MEMORY VERSE: When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him (Isaiah 59:19).
America is in trouble. Her spiritual temperature is low. Scandals rock her leaders. Morality is out of date. Crime marches on. But there have been other periods of spiritual decline and moral confusion. America's greatest revival came as the result of one man's concern at such a time.
A. C. Lanphier was working as a lay missionary in one of the crowded areas of New York City. He let it be known that he was starting a series of weekly noon-hour prayer meetings, the first of which was held September 23, 1857.
For the first half hour Mr. Lanphier prayed alone. Then, one by one, others came until a total of six were praying. The next week twenty appeared, and the third week brought forty. By spring more than twenty daily noon prayer meetings were occurring in New York City. Some of the largest churches were crowded to capacity. The police and fire departments opened their buildings for prayer services. Revival had begun. It spread across the land.
In a Boston meeting, a man said: "I am from Omaha, Nebraska. On my journey here I found a continuous chain of prayer all the way." Mr. Lanphier's prayer meeting had set his nation afire for God.
The revival caused churches to spread across the frontier and made them flourish in the cities. The moral fiber of the nation was strengthened. Old debts were paid. Honesty increased. Missionary work expanded -- all because one man listened to the Holy Spirit and started to pray.
The Holy Spirit is still able to bring revival to our land. You may be the one through whom He will work to move His people to prayer.