Power of Prayer

“...for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” Genesis 32:28

David Brainerd did his greatest work by prayer. He was in the depths of the forest alone, unable to speak the language of the Indians, but he spent whole days in prayer.

What was he praying for? He knew that he could not reach those savages. He did not understand their language. If he wanted to speak at all he must find somebody that would vaguely interpret his thought. Therefore he knew that anything he might do must be absolutely dependent upon the power of God. So he spent whole days praying simply that the power of the Holy Ghost might come upon him so unmistakably that these people should not be able to stand before him.

What was the answer? Once he preached through a drunken interpreter, a man so intoxicated that he could hardly stand up. That was the best he could do. Yet scores were converted through that sermon.

We cannot account for it, only that it was the tremendous power of God behind him. After he was dead, William Carey read his of Brainerd's life story and went to India. Robert McCheyne read his diary and went to the Jews. Henry Martyn read his journal and went to India. The hidden life in communion with God in trying to reach the source of power, is the life that moves the world.

Believe me when I tell you that the problem today we face is not unanswered prayer, but un-offered prayer. We need to plug into the power source and that is prayer!