come to full surrender, and accept Him as their Victor.“Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57) One asks, “What is expected of us now?” “The Lord will show you.Wait patiently for His guidance.But there is one thing I can advise you to do now, and that is to organise prayer cells.Prayer is not a prefix or a suffix; it is central.Over the whole world I see that God gives His children prayer cells, but wherever two or three come together in Jesus’ name, there is a cell for Him. In eternity we shall see how important prayer meetings have been.”(Not Good If Detached.)
One day I was permitted to join a “team” that worked regularly in a large prison.One of the women opened the service by singing to the accompaniment of the organ.She sang in a very affected manner, and the response was anything but favourable.At both ends of the corridor the prisoners began shrieking, yelling, and screaming to drown the voice of the singer.Then one of the young men with us began to pray, speaking in a very unctuous manner.The effect was even worse.The prisoners had found a pail and were rolling it back and forth over the floor.The din was terrific. “Lord, must I speak in this place?I cannot.”I prayed in desperation. “Be not afraid; only believe.You can do all things through Him who strengthens you. There will be a great victory,” said the Lord to me.(Amazing Love.)
O Lord, please have them give me a little of that toasted bread.”Immediately afterwards they passed me the plate, and I bit into the “tasty tart.”How very delicious it was!But there was shame in my heart.Was I becoming egoistic and covetous?
I was attending a meeting of students in the State of Washington on the west coast of the United States.One of them said, “I said “yes” to the Lord many years ago: what do you suppose is the reason that I’ve retrogressed so much since then?I sometimes doubt that I meant it seriously at the time.” A tall medical student answered him; “Once there was a boy who fell out of bed.His mother asked him how he happened to do that, and he answered, “Mummy, it happened because I fell asleep too close to the place where I climbed in.”That is also what happens to many Christians.When they are converted they think that they have reached the goal.When one is converted, and says “yes” to Jesus, it does not mean the end of a new experience, but the beginning of it.To enter the Kingdom of Heaven through the gate of conversion means to enter into a world of riches.All the promises in the Bible become your property.You have to find out what it means “For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen” (2 Cor. 1:20).You have to find out; how rich you are.”(Amazing Love.)
that when you do such a thing you fall under the spell of it, through whichthe way to God becomes barred fro you? May laughed in a mocking way.“As a matter of fact, I did go to a fortune-teller years ago” she said, “but I did not believe in it.I did it only for fun.” “May, suppose you were a soldier during a war.By mistake you fell into the enemy’s hands by entering his territory.Do you think that it would help if you then said, “Oh, excuse me, please, it was not my intention to come here; I just came by mistake?” Once you are on their terrain, you ate at their mercy.Though you did not know it, a demon has taken possession of your heart, and your life has fallen under his spell. When you want to be converted he comes in between.St. Paul says in Ephesians 6: 12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers.”’The look of amusement had left May’s face, and fear was there instead. “I’m not telling you these things to make you afraid, May.The wonderful thing about it is that Jesus is the victor.He is far stronger than all the powers of hell.Ask the Lord Jesus to go back with you to that very moment when you committed that sin. Confess your sin, ask forgiveness,and give thanks for it.Then the door is closed and you are free.Will you do it, May?I’ll leave you to yourself now.” On the last night of the conference the leader asked if any would tell what they had learned and experienced these weeks.May stood up and said, “I have learned and experienced here that Jesus is victor.” (Amazing Love.)
A great gate led into the camp of Ravensbruck.The gate opened, and we marched in past the guards. As evening fell, some of the women lay down on the ground.Betsie and I remained standing; but then it suddenly dawned on us that we were to spend the night here.We were to sleep out under the open sky.We lay down close together and drew our blanket over us.“He giveth His beloved sleep,” said Betsie.I looked up at the stars above us.He who held the stars in their orbits would not leave us alone.“The night is dark, and I am far from home, lead Thou me on.”And then we fell asleep.
One day news reached us that a young woman in hospital Barracks 8 had lost courage completely.We decided to make an effort to get through to her somehow.Visiting in the hospital was strictly forbidden.But five of us went over there. In a corner near the barracks we held a simple prayer meeting.Then I set out.I knew which window was nearest her bed, but saw at once that the shutters were closed. I went back and we prayed together; “Lord, wilt thou cause the shutters to be opened?”A Lagerpolizei passed the barracks and opened the shutters.Again I went over and stood next to her window, but now there was a new difficulty – the window could not be opened from the outside. So once more I went back to my friends and we prayed together that the window might be opened.Before I got back a Polish woman had opened the window from the inside.(A Prisoner And Yet.)
Betsie stood leaning against me; my arms were thrown about her.It was one of the few times when she observed and was vulnerable to the misery around her.Softly she whispered, “Oh, Corrie, this is hell.” “God has promised, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee”, I whispered back. The sky suddenly reddened.The sun had not yet risen, but the clouds, driven before the wind, caught its rays from beneath the horizon, and reflected a ruddy glow on the earth.Even dark clouds, illuminated by the sun, spread light and colour over everything.“So will the light from our Saviour shine on us here in Ravensbruck, and we shall reflect its colour and glow,” I said softly.(A Prisoner And Yet.)
PROMISE - He knows we are but dust, and that our days are few and brief.(Ps. 103:14)
We were lined up in the hospital corridor for medical inspection.We had to remove all our clothes and lay them on the floor of the entrance hall.Never in my life had I felt so wretched, so cold, or so humiliated. Suddenly I recalled a painting of Jesus on Golgotha.For the first time I realised that Jesus had hung naked upon the cross.How he must have suffered!He, God’s Son, whose home was heaven!And all that suffering He bore for me, that I might some day go to Heaven. My soul became calm within me.I felt that strength was given me to go on.I prayed, “O Saviour, Thou didst suffer for me on Calvary.I thank Thee for it.Help me now to bear this present experience.Give me strength!”(A Prisoner And Yet.)
Praying is bringing to the Lord everything that troubles and distresses us.It means leaving our burden of cares with Him and going on without it.That day I had been very stupid: I had gathered up all my cares, and after prayer the burden had seemed twice as heavy as it had before.And so I prayed, “Lord teach me to cast all my burdens upon Thee and go on without them.Only Thy Spirit can teach me that lesson.Give me Thy Spirit, O Lord, and I shall have faith, such faith that I shall no longer carry a load of care.”(A Prisoner And Yet.)
“Not only that,” continued the man, “it seemed as if something broke in me.When I prayed for others, my own tension was released, and I was free.The next day I had to under go a psychiatric examination.At its conclusion the doctor said, “There is nothing wrong with you; you are normal.”I knew that night that I had become a free man.” Intercession often adds to its many other blessings the healing of one’s own tension. (Amazing Love)
“But what must I do?” asked Jack.“I have been converted, as people call it, and I have accepted Jesus as my personal Saviour.” “You still have to surrender your life completely to Him.Turn over all the keys of your life to Him.’ “I am willing to do it, but I don’t know how to express it,” said he. “Just ask the Spirit of God to give you the right words.” All three of us then prayed, and Jack said, “I don’t understand these things, but here I am, Lord, I know that You have said “Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out”, and “A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.” Just then I was called into the house.An hour later as I was leaving, Jack said to me, “Corrie, I can laugh again; I haven’t been able to laugh for a year. But now I am free.” And I knew that it was true.(Amazing Love.)
At a conference of Bible school students it is necessary to have somebody to interpret for me, and this is done by a girl who finds it difficult to understand my English. When I use an illustration involving radar in ships she becomes quite mixed up, as she has never heard of radar before. “It doesn’t matter; we will try something else.A captain of a ship stood on the bridge ..” but she has never heard of the bridge of a ship, and does not say a word. She bursts into tears.A Japanese who loses face is lost; you cannot do anything with him.I ask the leader of the conference if there is another interpreter, but he tells me there is not. Here is the devil at work.The first step on the way to victory is to recognise the enemy.I turn to the girland say; “Dark power that hinders this girl from interpreting God’s message – I command you in the name of the Lord Jesus to leave her alone.She is meant to be a temple of the Holy Spirit, not your temple.” As I speak, the girl is set free.She is able to interpret fluently, and we have a meeting that is greatly blessed.So what the devil has meant to be an illustration of his victory becomes a boomerang and shows the power of Jesus Christ and His name. (Not Good If Detached,)
I was making my way carefully through the mass of people when a young woman bumped into me.She was an acquaintance, and I asked, “How are you? “I cannot stand it any longer. If I have to stay in this hell for one more week I shall go to pieces.” “You must not despair, Annie. Jesus is Victor, even if you cannot see it. If you are His, you will be given strength to go on. He will make you see things from God’s point of view, and then you will be strong.” “But what can I do?” “Surrender yourself to Him. Don’t you see that He is standing with arms outstretched; don’t you hear Him say, “Come unto Me?” Then we prayed. We held each other’s hands and had our eyes open. No one who saw us standing there could see that we were praying. All around us was the milling crowd of hundreds of people. When Annie moved on there was an expression of peace on her face. The Lord had heard our prayer.(A Prisoner And Yet.)