昨天我们谈过「复兴祷告」的第三个特点是大胆和坦率。今天我们要继续探讨「大胆」这个特点，这也是所有「复兴祷告」的特点。当然，鲁莽与关切只是一线之差，对某些人来说，诗人似乎越了界，叫神兴起，实在很难视为对神虔敬或尊重的态度，但正如我们昨天说过，是隐藏在这些说话背后的圣灵，准许诗人这样祷告。

我常在祷告会中听到有些人模仿诗人和其他旧约人物的强烈语言，但是很少感到他们有着和诗人一样的强烈关切之情。由于缺乏这种关切之情，以致他们的祷告变得没意义和空洞。有一位传记作家告诉我，他曾在复兴出现前，在威尔斯北部某处听到伟大的伊凡思（Christmas Evans）祷告说：「主啊，醒来，振作一下吧！您看不见您的教会发生甚么事吗？您容许事情这样继续下去，实在丢脸。求您做点事吧！任何事都好，求您尽快做点事吧！」

那位传记作家继续说：「听到他这样祈祷的人屏息静气，不禁想他这么狂妄，为何神没有击杀他。但他们不知道的是，伊凡思已蒙允许与神这样对话。」他不单使用语言──他透过那语言去表达内心深切的关注。当热诚和胆量结合起来的时候，你就能拥有一种元素──神乐意应允祷告的元素。

We must spend another day looking at this quality of boldness which seems to be a characteristic of all "revival praying". There is a fine line, of course, between impertinence and concern. To some it may appear that the psalmist has crossed this line. Telling God to rouse Himself hardly seems to be a reverent or respectful way of approaching Him. But, as we said yesterday, it is the spirit underlying the words that makes it permissible.

I have often heard people in prayer meetings try to copy the strong language of the psalmist and other Old Testament characters, but only on a few occasions have I felt that they had the psalmist's same burning concern. And lacking that concern, their prayers came across as empty and hollow. One biographer tells of listening to the great Christmas Evans praying before the outbreak of revival in a certain part of North Wales. This is what he said: "Wake up, O Lord, and shake Yourself. Can't you see what is happening to Your Church? It's shameful that You allow things to go on like this. Do anything - do something - and do it soon".

The biographer went on to say: "Those who heard him caught their breath and wondered why God did not strike him dead for his impertinence. But what they did not know was that Christmas Evans had earned the right to talk to God in this way." He was not just using language - he was expressing through that language the deep concern of his heart. And when those two things combine - passion and daring - you have the ingredients of the kind of prayer that God delights to answer.