A protest against the kingdom of weeds (Mike Bowers)

Prayer is a protest against the kingdom of weeds. Prayer is a protest against the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. (Ephesians 2:2)

J. Edwin Orr described the situation in America in the 1780's. Drunkenness was epidemic. The streets were not safe after dark. The churches were losing more members than they were gaining. The Congregational Church in Lennos, Massachusetts had not taken one young person into membership in 16 years. The Episcopal Bishop of New York took other employment since he had taken in no new members in so long that he considered himself out of work.

The popular universities were also struggling. Harvard University took a poll and discovered there was not one follower of Christ in the whole student body. Princeton had just two believers. Students at Harvard took a Bible out of the Presbyterian church and burned it in public.

When it seemed things could not get more ugly, God's people protested in prayer. In 1794, Isaac Backus, a Baptist pastor, urged prayer across every Christian denomination in the USA. Small groups set aside the first Monday of every month to pray. Quietly, anonymously Christians protested in prayer to Almighty God.

God intervened.

Then, in the summer of 1800 a powerful revival broke out in Kentucky. Eleven thousand people came to a communion service. Out of this prayer movement came a great awakening in the country. Christians repented. They found courage in Christ. Out of this eventually came the abolition of slavery, the sending of missionaries, Bible societies, the Sunday school movement and much more. (Grieg and Roberts, Red Moon Rising, 2005, P.9-11)

Your prayer today is a protest against the kingdom of this world. We pray to Almighty God, "Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

I'm praying Paul's prayer for you today. That the eyes of your heart may be enlightened  in order that you may know the hope to which you've been called, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints and his incomparably great power for us who believe. (Ephesians 1:18-19)

Pray fervently. Be strong and courageous