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John Hames
John Hames (1880–1945) was an American preacher and evangelist whose ministry within the Pentecostal movement ignited revivals across the rural Midwest with a focus on spiritual awakening and holiness. Born in a small Indiana farming community to a devout family, Hames grew up amid economic hardship, finding faith at 17 during a tent meeting that marked his call to preach. With minimal formal education, he began his ministry in 1905, traveling by wagon to preach in small towns, often with his wife, Clara, whom he married in 1907 and with whom he raised five children. Known for his fervent sermons and prayer for healing, he drew crowds eager for a tangible experience of God’s power. Hames’s ministry peaked in the 1920s when he settled in Illinois, pastoring a growing Pentecostal congregation and launching a regional radio program, The Flame of Faith, to extend his reach. His preaching emphasized repentance, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and a life set apart from worldly vices, resonating with Depression-era believers seeking hope. Though not nationally prominent, he wrote tracts like The Fire Within and mentored younger evangelists, shaping the Pentecostal landscape in his region. Retiring in 1940 due to poor health, Hames died in 1945, leaving a legacy as a humble, spirited preacher whose grassroots efforts fueled a quiet but enduring revival.
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John Hames emphasizes the importance of starting the day with God through prayer, meditation, and reading the Bible to receive grace and strength to face the challenges of the day. He warns against the dangers of spiritual indolence and slackness, attributing many backsliders' downfall to neglecting this vital spiritual discipline. Hames encourages believers to prioritize their relationship with God each morning, seeking to live a more prayerful, watchful, and holy life daily.
Beginning the Day With God
"When I awake, I am still with Thee" (Psalm 189:18). A careful observation of more than twenty years has thoroughly convinced us that if a person would live a real Christian life and have power with God and man, it will be necessary for him to spend some special time in the performance of the pious employment of waiting upon God. There are many who would not think of committing an open sin who grow cold and backslide through yielding to indolence and slackness. Doubtless ninety per cent of the present-day backsliders can trace the cause of their downfall to this point. Just as the engineer finds it necessary to replenish his engine with coal, water, sand and oil before leaving the roundhouse, just so it is necessary for the child of God to take on new supplies of grace and glory before going forth to meet the world. Many an honest, well-meaning soul has lost the victory, yielded to temptation and failed during the day simply because he did not take time to coal up before leaving the roundhouse in the morning. We will submit a few suggestions on how to begin the day with God. 1. If it be possible and consistent rise in time to give yourself one hour for secret prayer and meditation. It is true you will find Satan right at your side to withstand you and fill your mind with a thousand cares but you can gain the victory by withstanding him and pressing onward. 2. You need not grow discouraged or think it strange because you do not have the same degree of fervency in prayer each morning, neither should you be alarmed through not being able to break through in the same manner each time. 3. On awaking in the morning let Jesus be the first one you enter into conversation with. Do not chat or gossip with the roommate or look out on the street before prayer, if so it will cripple your spirit of prayer besides cause worldly cares and business responsibilities to crowd into your mind. 4. Be sure to take sufficient time to prayerfully and carefully read at least one chapter in the Bible each morning. It is far more necessary that your soul should be fed upon the spiritual bread than your body upon the natural. It would also be found helpful to keep a Bible or Testament with you to read during the spare moments of the day. 5. On starting out each morning, resolve by the grace of God to live a more prayerful, watchful and holy life than you did the day before. Strive to make stepping-stones of your past blunders and mistakes, also strive to live as godly and circumspectly every day as you do at church on Sunday.
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John Hames (1880–1945) was an American preacher and evangelist whose ministry within the Pentecostal movement ignited revivals across the rural Midwest with a focus on spiritual awakening and holiness. Born in a small Indiana farming community to a devout family, Hames grew up amid economic hardship, finding faith at 17 during a tent meeting that marked his call to preach. With minimal formal education, he began his ministry in 1905, traveling by wagon to preach in small towns, often with his wife, Clara, whom he married in 1907 and with whom he raised five children. Known for his fervent sermons and prayer for healing, he drew crowds eager for a tangible experience of God’s power. Hames’s ministry peaked in the 1920s when he settled in Illinois, pastoring a growing Pentecostal congregation and launching a regional radio program, The Flame of Faith, to extend his reach. His preaching emphasized repentance, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and a life set apart from worldly vices, resonating with Depression-era believers seeking hope. Though not nationally prominent, he wrote tracts like The Fire Within and mentored younger evangelists, shaping the Pentecostal landscape in his region. Retiring in 1940 due to poor health, Hames died in 1945, leaving a legacy as a humble, spirited preacher whose grassroots efforts fueled a quiet but enduring revival.