The Man Who Could See Again

The Man Who Could See Again

by Marcia Brown

Transcribed from the original recording; may contain errors.

Many, many things have been written about the establishing of prayer groups, the how and the why and the where and the when and so on. All of the things are important, yes. And yet many of the things are unimportant. Many of the things that we become so involved in are so trivial. They don’t matter too much. But there are some things that do matter. I glanced over the table a bit ago to see if there were any booklets over there. And although there are several booklets that are very close to it, there’s only one that deals definitely with it. That’s this book by Louise Eggleston, The How and Why of Prayer Groups. But if you want other literature about establishing prayer groups, write up to the Macalester Park Publishing Company in St. Paul and ask them to send you some of their little booklets. They have some wonderful little booklets up there. And between the booklets, taking all of them into consideration, I guess you just about cover the field. I’ll grant that each booklet is written from the viewpoint of the person writing, presenting the subject as he sees it.

Each one of you who have been in a prayer group would probably give a talk on how to establish a prayer group and how to carry it on, how to have it become more and more effective. And yet very likely every one of you would be giving different speeches, bringing out different phases of the same thing.

I glanced at the back part of this book in particular because that’s the part that deals with the… with the how. I know. How to begin a prayer group, how to carry it on, and so on. She refers to many things that are important.

And then she breaks into what is most important. She says, “In our prayer period, we put more emphasis upon becoming aware of Christ’s presence with us than on the actual words we pray.” You touch center when you touch there. A bit ago while Roland was talking about those two verses. That first one, “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything,” that agreement part, “they shall ask,” but they will. And it shall be granted. Then He goes on, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name.”

It isn’t only agreement with each other. It’s agreement in His name. Agreement in Him. It’s lifting it to that highest level. Not mutual affection. Not that type of thing. But that agreement. Agreement with Christ. Agreement with God. “Two or three are gathered together in My name. There am I in the midst of them.” And the power in a prayer group is dependent not upon the two or three, nearly as much as upon what happens when two or three are in agreement.

It’s dependent upon His presence. Anything, everything that you can do that makes it possible for Him to be present, those things are necessary for an effective prayer group. Those things that make it impossible for Him to be present, those are the things that must be eliminated from a prayer group. If you want the prayer group to be effective. If you want the praying of that group to result in what God says can be. What Jesus says can be. What Jesus promises.

We talk about techniques. And there are all kinds of techniques. But they must be the kind of techniques that accomplish that purpose. That make it possible for Him to be present. We must love. That’s essential. Almost all that Roland was talking about was that one thing. Love. Agreement. Lack of criticism. No jealousy. No fault finding. No discrimination. None of those things. But that divine love.

That love which believes the best. That love which hopes. That love which is… Like the love of Jesus. He said, “A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another.” And then in another place He tells us how: “That ye love one another as I have loved you.” That’s the kind of love.

His love. And praying with that kind of love becomes effective prayer. We must have faith. So many people say, “Well, I pray with faith.” Faith. And I wonder sometimes what they mean by those words. What they mean when they say, “I pray with faith.” Faith in what? Faith in the words that they have used as they pray? That’s not what He’s talking about.

If you ask for certain things and then you, are you to continue to have faith that those things that you ask for are the things that are going to come to pass? That’s putting faith on a low level. That matter, that’s not faith at all.

You don’t have faith in the words you use. You have faith in God. Center your faith not in your words, but center your faith in Christ. Know that what He says is true. Believe Him. Keep your eyes at that point.

Centered around the truth of what He is saying. Believing it. Banking your life upon it. Knowing it. Of course you can pray with power then. You can pray with faith too. That is praying in faith. Faith in God. Faith in Jesus. Not faith in ourselves. Or faith in the things that our minds can think out.

Keep centered at the right spot. The place where power is. In Jesus. He brings these things to pass. Have faith in Him. His purposes. His plan. His promises. You depend upon Him. First, last, and always. Of course immediately you’ll say, the Scriptures say, “Ask.

And you shall receive. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you.” And it’s true. In a dozen or more different places it makes sweeping statements. What you can expect when you ask. But as Roland brought out yesterday, all of it hinges on conditions.

If you meet the conditions. If you obey Jesus. If you live the life that is consistent. If you pray in the right spirit. If. Then you can ask. And the promises come true. God will do His part. There’s no question at that point. Our only question is whether we do our part.

How much the Lord can bank on us, rather than on how much we can bank on the Lord. We sometimes get so impatient, waiting, wondering why we don’t see the thing that we’ve been praying about. Why we don’t see it come to pass.

And again people say, “I prayed in faith. And I don’t see the answer.” Go back to your definition of faith. What is it? It’s the evidence of things unseen. Your faith will continue even if you never see the answer. If your faith is centered at the right spot. If it’s centered in Jesus.

And you’ll know that even if you never see the answer. That answer will be because you trust Him. Keep up there on that level. We need faith. The kind of faith that Jesus had in God. Knowing that He could trust God.

We need that kind of faith. Enough faith so we would gamble our life upon it. We need the kind of love that Jesus has. Loving as He loves. A love which forgives and forgets. A love which goes the second mile and the 70th mile.

Never ending. Never ending. Never changing. We have to have hope. Expectancy. Confident expectancy. Continuously expectant. Expectant now. And five minutes from now and ten minutes from now and tomorrow and next week and next year. Expecting. Expecting that what God says is so.

Yes, and going beyond that, expecting to see it. I firmly believe that many of the things that we pray about do not come to pass because we don’t actually expect them to come to pass. Now, some things that we ought to pray about and say, “Lord, do this right now,” we don’t.

We say, “Lord, someday. I wish that someday such and such a thing might happen.” That’s wishful thinking. Expect. Look at things from God’s viewpoint instead of ours. How soon does He want it to come to pass? What’s His perfect purpose? What’s His perfect purpose? What would He like to see happen? And pray from that angle.

Even as Jesus would pray. For that matter, let Him do the praying through you. Faith, hope, confident expectation. And yet a faith and a hope that isn’t based on sight or feeling. But one that is based on an intimate knowledge of God.

And a very sincere love for God. These three things. The same three things that Paul referred to. They’re the necessary technique for prayer. His presence combined with faith, hope, love. That’s just about all you need to know in order to pray effectively.

So filled with His Spirit. So committed. So obedient. That He’s right there in the midst. And always bringing His purposes to pass. Even doing the praying through us. I’ve heard of so many different ways in which prayer groups can be established. Folks down there in Shreveport have done a tremendous piece of work in establishing prayer groups. Spreading of prayer groups. Terrifically powerful prayer groups. You get over in the Virginia area, and Louise Eggleston can tell you many thrilling experiences about the prayer groups established over there. How they’re done there. And her technique has been different from the technique used in Shreveport. You get into Oklahoma City and you hear another series of stories of how prayer groups have been established there. And again, it’s a third story. The techniques. Those little details don’t matter too much. They’ve been different.

Some people will say, inviting everybody that wants to come. Other people will say, don’t invite them unless you know that they are mutuals of the Spirit. That they would think as you think. Pray as you pray. Believe as you believe. And so on. Don’t invite them unless that happens.

There are some would say, just a few. There are others who would say, a dozen or more. I know in the camps we’ve been in the habit of having our prayer groups rather small. Thinking that perhaps a small prayer group was the most effective prayer group. But when we came to the camp at Alabama this year, we were faced with a problem. We had 350 people in camp. We’ve been around in camps long enough to know a few things about the people who come to camps. If there is a particular leader, prayer group leader, and everyone wants to be in a prayer group that that prayer group leader is leading. And they discover very shortly that according to the ordinary rotation system that they’re not going to be in a group with them. They wander. And they find the place where they want to go and your whole system is broken down. We knew that. We’re faced with it in almost every camp where we have more than six prayer groups. And it seemed wise from the standpoint of the size of the camp that we have about, oh, 15, 20 prayer groups. And yet what to do? How to get people to stay put. Not wander. Not search for certain leaders. But to become oblivious of the leadership and just stay and let that other leadership be present, which is far more important than the leadership of the Spirit.

But how to get the people to stay in order to find that that happens? Well, we decided the only way we could do it would be to have only six prayer groups. And you divide 350 people by six and you can discover very quickly the size of the prayer groups. And what do you know? Those large prayer groups were even more powerful than those prayer groups we’ve had in the camps that have only 10 or a dozen. And it’s why straight to see that way.

It works. We repeat it again over in North Carolina, wondering if perhaps the first time it had been an accident. It wasn’t an accident. It was wonderful. You have terrific prayer groups of 50 people, 75 people, 100 people. But the one thing that is necessary is His presence. The number of people makes no difference. Just so He is there. And just so all the people present have that oneness, that yearning, that desire to see His will accomplished. Of course, tremendous things happen.

