Introduction To help you apply what Finney discovered about prayer, I have begun each autobiographical sketch with an appropriate quotation from Principles of Prayer. At the conclusion of each sketch, I have asked a question to encourage you to probe more deeply into what you have just read, and to possibly stimulate prayer group discussion. Each question, along with the autobiographical sketch, should drive us to prayer and to renew our commitment to Christ and His Great Commission. Each of these sketches on answered prayer contains one or more important principle that we need to recognize, relate to, and apply to our lives. These would aid in prayer group discussion, confession, and revival if studied prior to each meeting by each member.
L. G. Parkhurst, Jr.
Meeting Jesus A true Christian is active, but his activity and energy arise out of a deep identification with the indwelling Spirit of Christ. Christ is formed within him; the Spirit of Christ is the energizing power of his soul.1
Just before evening of the day I gave my heart to Christ, the thought took possession of my mind that as soon as I was left alone in the new office, I would try to pray again, that I was not going to abandon my newfound faith at any rate; and therefore, although I no longer had any concern about my soul, still I would continue to pray.
By evening we got the books and furniture adjusted in the new offices, and I made up a good fire in the open fireplace, hoping to spend the evening alone. Just at dark, Squire Wright, seeing that everything was in order, said good-night and retired to his home. I had accompanied him to the door, and as I closed it and turned around, my heart seemed to melt within me. All my emotions seemed to rise and flow out, and the cry of my heart was, "I want to pour my whole soul out to God." The rising of my soul was so great that I rushed into the [counsel] room back of the front office to pray.
There was no fire and no light in the room; nevertheless, it appeared to me as if it were perfectly light. As I went in and shut the door after me, it seemed as if I met the Lord Jesus Christ face to face. It did not occur to me then, nor did it for some time afterward, that it was wholly a mental image. On the contrary, it seemed to me that [I met Him face to face] as I would any other man. He said nothing, but looked at me in such a manner as to humble me at His feet. I have always since regarded this as a most remarkable experience, for it seemed to me a reality that He stood before me, and I fell down at His feet and poured out my soul to Him. I wept aloud like a child and made such confessions as I could with my choked utterance. It seemed to me that I bathed His feet with my tears, and yet I had no distinct impression that I touched Him.
I must have continued in this state for a good while; but my mind was too much absorbed with the interview to remember anything that I said. But I know that as soon as my mind became calm enough to break off the dialogue, I returned to the front office and found that the fire I had made of large wood was nearly burned out. But as I turned and was about to take a seat by the fire, I received a mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit. Without any expectation of it, without ever realizing there was any such thing for me, without any recollection that I had ever heard of the experience mentioned by any person in the world [at a moment entirely unexpected by me], the Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to go through me, body and soul. I could feel the impression like a wave of electricity going through and through me. Indeed, it seemed to come in waves and waves of liquid love, for I cannot express it in any other way. [And yet it did not seem like water but rather like the breath of God.] I remember distinctly that it seemed to fan me, like immense wings; [and it seemed to me, as these waves passed over me, that they literally moved my hair like a passing breeze].
No words can convey the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart. [It seemed to me that I would burst.] I wept aloud with joy and love, and I do not know but that I literally shouted out the unutterable yearnings of my heart. These waves came over me and over me, one after the other, until I cried out, "I shall die if these waves continue to pass over me!" I said [to the Lord], "Lord, I cannot bear any more," yet I had no fear of death.
How long this baptism continued to roll over me and go through me, I do not know. But it was late in the evening when a member of the church, a choir member—for I was the leader of the choir—came into the office to see me. He found me in this state of loud weeping, and said to me, "Mr. Finney, is something wrong?" I could give him no answer for some time. He then said, "Are you in pain?" I gathered myself up as best I could and replied, "No, but so happy that I cannot live."2
Question for Thought and Prayer
Have I so surrendered my life to the Lord Jesus Christ that I know the reality of His presence in my life?
1Principles of Prayer, 103.
2Autobiography, 19–21.
