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answers to your prayers.
In the fall of 1948, I faced a desperate financial emergency to save
Ambassador College. I had purchased the original block of campus property on a
lease-and-option contract. The conversion date into a purchase contract was
December 27, 1948. I had been making all lease payments on time. But on
December 27, interest for 25 months was to come due, besides taxes for the 25
months. This Work was still comparatively small at that time--but GROWING at
the rate of 30 percent annually. Its income was averaging $500 per day.
Committed operation expenditures also averaged $500 per day. I would need an
additional $50,000.
I had never appealed to the public over the air--or in any manner--for
money. But I did appeal to members and co-workers. I had done all I knew. But
the extra $50,000 did not even begin to show up. Shortly after Thanksgiving Day,
I sent out an appeal just as heartrending as this TV evangelist did this
morning only I sent it to GOD, not to the public over the air. And I was keeping
His commandments! The next day $3,000 came in the mail, instead of the usual
$500. The second day another $3,000. This continued until the entire $50,000 had
come in prior to December 27.
Another incident I have written of before. But I'm sure most of you have
not
read it, and it may be helpful.
It was in early January, 1930. I had given mySELF to Jesus Christ almost
three years before. I was keeping His commandments. I had experienced some
miraculous answers to prayer. But now we had come to a time of serious need. I
was not yet in Christ's ministry. My business had been swept away by forces
beyond my control. I was out of work, out of money. My wife was expecting our
fourth child in a week or two. She was excessively anemic. The doctor was
fearful.
She would have to go to the hospital, he said, and the doctor bill for delivery
of
our third child had not been paid. Our credit was not good at the hospital. I
had
prayed for my wife, but she had not been healed. We were without food, without
fuel even for cooking. What to do? God had not answered my prayers. It was
Saturday morning. I began to fast and pray. I did not fast and pray to induce
God
to answer. I fasted and prayed for one reason--to learn WHAT WAS WRONG
WITH ME that prevented God from answering.
All day long I alternated between a solid hour of prayer, an hour of
Bible
searching to find the answer and then an hour of thoughtful contemplation. Then
another hour of prayer, and so on. This continued until bedtime that night. It
continued early next morning. By about 1:30 in the afternoon one of our
daughters
cried out, "Grandpa and Grandma Armstrong are driving into our driveway!" By
this time I KNEW what had been wrong--WITH ME! I had been letting up too much
on prayer. I had had my mind almost wholly absorbed on the physical problem of
earning some money, and I had begun to neglect God and prayer. Now I KNEW I
was in contact with God. I KNEW He was hearing me, and would answer.
Hurriedly, in a prayer lasting less than 20 seconds, I asked God for the
first