(By A. J. Tomlinson, White Wing Messenger, February 1, 1941)
He kept some of them by prayer, if not all. When Jesus told Peter that Satan desired to have him and sift him as wheat, Jesus was careful to tell Peter that He had prayed for him that his faith fail not. Take the members on your heart, pastors and band leaders, and pray as Jesus did for Peter, and I am of the opinion there will not be many lost. I wish all the pastors and band leaders could only know the worth of these mighty prayers about which the apostles have written so much. Read it again. “Take all the members of your band on your heart and pray for them every day.” I wish to give some mighty verses from Paul: “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel” (Eph. 6:17-19).
Now just what that “praying with all prayer” is like, I may not know, but it saved Peter from destruction, even if he did fall into something very vile when he denied his Lord and cursed and swore and lied, but the prayer of Jesus beforehand saved him. He prayed in a way that He meant business, and He kept all but one. It is our business to save the souls and keep them saved. God wants us to call upon Him. In fact, anything that we are engaged in for the glory of God we should put forth all our energy and strive earnestly to make a powerful success. Men are dropping into hell because somebody fails to strive earnestly in prayer. I am afraid too many are neglecting the all prevailing prayer that it takes to save those that could be saved if proper effort should be made.
Not only is it necessary to press the battle through prayer, but when there is Christian work of any kind to do, it is just as necessary to use every effort available to get it done. I wish to do or say something to stir every member of the Church until each one will feel he must carry his part of the load. Every pastor should feel the mighty weight of responsibility—feel that the souls are resting upon you; feel they will be lost if you should fail; feel that you will be responsible if any are lost. Strive to keep every member. Strive to get every member of your church to bring up his part. Pray about it. Talk to them about it. Strive and push and work and study and plan so enthusiastically about it that people will see and feel you mean business.
I feel we have come to a time when every member of the Church should spend some time wrestling in prayer. Get everything ready and fly into the face of the enemy and cause mighty things to happen in answer to the prayer of faith. Do not stop praying just with a few short prayers and say amen. Remember, it often takes much striving in prayer and powerful wrestling, and often many tears and much screaming and intercession. The screaming is to be according to Paul’s way of putting it. Many times, we do not know how to pray as we ought, but God will help us. I know this by experience. “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom. 8:26, 27).
It is my desire to have a greater amount of intercessory and prevailing prayer carried on among our members. I wish the pastors would encourage more praying by all. We cannot get along and grow spiritually as we should without mighty prayers. The number of prayer meetings should be increased. Special prayer meetings should be held by two, three or four in a group. Every member should have seasons of special prayers, either every day or once or twice a week. Every pastor should have seasons of prayer every day and sometimes far into the night. Pray according to Jacob’s plan— “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.” I wish our people would pay attention to this request by the General Overseer. As a means to encourage prayer, both group praying and single praying, I give the following incident as taken from a book on prayer. The title of the story is “The Infidel Drunkard Saved.” Here is the story as copied:
The following is remarkable instance of the power of united intercessory prayer is given by Rev. W. W. Patton in his book on PRAYER AND ITS REMARKABLE ANSWERS. This is of peculiar interest.
A certain man was of Christian parentage, the son of an exceptionally devoted mother. He acquired an appetite for strong drink, from using it medicinally, became intemperate, abandoned his Christian hope and faith, and, to human judgment, was utterly abandoned of God. For twenty years, his Christian friends prayed for him, against all probabilities, and hoped against all evidences. A heavy affliction having befallen him, in consequence of his intemperate life, these friends hoped that it might be made the occasion of his deliverance. They asked for him the prayers of a company of Christian women, entire strangers to him. To this day he is unknown to them, in name or person. He lived three hundred miles distance from them. His history was detailed to them, and they resolved to concentrate prayer upon him for a time and see what God would do. They prayed specifically for his moral reform and for his conversion as a child of the covenant. They persisted in prayer, agreeing that each one should bear him on her heart in secret communion with God. Among these women were some who have had a remarkable experience of success in intercessory prayer.