The Echo of George Whitfield: A Study of His Prayerful Evangelistic Zeal

Ever wondered about the secrets of George Whitfield's extraordinary prayer life and evangelistic zeal? Our latest bonus episode of Truth Trek takes you on a revealing journey into the life and ministry of this prodigious preacher, whose dedication to prayer was the true engine behind his powerful sermons. We dissect Whitfield's principles for self-examination, particularly his belief in time spent alone with God as the pivotal catalyst bringing humankind and divinity together. From Whitfield's earnest dedication to prayer, often engaging in extended periods of communion with God, we uncover the roots of his resolute confidence in a God who hears his intercession.

Drawing inspiration from Steve Lawson's book "The Evangelistic Zeal of George Whitfield", we shed light on Whitfield's spiritual journey and his personal principles that made him one of history's most influential evangelists. Focusing on Whitfield's prayerful life, we discuss how his intimate communion with God was the key source of power in his ministry. We touch upon Whitfield's belief that prayer was a necessary spiritual discipline for the grounding and growth of his soul, with the more he prayed, the more powerfully he preached, and the more sinners were converted to Christ. We end our episode with a prayer, echoing Whitfield's fervor, pleading for God's grace to touch the lives of those around us and enhance our opportunities to evangelize the world. Join us as we traverse this fascinating spiritual journey, shedding light on the potent combination of faith, prayer, and evangelism.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:10

Welcome to another special bonus episode of Truth Trek as we continue our journey of 40 days of prayer towards evangelism, asking the Lord to invigorate us in our hearts and to cause us to have a greater desire to see those lost people come to Christ, and also that we have been praying for opportunities that he would provide for us, that our eyes would be open to see how God is working in the lives of those around us where we can have opportunities to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so we've been having this great prayer journey together. And this is the final one of this particular series of bonus episodes and I want to focus on George Whitfield. George Whitfield was an evangelist from England who traveled also to the United States and preached to many, many thousands in his time of preaching. He was a fervent preacher of the gospel and many, many, many people came to Christ through the preaching of George Whitfield. Whitfield had an evangelistic zeal and that's the title of a book by Steve Lawson in his series A Long Line of Godly Men, and this particular one is on George Whitfield, called the Evangelistic Zeal of George Whitfield, and I highly recommend it along with the actual series A Long Line of Godly Men. I received seven of these books last Christmas and they're short, easy reads but also very encouraging as we look to see how God worked through different men in history who had a great desire to serve the Lord. And Whitfield was probably unparalleled in his evangelism and he had a great impact on America in its early days, in also England. And so I want to read in from Lawson's book a short section here about Whitfield's prayer life. Lawson writes Whitfield was devoted to God in earnest prayer.

Speaker 1: 2:18

Through time spent on his knees his heart for God was further deepened and developed. The real secret of his public ministry was not found primarily in his vivid vocabulary, dramatic skills or Oxford education. The true source of power in his preaching lay far deeper. It was discovered behind closed doors, in time alone with God. He urged be much in secret prayer, converse less with man and more with God. Whitfield poured out his heart to God in prayer and he was effectively used before men. Biographer Richard Phillip identified Whitfield's prayer life as a main source of his spiritual success. The grand secret of Whitfield's power was, as we have seen and felt, his devotional spirit. Had he been less prayerful he would have been less powerful. Whitfield was much for God because he was much with him.

Speaker 1: 3:10

From the moment Christ dawned in his heart, whitfield was absorbed in intimate prayer. He knew a servant could not fulfill his assignment without a regular audience with his master. As a new convert, he remarked, I would be so overpowered with a sense of God's infinite majesty that I would be compelled to throw myself on the ground and offer my soul as a blank in his hands to write on it what he pleased. Like Isaiah, ezekiel or John who found themselves prostrate before the infinite majesty of God, whitfield knew that he would be useful in God's kingdom to the extent that he assumed such a lowly posture. Far from viewing prayer as empty drudgery, whitfield saw it as a sheer delight. It was a private encounter with God. With the veil drawn back from the Holy of Holies, he entered in order to fellowship with his father. Recounting one particular season in prayer, he said oh, what sweet communion had I daily vouchsafed with God in prayer. How often have I been carried out beyond myself when sweetly meditating in the fields. How assuredly have I felt that Christ dwell in me and I in him. In reality, the entire world was his prayer closet, wherever his preaching took him, whether aboard a ship, riding on horseback through fields or standing atop a wooden barrel for a pulpit, whitfield maintained constant contact with the throne of grace. Whitfield understood that prayer was a necessary spiritual discipline for the grounding and growth of his soul.

Speaker 1: 4:43

Whitfield's diary begins with a list of criteria he regularly used as a basis of examining himself and his actions. This list is as follows have I 1. Ben Fervent in private prayer? 2. Used stated hours of prayer? 3. Used prayer every hour? 4. After or before every deliberate conversation or action, considered how it might tend to God's glory? 5. After any pleasure, immediately given thanks. 6. Planned business for the day. 7. Ben simple and recollected in everything. 8. Ben zealous and undertaking and active in doing what good I could. 9. Ben meek, cheerful, affable in everything I said or did. 10. Ben proud, vain, unchaste or enviable of others. 11. Recollected and eating and drinking, thankful, temperate and sleep. 12. Taken time for giving thanks according to William and Law's rules. 13. Ben diligent in studies. 14. Thought or spoken unkindly of anyone. 15. Confessed all sins.

