The Rich Young Ruler Who Said Yes!
Have you heard of Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians? Their story is truly one of the greatest in church history. God used these humble, simple believers to launch the first Protestant 24/7 prayer movement and one of the first Protestant missionary movements, taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. Today, God is using their story as the inspiration for 24/7 United Prayer.
History calls Count Zinzendorf “the rich young ruler who said YES!”
When Zinzendorf was 27 years old, he took into his home a single Moravian refugee. Before long, Zinzendorf had 300 Moravian refugees living on his estate and he became their spiritual leader. They lived in a village called Hernnhut, Germany.
Under Zinzendorf’s leadership, they prayed together, studied God’s Word together, and grew spiritually together.
On August 12, 1727, the Moravians conducted an all-night prayer meeting. The group decided to start a prayer vigil. They designated a place of prayer in the village, and they prayed in groups of two or three for one-hour increments.
There are 168 one-hour time slots in a week. The Moravians filled all 168-hour time slots with two to three people per hour. For 24 hours a day, seven days a week, two to three people were always praying in the place of prayer. This went on for 110 years!
Can you imagine the supernatural power that was unleashed by a group praying intentionally for 110 years?
The Moravians’ hearts began to burn with the things that are on the heart of God. Their hearts began to burn for the unreached peoples of the world. Over a fifteen-year period, this small group of 300 Moravians sent out seventy missionaries who went and lived among unreached people groups, learned their language and culture, then told them about Jesus Christ.
Voluntarily Becoming Slaves
One of the churches that the Moravians started sent out 200 missionaries. One of the Moravian missionary teams voluntarily sold themselves into slavery so that they could identify with slaves and share the gospel with them. They were so filled with the spirit of missions which is the spirit of Christ’s self-sacrificing love. The Moravian Brethren, led by Zinzendorf, were responsible for some of the most inspiring and sacrificial stories of missions’ history. The Moravians are credited with starting the modern missionary movement.
One historian estimates that the Moravians would be the largest denomination in the world except that, whenever they planted a new church, they gave it away to another denomination.
Count Zinzendorf said, “I have but one passion — it is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ.”
Recently, inspired by the story of Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians, together with other personal revival experiences, the dream of a united prayer room that would be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and accessible to people all over the world was planted in several hearts. Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, the dream became a reality. Satan meant COVID-19 for evil “…but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive” (Genesis 50:20). Very few people used Zoom until the pandemic lockdowns began. Suddenly people all over the world began meeting via Zoom, and this provided the ideal platform to bring people together for united prayer.
24/7 United Prayer is a blessing that came out of the COVID-19 pandemic
Call to Action
Imagine 24/7 United Prayer encircling the world for one purpose. “A chain of earnest, praying believers should encircle the world. Let all pray in humility. … Let those who cannot leave home, gather in their children, and unite in learning to pray together. … In response to the prayers of God’s people, angels are sent with heavenly blessings.”1
Join us today!
All scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
- Ellen G. White, In Heavenly Places (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1967), 93.
