Chapters: 1. Why Don't Men Obey God?
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24 HOME BUILT BY FAITH
In September, 1944, we were obliged to leave 301 East North
Street because the house had been sold. But God miraculously led
us to another home just at the last moment. (There are many
marvelous guidances of the Holy Spirit which I could not include
in this book due to insufficient space. Perhaps, the Lord
willing, they might be included in a companion volume some time
in the future.) About two years later the couple owning this
home then wanted to move back from Ohio to again take up
residence in their home, which meant that we would need to move
once more. I had no idea where we could locate a suitable
dwelling.
When my wife's father and mother learned that we would need
to find another home, they visited us. "We want you to come to
our house," they said. So we went over to be with my wife's
father and mother for what we thought would be two or three days,
and stayed almost seven years.
It is common opinion that two families cannot live under the
same roof without a little conflict. To make our stay with
Mother and Dad Spence slightly more involved, we had three
daughters with us as well. It is not an easy assignment for
grandparents to live with grandchildren. In addition, my wife's
parents believed in correcting children simply by talking with
them. They did not especially want anyone to correct children
with a switch. On the other hand, I was a strict disciplinarian.
Whenever I chastened our children, I took them into a room by
themselves so that our precious parents would not be hurt.
249 Mother and Dad Spence were so helpful to us. By God's grace
we got along wonderfully. There was never a difficulty or
conflict. And when two families can live under the same roof--
when grandchildren can live with grandparents without upheaval or
turmoil--it requires the Holy Spirit.
When we left there, they loved us more than when we arrived.
We want to praise Jesus for this, because it is only through Him
that our love for one another after these seven years was even
greater than when we first came. My dear wife and I are so
thankful for this precious memory, and for the help of God which
made it possible.
When Jesus revealed to my heart in 1934 that He would
someday build us a home that would be a demonstration to all that
God provides for His prophets today as He did of old, I did not
start asking, "When is it going to be? How is it going to be
done?" By God's grace, I never once pressed to know more about
it. I simply left it in the hands of God.
On one occasion, while preaching in our first pastorate in
1937 or 1938, without premeditation I suddenly said, "If I am
faithful and true, win men and women, boys and girls to Jesus,
God is going to lead in the building of a home for my family some
time in the future. It will be a home built by faith." My
congregation simply looked at me. I received a similar response
from other dear people as I would share this from time to time
throughout the years. It was a little difficult for them to hear
what I was saying or to believe that God would actually lead in
the building of a home.
In 1950 I met a man of prayer who wanted me to come to his
precious congregation for services in Grant City, Indiana, as
soon as the Lord would lead me. When he did not hear from me for
many months, he felt that perhaps God might never send me. At
ten o'clock one night he related to God in prayer, "Well, I guess
Your servant isn't coming to our little church. Perhaps our
congregation is too small. I'll just turn this whole situation
over to You, Father." About four hours later the Holy Ghost
revealed
250 that I should call this servant of God to inform him that Jesus
was leading me to be with him in just a few days.
The Grant City revival lasted for three or four weeks,
during which time this humble servant of God and I enjoyed
several times of prayer together. I learned that this minister
was a real prayer warrior. In fact, his son-in-law, Warren Cox,
informed me that when the doctor examined him, he found thick
calluses on his knees: calluses resulting from waiting so many
hours a week before Almighty God. I have been privileged to be
with him and a few others together in prayer many times through
the years. During those services we once prayed until midnight.
On another occasion we prayed until four-fifteen in the morning,
and another time we were together in prayer all night. He would
talk to God with such devotion, earnestness, and childlikeness.
During the third week of the revival, he and I were the last
to leave the sanctuary following the Sunday morning service. I
was sharing with him how I had left all to follow Jesus and had
known what it was like to have the moving van back up to our door
with no place to go; yet, how I was as happy as if I had
everything.
I had studied the scriptures, but until I left all to go
with God I didn't really realize the significance of Jesus'
words: "There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or
sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands,
for my sake and the Gospel's, but he shall receive an
hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters,
and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions, and in
the world to come eternal life."
I was declaring to this loving brother how I had trusted
Jesus to one day build a home for us, and that I had been waiting
many years to really pray with someone about the home to be
built. "I'll be glad to pray whenever the Lord leads," he said
to me as we put on our overcoats and started for the door.
Mother C. already had a lovely lunch waiting for us at her home a
few miles from the church.
251 Just as my hand touched the church door, the Holy Ghost
operated within me to inform me that it was now time to pray. We
had waited fifteen years and eight months for this leading.
Turning to this precious servant of God I said, "Brother Field, I
know lunch is waiting, but we will have to go back to the altar
and pray."
"Wonderful!" he rejoiced. "Wonderful!"
Soon two men who loved Jesus more than they loved to eat
were in earnest prayer at the altar. We had just begun to pray
when, caught away in the wonder of intercession, Brother Field
and I suddenly realized ourselves to be with Abraham and Isaac on
Mount Moriah! My brother was praying as to the scriptural
account of Isaac being sacrificed on the altar which Abraham had
just built. It was as though, in the Spirit, we were close by
observing in prayer this marvelous event. I have seldom
experienced anything like this in prayer before or since.
The lad's voice was heard to ask, "Where is the sacrifice,
Father?" And Abraham answered, "The Lord will provide, my Son."
(The scene was so real, I cannot explain how vivid it all was
through the Holy Spirit.) Abraham bound the hands of the boy
whom he loved as his own life and laid him upon the sticks of the
altar. He raised the knife overhead to plunge it into the tiny
body, when the angel's voice spoke, "It is enough!" I saw the
patriarch turn and behold a ram caught in the thicket by its horns.
At that moment the Holy Ghost witnessed to me: "YOUR HOME IS AS
A RAM CAUGHT IN A THICKET." It was a thrilling moment of sacred
revelation.
The following summer my youngest brother, Edward, assisted
me in revival services at the Friends Church in Shirley, Indiana,
by leading the singing. To express their appreciation for his
assistance the congregation wished to take up an offering for
him. As the plates were being passed Edward leaned over to me
and asked, "Would it be alright with the Lord and with you if I
just take this offering and start a
252 fund for the home to be built by faith? We could call it the
`Ram Fund.'"
I said, "Brother, that would be wonderful!"
