Let Us Give Ourselves to Prayer
The sermon emphasizes the importance of prayer for revival and transformation in the church, highlighting the need for divine interposition and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Andrew Murray emphasizes the necessity of giving ourselves to prayer--intelligent, deliberate, and intense prayer--as a means to seek revival. He encourages believers to pray for a vision of what God expects from His church, which will deepen the conviction that current efforts are insufficient. This realization leads to an understanding of the need for divine intervention and the power of the Holy Spirit in transforming lives. Murray asserts that through prayer, believers can experience a new level of obedience and consecration, enabling them to testify to God's transformative work. Ultimately, he calls for a renewed belief in the Holy Spirit's ability to empower God's people to impact the world.
Text
Let us give ourselves to prayer, intelligent, deliberate, intense prayer. I now venture to offer to God's children what I trust may be a help in this prayer for revival... I shall ask them to pray very specially that God would give themselves and all his people such a vision of what he positively expects his church to be, of what he has promised that he is able to do and actually can make it, that in its light the conviction may be deepened of how impossible it is for us to rest satisfied with what the church at present is.
This will prepare us for realizing the utter impotence of all human efforts, and the necessity for our looking up for a divine interposition. It will compel us to listen earnestly to God's word concerning the almighty power in which he is ready to work, that in our own personal experience we may prove, and may be able to testify confidently to others, that God does a new thing in the earth, that he does enable his children to live lives of holy and exact obedience, of joyous and complete consecration to his service.
We shall then be ready to believe with a new intensity in the Holy Spirit, as he can fill the hearts of God's saints, and clothe them with the power which fits them for conquering the world.
(Excerpted from The Coming Revival, by Andrew Murray , pg. 15)
Sermon Outline
- The Importance of Prayer
- Intelligent, deliberate, and intense prayer is necessary for revival
- Recognizing the current state of the church and its limitations
Key Quotes
“This will prepare us for realizing the utter impotence of all human efforts, and the necessity for our looking up for a divine interposition.” — Andrew Murray
Application Points
- We must look beyond human efforts and seek divine interposition for revival.
- Prayer is essential for realizing the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
- Revival is possible when we surrender to God's will and trust in His power.