Magnificent Prayer #196
Magnificent Prayer #196
So they all praised the LORD, the God of their fathers; they bowed low and fell prostrate before the LORD and the king.
1 Chronicles 29:20
[John “Praying” Hyde (1865–1912) was a Presbyterian missionary to the Punjab area of India, where he worked in remote villages doing a largely unseen and unheralded work for the poor. Discouraged by the few conversions he saw, Hyde changed his ministry to that of prayer—intense prayer, sometimes spending forty or more hours on his knees. As a result the conversions increased dramatically; and still Hyde prayed on. And on. In 1904 he helped found the Punjab Prayer Union to emphasize prayer among missionaries and their converts in India. The following is a remembrance by one of his colleagues.]
I owe John Hyde more than I owe to any man, for showing me what a prayer-life is, and what a real consecrated life is. I shall ever praise God for bringing me into contact with him…The first time I met him was in the Punjab, where he lived at the time. I had been invited to speak a few words on the Revival in the Khassia Hills to the Conference of the United States Presbyterian Mission, who had their annual session at the time there. I had traveled by night from Allahabad to Ludhiana, and reached there early in the morning. I was taken to have a cup of tea with the delegates and others, and I was introduced across the table to Mr. Hyde. All that he said to me was, “I want to see you; I shall wait for you at the door.” There he was waiting, and his first word was, “Come with me to the prayer room, we want you there.” I do not know whether it was a command or a request. I felt I had to go. I told him that I had traveled all night, and that I was tired, and had to speak at four o’clock, but I went with him. We found half-a-dozen persons there, and Hyde went down on his face before the Lord. I knelt down, and a strange feeling crept over me. Several prayed, and then Hyde began, and I remember very little more. I knew that I was in the presence of God Himself, and had no desire to leave the place; in fact, I do not think that I thought of myself or of my surroundings, for I had entered a new world, and I wanted to remain there.
CAPTAIN E. G. CARRE
Pray About It: All who know how to pray are privileged to enter that new world into which John “Praying” Hyde ushered Captain Carre. In that world where God makes His presence known is incredible peace, joy unspeakable. We don’t have to pray for forty hours to get there. We can enter in as soon as we fall on our knees. But the more we pray, the more of that world we want and the harder it is to return to this world. It’s there that we want to remain. That world is open to you today, as you pray.
As you end your prayer time today, close with one of Praying Hyde’s favorite expressions: “Bol Yisu Masih, Ki Jai!” (“Shout the Victory of Jesus Christ!”)
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