The beginning was sixteen dollars and a few cents. When the
idea of a "Ram Fund" was shared with dear ones who prayed
regularly with us, it seemed to touch the hearts of a few saints.
We began to search for a place where the home might be built, but
every possibility was blocked by Satan. (I know of few things in
my experience which the devil fought more severely than he did
this home to be built by faith in Jesus. My words can never
describe to you the many battles and struggles which we passed
through to accomplish God's purpose in this project. It has been
only by God's grace and mercy that it came to pass so
beautifully.)
It was during this time that the Lord revealed to my heart
early one morning, "You are going to Texas to pray with Rev.
Pumphrey regarding two issues: the Holy Ghost Revival to the
World, and your home to be built by faith." The next day God
brought a man twenty miles to give us the seventy dollars for the
journey.
When our twin daughters heard of my intended journey they
said, "Daddy, here you are going on a trip of about twenty-two
hundred miles and we need shoes. We only have one pair of shoes
apiece and they are nearly worn out. Our playmate has two or
three pairs of shoes, and you have told us now for several weeks
that one of these days God would provide us a new pair." All I
could tell our girls was that I was trusting Jesus to supply the
need.
That night Florence and I took our three daughters forty-two
miles one way to visit my parents and other friends. During the
course of the evening we had three or four prayer meetings, and
when we returned home we had four five-dollar bills which had
been given to us: two dollars for Jesus and eighteen dollars for
the girls' shoes. God had provided! Praise the Lord.
253 When we knelt to have family prayer that evening a great
burden moved upon my heart. It was still on me the next morning
and I was unable to locate it in all the parishes I had ever
served or among the people I had known. I did not comprehend
what all was involved in this spiritual operation--I simply
entrusted it to Jesus.
My route to Texas was different than my accustomed
itinerary, for the Lord had made it plain that I was not to go
directly from St. Louis to Waco, Texas; rather, I was to take a
train from St. Louis to Hearne, Texas, then go by bus the sixty
miles from Hearne to Waco. I didn't understand this round-about
route, but I didn't try: God simply wanted me to follow.
Along the course of the journey Jesus permitted me to
witness to a few persons. When I arrived in Waco I was
privileged to preach in Homer Pumphrey's congregation, where God
gave me a few friends. The following day I enjoyed wonderful
fellowship with a man who loved the Bible dearly and knew it
remarkably well. The Spirit of the Lord was upon me, and during
our first hour together a cowboy came into the room and stayed for
two hours. At the close of the fellowship he said, "You would be
welcome in my home any time." I learned later that this fellow
generally disappeared in five minutes every time a minister came
around. But God gave me favor with this precious man. A short
time later I was privileged to be with him when he came to Jesus.
As we returned home that night Homer asked me, "When are we
going to have the prayer meeting that God told you about in
Indiana?" Just as he asked me that the Holy Spirit spoke within
me, revealing: "I am with you. I will lead you." I told my
brother that Jesus would arrange it.
Not many minutes later I was down on one knee in their
kitchen telling them how God had sent my wife and me to the Smoky
Mountains for rest in 1951. We were heading for Gatlinburg to
find a motel, but my wife was becoming ill. I realized that she
wasn't well and needed to lie down
254 as soon as possible. Nonetheless, in spite of her illness, I
said to her, "Honey, we must find the right place to stay."
Stopping at the first motel, I was shown a lovely room which
would have cost us only five dollars a night. The Lord revealed,
"Don't stay here." So we went to another motel. This room was
also lovely, with fresh linen, towels, hot water, and soap. A
king could have lived in that room and felt comfortable. Jesus
helped me to know, however, that we could not stay there either.
We went to the third place, and again God told me that this was
not His choice. By this time my wife informed me that she was
feeling worse, so I cried out, "Oh, Jesus--help my wife!
Encourage her, strengthen her!" And through Jesus' help, my
precious companion was able to sit up and go a while longer.
It was not an easy assignment for me to see my companion
suffer, but there was only one thing to do and that was follow
the leading of the Holy Spirit. The human tendency would have
taken the first motel room in order to get my companion quickly
comfortable. But I was to make the choice for God's will rather
than for my wife's immediate comfort.
Whether you know it or not, you are continually under the
observation of God. He is noticing whether you are going to do
His will or not. He was looking then to see if I was going to
let this sickness bend me to the choice of the earth, or if I
would press on to His holy plan. Most people will not do God's
will under stress. They will pamper the flesh and bend to the
pressures of man. They will choose that which appears reasonable
or expedient. Because of this, God's will has seldom been
followed continuously and consistently in all the ages. But
all followers of Jesus must press to do, not their own will,
but God's will at all times.
We found a fourth motel but it also was not the place.
However, as I walked up the steps of the fifth motel, the Holy
Spirit said, "This is the place."
I spoke with the manager, mentioning that I was a minister.
"That's wonderful," he said. "My father was a minister."
255 After we had talked a few minutes he remarked, "You know, I have
the feeling that you are going to stay with us." (I rather
wondered how he could have known that. I'm sure the Lord had
sent me this way to help answer the petitions of his minister
father which had been prayed some forty to fifty years before.
How God wants to order our steps to answer the prayers of His
children.)
This man showed us to cabin number six. On the way I saw a
woman coming towards us with a shining face. "Praise the Lord!"
I greeted her. She responded with, "Glory!"--and we had a
meeting right there in the yard. This was just the beginning of
many marvelous events, too numerous to include in this volume,
which took place in later years because of God leading us to this
particular motel.
In three or four days our money was gone; so we packed to
start back home. Stopping at the office to return the keys
before finding a place to eat breakfast, I told Sister T. and
Sister C., "I want to thank the Lord for the privilege my wife
and I have had of being here these days with you."
One of the women remarked, "Brother Helm, you haven't sung
for us yet."
"That is right," I agreed and called for my wife to come
into the office. I have seldom seen my wife as hungry as she was
that morning, for it was almost noon and we had not yet eaten.
Nevertheless, she cheerfully accompanied me to the grand piano,
and together we sang:
There's a Rose that is blooming for you, friend,
There's a Rose that is blooming for me;
Its perfume is pervading the world, friend,
Its perfume is for you and for me.
