Just like the saying that behind every successful man is a woman, so also it is that behind every successful minister of the gospel is an intercessor.
Charles Finney was a great American Presbyterian minister and leader in the Second Great Awakening in the United States. He was best known as an innovative revivalist during the period 1825-1835 and has been called the Father of Modern Revivalism. He was lauded as a reformist who fought for abolition of slavery and for equal rights to education for women. His revival at Rochester, New York is noted to have paved the way for other revivals in that era. His ministry was indeed great and backed by signs and wonders by the power of the Holy Spirit. But, what most people did not know was that Finney had a secret ingredient — Daniel Nash.
Nash, better known as Father Nash, was a man given to prayers. It is recorded that he first started as a preacher but was rejected by his congregation after a while on the claims that “he was too old and they wanted a younger preacher”. This rejection was said to have caused him great emotional pains and a spiritual damage that seemed like his ministry was over. Little did he know that this was God’s way of preparing him to leave the public ministry of preaching to the private one of intercession.
A serious case of inflamed eyes forced him to stay in a dark room for days and birthed his intercessory ministry.
According to records, Nash’s first encounter with Finney left him perplexed at this preacher who seemed to be in a cold and backslidden state. Both men met in Evan Mills, New York where they entered a partnership which involved Finney being the public evangelist and Nash, being behind the scenes. Nash later wrote:
“When Mr. Finney and I began our race, we had no thought of going amongst ministers. Our highest ambition was to go where there was neither minister nor reformation and try to look up the lost sheep, for whom no man cared. We began and the Lord prospered…. But we go into no man’s parish unless called…. We have room enough to work and work enough to do.”
The deal was that before Finney enters a particular town, Nash would go two or three weeks ahead to prepare the town in prayers, sometimes with a group of three, most times with a partner with like passions, Abel Clary.
Another record puts how this team operated this way:
“On one occasion when I got to town to start a revival, a lady contacted me who ran a boarding house. She said: ‘Brother Finney, do you know a Father Nash? He and two other men have been at my boarding house for the last three days, but they haven’t eaten a bite of food. I opened the door and peeped in at them because I could hear them groaning, and I saw them down on their faces. They have been this way for three days, lying prostrate on the floor and groaning. I thought something awful must have happened to them. I was afraid to go in and I didn’t know what to do. Would you please come see about them?’”
“’No, it isn’t necessary,’ Finney replied. ‘They just have a spirit of travail in prayer.’”
Another account goes thus, as told by Leonard Ravenhill:
“I met an old lady who told me a story about Charles Finney that has challenged me over the years. Finney went to Bolton to minister, but before he began, two men knocked on the door of her humble cottage, wanting lodging. The poor woman looked amazed, for she had no extra accommodations. Finally, for about twenty-five cents a week, the two men, none other than Fathers Nash and Clary, rented a dark and damp cellar for the period of the Finney meetings (at least two weeks), and there in that self-chosen cell, those prayer partners battled the forces of darkness.”
The beauty of this partnership was that each man knew his particular role and none was downplayed. Finney realised that without the prayer groundwork of Father Nash, little would be accomplished in the meetings he organised. While Finney preached, Father Nash most times never attended the meetings as he stayed hidden, travailing in the place of prayer. It is recorded that great miracles and a large harvest of souls were always a norm in those meetings.
When asked by someone just who Father Nash was as he was rarely seen, Finney answered: “Like anybody who does a lot of praying, Father Nash is a very quiet person. Show me a person who is always talking and I’ll show you a Christian who never does much praying.”
Although he (Father Nash) was a quiet man, his prayers could be heard from afar especially when he got fervent and this was as a result of the burdens in his soul. It is recorded that a man got saved when he heard Father Nash praying in a grove of trees.
Also, he was known for praying with a list, as he never believed in praying amiss but making sure his faith had a target. He would always use this and it was always easy to tell when his prayers had been answered. He never gave up but would continue praying those prayers daily until they manifested.
This is the account of Father Nash’s last word by Finney shortly before the former’s death:
“Said a good man to me: ‘Oh, I am dying for the want of strength to pray! My body is crushed, the world is on me, and how can I forbear praying?’ I have known that man go to bed absolutely sick, for weakness and faintness, under the pressure. And I have known him pray as if he would do violence to Heaven, and then have seen the blessing come as plainly in answer to his prayer as if it were revealed, so that no person could doubt it any more than if God had spoken from heaven. Shall I tell you how he died? He prayed more and more; he used to take the map of the world before him, and pray, and look over the different countries and pray for them, till he expired in his room, praying. Blessed man! He was the reproach of the ungodly, and of carnal, unbelieving professors; but he was the favourite of Heaven, and a prevailing prince of prayer.”
Father Nash died at the age of 56 on his knees in earnest prayers. His partnership with Finney lasted seven years and it is recorded that the ministry of Finney never recorded as much impact as it did during the partnership with Father Nash.
We live in a world where much emphasis is placed on the one with the microphone and the one seen by all. Many people are reluctant to pay the price to intercede and perhaps that is why the Church is experiencing more losses than victories recently. We need to go back to the place of prayer and it is up to us to take our place in the final revival of the Church.
*Excerpts and quotes are gotten from the book ‘The Prevailing Prince of Prayer’ by J. Paul Reno (1989)