Thoughts on Charles G. Finney by Basil Miller and Prayer

Picked up another book yesterday, actually right off of our book shelf! I've been meaning to read it for quite some time as Cam has ranted and raved about how "that is exactly what he wants to do with his life!" Its a book on Charles Finney. If you don't know who this, shame on you! . . . haha, just kidding, I've heard of his name and have heard random references made about him, but I must confess I know nothing about the man. Hopefully that will change soon! You can also check out this website: www.gospeltruth.net or grab this book and start reading if you'd like to clear your ignorance as well!

I've only read the first chapter so far and already the man, who lived from 1792 - 1875, has got me thinking about prayer. The first chapter explains how Finney became a Christian in his later twenties. At the time he was a lawyer studying law and noticed how much of the legal jargon was interspersed with references to the Mosaic code of laws as well as other Scripture. Between curiousity and desiring to check out the references he picked up a Bible and began reading at leisure.

A little later after being asked to lead the choir in a local church because of his musical capabilities, Finney started challenging the minister and his hyper-dogmatic positions as not squaring up with the Bible. It was also around this time that Finney attended several prayer meetings. Yet interestingly enough, the book states:

He attended prayer meeting regularly but the praying did little to turn his attention to religion, for the church's praying was not followed by receiving. The lawyer chided the praying preacher for his non-receiving.

"I heard them pray continually for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and as often confess that they did not receive what they asked for," he says. Their confession, that praying often for a revival they secured none, seemed so inconsistent to Charles that once in a prayer meeting, when asked if he wanted to be prayed for, the choir-leading lawyer stood up and said,

"I suppose that I need to be prayed for . . . but I do not see that it would do any good for you to pray for me; for you are continually asking, but you do not receive. You have been praying for a revival of religion ever since I have been in Adams, and yet you have it not."

Once he told them, "You have prayed enough since I have attended these meetings to have prayed the devil out of Adams if there is any virtue to your praying." He could out-argue their prayers but could not refute the call the Bible made to his soul while reading it in the privacy of his office. "But on further reading of my Bible it struck me . . . they did not pray in faith . . . And after struggling in that way my mind became settled that . . . the Bible was, nevertheless, the word of God." This settled, God's battle for his soul was won.

Needless to say, this got me thinking about prayer and how I pray. Lately God has been teaching me much about prayer. Mostly that prayer shouldn't be about a list of things to knock off but about being still, waiting, listening, and then praying out of my heart. As such, my prayers have looked quite different and if you heard them they might sound extremely random, yet I know that my prayers are coming from a genuine place.

Yet, through reading Finney's thoughts, a person who was not a Christian at the time, it makes me wonder if a non-believer would say the same thing about my prayers? Am I truly praying out of a place of faith, especially for the miraculous, and receiving!?! I know only I can answer that question, but it has been making me think.

However, since praying in this way, out my heart that is, I have noticed a large difference. What might seem child-like has become to me the language of heaven. It sends me into a deep intimate place with the Father like I have known in no other way. And to top it all off, since praying in this way He has led me to pray for what my small human brain categorizes as the "bigger" things.

I guess what I've learned is that in order to learn the "adult talk" you must learn the "baby talk" first! A lesson that has often ended up in receiving!