Awaken The Dawn

AWAKEN THE DAWN!

will later have a channel through which it can flow. I went through a number of years in which I despaired that my children would never get excited about congregational prayer. Now, they pray every bit as fervently as I do. Learn to include the children while praying. Bless them; pray for them; model the words and postures for them. It won’t be long before they will be praying too! They Called Him “Praying Hyde” Although we are discussing the prayer life of Jesus in this chapter, please permit a brief digression as we consider a young man from the nineteenth century whose celebrat- ed prayer life was tremendously affected by Jesus’ exam- ple. John Hyde, the American missionary to India in the late 1800s, is famous as one of church history’s leading examples of prayer. He has been respectfully called “Praying Hyde” for the past century. While attending a meeting in Calcutta, one of his friends had the opportu- nity to observe John’s prayer habits.

…I noticed what Mr. Hyde was doing in his room opposite. The room where I was being in darkness. I could see the flash of the electric light when he got out of bed and turned it on. I watched him do it at twelve and at two and at four, and then at five. From that time the light stayed on till sunrise. By this I knew that in spite of his night watches and illness, he began his day at five. 12

His results were astounding. Despite the many hours John spent in prayer, he successfully came to the point of leading four Hindus per day to accept Jesus Christ. In

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