When we were in Colorado Springs, no, it was Grand Junction, Colorado, years ago, Roland and I were there for a couple of days of meetings. They asked me to speak to some of the folks one afternoon, talking about prayer groups, and they asked definite questions. One day, just know how many people. How to do it, how to bring it to pass. How to find the right people. And of course, you have the answers in the books, and most of them say just about the same thing. Getting people who are mutuals in the Spirit, gathering them together.

One woman got up and told her story. She’d come to Grand Junction, a stranger. She’d come from Washington, D.C., a member of a powerful prayer group in Washington. And of course, the first thing that she did when she arrived in Grand Junction was to try to find a prayer group like the one she had left behind.

And she couldn’t find one. She went to place after place, individual after individual, church after church, hunting for a prayer group. And she couldn’t find prayer groups as she had known them. They just didn’t have that kind. So finally, in desperation, feeling that she had to find somebody, at least one person that she could pray with, the Holy Spirit, I guess, did some talking to her and she listened. After all, that’s a prayer group. Just you, plus the Spirit.

She went to the newspaper. And she placed an ad in the local newspaper. Asking if there was anyone in that town who would like to have a prayer partner to please contact such and such an individual at such and such a phone number.

And it was a paid ad. She said the next day, she had an answer to that ad and it was only one person answered it. After all she asked for was a prayer partner. And only one prayer partner showed up. Had she asked for a half a dozen, perhaps there would have been a half a dozen. But she only perfected it.

And this one who answered the ad told her story. She too was a stranger in Grand Junction. She too had come, wanting to be a member of a prayer group. Or to at least have one prayer partner and she hadn’t been able to find one. And she picked up the paper. And the first thing she saw was that ad. And so she called. Answered the ad. You see, the desires of two people were met. God doesn’t waste time. He didn’t answer one need, He answered two needs. And they formed a prayer group, just two people praying together. She said it wasn’t very long, she didn’t know how the word got out, but it wasn’t very long before people were coming to her and saying that they understood that she had a prayer group and wanted to know if they could join. And she said no. She wasn’t ready yet. They weren’t ready yet for that group to be increased.

She said people came to her and asked if they wouldn’t pray about certain things. Pray for certain people and so on. And they would pray. They were willing to do that. They felt as if they should do that. The Spirit seemed to be guiding that way. She said when it finally got to the place where it was bothering them, troubling their consciences, because they were so exclusive, not accepting these people who wanted to belong, who wanted to join. They decided they’d try the same way, the method they had tried to begin with. Instead of finding all these people who had asked, again they went to the newspaper and they ran another ad. Saying that they were establishing a prayer group that would meet such and such a morning at such and such a place. Anyone who would like to belong to that prayer group, please come. And many people answered the ad. She said it was a terrific prayer group. But she discovered in that way that the ways in which she had thought God had to work in order to bring people together to pray, that those ways didn’t necessarily mean they weren’t the only way. God still had another way. And maybe dozens of other ways that she knew nothing about. So it goes.

Anyway, anyone, as many or as few as can come together, be knit in that oneness of Spirit. Oneness of faith. Love. Joy. Expectancy. And so on. So one with each other. Each of them so one with Christ. That He can be present with. Then there’s God. You can forget all the other rules. Just so He’s there.

True, there are all kinds of ways of gathering the people together. That’s the most fantastic effort ever. The last one I would expect could be used. But it worked. I don’t know if anyone else has ever tried it. In spite of the fact I’ve told numbers of groups about it. Perhaps that’s the only group that really followed through to the place where they did it that way. But the Lord will direct. Trust the Lord at that point. So far as conducting the prayer group itself.

Anything. Everything. Could happen. When the Lord’s presence. When the Lord’s presence. Lots of things of course will happen. If the Lord’s presence. And people are vitally aware of the fact that the Lord is present. They’re not going to spend all of the time talking of and about Him. They’re going to spend some of the time praying. To me that’s the biggest hurdle to overcome in a prayer group. This of and about business.

And discovering at the end of the time that no time is left for praying. Just be sure that in a prayer group there’s plenty of time for praying. And of course when you pray, you don’t always ask. It isn’t always just knocking. It isn’t always just seeking. There’s more to praying than that. And you’ve been hearing about it. Much of it is thanksgiving.

Much of it is in silence. That integration of the soul with the soul of Christ. Much of it is sharing. Want to use some old-fashioned terms? Call it counting your blessings. Sharing what He has done. And done recently.

Thanksgiving and sharing. That type of thing. It makes that thermometer climb in a hurry. Just take a good look at what He has done. And rightly evaluate what He has done. And you’re going to expect Him to do anything and everything. Because He can, He will.

So many things happen when we pray. I don’t suppose any two prayer groups are ever exactly aligned. I don’t suppose there’s any pattern that’s possible to follow completely. No man-made pattern. Don’t outline something carefully and say, “We’ll spend two minutes doing this, and three minutes that, and four minutes that. And we won’t do this, but we will do that.” And so on.

Lord can do the strangest things in a prayer group. If you give Him a chance. And don’t try to hem Him in. And don’t try to hold a stopwatch on Him. And say, “You’ve got to do this right now or else.”

I’ve heard people go so far as to say, “Unless You do this right now. And in this particular way, people won’t believe that You’re God. They won’t believe You. Therefore, if You heal this person, at this particular meeting, one testimony they will be. And people looking on will believe.” You know that’s bargaining.

That so many people will say, “If You only do this, and this happens then.” Well, people do believe, as they think. The results of praying. Of course they believe. They can’t help but believe. Yet Jesus gave an answer that still serves. Every individual has already seen enough of the power of prayer. What prayer has accomplished. In their own lives, or in the lives of their friends. So they don’t need any further evidence in order to want to pray.

Jesus, in answering the people long ago, said they’ve already seen. They’ve already had their signs and they still don’t believe. They’ve already seen enough of the pain. Another sign wouldn’t do anything. Not that kind of bargaining. But the Lord will use everything that happens to His blood. You can come on that.

Of course there’s unexpected things that happen in a prayer group. Those things that you never forget. You were present when such and such a thing happened. And you saw with your own eyes. Something that you’d hoped for and yet… Not quite sure you ever would see it.

We had a prayer group over there in the Alabama camp. I don’t know if any of you happened to be in that prayer group that afternoon. It was a large prayer group. And I had suggested the people who wanted… people to pray for them just to sit in a little circle in the center. And then I suggested that there… Any individuals in that other circle… Because there were about 60 of us in all. Any who felt the Lord urging them. Who felt that desire, that yearning to… Pray for those individuals. To stand behind the individual that they would like to pray for. To select themselves for that matter. That the Lord select them. To pray for the individuals. And it was very, very quickly done. People sat in a circle and… Very quickly people stood behind them. Then I suggested that they lean over and find out what the needs of the people were. They didn’t even know what the needs were until then. And they did. Found out what the needs… All doing it at the same time. And then I suggested that they pray… Not silently. And not loud. But pray just above a whisper. Pray for the individual… That they were standing behind. Their hands were on their shoulders. And to pray for that individual.

And all to do it simultaneously at the same time. Well, they did. And goodness, just to be… Just to be present in that room… You became aware very, very soon that there was something extra added. Something you hadn’t been aware of before. What’s right? Well, there were other people who wanted to be prayed for. And so I suggested… Some of the others that wanted to be prayed for… Sit in those chairs. And others who wanted to pray for them… Stood, stand behind. And one individual, one man who had been seated… The first time…

Stood behind a minister… Who was seated the second time. And he leaned over just like the others did… And found out what it was his minister wanted him to pray for. And then he began to pray just as the others were praying.

And at the end of that period, for some strange reason… I hadn’t any intention of doing it. Hadn’t planned on it. Hadn’t expected to. One of those things you just do without knowing why. And yet, it’s the thing to do. Instead of dismissing that group… And suggesting that more people sit down… I started to pray… For the group.

And… While I was praying, this man who was standing behind the minister… Began to praise the Lord. I didn’t know what for. I hadn’t any idea what for. I don’t think anyone else had any idea. Except perhaps the minister.

I looked over… After the prayer was over… And this man’s face was just shining. And the minister was sitting there… With his tears just streaming down his cheeks. And yet, he was as radiant as anyone you could imagine. I knew something had happened, but I didn’t know what it happened.

And… We left, went over to eat dinner, and… I hadn’t gone more than about… Oh, 20 feet when one of the girls who had been in the group… Was coming back to the building. Coming toward me. And I said, “You’re heading the wrong direction.” She said, “Oh no, I’m not.” She said, “I can’t eat.” I said, “What’s the matter?”

