This is the fourth in our series of devotions on ‘Prayer’ using articles written in 1981 by leading Christians of the time and published in a book entitled “My Path of Prayer”.
Today we focus on Jean Darnall who was born in the United States and was involved in ministry at the age of sixteen. She and her husband Elmer served in Panama as missionaries for the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. Following their missionary service they planted Foursquare churches in Canada and the eastern United States. They also ministered in Western Australia for six years where they founded several churches, established a Bible College and sent missionaries to New Guinea. Jean was then worked in Angelus Temple, Los Angeles following the death of Aimee Semple McPherson, who had been her mentor. While living in London for twenty five years she and her husband established a Foursquare church and Bible College. Jean was closely involved with YWAM and taught at their bases internationally, particularly with the Korean branch. Jean was called home in 2019 at the age of 96. It was during her time in London that she wrote of ‘my path of prayer’.
Jean Darnall started her contribution to ‘My Path of Prayer in this way:
“Prayer is my way to live. It is my pathway through life. Prayer gives to me a sense of direction. It is the upward way into eternal life.
My ways to pray are as varied as my life’s experiences. My prayer moods are as changeable as an English sky.
The way I began to pray, to deeply pray with faith, has greatly influenced the way I pray today. It began in the church rather than in the home. My parents were not much good at praying until after their conversions, which occurred after mine. I was a teenager when an evangelist prayed for my healing of an incurable kidney disease. In answer to a very simple prayer of faith I was instantly healed. Such an expression of personal faith made me want to pray in the same way. Soon after my healing I sought and received saving faith from God and was able to confess my sins. Through that prayer I was born again. Soon prayer opened my life to the fulness of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It wasn’t long before I sensed God’s call during a time of private prayer in my home. With daring faith I responded, ‘Lord, I’ll go anywhere with you. If you go with me, I’ll go anywhere. As I waited, kneeling by my bed, the Holy Spirit brought to me a portion of scripture that became my very own promise. ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’ (Luke 4:18-19).
‘Lord that was your ministry’, I whispered. As I read the words he gave me another promise.
‘As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ (John 20:21)
That experience gave me my first sense of direction of being led by the Holy Spirit. I was conscious of a clear course to follow. My soul was fixed on heaven. I knew what I wanted more than anything else in life.
‘Oh Jesus,’ I prayed, ‘here’s my life. Add to it or take from it what you will, only there is just one thing I would ask dear Lord. Please, when I have finished my life’s work in your fields, let me meet you with my arms laden down with golden sheaves. Oh, don’t let me meet you empty-handed. Give me, dear Lord, precious souls for my hire. When I reach heaven, however long that may take, give me the joy of bringing many others with me.
That prayer has been the ‘proof-prayer’ of every other commitment, to line up all my ultimate goals with that one. I ask, ‘Will it win souls? Will this have eternal value? Will this choice help me towards heaven? Is it upwards? When I pray I am reminded of where I started and where I hope to finish. Sometimes I am high in faith, sometimes low. Sometimes I am moving along powerfully fast and at other times I’m painfully slow; but prayer keeps me going upward.”
Jean Darnall learnt the importance of prayer from her pastor and his wife. When she informed them that God had called her to serve him they invited her to their home once a week; not for dinner, not for talking, not for Bible study, but for prayer. They fasted that day. In prayer they went up and down the streets of the neighbourhood praying for the souls of the families, who they regarded as lost sheep. They prayed with open bibles reminding God of his promises. They praised God for his answers before they came. They were sure that God wanted people to be saved, healed and to live victoriously, and they shouted their thanks to God. At other times they waited in long silences, listening. After many weeks of tuition in pastoral praying Jean was allowed to minister to the people with the elders. She would pray for healing for those who were sick and lead in prayer those who wanted to accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour. Her pastor taught her to pray before she ministered in church or in home or hospital visits. One day in Australia when there was a guest speaker, a missionary from India, she prayed with him in the vestry before the service in this way:
“Lord, I thank you for the privilege of ministering to your people tonight. They are not our people, but yours. We are their servants for your sake. Cleanse us afresh by the merits of your shed blood. Forgive us of any sins which would hinder our relationship with you and our usefulness as a channel of your power. May Satan have no place in us. We commit this service to you. I bind the forces of darkness, every spirit of doubt or unbelief, who would dare to hinder the preaching of your Word and rob the people of the blessing you have for them. I bind evil forces in Jesus’ name and forbid them to hurt or hinder anyone from receiving the gospel tonight. May the powers of hell be held at bay as we stand before you to minister. I also loosen the people to believe and to receive the gospel. We loosen those who have entered this service harassed and full of unbelief. By faith we claim them to be free by your Holy Spirit. We go into this service under the blood, relying upon the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Amen.”
