In this sermon, the preacher reflects on the predictions he made about the consequences of communism in Russia. He acknowledges that his warnings of devastation, violence, and destruction have come true, as he shares personal experiences of his daughter being harmed and his church being burned. The preacher emphasizes the importance of interpreting the Bible accurately and not avoiding uncomfortable truths. He calls for a divine intervention of mercy, power, and revival, stating that only through travailing and fervent prayer can the church overcome the challenges of the present day.

We read tonight from the first book of Samuel. First book of Samuel, the first chapter. Now there's a certain man of Ramothane, Zophim, at Mount Ephraim. His name was Elkarma, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zeph, and Ephrathai. He had two wives. The name of one was Hannah, the name of the other was Penina. Penina had children, but Hannah had no children. And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Siloam. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there. And when the time wasn't Elkarma offered, he gave to his wife, Penina, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions. But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had shut up her womb. And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make a fret, because that the Lord had shut up her womb. And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her, and therefore she wept and did not eat. Then said Elkarma her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou, why eatest thou not, why is thy heart grieved? Am not I better to eat than ten sons? So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Siloam, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord. And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore. And she vowed to vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou would indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me and not forget thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. And it came to pass as she continued praying before the Lord, Eli marked her mouth. Now Hannah she spake in her heart, her lips moved but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli, and he was the priest, thought she was drunken. And Eli said unto her, how long will thou be drunken? Put away thy wine from thee. And Hannah answered and said, no my Lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Let me again just thank you for the offering, which is useful. I guess you notice I drive a nice new Cadillac, and you sure say, well it must be profitable to be a preacher. It's not a new one, it's last year's model. And it has 12,000 miles on it. And I met a man and he said, you know, I think the Lord wants me to give you a Cadillac. And I said, you know, I think the Lord wants me to receive it. And so I got a Cadillac, but you know he didn't give it to me, he charged me ten dollars for it. But it's a bargain, you can't get a good car under that these days. And the offering will support my son, who's my chauffeur, and my prayer partner, and my other son who's back home from the mission field. So I want to thank you for that. Tomorrow I want to speak, and Thursday and Friday in the noon hour. Wednesday David's going to speak. I just asked the pastor, he said it's okay. I wanted to share a message on binding the strong man. So Wednesday at noon David will be speaking. Then instead of having the prayer meeting on Friday night, this week we're going to have the prayer meeting on Thursday night. Now that may involve a little more sacrifice, but prayer, sacrifice is basic to prayer anyhow. And David and I are going to get out of town as quickly as we can, Saturday morning, try and get home for Saturday night. So we couldn't pray till two o'clock as we did last week, and then drive. It wouldn't be very safe. So will you remember that the prayer meeting on Thursday night, I think we should go straight into the prayer meeting. I might have a gap for half past ten. Fast from your coffee for once. And let's go straight into the prayer meeting. And I'm sure God will bless us in it. And if I could urge you to do one thing, it would be to stand by the pastor more than ever in that period of prayer. Listen I'll tell you this, and you'll shoot me down, and I don't care. And in any case lots of churches won't have me, so that doesn't worry me too much. But you know there are not many churches, Baptist churches included, in America where they have a half night of prayer anymore. They have a half night for a swing, but not many churches want a half night of prayer. And if you don't stand behind this pastor, I'll get him a new job. I know two churches now want a real good pastor, and he really qualifies. I haven't told him that. Were you listening? All right. Well, but I'm not, I could get him a real lovely job, a wealthy church. He could have his own yacht, and boy he could have a great time. I won't tell you where it is. But I'll tell you what, he's a rare species of a man these days. Amen. Why don't we all say praise the Lord. All right, thank you, thank you. Save a little for me afterwards. This is a very beautiful chapter on prayer. If I were to put a title on this, I would call it the anatomy of prayer. I think all the essential ingredients for the highest form of prayer are found here in this chapter. You know well enough that in the end of Ephesians chapter 6, Paul talks about the church putting on the whole armor of God. True prayer is warfare. And when he has described the armaments that we have, he uses this phrase, which is not mentioned very often, he says, praying with all prayer and supplication. I think there he's suggesting, at least as I understand it, he's saying that every type of prayer should be involved. Now there are very, very many different levels of prayer. There is the average prayer, the prayers we say by our bedside. There's the prayer of the intercessor, there's the prayer of supplication. And then you have the highest, in my judgment, of all prayer, it is the prayer of the intercessor. Norman Grubb wrote a book. I think the best book he's written, though he's written a lot of good books. He has a book called, Rees-Howell's Intercessor. How many of you read Rees-Howell's Intercessor? Good, everybody should read it. It's a very wonderful life of a Welshman who was practically uneducated. But he rose to the place of being an intercessor. Now look, if two people are talking and I go in and say something, then obviously I interrupt them. I put myself between two people who are talking, I'm an interrupter. If two people are doing something and I barge into that, I'm an interferer. In other words, I project myself between two situations. Now it's very good to pray. It's very good to join a team that we sometimes say, well that church has a, uh, they have a bunch of prayer warriors. Well I think that's very wonderful too. But I believe the highest form of prayer is when I dare to pray and say that, that situation, I'll put myself between two situations and the answer will come through me. Again as in the case of Abraham. You see even in the word of God there are not many real examples of intercession. You have the example of course of Moses standing between a God of wrath and the sin of the people. And you remember that he, he serves up God. It's not a case of God getting hold of Moses. It's Moses getting hold of God and God says, let me go. And Moses says, I will not let thee go. You have the case of a man standing between judgment and Sodom and Gomorrah with all its iniquity. You know the world right now has not much respect for the church of the living God. But you know I bet it, we'd better tell it something. The only reason the world isn't burning like Sodom and Gomorrah right now is because the church is here, that's all. We may be pretty weak, we're still the salt of the earth. And yet if there is going to be an end time revival, and I believe there is, some people hang their hearts on the willow, no sir. I believe we're going to have a Pentecost that without Pentecost, Pentecost. I believe there's going to be a final outpouring of the spirit before the wrath of God. People said you think the church will go through the tribulation. Well brother if you've been living in China the last 20 years you'd think you'd been through it. A man came to my office one day, I said you don't look too happy, he said I've just come from Taiwan. No pardon me, he came, he had just met an old college friend who had come from Taiwan. Well why did that depress you? Because he said my friend was told in Taiwan, you were a missionary 20 years ago, this is 10 years back now, 20 years ago in China, yes. What province? Uh say Hunan province. Oh if you go down the main street here and turn left and go three blocks and turn right and so on. So you'll see a factory it's painted blue and all the people