RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

It was my first time in the nation. I had heard of the mighty move of God in Romania, but I was overwhelmed as I walked into a place where God’s presence was manifest among His people. I had read stories of the great spiritual revivals in ages past and imagined that they must have been something like what I was seeing in Oradea, Romania. Hours before the church service began, people were gathering to pray and seek the face of God. By the time the worship service began that night, the church was packed with people standing down the aisles three to four abreast. They were standing all around the platform and outside on the streets.
The year was 1980, and believers in Romania were severely persecuted. Some Christians lost their jobs because of their faith in Christ. Others were beaten and some had been imprisoned. Many observers believed that Romania had the harshest persecution of Christians throughout all of Eastern Europe. Yet, the move of the Holy Spirit in Romania appeared to be unstoppable.
I’ll never forget preaching during those days in the large Immanuel Baptist Church in Oradea. Scores came to Christ, and at the close of the evening service, a leader came to me and said, “Brother Sammy, did the Lord work tonight?” I was puzzled by his question and responded, “Didn’t you see that the church was packed and surrounded by people with hungry hearts? Didn’t you see how many people responded to the message? Why are you asking me this question?”
The godly gentleman simply smiled and said, “Oh, I wasn’t in the sanctuary. I was in another room with 100 men and we were praying the whole time you were preaching. And there was another room with 100 women and they were also praying while you were preaching.” I was left speechless. Up until then, I had never preached anywhere that 100 men and 100 women were praying while I was preaching. There’s no wonder that so many people came to Christ.
The revival began several years earlier in that region of Romania when a pastor called the church to repent and begin seeking the face of God. He taught them to write down the names of people who needed Christ and pray for them. The people began praying for atheists, their persecutors, friends, family members, and colleagues at work. Revival was birthed in the hearts of God’s people and many non-Christians came to know Christ. The church eventually became the largest Evangelical church in Europe. Their evangelistic growth was a by-product of the revival, and the revival was the fruit of the prayers of God’s people.
This has been the pattern of the great soul harvests throughout the history of the church. It was the pattern of the dynamic fast growing church in Jerusalem as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. The Bible says, “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 4:31 NIV). There were four things that took place according to the Scripture. First, they prayed. Second, God shook everything up. Third, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Finally, they had a new power to speak the word of God with courage.
The end product of prayer was evangelism. When we draw near to God, we are filled with His presence. He is love, and His perfect love casts out all fear. That’s why they had power to speak with boldness. They had been in the presence of the One who is absolute love. Fear flees in the presence of Divine love. A praying church will always become an evangelistic church. Evangelism and revival aren’t the same things, but when we pray, we’re already on the road to revival. And when revival genuinely takes hold, evangelism is the supernatural natural result.