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The Power of Prayer · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to Reformed thinking. This is the deep dive where we
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  really try to get into significant topics, looking at
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  insights from different sources. That's the goal.
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  And today, we're taking a close look at something absolutely
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  central to Christian faith. Prayer.
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  Yeah, absolutely vital. We're drawing today from some
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  notes based on Doctor Andrew Curry's teaching.
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  He's a pastor over in Northern Ireland.
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  And his work touches on this really deep connection, doesn't
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  it, between prayer, our spiritual lives, and while those
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  big moments in history we call revivals.
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  Exactly. So our aim today is first to
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  consider why prayer, maybe especially praying together
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  corporately, can feel like such a struggle sometimes.
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  You know what holds us back? Right, understand the obstacles.
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  Yes, and then flip the coin and look at how God has, well,
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  consistently moved in these remarkable ways when His people
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  get serious about prayer, both in Scripture and throughout
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  history. So we're looking at the
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  resistance, but also the the amazing results when God's
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  people really call on him. That's it.
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  Understanding both sides. OK, and Justice to give you a
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  map for our conversation. We're calling this Dee dive The
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  Unseen Struggle, Prayers, Centrality in God's work.
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  Good title. We'll start with those
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  obstacles, the things that hinder us.
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  Then we'll turn to the book of Acts, see what prayer looked
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  like in the early church. The.
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  Blueprint. Really.
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  Yeah. And then connect that to
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  historical revivals before we land on a final thought about,
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  well, how God seems to work with his people.
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  Sounds like a plan. All right, so let's unpack this
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  first idea. Resistance to prayer.
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  It's something I think many of us feel maybe in private prayer,
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  maybe even more when it comes to getting together with others
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  just to pray. What's the source material?
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  Tell us about what's really holding people back there.
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  Well, what's really striking, I think, is how Doctor Curry
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  outlines 4 specific hindrances. And he argues it's really vital
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  for us as believers to actually recognize these things.
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  They're not just, you know, vague feelings.
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  It's. Not just I don't feel like it
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  today. No, much more definite.
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  He lists of the work of Satan, then our own human nature, the
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  flesh, then a sinful mindset towards other Christians, and
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  finally pride, which can show up in a couple of different ways.
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  OK, four big ones. Let's start with the first the
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  work of Satan. The source says Satan is
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  actively working against prayer, even calling the church prayer
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  meeting, the meeting that Satan most wants to kill.
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  That's strong language. It is and it's meant to be.
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  It highlights the spiritual reality behind it.
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  Satan sees the corporate prayer meeting as well, uniquely
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  threatening. He knows its spiritual value,
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  its potential in God's economy. So he dedicates real effort to
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  disrupting it. Calculated effort, Yes, because
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  he knows that when God's people genuinely unite in prayer,
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  things happen. God acts.
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  And it's interesting you mentioned earlier, it's not
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  always like a direct frontal assault, is it?
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  The source points to more subtle tactics.
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  He uses things that might fly under our radar.
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  Exactly. It's not always overt hostility.
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  Often it's about cultivating apathy, trying to make prayer
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  seem small and insignificant in our thinking.
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  So just unimportant like missing it isn't a big deal.
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  Precisely. It's that slow creep of
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  indifference, that little thought, maybe that skipping the
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  prayer meeting this week or cutting your own prayer time
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  short while it doesn't really matter that much.
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  He wants to erode its value in our minds, make it seem
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  marginal, not central. Undermining its perceived
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  effectiveness, Yes. And beyond that mental game, he
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  also works to induce tiredness, specifically often on a prayer
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  meeting night. Right.
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  That's a strangely common experience, isn't it?
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  You feel fine all day, then suddenly exhaustion hits right
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  before it's time to pray together.
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  It is strangely common. The source puts it plainly.
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  The Bible makes clear we are spiritual war and Satan wants to
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  do all he can to keep us from falling on our knees.
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  So this tiredness isn't just physical fatigue, it points to
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  prayer being an act of spiritual conflict.
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  It's a battleground. It is, and Satan's tactics are
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  designed to disarm us, to keep us off that battleground.
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  He seems to recognize its strategic value even more than
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  we often do. OK, so that's the external
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  spiritual opposition. But the source also points
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  inward to something within our own nature, our sinful nature,
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  the flesh. How does that contribute to this
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  resistance? Well, this is a really
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  fundamental piece. Our inherent sinful nature, what
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  the source calls the flesh or the old man, it fundamentally
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  doesn't like prayer or nor want prayer.