in that factory are from the particular province you used to be in. So he went in and he saw these different China men you know, Sing Hai and Sing Lo and all the others. And they were all busy working and uh so he greeted one of them and the man looked at him and frowned and went on with his work. And he greeted him again in eloquent Chinese. The man ignored him. Oh he said I, I, I know you don't recognize it, I'm your pastor. I got you know inflation's gone everywhere and he was inflated too. And uh he said and I've lost my hair. But I'm your pastor. He said the man's eyes filled with tears and he said to him you're a false prophet. That's about as comfortable said the man of hearing that I'm a an adulterer. I'm not a false prophet. Don't you remember that big book I had on the platform every Tuesday night and we turned the leaf over and I told you what the Mormons believed. I turned it over next week. I told you what Jehovah's Witnesses believed. I turned it over and I taught you every week about, about false prophets. Ah yes said the China man. Do you remember that behind the platform you had a great big map of the world. Russia spanning more acreage than any other country in the world. Do you remember that from that country you had a big arrow coming down and then another arrow and then another arrow. And on war you have, on one you had war and rape and murder and, and all the great iniquities that you said would come down upon us from communism. The preacher began to feel a bit uncomfortable. You told us that our cities will be devastated, our churches will be burned, our bibles will be destroyed, our women will be raped in the streets, the streets would run with blood. But you said don't you worry because you're going to be raptured. You won't take part in this. You, you'll only see it from the, from the gallery. You know I saw that in a home in Canada. The young man there said my daddy's coming to dinner tomorrow His daddy is a multi-millionaire, you know rags to riches. When his father came he said, my son told me about the men in Taiwan. He said you know the biggest problem in the Russian revolution that I went through was not communism. It was fundamental preachers who told us it was coming that we would be raptured. But he said I was herded into a cattle truck. The streets ran with blood. Whether Rasputin started the revolution I don't know. But the Tsar and the others were murdered. The church has never come from being an underground institution there. Why this Chinaman going back to the Chinaman said I remember when the communists came in, my wife was dragged from my arms, my son was pushed in a truck, my daughter was kicked into another truck, my church was burned, our bibles were destroyed, the streets ran with blood, what more can you have? You know there's a lot of bible interpretation just, it fits just into the economy of America tonight. If you've got yellow glasses on you'll see everything yellow. And a lot of us want to interpret the bible so it won't hurt us. We don't want to disturb our congregations. We think that if we get enslaved then who knows that we won't. Maybe our choice again is to concentrate in prayer or pray in concentration camps. Take your choice. There is only one answer for the day in which we live again. That is a great marvelous divine intervention of mercy and power and revival. And there is no way to birth except travailing. Dear lord if we do many travailing preachers as we have traveling preachers, many of our preachers get more people to the holy land than they get to the cross. And some of them are running out of trips. Folk are tired of going to Israel so now they have trips to Japan or somewhere else. Maybe I'll get a trip up to Siberia so we can all pray. Okay then here is the anatomy of prayer. The classic prayer. This man had two wives. That was enough to make him pray, but he had two wives. He gave to Hannah a worthy portion. She has one problem and only one problem. What's the one problem? The lord has shut up her room. Apparently for years she was quite contented about this. He didn't worry her too much. But her adversary provoked her. Now notice the ingredients here. Verse 7 says that she went year by year up to this sanctuary, to the house of the lord. And her adversary provoked her therefore she ate, pardon me, therefore she wept. Go to the end of 10. It says that she wept until she was sore. Go a little further down into the 15th verse. Hannah answered and said, no my lord I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink that have poured out my soul unto the lord. What did she do? She wept. She continued with a weeping until she wept, until she was sore. And then finally she says, I poured out my soul unto the lord. It reminds me of the lord Jesus. He must have walked into the garden of Gethsemane. Then it says he knelt in the garden of Gethsemane. And then it says he prostrated himself in the garden of Gethsemane. Now notice she wept and she did not eat. So she was not only weeping, she was fasting. Her husband says in verse 8, why weepest thou? Why eatest thou not? Why is thy heart grieved? So on top of her fasting and her weeping she's grieved in her spirit. In verse 10 it says she's in bitterness of soul. In the middle of verse 11 it says she's having affliction. It says in verse 10 she prayed unto the lord. Again in verse 12 she continued praying. For what? Here is a weeping, fasting, praying, travailing moment. Now very often you, you've seen the slogan I have, you've seen it so often. And, and the slogan says something like this. You know prayer changes things. Hannah wasn't praying that, praying for prayer to change things. She was praying for prayer to change her. And it's so easy to say lord change things. It's more difficult to say lord change me so that those things can be changed for me. She prays for one thing. Year by year by year she goes up there into the sanctuary. She's quite happy to go there. She meets her friends. She's beautifully dressed. She knows that she has more of the affection of her husband than the other wife has. But there comes a place where there's a full stop and she says listen I won't put up with this anymore. I'm not happy to have his affection. I'm not happy to have his attention. I'm not happy to have more of it, more of the best clothes and so forth. This other woman that shares the home with me is a woman. She's bringing children to birth. Now the church is described as I said last night. There's a man has a hundred sheep and then you have the parable of the of the woman looking for the silver. Because the church is always described as a woman. Because a woman brings to birth. The lord is coming for what? A warrior on a horse? No he's coming for a bride. The woman brings to birth. This woman has one concern on it. She goes on so far and then suddenly there's a roadblock there. Now I've said this and sometimes we misunderstood. God does not answer prayer. How many prayers have you prayed that God Almighty's never heard? God doesn't answer prayer. He answers desperate prayer. There's a classification of these people right through the word of God. There's another case like this in the 30th chapter of Genesis. The man again has two wives. And in the first verse of the 30th chapter it says this. When Rachel saw that she bared Jacob no children Rachel envied her sister. Oh look at my sister. Now Rachel was the beauty queen of the tribe. Her sister wasn't attractive at all. Her eyes were rather sore and she didn't have much personality. But she had everything a woman wants. She had a bunch of healthy children around her skirt. And it says when Rachel saw her sister she came to Jacob. Oh I don't think she set her hair just right that morning. I don't think she looked to see if her dress was perfect and admired her own figure and went to all the trimmings. I think she came in that day with grief. Her eyes were more red than her sister's. And she says to her husband, Jacob give me children or I die. There is one reason we don't have revival and that is we're content to live without it that's why. I remember a woman saying to me once, Brother Rachel in our church we've done very well on minimum prayer. She said what would we have done if we prayed maximum prayer? We never have nights of prayer. Nobody weeps in our prayer meeting. Nobody gets disturbed in our prayer meeting. Oh she said if only somehow God would give us a spirit of prayer and of supplication. There comes a point I believe in the life of every believer when you get to a plateau and either you fade out there and you become a normal weary weak Christian or on the other hand you shake it off and say God Almighty I'm not content to stay in this condition. Give me children or I die. One of the greatest characters in the in the church in the history of the church in Scotland surely was John Knox. He was a great preacher. I think of two great events in his life. He