GREAT REVIVAL IN ANSWER TO PRAYER
It was one of the best seasons in the whole year for a revival, late in the fall, yet warm and with a full moon. Pastor Baird called Will Selby and myself to hold a series of evangelistic meetings in his church at Tabor, Ky. At first the crowds were very small, but we began praying and calling on God and fasting every other morning. Some of the saints prayed also; many of them were to be
It was one of the best seasons in the whole year for a revival, late in the fall, yet warm and with a full moon. Pastor Baird called Will Selby and myself to hold a series of evangelistic meetings in his church at Tabor, Ky. At first the crowds were very small, but we began praying and calling on God and fasting every other morning. Some of the saints prayed also; many of them were to be
found on their knees in the early hours of the morning praying earnestly. In answer to our united prayers, conviction, deep, pungent conviction, settled upon the unsaved and they began coming out to the meetings.
There was a widow in that community who did not believe in the altar nor heart-felt religion. Her daughter, a girl of sixteen summers, got under deep conviction for sin and one day came to us and said, "Oh, Brother Harney, if mother were not in my way, I would rush to the altar, but mother says if I go there she will disown me." We asked publicly how many would join us in fasting the next morning and in praying thirty minutes to God to let deep conviction fall on the mother's heart; three responded. The next night we again called for volunteers and three more joined us. As I walked out of the church after service, I said to the mother, "God will make you so miserable that you cannot sleep or eat; the Holy Spirit is on your track, the saints are wrestling in prayer for you, and you had better yield to God. It is dangerous to resist the Holy Spirit, to refuse to walk in so much light." She left the church at once, replying, "God will never answer such prayers."
The next night we again called for those who would pray for this sister, and three or four more united with us, and the next morning as we walked into the church the daughter came running, saying, "Oh, Brother Harney, mother is the most miserable being on earth, slept but very little last night. After we went home she said, 'They think that God can keep me from eating, but I will show them.' She made some coffee and got several little cakes and sat down to the table to eat this lunch, when immediately she had a deep impression that should she touch a thing or drink a drop of coffee she would be paralyzed, and then she broke down and wept bitterly and confessed that God was answering prayer."
After the daughter had told me this, and as I went down the church aisle, I noticed the mother in one of the pews, but instead of the fine hat she had been wearing she had on a sunbonnet and her eyes were red with weeping. She looked at me and said, "You are responsible for this misery, you are responsible if I starve to death," and we looked into her face and saw that her heart was broken before God. I answered, "If you do not yield, if you refuse to listen to the Holy Spirit, His earnest pleadings with your heart, I fear you will soon die." She cried out in alarm, "Oh! don't pray God to kill me." We answered, "We will not do that, but you must yield to God."
She arose from where she was sitting, came forward and took one of the front seats, and at the close of the earnest message that God laid on our hearts, did not walk to the altar, she could not, but knelt right where she was and screamed out at the top of her voice, "My God, have mercy on me! My God, have mercy on me! Canst Thou forgive me? Is there any redemption for me? Has the Holy Ghost forsaken me? Have I sinned away my day of grace? Is there any hope?" She became desperate, she prayed, promised and confessed, and soon the regenerating power of God came flooding her soul and she leaped, and shouted the praises of God.
Taking us by the hand, she weepingly testified, "How I thank God for this Christian people! Had it not been for the prayers of the saints, I would have been lost. I thought that I was right, but I awakened to the sad fact that I was only a member of the church and not a child of Jesus Christ, but now, thank God! there is a clear, burning, definite witness in my soul that I am His and He is mine. I know it and feel it, my burden has rolled away. Jesus has come and there is heavenly sunlight in
There was a widow in that community who did not believe in the altar nor heart-felt religion. Her daughter, a girl of sixteen summers, got under deep conviction for sin and one day came to us and said, "Oh, Brother Harney, if mother were not in my way, I would rush to the altar, but mother says if I go there she will disown me." We asked publicly how many would join us in fasting the next morning and in praying thirty minutes to God to let deep conviction fall on the mother's heart; three responded. The next night we again called for volunteers and three more joined us. As I walked out of the church after service, I said to the mother, "God will make you so miserable that you cannot sleep or eat; the Holy Spirit is on your track, the saints are wrestling in prayer for you, and you had better yield to God. It is dangerous to resist the Holy Spirit, to refuse to walk in so much light." She left the church at once, replying, "God will never answer such prayers."
The next night we again called for those who would pray for this sister, and three or four more united with us, and the next morning as we walked into the church the daughter came running, saying, "Oh, Brother Harney, mother is the most miserable being on earth, slept but very little last night. After we went home she said, 'They think that God can keep me from eating, but I will show them.' She made some coffee and got several little cakes and sat down to the table to eat this lunch, when immediately she had a deep impression that should she touch a thing or drink a drop of coffee she would be paralyzed, and then she broke down and wept bitterly and confessed that God was answering prayer."
