In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of making a commitment to Jesus Christ. He urges the congregation to surrender their hearts and lives to God and make Him the Lord of their lives. The preacher shares a story about a man who offered a ride to an old man, symbolizing God's invitation to join Him on the journey of faith. The sermon also highlights the story of a woman who responded to God's call and made a total commitment to Him, preparing herself to be chosen by the king. The preacher encourages the listeners to reflect on their own commitment to God and challenges them to fully yield themselves to His will.

Hear it from all over the district, some of you I haven't seen for so long. We lift up our souls to Thee, we commit our bodies to Thee. Just take us into those sacred nail-pierced hands, and don't let us go until you've accomplished your will in us these hours. Oh, Jesus, my sisters, Jesus, my sisters, Jesus, every single one, every one, just take every one into those sacred nail-pierced hands. Let each one be conscious of your hands upon them. Let each one hear your voice. Let each one see your face and know your will. Oh, Jesus, baptize with Thy precious Holy Spirit and give strength and power to give my heart the response that you want so you can accomplish your will just for your own glory. We open this wonderful book, and it says it's the opening up of the word that giveth light. And as we open the book, will you please open up the word and feed us with living bread. Dig our ears that we can hear the faintest whisper and baptize us with a willing spirit to obey and follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. In Jesus' precious name, amen. You may be seated. Are you hearing well back here? Way in the back, the last one in the back, if you're hearing well, will you raise your hand? I thank you. Back there, are you folks hearing well? I thank you, dear. We have been singing such beautiful songs all about our wonderful Lord. We love Him, don't we? And we sing He's Lord. And we sing that He's King. And we sing a lot of things. And we say a lot of things. Does the Lord sometimes stop you and just make you think a little bit about what we've been singing? What we've been saying? And He knows how to check us and deal with us and talk to us. And that's what He has been doing with me. And what I think He wants this to be, quite somebody said, when I prayed, the Lord told me that you were going to challenge us. Well, will you accept that? I want to talk about somebody upon whose life came a call. She heard that call. And the commitment that was demanded was total. She had to declare herself that she made such a commitment. And then she yielded herself until it was realized. She was the choice of the people. And she had to prepare to be the choice of the king. What's her name? Such a call is laid upon every one of us. In the second chapter of Esther, let's read. Esther 2, and I'll begin reading at the 8th verse. So it came to pass when the king's commandment and his decree was heard, many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the palace, to the custody of Haggai, that Esther was brought also unto the king's house, to the custody of Haggai, keeper of the women. And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him. And he speedily gave her her things for purification, with such things as belonged to her, and seven maidens which were meet to be given her out of the king's house. And he preferred her and her maids to the best place of the house of the women. Esther had not showed her people, nor her kindred, for Mordecai had charged her she should not show it. Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house to know how Esther did and what should become of her. Now when every maid's turn was come to go into King Ahasuerus, after she had been twelve months according to the manner of the women, for so were the days of their purification accomplished, to which six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors, and with other things, for the purifying of the women. Then thus came every maiden unto the king, whatsoever she desired was given her, to go with her out of the house of the women unto the king's house. When the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abahel, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go into the king, she required nothing but what Haggai the king's chamber lay, the keeper of the women appointed. Esther obtained favor in the sight of all them that looked upon her. So Esther was taken unto King Ahasuerus into his house, royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. The king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight, more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Ashti. How many of you have ambitions to be a queen? Oh, come on! Thank you, Sister Bolton. Thank you. Anybody else have ambitions to be a queen? Thank you, Sister Willits. I hope you're elected. Honey, don't you know what this is all about? Don't you know what this is all about? Anybody else have ambitions to be a queen? This means ruling and ruling with Jesus. I'm going to give you another chance. How many have ambitions to be a queen? If you didn't, I'd have to give another sermon, because I want to talk to people who are going somewhere. I