was preaching in St. Giles Cathedral one Sunday morning. People were hanging on the on the lights nearly sitting on the rafters as usual. Here is this great Scottish theologian and he's going to preach one of those thundering sermons. He went to all the preliminaries of the sermon, let the congregation sit down and then he said bow your heads. I'm going to send you home. I have no word from the Lord. Do you know many preachers that have the courage to send a congregation of about 3,000 people home? Most preachers would have warmed an old sermon up. Dear Lord I can't let these folk go home they've come out. Think of those days there were no buses. People walked to church and they walked miles in Scotland to church. Some of them still do. But the other thing was when he prayed wasn't it bloody Mary that said they tell me John Knox is praying. I'd rather hear an army is advancing on the city than hear that that man is praying. The only thing I ask is what would have happened if two of them have been prayed. He's carrying the Lord himself. The Word of God says if two of you shall agree supposing there have been another man the other half of the battle with him. Hannah comes to the place where she says listen I'm not I'm not content. No longer satisfied for the status quo. No longer nice to go to the best church around in our language. No longer nice just to say husband has a good job and the kids are comfortable and we've got a new car and a lovely home. Well the gates of hell won't shake just on that attitude for sure. We're going to have to put on the whole armor of God. We're going to have to get to the place where we say Lord there is nothing in this world that allures me satisfies me. I'm embarrassed and I say this before God that tonight I'm embarrassed to be part of the church which is an embarrassment to God. I believe tonight the church of Jesus Christ is an embarrassment to God right through the acts of the apostles. Somebody said that's the only unfinished book in the bible. Old J.B. Phillips argues even with the title of the book. He says it's not the acts of the apostles it's some of the acts of some of the apostles. We don't have the whole record there. And again as he says this in the church of Jesus Christ in the acts of the apostles it's full of vibration. It's full of life. It's full of power. They subdue kingdoms. They knock the devil out of his kingdom. They enter into strange countries. What does it say about them? Well he says this about the church. That's all right that brother blesses me. May give you some nerves. He doesn't give me any nerves. He always reminds me of David. That man's been to hell and back. And David says he lifted me out of a horrible pit. If you'd been as near hell as he'd been you'd have the smell of the place on you nearly and you'd understand why he's so thankful. See some of us never even felt lost. That's why we don't know we're found. We never knew without God that we're without God so we don't know we're really saved. J.B. Phillips says about that wonderful pen picture in the early church. This is the church of Jesus Christ. I love to say this. I could say this every day and still be happy about it. He says in the acts of the apostles this is the church of Jesus Christ before it became fat and short of breath by prosperity. This is the church before it became muscle bound by over organization. This is the church where they did not gather a group of intellectuals to study psychosomatic medicine. They just healed the sick. This is the church of Jesus Christ he says where you didn't sign articles of faith. You know you join a church now they say well will you think over this and there are 10 points of doctrine and if you can kick them all off and sign your name you'll be one of us. Now that should discourage you anyhow to be one of them. But anyhow if you sign on the bottom line just sign articles that doesn't take any moral courage any guts does it? Just say I believe what you believe in the virgin birth and the inerrant word of God. Wonderful it won't terrify the devil. But he said they didn't sign articles of faith they acted in faith. And he said they didn't say prayers they prayed in the Holy Ghost. Isn't that what Jude says in his epistle? He talks about praying in the Holy Ghost and in the middle of that wonderful chapter that victory chapter in Romans chapter 8. What does it talk about there? It talks about praying with groanings that cannot be uttered and people say that's praying in tongues. Now all due respect to praying in tongues but that is not praying in tongues because God's got more sense than I have. And if he was praying in tongues he'd say so. It's praying beyond tongues. It's praying beyond any language. There's a piece of doggerel in the world that says what am I? An infant crying in the night. An infant crying for a life with no language but a cry. You get a lovely little baby in your home. All right everything's joyful. Thrilled to death. Till two o'clock in the morning it works better than any alarm clock. And the thing squawks and the lady gets out of bed. The old man. He goes on grunting. And then when the wife gets back into bed with cold feet he says well what's wrong with the kid? Well it needed feeding. A couple of hours after the baby squawks again and he says it needs feeding again. No it needed changing. And a bit later it squawks again and you say what does it need now? Changing feeding? No it was frightened. How do you know? Because I put the light on and it stopped crying. A baby has no language but a cry. The men are too dumb to understand that. And so mother has an intuition and she says uh-uh feeding time. Uh-uh needs a change. Uh-uh no. I mean when they did it the real old way. Not pampers. I mean you know. You girls will never know the joy of washing out 50 nappies and hanging them out on the line. I wonder what you modern women do. What are you tired out today? With what? Pushing buttons all day. Button for the washer. Button for the dryer. Button for toasting. Button for everything. What do you do with all the time you say? Well let's get back to scripture. Stop meddling right here. The child has no language but a cry. The highest forms of prayer. You see the thing is this. If you get serious about praying you know you know it's not too difficult to stand up to the criticism of uh the contradiction of sinners. It's the criticism of saints that gets you down. I mean why does a man like that shout? I mean surely if he knows he's going to shout why doesn't he shout before he comes in church and leave it all quiet? Well why don't you shout before you go to a football match? Man kicks a piece of pig skin off. Everybody goes. The pastor told me the other day nearly hit the ceiling when unabomber scored. That's all right. So did a lot of you but there you are. You know we've got the biggest task in the world. And number one we ought to be the most joyful people in the world. And number two the other side of the coin we ought to be the most sorrowful people in the world. But you see prayer is not constituted by how well you can pray. This race is not to the swift. This battle is not to the strong. Prayer is not constituted by how clever your vocabulary is and you paint stained glass windows with words. Hannah goes to pray. The man of God says she must be drunk. Oh I would to God this church was drunk tonight. I'm trying to get the church drunk. The church never does anything when it's sober anyhow. What did it say about the men that came out of the upper room? Do you know they've been having a beer party up there. These men are drunk. Nobody ever thinks we're drunk do they? They think we're dead but they never think we're drunk. Doesn't Paul say be not filled with wine wherein is excess but be filled, be not drunk but be filled with the spirit. Why? Because there's a similarity between a drunken man and a man filled with the spirit. The day that war broke out, second world war, I was preaching a sermon, a series of meetings in the head church of the Nazarene in Scotland. When we came out of the meeting at night there had been a warning pick up your gas mask as you go home. And the preacher with me he being a Scotsman he wanted one they were free. And we went down the street and he said to me are you getting a gas mask? I said no. He said well stand by that street lamp and I stood there and he said when I come out of that room you know I won't be able to see. So if you stand there I'll walk across just about seven or eight feet I'll know you're there. And I waited a long while and as I waited a street car came up. They had no lights on everything was blacked out we were expecting a bombing that night. And the street car came lumbering up and it stopped right in front of me and a little Scotsman got off. And he he was pretty well oiled you know well drunk and he came across and he staggered and he put his arms around the lamp post and me as