All in vain did they crush this fair flower, friend,
All in vain did they shatter the tree;
For its roots, deeply bedded, sprang forth, friend,
And it blooms still for you and for me.
--H. R. Palmer
256 Then, as we began to sing "I walk with the King,"
the glory fell upon us. Until ten minutes till two in
the afternoon we preached and sang with the anointing of God on
our souls. When the glory of God was falling the sweetest, one
sister turned to the other and asked, "Have you ever felt the
power of the Holy Spirit like this in your life?"
The sister replied, "Only one time--when Gypsy Smith was in
a meeting at Decatur, Illinois."
And just that second, while I was sharing this experience
with Homer and his wife in Waco, Texas, God spoke to me, saying:
"You are now before the Throne concerning the two issues for
which I sent you to pray."
We rejoiced! For five to ten minutes I pled with God for
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all the earth (and the
Holy Spirit bears witness now as I tell you). I cried for Him to
send the mighty refreshings of His Spirit that fell long ago.
And He said, "I hear your prayer." Then we came before Him
concerning the home to be built by faith, for we had no idea
where we would be able to find a lot, nor where the first
foundation block or the first studding was coming from.
The next morning as I sat on the bus which was to take me
the sixty miles out of my way to Hearne, Texas, to board the
train to St. Louis, a young lady asked if she might occupy the
seat next to me. I told her that she might. When she put her
handbag on the rack overhead I said to her, "This is a wonderful
day the Lord has given, isn't it?"
Jesus whispered in my heart, "You be quiet and I will tell
you what to say."
I answered, "Yes, Father."
So I was still until God told me what to say. I spoke and
waited for His instruction. Soon He had me sharing more, until
the glory of God began to fill that old bus. I was revealing to
her the joys of salvation as if I were talking to a crowd of one
hundred persons. I was explaining how to make one's way to the
Straight Gate, wherein if a man would
257 confess his sins he'd be saved, transformed, lose his darkness,
and receive the inner joy of Jesus.
Looking over I saw her face was bright; it was all aglow.
"Sister! Did you just follow me in the instruction?" I asked.
She nodded, "Yes, I did."
"Then you have peace and joy in your heart?"
She replied with sweet assurance, "I have!"
I rejoiced. My, I was happy! Within seconds I saw
beckoning hands in a vision. I said, "Oh, Sister--I see that
there are those calling you from foreign lands as well as home
lands, saying, `Come and tell us the story of Jesus.' Sister,
you are a missionary. You are called to preach the Gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ."
As this was announced to her by the Spirit, I saw big tears
in her eyes. In a few moments she answered, "I had wondered what
I was to do. I had asked for help, and God has sent it."
Half-a-mile to a mile farther down the highway toward
Hearne, Texas, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart: "Do you
remember the burden you had on Friday night and Saturday morning
before you left on this trip?"
I replied, "Oh, well do I recall."
God said, "The burden you had, my Son, was for the woman
just saved whom I have called to be my missionary."
Sent by the Lord of all Heaven on a journey for prayer
concerning the home to be built by faith, we found a priceless
soul called to declare the Gospel of Christ. What a marvelous
privilege.
After returning from Texas I was very thankful that God had
heard prayer for the home which He was going to build, but I had
no idea how it would be done. However, Jesus had His own plan,
which I was simply to wait upon.
One day a minister friend and his wife visited us. She was
under a heavy burden. When we prayed to locate what God was
revealing to her, the Holy Ghost said, "Her burden is for your
home. You are to get started."
258 "Glory to God!" I nearly shouted. Jesus had given the
signal to start. Her husband accompanied me as I went to speak
to Mr. Thornburg, my banker, about lot number seven of the W. E.
Baker Addition of our village--a lot which the banker himself
owned.
"Well, Loran," he said cordially, "first of all I'm so glad
that you and Florence have decided to stay here in this community
with us. But as far as that lot is concerned, a number have
already wished to buy it. What will they think of us if we sell
it to you? And, we have likewise thought of someday building
there ourselves." I explained to him that he simply would have
to meditate about it and decide what he felt best. "Who is going
to help you build this house?" he inquired.
I said, "God."
"That is wonderful," he replied, "but where is the money?"
"God is going to build this home," I reiterated, and began
to share with him how God had revealed to my heart in 1934 that
He would some day provide for us a home which was to be built by
faith in Jesus.
"That sounds good," he told me kindly, "but how about the
money for the materials and the supplies?"
"Well, God knows where it is," I answered.
"Don't you have a backlog of savings or cash to start the
building?" he asked.
I said, "No. There are a few brothers and sisters in the
prayer band who have sacrificed to help us. They haven't much,
but we are trusting God to supply."
"You come back tomorrow," he told us. "I will talk to my
wife to decide whether or not we can let you have lot number
seven."
"I would like to have prayer before we leave," I mentioned.
"That would be fine," he agreed. And if they never had
anyone down on their knees in the council room of that bank
before, they had one that January day of 1952. When I said,
"Amen," the banker said, "Amen," for he was a
259 precious brother: a man faithful to attend church and also
prayer meeting when he could. He was my friend then and still is
now.
The following day, accompanied by another minister friend, I
made my way back to the bank. As I opened the bank door the Holy
Ghost fell through my body pleasantly. My banker friend inquired
how I was getting along, and I answered, "I am trusting." He
asked if I had yet acquired a backlog of cash or assets. "No," I
acknowledged, but I believe God will provide. This home will be
built by God. The Lord is going to do this."
"That sounds good," he said with warmth and concern, "but I
would hate to see you get a few studdings up in the air and not
be able to complete it." Mr. Thornburg lived just across the
alley from lot number seven and he had more than simply a
professional interest in our home being completed if it were
begun. It is remarkable to me that this precious man was so
gracious and understanding when there was little justification
from a business point of view for even considering our request at
all.
"Brother," I told him, "I believe that is where faith will
come in."
He looked at me, then said kindly, "That's fine--you may
have the lot."
I was on my knees in that office as quickly as I could get
there, thanking God in Jesus' name for this miracle!
When I left the bank that day I made my way in a slight mist
of rain to lots number six and seven on South Fulton Street. My
brother owned lot number six and had been gracious to promise us
fourty-four feet of his property if the banker would sell us lot
number seven, making our lot ninety-eight feet by 132 feet.