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  Doesn't want it. Why?
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  Because prayer is, at its core, the direct opposite of pride.
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  Our flesh, our default setting, wants to believe it can manage
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  things on its own. It constantly whispers, I can do
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  this, I can sort this out. I can make the difference
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  through my own effort, my own smarts.
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  That's self-reliance impulse. Exactly.
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  It's deep seated in our fallenness, but prayer, just by
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  what it is, completely cuts across that.
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  It requires dependence on God. It's basically admitting I can't
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  do this on my own. I need you.
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  And that directly challenges our desire to be in control.
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  Absolutely. It challenges that core self
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  centeredness, that desire for autonomy, and that's precisely
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  why the flesh fights against it so hard.
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  It's an affront to its very nature.
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  That really does hit home. Yeah.
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  So how does this internal battle, this conflict with the
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  flesh, actually show up? What does it feel like when we
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  try to pray? Well, it often shows up as that
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  feeling of dryness or kind of lethargy, maybe feeling like you
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  have nothing to say. Yeah, the mind goes blank.
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  Right. And the source draws this really
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  sharp contrast that I think most of us would recognize.
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  We can have incredible enthusiasm for, say, our
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  favorite sports team. We can talk about it for hours,
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  debate stats, get really passionate.
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  Or talk endlessly with a friend. Exactly.
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  Lose all track of time. But then when it comes to
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  prayer, suddenly we feel tongue tied heavy, like we can't string
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  two thoughts together. Why is that?
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  Why the disconnect? The Source suggests it's the old
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  nature kicking into action because it knows that when we
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  genuinely cry out to God independence, God answers by
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  changing us, by working in us, by, as the Source puts it,
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  purging from us, our flesh. So the old nature resist because
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  prayer leads to its own weakening.
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  Precisely. It resists its own subjugation,
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  resists us becoming more like Christ and less self reliant.
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  And this internal fight can even create that extra level of
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  tiredness, especially before corporate prayer.
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  Like that example you mentioned earlier.
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  Yeah, the source gives this example of a teacher busy all
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  week, alert late at night. But come Wednesday evening
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  prayer meeting night, this overwhelming wave of tiredness
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  would just wash over him. It's just something more than
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  just physical weariness is going.
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  On a spiritual and internal resistance.
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  Exactly, the flesh is at war with the Spirit and prayer is
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  definitely a key front in that war.
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  OK, so we have Satan's opposition, our own flesh
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  resisting. But then the source says our
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  relationships with other believers also play a part.
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  How does how we relate to our church family affect our ability
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  to pray, especially together? This is crucial if we are
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  entertaining sin, particularly unconfessed sin, the source
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  says. It sets you at odds with your
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  brother or sister in the church, and that makes it painful or
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  sometimes even feels impossible to genuinely pray with them.
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  Because there's a barrier there, a disconnect.
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  A real spiritual blockage. Think about trying to stand
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  shoulder to shoulder in prayer with someone when there's
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  unresolved bitterness or a hidden grudge or some unspoken
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  conflicts just simmering under the surface.
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  It fractures the fellowship. It breaks that unity.
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  Yes, and the source quotes this line Christians that pray
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  together stay together. It highlights how prayer builds
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  unity. But the flip side is also true.
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  Harboring A grudge or a bitterness towards another
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  believer doesn't just separate us from.
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  Them it affects our prayer to God.
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  Yes, the source says. It separates us from prayer to
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  God himself. That's a really sobering
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  thought. Our horizontal relationships,
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  our connections within the body of Christ, directly impact our
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  vertical connection with God. Wow, so unity isn't just nice,
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  it's necessary for effective corporate prayer.
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  It seems to be a precondition. According to this, peace,
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  forgiveness, reconciliation within the body are vital.
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  OK. And that leads maybe to the 4th
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  hindrance, pride. It feels like the pride is kind
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  of run through the other points to self-reliance, not wanting to
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  deal with sin. The source calls it a prayer
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  killer. How does pride specifically
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  manifest itself in relation to prayer?
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  Yeah, pride is definitely a recurring theme, and it's deadly
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  to prayer. The source points out two main
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  ways it shows up. First, it can look like the
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  Pharisees Jesus criticized praying to be heard by men.