well. I was thinner than I am now. And suddenly he backed up and he says who are you? What's your name? So I told him. Are you a Scotsman? No. He said. He rolled his sleeves up he says can you faint? I said no I can't fight. He said can you sing? I said no. Oh I can sing. He's saying Maxwell can't braise a bonnie where early falls the dew. He meant the dew but it was near enough for a drunk man anyhow. And you know he went on like that asking questions saying things then suddenly he put his hand in his pocket and he pulled out a whole pocketful of silver and offered it to me. Now when a Scotsman offers you a handful of silver you know he's drunk. He offered me a handful of silver. He wanted to fight me. He wanted to know my history. He wanted to challenge me to sing. Well isn't that exactly what a man does filled with the spirit? Doesn't he want to sing? Doesn't he want to fight the good fight of faith? Shouldn't he be buoyant with testimony? He's lifted me out of a horrible pit. What he's done for me he can do for you. But here is Hannah. She's blind. She's deaf. You could have hammered that woman. She wouldn't have cared. You could have hollered and he could have threatened anything. She's going to pursue this one thing. And you know I believe the secret of the life of the apostle Paul was this. He said this one thing I do. And I get after the preachers these days. If you really love that man of God he's only got two things to do. According to Acts chapter six. Give himself continually to prayer and the word of God. He doesn't have to visit the sick in hospital. He doesn't have to bury the dead. Well who buried the dead? The deacons. The scripture says let the dead bury the dead. But apart from that facetious remark. Oh one or two ladies looking very angry at me right now. Could you get me a steel umbrella to go out? Because that is not the job of the deacons. They're not to stand at the door with a flower in their coat just taking the offering. Well first of all did you choose deacons because they're full of faith and of the Holy Ghost or because they're good businessmen? The early church never put emphasis where we put it. And they put all the emphasis where we don't put it. Now I know there's some God. I know some deacons who can preach better than the pastor. Yes. But if we're you see God is not obligated to bless anything outside of what is laid down in his word. And he's laid down in his word. The preacher has only two things to do. Give himself continually to prayer and the word of God. One of the greatest preachers we ever had in England. We had a lot of great Baptist preachers. Spurgeon was one. The other was McLaren of Manchester. We had a great meeting in his church once. Went to that church. The deacons offered him the church. Offered to buy him a carriage with a couple of horses. And offered to build him a house. And give him one of the finest salaries in the country. He listened to all that they offered. And they said will you accept this? And he said yes. If you accept my conditions. Your conditions. You know some people think when they're hiring a pastor you're hiring a Hertz renter car. He's to do what he's told, when he's told, how he's told. McLaren said listen I'll tell you what. I'll accept your conditions if you accept mine. Here are my conditions. Number one. You can have one of two things. My head or my feet. If you want me to run around looking after people, visiting old ladies, drinking tea and all the rest. I'll do it. But don't expect me to get down and bring you two good sermons on the Lord's day. That is not possible. You can have my head or my feet. One or the other. Not both. They got a visiting staff. They made the deacons do what they should do according to the word of God. Visit the poor and take money from the church to help the poor. Go to the sick in hospital. Minister things. And that man preached that series of sermons which is still a classic. You can still buy them. From Genesis right through to Revelation. All those massive sermons were preached in that century. And when he preached it was packed to the rafters. Why? Because he gave himself continually to prayer. Now don't don't have a preacher that says well deacons you all do the work so I can go golfing. No sirree. He gives himself to the task of prayer. He gives himself the task of studying the word of God. I hear preachers say you know I work seven days a week. I say well you're more, now you've got more power than God. What do you mean? Well he couldn't work seven days a week. He worked six and quit. A lady said to Spurgeon one day, well Mr. Spurgeon but but you break the sabbath. You work all day long. He said lady I don't even lick a stamp on Mondays. God ordained that everybody had a day of rest. We need it physically. We need it mentally. This woman is praying for one thing. Maybe when she went to the temple she didn't like a lot of things that were going on. Maybe there were some things in the home she didn't like. Maybe but there was one thing that blinded her to everything else. That was the fact that the other women round about who are functioning as a woman should function. And she isn't functioning that way. And so she comes to her husband and she says I want to tell you here's my problem. I'm a barren woman. What did she pray for? You say she prayed for a child. No she didn't. Well what did she pray for? She prayed for a man child. Because the Jew then and now believed that if the first child was a man child it was a specific blessing from God. So she didn't get a child she got a man child. Well not really. Well if you didn't get a man child and she didn't get a girl what did she get? She got a prophet. God did more than she could either ask or think. And you know sometimes in our petty thinking when we get a real good and we pray and say oh God do this I'll be so happy. And we think that God in mercy answers our prayer for our sake. When so often he answers it for his sake. 20 years of the road they're going to need a young man to be a prophet. Why isn't this very book hasn't it got his name on Samuel. And you know what so often we take on the nature of the meeting in which we're saved. You get saved under one of these evangelist comedians these days. You'll be foolish all your life most likely. How was this child born? He was born of a woman who prayed. She continued in prayer. She travailed in prayer. She wept. She wept until she was sore. She fasted. Did he have the nature of his mother? Yes. Because years after they put him out of office. And he says you can put me out of office. But God said that I should cease that I should sin. And cease him to pray for you. I wonder how often he heard that woman that mother of his traveling behind the door there. Well isn't it isn't it typical that when the church has been barren so long. Maybe tomorrow night I'll speak on John Baptist. There had been a silence for 400 years. And then this phenomenon comes along. He was born of a barren woman. If father was a priest of the course of a buyer. He came down the right side of the altar. Why? Because if he came down the left side he had a message for the nation. He came on the right side of the altar he had a message for an individual. And Zacharias was terrified. And the angel said fear not. Thy wife Elizabeth shall bear a son. What? You bring that news to me in this situation? Because he only did that once in his life. He never had done it before. He never did it after. And there were 6,000 people in that auditorium. And he's nervous. He's scared to death. He'll fall over his heavy garments he's wearing. And there of all things is an angel. And the angel says God is with thee at night. Thy wife shall bear a son. You remember what he said? She's a woman who's stricken. Do you know what? As paradoxical as it is, it thrills me to realize that the church right now is a dried up womb. It's nothing in it. But boy with only one breath from revival if we'll travel for it. And I pray God gave her a child who became a majestic figure in his day. Rachel says give me children or I die. My God. If we could have 10 men that would stand with that preacher and say I don't care what happens in the next 12 months. I don't care even if I die. I'll pray. I'll fast. I'll weep. I don't care what other people say. I'll tell you what. What the Church of Jesus Christ has had in the last 25 years hasn't moved America or England to God. We've spent more millions on evangelism so-called in the last 25 years than from that period right back to Pentecost as far as I'm concerned. It's something when you hear these boys saying that they need 20-30 million dollars a year. Isn't it something? They said this week that Armstrong, he's an apostate. He denies the truth of God. Do you know his income last year was nearly 70 million dollars and he never asked for a dime. It's these men of faith do all the begging. Man, we're in a mess. They told us last night