What do you think?
Rate this book
Praying Together for True Revival
Makes accessible Edwards' call for Christians internationally to unite in prayer "for those great effusions of the Holy Spirit" that shall advance Christ's kingdom.
204 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2004
About the author
Jonathan Edwards
1,695 books542 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database named Jonathan Edwards.
Jonathan Edwards was the most eminent American philosopher-theologian of his time, and a key figure in what has come to be called the First Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s.
The only son in a family of eleven children, he entered Yale in September, 1716 when he was not yet thirteen and graduated four years later (1720) as valedictorian. He received his Masters three years later. As a youth, Edwards was unable to accept the Calvinist sovereignty of God. However, in 1721 he came to what he called a "delightful conviction" though meditation on 1 Timothy 1:17. From that point on, Edwards delighted in the sovereignty of God. Edwards later recognized this as his conversion to Christ.
In 1727 he was ordained minister at Northampton and assistant to his maternal grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. He was a student minister, not a visiting pastor, his rule being thirteen hours of study a day. In the same year, he married Sarah Pierpont, then age seventeen, daughter of Yale founder James Pierpont (1659–1714). In total, Jonathan and Sarah had eleven children.
Stoddard died on February 11th, 1729, leaving to his grandson the difficult task of the sole ministerial charge of one of the largest and wealthiest congregations in the colony. Throughout his time in Northampton his preaching brought remarkable religious revivals.
Yet, tensions flamed as Edwards would not continue his grandfather's practice of open communion. Stoddard believed that communion was a "converting ordinance." Surrounding congregations had been convinced of this, and as Edwards became more convinced that this was harmful, his public disagreement with the idea caused his dismissal in 1750.
Edwards then moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, then a frontier settlement, where he ministered to a small congregation and served as missionary to the Housatonic Indians. There, having more time for study and writing, he completed his celebrated work, The Freedom of the Will (1754).
Edwards was elected president of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in early 1758. He was a popular choice, for he had been a friend of the College since its inception. He died of fever at the age of fifty-four following experimental inoculation for smallpox and was buried in the President's Lot in the Princeton cemetery beside his son-in-law, Aaron Burr.
Jonathan Edwards was the most eminent American philosopher-theologian of his time, and a key figure in what has come to be called the First Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s.
The only son in a family of eleven children, he entered Yale in September, 1716 when he was not yet thirteen and graduated four years later (1720) as valedictorian. He received his Masters three years later. As a youth, Edwards was unable to accept the Calvinist sovereignty of God. However, in 1721 he came to what he called a "delightful conviction" though meditation on 1 Timothy 1:17. From that point on, Edwards delighted in the sovereignty of God. Edwards later recognized this as his conversion to Christ.
In 1727 he was ordained minister at Northampton and assistant to his maternal grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. He was a student minister, not a visiting pastor, his rule being thirteen hours of study a day. In the same year, he married Sarah Pierpont, then age seventeen, daughter of Yale founder James Pierpont (1659–1714). In total, Jonathan and Sarah had eleven children.
Stoddard died on February 11th, 1729, leaving to his grandson the difficult task of the sole ministerial charge of one of the largest and wealthiest congregations in the colony. Throughout his time in Northampton his preaching brought remarkable religious revivals.
Yet, tensions flamed as Edwards would not continue his grandfather's practice of open communion. Stoddard believed that communion was a "converting ordinance." Surrounding congregations had been convinced of this, and as Edwards became more convinced that this was harmful, his public disagreement with the idea caused his dismissal in 1750.
Edwards then moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, then a frontier settlement, where he ministered to a small congregation and served as missionary to the Housatonic Indians. There, having more time for study and writing, he completed his celebrated work, The Freedom of the Will (1754).
Edwards was elected president of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in early 1758. He was a popular choice, for he had been a friend of the College since its inception. He died of fever at the age of fifty-four following experimental inoculation for smallpox and was buried in the President's Lot in the Princeton cemetery beside his son-in-law, Aaron Burr.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 18, 2013
Warning! This book contains 3 chapters of Edwards refuting a man who wrote about the Antichrist in the 1700's--it's as exciting as it sounds. But if you are willing to suffer through that (or skip it), and are willing to allow yourself to be challenged to the core about the depth and fervency of your prayers for the lost, then by all means: read on. This book will challenge your heart.
Zechariah 8:20-22, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cities. The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts; I myself am going.’ Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord.
