The following is part 7 from a blog series based on R.A. Torrey’s classicThe Power of Prayer. R.A. Torrey (1856-1928) was an American evangelist, professor, pastor, and author. He is one of the three editors of The Fundamentals, an early 20th century defense of orthodox Protestant beliefs. Find more from R.A. Torrey at the BLB.
Ye have not, because ye ask not (James 4:2 KJV).
When Mr. Alexander and I were holding meetings in Sydney, Australia, the meetings were held in the Town Hall, which seated about five thousand people. But the crowds were so great that some days we had to divide the crowds and have women only in the afternoon and men only at night. One Sunday afternoon the Sydney Town Hall was packed with women. When I gave the invitation for all who would accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, surrender to Him as their Lord and Master, begin to confess Him as such before the world, and strive to live from this time on to please Him in every way from day to day, over on my left a whole row of eighteen young women of, I should say, about twenty years of age, arose to their feet. As I saw them stand side by side, I said to myself, “That is someone’s Bible class.” Afterwards they came forward with the other women who came to make a public confession of their acceptance of Jesus Christ. When the meeting was over, a young lady came to me, her face wreathed in smiles, and she said, “That is my Bible class. I have been praying for their conversion, and every one of them has accepted Jesus Christ today.
When we were holding meetings in Bristol, England, a prominent manufacturer in Exeter had a Bible class of twenty-two men. He invited all of them to go to Bristol with him and hear me preach. Twenty-one of them consented to go. At that meeting twenty of them accepted Christ. That man was praying for the conversion of the members of his class and was willing to make the sacrifices necessary to get his prayers answered. Revival would quickly come here in this city if every Sunday school teacher would go to praying the way they ought for the conversion of every scholar in his or her class!
Are you in more public work, a preacher perhaps, or speaking from the public platform? Do you long for power in that work? Ask for it.
Oh, men and women, if we would spend more nights before God on our faces in prayer there would be more days of power when we faced our congregations!
Previous posts in this series:
- The Power of Prayer by R.A. Torrey (introduction)
- The Secret of Christians’ Powerlessness
- The Early Church’s Victory
- Steadfast Prayer
- Present-Day Departure from Prayer
- Prayer Will Promote Our Personal Holiness as Nothing Else, Except the Study of the Word of God
- Prayer Will Bring the Power of God Into Our Work