I can tell you from personal experience that if you follow the leadings of the Holy Spirit, you may end up in extraordinary places doing unusual things. One time, for example, I followed the promptings of my heart all the way to China.
The Lord didn’t speak to me in some direct, profound way about it. I just began to notice something about China stirring inside me. It seemed I was seeing the word China float across my spirit like a word on a computer screen. Whenever someone mentioned it, I’d sense a little flutter in my heart.
So, I decided to respond, and at the first opportunity, I went there with a group from our church. The third day we were in Beijing, and we had the unexpected privilege of meeting a 90-year-old man whose work for the Lord in that nation had brought an estimated 200 million souls into the kingdom of God.
As we talked with him over dinner, he told us about the 22 years he spent in prison on the Siberian border for preaching the Gospel. We learned how, by singing songs given to Him by the Holy Spirit, he stayed physically healthy even though he was given only a few morsels of bread every few days. He told us that since his release, he had started more than 400 cell churches representing as many as 800,000 believers.
Although the Lord doesn’t always give us wild things to do, sometimes He will lead in extraordinary ways and this was an extraordinary day for me. As I sat and listened to this wonderful man talk, in my heart I saw myself washing his feet. My head argued with me about it. I thought, We’re in a restaurant here! (We were in a private room, thank heavens.) Where am I going to get the water and bowl? What if this man doesn’t even believe in foot washing?
In spite of those thoughts, I couldn’t get rid of the desire in my heart. It was just lodged there. So, through the interpreter I told them what I wanted to do. (Sometimes you just have to step out and believe God to open the door.)
This dear pastor and his wife talked together for a few moments and then nodded their heads. After the waitress brought a bowl of water and a cloth, I knelt on the floor and lifted the pastor’s foot. As I looked at it, I could see upon it the effects of everything he had suffered for the Lord. His foot became to me the representation of his whole life.
Then the Lord spoke to me and said, “These are beautiful feet.”
Instantly, the Holy Spirit moved on me in a spirit of travail and I began to weep and pray over these two people. I didn’t know they were Pentecostals but they were. So they began to pray too, and the Spirit of God fell in that room!
Afterward, the man’s wife said to me, “I knew my husband had more to do for the Lord. I knew he hadn’t finished his course. But recently, he had decided it was time for him to go home to be with the Lord. When I tried to talk him out of it, he wouldn’t listen. He had his heart set on going to heaven. But today he got the spiritual fire to finish what he is called to do.”
I will be forever glad that I followed the Spirit’s leading to China.
Scripture Reading: John 13:1 – 16
On the chilly March night in 1972 when Lynne Hammond took her first step into a life of Spirit-led prayer, she had no idea what was about to happen. All she knew was the hunger in her heart for God wouldn’t let her sleep. In the few short months she’d been born again, her desire to fellowship with Him had grown so strong she could hardly contain it. “Help me, God!” she cried. “I want to know you. I want to be able to talk to you. Please, teach me to pray!”
Suddenly, a heavenly presence flooded the room. Lynne sensed waves of spiritual fire sweeping over her and a beautiful language began to flow like a river from within her. Although she’d never heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, she knew instantly, without a doubt—this was God!
What began that night soon blossomed into a life of prayer that ultimately became a ministry of prayer when, in 1980, Lynne and her husband, Mac, founded Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under Lynne’s leadership, the prayer ministry at Living Word has become an internationally recognized model for developing effective pray-ers in the local church.
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”