In this sermon, the speaker shares a personal experience of facing difficulties and how the caring spirit of God helped overcome them. The speaker emphasizes the importance of not being concerned and casting our worries upon the Lord, as stated in the Bible. They also highlight the power of prayer and how it can transcend distance and bring comfort and support to missionaries. The sermon concludes with the reminder that Jesus is always with us, even in our closets, and that we can find joy and hope in His love, knowing that we will be reunited with loved ones in the divine realm.

My friend, I wanted to talk tonight about prayer and about the spirit of worry. I don't know if you know him. I know him very personally. But he is a jealous enemy. And now I want to read and let's listen together again today what the Holy Spirit has to say to us. We prayed in the prayer community that the Lord would make this room pure and that we would receive a vision of the good news and of Jesus. It is written in Philippians 4, 6 Therefore you do not need to worry. You may spread all your concerns in prayer and care with heartfelt thanks to God. Then the peace of God, which is truly higher than our understanding, your heart and your whole thinking are determined by Jesus Christ. In the other translation it says, You do not need to worry, but in all let your concerns be known to God through prayer and care with heartfelt thanks. And the peace of God, which exceeds all understanding, will keep your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. And then there is a commandment in Timotheus 2, 1 1 Timotheus Now I command and admonish to the first of all to follow. Enter into your prayers, whether they are prayers of thanksgiving or prayers of prayer, one for all people, for kings and all other nobility, so that we can lead a peaceful and quiet life in all God's fear and nobility. For this is good and favourable for God, our salvation. Do you know the spirit of worry? I have already asked. I fear that we actually all know this spirit of worry. And I must confess that I often hear about his lies. That is very stupid and I am still in tears not to be concerned. I was a while ago in Los Angeles, in America, and I had a secretary there. And there we heard that there were a lot of sick people, that many had the flu. And pretty bad. One morning my secretary said, I have a headache. The spirit of worry said, she has the flu. It's called influenza, right? And I said to her, you must stay in bed and you must not come into the street. It is cold today and I want to go alone to the university where I have to give the first lesson. If you are good enough, then you can start with the letters, but please do not go with me. But when I went to the university, I felt headaches. The spirit of worry said, you have the flu. My eyes were so strange and I thought, oh no, I think I have the flu in my eyes. I have never heard of it, but the spirit of worry said, yes, yes, you have the flu in your eyes. When I came to the university, I opened my Bible. I could not read. Now the spirit of worry was on the throne. He said, Corrie, you can no longer read. You have the flu in your eyes. And what do you have to do if you can no longer read in the future? I can't do my work if I can't prepare myself. Yes, go back to my watchmaker's business. No, I can't repair my ears if I can't see. I'm afraid these young people don't have a very happy message. Because when the spirit of worry sits on the throne in the heart, then you don't have a happy message. At the end of the hour, my secretary came. I said, why didn't you stay at home, it's so cold. You could have started with the letters. She said, I can't see through your glasses. Then I... Then I got my own glasses and I could read. And the headache was gone and the flu was gone. And again I saw how stupid it is to be worried. Yes, it is a sin to worry. It is very clear in the Bible that we have to throw our worries on the Lord. It's like when you play a ball. Then you throw the ball away. Especially when we are in the goal. What is goal in German? Goal. Goal? Goal. Then you have to throw it away when the ball comes. That's how we have to deal with our worries. I learned in the concentration camp. I had exercises. That was a class of the school of life where I learned a lot. Oh, I knew why Betsy, my sister and I were there. We were brought to bring people the gospel. People who had never heard of Jesus. And also afterwards could not hear of Jesus. Because many of them were killed. 97,000 women were killed there in Ravensbrück. Yes, many died with the name of Jesus on their lips. And God brought Betsy and me to proclaim eternal life through Jesus Christ. That was worth all our suffering. But the suffering of the thousands of women around me, around us, I could not understand. And one morning it was too much for me. And then I read in Isaiah 53. Where the prophet sees Jesus on the cross. When he said, it is fulfilled. And then he said, truly, he has borne our worries. And suddenly I understood it. Because Jesus fulfilled everything on the cross to bear our sins and worries. That's why we are not called to be carriers of worries. Yes, carriers of the cross. And carriers of light. But we have to throw our worries on the Lord. And often I came with a very heavy suitcase full of worries at the Lord. In prayer. And then I started to unpack all my worries. And I said, Lord, here are the poor new arrivals. 