The 100 Year Prayer Meeting

There are some men and women in history whose lives are a prophetic flame that continue shining to inspire the generations who follow them. Count Zinzendorf is one of them.

He was born into the German upper class at the beginning of a new century and began to seek God at a young age. Indeed, through his teen years he adopted his life’s motto: ‘I have one passion; it is Jesus, Jesus only.’ When he left college at 16 years old, he handed his professor a list of seven prayer groups that he himself had launched. His passion and fire didn’t dim with age; in fact it increased.

Eventually, when the young Count Nicholas went off on his Grand Tour – a rite of passage among young noblemen where they explore and see the world – he arrived at an art gallery in Dusseldorf. There he had an encounter with Jesus through a painting called ‘Behold the Man’ by Domenico Feti. From then on, he decided to dedicate his whole life to serving Jesus despite the discouragement of his fellow noblemen and tutors.

Returning back to his estate, the young Count soon had opportunity to do just that. In 1722, Zinzendorf was approached by a band of Moravian Christians who were facing persecution in their own country. They asked him if they could stay on his land and he let them settle in a down they named ‘Herrnhut’ or ‘the Lord’s watch’.

By 1727 the Moravian community was deeply divided and critical of each other. They were disgruntled and disagreed sharply on points of doctrine and belief – threatening to break apart the whole community. Greatly distressed by this, the Count withdrew from illustrious public life and fame and began to reach out to the Moravians with the love of Jesus. At Herrnhut, Zinzendorf visited all the adult members of the community. He drew up a covenant calling upon them ‘to seek out and emphasise the points in which they agreed’ rather than stressing their differences.

On 12 May 1727 they all signed a covenant to dedicate their lives to the service of the Lord.

On 16 July a Spirit of intercession with groaning and tears fell on Zinzendorf. This prayer produced an extraordinary effect. The whole community erupted in a movement of prayer.

On 22 July, many of the community agreed on their own accord to meet often to pour out their hearts in intercession and worship.

On 5 August the Count led an all-night prayer meeting, following a large gathering of prayer at midnight where the whole group was moved by great emotion. On Sunday, 10 August, the Moravian Pastor Rothe, while leading the service at Herrnhut, was overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit at about noon. He hit the deck before God…and so did

the whole congregation. They stayed there late into the night worshipping, weeping and crying out in prayer.

On Wednesday, 13 August 1727, the Holy Spirit was exploded amongst the Moravians.

On 26 August, 24 men and 24 women covenanted together to pray in regular intervals of one hour each, day and night, night and day. On 27 August, this new order began. Others caught the fire of intercession and the number involved increased to77. They all faithfully observed the hour that had been set-aside for them.

The kids, also touched powerfully by God, began a similar plan among themselves. Those who heard their young cries were profoundly stirred. The children’s earnest pleas had a potent effect on the whole community.

This awesome prayer meeting started in 1727 and went on for 100 years. It was utterly matchless.

But the Moravians weren’t content to stay and pray; the Prayer meeting launched over 100 missionaries in 25 years from Herrnhut around the world – and all of them were soaked and supported by 24-7 prayer. Count Zinzendorf and the Moravian Missionaries had a profound affect on many others worldwide – including two young men called John and Charles Wesley who led a revival that shook the UK and the nations of the world.

Count Nicholas died in 1760, but the prayer revival and missionary movement he founded far outlived him. Young men and women continued to flow across the earth carrying the fires of revival to all who needed to hear. One story of the Moravian missionaries that never fails to stir the heart:

John Leonard Dober and David Nitschman are names you may not readily recognize. John was a potter and David a carpenter. Ordinary occupations. Extraordinary young men. They are men who left the security of their jobs and families to become the first Moravian missionaries in 1732.

John Leonard Dober and David Nitschman are unsung heroes. These men were not going on a nice short term mission to the Caribbean, or even Africa or China but they sold themselves into slavery to answer the call ‘come and minister the gospel to us’. It gives new meaning to the phrase “sold out for Christ”. They heard of a slave-master in the West Indies who had banned all preachers of the Gospel from the island of slaves he presided over. The only way they could reach out to these poor lost souls was to join them. They became slaves in order to have the opportunity to reach the slaves.

Their life’s purpose was to follow the Lamb who had given His life for them and for all the souls of the world. One of the men left his family begging on the wharf for him to reconsider and stay. But the call and heart of God for these slaves in the West Indies was even greater than the pull of home. As the ship pulled away from the docks the men lifted

a cry, “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering” which became the resonating heartbeat of the Moravian Missions movement.

Through a young man like Zinzendorf who dared to say yes to Jesus and keep saying yes, the downtrodden, the forgotten and the broken received hope from heaven.

http://www.burningheartsco.com/heros/nicholas-zinzendorf/