism.
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[-From the book "Charles Finney - Revivalist... The
essential Revivals in his own words."]