addition, the Holy Spirit, who knows everything, can pray through us for things about which our
natural mind knows nothing.
When a missionary to Africa was speaking at a missionary conference in England once, a
woman asked him, "Do you keep a diary?"
When he replied that he did, she said, "Two years ago I was awakened in the night with a
burden to pray. I got out of bed and I was speaking in tongues before I ever got down on my
knees."
She continued, "I prayed for an hour in tongues. It just seemed as if I was wrestling in the
spirit. I didn't know what I was praying for, but as I finished praying, I had a vision in which I
saw you in a little old grass thatched hut. There weren't any other white people there. The
natives were gathered around you, and you were extremely sick. Then you died. The natives
pulled a sheet up over your head and went outside of the hut.
"Suddenly," she said, "I saw you come out of the hut and stand in their midst, and they all
rejoiced! Did anything like that ever happen to you?"
In response, he asked her, "Do you keep a diary?"
"Yes," she answered.
"Bring y our diary this afternoon and I will bring mine, and we can compare notes," he said.
They had never had any connection with one another before this time; this woman only knew
that this man was a missionary.
Comparing their diaries and making allowances for the differences in time between the
countries of England and Africa, they learned that the time of the woman's prayer burden
coincided exactly with the time when the missionary was sick with a deadly fever.
The missionary related that his partner had gone to a neighboring village and he had been left
alone with the natives. Things happened just as she saw them. The missionary had died, the
natives saw him die, and they pulled a sheet over his head. Then suddenly the missionary rose
up well because of the power of God made available through this woman's praying in other
tongues.
In 1956 when my wife and I were in California ministering, I was awakened suddenly in the
night. It was as if someone had laid a hand on me. I sat bolt upright in bed, my heart beating
fast as though I were afraid.
I lay back down and said, "Lord, what is the matter? I know something is wrong somewhere." It
was as if the Spirit of God had awakened me.
I said, "Holy Spirit in me, You know everything. You are everywhere. You are everywhere
present at once, as well as dwelling within me. Whatever is the matter, please give me
utterance to pray about it."
Then I began to pray in tongues, and I lay there and prayed quietly to God for about an hour.
Then I began to laugh and sing in tongues. When you pray this way, always continue praying