Speaker 1: 5:55

Prayer is mentioned in six of these fifteen maxims, more than any other spiritual discipline. Here the importance Whitfield placed upon prayer can clearly be seen. He saw time alone with God as the catalyst that brings God and man together, he explained. It raises man up to God and brings God down to man. Consequently, he spent prolonged seasons in prayer. Once we spent a whole night in prayer and praise and many a time at midnight and at one in the morning, after I had been weary almost to death. In preaching, writing and conversation and going from place to place, god imparted new life to my soul and enabled me to intercede with him for an hour and a half and two hours together.

Speaker 1: 6:40

Whitfield viewed prayer as a foundation of refreshing water for his parched soul. The more he prayed, the more powerfully he preached and the more sinners were converted to Christ. To this end, whitfield exhorted others Be much in secret. Set prayer when you are about the common business of life, be much in prayer. He was insistent that our infinite God is acutely aware of the pleas of even the poorest and weariest souls. Whitfield testified he is a prayer-hearing God and believed that prayer is one of the most noble parts of the believer's spiritual armor. His firm confidence in God, who heard his prayers, brought him repeatedly into the inner sanctum where the angels continually cry Holy, holy, holy. Herein lies the true source of power behind such mighty preaching". There's much more in the book on Whitfield that I'd love to share with you, but we don't have time in this podcast. Again, I encourage you to read books like it, to be encouraged by the faith of great people throughout church history who have dedicated their lives to Christ and his service.

Speaker 1: 7:53

Now let's take a moment to pray together one more time as we call on God and plead with him to save those who we care about, those who he's placed in our influence, and may he bless our opportunities to evangelize the world around us. Let's pray together. Father God, we come to you again this Sunday afternoon to pray for those who are lost, that we have influence over, possibly in our lives. Lord, we are well aware of how great you are and how great your salvation is, that the salvation of Jesus Christ saves us from the wrath of God, which we well deserve. And, lord, we know that there are many around us who also are subject to the wrath of God and outside of Christ, they will have to bear the wrath of God themselves. Unless they put faith in Christ, they will bear that wrath. So, lord, we lift those up to you who are in our normal spheres of influence, whether it be family, neighbors, friends or coworkers, anyone we encounter, lord, that if they are not in Christ, we would be sensitive to the idea and understand that, unless they come to Christ, they will suffer the wrath of God throughout all eternity.

Speaker 1: 9:19

We let this drive our compassion and our heart towards the lost, and may we become more and more obedient to your great commission, wherein you called us to do this work of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with others. Help us to trust, lord, what Paul wrote in Romans 1 when he said I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Lord, may we trust that. May we trust your word. May we trust that you are preparing hearts ahead of us and that we need not rely on our own strength to convert people to Christ. That you, lord, do the work of conversion. You do the work of drawing men to yourself and women to yourself and children to yourself. And, lord, we just want to be part of your work that you're already doing.

Speaker 1: 10:13

We ask, lord, for opportunities and we ask that you would give us the urgency and the compassion that helps us to take advantage of those opportunities where we may share your gospel with others. Lord, I pray that we would also be persistent, that we wouldn't give up whenever someone says I'm not interested, but we would continue to place conversations ahead of people that would cause them to think about the eternal state that they're facing, that they may respond to the gospel, lord. Please do that work in the hearts of others, lord, that we may see a harvest of people coming to Christ through the ministries that we're able to do, whether we are lay people or professional people in ministry. Lord, we long to see you bring new people into your kingdom through us. God, we are so thankful for that opportunity and much aware of how many times we've missed those opportunities. So please help us, lord, and as we come up to this Christmas season, lord, I pray that everyone listening to this podcast, whether they're here at Oasis Church or otherwise around the world where they're listening, may they also be encouraged to make a special effort to bring others to hear the gospel message in their churches.

Speaker 1: 11:37

During the Christmas season especially, lord, we know that some people are more willing to come and respond to an invitation. Let us not grow weary in doing good, lord, but encourage our souls through your Word and by your Holy Spirit, empower us in Jesus' name. We pray Amen. Thank you for praying with me, and I appreciate you so much for listening. I am looking forward especially to the upcoming season, where we're going to have many special podcasts focused on Christmas, including some stories that are going to be starting next Sunday special bonus episodes of me reading short Christmas stories that I hope that you'll enjoy as much as I enjoyed reading them, and so I look forward to presenting those to you as well, and I've got some other ideas for the Midweek Podcast. I'm not quite ready to reveal that yet, but this whole Christmas season I'm hoping that you'll be much blessed and encouraged in your Christian walk as you listen to the Truth Track podcast. So thank you again, have a great afternoon on this Sunday, and we will see you on Wednesday with our next episode of Truth Track.