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  So it's a performance. Exactly.
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  It's not about actually talking to God, confessing needs seeking
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  his face. It's about how you sound, how
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  spiritual you appear to others. These become thick prayers and
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  pretend prayers. Lots of words but no real
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  prayer. Just noise really, like.
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  Talking to the wall as the source puts it, referencing the
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  Pharisee in the parable. It's totally self focused,
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  aiming for human admiration, not divine communication.
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  OK, that's one form. What's the second?
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  This one seems maybe more subtle.
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  It is, and perhaps more common. For many of us, it's the pride
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  that leads us to not pray because we don't want to be
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  embarrassed. Fear of praying out loud in a
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  group. Right.
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  We might excuse it as just being shy or feeling new to this, or
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  thinking our prayers aren't eloquent enough.
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  Or maybe we feel our spiritual life isn't good enough to pray
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  publicly. We compare ourselves.
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  We do, but the source argues that even if it feels like a
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  reasonable excuse, it's still pride acting as a barrier,
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  because prayer at its heart is about confessing our need to God
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  for him to work. And that takes humility.
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  Deep humility, admitting weakness, dependence,
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  inadequacy. The pride of not wanting to
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  appear foolish or vulnerable or less spiritual than someone
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  else. That stops us from making that
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  vital, humble confession. We prioritize our image over our
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  actual need for God. Even though everyone else in the
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  room likely feels the same need. Exactly.
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  The source says there's nobody in your congregation that you
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  should be keeping our mouth shut for.
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  We need him. We all share that need for God
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  to work both kinds of pride. The show we kind and the
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  shrinking kind block that humble, honest confession that
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  is the very basis of true prayer.
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  OK, those are some significant obstacles.
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  Spiritual attack, our own nature, broken relationships,
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  pride. It's quite a list.
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  It is recognizing them as the first step though.
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  Right. So with those hindrances in
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  mind, let's pivot. Let's look at the positive
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  model, the blueprint in Scripture.
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  The source talks a lot about prayer in the early church,
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  especially in Acts. What stands out there?
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  How central was prayer for them? Oh, it was absolutely
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  foundational. Not just, you know, one activity
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  among many, The source says the early church was literally
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  marked by prayer. It ran through everything they
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  did. From the very beginning.
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  From before the beginning, in a sense, the source emphasizes,
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  the church was birthed in prayer.
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  Remember, after the resurrection, Jesus told the
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  disciples not to leave Jerusalem.
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  Right. Wait for the promise of the
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  Father, the Holy Spirit. Exactly.
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  And what did they do while waiting?
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  Acts chapter one verse 14 tells us they all gathered with 1
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  accord, continually devoting themselves to prayer.
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  Unified, persistent prayer. Yes, a dedicated, focused,
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  communal waiting on God. And the source directly links
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  this. It was that prayer meeting that
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  sparks the movement of God in the day of Pentecost.
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  The one that led to 3000 people being added to the church in one
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  day. The very one.
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  So the church wasn't launched by a clever stratagem meeting or a
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  recruitment drive. It was launched out of a prayer
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  meeting. Obedient, united prayer was the
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  catalyst. OK, so prayer birth the church,
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  but did it remain that central once things got going after
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  Pentecost with thousands of new believers?
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  Did it stay a priority in their day-to-day life?
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  It absolutely did. Look at Acts chapter 2, verse
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  42. It describes the core activities
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  of this new community, continually devoting themselves
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  to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking
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  of bread and to the prayers. The prayers plural.
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  What's the significance of that? The source highlights that
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  plural and the use of the definite article Z.
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  It suggests this wasn't just talking about generic
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  spontaneous praying here and there.
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  It likely points to a specific meeting, a specific component of
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  the life of the church. Like scheduled times for
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  corporate prayer. It seems so a design specific,
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  purposeful part of the early churches program.
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  Just like they had dedicated times for teaching and
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  communion, they had dedicated times for praying together.
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  It was built into the regular rhythm.
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  OK, so it was foundational at the start and a regular
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  practice. What about when they faced
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  trouble, persecution inevitably came?
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  Did they stick to prayer them? They did.
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  That's very clear. In Acts 4, Peter and John get
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  arrested, threatened by the Sanhedrin, told explicitly to
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  stop talking about Jesus. A direct threat from the
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  authorities. Yes, and when they're released,
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  what's the first thing they do? They go straight back to their
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  own people, report what happened and the immediate collective
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  response. They lifted their voices to God
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  and with 1 accord. They prayed together instantly.
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  What did they pray for? Safety and end of the
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  persecution. Interestingly, no, they didn't
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  pray for the threats to go away. They prayed for boldness, for
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  courage to keep speaking God's Word despite the threats.
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  They acknowledged God's sovereignty over the rulers and
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  asked for His enabling power. That's remarkable.
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  Praying for boldness, not ease. And did God answer that prayer?
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  Was there a visible result? Immediately, Acts 4.31 says when
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  they had prayed earnestly, the place where they had gathered
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  together was Shechem. The place was shaken.
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  Wow. Yeah, a physical sign of God's
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  presence and power, echoing Pentecost.
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  But more than that, it says they were all filled with the Holy
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  Spirit and began to speak the Word of God with confidence.
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  So they received exactly what they asked for.
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  Boldness, Confidence. Precisely.
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  The source concludes that prayer ensured fruitful ministry and
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  true evangelistic success, even right in the middle of a crisis.
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  It was their Direct Line to God's power to keep going.
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  OK, so birth, daily life, facing opposition?
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  What about their mission spreading the gospel outwards?
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  Did prayer shape that too, like sending out the first
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  missionaries? Absolutely central there as
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  well. Look at Acts 13, the church in
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  Antioch, a thriving, diverse church.
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  And it's from there that Barnabas and Saul, later Paul,
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  are sent out on the first major missionary journey.
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  How did that commissioning happen?
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  It happened specifically while they were ministering to the
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  Lord in fasting. So again, a context of dedicated
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  worship, seeking God, prayer, self denial.
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  It wasn't just a committee decision, no.
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  It was in that atmosphere that the Holy Spirit spoke, saying,
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  Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I
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  have called them. And then after that divine
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  direction, the church fasted and prayed and laid their hands on
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  them. They sent them away.
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  So prayer before the calling and prayer commissioning them
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  afterwards. Exactly, the source states
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  clearly missionary endeavor was birthed in the context of
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  prayer. It wasn't just a good idea they
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  had, it was spirit LED, confirmed, and launched through
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  prayer and fasting. The early church really did seem
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  to live out Paul's later command to pray without ceasing.
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  It was woven into the fabric of everything.
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  Birth, life crisis, mission, prayer was just everywhere.
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  It seems so foundational. So, connecting this powerful
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  picture from Acts to later times, what does this mean for
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  us now? The source links this biblical
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  pattern to church history, specifically to spiritual
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  revival. What's the historical connection
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  between this kind of prayer and those widespread spiritual
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  awakenings? Yeah, this really brings it home
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  for us today, doesn't it? The historical link is
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  incredibly strong and consistent.
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  The source quotes AT Pearson, who studied revivals
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  extensively. He said there has never been a
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  spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not
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  begin and united prayer. Never.
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  That's a very strong claim. It is, and Matthew Henry, the
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  commentator, observes something similar.
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  When God intends great mercy for just people, he first sets them
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  praying. It suggests a pattern, almost a
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  divine principle of operation. That God prepares the ground for
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  revival by stirring his people to pray first.
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  That seems to be the consistent testimony.
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  True spiritual revival consistently seems to, as the
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  source puts it, bubble out of prayer.
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  It's not the only factor, of course, but it appears to be a
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  necessary precursor. A chosen means God uses OK.
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  But this raises a really important point.
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  The source makes the difference between true spiritual revival
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  and something called revivalism. What's the distinction there?
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  Why is that needed? It's a crucial distinction.
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  Sinclair Ferguson's definition is helpful here.
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  He defines true revival as a time when professing believers
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  are arised, awakened from spiritual dullness and non
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  Christians are brought into the Kingdom in large numbers.
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  So affecting both believers and unbelievers, yes.
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  And importantly, each with an individual sense of sin and
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  need, but in the context of a widespread sense of the presence
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  and the power of the Holy Spirit.
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  So it's deep individual conviction, but happening widely
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  with a tangible sense of God's presence.
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  Right. It's a genuine movement of God,
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  sovereignly initiated by the Spirit, always centered on God's
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  Word being preached and believed, and leading to this
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  renewed seeking of God in prayer, especially among
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  ordinary believers. OK, that's true Revival.