I've been meeting with and talking to a group of high schoolers about the fact that God wants to use them on their campuses to bring many to Christ. In praying about and thinking about this desired mini-revival in the south suburbs of Chicago, I picked up this book--and was punched in the face. In a nutshell, here is what Edwards proposes in this call to prayer: for 7 years, believers in all parts of the world are to gather for prayer for revival every Friday night, every Saturday morning and on the first Tuesday of every quarter for this extraordinary, united and specific prayer (and people say Calvinists don't believe in praying for salvation...please...). Edwards walks through the Scriptures and points to the promises of God regarding His work in the hearts of people and basically asks the question, "if God promised it, and He is basically waiting on your prayers to do this work, and you are guaranteed results at some point (that you may never see, but results indeed), then why don't you start to pray?" Good question.
He ends the book with this, "But whatever our hopes may be in this respect, we must be content to be ignorant to the times and seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power; and must be willing that God should answer prayer, and fulfill His own glorious promieses in His own time; remembering such instructions, counsels and promises, of th eword of God as these:
Psalm 27:4, Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
Habakuk 2:3-4, 3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it;
it will surely come; it will not delay.
4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.
Micah 7:7, "But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me."
Isaiah 25:8-9, " He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
9 It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
Amen, and Amen.
Let us pray together for His glory and the salvation of our friends, family, neighbors, enemies, leaders and fellow countrymen.
Zechariah 8:20-22, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cities. The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts; I myself am going.’ Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord.
I've been meeting with and talking to a group of high schoolers about the fact that God wants to use them on their campuses to bring many to Christ. In praying about and thinking about this desired mini-revival in the south suburbs of Chicago, I picked up this book--and was punched in the face. In a nutshell, here is what Edwards proposes in this call to prayer: for 7 years, believers in all parts of the world are to gather for prayer for revival every Friday night, every Saturday morning and on the first Tuesday of every quarter for this extraordinary, united and specific prayer (and people say Calvinists don't believe in praying for salvation...please...). Edwards walks through the Scriptures and points to the promises of God regarding His work in the hearts of people and basically asks the question, "if God promised it, and He is basically waiting on your prayers to do this work, and you are guaranteed results at some point (that you may never see, but results indeed), then why don't you start to pray?" Good question.
He ends the book with this, "But whatever our hopes may be in this respect, we must be content to be ignorant to the times and seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power; and must be willing that God should answer prayer, and fulfill His own glorious promieses in His own time; remembering such instructions, counsels and promises, of th eword of God as these:
Psalm 27:4, Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
Habakuk 2:3-4, 3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it;
it will surely come; it will not delay.
4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.
Micah 7:7, "But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me."
Isaiah 25:8-9, " He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
9 It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
Amen, and Amen.
Let us pray together for His glory and the salvation of our friends, family, neighbors, enemies, leaders and fellow countrymen.
June 17, 2015
Edwards took a thesis that I was kind-of skeptical of at first and within twenty pages caused me to completely reverse my position and come to agreement with him on not praying for revival is not just a good thing to do but also absolutely necessary. From there on, the rest of the book deepened his position, bringing more Scriptures in to bear, and also making a strong case for why this ought to be a prayer that the Church should be praying for in unison. The way that Edwards tied his argument into his eschatology was great, and while this may turn away non-post-mils, Edwards does take pains to apply this to non-post-mil eschatology, though his strongest arguments come from a post-mil mindset.
There were some aspects of this book that were specifically tied to the situation of the day, including the specific prayer proposal that Edwards is addressing, and also some of the objections that Edwards responds to at the end; however, the book's thesis is by no means tied to the 18th century. Some of the arguments that Edwards responds to are pretty dated and circumstancial to the time that he was writing, and so I just skimmed those, finding not much of value in them, but these are minor complaints with regards to the rest of the book.
Overall, this book convinced me of its thesis, convicted me that I ought to be praying more regularly and with more fervor for revival, and caused me to again consider the great plan of history that God is weaving together. Great read.
Rating: 4-4.5 Stars (very Good).
There were some aspects of this book that were specifically tied to the situation of the day, including the specific prayer proposal that Edwards is addressing, and also some of the objections that Edwards responds to at the end; however, the book's thesis is by no means tied to the 18th century. Some of the arguments that Edwards responds to are pretty dated and circumstancial to the time that he was writing, and so I just skimmed those, finding not much of value in them, but these are minor complaints with regards to the rest of the book.
Overall, this book convinced me of its thesis, convicted me that I ought to be praying more regularly and with more fervor for revival, and caused me to again consider the great plan of history that God is weaving together. Great read.
Rating: 4-4.5 Stars (very Good).
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews