Praying Hyde
Name
Praying Hyde
Prayer Category
Intercession
Description
Revival Literature, Ashville, NC 28816
| Review: The subtitle for Praying Hyde is, A Challenge to Prayer. This work does not have a single author, but is a collection of “remembrances” of several missionary colleagues of John Hyde that served with him in India. They relate the personal influence his prayer life had on them and the challenge they received by witnessing his prayer life unfold in building the Christian Community in Punjab, India. It was not uncommon for John Hyde to pray all night. He would forgo meals to pray and on occasion, even when expected to preach at a rival, he would remain in the prayer room and not attend the meeting area until he heard from God. Another colleague wrote that Praying Hyde would often find a place of seclusion in a bell tower or other remote location to get alone with God for prayer. His life and his mission were in total devotion to God and he carried the burden of winning lost souls for God. He spent hours in meditation on one aspect of the Savior and refused to leave his hour of prayer until he felt God had enlightened him through the Holy Spirit. He never married and his life was selflessly given to bring in the fold much of which was accomplished by praying for the lost. One of the writers reported that he started praying for ten lost souls, then 100 lost souls, and continued this process until he had reached 400 lost souls to find Christ at the annual conference held at the Sialkot Convention in India. He would not leave meetings until he felt every person had an opportunity to accept Christ, regardless of the hour. Another missionary in India wrote, and I believe this captivates the essence of the praying life of John Hyde, “He revealed a Christ-possed prayer-life. He talked with Christ as with a friend, spending hours with Him. His inmost being was made radiant by Christ’s abiding presence, and wherever he went Christ was revealed.” At the close of his life, his sister reported that John Hyde had spent much of his time in the villages, and that he had seen some of the Revival that was so manifest in may parts of India. In his last letter to her, Hyde related that he realized anew the truth of the verse, “It is not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.” The reflections of John Hyde’s prayer life as presented in this book have heightened my awareness of the importance of intecessory prayer and I found his devotion to prayer to be a personal challenge. |
Added by Nancy on August 5, 2011