800 new prisoners. Oh Lord, what suffering awaits them. Have mercy on them. And then I brought Berlin. Berlin, that was probably more than 100 kilometers away from Ravensbrück. But often we saw the air red from the flames. Berlin was attacked. Oh, what a suffering. And then I brought all the attacked cities of Germany to the Lord. And then my poor fatherland, Holland. I said, Lord, here is my poor Holland, my fatherland. That must suffer so. Under the occupation. And then I brought my sister Betsy, who was far too weak to be a prisoner. And so I brought one need after the other until my whole suitcase was empty. And when the suitcase was empty, I said Amen. Now I had emptied my whole suitcase in prayer. That was good. But it was not good what I did afterwards. After my Amen, I put everything back in the suitcase. Believe it or not. But it was harder after my prayer than before. Was that praying? No. Praying means throwing all worries on the Lord and tearing with an empty suitcase. How did it go this morning? In your quiet time? Did you bring all your big and small worries to the Lord? That was good. It is not too big for God's omnipotence. And not too small for his love. Imagine if a little girl, a little child comes to the mother with a broken doll. The mother says, if the child cries, what nonsense to cry for such an old, dirty doll. It is not worth a penny yet. No, no, the mother does not say that. She says, but that's too bad. Come here, we will try to repair the doll. Why does the mother take the doll so seriously? Because she sees it through the eyes of the little one, because she loves the little one. And so God sees your worries through your eyes, because he loves you. And God's love makes your problems big in his eyes, small in your eyes. It was good that you told him everything. But how did you travel today? With an empty suitcase? Or did you pack everything again afterwards? The Holy Spirit teaches us to travel with an empty suitcase. We have read that the Bible says that we have to do favors. Oh, that is much more important than we realize. Favor is actually one of the greatest, the most important work of all that we can do. And if you now pray for a missionary who is now on the other side of this planet, then this moment the Lord touches this missionary. There is no separation for God. I was in Japan and I lived together with some missionaries with whom I had a wonderful community. Every morning we read together the book of prayers in English. And we prayed together. And it was so wonderful when I came home that I could tell everything to these dear children of God. And now it was very hot in July and they went to the mountains. But I still had to finish a series of meetings. And I said, I can take care of myself. You go quietly to the mountains and in August I will come too. Now I had to cook for myself. That was not so easy, because it was a long time that I did not cook. And when I came to this Japanese kitchen, where the Japanese girls always cooked, they had a completely different idea of ​​purity than we. And everything I cooked tasted like fish. It was terribly hot. So hot and depressing. And on the other side of the street was a music school. There it was also hot and the windows were also opened. And in one room there were trumpet studies and there harmonica and there violin. And all this noise was so terrible that the neighbors, also with open windows, turned on their radios very loudly. And it started at six o'clock and went on until eleven o'clock in the evening. Terrible. Oh, and then there was a little thing that filled the mass. I said, a cockroach came out of my wardrobe. Is that German? Cockroach. Is that a cockroach? Well, that's an animal that eats such big holes from the clothes. And he just had such a love for my best dress. And then I said that, and then self-pity came into my heart. Well, I said again, poor Kori. Yes, that's bad. And the next day it was even worse. And especially when the music school started again, I had a very long face. And suddenly a mirror passed by and I saw my face. Oh, I became ashamed. And I said, I went on my knees and I said, Oh Lord, now I have so much self-pity with myself. When I think of what you, Lord Jesus, have borne for me at the cross, my fault, at the cross, what a suffering. Now may I have a little difficulty in your service. May I still call it difficulties? Forgive me, Lord Jesus, my self-pity. And I tried to sing about all the noise from the radios and from the music school. Praise the Lord. The mighty King of Honor. And it worked. I don't know, I think I made the loudest noise of all. And when I saw my face in the mirror, it was all round again. It was about two weeks later that I got a letter from Toronto, Canada. And a friend of mine, Corrie, wrote to me. This evening I had a phone call from a friend of mine, who asked me, do you know Corrie ten Boom? I said, oh yes, that's a friend of mine. She said, I haven't seen her yet, but I've read one of her books. And I had to pray for her all day. Then I said, come to me, then we'll pray together. And Corrie, this evening we went on our knees together and we prayed for you. Later I realized that this was the moment that my long face had suddenly become round again. Now, that may be a trifle, but think how great God is in his love. Now he sees that one of his children in Japan is losing courage and has sorrow in his heart. Of course, God could help me out of it right away. It's not so great for his own power. But he says to his children in Canada, pray for Corrie ten Boom. And if the two obey, then Corrie ten Boom will help you out of it in Japan. Isn't that a miracle? Isn't that an honor that God has given us this wonderful work of prayer? Do you understand why I am so happy that so many people have entered their name and address to write to me? No, I don't ask for money, you know that. It's not that it's a piece of paper where I sell so much and then earn so much. No, it costs a lot of money. Because only in Germany there are almost 10,000 who receive this letter. And that's pretty expensive, but I think that's wonderful. Because every time I tell, when the Lord tells you, pray for me. And then from time to time I send a telegram over the headquarters. Lord, will you tell my friends to pray for me today, to pray for me at this moment. And many of my friends obey this telegram. And that's why I believe that God gives me the miracle. That I can still travel the world at my age, I have been young for a long time. So I hope that you will also be faithful to this and help me. It was a few months ago that I was in Holland. Only five days. And a woman came to me and told me about Gerrit. Gerrit is a boy, he was a boy in one of my clubs. Oh, now 30 years ago. He is now a father of six children. And then she told me, Gerrit is under the influence of a very dangerous woman. Oh, I was very sad. When this friend, who told me, was gone, I knelt down. And I prayed, oh Lord, will you not save Gerrit? Think of his wife and children