{"id":32183,"date":"2022-09-10T15:59:42","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/6-lessons-leonard-ravenhill-taught-me\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:59:42","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:59:42","slug":"6-lessons-leonard-ravenhill-taught-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/6-lessons-leonard-ravenhill-taught-me\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Lessons Leonard Ravenhill Taught Me"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Mark Dance<\/em><\/p>\n

The privilege of knowing Leonard Ravenhill as a teenager was nothing less than a sovereign surprise. Ravenhill was a British evangelist and writer who passed away in 1994. His quotes on prayer and revival still frequently pop up in sermons and on social media. God crossed our paths during the most impressionable years of my life.<\/p>\n

Here are six lessons I learned from this wonderful man of God.<\/p>\n

1. Invest In Young People.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I was merely 16 years old in 1981 when I met Leonard, who was 74. The occasion was a prayer meeting he led on Friday nights in the house just outside of my hometown of Tyler, Texas.<\/p>\n

Ravenhill knew as much about me as I did about him\u2013nada. Yet because of this gritty English evangelist, a bunch of shaggy teenagers were praying while our peers were partying.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main ambition in life is to be on the devil’s most wanted list.\u201d \u2013 Leonard Ravenhill<\/em><\/p>\n

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2. Pray With Conviction.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I\u2019d only recently accepted God\u2019s call into the ministry when I started attending this prayer meeting with a few friends. Private and public prayer were still awkward for me at that time. God used Leonard\u2019s prayers to loosen me and enlighten me.<\/p>\n

He prayed with so much intensity that I expected the carpet under his knees to catch on fire. Ravenhill\u2019s fire for public prayer was stoked by the many hours of private prayer he\u2019d invested between those meetings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Cinderella of the Church today is the prayer meeting.\u201d \u2013 Leonard Ravenhill<\/em><\/p>\n

3. Pray In Unity.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I was a Southern Baptist kid who at first was intimidated by these often raucous prayer meetings, but I eventually got used to people praying out loud and at the same time.<\/p>\n

One night the prayer time devolved into noisy chaos and Ravenhill put a hard stop to it. It took several attempts for Ravenhill to get everyone\u2019s attention before he said firmly, \u201cGod does not cause the spirit of confusion. We have come to pray together in unity!\u201d<\/p>\n

I remember wanting to give him a high-five but had just enough restraint to stand down.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be much for God, we must be much with God.\u201d \u2013 Leonard Ravenhill<\/em><\/p>\n

4. Great Worship Trumps Great Music.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I really enjoyed hearing Leonard pray and teach, but he was less than awesome at singing. Keith Green sometimes led worship from his piano, but mostly it was Ravenhill who led us a cappella\u2013at least when I was present.<\/p>\n

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Ravenhill\u2019s favorite song was \u201cHoly, Holy, Holy,\u201d which he led at every single meeting. I loved it more each time we sang it.<\/p>\n

\u201cEntertainment is the devil’s substitute for joy.\u201d \u2013 Leonard Ravenhill<\/em><\/p>\n

5. Anger is Not Always a Sin.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Most of Ravenhill\u2019s books and sermons are prophetic in tone, as are the quotes of his you usually see on social media. I suspect he was not so much angry with the culture as he was the Church.<\/p>\n

He was a Wesleyan with holiness roots, who never stopped praying for the Church to experience the next Great Awakening.<\/p>\n

There is righteous anger that leads to more righteousness, as well as unrighteous anger which can lead to sin (Ephesians 4:26). Ravenhill was both good and angry, which ultimately meant that he cared about the things God cared about.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne can have instant purity, but not instant maturity.\u201d \u2013 Leonard Ravenhill<\/em><\/p>\n

6. Prayer is More Caught Than Taught.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

My Fridays with Ravenhill ended when I went off to college five hours away. Our last visit was in the Tyler hospital after a stroke which left him temporarily speechless.<\/p>\n

After we prayed together one last time, his nod and smile were a sufficient graduation diploma from what I consider to be my school of prayer.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo man is greater than his prayer life.\u201d \u2013 Leonard Ravenhill<\/em><\/p>\n

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Mark Dance<\/h2>\n

@markdance<\/strong><\/p>\n

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After serving as a pastor for 28 years, Mark is now the director of pastoral wellness for Guidestone Financial Resources. He frequently speaks at churches, conferences, and retreats\u2014often with his wife Janet. Read more from him at\u00a0MarkDance.net.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n