want to talk to some people who have purpose for life and living, who have real objectives. One of the first things Esther had to do was declare that she was in the race. Because as I read, and you'll want to read this story again and again, to get those little fine details, it says Esther had not yet declared herself and made known that she was a Jewess and that she was in this race to go in before the queen as a Jewess, because that's where the stigma was. They hated the Jews, and this was the nation they wanted to rape out and get rid of, and she hadn't let it be known who she was. And this is the first thing required of her. This is the first thing that's required of us, to put ourselves on record that we're in the race to win. Now, if you aren't sure yet, this reminds me of Dr. Price. Maybe you all know her. Most of you remember Dr. Charles Price. Very dear friend of mine. And he was driving his car from Portland down to Los Angeles, and this man was so kind, he wanted to pick up everybody and help everybody, give them a ride, and this old man was hogging along with the king. So he stopped the car and he opened the door and he said, Friend, get in. I'm going to drive all the way to Los Angeles. If you're going this way, I can take you. And that old man just stood there and lifted his cane and pulled it down. He said, Well, I ain't going nowhere. And I just may as well be here down the road a piece. Because that says an awful lot. Because there are people, there are people who have no purpose in their Christian life, and that's the frustrated crowd, because they're not going nowhere anyhow. So they may as well be taken up with all the things at hand. I'm not against ceramics, but there's nothing about ceramics and puppy dogs and all that sort of thing that's going to help us to God. But yet women, women's lives are just full of all kinds of things to no avail. But the hour is late. You agree? The time is short. The happiest women, because I'm talking to women, I'm talking to women, and the things that involve women and the things that will disentangle women and salvage us and get us out of all the cobwebs and get meaning and purpose in our lives and get us on our way to God. I know an awful lot of happy women, and they are excited women. A woman that's on her way to being a queen, believe me, she has excitement in her life and plenty of it, plenty of it. Now, this may sound egotistical. I don't mean it that way at all. But I wouldn't change lives with anybody on earth. I don't care who they are. Because I know my purposes. I know which way I'm traveling. I know the direction I'm headed in. And the first thing we have to do, are we in this race to win? I want somebody to say amen and raise their laughter. With the determination that with all the excitement that is in your heart that you know which way you're facing and you know where you're going, and there are ten thousand things along the way that you have to say no to. You have to say no to things, to people. People are our worst hindrances, sir. These are not my interests. I'm already spoken for. Hallelujah, hallelujah. People say to me, Aunt Sister Hannah, you have never married. I say, not yet. Not yet, I'm not quite ready for that. I expect to be, expect to be. And I say, but I'd like you to know there is a man in my life. He knows the wedding date, but he won't tell me. But that's all right too, because if we move the date, it's like a woman to wait until the day before to get ready. But since we don't know the date, we have to keep ready all the time. Because it may be today. It may be today. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Is it all right with you if it's today? I hope so. Well, but we're still caught. It looks like none of us are ready, really ready yet, looks like it, because he didn't take any of us home last night. When we're really ready, I believe he'll take us. So we're all caught. Didn't anybody go last night? So he still has something to do in us and to do with us. So we're going to let him do it. All right, now I have a question to ask you. Anybody here have ambition to be a queen? Thank you, dear. Keep that up, will you? A queen. To rule and to reign with Jesus. Now, I know that some of you are saying, I can hear it. Oh, you're saying, that's for a lot of those super saints. And I'm not one of those super saints. And I don't know if I can live up to that and meet that calling or not. All right, honey, I want to show you who Esther really was. And I'll let you see that this calling is on every whosoever will. The moment you're saved, you're called. You're called. And it's left with us whether or not we'll pay the price. There's a price to pay, and it will pay the price. But I want to tell you who Esther was. This girl was a little captive maiden. A little captive maiden. She was taken into captivity. Read, read her story. It's here. She was taken into Babylonian captivity under King Nebuchadnezzar. And that little girl was down there in that foundage, a little orphan. It plainly says she had neither mother nor father and had been carried away from Jerusalem. It's in the same 2nd chapter in the 6th verse. With the captivity which had been carried away whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, Esther had neither father nor mother. A little orphan