Zechariah 10:1
Some Christians are already praying for the body of Christ to get hungry. They are doing what the prophet Zechariah told us to do and asking for God to send the rain of the Spirit in fresh torrents upon the earth. They are crying out with deep desire for God to come to us in His fullness in this latter rain hour.
When I think of what can happen as a result of such prayers, I’m reminded of a time in our church when such hunger hit our congregation that many people couldn’t stay in their seats. A visiting evangelist was ministering, telling us about a revival he had preached in a denominational church during his early days of ministry. He told us that after a few days of the so-called “revival,” an older lady came up to him, grabbed him by the arm with her cane and said, “Sonny, I thought you were an evangelist. But you’re not getting any results. So after the service tonight, my friends and I are going to meet you over by the side door and we’re going to pray you so close to God that revival is going to come to this church.”
Sure enough, after the service a group of elderly ladies put some chairs in a circle, set that young evangelist in the middle and prayed for him until dawn. After they’d prayed for ten nights, the evangelist stepped on the platform and began to preach when suddenly a man in the back grabbed his head as if he were in pain and cried out, “I’m backslid and I need to repent!” Revival broke out in the church and lasted for three and a half months. Thousands were saved.
As the preacher told that story in our church, God stirred a hunger in our congregation for that kind of revival. One man ran to the front and fell at the altar while he was preaching and began to pray. Others followed. The cry that came up from those people was so piercing that I don’t know how to describe it. All I know to say was that it was a cry of hunger for God to do that again.
It was a cry for God to come.
Precious pray-er, if you’re not that hungry, pray to get that way. Pray until you’re so desperate for God to fill this earth that you’re ready to bite the back out of the pew if He doesn’t. Then pray for the same kind of hunger to rise up in others.
Pray for us all to get hungry. Without a doubt, that is the greatest blessing of all.
Scripture Reading: Joel 2:12 – 28
On the chilly March night in 1972 when Lynne Hammond took her first step into a life of Spirit-led prayer, she had no idea what was about to happen. All she knew was the hunger in her heart for God wouldn’t let her sleep. In the few short months she’d been born again, her desire to fellowship with Him had grown so strong she could hardly contain it. “Help me, God!” she cried. “I want to know you. I want to be able to talk to you. Please, teach me to pray!”
Suddenly, a heavenly presence flooded the room. Lynne sensed waves of spiritual fire sweeping over her and a beautiful language began to flow like a river from within her. Although she’d never heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, she knew instantly, without a doubt—this was God!
What began that night soon blossomed into a life of prayer that ultimately became a ministry of prayer when, in 1980, Lynne and her husband, Mac, founded Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under Lynne’s leadership, the prayer ministry at Living Word has become an internationally recognized model for developing effective pray-ers in the local church.
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”