Why God Used Praying Hyde — E.A. Johnston

John Hyde and the Power of a Life of Prayer

We are in our study of man whom God has used in remarkable ways to advance his kingdom and bring him glory. Our subject today, friends, is John Hyde, also known as Prayin' Hyde. I believe if this generation of believers would sit at the feet of men like Prayin' Hyde and learn from him, hopefully we too could be more used of God in a life of prayer.

It has been said of Prayin' Hyde that his amazing prayer life changed a country. John Hyde was a missionary to India, but in reality, friends, he was a gift to India, for God brought thousands of souls into his kingdom through Prayin' Hyde's intercession.

The Loss of Weekly Prayer Meetings

I really believe that the day the church in America killed off the weekly prayer meeting was the day she lost her power with God and influence with man. There was a time in this country years ago where you could stumble into an off-room of a church during the week and come across men and women on their faces crying out to God for the sins of the land.

There used to be prayer meetings in this country where the broken-hearted sobs of the people of God made the carpet in the sanctuary wet with tears. Now we all have dry eyes when we pray, and it seems our meager attempts at prayer don't even rise higher than the ceiling, much less make it to the throne room of the Almighty.

The missing element in the church today is the lack of prayer. The title of my message today, friends, is Why God Used Prayin' Hyde, and I want us to look at this remarkable man who lived on his knees for the salvation of souls, and it is my prayer that our own prayer life will be helped from our study today.

John Hyde’s Final Days in Northampton

I will begin with a piece of information that many of you may be quite unfamiliar with regarding John Hyde. Did you know that he died in Northampton, Massachusetts, through the providence of God? John Hyde spent the last several months of his life in severe suffering in the same town where David Brainerd suffered and died, at the home of Jonathan Edwards.

John Hyde arrived in Northampton December 19, 1911. He came to visit his sister Mary, who lived there with her husband, Professor Ernst H. Menzel, who was a professor at Smith College. When John Hyde arrived in Northampton, he was a physical wreck.

A medical doctor had examined Hyde for a heart condition, and the doctor said he'd never seen such a case as this before. John Hyde's heart had been shifted out of its natural position on the left side to a place over on the right side, and this occurred because of the great stress and strain placed upon it by his sacrificial life of prayer.

Praying Hyde was much like David Brainerd in this regard. Brainerd burned himself out in the service of God as a missionary to the Indians, contracting tuberculosis and dying in his 20s. John Hyde literally burned himself out for God in a sacrificial life of prayer.

John Hyde died in Northampton February 17, 1912, and his mortal remains were moved by train to the town of his birth in Carthage, Illinois, where he is buried today in Moss Ridge Cemetery. But I want to look at his life today, friends, mainly his prayer life, for John Hyde was often called the apostle of prayer.

Fervent Prayer and Absolute Obedience

In James chapter 5 and verse 16, we read the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. And it's true, friends, praying Hyde would spend entire days and nights shut up in his room in fervent prayer, and he was a righteous man.

He would often cry out, give me souls or I die. John Hyde was a man who lived in the very presence of God. He was a consecrated vessel that God could use. Listen, friends, God will always raise up an Elijah whose prayers impact a sleeping nation.

The church in each generation has had individuals who live on their knees, whose prayers reach heaven with a holy violence. India had her praying Hyde, China her Hudson Taylor, England her Puritans, Scotland her Covenanters, America her fiery E .M. Bounds, voices which gained the attention of the throne room startled angels and shook the gates of hell, making even the demons quake and tremble with their desperate prayers.

John Hyde was such a man for such a time, God used him as a missionary to India to bring in untold thousands into his kingdom during Hyde's life. One of the keys to praying Hyde's success was that his prayer life was one of absolute obedience to God.

He would never grieve or quench the Holy Spirit, and he pursued a life of holiness unto God. He would often address pastors with the following remark, is the Holy Spirit first in your pulpits, pastors?

Do you consciously put him in front and keep yourselves behind him when preaching? Hyde was a man with a God consciousness about him because he cultivated a life of prayer under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, but it was his great faith in God which made him such a man of God.

Hyde’s Prayer Covenants for Souls

In 1908, he by faith began to pray for one soul a day to be saved. John Hyde laid hold of God in a prayer covenant for one soul to be saved a day, not less, not inquirers only, but a soul saved, ready to confess Christ in public and be baptized in his name.

He would spend hours upon his face and intercessory prayer for that soul until his heart was filled with the peace of assurance that God had answered, and God answered his bold faith by giving Hyde a convert a day.

In 1909, John Hyde made another prayer covenant with God, this time for two souls a day. He was known to shut himself up in prayer and fasting for 30 days at a time. Prayer was his work, soul winning was his burden.

He cared little about his own body or his own reputation as long as souls were being brought to Christ savingly. God granted Hyde more than two souls a day that year. Eight hundred souls were gathered in that glorious year of prayer and intercession.

Crucifixion of Self and Union With Christ

Listen to a comment of praying Hyde, friends, and listen closely to how he lived his life in relation to soul winning. John Hyde used to say, when we keep near to Jesus, it is he who draws souls to himself through us, but he must be lifted up in our lives.

That is, we must be crucified with him. It is self, in some shape, that comes between us and him, so self must be dealt with as he was dealt with. Self must be crucified, dead and buried with Christ. If not buried, the stench of the old man will frighten souls away.

If these three steps downwards are taken, as to the old man, then the new man will be revived, raised and seated, the corresponding steps upward, which God permits us to take. Then indeed, Christ is lifted up in our lives and he cannot fail to attract souls to himself.

All this is the result of a close union and communion, that is, fellowship with him and his sufferings. In 1910, John Hyde asked God for four souls a day. John Hyde was dying daily for souls in India.

The Horror of Sin and Hyde’s Sacrificial Death

He would not eat. He would not socialize. He only wanted to stay on his face and pray, and in 1910, he got a deepening horror of sin and the anguish over sin that breaks the Savior's heart, and this revelation of the horror of sin drove him further to his knees in prayer for India.

His excessive labors and prayer were taking a toll on his health. He was frail, and the doctors in Calcutta warned him to slow down or he would soon die, and sure enough, die he did at the age of 47. Listen friends to a comment about praying Hyde from a man who knew him in India at this time.

This man lived in Calcutta and worked with him closely. He said this about praying Hyde, we have heard of martyrs who were kept in prison and in the end were put to death, but have we ever heard of one who was so given up to the ministry of prayer that the strain of a daily burden brought him to a premature grave?

No, not a premature grave. It was the grave of Jesus Christ. John Hyde laid down his life calmly and deliberately for the church of God in India. It was said that John Hyde died with the following words upon his lips, shout the victory of Jesus Christ.

A Call to Renewed Intercession

Listen friends, praying Hyde was a vessel unto honor for the sake of souls and his life of consecration and his life of intercession changed the country and impacted eternity. I want each of us now, before we go to our time of prayer, to be quiet and to reflect on our own prayer life or lack of it.

I want us now to go to our God and ask him for a fresh burden of prayer for lost souls. Oh great God, give us an ounce of praying Hyde for our day, so we'll be able to say, give me souls or I die. Let each of us now go to God in prayer.