Because I knew it had been a tremendous experience, but all had. She turned and she said, “See that fellow over there?” And I said, “Yes.” This man who had been standing behind the minister. The one who had begun to praise the Lord. There at the closing part of the prayer period. She said, “He can see.” I said, “He can see?” She said, “Yes, he can see.” She said, “He’s walking there, he can see.” I thought, well that’s not too strange. I thought he could see all along.

But I knew something had happened from the way she was acting. She said, “I saw it with my eyes.” She said, “He can see and he doesn’t have glasses on. And no one’s leading him.” And then it dawned on me. I had never seen him walk around on those grounds alone. His wife had always been with me. Of course, I hadn’t watched the time he stepped up from one step to another step. I hadn’t noticed that. I didn’t know that he had to be helped up or guided up. I hadn’t noticed as he came into the prayer group that afternoon that someone was guiding him in. Yet I’d been in the camp all the time too. She knew he couldn’t see, but I didn’t know. Probably the rest in the group knew that he hadn’t been able to see.

I went on and found him standing alone. And he said, “Have you seen my wife anywhere?” And I said, “No.” He said, “You know,” he said, “this afternoon we decided she’d go to one prayer group and I’d go to another.”

First time they’d made a decision like that. First time they’d been separated. First time he’d been waiting for her to come out, but I haven’t seen her anywhere. He said, “I wonder if you’d seen her.”

He was seeing. Every individual in that group thrilled because they had seen something happen. But they hoped someday they might be able to see. And yet many a time we have prayer group after prayer group, week in, week out, month in, month out, and we never see those things. Yet we hear about them. We pray about this and that and the other thing and next time we meet, discover something’s happening. And people talk about it. And to see that thing happen under your very eyes, at the time you’re doing it, of course that’s true in us.

And yet don’t let your praying be determined on whether you see or don’t see. The miracles happen. You don’t see them, just keep praying. Why, that’s the fire. So many people when they gather in a prayer group, they begin to wonder what under the sun they can pray about. And so many people will say, “Well, do you think if I prayed about this thing that it would do any good? Or if I prayed about that thing that it would do any good?”

“Do you have faith to believe if we prayed about this that it would be accomplished?” It’s a hard question to answer. It’s a very hard question to answer. And I usually think, although I don’t say, I usually think to myself, “Do you?”

Do you believe? You’re asking the question, do you believe that these things can happen? Do you believe that if you pray, something will happen? Do you believe that God wants this thing to happen? And that God can bring it to pass? Do you believe it? If you do, pray. If you don’t believe it, I don’t know whose time you’re wasting.

Yet you can come to the place where you do believe it. And the faster you can come to that place, the better. And yet we’re always coming, always growing, always experiencing new things, always learning things. All of the rules aren’t in the books.

Not these books that we write. But all of the rules are in another book. And that’s what we’re doing. That New Testament. Find out what He says. He’s the one that shows us how to pray. And He’s the one that answers the prayer when we do pray. It’s all up to Him.

Disciples are still saying, sometimes one to another, when they ought to be saying to Him, “Teach us to pray.” He’ll teach us. He’ll even do more than that. He’ll come inside of us and do the praying for us. And then answer the prayer that He prays. He says, you can’t lose that way. He can’t lose that way, can He? His purposes will be established.

When we get ourselves in mind, when we meet the conditions, He brings things. It is His will. And it has always been His will. I’ve had so many people ask me the question, “I’ve prayed once about this thing,” and I’ve heard so many people say different things about that. Some will say, “Well, you pray once and then you thank God. Never ask again, just once.” Then I’ve heard other people say, “Well, you’re supposed to keep on praying,” and so forth and so on. They have their reasons. They’ll say, once and then, is enough on one side, another will say, “Well, what about that importunate individual?” The one who kept asking and asking and asking. And because of his asking, the answer came. Jesus used that as an illustration too.

People have said, “Well, should I pray more than once about this matter? I’ve prayed once.” And again, the answer I usually make is, “How often do you think you should pray? What is your faith at that point? Do you really believe that once was enough?”

If you believe it was, then once is enough. But if there’s a question in your mind, and you’re wondering, should I pray again? I say, pray again. And when you pray again, step that praying up to a little higher level. As high as you can step it.

I’ve just been rambling. And I’ve rambled past the required time. I guess it’s time for us to pray. I talk a little bit more about, if forget about it. Because you get the view at that point of time, you investigate… And I’ll take that out. I think you’ve made a single question. Because of course, it pertincing.