girl. Now, I don't know how many of you have been to Israel but if you have been to Israel and have seen these little Bedouin village children running around, you would get a good picture of what Esther was like. Just a little village Bedouin girl in captivity, in slavery, in bondage. That doesn't sound like a girl that would be chosen Miss Jerusalem. She wasn't. That doesn't sound like a girl that would be called Miss Bethlehem. She wasn't. She wasn't. But God looked down and saw this little orphan captive maid in bondage and in slavery and knew that if he could get Esther in his hands and she would be willing to come into his plan and come into his purpose, what he could do with her and what he could make of her and what he could do for her. And he sent her uncle, it says, who demanded obedience of her and then put her in the custody of one of the kings, the king's first servant. And we know who the king's first servant for us is, the precious Holy Spirit. The precious Holy Spirit. Put in his custody and he took her in his hands and began to work on her. And that's Esther's story. That's Esther's story. Just think of a little village girl, stringy hair. This is what the Song of Solomon says about all of us. It says, When the Lord looked on us, we all had goat's hair. Did you ever see a goat? Black, stringy hair and few hairs. And when he looked at us, there wasn't much there to desire. But he says concerning each one of us, if we had just come into his hands, what he could do with us and what he could do for us. Oh, my dear, have you made your declaration? Have you made your commitment to Jesus Christ? Are you going to pay the price? Are we going all the way? Are we really going to say yes to him? Can Jesus Christ have his way with us? Now, this is the first essential in our life. God is free. Now, it's beautiful to say he's Lord, but Lord of what? Lord of whom? He must be king. He must be Lord of our hearts and of our lives. Then we must surrender our entire being to him for him to take us like a little village maid and make us the first lady of the land. The first lady in heaven and earth. We make demands of our first ladies, don't we? Say yes. We want them to be. Well, what is your desire? What is your desire? How many of you will be satisfied just to get inside the gate? Don't you dare raise your hand. Because that place is filled up a long time ago. You don't want to be with that crowd. You don't want to be in that crowd just inside the gate and all you get is a palm branch to wave throughout eternity. That you've made it and you're just inside the gate. No. We want to be in that company in whom Jesus shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. Yes. Yes, if he will. I don't know anything about wanting mansions. I don't know anything about that. I never made a study of mansions. I don't know anything about that. And crowns and all that sort of thing. If Jesus will just say well done. If he will just say that he's pleased. That will be all I'll ever want throughout eternity. If he'll just say that. It just seems to me if Jesus would just say he was pleased that I would just be so melted. I'd fall right down before him. And it seems to me I'd want to dissolve and just flow out in thanksgiving before him. Just please and satisfy his dear heart. His name is Jesus. Say it again. His name is Jesus. I want to tell you something honey. You won't yield to Jesus unless you love him. It's impossible. And you won't love him unless you know him. And how are we going to know him? How do we know anybody? By spending time with them. And in this wonderful world. And at his feet. And let this precious Holy Spirit reveal Jesus to us. Until the revelation of who Jesus is. It just is so all-consuming. That we are by the power of the Holy Spirit enabled to sow out to him and make the commitment that he wants will enable us to fall into his hands and say no, no, no, no, no. I'm going to be ready to meet him when he comes and to satisfy his dear heart. Amen. Now say his name again. Jesus. Now I know it's warm in here. And some of you are having difficulty staying awake. Now I'm not going to blame the preacher. It's just that it's warm in here. So if somebody beside you starts nodding you just punch them. That's the only thing. Why don't you close them a little bit. I don't want anybody in a draft. It's cold in here. Will somebody in the back row go clear over there and open one of those windows way over there on the other end. And then nobody will be in a draft. But it will give us some fresh air in here. I wouldn't raise those, honey. I don't want anybody in a draft. Stand up, everybody. We're in his hands. We want him to have his way with us. So Esther declares herself. And Hageeite takes her over. I believe all of us who have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit know something of what it means to have the Holy Ghost talk to us and the Holy Ghost deal with us and the Holy Spirit to lay his demands upon us and his obediences. His thou shalt and thou shalt not. Others may, but you cannot. If you're going this way, you're going this way. We don't compare ourselves among ourselves. We don't question what other people are free to do, and we can't. Neither do we put our convictions on other people. But we just let everybody alone, let