The
Praying Minorities
By
R. G. Flexon
"Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth, as touching anything that they shall ask, it
shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 18:19).
Man,
so many times depends on the vote of majorities, but God often carries on His work through the minorities praying. The praying
twos and threes who refuse to give in to defeat have, many times, turned the tide and reversed what otherwise were hopeless
situations. Thus did Gideon with his 300 against the hordes of Midian. Daniel and his three friends, through prayer, took
over an empire and gave direction to it dominated by “an excellent spirit.” Through prayer they were able also
to “stop the mouths of lions, quench the violence of fire.” Hezekiah and his small hand of faithful prayers were
able, in the face of overwhelming odds, to face the armies of Sennacherib, and by prayer, mingled with faith, without having
to draw a bow or throw a lance, were able to go out one morning and look on the battlefield with 185,000 dead soldiers lying
on it. The angel of God had been sent by Him to interpose just when all hope seemed lost.
We
stand astonished before some of the prayers of God's saints, even just one of them by prayer, turning the tide of nations
and thus changing the course of history, and many times their faith hung on just one word in that prayer. That seemed to be
so in the prayer of Moses for Israel in Exodus 32:30b, “Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the Lord;
PERADVENTURE I shall make an atonement for your sin.”
The
New Testament abound with numerous examples of how a few have influenced the many through prayer. The blessings of God have
turned defeats into victories, and spiritually barren lands have been turned into springs and rivers of blessing. On the day
of Pentecost were but 120, filled with the Holy Ghost, who in the midst of God-defying, Christ-rejecting millions, through
prayer (not great preaching or singing) witnessed the conversion of 3,000 souls in one day. A praying minority in a small
church, opened prison doors, and two men in the inner prison, by prayer, shook the prison, opened the doors, and yet held
every prisoner in his cell and prayed the jailer into the kingdom of God.
The
greatest triumph of all time are the trophies of intercessory prayer. The greatest triumphs of the future will come through
the same channel. Revitalizing and refilling of the church by the Holy Spirit can only come through the minority in intercessory
prayer. Programs not backed by prayer are feeble instruments in promoting revivals. Revivals have ever been generated by undefeatable
praying minorities, and ever will be. By this weapon the minority, “standing in the gap,” can release even in
this last day a power which can, and will, pull down the strongholds of Satan, bring about a revival in which men will confess
and forsake sin, and turn away from their unbelief to faith in Christ, and release the hearts of men that which will crucify
them unto the world and the world unto them. Should we not pray to God to give us more intercessors as laborers in His vineyard?
Should we not use more the greatest power on earth: the power of intercessory prayer? Nothing on earth is greater than praying.
We are living in the day of great scientific achievements, great revolutionary movements, great religious programs, but the
greatest thing anyone can do is to pray in intercessory prayer. There is no substitute for it in the work of God.
