In light of our current views of North Korea, we can easily forget how much we don't know about it and its Christian roots. Years ago, the city of Pyongyang became known to missionaries as the “Jerusalem of the East.” The city had great institutional strength for Protestantism, including Union Christian Hospital, Union Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and Union Christian College, the first four-year college anywhere in Korea.

One hundred and ten years ago, Pyongyang saw the outbreak of a massive revival which was the high point of the season of evangelical strength in northern Korea. One Saturday night, Presbyterian missionary William Blair preached to thousands of Korean men focusing on their need to turn away from their traditional hatred of the Japanese people, with whom Korea had a long history of conflict. The missionaries and Korean Christians had been praying for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit for revival and repentance, and it came on that night in January 1907. Many at the meeting began praying out loud, and soon the signs of awakening began to appear. As one missionary described it, the sound of many praying at once brought,

After Esther and God’s people fasted and prayed for three days they experienced a degree of deliverance when Haman was removed, but the decree that Haman had convinced the king to implement could not be rescinded. Though Haman had been brought down, the people of God still did not know if in the end they would truly be delivered from the hands of the wicked.

Esther did not stop interceding even after victory over Haman. Though her enemy had been brought down, she went again before the king even though she could lose her life by going to him when he had not called her. She fell at his feet and implored him with tears to counter the evil of Haman and the scheme he had devised against the Jews. 

"If you believe in prayer at all, expect God to hear you. If you do not expect, you will not have. God will not hear you unless you believe He will hear you; but if you believe He will, He will be as good as your faith." - Charles Spurgeon

At times it can be difficult, not to believe that God hears our prayers, but that He always answers them. I love this quote from Spurgeon because it reminds us that the shortcoming does not lie on God’s shoulders, but ours. Whatever we fail to see in our lives, is a result of our own lack of faith, not a lack of His faithfulness. 

"Prayer creates a personal change in your life. Nothing you can do will benefit you more than prayer." David Yonggi Cho
David (Paul) Yonggi Cho is the senior pastor of the world's largest church in Seoul, South Korea. He was born in 1936 and raised as a Buddhist. His early life was a struggle. First, he lived through the Japanese invasion of Korea and then the Korean War. He grew up with a tremendous ambition of becoming famous and successful after his poverty-stricken childhood. At the age of nineteen, he was holding down several jobs and was struggling just to exist. One afternoon he started vomiting blood and was then diagnosed as having incurable tuberculosis and was told that his life expectancy was a maximum of four months.

He went home and cried out to his god Buddha for healing. When this didn't take place, he denounced his Buddhist faith. He then cried out to the unknown God. Cho recounts what happened next in his book The Fourth Dimension:

When Robert Hunt landed at Cape Henry on April 26, 1607, he planted a wooden cross and said, “The Gospel will go forth from these shores, not only to this land but to all the nations of the earth.” In 1620, William Bradford and the signers of the Mayflower Compact declared they came to this land “[f]or the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian religion.” The signers of our Declaration of Independence relied on “Protection of Divine Providence,” and today our Pledge of Allegiance acknowledges we are “one nation under God.” We are a nation with a gospel purpose.

Are the declarations made at Cape Henry or on the Mayflower relevant today? How might those commitments made four hundred years ago reveal our identity and destiny? If we accept the significance of these historical declarations, how should we pray for America?

Usually when it’s time for an Answered Prayers edition, I turn to a book, and copy an excerpt from it, with a prayer answered by a miracle. But it would be remiss of us not to mention the incredible answer to our prayers that happened less than a week ago.

If you receive our newsletter, you might have seen that Franklin Graham organized a prayer march in Washington D.C. last Saturday. If you didn’t attend or catch it on the news, you might not know that an estimated 55,000 people attended! 55,000 thousands Americans traveled from all over the country, some as far away as Florida, just to pray for our country in unison.

If that isn’t an answer to the prevailing prayer that we all have been striving in, I don’t know what is!

Men and women knelt on the grass in the middle of our Nation’s capitol and lifted their voices for our country. Hymns were sung, hands were raised, and tears were shed.

Our Vice President and the Second Lady also attended and prayed with those so many thousands of Americans gathered in one accord.

The march was designed with seven destinations. Each group stopping at each one to pray together and then moving on at their own pace to the next. Those stops included the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and the U.S. Capitol.

I hope you are encouraged by this testimony and take heart today to continue in the work you have been diligent in laboring in.

