Awaken The Dawn

AWAKEN THE DAWN!

The connection between early morning prayer and a min- istry of hope and encouragement cannot be taken lightly. We must have something before we can give it away, and waiting on God can have a profound effect on the minis- ter. A hundred and twenty years ago, a man shed some light on this subject. Known as the “Prince of Preachers,” Charles Haddon Spurgeon filled his London Tabernacle with 6,000 people every week. His advice to student preachers is recorded in Lectures to My Students . In chap- ter 3, “The Preacher’s Private Prayer,” Spurgeon reveals the reason for his dynamic ministry—prayer! He says:

All that a college course can do for a student is coarse and external compared with the spiritual and delicate refinement obtained by communion with God. Your prayers will be your ablest assistants while your discourses are yet upon the anvil. While other men, like Esau, are hunting for their portion, you, by the aid of prayer, will find the savory meat near at home, and may say in truth what Jacob said so falsely, “The Lord brought it to me.” The closet is the best study. The commentators are good instructors, but the Author Himself is far bet- ter, and prayer makes a direct appeal to Him and enlists Him in our course. Let your fleece lie on the threshing-floor of supplication till it is wet with the dew of heaven. 8

One of the most prolific and profound writers on prayer was Edward M. Bounds whose writings date back to the Civil War. His prayers still throb with what he and Spurgeon called “the unction.” It refers to the wonderful presence of God in a ministry that has waited before the

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