The guest speaker asked Jean where she learned to pray like that and she said that she had been taught by her pastor, who called it putting on the armour and preparing for victory. He asked if there was ever a disturbance during the service. Occasionally, she said, but as the service has been committed to God they had confidence to act positively towards whatever occurred. Sometimes the disturbance revealed the need of ministry beyond the ordinary and when that happened God got the greater glory.
Jean said that her path of prayer was always influenced by the early experience of herself being healed through prayer. In her book ‘Heaven Here I Come’ she recounts how God healed her mother of a massive coronary, healed her father whose lungs were ruined by chlorine gas during World War One, healed her daughter of congenital cartaracts and eczema and healed her son of asthma. She said often healings took time but said that prayer helped to hold on to faith while waiting. Jean recalled she and her husband losing their first child while missionaries in Panama and while she wept she heard God say audibly (the only time it happened) “Faith doesn’t ask why”. She couldn’t accept it immediately but later it became part of her way of prayer and helped build a relationship of trust with her heavenly Father. Jean said that she loved to pray on her own, although her mood would affect the way she prayed. At times articulate and able to express her faith and joy fluently, at other times hardly able to speak and feeling nothing. But she also enjoyed praying aloud with other people and loved those times when the whole church would pray at the same time. The people would pray for people who had put in prayer requests and pray for each other; not just for spiritual things but about jobs, money, marriages, each others kids and all kinds of troubles. Jean summed it up like this: “On their knees, with arms around each other, more was done to heal hurts and reconstruct lives than hours of counselling could have ever done. I like that kind of praying”.
Jean tells how she and her husband would pray first thing in the morning. They would read the Bible, thank God for the day and other blessings, pray for their children and friends, and finally pray for each other and their work for the day. They would do that in bed, because once their feet hit the floor there was more chance of prayer being rushed or omitted. But prayer was something which occurred throughout the day – thanks for food, even snacks. Prayer with people who came to visit, prayer with people she called on, prayer as she travelled across London in buses, taxis or on the underground. When visiting people in their own homes she would remember Jesus’ words, “As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it” (Matthew 10:12-13).
Jean says how her path of prayer identifies her in different roles; a sinner asking for forgiveness, a growing saint waiting in meditation, a believer-priest in intercession, a spiritual soldier in spiritual warfare against the evil forces; and to do these acts of prayer she may be kneeling, sitting, standing or driving her car on the way to ministry. She finishes by saying that prayer is a vital part of her decision-making. She said prayer moved her mind from her own fixed ideas of what she thought God should do, to knowing and accepting what God wanted to do. In major decisions she would look for three witnesses. Firstly, a deep inner sense of God’s will to go a certain way or do a certain thing. Secondly, a witness from scripture that comes unlooked for but confirms what is on one’s mind. Thirdly, an independent witness through some incident which one has not influenced or through a person who knows nothing of one’s request. When all three agree she would act. However she does point out that this applies only to major decisions, not ordinary, everyday decisions because God expects us to use our common sense, knowledge of his Word and his will to make day-to-day decisions. As we mature and learn what pleases God we will not need so many confirmations.
All the stories in this series are different in the way a variety of Christians have informed us of their path of prayer. Like Selwyn Hughes, Jean Darnall’s life of prayer started with a miraculous healing; Selwyn’s occurred a few years into his ministry but Jean’s led her into ministry. Jean had a great faith in God’s promises and would use them against the powers of darkness. Her central goal is the saving of souls and everything she did was with that in mind. But like the first three Christians in this series her aim is to be in the will of God – even though they all got there in different ways. This is challenging for me and I hope it is challenging for you. My prayer is that these stories will encourage you and strengthen your relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
May God richly bless you,
Paul Beesley
MISS JULIA REES says
Thank you so much Paul. Yet again really helpful & challenging.
By the way if I’m not mistaken
****** HAPPY BIRTHDAY ****