Muslims Being Reached Foremostly Through Extraordinary Prayer
Undergirding the Effort with Prayer
“The opening of the Muslim world for the gospel,” writes Patrick Johnstone, “cannot be organized by human effort or stratagems but only by prayer. Our weapons are spiritual, not carnal. Pray for an army of intercessors to be raised up that a breakthrough as decisive and sudden as that in China and the former USSR may also occur in theMuslim world.”1
Of the approximately 11,000 people groups in the world still to be evangelized, about 4,000 of them are Islamic. OurLord has promised, “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations(ethne or people groups), and then the end will come.”2 In that same passage,Christ said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.”3 Thus world evangelization is absolutely certain. But how are theMuslim people groups going to be reached? The answer is: Foremostly through extraordinary prayer.
The First Level
Dr. J. Edwin Orr, in his books on the history of awakenings, has pointed out that there are four levels to every true revival.4 This is true in the book of Acts and on down through Church history. (1) The first stage is prayer and reconciliation among Christians. (2) The second is evangelism as the lost are won to theLord. (3) The third is that of missions with participation in world evangelization and, (4) the fourth is our service for Christ in action as we love our neighbors as ourselves and supply their needs physically, intellectually, socially and spiritually.
Most of the revivals in the past have been localized because of the difficulty of transportation and communication. I believe that we are now on the verge of an awakening of worldwide proportions. This will fulfill the prophecy of Joel,5 quoted by the apostle Peter:
In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy, I will show wonders in the heaven above, and signs in the earth below. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.6
This revival, I believe, will bring about the completion of Christ’s com-mission of world-wide evangelization and will be the heart of reaching un-reached Muslim groups for Christ.
Revival Resulting in Missions to Muslims
We see this on a limited scale in the awakening of 1858 and following. It started with a convert of Charles Finney who was an urban missionary, by the name of Jeremiah Lanphier, who began the Fulton Street Wednesday noon prayer meeting in 1857 for workers and business people in New York City. Within six months, about ten thousand were gathering for prayer every noon. This revival resulted in over a million converts being added to the American churches in the next two years.
The most prominent leader of this awakening in the States, as well as in the British Isles, was D. L. Moody. One of his closest associates, Ruben A. Torrey, said that Moody was a far greater man of prayer than he was a preacher. Here again we see the absolute necessity of intercession in great awakenings. Moody was not only involved in evangelism, as huge numbers came to Christ through his messages, but he also helped establish the Y.M.C.A. in North America, started schools for girls and boys, established the Moody Bible Institute and founded a Christian publishing house, now called Moody Press.
His involvement in missions, which is another stage of true revival, came through close friends like Arthur T. Pier-son who popularized the phrase, “The evangelization of the world in this generation.” In reference to this, Moody said, “It can be done—it ought to be done—it must be done.”7 According to our Lord’s promise in Matt. 24:14, we can add “It will be done.” In the sum-mer of 1886, Moody invited Pierson along with Adoniram Judson Gordon to speak to 251 student leaders who had been invited to his Mount Hermon School for Boys in Massachusetts. One of these was Robert Wilder who had just completed his senior year at Princeton.
Wilder was born in India where his parents had been missionaries. He and his sister, Grace, prayed faithfully that 100 of the students at the Mount Hermon Conference would give their lives for foreign missionary service. In answer to their intercession, exactly 100signed the pledge, “God helping me, I purpose to be a foreign missionary,”and the Student Volunteer Movement was born.
The following academic year of 1886-87, Robert Wilder and John Foreman, a seminary student, spread the vision by visiting campuses across the United States and Canada. Over 2,000 more signed the pledge to become missionaries. One of them was Samuel Zwemer at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. He went on to become the greatest missionary to Muslim peoples in history.
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