I recently heard a marvelous testimony of a mother in Russia during the communist era. This testimony provides a modern-day example of the spiritual blessings that can be accessed by getting over into the realm of God’s Spirit through prayer.
This mother was a devout Christian who refused to embrace communism. Because of this, the communist government took her children from her and put them in an orphanage.
Somehow the mother found out where the children were taken and tried to visit them there. But when the government officials found out she knew where her children were, they transferred the children to another orphanage in an unknown location.
Now this poor mother couldn’t see her children at all; she didn’t know where they were. So she did the only thing she knew how to do in this terrible situation—she got before the throne of grace and she prayed.
Jesus Appears
As the mother continued to pray for her children, at times she would see her little three-year-old daughter in the spirit.
Today this daughter says she can’t remember ever hearing the name of Jesus before she was taken to the orphanage. You see, her mother wasn’t able to take her children to church in her early years. Parents who were caught taking their children to church got in terrible trouble with the communist government.
Years passed, and the mother’s children still lived in the orphanage. But God was at work in ways this mother couldn’t know of—especially in the life of the little daughter she kept seeing in the spirit realm.
When this daughter was about seven years old, she and another little boy in the orphanage decided they were going to escape, so they took off running down the hall. A guard saw them and screamed at them to stop.
The little boy stopped, but when the terrorized girl kept running, the guard raised his gun and shot her in the arm.
The little girl was taken to a hospital for surgery on her injured arm. As she lay in her hospital bed, Jesus suddenly appeared to her.
“Who are you?” she asked in fear.
“I am Jesus,” He replied, “and I’ve come to take care of you. I will take care of you all your days.” With that, He disappeared.
The little girl came through her surgery fine and returned to the orphanage. Then some friends of ours, a Pentecostal couple, recently adopted this Russian girl and brought her to the United States. They are now in the process of helping their adopted daughter find her biological mother.
Soon after the young girl arrived in the United States, her adoptive parents took her to their church. When the congregation began singing about Jesus, she asked them, “Who is this Jesus? I met Him when I was seven years old, but I’ve never known anything about Him. I want to meet your Jesus, whoever He is, because He came to me when I was seven.”
That little girl met Jesus in a vision because her mother diligently prayed in the spirit for her. And only God knows what other miracles have occurred in the rest of the children’s lives as a result of her faithful prayers.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
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!”