This resolution of Daily United Prayer is based on An Humble Attempt, originally put forward by Jonathan Edwards in 1748. Its design is to encourage God's people in the duty of united extraordinary prayer; setting aside some time every day to pray for the revival of His church and the advancement of Christ's kingdom in our homes, in our churches, in our nation, and in the world.
I mentioned yesterday about these prayer meetings and how it feels like we're climbing a mountain sometimes. The longer we go and the higher up the mountain we climb, the more difficult it can be to keep going. The oxygen gets thinner, the elements get harsher, the body gets weaker, and the temptation to give up becomes stronger. I remember some years ago reading about the story of a disastrous Everest expedition in 1996 that took the lives of eight climbers. Beck Weathers was an American member in the group that miraculously survived the ordeal after being left for dead. Here's a clip from that incredible story:
Weathers spent the night in an open bivouac, in a blizzard, with his face and hands exposed. When he awoke, he managed to walk down to Camp IV under his own power. His fellow climbers said that his frozen hand and nose looked and felt as if they were made of porcelain, and they did not expect him to survive. With that assumption, they only tried to make him comfortable until he died, but he survived another freezing night alone in a tent, unable to eat, drink, or keep himself covered with the sleeping bags with which he was provided. His cries for help could not be heard above the blizzard, and his companions were surprised to find him alive and coherent the following day.
The part of the story that was most touching to me was the reason that he gave as to what drove him to get up after being in a hypothermic coma for 15 hours.
"It was the image of my wife and children that drove me to my feet, and that managed to awake me after 15 hours of being frozen facedown in the ice."
The word that came to mind when thinking about this was "pertinacity." Remember that old word? The dictionary defines it thus. Pertinacity is a quality of sticking with something, no matter what. It's a type of persistent determination. People who have pertinacity won't give up, and they stick with things doggedly. Pursuing a difficult career requires pertinacity. Pertinacity is a mix of courage, conviction, and a little stubbornness. Wonderful little word. There is a "pertinacity" we should have in prayer.
In the case of Beck Weathers, it was the image of his wife and children that drove him to his feet when he would have otherwise given up. This reminded me of the Syrophenician woman in Mark 7 that had this same pertinacity in her pleadings with the Lord Jesus even after being ignored, denied, and "insulted." She was unable to be dissuaded. What drove this woman? The desperate need of her daughter who had an unclean spirit. It is helpful for us to remember that we are not praying together each day as a kind of religious endurance test. It is not penance. It is not our way of earning favor with God. We are coming, like the woman, with loved ones on our hearts that need Divine intervention. And even if we believe our children to be saved and therefore don't sense any immediate danger, it is short-sighted. If the Lord doesn't reveal His glory to them personally and to this generation as a whole, they will inevitably be lured away by another glory—the glory of this world's glitter and false hope of happiness. We desperately need for God to SHOW US HIS GLORY in revival.
Though the way grows difficult, and though we may feel ourselves to be facedown in the snow and devoid of all natural energy, let us remember that we are here as intercessors to pray for our children, our families, our friends, our generation.
"And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor." Isaiah 59:16. Let us take up the call and pray for those that cannot pray for themselves.
DAILY UNITED PRAYER unitedprayer.net
Mon-Fri @ 12pm EDT // Sat @ 10am EDT
We invite you to join our dedicated and earnest group of praying participants of all ages from around the world that meet every day over Zoom to pray. At the start of each prayer call, a different individual will bring a brief Scriptural meditation. Here's the most recent:
