“I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.” – 2 Timothy 1:3
In 1949, John Heenan began his ministry in the city of Liverpool, England by going to Walton Jail for a preaching mission where he spent days in prison.
After the first worship service in the prison, there was a phone call. John’s mother was very ill and not expected to live. She had forbidden his brother to call with the news, for, she said, the men in prison needed her son more than she did; but the brother had disobeyed and phoned anyway.
John prayed about it. He wanted to be with his mother, but he had a sense that she was right; the prisoners did need him more than she did. So he remained at the prison. He prayed that his mother would live long enough for him to see her; and he remained to complete the mission.
The next day, word got around the prison that his mother was dying and he had been sent for but did not go.
Realizing the rumors were flying, John spoke about it before he began his sermon that day. His mother, he said, had asked that he not be told. She wanted him to remain at the prison. She herself had been praying for weeks for the success of the mission in Walton Jail.
He asked the men to join him in praying for her every night that week – that she would live until the mission was over and he could be at her side.
The day after that, as he went from cell to cell, the men assured him they were praying; and the prayers of John and the prisoners were answered. He got to be with his mother before she died. Also, scores of prisoners gave their lives to Christ; they became new men.
Nineteen years after the mission, John received a letter from one of the men who had been in Walton Jail. It was dated January 24, 1968. It said:
“I was in Walton Prison, Liverpool, many years ago when you conducted a mission there. I was deeply moved at the time when you told us how your mother before her death told you not to cancel the mission and return home because we needed you more than she did. You can be sure that we prayed hard for you at that time. My point in writing is that I wish you to know that this mission bore fruit, and I have settled down with a good job for many years now. I feel that the mission was the turning point in my life.”
Many Christians help us grow to become more like Jesus. Have you thanked them? Today in prayer, call or email a Christian that has helped you grow in your faith in Jesus.
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward
God’s Word: “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.” – Romans 1:8
By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2017, Devotional E-Mail
DEVOTIONS IN PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING