The year was 1904. A little known man by the name of John Hyde had left America to serve as a missionary to India. Through a series of events where the Spirit of God had been thwarted, a call was sent out for prayer. The call resulted in the Punjab Prayer Union. This union of prayer was the forerunner to the 1905 "Sialkot conventions" where great seasons of prayer and Spirit-filled preaching ignited a revival. John Hyde, "Praying Hyde" as he was called, and his spirit of prayer, was an inspiration to this movement of God's Spirit.
What insight can we glean from the Punjab Prayer Union that might lead our churches and our nation to a place of awakening, a place of repentance and cleansing?
I quote from the book Praying Hyde: A Man of Prayer by Basil Miller.
Members of the Punjab Prayer Union sought to answer and achieve the following questions:
"1. Are you praying for quickening in your own life, in the life of your fellow workers, and in the Church?
"2. Are you longing for greater power of the Holy Spirit in your own life and work, and are you convinced that you cannot go on without this power?
"3. Will you pray that you may not be ashamed of Jesus?
"4. Do you believe that prayer is the great means for securing this spiritual awakening?
"5. Will you set apart one-half hour each day as soon after noon as possible to pray for this awakening, and are you willing to pray till the awakening comes?"
Basil Miller goes on to say, "Revivals have never been the product of the spontaneous combustion of spiritual forces; rather they have been paid for by prayer...So now in Hyde's life as the revival was about to dawn, these men, with others, were paying the purchase price."
The "Sialkot conventions" mentioned above, where revival broke loose, came as a result of this Punjab Prayer Union. Basil Miller continues to explain that Hyde and two other men joined in prayer for thirty-one days and nights leading up to the convention. He says, "...that for [those] days and nights the Throne of God was bombarded by the prayer ammunition of three men, men who had long ago consecrated themselves to the task of bringing spiritual life to sin-deadened souls."
I'll convey this final note from my reading of these passages from Praying Hyde and then conclude. "The record of those thirty-one days and nights of prayer is closed in the Book of Heaven, for no word of them has ever seeped through to the outside. Those sainted prayer warriors were not on dress parade. They went forth to battle with their only weapon with as much earnestness as soldiers in any king's army."
FINAL THOUGHTS: Would it not be appropriate for another question to be added to the five questions of the Prayer Union listed above?
Here is the question:
6. Are you willing that no man know the record of your prayers offered on behalf of our nation and for the church? Will you be satisfied in all humility that your prayers be offered in your closet, in seclusion, and for the eye of God alone?
Take this list of six questions into your prayer closet with the Lord. Over the next few days converse with Him about them. Answer them carefully and honestly. Then watch and pray for an awakening of faith the likes of which man has not seen in this country and the church in over 100 years.
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