For a condensed version of Jonathan Edwards’ call to prayer see http://www.sbaoc.org/blog/?page_id=762 or go to www.sbaoc.org and go to “BLOG” and then “a call to prayer.”
James 5:16 – “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.”
“Time for prayer one can and must purchase dearly; proficiency in it, we can neither buy nor give ourselves. We must come as we are, so that God may make us as we should be.
The God of love who is close to us, touches our spirit with His love and draws us to Himself. And so our spirit becomes so moved by impulses and inclinations that it can find rest henceforth in no other thing than God. When any soul remains in this state by dint of meditation, clears out of the way by self-denial all that might hinder the spirit in its progress, and by complete surrender into the hands of God follows this its root-inclination, lo, this root-inclination becomes a kind of gravitation of love, leading the spirit to God, just as a little brook flows down to the ocean, and just as a stone thrown into the air, sinks down on to the earth which is its center.”
– Gerhard Tersteegen
Psalm 65:4 – “How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You To dwell in Your courts. We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple.”
What was said many years ago about presenting and yielding the soul to Christ as a bride gives herself to the groom is also a picture of true prayer: We must present and yield up ourselves to Christ Who has bought us, even as a bride gives and resigns herself to her bridegroom. As soon as the bride gives her consent to the bridegroom, she immediately presents him also her whole heart and her whole will. She is ready to follow him wherever he chooses to go and do what pleases him. She desires nothing else than to depend upon his command, his will, and his good pleasure.
In prayer we cannot hold on to our own will and desires and try to change the will of God. We must come to Him and desire His presence and for Him to change us to be like Himself. Even in praying for revival we are not to try to change God but are to pray to be changed. The essence of revival is when God comes down and empties His people of themselves in order to fill them with Himself. As long as we come to God and want to dictate how He is to bring revival or to bring it for our sakes, we will not see revival. We must come to Him as empty vessels longing to be filled with Him. We must come to Him asking for Him to give us submissive and broken hearts with nothing but love for Him. We must desire to desire nothing more than His presence and His will. We are to go to the throne of grace in order to receive grace. But what does grace do? Grace in the soul can do nothing but make us more like Christ as it powerfully works to make us more and more in His image.
We are told that by beholding His glory we will be transformed into that same image from glory to glory (II Cor 3:18). John 1:16 tells us that it is “of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” One of the attributes of God that was taught in times past was the simplicity of God. This is the attribute that teaches us that God really only has one attribute but human beings can only see that oneness in several ways. His glory cannot be beheld but by seeing it in parts. The grace of God, then, is not distinct from His power. When God gives grace, that grace will change hearts to be like His. Prayer is when the soul goes to the throne of grace seeking to be emptied of self and pride so that it can be filled with the grace which will make it like Christ. There is no receiving of grace that will not change the soul to be like Christ. If our hearts are not emptied of self and pride, that very pride is opposed by God. God only gives grace to the humble. If we are going to truly pray for a revival that God will send which is to the glory of His grace, we must seek humility at the throne of grace. Seeking revival in truth is not a comfortable thing; it will cost us our very selves. If we want to hang on to our self and our pride, even if it is our religious or so-called spiritual pride, we will not see revival. Do you really want a revival of the glory of God? If so, you must learn to pray to be emptied of self so you can be changed. God must bring us to Himself to dwell in His presence and He only brings the humble and broken.
God Loves... Himself 
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