In regard to my own experience, I will say that unless I had the spirit of prayer I could do nothing. If even for a day or an hour I lost the spirit of grace and supplication, I found myself unable to preach with power and efficiency, or to win souls by personal conversation.
From all my study of great moves of God, and great men and women of God, this man was unstoppable. In any endeavor, any desire that he set his mind to, was accomplished, from the salvation of particular people, to whole cities. God was powerfully present in anything that He did.
Why? Well, because of what is quoted above. It was not him, his eloquence, his persuasiveness, the style of preaching, nor the amount he prayed, but the grace of God.
Grace..
So beautiful, yet it can look so frustrating. It implies the absolute willingness and heart of God, regardless of my righteousness to love me and bless me. At the same time the reason why it is so frustrating is exactly because of that, it's God's side of the equation. It is His power, no effort of mine qualifies for His grace.
We can work out butts off at holiness or soul-winning, but without His grace, it is empty words, and human effort. We may even see some results, yet the effectiveness of the work is minimal.
Jesus, Help us to live in your grace, help us to contend in prayer for this, and to tarry until we have it. Help us to value it so highly that we will never compromise in our lives and so lose our awareness of it.
This isn't my usual sort of post, but it has been on my mind and this is a great way to let it out. Hopefully it encourages you.
Daniel