Ps.2:8 – Ask it of Me, and I will certainly give the nations as Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as Your possession.
Over the last few months the Lord has been calling our church to prayer. It all started with an outpouring in Kentucky at Asbury College where college students were caught up in twenty four hour worship that caught the attention of our country. There must be a hunger in the air because after a week the meeting was closed down because the interstate was shut down with people from everywhere trying to come to the meeting. This generation is apparently getting hungry for a move of God.
Several years ago I became interested in the 18th century awakening and kept coming across the Moravians and their leader Count Zinzendorf. Apparently they had quite an impact on their generation. The Moravians began a 100 year prayer meeting that overflowed in revival and foreign missions that literally effected the entire world. Check out this quote from the book The Moravian Miracle by Jason Hubbard.
“On August 13th, 1727, the Moravians experienced a powerful visitation of the Holy Spirit during a communion service. It was described as a ‘baptism of love’, where God’s love was shed abroad in their hearts and poured out in love for one another. Following this, the Holy Spirit compelled them to build a canopy of united, strategic and sustainable prayer that continued for a hundred years. As they prayed day and night—an initiative that included men, women, and children—God began to mark missionaries and send them to the nations of the earth. In all, 226 missionaries responded before Zinzendorf’s death in 1760, ultimately helping to establish over 5,000 missionary settlements around the world.
What compelled them to pray around the throne, around the clock and around the globe, and then to be sent on gospel mission, was the absolute worth of Jesus. Their purpose and mandate was to win for the Lamb who was slain the due reward for His suffering. They often would cry out, “Our Lamb has conquered, let us follow Him.” This vision came from Revelation 5:12, which declares: Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”
So I have come to the conclusion that in all my research of the 18th century move of God I didn’t quite understand the role the Moravians played. They started as a spin off from the Lutherans in Germany, experienced extreme persecution ultimately which drove them to prayer. Their prayers were answered in the outbreak of the 18th century awakening and the modern day mission movement. All I can say is do it again Lord.