How They Prayed Volume Three
This book on prayer published by Harvey Christian Publishers and written by Edwin and Lillian Harvey has a subtitle: “Missionaries and Revival.” The book tells of the role prayer prayed in various revivals, focusing in the latter half of the book on revivals abroad and how various missionaries prayed until God sent revival.
The setting for this true story is the Belgian Congo. The Belgian government has just issued an edict that whites could only man twelve mission stations. This meant that many stations had to be closed. One of these was at Imbai where Jack Roberts and his two sisters had been laboring. Jack was ordered by his mission to pioneer in a new area while the two ladies were left at Imbai and given six months to prepare for their final move.
Being women of prayer, Lily Roberts and her younger sister fell on their knees and asked God to work among the native Christians at Imbai. If they were to be left on their own, they needed to be strong in the Lord. In other words, the two lady missionaries prayed for a revival. “Send a second Pentecost, Lord,” Lily pled. And the answer came back, “You have asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if you can pray the price, you can have what you asked. “My life for revival,” was Lily’s response.
I will not relate the whole story here, for “How They Prayed Volume Three” is available at the online Christian Bookstore of Harvey Christian Publishers. Suffice it to say, that I was deeply moved as I read of how God answered Lily’s prayer by beginning to search their own lives, how a deep repentance followed and then a marvelous blessing which soon spread throughout the whole station. My tears fell on the keyboard as I attempted to edit the manuscript on the screen in front of me. Yes, God answered Lily’s prayer but there was a cost. The revival so spread to the surrounding area, that missionaries became inundated with people seeking God. Lily’s strength eventually gave out and, yes, she literally gave her life for that Revival. What devotion! What prayer! What blessing!
“How They Prayed Volume One”
“Prayers are deathless!” So wrote Lillian G. Harvey in foreword to “How They Prayed Volume One”, the first in a series published by Harvey Christian Publishers and written by Edwin and Lillian Harvey. This first volume tells of how family members prayed for each other–wives for their husbands and husbands for their wives; children for their parents and parents for their children.
So long as there are homes to which men turn,
At close of day;
So long as there are homes where children are,
Where women stay–
If love and loyalty and faith be found
Across those sills–
A stricken nation can recover from
Its gravest Ills.
So long as there are homes where fires burn
And there is bread;
So long as there are homes where lamps are lit;
And prayers are said–
Although people falter through the dark,
And nations grope–
With God Himself back of these homes,
We have sure hope.
–Grace Crowell (page 10)
“How They Prayed Volume Two”
“How They Prayed Volume Two”, is the second book in a series by that title published by Harvey Christian Publishers and written by Edwin and Lillian Harvey. This second volume tells of how pastors prayed for their congregations. It relates stories of praying preachers from various denominational backgrounds and countries.
“More sips!” some cry; “more guns!”
“More fighters in the air!”
But wise the king who adds,
“More prayer!”
Remember, angels use
This ancient thoroughfare;
So keep their highway clear–
More prayer!
One day will not suffice
To meet time’s wear and tear,
Each hour of life must see
More prayer!
Again and yet again,
The scrolls of God declare:
“The deepest need of men–
More prayer
(Page 58)
Harvey Christian Publishers are able to present a variety of books on prayer by Edwin and Lillian Harvey. The best known of these are “Kneeling We Triumph” Volumes One and Two. These each contain sixty two-page readings on prayer and have been translated into Russian, Romanian, Polish, and Spanish. They are challenging and comprehensive, covering many facets of the prayer-life, some not often touched upon in most books or sermons.
The Velvet Curtain Series
The phrase “The Velvet Curtain” was in the mind and heart of Trudy Harvey Tait long before she took up her pen to write “The Velvet Curtain Series.” Growing up in the cold war,she had often heard the phrase “The Iron Curtain” and was glad that she, for one, was privileged to live in the
West where such a curtain did not exist. Little by little, however, she came to discover that there was a Western counterpart which made itself felt from time to time.
Harvey Christian Publishers does not normally publish novels but the trilogy “The Velvet Curtain Series,” is now available on its online Christian bookstore. And although they are not, strictly speaking, devotional books such as our books on prayer, humility, suffering, etc., they embrace all of these subjects, for how on earth is anyone to resist the smothering effects of the Velvet Curtain, if they do not bathe themselves in prayer, be clothed in humility, and be prepared to suffer? Christians belong not to a Western or Eastern Culture but to a Heavenly Kingdom and as citizens of that kingdom, their lives contradict at all points worldly systems and maxims.
