Kneeling We Triumph

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Prayer is not just a good idea—it is His divine plan. . . .
Our generation has yet to see prayer as a ministry, and to take God
at His Word on this subject. It is while we pray that God works, if we
can but see Him—not merely before, or after prayer. Our idea is, “Let
us pray, and then get on with the work.” But prayer is our real work.
We so often think of prayer as a prefix or a suffix to an otherwise busy
round. But God’s works are wrought as we pray, and while we pray.
It brings a revolution to any minister or Christian, once he believes
God’s Word on this point. His works are done through prayer, for He
always works out from His throne by intercession. It is not only His
intercession, but ours too, for, by His Spirit, He not only prays for us,
but in us. He gives us of His own great praying—and that is true
praying indeed.
We are not just to imitate His praying, but to enter into it, receive
it, and have it enter into us. That is how we enter into His works,
become “laborers together with God,” and learn to cease from our
own works. We learn in this way to work with Him, instead of for
Him. Sons, and no longer slaves.
Then after we have prayed, we walk with the Lord Jesus into the
works He has wrought in answer to prayer. Prayer is our real work.
Working is drudgery. Even working for the Lord is dreary. But
working with Him is delight. In His Kingdom, it is those to whom He
ministers who minister. The conquered conquer, and the followers of
Christ lead others.—Armin Gesswein.
God does nothing but by prayer, and everything with it.—John Wesley

North Carolina Flooding

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Thanks to Hurricane Florence, flooding is on most of our minds just now. Evidently, however, flooding in North Carolina has been happening for a very long time. In the children’s book, Asking Father, we read of how God used a flood to answer prayer!  Many years ago, a group of believers wanted to build a church in downtown Swan Quarter, NC.  but the owner of the  building lot refused to sell it to them because he knew a business would be willing to pay more money.  The believers reluctantly built their wooden, whiteboard Church on the edge of town. During a flash flood, however, this little building was lifted from its foundations. It floated downtown, landing on the disputed building site. The owner acknowledged the hand of God in this situation and let the church remain.  Asking Father contains other encouraging stories of answered prayer, written especially for children.

Kneeling We Triumph Volume One: Be Still and Know…..

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“The world is enough to busy us, not to fill us,” says Thomas Watson. If this is true, then why are we Christians often so busy and so empty? Why do we prefer the hubbub of activity to silence? Or to put it more forcibly: why are we so fearful of silence? Are we afraid of God’s voice which we can sometimes only hear when other voices are hushed? Or are we unwilling to confront our own thoughts which take control when we are quiet? Or do we wish to drown out our accusing conscience which takes advantage of the quiet? Whatever the reasons, over-busyness often prevents us communing with the Almighty, and is therefore an enemy to the healing power that silent meditation and prayer inevitably works in our hectic lives.


In Kneeling We Triumph, Volume One by Edwin and Lillian Harvey, there are several readings on this subject. Oliver G. Wilson, editor of Wesleyan Methodist for many years, relates an interesting experience in his own life:
“For some time, things had not been going satisfactorily according to my poor limited vision. World situations were distressing and far beyond any solution that I had to offer. Business was not going as in my judgment it should go. I felt keenly that I had been taken advantage of, and spent much of the night turning restlessly in bed. Tensions, frustrations, impossible situations, disagreement among trusted friends, all plagued me. At the close of the second day, when night had settled and nature was putting itself to bed, there came from memory this portion of the Psalm learned long years ago, ‘Be still, and know that I am God.’
“It came with such force, with emphasis upon each word such as no man could give it; my heart melted. A song, seasoned with happy tears, was sung within my soul: ‘Be still, and know that I am God.’ Very much of our trouble and anxiety arises from our useless chatter, from our ceaseless activity, from our reliance upon our own wisdom. We have a guilty feeling if religion is not doing something. We want progress, but back of progress must be peace. One does not need a brass band to appreciate God. His mercy, His grace, His presence, when realized, overwhelm us.”