on TV, I think it was, that there are more than 30 million people, so-called educated people, in America alone who are tied up in the cult. Side two. Do you remember when Paul went to the intellectual capital of the world, which was Athens, and when he went down Main Street it said as he went down he saw temples to strange gods and in the sleepy Elizabethan English it says his spirit was stirred. In the amplified it says that when he saw those temples, when he saw all the lavish things that were done, when he saw their sacrifices, when he realized the zeal of those people he was angry about it. Well tell me when did you last get angry that people go to a Roman Catholic church and hear the blasphemy of the mass. When did you last get mad when you went past a temple to Jehovah's Witnesses? Come on now. If they were communist you'd be worried about it. Oh yes that would hurt your political feelings. But they can be apostates and hellbound and liars and treacherous and it doesn't move us anymore. In God's name what's wrong with us? You know I, I, I, a real joy in my heart because I know that God isn't going to let this generation, right now the population of the earth is 4 billion 300 million people. And if the bottom drops out of the world there'll be more people go to hell in one move than you and I could ever ever imagine. And the good book says God is not willing that any should perish. And maybe you won't like this but I, I'm not just worried you'll fire me tonight pal. When Jesus wanted disciples where did he go? Did he go to the Sanhedrin? Did he go knocking on the door of the temple saying I'm just a young creature and it would help me if you'd sit on my platform for a week? Where did he find his disciples? Smelly fishermen? One man is filling out a tax form. There he is and a shadow falls over his legs and he looks up at the most amazing face the world has ever seen. And the man there says leave all and follow me. And he put his face, he put his pen down and followed him. Would you have done it? I think that's one of the most amazing acts of faith in the whole of the new testament. Never hear anybody preach on it. A man successful he's ready almost to get out of business and have a real good pension and live in quietness on the hills of Galilee somewhere and go fishing. And he sees a stranger and a man says then leave all and follow me and he did. And he didn't know a fraction about Jesus that you and I know. And that's where Jesus found his disciples. He didn't take them from the priest and the high priest and the Sanhedrin and the temple. And you know what he's going to do next time? He said your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. That'll be rough on some of it. Your young men shall see visions. Your old men shall dream dreams. And on my priest I'm president of colleges. I'm president of seminaries. I'll pour out my, he doesn't say that. What does he say? I mean this is a book it's not my imagination. He says in the last great final rending of the heavens when God comes down in majesty and pours out his spirit just before his wrath is poured out. Even if the church has gone through all a half a tribulation. When he pours out his spirit your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men see visions. Your old men dream dreams. And on my servants and handmaids. Well that's what he did the first time he found servants and handmaids. He found fishermen and tax men. And you know the next time he's going to bypass. Oh they may get a bit of a bit of a spill over you know. But listen he's going to do the same thing again. He's going to take men who are not strong in their own intellectual strength and are not proud of a theological you know qualification. He's going to take the things that are not to bring to naught. The things that are that no flesh should glory in its presence. And in case you don't know. I know it's terrible to say this. I could be killed on the spot. It's not going to be a Baptist revival. He's going to pour out his spirit on oil clay. I took dinner a few weeks ago David and I with a bunch of men from across the world. Dr. Charles Stanley asked us to speak to them. No he didn't. The president of their group. Christ Ambassadors. Brother Ian North said. Will you talk to these men? I said Brother North I'm not qualified. I shouldn't talk to these men. They shouldn't talk to me. Oh brother you talk about men of God. Just to walk in that room it was as fragrant as though you've got 10 million roses there. There's a dark-skinned little man from India. His name is Augustine and they've nicknamed him Saint Augustine. And that man has just two dispositions in which he lives. Either his face is running with tears or it's hilarious or hilarious with joy. But oh brother when that man prays. There was a black man there as black as your boot from Ethiopia. There's another man from the Philippines. I don't know what there were 10 I forget David and I remember 10 or 12 men from all over the world. You know I felt almost as if I was in the midst of the of the 12 disciples. And you know what? In many of those countries they're having a real move of the Spirit of God. You know when the church gets rich and comfortable usually we don't have revival. Revival comes with brokenness. What does this woman do? Well she says listen I can't live in this state. I need a child. I need a man child. What did God give her? He gave her a man child. He gave her this man Samuel. Rachel says give me children or I die. And God gave her a prophet. No God didn't need a prophet. He needed a prime minister. So he gave her a charming little fellow whose life never had a spot of blame on it as far as I can see. And that man was Joseph. But his woman, his wife was a transparent woman. And remember the offspring of Rebecca, Jacob and Rebecca. Remember the offspring of Sarah? Oh this is a this is a strange thing that a woman 80 years of age her husband says he doesn't consider the death of Sarah's womb. This is impossible. Revival is impossible. We're trying to get it by organizing. It comes by agonizing. People say you're not a seminary. Well if I'm a liar tell me. Prove it to me. If you heard how many times my phone rings and fellows who are broken-hearted in seminaries and say Rayneal, God touched my life the other night in a meeting and I got a spirit of breath. Nobody wants to pray in the seminary. A young man told me I go to a seminary where there are a thousand students and as far as I know there are four that mean together for prayer. Well if you tie the spring up in the mountain do you expect there's going to be a river in the valley? If a man is candidating as a pastor now what do we do? We say well how many were there in San Michel in your last year? I mean when you started? And he says there were 900. How many when you left? 1,900. Oh how many buses were you running when they went there? Oh they told me six buses. How many do they have now? 16. You could have more buses than the Graham bus station. That won't scare the devil. He doesn't happen to be afraid of buses. But I'll tell you what he is afraid of. He's afraid of praying man. Right through the Acts of the Apostles two things go side by side as though they're kind of a track on which the church is running. And over and over and over and over again it mentions the Holy Spirit and in the next verse it mentions prayer. It was a praying church. When they prayed the prayers were taken. When they prayed Peter and John went to the temple at the hour of prayer being the ninth hour. And there's a man all twisted at the gate of the temple. It tells you his age. Doesn't often tell you the age of women in the Bible. Tells you the age of men. This man was over 40 years of age and it says that they carried him daily from his house to the temple, from the temple to his house. 