I've been preaching a series on prayer over the last several weeks. One meaningful quote I employed to describe the results of prayer contrasted to something else is by A. C. Dixon (1854-1925). Dixon was a "southern" Baptist (graduate of Wake Forest College and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Greenville, SC at the time) ministering in a northern cultural climate. He eventually became pastor of Moody Memorial Church. Professor Gerald Priest describes Dixon as,
Something of a microcosm of fundamentalism... [embodying] ... the qualities of personal piety, evangelistic zeal (intensified by his association with Dwight L. Moody and Charles H. Spurgeon), and a fervent disdain for what he called the “vagaries of modernism" 1
Dixon was a respected Baptist leader, renown pastor, prolific writer, and popular Bible conference speaker. In addition, along with William Rice, Dixon remained an outstanding promoter of the "fundamentalist movement" during its early periods of conception (1875–1910) and denominational conflict (1910–1930).
Below is a quote I used in my series but unfortunately failed to note the exact place I obtained it from any single volume of Dixon's various writings.
"When we rely upon organization, we get what organization can do; when we rely upon education, we get what education can do; when we rely upon eloquence, we get what eloquence can do. And so on. But when we rely upon prayer, we get what God can do.”
During my delivery, I spontaneously expanded upon Dixon's quote and let it run a little rhetorically longer:
When we reply upon programs, we get what programs can do...
When we reply upon personality, we get what personality can do...
When we reply upon philosophy, we get what philosophy can do...
When we reply upon profit, we get what profit can do...
When we reply upon politics, we get what politics can do...
But when we rely upon prayer, we get what God can do!
1A. C. DIXON, CHICAGO LIBERALS, AND THE FUNDAMENTALS by Gerald L. Priest, Professor of Historical Theology at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, Allen Park, MI. For a free download of this superb scholarly biographical paper, here’s the link---A. C. DIXON, CHICAGO LIBERALS, AND THE FUNDAMENTALS by Gerald L. Priest
Good post Peter. There is no doubt that the greatest need of the hour is for God's people to pray. I was young and now am old - I've seen stuff come and go in SBC ranks (and still hoping that more will go). But my greatest lament is that our churches don't pray as we ought. My observation has been that prayer meetings in the organized church are too often just that ... organized. To keep things on schedule, prayer meetings are confined to time-slots and saints then directed to the next spot on the agenda. We squeeze prayer in between chicken dinners and financial freedom studies. Sadder still, many prayer meetings have been canceled for lack of interest.
Little prayer ... little power ... and we wonder why we don't have enough breath to blow the dust off a peanut! The hedge is down because we don't pray. Instead of organizing, we need to do more agonizing. In my neck of the woods, church folks don't pray for revival because they are satisfied to live without it. We ain't scaring much these days - the devil doesn't worry when we get up in the morning ... because we don't pray. Hope things are better where you live.
Posted by: Max | 2013.05.06 at 09:23 AM
I think the quote is actually from R G Lee's sermon, 'The Prayer of Concern' unless he was quoting Dixon and forgot to give attribution.
Posted by: Barry King | 2013.05.06 at 11:56 AM