At the end of 2012, I wrote about the Rev. Nathanael Leonard, who ministered in Plymouth, Massachusetts in the 18th century, and wrote that:

We were sensible of an awful degeneracy, and kept days of fasting and prayer, year after year, that God would pour out his Spirit upon us; especially on the rising generation.

In like manner, in the following century, the Rev. James Haldane Stewart  (1776-1854) was filled with a similar spirit of grace and supplications "year after year." Stewart, who ministered in London and later in Liverpool, traveled extensively and spoke and wrote frequently in order to stir up believers to pray for the Holy Spirit.

For eighteen straight years, from 1837 through 1854, Rev. Stewart wrote and published an "Invitation to Prayer on New Year's Day." These annual papers were exhortations to Christ's Church to gather together to pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

However, it was actually years prior to this time when the Lord first began to impress upon Stewart the necessity to pray for Holy Spirit. In his diary on January 1, 1821, Stewart wrote:

After reviewing the past year, I may well call it a year of peculiar mercy. In every way I have received blessings from the Lord. Amongst many other marks of His kindness, I would notice .... giving me a blessing on my journey, putting it into my heart to excite Christians to prayer for the Holy Spirit, and blessing me in my endeavours. . . . . . My great desire at present is to carry into effect the uniting of all Christians in prayer for the Holy Spirit. This engrosses all my wishes; at least, it is the uppermost thought in my mind. It seems to me so great an object, that, though I may proceed but slowly, I shall be richly repaid in the end.

Source:  "Memoir of the Life of the Rev. James Haldane Stewart" by David Dale Stewart, 95-96. (HT for the text: http://books.google.com/books?id=hT4BAAAAQAAJ&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false) // Photo credit: Work found here / PD-100.

I love the story of Stewart for it is a reminder to us (to me!) that the God who calls us to pray for Him will surely be faithful to equip us (me!) year after year after year after year ... 35 years like Stewart ... or even more!

I Thessalonians 5:24  He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

(See also Hebrews 13:20-21; Philippians 2:12-13.)

To consider that Stewart continued to strive faithfully toward this object for 35 years until the year of his death in 1854 is a testimony to the power of God alone... Isaiah 26:12a ... you have done for us all our works. Psalm 115:1: Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

It was about five years ago that God first began to burden me to pray for revival in the Church. A year later, as I recounted that calling in my post here, like Stewart, I alluded to Nehemiah's words in Nehemiah 2:12:

And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. (See Nehemiah 2:9-16.)

At this point, I can only agree with Stewart that my desire for Christians to gather together in prayer is "the uppermost thought in my mind." If you had asked me over five years ago if I had any such desire at all in my mind, I would have had to honestly reply, "No."

I find these words of Stewart a great encouragement:

It seems to me so great an object, that, though I may proceed but slowly, I shall be richly repaid in the end.

As my eyes have been opened to see more clearly the current state of "Jerusalem" (i.e. - the Christian Church), I am increasingly grieved and filled with an even greater urgency to see believers uniting together in prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit – and yet, all the same, I know that there is great wisdom to my proceeding but slowly, being wary that the work of the Spirit is never accomplished by fleshly devices (think Abram, Sarai, and Hagar!), and I am trusting the Lord will have mercy and pity upon His people and pour out of His Spirit once again in His appointed time. There will come a time when the Lord will arise again for the sake of His name – and surely the foretaste and precursor of His coming is when He begins to burden souls to pray for His return in mercy. Writing on Zechariah 3:5, Matthew Henry reminds us that "When God designs the restoring or reviving of religion he stirs up his prophets and people to pray for it, and does it in answer to their prayers."

Zechariah 1:12  Then the angel of the LORD said, ‘O LORD of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these seventy years?’ 13  And the LORD answered gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. 14  So the angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. 15  And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster. 16  Therefore, thus says the LORD, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; my house shall be built in it, declares the LORD of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. 17  Cry out again, Thus says the LORD of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.’”

Almighty God, as You strengthened Your servant James Haldane Stewart year after year after year to stir up believers to pray, strengthen me by Your Holy Spirit to persevere with joy in the good work You have appointed to me – for You alone know how often I feel like the desert owl, the lonely sparrow...

Psalm 102:1  Hear my prayer, O LORD;
let my cry come to you!
2  Do not hide your face from me
in the day of my distress!
Incline your ear to me;
answer me speedily in the day when I call!
3  For my days pass away like smoke,
and my bones burn like a furnace.
4  My heart is struck down like grass and has withered;
I forget to eat my bread.
5  Because of my loud groaning
my bones cling to my flesh.
6  I am like a desert owl of the wilderness,
like an owl of the waste places;
7  I lie awake;
I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.
8  All the day my enemies taunt me;
those who deride me use my name for a curse.
9  For I eat ashes like bread
and mingle tears with my drink,
10  because of your indignation and anger;
for you have taken me up and thrown me down.
11  My days are like an evening shadow;
I wither away like grass.
12  But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever;
you are remembered throughout all generations.
13  You will arise and have pity on Zion;
it is the time to favor her;
the appointed time has come.
14  For your servants hold her stones dear
and have pity on her dust.

O Lord our God, may the reforming and reviving of Zion continue to be "the uppermost thought in my mind" until the appointed time comes for You to favor us!

Psalm 137:5  If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget its skill!
6  Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy!

Today being July 4, here in the United States, there's a lot of talk about freedom and liberty. My dear Christian brothers and sisters, we certainly should be thankful to God for the civil and political liberties we do have at the present time. –– But what about the spiritual freedoms we have been granted through Christ Jesus for us whose citizenship is in heaven? Are we not largely ignorant of many of those freedoms, and therefore unable to take full advantage of and savor and enjoy those freedoms our Lord purchased for us through His blood at Calvary?

One precious and paramount freedom we have been granted is access to the throne of God through the blood of Jesus, by His flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ –– our Great High Priest, Mediator, and Advocate –– has atoned for all our sins and washed away all our guilt through one sacrifice once forever, so we might be reconciled to God and draw near to God through Him. We were once sons of disobedience, but we are all now sons of God through faith in Christ! (Gal. 3:26)! "Beloved, we are God's children now...!" (I John 3:2a).

Ephesians 2:18  For through him [Christ Jesus] we [Jew and Gentile] both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Ephesians 3:12  in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

Hebrews 4:14  Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 10:19  Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20  by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21  and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22  let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

In addition, do we understand that the Spirit of God is made available to us so we might enjoy "childlike freedom and confidence in prayer" (in the words of Susanna Anthony)? Or, are we still mostly ignorant of the workings of God's Holy Spirit? Do we continue to rely on the arm of the flesh as we pray, rather than pleading for the Spirit's supernatural endowment to help us to pray? Are we in danger of squandering God's grace, and quenching and grieving His Holy Spirit?

Romans 8:26  Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27  And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

On my naphtali_deer website, I've included a few excerpts from the writings of Susanna Anthony (1726-1791) (see here). The Rev. Edward Dorr Griffin was rebuked, convicted and challenged as he read Miss Anthony's prayers. He wrote:

Reference: "Memoir of the Rev. Edward D. Griffin, D.D., Compiled Chiefly from His Own Writings" by Edward D. Griffin & William Buell Sprague (New York: Taylor & Dodd, 1839), reprinted in 1987 by Banner of Truth Trust, 30. HT for the text: http://books.google.com/books?id=JbAEAAAAYAAJ)

Here's an experience of Miss Anthony's that should rebuke, convict and challenge each one of us as well:

Sept. 8 [1762]. Blessed be God for that gracious access he allows me; though, for the most part, when I begin prayer, I know not what to say, or ask, as though I had no words or desires. But, glory to the blessed Spirit, who ordinarily helps my infirmity, and engages my heart. This night it came to my turn to pray with his dear handmaids. But O I knew not what to say; and a pain in my head seemed to unfit me. But I dared not refuse; though I expected great straitness. I begged assistance; yet I feared the desire might rise from pride: and, therefore, I hope, submitted to God. But O how gracious was God to me: what kind access! What desires did he put in my heart, and arguments in my mouth! I seemed to find a childlike freedom and confidence. My requests were chiefly for Zion; the glory of God; the interest of Christ; the salvation of souls; and the strength and refreshment of saints. Surely the blessed God put strength in me, that I might plead with him. O methinks God was in this place; and I trust others could say so too. Glory to God.*

* Some account of this society of women: and of her praying with them, is given, page 7.
(147)

Here's the account of that society of women:

Before she was sixteen years old, she [Miss Anthony] joined a society of women, who met once every week, for prayer, reading, and religious conversation; and who devoted the afternoon, once in a month to this exercise [of secret fasting and prayer]; and spent at least four whole days a year, in fasting and prayer together. Of this society she was a distinguished member, as long as she lived; by whom she was greatly beloved and esteemed; and they received much comfort and edification from her conversation and prayers. In the latter, especially, she was distinguishedly eminent; and, at particular times, had such enlargement and access to the throne of grace, that she would pray an hour and a half, or more, with such engagedness and fervency, without any repetition, with a flow of words expressing the most pertinent and affecting ideas, and with such a natural connexion, and progression from one to another, that none who joined with her would appear to be tired, but all pleased, affected and edified: and felt a consciousness that none could have an adequate idea of what passed at such times, who were not present, as a full description of the holy fervor, the clear view of invisible things, and that nearness to God, while she poured out her heart before him, which she discovered, cannot be made by any narration of them.

(7)

Reference:  "The Life and Character of Miss Susanna Anthony. Who Died, in Newport, (R I.) June 23, 1791, in the 65th year of her age. Consisting Chiefly in Extracts from Her Writings, with Some Brief Observations on Them." Complied by Samuel Hopkins, Second Edition. (Portland, Maine: Lyman, Hall & Co. 1810), 147, 7. (HT for the text: http://books.google.com/books?id=YO0QAAAAYAAJ). Emphasis mine.

Holy Father, our Father, Abba! Father! Open the eyes of our understanding to experientially know the boldness and access that is ours as children of God by grace through faith in Your Son Jesus Christ. May we not receive Your grace in vain, and may our prayers not be in vain. Blessed God, strengthen us by Your Holy Spirit, that we might be humbled and become as little children and importunately beg Your Spirit's assistance to pray. We confess that we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. Holy Spirit, help us in our weakness and infirmity, and engage our hearts. Almighty God, put strength in us, that we might plead with You to Your glory. Lord, teach us to pray. May our wills be conformed to Yours, and our desires melted into Yours. Impart to our hearts holy desires, and put into our mouths holy arguments. As citizens of heaven, may we earnestly seek to experience and enjoy the liberty that is ours in Christ Jesus, that we might get into the temple and enjoy "childlike freedom and confidence in prayer" there –– such as Miss Anthony had. As we pray, may we pray by the strength You supply, that in all our prayers, You may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to Whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.