While he was on holiday in England, the preacher and evangelist D.L. Moody visited a church in London that was spiritually dead. The pastor recognised him and asked him to preach at the morning service. Reluctantly, Moody agreed. Afterwards, he told a friend the congregation was so unresponsive he could barely finish his sermon. Later, he remembered he had promised to preach there again that night. He wished he had never interrupted his holiday plans, and spent the afternoon dreading what was ahead. But behind the scenes, something was happening that Moody knew nothing about. After the morning service, an elderly lady met her invalid sister for lunch and told her about Moody’s upcoming visit. Her sister’s eyes lit up, and she exclaimed, ‘I’ve been praying God would send Moody to England! Put away the lunch. We’ll spend the afternoon fasting and praying for tonight’s service.’ When Moody stepped up to the pulpit that night, an ‘electric’ sense of God’s presence filled the place. He preached like a man on fire, and when he gave an invitation for people to follow Christ, five hundred of them responded. At first he thought they’d misunderstood, so he told them sit down while he re-explained the gospel call and what it meant. But when he gave the invitation a second time, the same five hundred people came forward to receive Christ. That single Sunday kicked off one of the greatest revivals ever to sweep England. And it was because two elderly ladies realised their church desperately needed the fire of God’s Spirit. They didn’t think, ‘There’s nothing we can do’. They believed God’s promise, ‘When a believing person prays, great things happen.’ There’s so much power in prayer, and our prayers can help ignite the fire of God and make great things happen.

What Now?

Do you know someone who’s feeling despondent about something? Share some of the Bible verses about the power of prayer with them, and then offer to pray with them about anything that’s on their mind.