everybody live their own life before the Lord and let this precious first servant out of the king's palace have his way in our lives. Esther got through in twelve months. Twelve months. She got through in a hurry. There's a reason for this. Because she yielded on every point. Because she was always obedient. Not once does Esther make a suggestion to the Holy Ghost. Not once does she take the initiative. Not once does she ask for anything artificial or synthetic. Esther's voice is not heard. Her voice is not heard from the time she says yes and gives herself to Haggai. That's the last we hear of her. Until her commitment is such that she says, I'll pay this price I'm going through if I perish a prince. Well, I did it for one purpose, to please the king and be accepted by him. So Haggai took her over, and a little duty, duty that he gave her seven maidens for purification, to clean her up. You know, none of us know what sin has done to us until the Holy Ghost shows us. We've never lived any other way. We have been this person all of our life. We don't know perfection as he knows perfection, as the Holy Ghost knows perfection, holiness, righteousness, godliness. All we know is the old nature that we lived with until he saved us. We don't know the deep cleansing that's necessary to be accepted by the king. And so she was given seven maidens for purification, and they were to rub her six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors, to sanctify, to purify, to disinfect, to get a little village girl ready for the king's palace, for the throne. Think of the discipline necessary. Think of the education necessary. I read everything I can get my hands on concerning the disciplines of queens. I've read everything I could get my hands on concerning Queen Elizabeth, and her training, and her discipline, and some of the discipline that this woman was under. So he takes us over. He takes us over. We cannot do it ourselves. We don't know what to do. We don't know the king's desires. We don't know his heart. We don't know how really holy he is. We don't know that pure light that he dwells in until the Holy Ghost brings us into that light. We don't know truth until the Holy Ghost opens it to us and flashes of it come through that scorch us and burn, and we cry out, Oh Lord, am I like this? I didn't know that was in my nature. I didn't know I was like this. Well, if you're saved and baptized in the Holy Ghost, isn't that enough? Aren't we ready to go there? No, dear. No, this is just the beginning. This is just the beginning. When your baby was born, you didn't take that little one up in your arms and say, Oh, my life, I've wanted a baby. I just look forward to the time when I can take my firstborn in my arms. Oh, I've got a baby. He can die now. I've got a baby. I've got a baby. Well, no. You laugh at that. That's ridiculous. This little thing hasn't yet lived. He hardly knows he's around. He can't really see. He doesn't know what life is all about. He hasn't been educated or trained in any way whatsoever. That's what we look like when we're just born into the kingdom of God. And then he baptizes us with the precious Holy Spirit to get us walking, to get us moving, and we're just really begun. But he has a plan, and he has a purpose laid on each one of our lives, and this is to take us into his hands and make us fit to be in that bride and in that company that will satisfy his heart. There are a lot of companies in the scriptures, you know. There are just lots of companies, and I know a lot of teaching today. Everybody's going up, and everybody's going to sit on the throne. Everybody's going up in the rapture, and everybody's going to be the bride, and everybody's going to rule and reign. Well, wouldn't that be something? Wouldn't that be something with undisciplined people, undisciplined people on thrones ruling and reigning? Oh, help us. Now, know this king is going to have a bride worthy, worthy of this wonderful son of God. And as the hours go on, we're going to talk about his worthiness and who he is. Oh, my dear, my dear, there is a marvelous calling laid upon our lives. But we're in the process now. We're in the process of becoming that person that he wants us to be. How many of you have already attained? Oh, I'll shut my eyes so I don't see any hands. I'm always scared lest people somehow, just if we haven't attained, you know, self-satisfaction at the end. That's the end. But we're in his hands. We're in his hands. Have you felt the pressure of his hand on you? I hope so. And not this way, this way. No, not this way, this way. He doesn't compel, he doesn't coerce, but he sure knows how to nudge us in the right way and let us know what his will is. And none of us will be able to say, I didn't know, because the faithful Holy Ghost will show us and talk to us and tell us and guide us and instruct us and discipline us and do for us and them as whatever's necessary. This is what he's come for. This is what he's come for. All right, darling, you've got seven maidens to get us lined up. Esther had seven maidens to work on her, and each one of us had seven maidens around to work on us. Whoo! They're going to rub us for six months with a little of bone. They're going to rub us. We're all in this thing. They're going to rub us, and most of the time it's the wrong