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Stirring Ourselves To Prayer The prophet Isaiah lived in a time when Israel was in a backslidden condition. Her cup of iniquity had become almost full and she was soon to be carried away captive to a heathen land. There were mountains of difficulties in the way of God's work. The people were divided, and nothing, it seemed, could bring them together. The worst thing was their lukewarmness--the hardest thing in the world with which to deal. The adversaries were ridiculing and mocking, saying, "Where is your God?" These taunts did not trouble Israel very much, because there was very little fear of God among the people. In the midst of this situation, Isaiah perceived that if God would only come down, that is, if He would manifest His presence, it would solve every problem of the nation. "Oh that thou wouldest rend the Heavens, that Thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at Thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make Thy name known to Thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Thy presence!" (Isa 64:1,2). The mountains would flow down at His presence. Nothing could stand in the presence of Almighty God, and His manifested presence would break down every barrier and sweep away everything that hindered. He saw that God's fire would melt the people and bring them together by His power. He saw that the waters would be made to boil, so that lukewarmness would vanish. Best of all, God's name would be made known to the adversaries. Skepticism would be swept away, and His people would tremble in His presence. Similar Conditions Today Without a doubt we are living in a time similar to that of Isaiah's day. We see conditions in America are terrible. There are divisions among God's people. False doctrines and cults have swept thousands into fanaticism and delusions of vast variety. On every hand there is a lukewarmness that is appalling. Thousands have lost their faith and left their first love. The only thing that can solve the problem is the manifest presence of God! All our programs, our great preaching, our organizations, our choirs and orchestras, radio and TV--everything that man can do--has failed to solve the problem. But if we can get God to come down and manifest Himself, the mountains will flow down at His presence, the divisions among God's people will vanish, and we will be brought into one great united body. More than that, the lukewarm people will be set on fire for God. The waters will be made to boil. The enemies of Christ will be made to know that His power is real, and His name will be made known to the adversaries. The words of Isaiah take us to the very heart of today's problem of getting God to come down and manifest His presence among us: "There is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee: for Thou hast hid Thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities" (Isaiah 64:7). Let us face the truth. God has declared exactly why He does not come down. His people are backslidden, and not a man can be found who will stir himself up to take hold of God in effectual prayer. It is clearly the meaning of this Word that God will come down, however bad conditions may be, provided He can get His people to call upon His name. Many instances in the history of the Church prove this. The greatest men who have lived to shake the world with God's power have been, every one of them, men of prevailing prayer. The one effectual means for bringing back the presence of God to the people is prevailing prayer! The greatest lack among God's people is that of travailing prayer. We should be reminded that there has never been a Holy Ghost revival in the history of the world that has not been prayed down! And the praying had to be prevailing prayer--prayer that was desperate; prayer that stirred people up to such fervency of spirit that they fairly took hold of God. I have seen many times in revival meetings when God's Spirit began to move on people whose hearts were open, and who were hungry for God until that heavenly urge was upon them, and they would pray all night long, wrestling with God like Jacob of old! (Gen. 32:24-30). I have seen such tremendous results come after such travailing prayer that I am certain that wherever there is real travailing prayer that takes hold of God, it will bring the presence of God down. "As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children" (Isaiah 66:8).

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