365 days in a year. Twice 365 is what? 730? So for 10 years they carried him 7,300 times. For 30 years they carried him about 22,000 times. Carried but not cured. Helped but not healed. He saw Peter and John and he said oh these are the two fellows had a revival yesterday. They had 5,000 converts. Their pockets must be full of money. And he said hey give me something. He asked for alms. You know a l m s. Alms. Cash. Little girl in Sunday school had heard a teacher reading that. She said he asked for alms. She said teacher why did he ask for alms when he needed legs. Well don't we often ask for things we don't need and we don't ask for the thing we do need. Give me something. Peter says. Oh good old Peter. He says silver and gold I have none. Well what have you done with it? They shared it all out the day before haven't they? They sold everything they had. That's one thing you never mention these days. Don't mention that. If you get filled with the Holy Ghost you don't share your bank account. They did in the New Testament. Anyway let's stop meddling. Let's get on with the story here. What did he do? He said silver and gold I have none. Here is a man for 40 years. He'd seen them all rushing to the temple excited at the feast of tabernacles and the feast of Pentecost and the feast of Passover. Everybody wailing and shouting and laughing and everything. And he sits there crippled and shaking and says my God I can even hear the priest in there with his big voice saying and when he is come the eyes of the blind shall be open the ears of the deaf and stop the lame shall leap as hard the tongue of the dumb shall sink. Hey isn't it something saying that that Jesus must have passed that man a dozen times or 20 times every time he went to the temple and Jesus never touched him. And he sent the 70 elders out and they never touched him. You know that says to me there's a timing in God's calendar for everything. Jesus passed that man a hundred times and never bothered he left him crippled. Somebody else was there uh the 70 Peter and John had passed him many times but this was a proof the power of the Holy Ghost had come. And when they saw that twisted crippled deformed man these two consecrated conscientious fiends consecrated men penniless homeless positionless no men of standing. Peter said look on earth can we say that in the church today. Do you really want this church if you remember here or wherever your church is. Do you want this church just to be a blueprint of every other Baptist Southern Baptist church in America. Peter said look on earth and he touched him and when he touched him that man felt as though Peter had given him a 10,000 volts. He jumped up like this. He went up in there. He ran to the temple and everyone goes hold it down, hold it down, hold it down. Can't you hear the guy saying listen if you'd untwisted legs like this you think you'll be saying oh pardon me but could I just tell you all that I feel a lot better than I felt when they told me. He went down the temple leaping and praising God. Why? They said God is doing what he said he would do. You know all he needed a few manifestations of supernatural power and this church or your church will be packed to the rafters. And it doesn't necessarily mean in physical healing it may be that but let's get some miraculous conversion. Let's get some of these women who are heartbroken women whose husbands won't come here because they know if they come they'll meet God. Let's get under conviction about it. Let's pray them through. Let's tell God we're tired of being barren. It's time to turn the church into a maternity block. And everybody said that's Peter and Charles. They're splitting that man up. What did Peter say? Look on earth. And as soon as they wanted to give him some glamour read the verse he says look not on earth. You know I'm wanting a revival where no man gets the glory. Where he won't build a Bible school or something else and stick his big fat name on it. Hannah prayed and she got a creature boy. Rachel prayed and she got what? A prime minister. Oh there was a man by the name. What was his name? I don't know. Oh I know his name. Manoah. And his wife. And they had no child. And the Lord gave them a son in their physical dilemma. And he too became a superman. His name was Samson. You notice each of these characters that when when the son is born after barrenness he becomes an abnormal man. Look at Isaac. Look at the offspring of Hannah. Look at the offspring of Rachel. Look at the offspring of Elizabeth. Jesus said there never were a man greater than John Baptist. And boy that's saying something because of being Jeremiah and Isaiah and these others. But in that situation there was no man greater than John Baptist. And they were born. Why? They were born because of trouble. Oh well there are three things about birth. Conception, gestation, and birth. You can't change an alternate. Conception, gestation, birth. Normally a woman takes nine months to produce that wonderful child. You know somebody said that if in marriage if the wife had the first husband, if the wife had the first baby, and the husband had the second, there'd never be a third. Men don't know a thing about travail. And it's a figure God uses. When Zion traveled she brought forth children. Once when she traveled she brought forth women she hadn't sent. What does it mean? Well I know in England we used to say, oh the newspaper said today the queen has canceled all her engagements for the next six months. Uh-oh she's pregnant again. I remember reading in a newspaper where Mrs. Kennedy at the time, dear Kennedy, and his wife, oh she uh she's canceled all her engagements. Why? Why did she? What was wrecking her social life? She loves water skiing, she loves riding horses, but she isn't going to water ski in case she has an accident and that ski comes and hits her there where that precious little baby is. She isn't going to ride over a fence in case she has a serious accident and she's risking the life of that child. Now look if you're going to pray for revival, get ready for this, it's going to shatter your social life. It's going to shatter a hundred things in your life. You can't have revival and have a normal life. And the nearer the woman gets to to the time of birth, what happens? Well she can't sleep at night and she sleeps in the day. The old boys sleep. She says, George could you get me some stuff? He says, don't you know I've tried to get you to eat those things for 10 years? And you said, dear they'll kill me. And now you want them, three o'clock in the morning too. Uh now come on, I mean you you don't really want. She says, somehow I'm craving for them. And something he says, now let me get you a favorite. I couldn't eat that. You know what you women, that that's true. Your diet system is upset, your sleep is upset, your social calendar goes to pot. And somebody says, don't you feel really bad? I mean you know I know you're expecting a baby in three days. Are you going to Sue's wedding? And say, no not on your life. A little guy might come in the middle of the wedding, that wouldn't be too comfortable. And so you say, well I'm sure you really miss it. She says, no no no no no. There's nothing that can take the place of this child being born. There is no excitement, there is no joy like that of bringing forth that child. I'm convinced, I hope you understand this, I'm convinced that a church can become spiritually pregnant. I'm equally convinced that while it would never intentionally have an abortion, it can have a miscarriage. Let this church really get to business, or your church. I mentioned the other night those old ladies who spearheaded revival away there in Scotland. The old lady that was blind, 84 years of age, her sister was younger, she's 82. And they called the elders together in that Presbyterian church, and they, she joined a little shaky hands and said, ah if you don't, if you don't mean it, don't do it. You know somebody told me the other week there are two old ladies in Nacogdoches there in Texas, getting up into their 80s, who pray five hours a day. Come on now you beautiful girls with your lovely hair and your pretty dresses. Is that all you've got? Not wrong to be pretty, not wrong to wear nice clothes. But have you got such a passion for souls that prayer can get you, absorb you, control you, day after day after day after day? We're trying to run the church on finances. Again we're trying to run the church by organizing. It may need some, but agonizing is the answer. You know Duncan Campbell, I prayed with him many times. He told me about these old ladies. One of them was a real little tyrant. She's a woman that, that prayed for him when he was in a meeting in Ireland. And he got up in the middle of the meeting and went to Scotland. Years afterwards she called him and said, she said send for brother Duncan. Well right at the beginning she said to her sister, we're going to have revival, and the leader of the revival will be Duncan Campbell. And I want you to write a letter and tell him God wants him to come here and have meetings and revival will break. The skies will open, whole areas will be flooded. Drunkards will be converted, dance halls will be closed, movie houses will be closed. Now you write and tell him to come. So she wrote. She got a letter back and Duncan said I'm sorry, but I, I'm full all next year. I'm scheduled for the whole of the year. When the letters came the little old lady said to her sister, is there a letter from brother Campbell? She said yes, there's a letter from brother Campbell. Ah well read it. He says he cannot come. She said well praise the Lord. She was a bit there so she said he cannot come. She said I heard you. Praise the Lord. Well why are you praising the Lord? He said he cannot come. I'm praising the Lord because the Lord says he will come. And Duncan got up in a meeting bigger than this, more crowded than this. Dear God he can't, some of us can't hear his voice if you were sitting on a, in a desert. He heard God's