way. But that's what they have been sent for. That's what they've been sent for. But we've got to keep this in mind, girls. We've got to keep this in mind, that Esther had one thing in her mind, and we've got to keep this in our mind continually, and that is attaining. That's attaining. That's attaining. That's getting there. That's paying the price. It's going. Whoo! For 12 months, Esther had one desire. For 12 months, Esther had one prayer. For 12 months, Esther had one song. For 12 months, Esther had one theme. None of this up and down and in and out business. I don't know whether I'm going to make it. I'm not sure that I'm going to get through. No. You stop your little royal foot, if necessary. Amen. Because you are royalty, you know, and if you had to stop your foot, stop it. And say, No! No! I have an appointment, and I'm going to make it. I'm going to be there. I've had to tell people I have an appointment. Believe me. Believe me. No! No! People want to get you involved. Oh, heaven help us. All the things that people are involved in. No, I have an appointment. And I do have an appointment. I'm not lying. I've got an appointment. And I'm going to make that appointment. And I'm not going to let anything deter me from keeping that appointment and being there. Amen. So she had one song. And I'm going to be there. She sang it. She sang one song for 12 months. 12 months. Now, six of these, these seven maidens rubbed her for six months with oil of myrrh. Do you know what myrrh means? Bitterness. Bitterness. This was, they brought Jesus at his birth, gold and frankincense and myrrh. The type of, the bitterness. The bitterness. The suffering. Ah, that he would have to go through. And look, darling, don't you expect to get through on a bed of roses. So much fun being a Christian. Well, enjoy all the fun. Enjoy all the fun that you can have. Because when you turn around, there's going to be some oil of myrrh. And plenty of oil of myrrh to, in our life, to rub us. And there'll be six months of this. Six months of it. It's not an overnight thing. And it just goes on. And it just goes on. And you cry. And you cry. And how long, Lord, did you forget you came to be purified? And so this must go on until we're purified. Never forget the purpose of this thing in our life. But the trouble is, just as soon as our fun is disturbed just a little bit and something comes that crosses us, people think the devil got in there. And they'll start blaming any little trouble or any bitterness or any sorrow. And that's who these maidens or what these maidens represent. The experiences, the trials, the suffering, the tears, the heartaches, the heartbreaks, and all these things that everybody I know is going through. I ask somebody, Honey, pray for this retreat I'm going to. Will you pray? She says, Well, everybody needs prayer. How true that is. How true that is today. Everybody I know is going through one thing, two things, six things. And then they're multiplied, and then they're doubled, and you hardly get out of one thing until you see something else coming up. Uh-huh. And you get out of that thing, and things are just crippled, and they're doubled. Now let me tell you. Let me talk to you. Are you listening? Honey, now these things can do one of two things in our lives. They can make us hard. They can make us bitter. They can turn us against God. And just trying to help a woman last week who said, I am so mad at God, and she's through with it. That's the wrong spirit. There's no queenliness. There's no queenliness about that whatsoever, none whatsoever. Just mad at God. What for? Because she couldn't have a way. And that's what it's all about. She couldn't have a way. She made a prophecy in a meeting, and it wasn't coming true. And she blamed it on God that this prophecy wasn't being fulfilled. Well, don't get yourself in a mess like that, and you won't have to try to explain it and get out. Just be careful. People want to always ready to lay hands on you and prophesy over you. And then if it don't come true, well, somebody else's fault. No, just don't do things like that unless it is purely the Holy Ghost and you can't help yourself. It just rolls and pours. And then you can help yourself because the Spirit of the Prophet is subject to the Prophet. Yes. But don't blame these things on the devil. If you have put yourself in the hands of God, Father, I want to please you. I want to do your will. I want to serve you. I want to be pleasing to you. And we say, oh, have thine own way. Yes, Lord, I want you to have your way in my life. Honey, don't pray unless you mean it. Because God answers prayer. And if we ask the Lord to have his way in our lives, of course he's going to have his way. And then he takes us into those sacred nail-pierced hands and things begin to happen that break us and melt us and begin to shape and mold that clay. And we don't like the shape it's taking. And then the way things are going, we don't like that. And we think the devil got in there. And then we go to church, Pastor, pray for me. The devil's doing this and the devil's after me. Well, honey, the devil doesn't have anything to do with it. You belong to Jesus Christ. And if he is using the devil, you're God's child. And the devil can only go as far as God allows him. Keep the purpose in mind. Keep