World Impact with Billy Wilson “The Power of Prayer”

(Billy Wilson:)  From the lookout tower in Herrnhut, Germany you can see three different nations. Today on World Impact we're going to tell one of the most amazing stories in the history of God's Kingdom. How a group of believers had a 24-7, 100 year prayer meeting and changed the world from right here in Herrnhut.

(Instrumental Music)

(Billy Wilson:)  Welcome to World Impact. I'm Billy Wilson and today on World Impact we're in Herrnhut, Germany.  We're going to be talking about the power of prayer, and there's no better place in the world than right here in Herrnhut to talk about how prayer can change the world. There was a 100-year prayer meeting that took place in this very area that affected all of us for the glory of God. Andrew Murray once said, 

"The man who mobilizes the Christian church to pray will make the greatest contribution to world evangelization in history." 

Today we're going to be talking about one such man. The house he lived in is just behind me. Ludwig von Zinzendorf was a man who allowed Moravian Brethren to live on his grounds, the grounds of his estate. They started a community called Herrnhut, that's where we are today, which means "the Lord's watch" or "the Lord is watching over us." Today on this program we're going to learn how Zinzendorf organized those Moravian Brethren into a 100-year prayer meeting that would change the world. Ultimately John Wesley and thousands of others would be evangelized by those Moravians and through the power of prayer. 

Now during this program today we really do believe that prayer makes the difference, and so I want you to call me at 1-800-95-SHARE, if you have a prayer request today or if you need God to touch your life. You can also go to the website worldimpact-dot-tv and leave your prayer request and we'll pray for you. I want you to stay with me now and I'll be back in just a moment to preach about the power of prayer from Herrnhut, Germany.

(Instrumental Music)

(Announcer:)  In the early 18th century a group of men and women from Germany embarked on a remarkable missionary journey. As a group they would touch Africa, India, Asia, England, the Americas, and Australia. These were the days of tall sailing ships and fragmented communication, not airplanes and Internet. Brutal travel conditions and hostile native peoples meant most would never return home. Yet, such was the zeal of these missionaries. Some even sold themselves into slavery, leaving their sale price to their families, in order to reach the slave populations of the West Indies. As they were led away in chains they shouted, "May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering!" Recognized for their peace, fearlessness, and humility, these first Protestant missionaries became known as the Moravian Brethren. Their devotion would ignite a young Anglican priest named John Wesley, and cause William Carey to boldly stir the Baptist convention into action with the words, "See what the Moravians have done! Can we not follow their example, and in obedience to our Heavenly Master, go out into the world and preach the Gospel?" So what started the fire that fueled the fervor of those early Moravian missionaries? What caused farmers, potters, and stonemasons to turn the world upside down for Jesus Christ? The answer lies in the little German town of Herrnhut on the estate of Count von Zinzendorf, where a communion service in 1727 ignited a prayer meeting that would last 100 years.

(Billy Wilson:)  Today on World Impact we are in Herrnhut Germany. Behind me is the village of Herrnhut, and today we're talking about the power of prayer. Specifically we're going to talk today about the miracle of the Moravians and how God used them in an over 100-year prayer meeting to change the world. Now the Moravians were actually from Czechoslovakia. They were people who had been discipled by John Huss in the 14th century. Huss withstood the Catholic Church and taught lay people God's Word in their own language. In many ways John Huss's church in Czechoslovakia was the first Protestant ministry, or the first protesting ministry against Catholicism, who believed in Jesus Christ with all of their heart. Now the Moravians as they came to be known would be pushed underground and ultimately have to flee from Czechoslovakia. They would find themselves in eastern Germany and at one point came to the grounds that we're standing on today, owned by Count von Zinzendorf. They asked him if they could start a place to live here and he agreed. Ultimately they formed the village behind me, Herrnhut. Herrnhut means "the watch of the Lord," and this Moravian community formed a community of Christian believers right here in eastern Germany. In 1727 there was division going on in Herrnhut and Count von Zinzendorf decided to get involved. He began a Bible study, he asked the people to make a covenant with one another, and in the midst of that the Holy Spirit visited this community at Herrnhut. Because of that visitation of the Holy Spirit they became committed to world evangelization and committed to intercession on a regular basis. In fact, out of that visitation of the Holy Spirit, a prayer meeting was formed that would go 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That prayer meeting would last 110 years right here in Herrnhut and would change the face of Christianity forever. 

