By T.M. Anderson
During the quiet hours of the morning, in January, 1950, I prayed the Savior would be pleased to give me a greater measure of understanding in His Word. For many years I had made a study of the Scriptures; in fact, I could read several books of the Bible without looking at the printed pages.
But I knew that the Scriptures had a depth of meaning, and a vast store of eternal truth that I had not been enabled to see and fully understand by my own reasoning. I realized my need of an enlarged concept of God's plan of redemption to enhance the effectiveness of my ministry. it was the one earnest desire of my heart to have a complete revelation of Christ and His saving truth to enable me to preach the gospel.
At the time I prayed nothing unusual happened; but not many days after that season of prayer, when I began to lecture in the class room at Asbury College, the Word of God began to be revealed to my heart and mind with a depth of meaning that I had not known in all the years of my ministry. I listened to my own lecture with great amazement and interest. I said things about the truth of Christ, and the plan of redemption that had not been previously prepared in my notes for the lecture. The truth which surged in my soul, and poured out of my heart was not a result of my own reasoning; it was a revelation of the Word of God far beyond my own thinking. I knew that the Spirit of the Lord was guiding me into the redemptive truth of Christ, and taking the things of Christ and showing them unto my hungry heart according to the Savior's promise.
My soul was in great peace, and His living Word was like fire in my heart and mind. To this good hour, by the mercy and grace of my Lord, this flaming truth abides in my heart, and the Spirit continues to reveal the Word in a greater measure to my mind day after day. My soul yearns to know more about the Savior, and more about His eternal truth, that I may be enabled to proclaim His power to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him. My Lord has been pleased to increase the fruitfulness of my ministry. He has given the unspeakable pleasure of seeing many souls saved by His grace. I witness to the glory of my Christ, that He has blessed my humble ministry for more than forty years. But after I entered into a covenant of prayer with Him, and have faithfully kept watch with Him in the silent hours after midnight, He has given me more than seventeen thousand and five hundred souls, in less than two years.
Several pastors and evangelists have been influenced to make a covenant of prayer with the Savior, and have met Him in the morning watch. Many have witnessed to the power of God in their preaching, and to an increase in the fruitfulness of their messages from the Word. Great revivals have followed as a direct result of praying in the restful hours before the dawn.