I was rejoicing, for this least servant had been waiting
many years for this day. I got down on my knees in that mist,
looked up, and prayed, "Oh, Lord God--this lot is Yours.
Sanctify it from side to side and end to end." And
260 God sanctified that whole place to His name's honor and glory.
He has told me since then, "This place is mine. This belongs to
me." Seldom has He told me this about lands or buildings across
the United States.
In a short time about six or seven hundred dollars came into
the "Ram Fund." This was enough to purchase the lot as well as
the cement, the sand, the gravel, and the blocks for the footing
of the foundation. A friend had volunteered to bring his
bulldozer and prepare the lot, but we had no idea how we were
going to continue building. We were simply trusting and
rejoicing.
Some six to eight days after the banker had sold us the lot,
my father-in-law knocked on the door of our room (for we were at
that time living with my wife's parents) to inform me that
someone wanted to see me. I had prayed until one or two in the
morning and was still exhausted. Instead of putting on my robe
to come out to pray with the visitor, as was my custom, I asked
my father-in-law to send him into the room while I remained in
bed.
Presently into the room came a timid, gentle man leading a
small boy by the hand. They entered quietly and sat in a chair
across the room. "I am Horace Reynolds," the man quietly stated.
"I have heard of the home to be built by faith." From where I
lay on the bed I could see moisture standing in his eyes. "I
just wondered," he continued very slowly, word by word, "if you
would accept the trees in my woods for the materials of your
home?"
I tell you, I was out of that bed and on my knees, saying,
"Thank You, Jesus! You have provided the lot; You have sent in
finance for the footing and the foundation; and now You have
given us the wood for the floor joists, the ribs, and the rafters
of this home. We praise Thee, our Father, for doing this!" I
sanctified the trees right there on that bedroom floor. To say
that I was happy would not express the deep joy and thanksgiving
in my heart for God providing like this.
261 Thirty of Brother Reynolds' eighty acres comprised a fine
woods, which appeared as if stock had never grazed in it. When I
took a sawyer friend to view the trees he told me in his
delightful Swiss accent, "Loran, these are quality trees!" But
the woods was far back on the property, with many dense thickets
of smaller trees all around. I knew that it would take a miracle
to get the large trees out after they were felled.
We had additional difficulties in finding someone to cut the
trees. From about January tenth to March nineteenth we looked
for a man to do the cutting. One person agreed to do it, but
when it came time for the job, he said that his hands were
swollen and he wouldn't be able to work. It seemed as if the
devil was fighting severely, but we continued to seek and to
pray.
After over two months of diligent search I located a
Christian man willing to fell the trees. In a bank barn on a
rainy afternoon I met with him, having a little prayer together.
He told me, "Rev. Helm, I'll cut your trees down the day after
tomorrow--March twenty-first."
"Praise the Lord!" I exclaimed with thanksgiving. God had
provided the man we needed after this long delay.
On March 21, 1952--five years to the day that we had come to
live with Mother and Dad Spence--I wakened early, put on my old
clothes, and left the house so thrilled that I forgot to take any
sack lunch with me. All I could think about was getting the
trees ready for the home. The day was sharp and cold. Brother
Reynolds got me his old Army hat to cover me up better, for I'm a
cold-natured person. That hat covered me down to my chin. I
still wear it sometimes in the winter when I go out to burn the
trash.
When the workmen felled the first tree they said, "Now
Brother Helm, we would like for you to take hold of this saw and
cut the first log for the home built by faith." It was the first
time I had ever taken hold of a saw like that. What a thrill it
was to see it cut down through that first log for the home which
God was building for His glory.
262 It was soon time for lunch, but I had failed to bring my
food. Therefore I was trying to slip off into the woods so that
the men wouldn't notice. "Here! Rev Helm! Where are you going?"
the foreman called out. I told him that I thought I would go on
the other side of the woods while they ate. But he said, "Oh,
no. You come back and share a sandwich. I want you to have
grace before we eat." I tried to tell them that they had worked
hard and that I was not worthy to have any of their food, but
they insisted.
I got down on my knees beside them, took off that old Army
cap, pulled my coat around me, and looked up toward Heaven to ask
God's blessing on this humble lunch. As I started to sanctify
those little sack lunches I suddenly entered into a heavenly
banquet hall. The glory of the Lord came down and I was as happy
as if I were in a king's palace. The joy of the Lord was all
around us and within us.
Opening my eyes I looked at the man sitting on the far log--
a man who had told me earlier in the day that, to his shame, he
knew more gamblers and drunkards than anybody in New Castle--and
his face was all aglow. The tears were coming down his cheeks.
Right in the midst of grace for the table, he was close to the
Kingdom of God and was about as happy as I was. Because God, not
man, had ordained that this home be built, He just sent a little
of His Kingdom into the woods on the first day that the trees
were being cut for the ribs and joists of the home to be built by
faith, and softened a hardened sinner's heart. Praise the Lord!
In those seven days one hundred trees were felled, a total
of 24,400 square feet of quality white oak, red oak, bass wood,
and other varieties. When the trees had gone through the sawmill
and the lumber had been delivered on the lot, several men of our
community marveled at it. "This is the best bunch of timber I've
seen in many a day," one precious man said. Another was amazed
that it had so few knots in it. Brother and Sister Reynolds had
given us the best of their woods, and my prayer was that God
would, in
263 turn, give the best of everything back to them. I still call him
every once in a while to tell him how deeply I appreciate his
obedience in giving us the fine trees of his woods.
On March twenty-eighth the last tree was cut--a red oak 138
years old: which meant that it had been a small sapling when my
great, great-grandfather helped build the church in Windsor over
one hundred years ago. It was being grown then to become a part
of the home which God would build for his great, great-grandson,
who was going to walk with God. Praise the Lord!
When we had started to cut the trees the lane had been
filled with water; but the weather had so wonderfully changed
that by the end of the week we could drive the car back to the
woods. Climbing into the car with the three men who had cut down
all this beautiful timber I said, "Brothers, now that you have
finished your labor, would you allow me the privilege of just
talking to Jesus for a moment?" And as I thanked God for all
those trees I began to weep. It was precious how God visited us
in that car. They drove me up to the barn lot, where I gave them
the two hundred twenty dollars and some cents which God had
provided for this work. We were so very thankful for all that
had been done for us in every way.