"I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day:
the night cometh, when no man can work.” John 9:4

This hymn was penned not long after the Second Great Awakening by Charles Carroll Luther. He was a journalist and lay evangelist before being ordained as a Baptist minister in 1886. Though not a prolific composer, he authored this hymn in 1877 when he heard Reverend A.G. Upham relate the story of a young man who was about to die. This young man had been a Christian for only one month. Though thankful to the Lord for granting him salvation during his final hour, he was nevertheless grieved that he had no opportunity to serve the Lord nor to share Him with others. He explained, “I am not afraid to die; Jesus saves me now. But must I go empty-handed?” Upon hearing this account, Luther wrote this hymn. Charles Luther then handed his lyrics to George C. Stebbins who did a beautiful job conveying the heart’s cry of this lovely hymn into music.

Today’s answered prayer series comes from the late Ravi Zacharias’s book “The Logic of God.” While it isn’t a story of a specifically answered prayer, Ravi does address questions that many of us struggle with when we feel like our prayers are not being answered.

“I marvel at the impact of praying with a hurting person. I have prayed many times with someone who has claimed to be a skeptic and is living in a manner that supports that claim, only to finish my prayer and open my eyes to see tears in his eyes. Although prayer remains a mystery to all of us but especially to one who lives apart from God, I have observed again and again that even the hardened heart retains a longing for the possibility of communicating with God.

It is not my intention to deny the great disappointments of unanswered prayer, but let us look at what God intends prayer to be. The most definitive passage is what is often called the Lord’s Prayer, or, as some scholars like to call it, the Disciples’ Prayer. The highly significant first words carry the weight of all of prayer: ‘Our Father who art in heaven.’ ‘Our Father’ we recognize, at least implicitly, two truths: the nearness of God as heavenly Father, and the sovereignty of God as the One who controls everything. As soon as you cry out in prayer, “Heavenly Father” you are recognizing His presence in your life.

After the Lord’s Prayer and as His conclusion to it, Jesus told us that God would give the Holy Spirit, His indwelling presence, to those who ask for it (Luke 11:13). It is not spoken in the form of a question — it ends with an exclamation point! God will give the gift of the indwelling presence of the holy God to any who ask for it —this is an absolute certainty! You can count on it!

Sadly, we hear so little of this today. We have turned prayer into a means to our ends and seldom wait on God’s response long enough to think about what He wants for us in that very moment. By refusing the evidence of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to one particular gift, we have robbed people of the Holy Presence that prompts us in prayer, prays for us when we don’t have the words to pray for ourselves, and comforts us in our times of need.

The paramount need today is the indwelling presence of God. In this incredible twist, the indwelling presence of God, the Holy Spirit, makes God both the Enabler of our prayers and the Provider of answers to those prayers. More than anything else, this is what prayer is about.”

Sources:
Zacharias, Ravi. “The Logic of God.” Ravi Zacharias 2019

Here, in the second chapter of First Timothy, the Apostle Paul is instructing Timothy and the body of Christ on practical matters. 

The apostle begins with the phrase “first of all.” In other words, he is saying, “Let me begin with…” or, “First, let me emphasize…” This is the only time the phrase “first of all” appears in the Bible. Paul uses this phrase to make us recognize the importance of what he is about to say. 

 He then continues by saying that, “supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men.” I would like to emphasize, first of all, that the prayer life of the believer should always include prayer for others, for all people. We are not to just pray for some people, not just the people you like or the people you feel especially need God’s help. Paul says all men. He then proceeded to explain why we are to pray for all men. As he shares in verses 4-5, Jesus Christ would have all men be saved. He died for all! To put it plainly,

Pray for all because He died for all. 

Jesus became the mediator for all the world! While it is true that not all accept Him, not all choose His sacrifice, not all make Him their Lord and Master; we still must pray for all because He died for all. 

In this portion of Scripture, the Apostle Paul calls to our attention a specific group of people we are to focus our prayers on. This group affects our lives whether we know them personally or not. In verse two, Paul says specifically, “For kings, and for all that are in authority.” What would the world look like if we, first of all, were to pray for all men, especially for those in authority? What would the world look like if the body of Christ truly interceded day after day for our leaders? 

It is easy for us to pray for someone who fights for righteousness and biblical values in our laws. But it is just as important for us to pray for those leaders void of God who have no knowledge of the truth of Jesus Christ. These leaders do not have the Holy Spirit guiding them. 

The Bible says in Romans 13:1 that all authority has been given by God. Whoever is currently in authority may not always be the perfect will of the Lord as was the case with King Saul. God wanted to lead Israel, but they wanted a king; so He gave them Saul. He allowed them to have the leader they wanted. And yet ultimately God is the one giving the power. Therefore,

We are to pray for ALL in authority even for those with whom we don’t always agree.

