Every time I think about praying on the victory side, I remember a letter that Lillian Yeomans—a minister of the Gospel and a great, praying saint—wrote many years ago to a friend of mine. My friend had been praying for the salvation of a man named Rudy; and in order to encourage her, sister Yeomans wrote:
“The letter [that Rudy sent to you] is encouraging and we should rejoice over it as Elijah rejoiced over the cloud like a man’s hand. [Elijah] said in substance, ‘It’s not going to stop with that. We are in for a deluge. Tell Ahab to get ready for it that the rain stop him not.’ And clouds grew blacker and blacker, and there was wind and a GREAT RAIN” (1 Kings 18:44 – 46).
“It is coming. God abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13). I give the references so you can look them up and read and read them.
“I am so glad that you are solidly founded on God’s Word in this prayer but you need to settle down on it deeper and deeper. Always turn the light of Scripture on your prayer. The Bible is God Himself talking to you, revealing His will.
“For what are you praying? The salvation of a soul for which Christ died in unutterable agony on Calvary. What is God’s will regarding it? ‘He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance’ (2 Peter 3:9). And we read in 1 John 5:14 – 15 that ‘If we ask anything according to His will He heareth us. And if we know that He heareth us, whatsoever we ask, we know that WE HAVE THE PETITIONS THAT WE DESIRED OF HIM.’ We must call it Done. God cannot lie. Nothing less than this is Faith.”
No matter what we are praying for, we must be sure to do just what sister Yeomans said. We must go to the Word of God and find out what He has to say about it. Then we must settle down on that Word deeper and deeper. We must meditate on it and pray it until it is far more real to us than anything in this natural world. We must focus on the Word until we see the situation not as it is now—but as God says it will be.
Then we will be able to pray on the victory side, and victory will surely be ours!
Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 29:11
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!”