After the daughter had told me this, and as I went down the church aisle, I noticed the mother in one of the pews, but instead of the fine hat she had been wearing she had on a sunbonnet and her eyes were red with weeping. She looked at me and said, "You are responsible for this misery, you are responsible if I starve to death," and we looked into her face and saw that her heart was broken before God. I answered, "If you do not yield, if you refuse to listen to the Holy Spirit, His earnest pleadings with your heart, I fear you will soon die." She cried out in alarm, "Oh! don't pray God to kill me." We answered, "We will not do that, but you must yield to God."
She arose from where she was sitting, came forward and took one of the front seats, and at the close of the earnest message that God laid on our hearts, did not walk to the altar, she could not, but knelt right where she was and screamed out at the top of her voice, "My God, have mercy on me! My God, have mercy on me! Canst Thou forgive me? Is there any redemption for me? Has the Holy Ghost forsaken me? Have I sinned away my day of grace? Is there any hope?" She became desperate, she prayed, promised and confessed, and soon the regenerating power of God came flooding her soul and she leaped, and shouted the praises of God.
Taking us by the hand, she weepingly testified, "How I thank God for this Christian people! Had it not been for the prayers of the saints, I would have been lost. I thought that I was right, but I awakened to the sad fact that I was only a member of the church and not a child of Jesus Christ, but now, thank God! there is a clear, burning, definite witness in my soul that I am His and He is mine. I know it and feel it, my burden has rolled away. Jesus has come and there is heavenly sunlight in
my soul. Oh, everything looks so beautiful, so lovely, and I am so happy. This is what I have needed all these years. Now I can be a help and guide to my daughter. Thank God for the old-time revival, for a revival that has revived me, that has brought peace and light into our community, into our church, into our home! Now we can have family prayers, study the Word of God, say grace at the table, and have a little heaven here to go to Heaven from."
Christian worker, we have given this illustration of the power of God to answer prayer, that your faith may be encouraged. You go to a place to hold a meeting, the crowds are small and seemingly circumstances and surroundings are against you, but go quietly in earnest, secret prayer before God, get the saints to unite with you, and fast and pray until He answers, for He will answer. He can break down stubborn wills, He can break through indifference, He can bring deep, heart-burning conviction to the unsaved, He can make men and women to so feel the need of Jesus Christ as their Savior that they will be glad, they will plead for a chance, to find the mercy-seat. Let us not say a district is "burnt over." It may be that the lack of a revival is because we have not taken hold of the throne of God; we have not carried the burden of souls of the people for whom we are to labor. Mighty God, put on us our responsibility, help us to see that we shall meet again these men and women to whom we ministered, before the great white throne of the Judge of all the earth.
Can we then say that our skirts are clean from the blood of all men? I have never yet gone to God in agony of prayer for a soul; I have never felt a crushing, immutable burden over a soul's condition before God, but what God put on me such a prayer, a constant prayer, that I could only weep and hold on to Him until He gave the witness that the answer was coming. Oh, pray, pray on, pray clear through. The God of Heaven will answer. He has never failed. His promise is unbreakable. His Word is immutable. You can claim the victory, and the Captain of your salvation, in answer to believing prayer, will give it.
Christian worker, we have given this illustration of the power of God to answer prayer, that your faith may be encouraged. You go to a place to hold a meeting, the crowds are small and seemingly circumstances and surroundings are against you, but go quietly in earnest, secret prayer before God, get the saints to unite with you, and fast and pray until He answers, for He will answer. He can break down stubborn wills, He can break through indifference, He can bring deep, heart-burning conviction to the unsaved, He can make men and women to so feel the need of Jesus Christ as their Savior that they will be glad, they will plead for a chance, to find the mercy-seat. Let us not say a district is "burnt over." It may be that the lack of a revival is because we have not taken hold of the throne of God; we have not carried the burden of souls of the people for whom we are to labor. Mighty God, put on us our responsibility, help us to see that we shall meet again these men and women to whom we ministered, before the great white throne of the Judge of all the earth.
Can we then say that our skirts are clean from the blood of all men? I have never yet gone to God in agony of prayer for a soul; I have never felt a crushing, immutable burden over a soul's condition before God, but what God put on me such a prayer, a constant prayer, that I could only weep and hold on to Him until He gave the witness that the answer was coming. Oh, pray, pray on, pray clear through. The God of Heaven will answer. He has never failed. His promise is unbreakable. His Word is immutable. You can claim the victory, and the Captain of your salvation, in answer to believing prayer, will give it.
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