A HUNDRED YEARS OF PRAYER!
The recent 24-7 Prayer Initiative is nothing new! Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians did it over 250 years ago after a special anointing of Holy Spirit power
No one present could tell exactly what happened on that remarkable Wednesday morning. It was 13 August, 1727, at the specially called communion service in the Moravian community at Herrnhut, Saxony.
The disgruntled community was deeply divided and critical of one another. The majority were from the ancient Moravian Church of the Brethren. Other believers attracted to Herrnhut included Lutherans, Reformed and Baptists.
The leader, a young German nobleman, Count Nicholas Zinzendorf, pleaded for unity, love and repentance. He visited all the adult members of the community and drew up a covenant calling upon them "to seek out and emphasise the points in which they agreed" rather than stressing their differences. On 12 May 1727, they all signed an agreement to dedicate their lives, as he dedicated his, to the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many of them decided to set aside certain times for continued earnest prayer.
On 16 July, Zinzendorf poured out his soul in a prayer accompanied with a flood of tears. His prayer produced an extraordinary effect. The whole community began praying as never before.
On Wednesday, 13 August, the Holy Spirit was poured out on them all. During the communion service, loud weeping drowned out the singing. An inner anointing flowed through all those present with inexpressible joy and love as they all shared the bread and wine, knowing they were baptised into one Spirit. As one eye-witness wrote:
"All were touched in a singular manner by the efficacy of the Word of reconciliation through the Blood of Christ, and were so convinced that their hearts were set on fire with new faith and love towards the Saviour and likewise with burning love towards one another. They embraced one another in tears and grew together into a holy union among themselves."
Another commented: "It is truly a miracle of God that out of so many kinds and sects, we could have been melted together into one."
Zinzendorf was 27, which was about the average age of the group. He had learned the secret of prevailing prayer for several years and actively established prayer groups as a teenager.
In the Dusseldorf Gallery of paintings he had been deeply moved by a painting of the crucifixion over which were the words: 'Hoc fed pro te; Quid fads pro me?' (This have I done for you; What are you doing for Me?) His life motto became, "I have one passion: it is Jesus and Jesus only."
The Moravian Brethren had sprung from the labours and martyrdom of the Bohemian reformer, John Hus. They had experienced centuries of persecution. Many had been killed, imprisoned, tortured or banished from their homeland. This group had fled for refuge to Germany, where Count Zinzendorf offered them asylum on his estates. They named their new home: 'Herrnhut' - 'the Lord's Watch'. From there, after their baptism in the Holy Spirit, they became evangelists and sent out 100 missionaries in the next 25 years.
The children, also touched powerfully by God, began a similar plan among themselves. The children's prayers and supplications had a powerful effect on the whole community.
That astonishing prayer meeting beginning in 1727 went on for one hundred years. It was unique. Known as the 'Hourly Intercession', it involved relays of men and women in prayer without ceasing made to God. That prayer also led to action, especially evangelism.
Herrnhut became a spiritual centre visited by people from all parts of Europe, seeking to be saved or to be baptised in the Holy Spirit and with fire. John Wesley was among them, and his comment captures the spirit of the place: "I am with a Church in whom is the mind that was in Christ, and who so walk as He walked... I would gladly have spent my life there; but my Master called me to labour in another part of the vineyard."
Source: Power From On High by John Greenfield, published by Marshall, Morgan and Scott; Renewal Journal 93:1, Brisbane, Australia.
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