C.H. Spurgeon reflected on why God used him to see 14,000 profess Christ and preach to 10,000 every Lord’s day (Revival?).
If we had the Spirit sealing our ministry with power, it would signify very little about talent. Men might be poor and uneducated, their words might be broken and ungrammatical; but if the might of the Spirit attended them, the humblest evangelist would be more successful than the most learned divine, or the most eloquent of preachers.
Did you get it? THE SPIRIT. Not programs. THE SPIRIT. Not slick presentation. THE SPIRIT. Not location, location, location. THE SPIRIT. Not worship style. THE SPIRIT! Now… how is this attended? Hear Spurgeon again.
The prayer before us, “Quicken Thou me in Thy way,” deals with the believer’s frequent need. . . . You yourselves know, in your own souls, that your spirit is most apt to become sluggish and that you have need frequently to put up this prayer, “Quicken Thou me.” If there is a prayer in the book which well becomes my lips, it is just this.
This morning’s sermon, then, will be especially addressed to my own church, on the absolute necessity of true religion in our midst, and of revival from all apathy and indifference. We may ask God for multitudes of other things, but amongst them all, let this be our chief prayer: “Lord, revive us; Lord, revive us!”
We must confess that, just now, we have not the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that we could wish. . . . We seek not for extraordinary excitements, those spurious attendants of genuine revivals, but we do seek for the pouring out of the Spirit of God. . . . The Spirit is blowing upon our churches now with his genial breath, but it is a soft evening gale. Oh, that there would come a rushing mighty wind, that should carry everything before it! This is the lack of the times, the great want of our country. May this come as a blessing from the Most High!
Observation. Maybe… just MAYBE… THE most important “thing” a pastor should lead the church in is prayer for The Spirit to come! Constant, regular, prevailing prayer. Unless the church is a praying church it is not God’s church… “My house shall be called a house of prayer.”
Now a hard question: Pastor, how much energy… time… planning… money… preaching… teaching… and leadership have YOU devoted to your own prayer life and leading the congregation you’re called to lead to pray? Then… unless the motivation in the prayer be right (Jn 12:28), God may very well not answer positively (Wrong desire: Bigger… more… admiration of others… “success,” etc). Just a few thoughts…
The quotes and idea for this post came from HERE.