Be still sometimes—so still that God may speak,
And make His voice heard in thy waiting heart.
Sometimes the hush of His calm presence seek;
From all the world’s confusion come apart,
And silence even praise, and breathe no prayer,
But only wait for Him to meet thee there.
Be still sometimes! Be still enough to hear
The faintest whisper of His voice, and feel
The touch of His dear hand, when He draws near,
Himself unto thy spirit to reveal.
God will His deepest truths to thee make known,
Only when thou art silent and alone.
—Edith Hickman Divall.
The above quotations are taken from Kneeling We Triumph Volume One, compiled by Edwin and Lillian Harvey and published by Harvey Christian Publishers. This book and its companion, Kneeling We Triumph Volume Two, are available in their Online Christian Bookstore.

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How They Prayed, Vol. Three: Be still, and hear what God shall say.

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The book by Edwin and Lillian Harvey, entitled How They Prayed Volume 3, quotes from the diaries, letters, and sermons of pastors and missionaries who have come to acknowledge the part prayer must play in revivals, widespread and local. “To arouse one man or woman to the tremendous power of prayer for others,” says A. J. Gordon, “is worth more than the combined activity of a score of average Christians. What David Brainerd did, others may do. God is no respecter of persons.”

“How sweet is prayer to my soul at this time,” Henry Martyn notes in his diary. “I seem as if I could never be tired, not only of spiritual joys, but of spiritual employments, since these are now the same.
“I felt as if I could never be tired with prayer. . . At night read the third and fourth chapters of the Acts; and lost much time and spirituality by indulging ideas of schemes about the Gospel, which had more of romance and pride in them than of wisdom and humiliation.”

If prayer matters then it ought not to be counted continually second in our scene of life. . . . All the time the devil is fighting our half-hour’s prayer, he never tires of fighting it. Sometimes there is a dullness which is a cloud of hell, sometimes a fiery assault.
“We know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” We pray from the ground of that certainty; not towards certainty, but from it. Is that why we have the words, ‘In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving’? We give thanks before we see. Then the thought came, “What is it that we have in this sense already received? Surely just this: that the glory of the Lord will be manifested (for is not this what we desired of Him?), and that the very best will be done from His eternal point of view, for the work committed to us.” Amy Carmichael

Not in the tumult of the rending storm,
Not in the earthquake or devouring flame,
But in the hush that could all fear transform,
The still, small whisper to the Prophet came.

O Soul, keep silence on the mount of God,
Though cares and needs throb round thee like a sea;
From supplications and desires unshod,
Be still, and hear what God shall say to thee.

O rest, in utter quietude of soul,
Abandon words, leave prayer and praise awhile,
Let thy whole being, hushed in His control,
Learn the full meaning of His voice and smile.
―Mary Rowles Jarvis.

These quotations have been taken from How They Prayed Volume Three which is published by Harvey Christian Publishers and is available in their Online Christian Bookstore.

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How They Prayed, Vol. Two: “Oh, for five hundred Elijahs!”

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“Oh, for five hundred Elijahs,” exclaimed Charles Spurgeon, “each one upon his Carmel, crying unto God, and we should soon have the clouds bursting into showers! Oh, for more prayer, more constant, incessant prayer! Then the blessing would rain upon us.”
These words of Spurgeon’s are quoted on page sixty-one of the book, How They Prayed Vol. Two, written and compiled by Edwin and Lillian Harvey.

This volume, the second in the How They Prayed series, focuses on the prayers of preachers and ministers of the Gospel and shows how prayer was vital to the ministry of many of God’s servants. The following quotation from the same book tells of an incident in the life of Rev. Griffith of Caernarvon, Wales, who was asked to preach one night in a farmhouse:
“Some hours before the service was to begin, he asked for a retired spot in which to prepare for the evening service. The congregation had already assembled, but there was no sign of the minister. A servant in the family was sent to his room to request him to come as the people had been waiting for some time.
“On approaching the door of his room, she heard what she supposed to be a dialogue carried on in a subdued tone of voice. Listening before knocking, she heard one say to the other, ‘I will not go unless Thou come with me.’
The girl returned to the master of the house and told him that Rev. Griffiths had someone in the room with him, and that he would not come unless the other accompany him. ‘I did not hear the other reply, so I conclude he will not come from there tonight.’
“‘Yes, I am sure he will come,’ replied the master of the house, ‘and the Other will come with him. We shall begin the service by singing and reading till the two come.’
“At last the minister made his appearance, and it was evident that Someone else came with him for it was no ordinary service they had that night. It was but the beginning of a powerful revival in the neighborhood where many were born of God.” p. 65
How They Prayed Volume 2 is available on Harvey Christian Publishers’ Online Christian Bookstore.

