1954 March.pdf - God's Generals

The Challengeoj theGreat CommissionTHIS EVANGELIST was asked, “Where is the Power of Pentecost?”by an outstanding church official. He resolved to learnthe answer, and accepted the Challenge of the Great Comntission.He now has an outstanding deliverance ministry. This isthe story ofEVANGELIST RALPH A. DURHAMTT WAS not until iust a few vears be evident. As I look backward over the1 before my dear ChristianYears to Some of those things, I amwent home to be with the Lord andamazed at the wonderful reality of Godand His power which operated through aquite Some number of years after I Spirit-filled child; this causes me to thinkhad been preaching the glorious gos- with great seriousness as to whether withpel of deliverance that she told me of the Passing of the years with their traanincident which occurred in theditions and influences that, perhaps evennow, I am not as fully yielded to the movearlyhours Of my life. It is quite likely ings of ~ 0 8Spirit s and power as I wasthat little was being heard or thought then; such reflections cause me to go be-Of in respect to the matter of proph- fore God again and again and cry out,ecy in those ,jays but evidently God“0 God make me as a little child.’!TRIED TO BAEGAIN WITH GODwas making kno\Wl His purpose for As I reached the early years of manmylife by such a visitation.hood I had certain ambitions in life whichPROPHECY GnTEN AT BIRTH- I desired to attain, yet God kept con-I WOULD PREACH GOSPEL stantly reminding me of His purpose forAfter my Mother had seen my ministry my life. After more than ten years of conblessedof the Lord for several years she stantly trying to make one bargain aftertold me of this incident: When the lady another with God; never with a desire towho waited on my mother at the time of be rebellious to My God and Wonderfulmy birth presented me to my mother she Savior, but looking at the tremendoussaid, “This child will grow up to be a responsibility of standing between peoplepreacher, preaching the gospel to many and eternity and preaching the gospel. Iand will be used of the Lord to bring constantly said, “Lord I cannot; the taskHis blessing to the people.”is too big, the responsibility is too great.”This could not have influenced my de- Finally. the day came when God spoke tocision or plans for life except by Divine me and said, “Son I have called you tointervention because I knew nothing of take my message to the people. The timeit until after a number of years in the has come to decide! You will either beMinistry. At an early age in life I very‘ obedient now to my will or you will neverpositively met the Lord, and Christ be- have my blessing and presence again.”. came so very real to me; I consecrated my Needless to say, such things cause menlife to the Lord, not fully knowing then to decide!what God‘s pattern for my life was, yet During, those intervening years when Ifeeling very definitely that God had called was trying to bargain with God, I triedme to His service. Following such a con- to satisfy myself and hoped it would satissecration,and yet just a child, the Lord fy the Lord by assisting in the Lord’sso graciously filled me with His Holy work and preaching once in a while, butSpirit.this failed to satisfy either the Lord orGOD’S POWER MANIFESTED my own conscience, for I had now comeTHROUGH A SPIRIT-FILLED CHILD to the place where I must choose betweenAttendant with that experience and no my way or God’s way.doubt due to my simple childish faith, COMPLETE SURRENDERalong with the fact that my parents had At this time I had bought a small farmtaught me to believe in the miracle work- and a fine, small herd of dairy cattle; but,ing power of God, miracles of which I when God spoke to me, I immediatelyshall not now speak in detail began lo went into a remote wooded canyon and10 TEEvangelist Ralph A. Durhamthere, on my knees before God, I told HiniI was taking His way and asked Him ifHe would please do something about theherd of cattle? To my surprise, a stockmancame immediately to me and askedme if I would sell the dairy cattle; he wasconsidered one of the most difficult meriin the area to deal with but, I told himI would sell them and what the priccwould be. He said, “When may I getthem’?” to which I answered, “In themorning.”After a period of time in the ministryI became somewhat of a routine Pentccostalpreacher; I still prayed for thesick one night each week in all my meetingsand also in the churches where Ipastored and God so wonderfully savedand healed many but all the while therewas a deep longing in my soul to see thcpower that I knew belonged to the Spirit.filled ministry and church operating as Ifelt it should. This burden and unrest continuedto grow until again the Lord spoketo Sister Durham’s and my heart that weshould resign the fine church we werepastoring and “go out into a land whichHe would show us.”INTERVIEW WITH BROTHEREDWARDSNot long after making such a move Iwas conducting a series of meetings inWichita, Kansas, when at the close of oneof the evening services I was approachedby a fine looking elderly man whom Irightly supposed was a minister of thegospel. He introduced himself as Mr. Edwards,a retired Methodist minister andofficial of that church, asking if he mightconverse with me for a few minutes. Ifelt somewhat elated at having the wonderfulprivilege of drawing from theyears of his experience such things as Imight be able to; therefore ~ e of . course,entered into a very enjoyable conversation.Brothcr Edwards soon told me that hehad just returned from an exploratorytrip through the southern and eastern(Contintied on Page 11)2 VOICE OF HEALING 0 March, 1954