the purpose for this thing in mind. It is for our purification, to make us beautiful, to get us ready to be accepted by the King and to please him and sit with him and rule and reign on the throne with Jesus Christ. And you can be there just as much as the most spiritual person that you know, that somebody you call super saint, I don't know who it would be, but anyhow, you can be there just as much as anybody that you think so super. You can be there. The call of God is laid on your heart and life. And it's the Holy Ghost who's dealing with all of us. Amen. Amen. You know, I would just like to... May I give these seven maidens names? You know, they don't have a name. Oh, sweetheart, please don't look in your Bible for a name. Oh, my dear, I hear you turning pages. Don't look in the Bible for names. They're not there. But they're just his instruments. Every one of them, that man, that woman. No, darling, his instruments. His instruments. See them as God's instruments. How many of you are going through something right now? You know how to say that you're going through it? Come on. Why, of course. Why, of course. Everybody you know that's going through with God, they're right in the middle of something right now. Because the hour is late and the time is short, and the Lord is working with us just as fast as we'll let him work. Cheer up, the worst is yet to come. When you get out of... I think this first maiden, I think the first maiden that came in to work on this little bedouin girl, I think she was a hairdresser. Now, this is the kind of maid that gets you your hair. You know, that disturbs your cool. And that would get you all upset. That would ruffle you, just ruffle you good. Now, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? What are we going to make her do? Are we just going to say, all right, just go on, help yourself. And just stand there while she ruffles your hair, and say, all right, just help yourself. I know who you are, I know who sent you, I know what you've come to do. Now, you can defeat me, and I can throw a tantrum. I know one woman who said, Lord, will you please turn your face while I tell this man what I think of him? She did. She did. But I want to tell you, I want to tell you that woman went through the most awful darkness for six months because he didn't turn his face back. Yes, we can't, we can't tell people off. And because this isn't the purpose of the Lord, allowing a hairdresser to get in our hair. Uh-huh. Yes, he says when the Lord looks on us, your hair looks like goat's hair to me. I said that a while ago. And he wants to fix it up, and a little later in the Song of Solomon, it says why, your hair is purple. I mean, I've got purple hair. You may have purple. Purple isn't the color. Purple is a combination of red and blue. And you know what that blue is? Heavenly. Heavenly. Do you know what that red is? The precious blood of Jesus. So she got her hair washed in the blood of Jesus and died, washed and died in the precious blood of the Lamb. And he says your hair is purple. And then he says why, your whole head is like Mount Carmel, drenched with latter rain. You know when Elijah prayed and the rain came down, and that's the way he saw her, that her head was purple and it looked like Carmel, just drenched with latter rain. And he saw this glorious crown upon her. Oh, when we know what the Lord wants, if we understand what he's doing and what he wants, it'll make it so much easier. All right, listen to this. A woman's long hair is her lot. All right? Now you just take it from there. All this hairdresser, this is the reason why I believe the first one was a hairdresser, because right away he says all have sinned and come on, come short of the glory. A woman's, let's say a woman's hair, her long, long hair, doesn't say how long, a woman's long hair, a woman's hair is her glory. That's her glory. And the thought that's in his mind in dealing with her hair is the glory. There's no glory. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All have sinned and have missed something that God wanted us to have. What was that something? The glory of God. Do you know what the glory of God is? Do you know what glory means? Glory, when Moses, if you read the 32nd chapter of Exodus, don't turn to it now, 32nd chapter, Moses said to God, Show me thy glory. And he says, and God put him, put him in the cleft of a rock. And God passed by and showed him how merciful he is, how gracious he is, how longsuffering he is. The glory means characteristic qualities that every last one of us comes short of. And not one of us was born with any Christian character whatsoever. We're newborn babies, right? Partakers of his nature, but there's a difference between nature and character. We're partakers of his nature, but character has to be built step by step, line upon line, obedience upon obedience. But as we hear his voice and fall into his hand and let this maiden work on us, work on us, she wants to make us longsuffering. Say that word. Longsuffering. That's a little different than impatient. And when our cool is disturbed and we want to blow our tops and take people off and get all ruffled, ooh, that hurts when I talk like that even. That hurts. No gentle kind. You know, dear, Christian women should be the most beautiful women in the world. There should be glory on Christian women. Not a cosmetic glory either, but the glory of the Lord. The glory of the Lord. Gentleness, longsuffering, patience. This is what he's trying to work out in us. And all these things that disturb and agitate if we let it. And people are so... Today, isn't it terrible, the nerves? You know, nerves? Temple? There isn't one thing beautiful about temple. There isn't one thing attractive about impatience and anger and all those things. Christian women should be the most beautiful women in the world. Yeah, charming. Charming. Do you have a desire to be charming? I hope so. Are you working on it? Did you ever pray for patience? Well, how do we get patience? