我们昨天提到「复兴祷告」其中一个特点是「充满热诚」的，今天我们继续思想这一点。我想向你分享热诚祷告的其中一个例子，是源自一个发生在十九世纪中叶纽约大复兴的故事。

1857年7月1日，有一位被形容为「温和及热诚的商人」耶利米．兰菲尔（Jeremiah Lanphier），接受了委任，成为在纽约的荷兰改革教会的宣教士。兰菲尔决定举行中午祷告会，就发派了传单出去邀请其他人前来参加这个逢周三午间举行的祷告会。第一次聚会有六人出席，第二个星期来了二十人，而第三个星期超过了四十人。于是，他决定每天都举行祷告会，在数月之内，每天都有一万人在城中聚集祷告，这样便开始了纽约的灵性大觉醒，后来漫延到整个美国，更在1859年越洋传到英国。这种热烈的祷告，是在复兴前开始的，往往是由某一地区的某一个人开始，然后扩展开去，据我所知没有一次复兴不是以这种形式展开的。

我们如何解释这种异常的、在复兴前紧抓神百姓的「祷告之灵」呢？是甚么令他们尽可能出席更多的祷告会，并且愿意恳切地向神倾心吐意？只有一个具说服力的解释，那就是：这是一种超自然的现象。复兴的心灵是超越心理学或社会学所能解释的。有一句话说得很好：若我们在祷告中有伟大的意向，神必会多加注意。

We continue thinking about zealousness, which we said yesterday is one of the characteristics of "revival praying". An example of what I mean by zealous praying comes out of the story of the great revival which hit New York in the middle of the nineteenth century.

On 1st July 1857 a man by the name of Jeremiah Lanphier, described as "a quiet and zealous businessman", took up an appointment as city missionary in the Dutch Reformed Church in New York. He decided to hold a noon-day prayer meeting and distributed a few handbills inviting others to join him during the lunch hour every Wednesday. At the first meeting six people were present. The second week there were twenty and the third week over forty. It was then decided to hold the prayer meeting every day. Within months 10,000 people were gathering in the city every day to pray. Thus began in New York the spiritual awakening which eventually spread through America and in 1859 crossed the seas to the British Isles. Zealous praying - the kind that precedes revival - usually begins with one person in an area and then spreads to others. I know of no revival where this has not happened.

How can we explain this strange "spirit of prayer" that grips God's people prior to revival? What makes them want to be present at as many prayer meetings as they can get to and pour out their hearts in earnest supplication to God? There is only one convincing explanation - it is a supernatural phenomenon. The heart of revival is beyond psychological or sociological explanation. It has been well said that if in prayer we have great intention, then God gives greater attention.