When Trudy Harvey Tait wrote these books, she did not visualize their being printed in Eastern Europe but hoped they would be helpful to immigrants to the States to be forewarned that although they might have escaped the Iron Curtain, they would soon encounter a far more subtle “Curtain” as they began their new lives in the West. It wasn’t long however, before it became evident that in countries such as Romania and Russia, there was a crying need for such a warning. The Velvet Curtain was not confined to America or Western Europe but, following in freedom’s wake, it was attempting to enfold churches and individuals, who were basking in their newfound liberty, in its insidious folds. And it has turned out that The Velvet Curtain Series has actually more appeal in the East than here in the States. Why? Who knows? Perhaps one lady who owned a Christian Bookstore in the UK was right when she told a friend, “The person who wrote the Velvet Curtain was very courageous.” And when asked why, she replied, “Because the books are counter-cultural here in the West.” And her sentiments were echoed by a business man in the States who wrote that he had never been aware of this Velvet Curtain until he read the book “The Velvet Curtain,” the first in this series. It had made him aware of its danger and truly thankful.
Asking Father and Father Calling
Fathers are important in our lives. And God our heavenly and eternal Father is the most important father of all. He existed before the world was and knew us before we were born. And He wishes to speak to us daily, hourly, momentarily, only we are often too busy to listen.
The companion books “Asking Father” and “Father Calling” published by Harvey Christian Publishers encourage children to treat God, though unseen, as their own precious father.
My dear wife, Trudy Harvey Tait, has written a series of novels beginning with, “The Velvet Curtain” followed by, “Behind the Velvet Curtain” then finally, “Escaping the Velvet Curtain.” At first I was a little dubious about novels but when I realized the powerful message she conveyed in such an artful manner my support was unbounded.
The Velvet Curtain is so subtle in its influence. Almost nobody is beyond it’s reach and those who think they have “Escaped the Velvet Curtain” should read her book with that title. She concludes that the only safeguard is to continually seek the strength and comfort of the Holy Spirit, doing the will of God.
The Velvet Curtain series is good reading for people of every generation. It has romance, intrigue, and humor without spelling out all the answers. Readers will be faced with many questions that have no easy answers. Someone has said that asking the right questions is half the battle, well Trudy has won half the battle for you. Your half is to read the book/books.
–R. Barry Tait.
I wonder how most of us react to the word “humility.” Does it scare us, encourage us, make us feel guilty,draw us nearer to thoughts of God and his Son, Jesus Christ? Perhaps the answer is yes to all of these, and yet, whatever your reaction may be to this subject, genuine, credible books on humility seem to make a huge impact upon the reader. Take the book, Royal Insignia for example, published by Harvey Christian Publishers and written by E. F. & L. Harvey. I remember when my mother, Lillian Harvey, involved me in editing this book shortly after the death of her husband.
“Because man seeks the highest seat, He (Christ) took the lowest.
Because man wishes to be as the gods, He became man, even a babe.
Because man desires costly dwellings, He had not where to lay His head and began His life in a manger. . .
Because man strives for wealth, He became poor…
Because man chooses men of renown to rule and govern nations, He chose humble fishermen from Galilee to be His disciples.”
—Lillian Harvey.
There is no doubt about it. Christ’s example is truly an inspiring one and yet so counter culture that a book which speaks of nothing else but humility–how can it have much of an appeal today? Well, as it turned out, my pessimism was proved unfounded. Royal Insignia, while not a national best seller, has had a surprising response both in this country and abroad. Pastors have testified that it has transformed their churches by changing the perspective of their entire staff. Evangelists have promoted it as one of the best books on the subject while person after person has written that this book brought them nearer the Lord they professed to serve.