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so if we're going to have these qualities, we have to have these maidens. Right? We have to have these maidens. We have to have tribulation. We have to have it. Then don't refute the devil. And don't call the church to fasting and prayer. No. Just say, I wish we had a song about rub-on. Some of you songwriters, will you write me a song about rub-on? And I'll go over the country and teach that one. Yeah, we have to have these maidens, but we just must not forget their purpose. Yeah, she's a hairdresser. A hairdresser. And we will be crowned with glory and honor. Wouldn't it be awful to come into the king's presence with our hair undressed? Wouldn't that be awful? Say, did you ever dream you arrived somewhere and your hair wasn't combed? Or you weren't properly dressed? You know, one of the worst dreams I can have is to arrive at a meeting and get up in the pulpit and find out I forgot to comb my hair. Or I'm not dressed for the occasion. And I have dreams like that once in a while. Oh, it's so disturbing. But that's good. That's good. And then, oh dear, Lord, I know I'm not yet cloned the way I should be, but I sure don't want to arrive in the king's presence with my hair all disheveled. Now, in the scriptures, a woman with unkept hair and disheveled hair, that woman is a harlot. That's the picture of a harlot. You know, if women today knew the meaning in the scriptures of this long, straight, hideous hairdo that's popular today, I'm looking around fast, I don't see it. Living in a time when every... That's a harlot hairdo. And this is what the scriptures mean, ladies, when it says a woman should have her head covered. In the East, a woman covers her head because the harlots run around with their head uncovered and their hair all stringing and hanging down, disheveled and uncloned. Oh, and so when a maiden comes around and just ruffles you and disturbs you, will you accept her? Say, yes. You say it. You get it. Yes. Thank you. And we get disturbed over the smallest things. The smallest things. I came out of church. I came out of church one night. I'll use men for illustrations. This is... And his car was parked just in front of the church. And when I followed him, came out, was the next one to come out of the church, and his car was parked right there, and he had a flat tire. He said, Sister Hannah, look at that tire. I said, yeah, it's flat, isn't it? Yes, he says it's flat. The devil does that to me every time. I says, he does what? Well, he said, you saw how I was blessed in the meeting. I said, yes, yes. He liked the song Joy Bells. And every time the song leader would ask, does anybody have a selection, he'd always ask for Joy Bells. And he would sing it and get blessed. That's how he would get blessed. Joy Bells. Really get blessed. This night he had a Joy Bell blessing. So when we got out of here, I said, yes, it's flat. The devil does that to me all the time. You saw how I was blessed in that. Every time I get blessed, the devil steals my blessing away before I get home. I said, no way, brother. I don't think the devil lets the air out of your tire. I said, I think Gabriel did that. Well, I never heard that before. And I said, I did. I did. You know the lords and maidens that he sends to do these things all the time. The devil doesn't do it. The lord's servants do these kinds of things. And he said, well, but you saw how I was blessed. I said, yeah. What was that that you got in there that there wasn't enough of it to get you away from the front of the church? Air out of people's tires? The devil doesn't let you oversleep in the morning. The devil doesn't burn the toast. Another man, I lived in their home. And he, of course, chauffeured me to and from the meetings all the time. And this day we come up and left the house. We were a little late and drove up to the light and it was red. See that, Sister Helen? The devil does that all the time. I said, my brother, the devil has nothing to do with those lights. There's a mechanical thing down the street. But that goes on and on. The devil doesn't do that. Now we can let, see the nonsense and what we let the devil do to us to get us all disturbed. It's such trifling things. But if we're, what did Jesus say? If we overcome in these little things? If he can't trust us with a penny, he's not going to give us a dollar. And all these first things have to be worked out in our lives first. Oh, yes, yes. Tribulation worketh patience. It's the purpose. Think about the purpose, the patience, the patience. And we can see to these things. I know what you could do, but