Modern Examples of Prayer
Though we wouldn’t consider any of the men mentioned in this book modern, I guess, considering they were not from the time of Jesus, they are still modern examples, and we can glean much from them.
There were many examples of praying men in this chapter, but the one who stood out to me the most was William Carvosso, who lived until 1834. His prayers were full of spirit and life, leading to his being filled with the Holy Spirit to the point of becoming undone. This man was a Methodist preacher, not a holy roller, and God showed up when he was praying. Such an encounter is something we all long for, and I hope someday we will be describing our own out-of-body experience in a similar meeting with God. Here is the thing, though, which is a lesson for all of us: we have to be away from people, alone in our prayers to God, because such an encounter is unlikely if you don’t spend time alone with Him. What he describes is something that happened to him when he was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Most of us won’t have such an encounter, but God was calling him out as one of His own; this wasn’t the only time he encountered an overflowing and infilling of the Holy Spirit. Here he describes his conversion:
“Man years before I was sealed by the Spirit in a somewhat similar manner. While walking out one day, I was drawn to turn aside on the public road, and under the canopy of the skies, I was moved to kneel down to pray. I had not long been praying with God before I was so visited from Him that I was overpowered by the divine glory, and I shouted till I could be heard at a distance. It was a weight of glory that I seemed incapable of bearing in the body, and therefore I cried out, perhaps unwisely, Lord, stay Thy hand. In this glorious baptism these words came to my heart with indescribable power: ‘I have sealed thee unto the day of redemption.’
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