voice in the middle of a crowded meeting. Get up and go on. He went right from there straight over to Scotland on the overnight ferry which we'll be going tonight I guess from Ireland to Scotland. All right later the old lady sent for him and said brother Duncan go down to Stonefoot and when you get there there'll be a bunch of people and in the middle there'll be a bunch of men gambling and five of them are communist leaders in this area. Now when you get there you just walk in the middle, pull your Bible out of your pocket, preach on whatever text comes and before you're through those men will kneel down and pray and get saved. Boy you old ladies like that are useful in a church aren't they? So Duncan set off. Got on his motorcycle, put his scarf around, it's a cold morning and there he is. He's going down the road and as he goes down there's a girl sitting on a bank and he stopped. She was weeping. She had a Scottish kilt on and she was sobbing. Duncan says I shut the gas off and I went back and said to her, Lassie, Lassie as they say as you say girl, Lassie could I help you? And she said in a lovely Scottish dialect, ah sir you could not help me, only God could help me. And he thought boy this is great, God's got this girl under conviction, she's all ready you know, she's ripe fruit, ready for taking. I got this girl, my God, only God could help you. Well he said what's the problem? Ah she says, down in the village there my father, my brother and my uncle are all lost, they're unsafe. She didn't look at him, she said away over the hill there, there's a man by the name of Duncan and he's telling God, that man has an anointing, he must come down to my village and preach. And he said when he comes my father and my brother and my uncle will all be saved. Amen. And Duncan said I hardly knew what to say, I felt something coming up in myself. And he said I took her two hands, they were there on her knees and I just took them and said my dear look at me a minute. And he said her great big eyes were so sore. You've been praying along her. Ah she says I prayed all last night, all last night. You prayed the whole night? I said oh as much as they say, well you're a stupid thing then. She says I prayed all night, my father's lost, my brother's lost, my uncle's lost. And you spent the whole night? Ah she says Jenny and I prayed two whole nights. How old are you? 17. How old is Jenny? 16. Two girls prayed all last night, all the night before for an uncle and a father and a brother that are not saved. She said they're lost. He said I took her hands and said look my dear, look at me. He said she looked with those great big blue Scottish eyes. And he said I could hardly say it but I said to her I am Duncan. He said she threw her hands up and the tears came and she just said ah you're a covenant keeping God. You're a covenant keeping God. He went down into the valley. What happened? There were the men that were gambling. He walked into the middle of them, pulled out his bible and began to preach. And before he was through they were kneeling there praying. That wiped communism out in one meeting. Oh they had supernatural visions. They never had tongues. They never had miracles. I mean physical miracles. They had miracles you know like praying that God would come, the Holy Ghost would come. And I've mentioned before they had a boy 16 years of age prayed in a meeting. He went, Duncan couldn't preach. The heavens were like glass and he called the boy to pray. And a 16 year old boy prayed for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes, 45 minutes. And when he finished praying Duncan said it was just as though God pulled a switch in heaven like that and God came down. Not just on the meeting. He came down on the tavern at the end of the street. He came down on the dance hall at the other end of the street. He preached in one of those meetings, nine o'clock at night. Because in summer of course Scotland's very near to the, well they get the arctic light. It's very much like Scandinavian countries. It's light at midnight nearly. And he came out of the church and as he came out people they stood on either side like they do for a wedding. And as he walked with the, with the minister of the church they said. Duncan said I felt God is a million miles away. And he said the elder turned to me and said Brother Campbell God is very near. God is very near. I thought he's a million miles away. And he said we walked right down the hill. There's a lovely church with its fire on the hill. And we walked to the bottom and the old man looked over his shoulder and said Brother Campbell look. And those dignified Presbyterians standing on either side of the roadway that came down from the church were falling over like this. Just as old dominoes were being knocked down. They all fell over in the heather. That's in that bushy grass they had. At eleven o'clock at night. And many of them were there at four o'clock in the morning. Do you know what happened? I don't understand this. But when they got up they were saved. How did he get saved? Well I don't know. I know one drunken slipped into the hedge. Big man over six feet of, six feet tall. Slipped into a wet bank. Splashed at midnight as far as he remembers. He woke up at six o'clock in the morning. Running into the village with all the slime on him. Praising and magnifying God. He's the biggest drunken sinner around. And they said what happened? He said I got saved. Who preached? Nobody. Well where was it? Were you in a church? No I was in the gutter in the mud. Well how did he get saved? I dreamt I was at the judgment seat of Christ without hope. We want the supernatural only with withered ants being sprayed. That's spectacular. No nation under heaven has had more miracles than America in the last 30 years. A lot were good. I preached a number of times for Kathleen Kuhlman. Would you believe that? I took a Bible classes in the Carnegie Hall in Pittsburgh. I talked to her many times. I didn't like all she did but she did a lot of wonderful things too. She couldn't preach for nuts but she had an anointing at least of appearance. A lot of people didn't like it because a woman did it. I'll tell you what if your son was paralyzed and God used a woman she'd be the best woman in the country. I had a friend that didn't like Billy Graham. He said he was a washout. Couldn't preach. Just a sensation American. But he had a son who was a rebel even though he was a brilliant young man from Cambridge University. And one night he went to hear Billy Graham and he got saved. Ever since that preacher calls him Billy Archangel. Why? You know why God won't come to some of us? Because you've got God in a box that's why. If he does anything contrary to your grandfather's doctrine boy he'll be in trouble. Well I've got news for you. He doesn't take advice from anybody. And if you say God's sovereign he'll do it as he wants and he'll do it when he wants and he'll do it for who he wants. This woman prayed. Okay let's wind it up. She's got a child. But you know there's another thing I missed out there. She not only fasted and wept and prayed and travelled. She made a vow. And you know what? She kept it. You give me a child I'll give him back to you. And year by year. Imagine she went once a year to see the little fellow and saw him growing up and had to go home maybe with a bit of heartache. And there he is. I gave him to God but I can't say. I left my gift at the altar it stays there. But she saw him rise and become one of the most famous men of his day. Prayer is a mystery. If I'd like to solve one thing I'd like to solve some of the mysteries of prayer. But it's still a mystery. A couple of things. I brought to this country a man by the name of Tom Hare. Mr. Tolga wrote a book on him, The Praying Plumber. He was talking about prayer one day in a conference and he said God gave me a burden. He said many people wonder why Hitler got to Stalingrad and stopped. Because I prayed. He said God told me to pray and stop Hitler in his tracks. And I prayed. And he never got through. I said to him after the meeting uh I remember the day that we were in a play in a place in the in Wales. In Wales in uh that joins onto England there. We went into a house for lunch. We got there about uh 10 minutes of 12. And the lady said you're early for lunch today. And I said well that's all right we we wait. She's a great cook. And I said let me let me just get the BBC news. There's a synopsis of news at 12 o'clock at three about three minutes to 12. And I said there are two things I want to know. Two things I'd like. Usually if the program runs out the uh the the fellow operating it says now I'll play you a record to fill in the time before the news. Number one. We were in Wales. I said I want the BBC in London to pray give you a joy of man's desiring. They played it yesterday on a record here I think it was. My rehearsal interpretation I like that. And