There was, in America, a "Second Great Awakening" that took place and was centralized in the North East and especially in the Upstate New York Region. In the early part of the nineteenth century Upstate New York was one of the industrial centers of the nation and the world. The population was dense for that day and the cities were important to commerce and society in every way. The warfare of the spiritual realms was great and there came a revival from that region that was eventually heard around the world. Charles Finney was the leading voice and preached a fiery message for the salvation of souls. Finney could not have done what he did without the help of his much loved friend Daniel Nash, affectionately known as "Father Nash."

Nash was middle-aged before he truly got a hold of God in intercessory prayer with true success. Charles Finney wrote of Nash's beginnings in prayer this way: “At this place I again saw Father Nash, the man who prayed with his eyes open when I was licensed. After he was at presbytery he was taken with inflamed eyes; and for several weeks was shut up in a dark room. He could neither read nor write and gave himself up almost entirely to prayer. He had a terrible overhauling in his whole Christian experience; and as soon as he was able to see, with a double black veil before his face, he sallied forth to labor for souls.”

Luke 11:1 states that Jesus was "praying in a certain place." This place was undoubtedly a place that is not of this world but a priestly place where heaven was drawn to earth. Daniel Nash knew of that place and somehow carved out a path to get there on a regular basis.

Nash went before Finney into places to clear the way and bring a heavenly atmosphere into the towns and regions that Finney would preach the gospel in. God's kingdom would take its place in that region and the salvation of souls by the hundreds and even the thousands would then take place.

Because Nash had a way of making such a passionate contact with heaven, he would even invite others to help in that prayer time that brought the wonders of God to that region. Our understanding is that Nash would go into a place where he and Finney would be doing the work of the Lord and gather, if possible, a few hearty souls to prayer with him. Finney once wrote of Nash: "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,' I replied. 'They just have a spirit of travail in prayer.'"

In the historical writings that we can find about Finney and Nash there is a repeating glimpse into the life of this great prayer warrior and the strategic team of kingdom warriors. Although we do not know what he prayed, we do have insight into how he prayed. He set himself apart to get hold of heaven. This taught him how to get to that place where he had the attention of the Lord and His hosts. Nash could then go that route and find the voice of God and know that his petitions were answered for the souls of that region. God would then have a clear opening to pour out His divine mercy, the Holy Spirit would come in conviction upon the people living in the region and the souls of men, women and children would yield to the kingdom of heaven. They would open their hearts up and cry out for God to have mercy upon them and the Holy Spirit would then pour forth His mercy and they would be saved.

Charles Finney would publicly direct the paths of the people to Jesus Christ through the powerful preaching of the gospel!

According to the fourth chapter of Second Corinthians, there is a "mind blinding spirit" that prevents the unbelievers of the world from receiving the "glorious light of the gospel of Christ" and entering into His wonderful salvation. That being the case then it seems highly possible that the deep abiding prayer that was exampled by Father Nash was able to destroy that veil that blocked out the light of the gospel to the minds of the people in upstate New York in that day. Could we not do the same if we focused our efforts on the removal of that veil?

In a region, city, village or neighborhood, the spiritual forces of evil prevail until one who is stronger will come and take away the ability for the powers of darkness to harm the people. We should then do what Father Nash did. Deep abiding prayer will take us to a place of removing that veil and destroying hold of darkness upon the minds of the people.

There must then be a release that is known and felt by the intercessor as it was with Nash who acknowledged to Finney that it was time to do his work for the salvation of multitudes. When that veil is release we must somehow feel it or sense it or know that the veil has been broken. There must be some earth shaking feeling to the intercessor so that there is a knowledge that breakthrough has taken place. In the same way, there must be the next wave in place that will take hold of that open heaven and a strategic work of the gospel must take place.

In a message entitled "The Results Of Believing Prayer" John G. Lake reports, "A woman, holding the infant baby of Mrs. Lloyd McLaughlin, was asked to stand. 'This baby is just one month old.  When the baby was born the mother was given Twilight Sleep, which resulted in insanity, as it so often does.  This church has been praying for the dear woman.  On Monday a group of our people went aside to particularly pray for this dear mother.  I called them on the phone about five o’clock and asked one of the sisters, “What is the answer from heaven?”  She replied, “Well, brother, we have the answer.  Our hearts have the victory, and we know the woman is healed.”  Yesterday morning the woman awoke, healed!  Praise the Lord!'"

In this account of specific healing prayer there was a knowledge of the people praying that the work was done. I was still another day before the results were seen but something told the prayer warriors that it their work in prayer was accomplished. This tells us several things: 1. To say we are praying is not victorious. We must pray through and touch the heavenly places that will bring about deliverance that is needed. 2. The miracle is done first in the realms of the spirit before it is ever seen upon the earth. 3. Something takes place in the time of prayer that announces the breakthrough whereby the victory is seen, felt or sensed in some manner.

In the same sermon, Lake says this about the "Results Of Believing Prayer: "That baby’s mother, (referring to the baby in the audience), would have not been healed, except that a little nucleus determined to pray until the woman was healed!  And they stayed in prayer all day!  Monday, at five o’clock, they had the victory.  It took them all day!  I wish we had spirituality and faith enough to look through the mists and see what was taking place all that day long, until the powers of darkness were dispelled, and the healing came."