P.U.S.H!

Pray Until Something Happens

By John Stallings


Back in the sixties I conducted a revival in Kansas City, Missouri. We were there for three weeks but the church was already in revival when we arrived. Many exciting things happened while we were there but one story especially stands out in my mind.

It was a church of about five hundred happy people & one of the most alive churches I ever had the privilege to preach in. Beside the regular services, prayer meetings were being held on an almost round-the-clock basis & the spirit of revival was alive & well in all of them. It was one of those times in the life of a church when everyone was getting involved & being spiritually refreshed.

One morning during the meetings the pastor of the church was walking up the front steps to enter the church building when he heard a man calling him. He looked around & immediately recognized it was a neighbor whose house stood very close to the church. The pastor figured the man was going to complain about the noise that had been going on at the church because after all they’d been in a spirit of revival for several months. Most of the services ran late & cars were crowded around the building usually seven nights a week.

The neighbor smiled as he walked up the steps & shook the pastor’s hand. It quickly became obvious that rather than being in a critical mood the neighbor was curious about something. He proceeded to ask the pastor about a certain odd noise that was coming from a basement window that was very close to his house. It always happened on Tuesday mornings around ten-o’clock. It wasn’t really disturbing his family as much as it was making them curious about the nature of the noise. The pastor asked for more details & the man motioned for him to walk around to the side of the church & he’d show him the window. As they stood & looked at the little window the confused pastor asked again what the noises were like. The neighbor explained that it sounded like a maternity ward. He understood it was a strange way to try to describe it but that was actually the closest he could come to describing it. It sounded like women crying & moaning, giving birth to babies in a maternity ward. The pastor pleaded temporary ignorance as to what that room was being used for on Tuesday mornings but told the neighbor he’d check it out & let him know. The pastor, now curious himself about that kind of noise coming from his church window went straight to his office & scanned the church calendar that lay on his desk. A broad smile broke across his face as he saw that Tuesdays at ten o’clock was the time the ladies met for prayer meeting. They were known for their robust praying & always had a long list of unsaved they were agonizing before God for. The neighbor was right; the noises coming from that little basement room were emanating from a “spiritual maternity ward,” for the Bible says—when Zion travailed she brought forth children. Isaiah 66:8

P.U.S.H PRAYING is just that kind of praying. It's praying until something happens. When a woman is in the birth process, the last stage of labor requires great energy & effort. She is in great pain as she pushes to give birth. Push prayers shouldn't be a casual experience but rather a serious, prevailing patient praying that comes out of a great prayer burden.

Jesus prayed like that in Gethsemane when great drops of blood popped out of his pores. (Luke 22:41-44. ---Hebrews 5:7-9)

There’s a story told of a man who was told by God that he had a work for him to do & showed him a large rock in front of his cabin.

The Lord explained that he was to PUSH against the rock with all his might. This, the man did day after day. For years he toiled from sun-up to sun-down with his shoulder squarely against the rock pushing with all his might.

Each night the man returned to his cabin sore & worn out feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

One day he started thinking –“you’ve been pushing against this rock for a long time & it hasn’t budged. Why kill yourself over this? You’re never going to move it. Why not just start putting in your time giving just a minimum of effort & that will be good enough?”

Then he felt he should go to prayer & ask the Lord why he was failing. The Lord answered, “Son when I asked you to serve me you said you would. I told you to push against that rock. Not once did I ask you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you’ve come to me telling me that you’ve failed. But is that really so? Look at your arms. Look how strong you are, much more powerful than you used to be. Through opposition you’ve grown much in your abilities & you now surpass what you used to be. But your calling was to be obedient & to PUSH against the rock & exercise your faith & trust in my wisdom. This you’ve done. I, my son will now move the rock.”

That little story hits home to all of us I’m sure. We grow weary in the work & start to try to do it all ourselves when what God actually wants is our simple obedience & faith in Him.

When everything goes wrong---Just PUSH!
When the work gets you down---Just PUSH!
When your money looks funny & bills are due---Just PUSH!
When people are acting strange---Just PUSH!
When you’re misunderstood---Just PUSH!
When nothing seems to be happening---Just PUSH!

Here are 12 benefits of prayer,

1. Prayer defeats the devil. ---Matt. 18:18
2. Prayer saves the unbeliever---Acts 2:21
3. Prayer edifies the believer—Jude 20
4. Prayer sends laborers into the harvest—Matt.9:38
5. Prayer heals the sick—James 5:13-15
6. Prayer overcomes the impossible—Matt. 21:22
7. Prayer changes the natural---James 5:13-15
8. Prayer brings the right things to pass—Matt. 7:7-11
9. Prayer brings peace—Phil.4:5-7
10. Prayer imparts wisdom---James 1:5
11. Prayer guards against temptation---Matt. 26:41
12. Prayer reveals God’s answers—Like 11:9,10

To keep PUSHING in prayer is the key until God moves. The question is have you been really praying to see the victory come. Could this be why your prayer life is dull & dry & you’ve failed to see the answers to your prayers? Why not acknowledge your failures & ask God to give you a prayer burden & with the help of the Holy Spirit—PUSH! ----Pray Until Something Happens? ---------John