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  What's revivalism then? Revivalism, in contrast,
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  involves human techniques, attempts to manufacture or make
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  happen that which can only be done by God.
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  It often focuses on creating emotional responses through
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  certain methods or styles. Trying to engineer the results.
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  Exactly. This can lead to superficiality,
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  pretense, emotional highs that don't last.
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  The source mentions Charles Finney as an example, with his
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  new measures designed to produce decisions.
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  It's the difference between God genuinely working and humans
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  trying to orchestrate something that looks like it.
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  Got it. So focusing on true revival, the
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  source gives a historical example to illustrate this
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  prayer connection. Yeah, the Six Mile Water Revival
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  in 1625 Northern Ireland. What was that situation like
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  beforehand? It was incredibly bleak.
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  The area was known for its wickedness, settled by people
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  described as the scum of both nations, many fleeing justice or
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  debt from Scotland. There was very little fear of
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  God. Widespread godlessness.
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  Rampant godlessness, atheism, fighting, murder, theft,
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  adultery. It was spiritually desolate.
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  Even the early ministers there were apparently not of great
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  character. It was about as unpromising a
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  place as you could imagine for God to work.
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  Then a minister named James Glendinning arrived.
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  He preached fiercely about hell and damnation, and it had an
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  effect. It crippled the people with
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  conviction of sin. They felt their guilt
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  profoundly. But no hope.
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  Apparently not initially, just conviction and maybe despair.
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  They knew they were sinners but didn't know the solution.
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  So what turned it around? How did hope into the picture?
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  Another minister, Josiah Welsh, came and applied the balm of the
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  gospel. He preached Christ as the answer
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  to the very conviction Glendinning's preaching had
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  produced, and the response was explosive.
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  People were ready to hear it. Desperately ready ignorance
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  faded, people were awakened to their spiritual danger, and
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  conversions happened rapidly. And these new converts were
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  dramatically changed. They were marked by different
• 19:13
  desires, a hunger for teaching and a deep longing for prayer.
• 19:17
  A complete turn around. Complete people who were profane
• 19:20
  and ignorant became lively and experienced Christians.
• 19:23
  And crucially, they immediately devoted themselves to gathering
• 19:26
  for communion for Saturday lectures to discuss the Bible.
• 19:29
  And both meetings were soaked in prayer, married with prayer all
• 19:32
  the way through the day, the source says.
• 19:34
  Praying before, during, after. Constantly this rapid church
• 19:39
  growth, marked by transformed lives and pervasive prayer, set
• 19:42
  a pattern that spread. It was a clear case of God's
• 19:45
  Spirit moving powerfully, preceded by conviction and
• 19:49
  followed by fervent prayer. And this pattern, the source
• 19:52
  argues, continued. And later bigger revivals like
• 19:55
  the Great Awakenings in America or the 1859 Ulster Revival.
• 19:59
  Yes, it fits the pattern. The First Great Awakening, for
• 20:03
  example, wasn't just driven by famous preachers.
• 20:06
  The source notes the key role of the Scots Irish laity.
• 20:09
  Ordinary Christians. Ordinary Christians, many with
• 20:12
  roots in that earlier Ulster Revival culture, they carried
• 20:15
  this expectation that God would work through prayer because
• 20:17
  they'd seen or heard about it. They drove the organization and
• 20:21
  drove the prayer meetings that undergirded the preaching.
• 20:24
  So prayer was the engine room. In many ways, Yes, and the 1859
• 20:28
  Ulster Revival had similar humble beginnings.
• 20:31
  Started with a Scottish missionary woman witnessing to
• 20:33
  one man he converted. Then witness to two friends.
• 20:37
  Those 3 new believers started meeting every day for prayer in
• 20:40
  a little village called Connor. Just three people praying daily.
• 20:43
  And from that small beginning, the revival movement burst into
• 20:47
  the scene. Similarly, the genuine parts of
• 20:50
  the Second Great Awakening were marked by that same combination
• 20:54
  word centered preaching and the praying of the laity.
• 20:56
  It's a consistent historical theme.
• 20:58
  Ordinary believers united in prayer, being instrumental in
• 21:02
  God's extraordinary work. That seems to be the recurring
• 21:05
  lesson from history. Which brings us to this really
• 21:08
  significant point about God's sovereignty in our role, the
• 21:11
  Source notes. The Holy Spirit blows where it
• 21:13
  wishes. We don't control God's sovereign
• 21:15
  work, yet there's this constant call for us to pray.
