“If you have the Word without the Spirit, you will dry up. If you have the Spirit without the Word, you will blow up. But if you have the Spirit with the Word, you will grow up."
— Leonardo Ravenhill
As I sat here reading the book Prophetic Intercessor by James Goll, I got yet another confirmation of what the Lord may have us do at this time.
After six months of waiting on God, searching the Scriptures, fasting and praying, the Lord finally spoke to Edward Miller. It was a simple message: Continue! So he did—relentlessly, as though his very life depended on it. Months passed. Miller kept the eight-hour watch until God spoke again.
This time the Lord told him to announce public prayer meetings that week, which would begin the following Monday night, at the church from 8Pm until midnight.
Miller argued with the Lord, telling Him that if he held such a prayer meeting, the only ones to come would be little old ladies, and all they would do was sit and watch him pray. This did not seem to bother the Lord. He seemed to reply, I know.
So Miller announced the meeting. Sure enough, three little old women were the only ones who came. Miller was right about his next objection, too.
The ladies just sat and watched him pray for the next four hours. But pray he did. At the end of the meeting, he asked if anyone had received anything from God. One of the women, the wife of a backslidden man, raised her hand.
She described a strange desire to come up and knock on the wood table at the front of the sanctuary. But she felt that would be foolish, so she declined.
Pastor Miller dismissed the meeting and all went home. The next night the prayer meeting continued. The same three little women came and sat and watched Edward Miller pray—yes, for another four hours. At the close Miller asked the same question, only to get the same response.
The meeting closed and they all went home. They met for the next two nights, with the same results. The woman with the backslidden husband felt compelled again, she said, to come to the front and hit the wood table, and refused to do so. Frustration began to settle in on Pastor Miller.
He had no idea why God would lead her to do that, but how could he get her to comply?
On the last night of the scheduled prayer meeting, the same three women came and sat and watched Brother Miller pray.
At the close he asked the same question and received the same response from the same woman. But this time Miller said, “Sister, we’re all going to walk around the table and hit it.”
He hoped she would follow them, gather enough courage and knock on the table herself. Miller passed by and hit the wood table, followed by two of the women. Then the third woman stepped up to the table and knocked on it.
When she did, the Holy Spirit swept though the little church and overwhelmed them with glory and a sense of His presence. All three women were baptized in the Spirit and began worshiping God in a language they had not learned.
The news spread and people began to come nightly. Eventually the fire of revival spread to the capital city of Buenos Aires, where tens of thousands gathered in an outdoor sports stadium in 1954, and the Lord saved and healed many under the powerful ministry of Tommy Hicks.
It was the beginning of the great Argentine revival of the early 1950s. Now what was that word Edward Miller heard? Continue! As intercessory watchmen on the walls, we need to continue reminding God relentlessly of His Word."
“I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence.”
Stand up soldier and watch at your duty post!
