The art of prayer, which includes intercession and supplication, has been virtually lost in the Church. Early day Pentecostals knew something about it. Second-generation Pentecostals knew a little about it. Third-generation Pentecostals know almost nothing about it. Charismatics know almost nothing about it.
But for God to accomplish what He desires to accomplish today, the art of prayer will have to be resurrected.
When I first received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and came over among Pentecostal people, I accepted the pastorate of a small Full Gospel church in the black land of North Central Texas. Most of the people in the congregation were farmers.
In the fall of the year when they harvested cotton, we dismissed all services except for Saturday night, Sunday morning, and Sunday night. On Sunday afternoons, we’d bring something to eat and gather at someone’s house to eat together.
This particular Sunday we met at my future wife’s house. A dear little lady was there. I had heard of her, but had never met her. Everyone called her Mother Howard.
They referred to her as “a mother in Israel.” She ate. But as soon as we finished eating, and were visiting, she asked for a room where she could get off by herself.
She knelt on the bare floor. (I learned that sometimes she would put a newspaper on the floor and lay her forehead on it as she prayed all Sunday afternoon without moving.)
She was a widow. She owned her own home in a neighboring community. A pastor I knew lived in one side of her home with his wife and child. He said to me, “She makes a business of prayer. She arises at four o’clock in the morning. She prays from four to eight o’clock every morning. Then she cooks a little bite to eat. After that she puts in another two hours praying.
“She eats a light lunch, then she usually comes over to our side of the house and visits with us a while. By two or three in the afternoon she goes back to prayer. Sometimes she prays until midnight. If the burden is there, she prays all night.”
She was born again many years ago in Dallas. Then they had moved to a town where there was no Full Gospel church. In fact, there was no Full Gospel church in any city or town around about. One by one, town by town, city by city, she took them, and prayed until a church was built there. Then she took the next town, and prayed until a church was built there.
Mother Howard, that little old woman, that beautiful saint of God, prayed a church into every town, every village, and every nook of North Texas.
I’ve thought about how it might be when we all get to Heaven and the rewards are passed out. The pastors who built the churches will be ready to step up and get their reward, but Jesus is going to call Mother Howard up there!
Hers was the work that got the job done! No one saw her. They hardly knew she existed. But she didn’t wile her time away visiting and talking on Sunday afternoons. She was on the job. She literally gave her life for others.
That’s what Jesus did. And He is calling for those who will give themselves to prayer today.
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications
Rev. Hagin served in Christian ministry for nearly 70 years and was known as the "father of the modern faith movement." His teachings and books are filled with vivid stories that show God's power and truth working in his life and the lives of others.
Rev. Hagin was born on Aug. 20, 1917, in McKinney, Texas, a son of the late Lillie Viola Drake Hagin and Jess Hagin.
Rev. Hagin was sickly as a child, suffering from a deformed heart and an incurable blood disease. He was not expected to live and became bedfast at age 15. In April 1933 during a dramatic conversion experience, he reported dying three times in 10 minutes, each time seeing the horrors of hell and then returning to life.
In August of 1934, Rev. Hagin was miraculously healed, raised off a deathbed by the power of God and the revelation of faith in God's Word. Two years later, he preached his first sermon as pastor of a small community church in Roland, Texas.
In 1937, Rev. Hagin was baptized in the Holy Spirit and began ministering in Pentecostal churches. During the next 12 years he pastored five churches in Texas: in the cities of Tom Bean, Farmersville (twice), Talco, Greggton, and Van. In 1949, he began an itinerant ministry as a Bible teacher and evangelist.
During the next 14 years, Jesus appeared to Rev. Hagin eight times in visions that changed the course of his ministry. In 1966, he moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he opened a ministry office. That same year, he taught for the first time on radio—on KSKY in Dallas. In 1967, he began a regular radio broadcast that continues today as Faith Seminar of the Air. Teaching by his son, Rev. Kenneth W. Hagin, is also heard on the program.
In 1968, Rev. Hagin published the first issues of The Word of Faith magazine, which now has a monthly circulation of more than 250,000. The publishing outreach he founded, Faith Library Publications, has circulated more than 65 million copies of books by Rev. Hagin, Rev. Hagin Jr., and several other authors worldwide. Faith Library Publications also has produced more than 9 million audio teaching tapes and CDs.
Other outreaches of Kenneth Hagin Ministries include RHEMA Praise, a weekly television broadcast hosted by Rev. and Mrs. Kenneth W. Hagin; RHEMA Correspondence Bible School; RHEMA Alumni Association; RHEMA Ministerial Association International; RHEMA Supportive Ministries Association; the RHEMA Prayer and Healing Center; and a prison ministry.
In 1974, Rev. Hagin founded RHEMA Bible Training Center USA and in 1976 moved the school and ministry offices to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where they remain. To date, RHEMA Bible Training Center USA has 23,000 alumni, and RHEMA Bible Training Centers have opened in 13 other nations: Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Samoa, Singapore, South Africa, and Thailand. Together, the 14 schools have more than 28,000 graduates worldwide.
RHEMA Bible Church, pastored by Rev. Hagin Jr., began holding services in October of 1985 on the RHEMA campus in Broken Arrow and has since grown to become a thriving congregation with more than 8,000 members.
Rev. Hagin's daughter and son-in-law, Pat Harrison and the late Doyle "Buddy" Harrison, founded Harrison House Publishers in 1975 and Faith Christian Fellowship International Church in 1977. Both organizations are based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Until shortly before his death in September 2003, Rev. Hagin continued to travel and teach throughout the United States and into Canada conducting All Faiths' Crusades and other special meetings.