secondly I want to hear that Stalingrad has fallen and Hitler's crushed communism. The lady there was a lovely salvation army lady Mrs. Snell. And she said uh well you may get the first refresh but by the way you won't get the second. I said what do you mean? There's thousands of people praying that that Hitler will get through and crush and destroy that devilish system of communism. She said but it's not going to fall. Stalingrad won't fall. I said why not? She said because God has told me specifically to pray and put a barrier there. Now she's in Wales. Tom Hare was over in Ireland. They're both praying the same thing. Neither of them knew each other. He's telling a congregation in America that he prayed for the fall of Stalingrad. And the little lady, the little lady, just an ordinary little lady in a house is praying. She had a spirit of intercession to enough. And she is praying that Stalingrad will not fall. And she smiled. I remember a big face with her. She said it's not going to fall. I've got assurance that this is where Hitler stopped. I said all right. I said let's see what the BBC says. And the program was fading out and the man in London said uh well we have about three and a half minutes before the news. I'll play your record. I don't know what it will be but let me pull one out of the rack. Here it is and it is uh Jiju Joy of Man's Desiring by Mara Hess. So I said well there you are. I got my first request. Away in London, hundreds of miles away the BBC decided to play my favorite piece. Now she said you've got number one. I get number two. Which is the most important that you get Jiju Joy of Man's Desiring or Stalingrad gets uh Hitler gets stuck. And the news came and it said uh the latest news is this that Stalingrad is not going to fall. That all over the old buildings the Russians are sniping and they're cutting and this seems like to to be the end. It looked as though uh Hitler would do what Napoleon could not do, take Moscow. No he's not going to take it. A little woman praying in Wales. A little man praying in Ireland. Each of them had heard the voice of the spirit. Each of them was doing the will of God as far as they knew it. And each of them left the scene. Prayer is a great mystery. It's a great mystery. But prayer, one hymn writer says prayer is a Christian's vital breath. The Christian's native air, his watchword of the gate of death, he enters heaven by prayer. Prayer is the simplest form of speech that infant lips can try. Prayer the sublimest strain, the reach, the majesty on high. Yes I've heard men pray fairly eloquently. I've spent nights with men praying. I've spent days with men praying. I've spent five days of this respect with men who were praying desperately about some situations and fasting all the time. And that's some of the greatest experiences of my life. But I still don't know much about prayer. It is too mysterious. We don't know how the burden comes. But when the burden comes you stay with it. And once the burden comes on the church, on your life, you stay. What is the secret? The secret is conception, gestation, and birth. You know God has begun something this week in this church. Not because I'm here, because the spirit is here. Now that prayer meeting Friday night, this coming week we're going to have it Thursday, so David and I can take part in it. Normally it will be Friday night. If you want this church to go from strength to strength, from faith to faith, from victory to victory, it will be full prayer. You can't just tell when the spirit's going to move. One thing, on the 13th of August, a Wednesday, 1727, a bunch of people were praying in a place called Hermhub in Moravia. The hands of the clock were moving up very slowly, and just as the hand got straight up to 11 o'clock, God came down on that community. If people had known what was going to happen, they would have been there in their thousands. Right before the Welsh revival, Fr. Joshua said to people six months before the revival, listen, there's going to be a visitation of God on Wales that will be historic. Be sure you're in the meeting that night. Do you know the churches were packed for six months before ever God came? Nobody wanted to miss. And one night a little fellow, 22 years of age, Edmund Roberts, just bowed down and said, oh God, bend the church and break the world. It was preceded by months of intercession by four young men in the hills of Wales. I preached in Ireland in a place called a Hochel, and in that country where it rains two days out of three, they show me a place up the hedge where four young men, just prior to the 59 revival, prayed for days and weeks and nights. Every time they came off the farm in Wales, when the young men came out of the coal mine, they didn't play ball, they didn't go talk, they didn't even go to church, they went up behind the rocks on the hills. And what did they do? They travelled. A Baptist deacon went up and he heard these men, he thought there was somebody fallen down one of the rocks, and he went and here were these young men with their coats off. Young guys from a Baptist church travelling, praying, give us revival or we die. The nation perishes. God went to heaven. What happened in Moravia? The clock moved up right up to 11 o'clock on the 24th of August on that Wednesday, 1727, and just as the clock went up to 11, God came down. Do you know what happened? That one hall, listen, as far as I know this is the longest prayer meeting in history. Not the longest prayer, because since Jesus died he's been living to make intercessions. The Holy Spirit came on that group that Wednesday morning at 11 o'clock, that prayer meeting was still going on 100 years after it started. It never stopped by day or night. People went into the hall, there were boys and girls, seven and eight years of age, praying with tears and brokenness. Oh God send revival, save the world. Remember the people in slavery down there in the Caribbean. They prayed for Saint Troy and Thomas, Saint Thomas, but they didn't only pray. Those young blonde Americans went and after they sold the Negroes, they went and stood on the auctioneer's block. They pulled their clothes off them and they got loincloth on, and they came and tapped their chest and tested their teeth. So those young men said, would you sell me as a slave? There's no other way to get into those slave colonies, those plantations. And they were sold on the block as slaves. And when the man handed a hundred pieces of gold, they said to Mr. Fender or whoever the pastor was, send this back to Germany, to the Moravians, so that some other young men will have enough money to bring them to the slave block. And when they became slaves, they put an iron collar around their necks. By the time they twisted them a few times, their necks were raw and they got terrible, terrible ulcers there. And they had a piece of lead around their waist, and they plowed with five men, four black men and a white man in the middle. The white man said, always get, it's an unwritten law, always get in the middle. If you're over here, you can't shout your testimony. Get in the middle, you can testify. And those men went and sold themselves into slavery to reach those places. Oh brother, you're not going to get revival just by saying, Lord, I think America's greatest need is a revival. And do help me get those new tires at Sears tomorrow in the fair. Boy, weeks and weeks are sublime and the spirits are all in one breath, aren't they? I sometimes think if I could ask 50 years back, do you know what I'd do? I'd try to open the most unusual school in America. Not to make it unusual, I'd open a school of prayer. I'd make it almost like a monastery. I wouldn't let sellers leave, leave the place every day. I'd get it down to the place where we have two meals a day on the, on a common diet and say, listen guys, if you're coming here, you sign the pregs right here, you're going to stay here for one year, you're going to pray eight hours a day. We've tried every other way, haven't we? We've tried big smart boys that come from college or seminary thinking they've got all the answers and held out at most of them. You say you're hard on them. Well, is it true? If it isn't true, say no. You say, I've got a boy in seminary. Well, when he comes, ask him how much his prayer life has developed, will you, from me? I get men coming carloads to my home to spend a whole day in prayer and ask questions, what can we do, what can we do, what can we do? Nobody wants to pray in a seminary. Or maybe there are three or four, but out of a hundred, there's one seminary with two thousand men in it. What do you think would happen if the holy ghost came on that one? Why man, we're in such a mess, we not only need to pray for the lost, we need to pray for the church. No wonder we sang what tonight, teach me to pray Lord, teach me to pray. The effectual servant prayer of a righteous man, a dayless night.