Before I left the farm, Brother Reynolds and his son,
Philip, got into the car with me. We had another prayer meeting;
then I was ready to start for home since I had revival services
that night. But the Holy Spirit said, "Wait--don't move."
As we waited in the car, Brother Reynolds began to tell me
about a certain man. He had not shared long before I
interrupted. "Why I know him! He was converted in Greensboro
when I was there!" And I began to relate how Jesus had wooed his
heart and drawn him to the cross. Soon I was shouting, Brother
Reynolds was weeping, and as I turned to look at Philip in the
back seat I saw the light of Jesus all over his face. "Philip,"
I asked, "did you just find Jesus?"
And he answered, "Yes."
264 Still rejoicing that a soul had been saved, I again thought,
"Surely I must be on my way." God again said, "Wait--don't
move." Isn't it wonderful that Jesus could tell me not to leave
that place? God has shown me that if we in the church don't wait
on Him enough, we won't be able to discern His will: we won't
perceive Him when He operates with us; we won't understand what
He is showing us.
We in the ministry and the laity need to wait on God in
order that He can teach us how to proceed and can reveal to us
what He wants next. If we don't know what God wills to do in our
daily lives and in our church services, it is like trying to have
school with teachers who don't know their ABC's. If we try to have
church without first waiting on God long enough that He might teach
us His ABC's, how can we expect to have His Kingdom in our midst?
Please try to observe what God is teaching us here about the
seriousness of really walking with Him. I wanted to go home.
The trees were cut down. I was ready to get started. Do you see
what I would have missed if I had gone?--I would have missed the
conversion of this precious boy, who has been a minister of the
Gospel now for a few years.
God has much for us to do if He can get us quiet enough.
But He had to slay me for months and years before I could
understand His guidances and His operations. I had to walk with
Him for years and wait before Him on my knees hundreds of hours
while He taught me how to listen to and obey Him.
We do not need intellectual attainment and aesthetic
sensitivity in the church today as much as we need a genuine
humbleness of heart. I know that we need education, but we need
far more a brokenness within, a desire to wait upon God and love
Him for Himself alone. God wants to teach us of Himself, but too
often we prefer, instead, to follow the patterns of men.
One fact will never change: to be taught of God will
crucify the natural tendencies and the reasonable plans of
the fleshly mind. Very few have ever been willing to
follow the path to
265 God which daily crucifies what we want to do, how we want to do
it, and the time schedule in which it is to be accomplished. The
path which leads to a true fellowship with God leads directly and
inevitably to the Cross. One cannot bypass it, or he steps off
the Narrow Way.
I was wanting to go, but God had instructed me to wait. I
asked, "Jesus, what is it?" The Lord spoke in my heart, "It is
the boy's eyes. Philip has trouble in his eyes."
Ten seconds after Jesus revealed this to my heart, Brother
Reynolds, in his quiet way, spoke very softly, "My son can't see
very well." Opening my Thompson Chain Reference Bible I turned
to the thirteenth chapter of Hebrews and held it for the boy to
read, but he could not even read the large type.
I reached back over the seat, put my thumb and index finger
of my right hand on this young man's eyes, and called to God. I
prayed once and then again. When I started praying the third
time the Holy Ghost came into my arm with great power. This had
never taken place at any time in my life before. My arm shook
with the power of God going through it. I knew beyond a shadow
of doubt that this boy was going to see.
When I again held up my Bible, Philip not only read the
large type, he came right down and read the small print where
Paul says: "Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with
them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also
in the body." His daddy was weeping with thanksgiving and I
was rejoicing. This man had given the best of his woods to God's
least servant, and on the day that the last tree for the home
built by faith was cut, God saved his son and opened his eyes.
Glory to God!
One of my brothers in Jesus sent his partner, John L., with
his bulldozer to clear a path for the trucks to reach the woods
that we might haul the logs to the mill. This dear man, who was
to find Jesus a short while later, returned home the first day
with the report, "I have never seen so many preachers in one
woods in all my life!"
266 Many were assisting us in loading logs on the truck by means
of skids, chains, and a tractor. We were inexperienced at this
type of work, but the Lord helped us move eleven loads of logs to
the mill some three-and-a-half miles away. Everything was going
fine on the twelfth load as each log was secured by chains and
pulled up the skids by the tractor. A man on each end of the log
guided each piece into its proper position. Just as the men
hooked onto the last log of the twelfth load the Holy Spirit
spoke to me. "Wait a moment," I called out. "Something is
wrong!"
"What do you mean?" they asked. "We're doing it just like
all the other times. It's not any different."
"But Jesus tells me something is not quite right," I told
them again. "There is danger."
"We can't see it," they said.
"I know it," I agreed, "I can't see it either. But you men
stay away from the ends of the log. Don't follow it up, because
something is wrong."
They believed my report and stood aside as the tractor
started pulling the log up the skids. When it was just about
eleven inches from reaching the top of the load and easing into
place, the chains suddenly broke and that log came hurtling down
with a crash! If it had not been for the Holy Ghost warning us,
those men could have been crushed to death. How we praised God
for His guidance!
After my dear friend had bulldozed the lot, we were
preparing to lay the footing and foundation. A man by the name
of Forrest J. brought the sand and gravel for the beginning work,
and God gave us a Holy Ghost meeting with him. When he dumped
the sand and gravel he said, "Don't worry about what this costs.
I have been blessed more than these materials are worth." God
had given us a rejoicing time over the sand and gravel that made
up the footings of the home. Praise His wonderful Name for
making a way where there seemed to be none.
We had many prayer meetings in each section as the home
267 began to take form in the rough; for as we began to see God's
revelation to my heart come to pass, we were humbled and so
grateful. The Holy Spirit began to move upon the hearts of his
people. A man in the North, whom I had led to Jesus by the help
of the Holy Spirit in 1946, said to me, "You need some help. We
have a burden for you." I told him that we were just trusting
the Lord and he replied, "Here is two hundred dollars and a check
for five hundred dollars. In a few days a check for a thousand
dollars will come and in so many days another thousand will
come." This sacrificial act of obedience permitted the
carpenters to begin erecting the frame of the house.