I'm not going to let you. So I said, brother, let's get a jack and fix this tire. Now I said, instead of letting that disturb you and steal the blessing from you, just get out a jack and just start fixing it and let's sing while we're doing it. Alleluia, alleluia. All right. Everybody say, lovely Jesus. Lovely Jesus. Oh, forgive us. And let his precious word wash us right now. Let his word, let his word just go out over us right now and just wash us, wash us, and just ask him to forgive us. Just forgive us. Say his name. Jesus. Say it again. Jesus. All right, you ready for the second maiden? She gives facials. Is there anything more beautiful than the radiance that's on the face of a child of God when they're overcoming yet suffering? Is there anything more beautiful than those diamonds that you see on the cheeks of somebody that's going through almost unbearable circumstances, but they're going through it with grace? They're accepting their trial. They're accepting that hardship. There isn't anything that'll take the scales from our eyes like breaking before the Lord and accepting what he allows. We pray continually that he will take the scales from our eyes, don't we? Then if he sends along circumstances and trials and suffering that will beautify our face and our countenance. Our countenance tells so much about us. The spirit of the person is revealed in our countenance. Where we are in God is revealed. It shows in our countenance. Paul speaks of open countenance, a closed countenance. We've all seen the lines of hardness, haven't we? And the lines of bitterness. But I've looked into the face, too, of some saints that were saints indeed. I shall never forget in the church in Dayton, Ohio, a little sister came up to me and she said, her face was a glow. This woman's face was radiant. And she said it with a smile on her face. She said, Sister Hammond, I know my husband will beat me when I go home tonight. He beats me every time I come to church. Will you pray for me that I can take the beating? Just pray for me. I said, Oh, honey. Oh, honey. She turned and went her way. And in my spirit, I said, Oh, honey, you pray for me. You pray for me. To me, the meanest man on earth is a man that beats his wife. And then I think of another woman. These are people in just unbelievable circumstances. But the glow in their face, because they were triumphant in that circumstance. This little woman, you know, today, there's so much sorrow in homes. There's so much heartache. There's so much heartbreak. There is a devil. And we better know it. We better know it. And I think there are demons, a whole horde of demons, out of the pit today to break up marriages. It's just unbelievable in one week when five, five top nationally known ministers left their wives and ran off with some young thing. Yes. It's terrible. But this little woman, this little woman in circumstances, I said, Oh, God. Oh, God. I'll never have to go through what she's going through. I'll never have to face that. And I don't know how I would face it. None of us know what we would do in the other person's shoes. So God save us from criticism. Amen. And judging and trying to tell somebody else how to live. But this little woman's husband, night after night, was bringing another woman into that home and demanding that his wife cook for her, have a meal ready for her. And in the same house, in the same house, go to bed. And that woman in that house all night, she took sick while she was there, and he demanded that she wait on him. Well, these are the things that some are asked to go through. And perhaps I can hear some saying, I just wouldn't. But, honey, this is what I... The glow, the victory that she had in just, oh, circumstance like that. Is it any wonder? I just wanted to stare at her. That glow. There's only one way to get that kind of a glow. That's what I call a real facial. Jesus says, let me... Listen, honey. Jesus says, look me in the face. In the Psalms of Solomon, he says, let me see your eyes. Our eyes tell so much, you know, and some can't even look in the eyes. The eyes tell so much, the countenance tells so much, and Jesus says, let me see your eyes. And he said his bride has dove's eyes, deep pools of flesh-bonds. These are pools of reflection, where you can look in there, can look in her eyes, and see the deep love of God in that light. Dove's eyes, these are the eyes of the Holy Spirit. But the whole face, he says, grace is poured into her lips. The lips are part of the face, aren't they? Oh, wench, when he really, really gets hold of us, I don't know what he'll ask you to go through. On our way to the king's palace, I don't know what he'll ask you to go through. I don't know what demands might be laid on you. Honey, will you please keep the purpose of it all in mind, and remember that these maidens are sent for our purification, to cleanse out of us all that old, damaged nature that makes us act and react like the devil. And he has all this purifying to do, this cleansing, this washing, this holy washing to do, to make us fit for the king's presence. That's what trials are all about. That's why we're put in hard places and asked to go through hard things. Don't, honey, don't say that woman, that man, don't say that, say God's instrument. And when we see our friends and our loved ones,