Why, I ask myself, has the book had such an impact? In the first place, there is in most of us, an unquenchable thirst to be more godlike and an intuitive response to the call to be clothed in Christ’s humility. Perhaps our motives are flawed. Perhaps we cling to the words “he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” and so we are willing for the humbling if it leads us to glory. Perhaps this is why our hand reaches for a book on humility. Perhaps…perhaps…. And yet, let’s face it, the standard our Lord sets before us is so frighteningly high that, if taken seriously, deals a continual deathblow to our innate pride as we attempt to follow in His footsteps. The cost is great and embracing that cost slowly refines and transforms our motives. The glory we begin to desire is to know Him better, love Him more dearly, follow Him more nearly, and we can only do this by letting Him deal continued deathblows to our pride and arrogance.
Then, secondly, Royal Insignia, while presenting Christ’s example to us in its opening pages, goes on to call upon witness after witness to testify that humility is indeed the “royal insignia” of every true follower of Christ. They relate frankly and honestly how God began and continued the humbling process in their own lives and the impact this had on their Christianity. Preachers and evangelists whose successes are heralded in book after book on the shelves of Christian bookstores, reveal glimpses into the hidden recesses of their beings and confess that they were as subject to pride as we are and yet embraced “the way down as the way up” and beckon us to do the same. They cause humility to come alive to us, and by clothing it in their own humanity, make it more attainable than it has ever been before.
What is humility? What does it look like, sound like, act like? Who are the people in our lives who have impressed us the most by their humility? And how do I, in my day-to-day life, in the here and now, in the twenty-first century become “poor in spirit”?
Of course, there are no pat answers to the above questions and after all, we have the Book of books in which we may find God’s own answers if we dig deep enough. Sometimes, though, we need an extra incentive to do just this and the book Royal Insignia by E.F. & L.
Harvey has proved such an incentive to many. Take, for example, the following pithy statements written by Christians whose lives have proved their sincerity and love for Christ:
“Nothing so sets a person out of the devil’s reach as humility.”
–Jonathan Edwards. (p.122)
“Boasting is always an advertisement of poverty.”
–William Scroggie. (p.126)
“Beware of posing as a profound person. God became a baby.”
–Oswald Chambers. (p.162)
“I have been a pen in the fingers of God, and who praises the pen?”
–Richard Baxter. (p.188)
“God will deny no blessing to a thoroughly humbled spirit.”
–C.H. Spurgeon. (p.66)
“Since, Lord, to thee
A narrow way and little gate
Is all the passage, on my infancy
Thou didst lay hold, and antedate
My faith in me.
“O let me still
Write thee great God, and me a child:
Let me be soft and supple to thy will,
Small to myself, to others mild,
Behither ill.”
–George Herbert. (p. 162)
In our Christian bookstore, we have a series of books which deal with the subject of “God and suffering.” In the lives of the saints, we read how many of God’s children dealt with this subject. What was their reaction when an illness or handicap seemed to put an end to their usefulness?
In the book, Handicaps, Volume One, the sixth book in the Call Back Series, we read of a young missionary named Fay Goddard, who had gone to the Philippines, learned the language and customs of the people she had come to serve, when devastating polio suddenly “laid bands upon her limbs and she was compelled to be confined to a wheelchair. Back at the Overseas Missionary headquarters in Philadelphia, she found herself “stuffing envelopes, licking stamps, and trying to be busy at whatever others could scrape up for her to do. I was at a dead end, on a shelf,” she tells us. What had been the purpose of all her language study, she asked herself? And her slow but steady entrance into the hearts of the people she had come to love? Had that too been a waste?
It was at that point that she and God had a very frank conversation. She had previously prayed, “Do whatever You want with me, Lord, whatever it takes to accomplish what you want me to do.” But stuffing envelopes and licking stamps–was this God’s perfect way?
“Remember Job?” the Lord interjected. Of course she remembered Job! Opening her Bible, Fay read once more Satan’s charge that Job was not serving God for nothing. ”Well, Satan could say the same about you,” the Lord challenged.” These words might have seemed harsh, but Fay knew them to be only too true. Living in her little grass-roofed house “on a plateau on the edge of a deep valley and within view of the blue-gray mountains” was where she wanted to stay for the rest of her life.
“Now I am asking you to do something you don’t want to do,” God told her. I want you to show Satan that you love me enough to do even this for Me. And I want you to do it with joy.” (Handicaps, p. 14). Fay took the challenge and within days found herself the editor of East Asia’s Millions where suddenly, all the pieces seemed to fit together. Her previous life-experience now came into play. She had all the challenge she needed in a job for which she proved a perfect fit.