• 21:19
  How do we hold those together? God's control and our need to
• 21:22
  pray. That's the tension, isn't it?
• 21:24
  And it's 1 Jonathan Edwards thought deeply about.
• 21:27
  He observed that it seems to be God's usual way, His manner,
• 21:31
  that before He bestows any single mercy on the people,
• 21:34
  first to prepare them for it. How does he prepare them?
• 21:37
  Often, Edwards noted, by causing them to see their need to
• 21:40
  forsake the sins that brought judgement, and crucially, by
• 21:44
  stirring them to pray. Edward saw true revival, true
• 21:47
  conversion, true laying our sins before God, and repentance as
• 21:52
  things that follow times of prayer.
• 21:54
  So God initiates the preparation, which includes
• 21:57
  prompting prayer before He sends the blessing.
• 21:59
  That seems to be Edward's understanding and what the
• 22:02
  historical pattern suggests. God sovereignly chooses to work
• 22:05
  through means and a primary means He uses to prepare His
• 22:09
  people and accomplish people. His work is their awakened,
• 22:13
  humble, dependent prayer. Our praying is less about
• 22:16
  initiating God's work and more about responding to His
• 22:18
  prompting and aligning ourselves with what He is already doing or
• 22:21
  intends to do. So understanding that, what does
• 22:23
  it tell us about our role, our responsibility?
• 22:26
  If we can't control the Spirit, why is prayer still presented as
• 22:29
  so necessary? Well, while we absolutely cannot
• 22:32
  control the spirit, that's a significant mystery.
• 22:35
  As the source says, like the wind, the evidence is
• 22:37
  overwhelming. God so often does choose to
• 22:39
  work, even in revival, through the prayers of His people.
• 22:42
  It's his chosen method. It appears to be His chosen,
• 22:46
  consistent method. It's not a magic formula.
• 22:48
  Pray this much, get this result. But Scripture and history
• 22:51
  together seem to shout. We must pray.
• 22:53
  We must pray, our churches must pray if we wish to see God move.
• 22:57
  So prayer becomes essential, not because we're controlling God,
• 23:01
  but because we're participating in the means he is ordained.
• 23:04
  Exactly. It's about humble, obedient
• 23:06
  participation. It's acknowledging our total
• 23:09
  dependence on Him. It's positioning ourselves, our
• 23:12
  families, our churches to receive what He desires to give.
• 23:16
  It's a vital part of His design for His Kingdom's advance.
• 23:20
  So just to sort of wrap this up, we've looked at some pretty
• 23:23
  serious obstacles to prayer, Satan's work, our own flesh,
• 23:27
  relational sin, pride in its various forms, things that
• 23:31
  actively hinder us. Real barriers we need to be
• 23:33
  aware of. But then we saw the counter
• 23:35
  picture. In Acts, prayer wasn't hindered.
• 23:37
  It was central, birthing the church, sustaining its life,
• 23:41
  empowering it through persecution, launching its
• 23:43
  mission. Absolutely foundational for
• 23:45
  them. And we saw that pattern echoed
• 23:47
  in history, the Six Mile Water revival, the Great Awakenings,
• 23:50
  Ulster, 1859, showing God's powerful work consistently
• 23:54
  emerging from the sustained, united prayers of ordinary
• 23:58
  believers. That undeniable link between
• 24:00
  prayer and God moving in significant ways.
• 24:03
  It really underscores that God, in His wisdom and sovereignty,
• 24:07
  very often chooses to work through the prayers of His
• 24:10
  people. Yeah, which should really shape
• 24:12
  how we view prayer, not just as a duty or religious habit, but
• 24:16
  as well a vital connection to the source of all spiritual life
• 24:19
  and blessing, a key part of how God intends his Kingdom to come
• 24:23
  on earth. So maybe the final thought for
• 24:25
  you listening is this. If God consistently prepares his
• 24:28
  people for His gracious work by first setting them to prayer,
• 24:32
  what might that suggest about what He wants to do in your
• 24:34
  church, or maybe even in your own life, if you were to
• 24:36
  prioritize calling upon Him, maybe more earnestly, more
• 24:39
  consistently, perhaps more together?
• 24:41
  A challenging thought to end on. Indeed, thank you for joining us
• 24:44
  for this deep dive on reformed thinking.
• 24:46
  Until next time.