During this period a number of persons in our little village
were conjecturing, "That home will soon be stopped. It can't be
done." One person spoke to a minister friend about us at that
time saying, "Well, the boy has gotten along pretty well through
the years, but building this home by faith is a mountain he will
never cross. He can't climb over this. It's too high." Of
course, I couldn't have gotten over anything. But I had an Elder
Brother who was making the path and leading the way. His hands
were mighty to deliver. His hands were beautiful to save. He
could reach around the universe to the end of all things. Glory
to God!
The entire project was far beyond anything I had ever
dreamed, for we did not make the choice of the home which was to
be built. My wife and daughters were to look over various plans
for homes, but none was right until we came to this specific one.
It included two stories with living room, dining room, kitchen,
prayer room, foyer, utility, hallway, bath with shower, and
garage downstairs; upstairs--four bedrooms, hallway, and complete
bath. This home was so large that when we contemplated building,
it seemed to me as if I were actually trying to climb over a
large mountain. I didn't know where all the labor and supplies
were going to come from, but somehow the Lord gave me the sweet
assurance that He would take care.
268 One day, after they had brought a load of lumber to the lot,
I went with a friend to the restaurant in Farmland for lunch. We
had just finished the blessing when I saw this man seated at the
counter. The Lord said, "He has back trouble," revealing to me
the location of the difficulty. I spoke to the man just a few
feet away saying, "My Brother, do you have back trouble?" And he
said that he did have. "Is it right here?" I asked, pointing to
the place Jesus had shown me.
"That is where it is," he admitted.
"Would you give God all the praise, all the honor, and all
the glory if He would heal you right now?" I asked him. He said
that he surely would; so I asked God in Heaven to send His power
into this man's back, to put all the cartilages and bones into
place for His glory. When prayer was finished I asked him to
lean over and touch the floor, which he did! God had healed him
instantly. He was so touched by Jesus' love that he went to
services the same evening and began his affiliation within the
church. The owner of the restaurant told me some time later this
man had not had that trouble in his back since.
While we continued eating lunch that day, we were talking
about the town of Shirley, Indiana, where my friend lived and
where, also, my father was then pastoring. As we talked, such a
terrible burden came upon me that I told my friend, "My brother,
I have such a burden for Shirley, Indiana. It is severe! I have
to pray." I quietly began to plead, "Oh, God, take care of this
town. You know about the situation that's coming. Take care and
drive back whatever this is." I cried and pled until I was
relieved. "You'll know when you get home what this means," I
told my friend.
That evening Florence, the girls, and I were away until
late, and upon our arrival home Mother Spence informed us that
someone had phoned several times while we had been gone. When I
returned the call, I discovered that it was my friend from
Shirley. "Rev. Helm," he related with excitement, "do
269 you remember how God dealt with you today at the restaurant about
this town of Shirley? Well, I want to tell you that I came home
and was standing out in my father's back yard telling him about
the wonderful things God has been doing, when we saw this tornado
coming into Shirley from the West. It was a terrible thing!"
(My father saw it and told me afterwards that he never again
wanted to see anything like it.)
But do you know what God did? He permitted the tornado only
to damage the lumber yard a little before taking the fury of the
storm right up in the air, where it blew apart. Not a single
person was killed. God was so good to answer prayer and deliver.
For one year the raw timber in the floor joists, the ribs,
and the rafters needed to stand exposed to the elements in order
to cure. The home in the rough was not a very attractive sight
with naked timbers standing starkly against the sky. Some
persons rather ridiculed it, calling it "the barn." But the
rough timbers which made our home then appear ugly also gave it
such unusual strength. My dear friend who works with huge earth-
moving equipment told us that he would not be afraid to run his
heavy crane right over the second story. If you had seen the
huge white oak floor joists, you would really begin to understand
that God gave us the very best materials for this home (though it
will be only by God's help and protection that our home could be
kept safe in all types of situations in the future).
Other dear ones felt led of the Lord to offer us assistance.
(May I say that I did not ask anyone at any time for help unless
he had first asked me what he could do to assist me.) One man
said to me, "You need help. Come over to see me." He took me
into a bank and gave me five hundred dollars to buy doors and the
plyscore sheathing for the subflooring of the entire downstairs.
When we needed windows and siding, the Lord marvelously laid it
on a man's heart to give the finance needed. As it came time for
the roof to be put on, God miraculously provided for us. Step by
step
270 Jesus was bringing His revelation to pass before our eyes, and we
sought to thank Him much for every loving gift and kind
assistance.
In 1952 I had had the privilege to lead a young boy to
Christ and see his sister get back to God (oh, that they would
remain faithful to the blessed Saviour). Their father was so
thankful for how God had used us to encourage his family that he
called us one day. "I want you to bring your wife and daughter
and come to see me in the next couple of weeks," he said. So we
made our way there. Just as we turned off the road to enter the
long lane leading to their lovely home God spoke to me from
Heaven. "Oh, Honey!" I said. "God is revealing something
wonderful to me as we arrive at this precious home."
Once inside their home we began to share things of the
Kingdom and pray. Finally Brother Campbell asked, "Rev. Helm,
what is the need of the home? What do you need now?"
I was thankful to the Lord for his asking me. "Well,
Brother," I told him, "we need rock lath for nine rooms, two
halls, and two baths." That was quite a huge item.
"I'll tell you what I'll do," he said. "I'll send it to
you."
"Do you mean that you'll provide all the rock lath that we
need?"
"I'll send a truck load," he declared, "enough lath to do
the whole thing." I tell you I thanked the Lord. I praised God!
"What else do you need?" he asked me.
I was still thanking God for the rock lath and he was asking
me what else we needed. "Brother, we need a water heater," I
managed to tell him.
"I'll give you a check for that," he said, and wrote me a
check for three hundred dollars. One hundred went to purchase
our water heater and the other two hundred was applied to our
bill at the lumber yard. My, how we did praise God for the way
He was working!
After the rock lath had been put on, we needed to pray
concerning the plaster for these same nine rooms, two halls,
271 and two baths; a project that I had heard would cost at least
fifteen to eighteen hundred dollars. At that time I had no
money, had just closed a revival in a small country church, and
had been fasting three days when I received three letters: the
first contained ten dollars; the second was a letter from this
little church stating that they felt led to send us more money
from their Sunday School treasury; and the third letter was from
Mrs. Campbell saying, "My husband will be at your home this
afternoon with the plaster contractor from Richmond, Indiana."