when he is unfaithful to her. What a terrible darkness and sorrow for his wife and children. Lord, touch Gerrit. Make him too strong. I don't know what I prayed for, but I prayed for Gerrit with the Lord. It was Thursday at 10 o'clock. Sunday morning Gerrit came into the same room. And asked me, his first words were, Aunt, where were you at 10 o'clock on Thursday evening? I said, here on my knees and prayed for you. Yes, he said, I knew that. I said, what did you know? He said, I was in the house of a woman who had a very bad influence on me. And all of a sudden I said, I have to go away. She asked, what's going on? He said, I can't stay here any longer. And as I went home, I thought, what's going on? What happened? Why did I have to leave the woman? And then all of a sudden I thought, maybe someone prayed for me. And last night I heard that you were in town. And that's why I came here. That gave me great comfort. With God, prayer is such a reality, that it is written somewhere in one of the letters, Silvanus works for you because he prays faithfully. He holds you tight in his prayer. Yes, prayer is a great work that we can do for our friends. And pray for those who have to govern now. How terrible responsible it is to have such a post now. Pray for them. And then pray with each other. This is very important. I think we can thank the Lord for the blessing we have already had here. Because every evening is a prayer hour. From half past eight to ten before eight. Even on two places up there, in the house of the hall and here in the pastor's office. This is very important. Where people pray, the enemy can't do much. In the police station I heard from my girlfriend that she had lost her courage. She was in the hospital. And losing courage, that actually meant dying. Because only courage and hope kept us alive. I tried to visit her, but it was forbidden to visit the sick. Then I called my prayer community. Now it was so that the officers had so much power in this concentration camp. That if they wanted to kill us in a cruel way, they could do it freely. They had all the power there. But every day there were small groups of prisoners. And they came together to pray. Poor, starved prisoners. Full of dirt. Dirty. Then they came together and they prayed. They prayed for their fellow prisoners. For the leader of the camp. For the supervisors and supervisors. For the fatherland. For everything. For everything. They actually went all over the world to pray for them. And these poor, starving, dirty prisoners actually had much more power than the supervisors and supervisors. I asked them, let's pray for Willi. And let's pray for the miracle that we can reach her. And then we prayed. And then we all went to the sick barracks. There was a small place between barbed wire. And there we prayed together again. And then I went to Willi. And they stayed in prayer. I didn't know which window Willi was behind. And I went there, but they were in prayer. But when I got there, I saw that the shops were closed. I went back to our prayer corner and we prayed, Will you make sure that the shops are open? They stayed in prayer. I went to the window. And there came a camp police. These were fellow prisoners who had to keep order in the streets. Discipline. They were often very cruel. But this one, without knowing it, helped me. She opened the shops. I waited until she was gone. And then I tried to open the window. But that was not possible. Only from the inside. I went back to our prayer corner and prayed. Lord, we thank you that you sent someone to open the shop. Will you please send someone now to open the window? I went back and the others stayed in prayer. Then a Polish woman came and opened the window for them. Now I could talk to Willi. She said, Willi, I'm here. I heard that you lost your courage. Oh, said Willi, I'm glad you came. I can't take it anymore. I have so many terrible pains. I can't take it. And I have so terrible homesickness for my baby in Holland. Will I see it again? And then a camp police came and started yelling at me and said, go away. It is forbidden to talk to the sick. I went back to our prayer corner and prayed. Lord, we thank you that you sent someone to open the shop and the window. Will you please send the camp police now? And I came back and there was no camp police. And I could calmly talk to her. And I could tell her, Willi, the suffering of this time cannot be compared to the glory that is coming. And remember, you are now in training for higher service. And Jesus said, see, I am with you every day until the end of the world. He is also in your tent. You can talk to him. And his hand that does not let go holds you tight. And so I brought her the old, old happy message of Jesus and his love. And at the end she said, oh Corrie, I see it again. Thank you for coming. I will not lose my courage anymore. Yes, it is true, I will see my baby again. Maybe not here on earth, but then up there in the glory. Then a camp police came and beat me cruelly. And she closed the window and the shop. But I went after our prayer and we praised and thanked the Lord that Jesus was again a winner. Friends, when you pray, do you have that you turn your prayer around yourself? I often have that. Then I can only pray for myself. And then even in my prayer I do not get rid of my ego, of my self, my I. Do you have that you just have to think of yourself? That you always bring your thoughts into perspective on your experiences? And that you can not get the change of view? Then I have an advice for you. Pray for others. If you pray for others, then you will be free. Why? Because if we pray for others, then we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who prays in us for others. That's why it's so liberating for us. Hallelujah! We pray. Thank you, Father, in the name of Jesus, that you have told us in your word that we do not have to worry, but throw our worries on you. Thank you that you have given us the glorious task to pray for others. Oh, forgive us that we are not always faithful to the request. Give us clearly to know for whom we can pray. And we praise and thank you that you give us the honor that we sinners, redeemed sinners, are called for such a holy work. Hallelujah! Amen!