"Modern prayers, for the most part, are lightly spoken. They are said without faith, uttered without burden, compassion or concern. John Welch lived in the little town of Ayr, Scotland. He prayed so much his knees were calloused and enlarged. He would rise shortly after going to bed in the evening, throw a plaid over his shoulders and go out into the mist of the night weeping. He would go to his little church and stay all night on his knees in prayer. Friends and loved ones begged him to go home and get some sleep and rest. John Welch said, ‘I can’t go home and sleep when there are 3,000 souls in this town and I know not how it is with them.’ Very candidly, I know nothing of that kind of intercessory praying today. John Knox wept over Scotland. Jesus wept over Jerusalem. John Welch wept over Ayr. May I ask, ‘Who’s going to weep over your town and mine?’ "