We rejoiced that morning because God was helping us. We felt so
unworthy of everything.
When Mr. Campbell and the contractor arrived that afternoon
I showed them the walls to be finished and asked, "Sir, how much
will it cost for the plaster, the insulating material, and the
labor for this home?"
Just as I asked the plasterer this question, Mr. Campbell
spoke up: "Rev. Helm--don't worry about the cost. We'll look
after that."
I fell on my knees in that dining room and cried, "Lord, you
have been making the way day after day and time after time. When
we haven't known what to do, you have taken care." I sanctified
all the plaster, materials, and labor the best I knew how, trying
to thank Him and thank Him and thank Him in Heaven for providing
the needs of this unworthy servant.
You see, dear one, this to me is a miracle story because we
weren't instigating; we weren't arranging; we weren't scheming;
we weren't pulling for this or asking for that. We were only
trusting and waiting. It is a simple thing to talk about
trusting God for all things, but something far different to
experience it, believe me.
In a few weeks the plaster contractor had sent a crew of
five men to our home. I would be talking first with this man
about Jesus, and then I would tell another about answers to
prayer. As they worked I would try in my limited way to tell
them the good news of Christ. Some time after they had
272 completed their work in our home, the foreman of this plastering
crew, an excellent craftsman, was eating lunch in a restaurant
when something happened in his body and he died in a few hours.
Mr. Campbell said it seemed as if he was living just long enough
to reach the home built by faith that he might receive a lift, a
little help of some kind. It was very important that I shared
with these five men the things of God while they were in our
home.
With a dwelling the size of this one, I wanted a gas
furnace. But many in our village were of the opinion that we
would never be able to obtain a gas permit, because several from
the town had already tried and had been refused. "What are you
going to do?" they asked. All I could tell them was that I was
trusting.
I made application for the gas permit in the main office in
Muncie with Mr. H., the chief engineer, and was told that I would
have an answer in three weeks. When the three weeks had passed,
I knew that my request had not been granted. I felt that I
should go back and inquire again, but just as my hand touched the
door of the gas company the Lord of Heaven said, "Don't enter
this place at this time."
"Oh, Jesus," I cried. "I want to go in and find out about
the permit."
"Not now," he counseled me. So I went on down the street,
although in my flesh I wanted so badly to go in and find out the
situation.
Days went by, then Jesus led me to go back. As I entered,
people were ahead of me speaking to Mr. H.; therefore I stood and
waited, the last in line. When it was my turn I said, "Sir, I am
Rev. Helm. I am interested in obtaining a gas permit," and
explained to him the particulars.
Mr. H. informed me, "It will be six months to two years
before we will have any permits available." I thanked him and
started to leave.
During the last few moments of this conversation a handsome,
black-haired man had come out of his private office
273 and seated himself at a big double desk just opposite the desk of
the chief engineer. As I started to leave, he spoke: "Just a
minute."
"Yes, Sir," I answered. He then asked me two questions and
I told him about the home built by faith. I learned later that
he already knew of our home from one of his men who had been in a
restaurant where the owner had a gallon jar full of water in
which customers could deposit loose change to help purchase a gas
furnace for a home to be built by faith. I learned that the man
to whom I was talking was the head man of that particular office.
God had brought him out of his private room and set him down at
this desk just at this precise moment so we might meet. In all
the times I was back in that building, I never once saw this man
again. "You plan on the gas furnace," he said.
"Do you mean that we can have a gas furnace?" I asked.
He said, "You plan on it."
Glory to God! The Lord answered prayer and took care of it
when it seemed impossible! "Thank you, Brother!" I told that
man, and went my way rejoicing. We still have that gas permit on
file in our home.
The day Florence and I went to the tile and marble company
to make our first selection for the tile to be used in the shower
base and the hearth of the fireplace, I wanted to have prayer
with the man and his wife who owned the business. They were in
his car as we were leaving, and when I began praying he started
the motor. I thought he was going to pull the car away as we
prayed. The second time I returned I felt led again to have
prayer with the owners. On this occasion the husband simply left
us and walked away into the kitchen. He was a very backward and
timid man.
Our choice of tile had to be changed twice; so when my wife
and I returned the third time to the tile company, this man's
wife began talking with us. Soon we were sharing of our walk
with God. In all her years she had never known
274 Jesus; but that rainy afternoon she took a little trip to Calvary
and met the wonderful Saviour of all men. The salvation of this
precious soul is connected with the tile in the shower base and
the hearth.
The day that her husband came to lay the tile he told me
that the job would cost ninety dollars. Though I had not asked
him for any deduction, he said, "I wouldn't do it for anyone else
for that price, but I will for you." When he stepped inside our
home and began to look around he was so astonished. "I wasn't
expecting to see a home like this!" he remarked.
I told him, "It's not us. The Lord Jesus has made the way
for us. Everything you see is because of Jesus and for His
honor. He's provided and made the way. I don't know what to do,
but He does."
When he finished the work that day, I took him upstairs,
showing him various rooms. He was appreciative. "This surely is
a wonderful place," he told me. And I again tried to praise the
Lord for providing.
Then I said to him, "Now, Brother, here is the ninety
dollars that I owe you."
"You don't owe me anything," he declared.
"You told me it would cost ninety dollars!" I exclaimed.
"That's entirely alright," he replied. The Lord had touched
his heart.
In January, 1953, when the house was ready for finished
floors, I went to the phone to order the flooring, but the Holy
Ghost would not let me call. I could have ordered the hardwood
from many cities, having it delivered within days. But every
time I would go to the phone to call, the Holy Spirit would check
me.
My girls were anxious for the floors to be finished, for
they had not had a room of their own for many years. In fact,
the five of our family slept in one room for some time. Four of
us, then, slept in this same room for almost seven years. Our
daughters would keep asking me, "Daddy, have
275 you gotten the flooring yet?" When I would tell them that I
hadn't, they would ask, "But why?" And I would try to tell them
that I was simply walking with the Lord and could not go ahead
until Jesus permitted me.
We kept wanting to order the flooring through January,
February, and March. Each time I went to the telephone, however,
the Lord checked me. My girls repeated many times, "Daddy, we
want to move into our rooms. They're all ready except for the
floors. Can't you order the flooring?"