Now the truth is, Herrnhut is way out of the way. We drove a long way to get here today and yet what God did in this community has changed my life, your life, and the face of Christianity forever. You see, out of Herrnhut they began to send missionaries. In fact it was unprecedented in their day that people would send missionaries around the world, but over 300 missionaries would carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ from right here in Herrnhut to the ends of the earth. 

Some of those missionaries ran into a young preacher from England on a boat ride to what were the colonies of America and to Georgia. That young preacher was named John Wesley. In the middle of the voyage there was a great storm. Wesley was very impressed by the Germans, he called them, the Moravians' peace in the midst of the storm. Two years after the boating incident Wesley found himself at a Moravian prayer gathering in London, England, at Aldersgate. It was there that he heard the preface of the commentary of Martin Luther to the book of Romans, and Wesley would say as it was read, "My heart was strangely warmed." Wesley would credit that moment as his conversion moment of fully trusting in Christ for his salvation. There is no doubt in my mind that the dotted line between Wesley's conversion could be traced all the way back to here at Herrnhut and the 100 year prayer meeting that was going on. Intercession had changed the world. Ultimately the teachings of John Wesley would affect the holiness movement, the Pentecostal movement, the charismatic movement. All of our lives have been changed because of what happened in intercession right here at Herrnhut. Now today we're talking about the power of prayer. Perhaps nowhere in the world can we see the power of prayer more evident than by what took place here in Herrnhut for 110 years. The Bible tells us in Psalm chapter two verse eight, 

“Ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession." 

And James five verse 16 and 18 says, 

"Confess your sins to each other 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. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain on the land for three and half years. Again he prayed and the heavens gave rain and the earth produced its crops." 

Now today I want to talk about five qualities of powerful prayer. The first is, powerful prayer is enduring prayer. Can you imagine having a 24 hour seven day a week prayer meeting for 100 years? Many of us have a hard time praying 15 minutes consecutively without quitting. Three people would commit to pray every hour of the day here in Herrnhut with the early Moravians. They continued that prayer persistently day after day, week after week, month after month. Rain, snow, sleet, sunshine, whatever came. They were praying around the clock seeking God’s face for their generation. Powerful prayer is enduring prayer. Jesus would say at one point, He said, “Men ought always to pray and not to faint.” He gave an illustration of a lady who would not quit. She kept waking a judge up until the judge avenged her of her enemy. Jesus said the elect should also continue to be persistent and God will avenge us of our enemy. God’s Word teaches us that persistent prayer pays off. Elijah’s prayers were effective and effectual. You remember on the Mount Carmel when God’s fire came down and burned up the sacrifice. Elijah began to pray. He put his head between his knees and cried out to God for God to send rain. One time, two times, three times, four times, seven times the servant went. And Elijah kept praying and God sent the rain. I want you to stay with me now and I’ll be back in just a moment from here in Herrnhut, Germany to talk about the power of prayer.

(Stuart Greaves:) What I, what I love about prayer is that you don’t have to be smart to do prayer, you don’t have to have any money to do prayer, you don’t have to be famous to do prayer. You don’t have to be in, quote, professional ministry to do prayer. You don’t have to be a conference speaker to do prayer. Whosoever can pray. Whosoever calls who’s called by the name of the Lord, every born again believer who’s got the uncreated God, the Holy Spirit living inside of them, can pray. You can pray washing dishes, you can pray driving your car. One of my favorite things to do is to find the five second prayers in the Bible, the real short ones where real dynamic things take place. You know, like Elisha in Second Kings says, “Lord, strike this people with blindness.” I mean that’s a three second prayer. And the Lord comes and blinds an entire, I mean a whole army. I mean, just a short, just a very short prayer. The power is not in the length. The power is in the authority of Christ that’s inside of us as we’re called to waiting intimacy with the Lord. King David said it this way. He says, “One thing I desire, that’s to do two things: to gaze and to inquire.” He says, "One thing I desire." But that one thing is two things. He goes, “I want to gaze upon God. I want to worship Him. I want to know Him, I want to experience Him, I want to feel Him. I want to know what he’s like.” And while I’m looking at Him and experiencing Him and knowing Him, I want to inquire of Him. I want to ask Him things. I want to ask Him things for my life. I want to ask Him things for my loved ones. I want to ask him things for my city, for my nation, for the nations of the earth. I want to ask Him to release His purposes in the earth for His glory.