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Apart! Apart! Every minister―of all men―apart!

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How They Prayed Vol. 2, written and compiled by Edwin and Lillian Harvey, is written to show how ministers of God’s word have discovered prayer to be the foundation of a work which endures and bears lasting fruit. “Get your sermon preparation well done before the Sabbath,” urges Samuel Chadwick. “Turn into bed in good time on Saturday night, and out of it early on Sunday morning. Get three hours with God before you go to the pulpit; get at Him by reading, believing, and praying over His Book. Talk with Him till He talks with you and says, “Go in this thy strength.”
S. Chadwick, p. 34

Alexander Whyte has further advice for every minister of the Gospel:
“Pray after the sermon. Prayer for ourselves and the people after preaching is much neglected. Do not neglect either.”
“With his closet, and with the key of his closet continually in his hand, no minister need despair, even though he is not a great orator with a great gift of public prayer.”
“Apart! Apart! Every minister―of all men―apart!”
“Our friends! How bad we all are to our friends! How short-sighted, how cruel, how thoughtless, how inconsiderate! We send them gifts. Our children cover their Christmas tree with Christmas presents to our friends. Our friends cost us a great deal of thought and trouble and money, from time to time. We send them sheaves of cards with all manner of affectionate devices and verses. We take time and we write our old friends, at home and abroad, letters full of news and of affection on Christmas Day and on New Year’s Day. But we never pray for them! Or, at best, we pray for them in a great hurry.
“Why do we do everything for our friends, but the best thing? How few of us shut our door during all the leisure of the last two weeks, and deliberately, and particularly, and with discrimination, and with importunity prayed for our dearest and best friends! We discriminate in our purchases for our friends, lest we should slight or offend our friends; but not in our prayers.”

Why should we wonder at the flight
Of any streaking satellite,
When every worshipping heart can share
A gold immensity of prayer
That circles earth and reaches far
Beyond the mightiest gleaming star―
More bright than any galaxy,
More wide than all infinity!
―Grace V. Watkins.
(Used by Permission of Herald of Holiness).

How They Prayed Vol. 2 is published by Harvey Christian Publishers and is available in their Online Christian Bookstore.

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The compilations, Edwin and Lillian Harvey

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Compilations can be intriguing; compilations can be boring; compilations can be most helpful; compilations can be rather confusing; compilations can be off-putting; compilations can be awesome. It all depends on who did the compiling and what material was available.
The compilations published by Harvey Christian Publishers and available in their Online Christian Bookstore were put together by Edwin and Lillian Harvey. Years ago when living in the north of England, Lillian suffered severe bronchitis every winter which confined her to bed for days if not weeks at a time.

Never able to be idle, she read profusely from Christian magazines and books and marked and set aside passages which inspired her. Then, gradually, she filed away these clippings and soon amassed a great variety of material all neatly categorized under the headings: biographical, topical, and Scriptural. It is from these files that she and her husband began to compile books on prayer, suffering, the importance of the Christian home; humility, the Word of God etc. etc. These books have been a great blessing to many for in them a host of voices from varying time-periods, cultures, and denominational backgrounds, all focus in on the same subject, each adding his or her weight and experience until the reader becomes convinced that prayer is important; that suffering can be turned to blessing; that the Christian home should become the center of family worship; and that humility is the badge of every true follower of Christ.
If you go to the website harveycp.com you will find these books under the titles: Kneeling We Triumph Volumes One and Two; The Christian’s Daily Challenge; Royal Exchange, Royal Counsel, Royal Purposes, Royal Pilgrimage, Royal Insignia, The Call Back Series, and Soul Sculpture.

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