Revival and Prayer Movements Taking Cities Together. (Read part 1 here)

“Team Finney-Nash” had a good thing going.  God would highlight to them a city or region for a revival. Nash would go in first, recruit some praying folks and board up in a house or hotel and pray, sometimes for weeks, before sending word to Finney that they had the “breakthrough.”

During the revival, Nash was rarely seen, as he was usually praying by name for “hard cases” or those who were resisting the revival in some way. In one instance, there was a group of young men who were adamantly resisting the revival, yet still coming to the services. In a rare appearance, Nash asked Finney to speak at the service.

Finney recounts,

“Toward the close of his (Nash’s) address he waxed exceeding warm, and said to them, ‘Now, mark me, young men! God will break your ranks in less than one week, either by converting some of you, or by sending some of you to Hell. He will do this as certainly as the Lord is my God!’ He was standing where he brought his hand down on the top of the pew before him, so as to make it thoroughly jar. He sat immediately down, dropped his head, and groaned with pain.”

Finney states after this that he (understandably) regretted giving Nash the pulpit, yet didn’t want to rebuke his key intercessor, thus, he waited to see the results. Within a week all of the young men, under great conviction of the Holy Spirit, had repented and given their lives to Christ.

Team Finney-Nash thrived strong for 7 years, until Nash gave up his spirit, in prayer at the age of 56. Finney’s meetings only continued 4 months after Nash’s death. It was then that Finney ceased holding revival services and became a theological professor (a testimony to Nash’s impact).

The stories of the 2nd Great Awakening are so profound here in the 21st century, given the truths the Lord is highlighting to us all in this season. In the last decade we have seen an explosion of prayer ministries, houses of prayer, and national solemn assemblies.  Adjacent, yet not separate from this, has been a renewed emphasis on signs and wonders, revival and city transformation.  Although both movements are in an embryonic state, it is exciting what this means for us, as each mature into the “stature of the fullness of Christ.”

I will address this further in part 3 of the series.

Revival and Prayer Movements Taking Cities Together.

It’s been a while since America has seen entire cities converted to Christ, but it wasn’t uncommon during what was known as the second “Great Awakening.”  (Early 1800′s) At the forefront of this move was Charles Finney, a lawyer who had had a dramatic encounter with the Holy Spirit at age 29.  Finney’s meetings were marked by great supernatural conviction of the Holy Spirit.  Saints who came to Christ in his meetings knew they had been “saved” from God’s day of wrath, (which is where we get the term “saved”) and had placed their faith in the righteousness of Jesus.  These meetings had profound impact on cities.  In 1830, in Rochester, a town of just 10,000, it was reported that 100,000 people had given their lives to Christ during a revival.  Streets were emptied during the services, bars and theatres were permanently shut down and crime significantly dropped for years after the meetings.  The Second Great Awakening also gave rise to the “Abolitionist Movement” which contributed to the end of slavery in the nation.

During his heyday, the religious establishment did not overwhelmingly support Finney. In fact, his strongest resistance was from the church.  Today, he is widely celebrated, (as it goes) and it is said that some 80% of his converts stayed true to the faith!

Behind every great revival is great intercession.  I cannot recall a single “earth-shaping” historical revival that was not proceeded with an intense season of burdened prayer.  Most of these “revival birthing” prayer meetings consisted of nothing more that a bunch of intercessors huddled on a front porch, barn or down by a riverside, groaning under a sprit of prayer (or travail) for a spiritual breakthrough.

Hidden behind the spotlight of the Second Great Awakening was a man known as “Father Nash.”  Born Daniel Nash in 1775, his prayer ministry began years after being a local pastor, when he was burned out and according to Finney, “backslidden.” Nash was struck with an illness that caused his eyes to become inflamed. The doctor’s solution; spend 3 days in the dark.  With nothing to do, he began praying for souls and received a “burden of prayer.” Nash joined Finney, and the rest is history.

Finney writes about Nash:

(I was asked) “Brother Finney, do you know a Father Nash? He and two other men have been at my boarding house for the last three days, but they haven’t eaten a bite of food. I opened the door and peeped in at them because I could hear them groaning, and I saw them down on their faces. They have been this way for three days, lying prostrate on the floor and groaning. I thought something awful must have happened to them. I was afraid to go in and I didn’t know what to do. Would you please come see about them?”  “No it isn’t necessary,” I replied. “They just have a spirit of travail in prayer.”

In the coming days the church will mature into a greater understanding of what Finney and Nash experienced, as the body is being “fitted together.”