(Announcer:) God poured out His Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. This is that blessing foretold by Joel to empower the servants of God. And the study book, This Is That, will bring you face to face with the Holy Spirit. Combining wisdom from the ministries of Jack Hayford, Derek Prince, Ron Luce, and many others, This Is That will show you how to live the Spirit-empowered life. And as a special offer, order now, and we’ll include this DVD of World Impact shows from Germany. This is That, and four episodes of World Impact, yours for just 25 dollars. If you desire a real encounter with the Holy Spirit, the essays, reflections and journaling sections of This is That will help you explore Him beyond measure. Call 1-800-95-SHARE or go to worldimpact-dot-tv today.

(German Historian:) In 1722 the first people came to Herrnhut to this area to settle here and within a few years they started to fight about normal people stuff like who has to clean and repair the streets and who has to take care of the trash. People here also fought about their faith. My faith is better than yours, and your faith is not right, not enough, and Zinzendorf had to realize that even Christian brothers and sisters needed some rules and regulations. You know, all the people who were here signed the brotherly agreement and, it was like a first big step on the way to reconciliation. And the next or the final big step was the invitation to celebrate communion. And on the way to Buedelsdorf they talked to each other and forgave each other and then they celebrated all together communion in the church in Buedelsdorf. And afterwards they wrote in their diary, "We learned to love." So they experienced as at Pentecost that God gave His Spirit to them and they were really thankful and grateful and this was like the birthdate of the renewed Moravian church. 

(Billy Wilson:) Today on World Impact we’re talking about the power of prayer, how an over 100-year prayer meeting here in Herrnhut, Germany by the Moravians changed the world, and how your prayers can be powerful as well. In the first part of the sermon we talked about the fact that powerful prayer is prayer that endures. Now I want to continue with the other four points about powerful prayer today. 

The second thing is that powerful prayer is effective prayer. What I mean by that is that effective prayers are prayers that get answered. How do you get your prayers answered by God? I’m sure this is a question asked over and over again by the Moravians during their 100-year prayer meeting. Well, Samuel Chadwick said this, 

“There is no power like that of prevailing prayer, of Abraham pleading for Sodom, Jacob wrestling, in the stillness of the night Moses standing in the breach, Hannah intoxicated with sorrow, David heartbroken with remorse and grief, Jesus in sweat of blood. Add to this list from the records of the church your personal observation and experience. And always there is the cost of passion unto blood. Such prayer prevails, it turns ordinary mortals into men of power, it brings fire, it brings rain, it brings life, it brings God." 

This is the kind of prayer we want in our life. But what are the things we can do to ensure that our prayers are answered? Number one, we must pray according to God’s will. First John five verse 14 says, 

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask we know that we have what we asked of Him." 

Pray according to His will. The second thing is to pray for the benefit of His Kingdom. When the Moravians prayed for that hundred years here in Herrnhut they were praying for God’s Kingdom to come on the earth and for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Count Zinzendorf would say, 

“The world is the field, and the field is the world. And henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ.” 

He would also say, 

”I am destined to proclaim the message. I’m mindful of personal consequences to myself.” 

Over and over again they would pray here in Herrnhut, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.” Number three, in order to have our prayers answered and for them to be effective, we need to pray in the name of Jesus. Count von Zinzendorf would say,

 “I have one passion. It is Jesus and Jesus only." 

Jesus Himself would say in John chapter 14 verse 13 and 14,

"And I will do whatever you ask in My name so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in My name. I will do it." 

And finally, in order to have effective answered prayer, we need to learn to pray in faith. The Gospel of Mark chapter 11 verse 24 says, 

“Therefore I tell you,” Jesus said, “whatever you ask for in prayer believe that you have received it and it will be yours." 

Our prayers can be effective. They can be answered and God’s Word tells us how. The third thing I want to share today about powerful prayer is that powerful prayers are prayers that are educated. Now I know this sounds a bit different, but what I mean by this word is simply, that our prayers have been educated by God’s promises. When we know God’s promises, we can pray them back to Him. Paul said in First Corinthians chapter 14 verse 15, 

"I will pray with my spirit and I will also pray with my mind. I’ll sing with my spirit and I’ll also sing with my mind." 

And the psalmist said in Psalm 119 verse 76, 

"May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to Your promise to Your servant." 

We are educated on the promises of God and pray them back to our heavenly Father. This is what Daniel did as recorded in Daniel nine verse two and three. 

"In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last 70 years. So I turned to the Lord and pleaded with Him in prayer and petition and fasting and sackcloth and in ashes." 

Daniel was educated on God’s promise through the prophet Jeremiah and prayed it back to his Heavenly Father. God answered and the people were set free from Babylonian captivity. The fourth thing I want to share about powerful prayer is that powerful prayer is prayer that is energized, effectual, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Romans chapter eight says in verse twenty-six and seven, 

"In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express, and He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will." 