At the time of Paul’s writing, who were the kings that were in power? The leader of Rome was the infamous Nero who was one of the most brutal dictators in not only Rome’s history but also world history. He was responsible for the death of countless Christians. We can only imagine how difficult it was for the early church to pray for such a person. As the Christians in the early church were walking the streets of Rome, they could hear the clash of gladiators battling in the arena or the roar of lions waiting to eat their fellow church members. They could see the sight of believers being burned as torches lighting the city in brutal death. In Israel, there were also leaders like Pilot and Herod. There have always been and will always be evil people who opposed the gospel. But Paul clearly says to pray for even those who do these abominable things. He was asking the early church to do an incredibly radical thing. 

As a matter of fact, the Roman historian Josephus wrote that a war was started between Jews and Romans over this issue. The Romans wanted the Jews to pray for their leaders, and they refused. Blood was spilled over this issue. Paul is saying here in First Timothy that we as Christians should pray for our leaders no matter what their beliefs or opinions are. And the early church did pray. One of the bishops of the church in Smyrna Polycarp who was one of John’s disciples who himself died in the coliseum said, “Pray for all the saints; pray, too, for all kings and powers and rulers, and for your persecutors, and those that hate you, and for your cruel enemies.” He was echoing the words of Jesus, “Love your enemies, pray for them who despitefully use you.” 

We in America don’t face anything even close to what the early church faced. But Paul faithfully reminds the church of that era as well as the church today that we are to pray for those in authority regardless of their views, their opinions, or their political parties. 

In addition to telling the early church who to pray for (all men, kings, and those in authority), Paul also does not neglect to share the why. He gives two reasons for why we should pray for all these men. 

First, he says in verse two, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” How can this be true?! The early church was suffering so greatly, and many were being killed at the hands of Nero. What does Paul mean by talking about a peaceful and quiet life? The early church certainly did not experience tranquility at all. He is saying that this is the goal for us as Christians. Our desire is to be at peace and live quiet, godly lives.

We are to pray and pray and pray until we see this type of change even if it is not in our lifetimes.

We do not always see revival right away, but it comes through much prayer. Similarly, we will not see peace and quiet lives immediately, but it will eventually come through prayer. 

The second reason Paul gives as to why we should pray for our leaders is that they may “come to the knowledge of the truth,” that they may recognize that Christ is a mediator between God and man, that they may recognize that the man Jesus Christ took the penalty of sin and paid for it on our behalf. Paul could say this better than anyone else. He had previously been a man with authority coming against the body of Christ. He was once Saul of Tarsus void of truth who persecuted the church, but he was then radically transformed by the truth. 

Paul is definitely not the only one to have experienced this radical change. Nebuchadnezzar was worse than any leader we could ever imagine, yet through the power of God, he humbled himself and found God. Cyrus the Great was another pagan King whose heart was yielded to the Spirit of God and brought peace and restoration to God’s people. 

What would happen to the world if men and women of authority all over the world would turn to Christ through the prayers of the saints?! What would happen if, first of all, we interceded for our Governors, for President Trump, for our delegates, and for state senators as we never have before? If we were to do this faithfully, the changes we would see would be great indeed! There would be a change that would transform the whole world.

Today, in these tempestuous times, I implore you that we would, first of all, pray for our leaders. Let us in the body of Christ stand in the gap for kings and all that govern over us.

“A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place the Most High, who is my refuge.” Psalm 91:7-9

These days, more than just about any, Christians find themselves thankful for the hope we have in Christ, redemption, and eternal life. Unlike others, we have hope and a purpose, and because of that our hearts are full of thanksgiving during times of continued uncertainty.

Our book excerpt today is not in the usual “Answered Prayers” format. But this lesson taken
from Ravi Zacharias’s book, The Logic of God, teaches us about the correlation between
obedience, faith and prayer. We know that Daniel was a man of great prayer, and as you will see,
his life is a testimony of what prayer can accomplish.

“Think of the prophet Daniel’s three friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego facing King
Nebuchadnezzar’s very real threat to toss them into a fiery furnace if they did not bend to his
authority. He was not a charitable man, but they refused to disavow their commitment to God,
boldly declaring: “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver
us from it…But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve
your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” God honored their faith and, in His
mercy, delivered them even after they were thrown into the fire. They, in turn, experienced the
triumph of faith when they stood their ground.