The greatest ministry any Christian can have is the ministry of intercession. It is this ministry that can turn the heart of a nation. The great soldiers of Christ throughout the ages have won great battles on their knees. It is on our knees that we see His hands stretched out for a lost and dying world. It is on our knees that we see the power available to us by a resurrected Christ. Samuel Chadwick said, "There is no power like that of prevailing prayer….It turns ordinary mortals into men of power. It brings power. It brings fire. It brings rain. It brings life. It brings God."2

Study the history of the church and your will discover that awakening comes when God's people pray. The Spirit of God is searching the entire earth to find the man or woman who will seek His face above all else. His nationality or race matters not. His abilities or social and economic standing are of no special importance. It matters only that he is seeking God's glory.

There was a man know for his ministry of prayer. John Hyde was even nicknamed Praying Hyde. After Wilbur Chapman had met Praying Hyde, he wrote a friend about his experience:

I have learned some great lessons concerning prayer. At one of our missions in England the audience was exceedingly small; but I received a note saying that an American missionary was going to pray God's blessing down upon our work. He was known as "Praying Hyde." Almost instantly the tide turned. The hall became packed and upon my first invitation, 50 men accepted Christ as Savior.

As we were leaving, I said, "Mr. Hyde, I want you to pray for me." He came into my room, turned the key in the door and dropped on his knees and waited five minutes without a single syllable coming from his lips. I could hear my own heart thumping and his beating. I felt the hot tears running down my face. I knew I was with God.

Then, with upturned face, down which the tears were streaming, he said, "Oh, God!" Then for five minutes at least he was still again; and then when he knew that he was talking with God there came up from the depth of his heart such petitions for men as I had never heard before. I arose from my knee to know what real prayer was. We believe that prayer is mighty, and we believe it as we never did before.3

We need a host of men and women who will stand in the gap and pray in the harvest. This is not a glamorous ministry. The one who prays for the multitudes will never be known by men. He will be known well by the Father.

We hear of the D.L. Moodys and the Billy Grahams. But we seldom hear of common, ordinary people that have prayed for the great evangelists. In prayer, those ordinary people have believed God to do extraordinary things.

In September 1985, Billy Graham visited Romania on an 11-day preaching tour. The Chicago Tribune reported, "His crowds of more than thirty thousand were the largest for religious gatherings in that country since World War II."

The Crusade Information Service for the Billy Graham Team was even more descriptive:

Well over 150,000 turned out to see and hear evangelist Billy Graham on a whirlwind 11-day, seven-stop preaching mission in Romania, described by local officials and religious leaders alike as "extraordinary" and "unprecedented."

The crowds were the largest Mr. Graham has attracted in a special ministry that has taken him to six countries in Eastern Europe, including the Soviet Union.

There was one aspect of Dr. Graham's crusade that will never be in the newspapers. God moved mightily through Dr. Graham in the large Second Baptist Church of Oradea, where Josif Ton formerly pastured.

Three months prior to Dr. Graham's visit to Oradea, I preached in that church on the principles of spiritual awakening. A layman asked in English if he could speak with me.

He said, "Friday, I was prompted by the Holy Spirit to cut my vacation short and return immediately to Oradea. I felt I needed to be in my own church on Sunday morning. And you were here preaching on the necessity and principles of spiritual awakening.

"I have been praying for revival in Romania for 11 years. I would like to travel with you throughout Romania and learn more of these principles of spiritual awakenings."

When he told me his name, I realized who he was. An evangelist friend had been to Romania a year earlier and said he had never before met such a man of prayer.

We discussed with the pastors of the church the idea of his traveling with our team. They agreed. He could also serve as interpreter.

It didn't take long for me to realize he would not be learning from me; I would be learning from him. I asked him what he thought of the preaching of my evangelist friend.

"I have never heard him preach."

"I thought he preached a week of evangelistic meetings at your church."

He nodded. "When an evangelist comes to preach, I go to pray. When your friend came to our church, I gathered a group of men. We met prior to the worship service and prayed all through the service. As a result, we saw your friend reap a great harvest each evening."

As we drove from city to city together, he often said, "Let's pray for this city and this country." Or, "Let's pray and fast today.' He continually challenged me, "We must pray! We must pray!"

I never saw as many conversions to Christ in my ministry in Eastern Europe as I saw in those two weeks. The last four nights I spent in a major university city. Nearly 1,000 commitments to Christ were made in those four days.

The last night was one I'll never forget. Every inch of the church was packed. Every available room was full, and people were gathered all the way out to the street. I preached, and my friend interpreted. We were both exhausted.

My message seemed to have no power. The people were there and hungry, but I seemed unable to feed them. Then something happened. My friend began to pray silently for me while I was preaching, and I prayed for him as he interpreted. After about 10 minutes of ministering in this manner, I felt impressed of God to cease preaching and just quote Scripture. For about 15 minutes I quoted Scripture while he interpreted. And the glory of God came down.

As we quoted Scripture, people inside and outside the building began to weep. Hearts were broken by the Holy Spirit. More people were converted to Christ that one night than any other night of my ministry in Eastern Europe.

I didn't think we would ever be able to get back to the West. Hundreds of people gathered around our van weeping and praying and singing.

We left our new friend at a train station. He would return to Oradea. He said, "You have your ministry of preaching in the West. I must return to Oradea and pray. Billy Graham is coming, and I must organize the brothers to pray for the mightiest outpouring of God's Spirit that we have ever seen."

I drove all night through Hungary to Austria. I knew my life would never be the same. I had been with a man of prayer. Romania would never be the same again either; not just because Billy Graham was going there, but also because a man of prayer was already there. It was no surprise to hear of the wonderful results of Dr. Graham's ministry. He went to a country where the roots of evangelism were deep in the soil of prayer.

When the winds of revival begin to blow, there's always a wedding between the ministry of the evangelist and the ministry of the intercessor. They can't operate without each other.