Faith the changes the World. Prayer.

1 Tim. 2:1-4

1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

James 5:16 "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." How powerful is prayer? How effective is prayer?

ILL.- in 1872 the famous American preacher, Dwight L. Moody, went to England, not to preach, but to listen to others preach. One Sunday morning he was asked to preach in a London pulpit. But somehow the right spiritual atmosphere was not there. He confessed afterwards that he never had such a hard time preaching. Everything seemed dead. He said to himself. "What a fool I was to consent to preach. I came here to listen and here I am preaching."

Then the awful thought came to him that he had to preach again that night, and only the fact that he had given his promise to do so kept him faithful to the engagement.

But when Moody stepped into the pulpit that night and faced the congregation, he was conscious of a new atmosphere. He said, "The powers of an unseen world seemed to have fallen on the audience." As he concluded his message and offered the invitation, he said, "If there is a man or woman here tonight who will accept Jesus Christ, please stand up." AND ABOUT 500 PEOPLE STOOD UP! Now for the rest of the story! Or the story behind the story.

When Dwight L. Moody preached at that morning service there was a woman in the congregation who had an invalid sister at home. When she returned home she told her invalid sister that the preacher had been Mr. Moody from Chicago. "What!" she exclaimed, "Mr. Moody from Chicago! I read about him some time ago in an American newspaper, and I have been praying for God to send him to London, to preach in our church. If I had known he was going to preach this morning I would have eaten no breakfast. I would have spent the whole time in prayer. Now, sister, go out of the room, lock the door, send me no dinner. And no matter who comes, don’t let them see me. I am going to spend the whole afternoon and evening in prayer."

And so it was that Sunday night when Dwight L. Moody preached that there was a completely different atmosphere and 500 people said they wanted to accept Jesus as their Savior.