I want you to understand the power of prayer, and the power which Jesus has. I spent my youth searching for God, not because I was not a Christian, since I became a Christian when I was 8 years old. But when I became a Christian, I didn’t want to be a ‘normal’ Christian – I was searching for the truth, the reality, the Power and Glory of God! I wanted to find the God of the Bible, the God of Heaven, I wanted to KNOW Him! All my life I have searched for God’s Power and His Glory! It was the dream of David the shepherd boy to see the Glory of God here, on earth! It’s my dream too!
I was a boy during World War II. Aged 7-13 years I watched the bombs falling over London from my bedroom window – this is where I learned to pray. And I prayed for revival. From my youth up, I have a vision burning in my soul – a vision of Europe won for Christ: ‘Eurovision’. This vision is God’s vision, God’s desire – my vision – to see His Power, His Glory in Europe. I cannot rest until God fulfils this vision that He has put within my heart.
'When Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralysed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralysed man, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’
Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ‘Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’
Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, ‘Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralysed man, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up, take your mat and walk”? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.’ So he said to the man, ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.’ He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this!’ (Mark 2.1-12, NIV.)
I learnt to be specific in my praying. You must target a goal and achieve it. I saw the absolute necessity to back everything we do in prayer, but having prayed, you must do something! Prayer and action go together!
In the 1960’s, my life changed because I became a missionary to Israel, eventually coming up to eight times a year, bringing tourists with my travel company. But to begin with I was still a pastor in Dewsbury. Then in 1964, only three and a half years after my first visit to Jerusalem, I lost my voice. Unable to preach in my church, I went to the hospital to be told I had throat cancer and needed an operation. Being me, I didn’t have time for an operation and, believing God for a miracle because I had already seen so many healings in my ministry, I prayed for three months. Then, because my faith was strong, I went back to the doctors and told them I was healed! They laughed at me, they said there is no God and the cancer was now so big, I must have an operation within three days to remove my vocal cord! I went home in shock – I was an evangelist, a missionary in Israel – and, only 32 years old, my ministry was finished!
I fell on my knees and said, ‘O God, teach me how to pray!’ – I had already been praying for three months! But it’s one thing to pray when they say you have cancer, it is totally different when you only have three days before they take away your voice! I remember crying out, ‘O God, I haven’t yet seen Your Power in my life! O God, my dream, my vision is not fulfilled! O God, heal me! I’ve seen so many miracles, now I need a miracle!’ My church members said, ‘It is so easy for David to see God work miracles when somebody else has cancer. Now he’s got it! Let’s see what he will do!’ At the end of that day I was not healed! The next day I changed my prayer to the most dangerous one of my life, ‘O God I believe you are telling me my ministry should be in Israel and Russia. If You want me to leave my home, my family, my church, then I need a miracle! Take this cancer out now!’ I went to the Word of God. The relationship I have with God is that I say, ‘Lord, if You want to talk with me, tell me direct and show me in writing, in Your Word!’ – Men lie, but God is not a man, He cannot lie! The Bible is the most powerful book in the world! All the Power and Authority that God has is revealed in His Word! – What He says He does! I turned to Romans 8, and read, ‘When we don’t know how to pray, the Holy Spirit prays for us, according to the Will of God.’ In that moment, I knew I had the answer! I jumped up! It was the Will of God!
Next morning, I went to the hospital. There were three doctors, they put the instruments down my throat, pulled them out roughly – three times. They were angry and began to accuse me, ‘Who did it? Who operated? – Somebody has cut it out with a knife! Which hospital? What doctor? The surgeon who operated has left a scar!’ I said, ‘The God you don’t believe in, He did it last night!’ God had touched my throat, and touched my life! Now I had to tell my church that I would leave and go to Israel and Russia!
But why did this happen? Because I was searching for the Power of God in my life. God knew my heart: in 1961, I went to Jerusalem saying I wanted a new anointing, a new Fire – and three and a half years later I got the beginning of a new Power, a new Fire, when God healed my cancer – it was the next step! Without that miracle, I would not have known the Power of God in my life! I don’t want prophecy, I don’t want emotion, I don’t want to party. When you seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you get what you are searching for. The reason why Jesus promised this baptism of Fire was to enable the disciples to continue the same ministry of miracles that He had. That’s the only way we can do it. In my life, I want the Hand of God to touch me, not man. The cancer was one more step towards the real Power of God – a baptism of Fire!