The Holy Spirit will energize and empower our prayers and help us to pray. And finally, if we’re going to have a powerful prayer life, and know the power of prayer in our life, then we need to have prayers that are effacing. In other words, we need to have humility in our praying. Jesus gave a parable in Luke chapter 18 of two men. One was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. He said they both went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee pleaded his righteousness before God in his prayers. The tax collector humbled himself and said, "God, I’m not worthy of your love or that you would answer my prayer." Jesus said the tax collector is the one whose prayers were answered. When we humble ourselves God hears our cry. So today if you want a powerful prayer life, you need prayers that endure, that are effective, that are educated, that are energized, and that are effacing. We can join those from here in Herrnhut, the Moravians, who for a hundred years prayed and changed the world. Today we can unite together and know the power of  prayer.

(Song lyrics:)

I am speechless in Your Presence
I am drawn by Your loving-kindness
I am captured by Your beauty
Lord, I worship You
I am speechless in Your Presence
I am drawn by Your loving-kindness
I am captured by Your beauty
Lord, I worship You
For Who You are…

You are fairer than ten thousand
You are lovelier by far
Lord, Your beauty knows no measure
God, I worship Who You are
You're more valuable than silver
You are lovelier by far
You are awesome, You are sovereign
God, I worship Who You are…

I am speechless, I am speechless in Your Presence
I am drawn by Your loving-kindness
I am captured by Your beauty
Lord, I worship You
For Who You are…
For Who You are…

You are fairer than ten thousand
You are lovelier by far
Lord, Your beauty knows no measure
God, I worship Who You are
You're more valuable than silver
You are lovelier by far
You are awesome, You are sovereign
God, I worship Who You are…

You are awesome, You are sovereign, 
God, I worship Who You are…
You are awesome, You are sovereign,
God, I worship Who You are…

(Billy Wilson:) Herrnhut means “the watch of the Lord.” It means we’re under His watch care because he cares for us. He calls us to seek his face. I’m sitting now in the German woods near Herrnhut, and I’m sitting in a bandengruben, which means a meeting place for small groups. Small groups in the Moravian community dug these places out in the woods and would bring their group here so they could have intimacy and quietness together. This was place where they shared their burdens with one another, their faults together, and they prayed for one another. Here at World Impact, we want you to know that you can share your burden with us. Our ministry teams are ready to lift you up in prayer. Today if you have a prayer need, if you need God to answer a prayer in your life, if you need to experience the power of prayer personally right now in your journey, I want you to call me at 1-800-95-SHARE in the United States. Write the address on your screen. Most importantly go to our website, worldimpact-dot-tv. Now at our website, you can leave a prayer request. Type in what you need God to do, and our website will be our bandengruben, our place where we can group with you and pray for your requests, that God would minister to your heart. So go worldimpact.tv, send your request to us and our prayer counselors will hold you up. I believe that we can change the world through the power of prayer, and we can experience that together. I do appreciate you joining us on this World Impact program today. We’ve been in Herrnhut, Germany, talking about prayer and its power in our lives and how that the Moravian missionaries changed the world by seeking God in an over 100 year prayer meeting. 

Now during the program today, we’ve also shared with you about a book called This Is That. This is a new book from our ministry, the byline is, Empowered By the Holy Spirit For 21st-Century Life. It’s not the 1700's anymore but we can have the same power, the same dynamic in prayer that they experienced here in Herrnhut, and even more in the 21st century in order to change our world. So please be sure to get this copy of This Is That. Put it in your library. Put it in your heart and begin to experience the power of the Holy Spirit in the 21st century.  I do appreciate you helping us in your prayers and your faithful financial support. We need your help in order to stay on the air where you live so please today make sure you connect with us through the web at  worldimpact-dot-tv and continue to stand with us as we experience God’s power together and as we share Jesus with the world. 

(Instrumental Music)

(Announcer:) Remember the special offer, these episodes and the study book This Is That are available from worldimpact-dot-tv or by calling 1-800-95-SHARE. Keep growing in the Holy Spirit. Order today.

(Woman:) Committed? Without a doubt, because true beauty takes time. It’s a process, but when you’re committed you do the work, and in the end, when you’ve put in the time the real masterpiece is revealed. So yes, I’m committed to my marriage ‘til death do us part. 

(Man:) In support of the Marriage Commission and Awakening America Alliance ... 

(Woman:) Commit to your marriage.