And I would explain to them, "I would like to girls, but you
see--I walk with God and He reveals to me that I can't order the
flooring yet."
On the last Monday of April, my wife and I were in the
northern part of the state with a man who showed me two pieces of
red oak select flooring, which came from Bowling Green, Kentucky.
He said, "Rev. Helm, if you like, I can get this for you and you
may pay for it as you are able with no interest. Take ten or
fifteen years to pay for it if need be."
When he told me that, the Holy Ghost operated in my heart.
Turning to my wife I said, "Honey, there is more involved in this
than just the floors of our house."
Some days later, on May sixth, I was informed that these
three hundred thirteen bundles of red oak select were waiting to
be unloaded from a large truck. I went to the lot in order to
help my brothers and another man unload these bundles weighing
fifteen to thirty pounds each. None of them knew that I had been
fasting for three days concerning the Holy Ghost Revival to the
World. It was not long before my strength left me. I had to
excuse myself and rest. I came back to carry for awhile, then
had to rest some more. I weighed only about 145 to 148 pounds.
"Lord, give me strength for these remaining few bundles," I
prayed. And every time I reached for a bundle, the power of God
would assist me.
By the time I had lifted the last bundle, I was under the
anointing of the Spirit. I found myself looking into the face
276 of the man who had brought this flooring from the South, and I
was telling him about a Friend of mine. The power of God fell on
that truck and he didn't take his eyes off of mine. He told me
that he had heard of Christ but that God had never called him.
Before long I was down on the street preaching up to him as he
stood in the truck.
I then took him over to see the lovely new car God had
provided me through ten or fifteen families. I was telling him
how I had had it only three days when a big stone truck had
backed out from the curb the wrong way and simply ripped the
front fender back. I told him what peace had been in my heart
when I heard the noise of the accident, and how I had come out of
the restaurant where I was eating and praised the Lord in spite
of my new car being damaged. While I was telling him of this
experience, I asked, "My Brother, do you have the call of God in
your heart? Is your heart throbbing?"
He answered, "It is."
"Would you give your heart to Jesus today?"
His eyes left me for the first time since the anointing came
upon me and his head went down. "I am ready," he declared. We
started in prayer together and soon found the Cross, where his
sins fell off and he became a new creature in Christ Jesus. The
man who had brought the hardwood flooring for the prayer room and
the upstairs of the home built by faith had found the Master on
May 6, 1953.
I recall being outside one day when Rev. Luke M.'s future
son-in-law drove up. We had just closed a revival at this
pastor's church a few days before, and we had been praying that
God would truly come upon this young man with old-fashioned
conviction. Coming up the walk that day he remarked, "Rev. Helm,
I can't get along with anyone. I can't even get along with
myself."
We came right inside to the unfinished living room,
spreading some newspapers on the floor. He knelt down facing the
south, I knelt down facing the west, and we began to bombard
277 Heaven. The blood of Jesus was applied to his heart and God took
all the blackness, the darkness, the sin, and the iniquity out of
him. He wrote his name down in the Lamb's Book of Life and made
a new man out of him. He was laughing, he was crying, he was
shining. Praise the Lord.
Because of God's leading me way back in 1937 to take the
least pastorate offered us, I was led to Homer Pumphrey. This
leading then took me to several churches in Texas many times. It
was in one of these congregations that Brother Homer S. was
wonderfully converted and his wife miraculously healed as well.
I only wish it were possible to give you some small idea of what
all God has accomplished for His glory because of that single
leading in 1937: the souls saved on the trains going to and from
Texas; the bodies healed; the victories won for Jesus. Only
eternity will reveal it, for the Holy Spirit has led it all.
Homer S. was Brother Pumphrey's lay leader, a concrete
engineer who owned and operated a successful business. When
Jesus healed his wife, the Lord laid it on his heart that he
should temporarily leave his business, his men, and all his work
to travel a distance of over one thousand miles back with me from
Texas to pour the concrete for the porch and walks of the home
built by faith. Needless to say, he really surprised me when he
suggested that he wanted to do this for us. I was deeply
thankful for God laying this on his heart, and for his obedience
to come.
While Homer was finishing the work, he took such a pain in
his heart. God privileged me to pray for him and he was healed.
A few hours later my daughter, Nancy, came running in. "Oh,
Daddy!" she cried. "The rain is coming and is going to ruin the
porch and the walk! Come out and ask God to stop the rain till
it is all dry."
I ran outside where the men were still doing the finishing
touches, lifted my hands, and prayed, "Heavenly Father, I know
that Thou art faithful. I just pray You'll not let it rain on
this walk and ruin it. Stop the rain, Father, and
278 we'll give Thee the praise and the glory." And God just stopped
the shower. It didn't rain any more until the concrete had set.
Later that evening, when all six of us brothers came over to
my parent's home to sing for Homer, he was hurting so severely in
his hip that he could hardly stand on it. We had another prayer
meeting and God took out all the pain. Our song fest that night
was just for him, with Florence playing the piano and the six
brothers singing. Homer has never forgotten it. He told us
later, "I've hunted bear in the mountains of Colorado; I've
caught fish in the streams of Mexico; but the most wonderful trip
I have ever made was to Parker, Indiana, to pour the porch and
the walks of the home built by faith." Jesus alone could have
done this.
December, 1953, the home which Jesus had shown me in my
heart as a light in 1934, was dedicated. About 175 people were
seated in the living room, the dining room, in the kitchen, in
the prayer room, up the stairway; they sat on the beds in the
bedrooms, stood in the halls and in the bathrooms to help us
commemorate this precious moment when God's promise to an
unworthy eighteen-year-old was fulfilled through the good grace
of Jesus and the faithfulness of His people.
I was especially grateful to Jesus for letting my wife's
father live to see this home dedicated; for if you recall, he
asked me but one question when I took his only daughter with me
to live wholly by faith: "Do you think you will be able to make
a living for you family?" He believed me when I told him how God
had called me to trust Jesus. But for him to be able to see God
provide his daughter and son-in-law one of the nicest homes in
that village spoke more to him of God's faithfulness and the true
calling of God upon our lives than words could ever say. Thank
you Jesus.
You see, when I fell in love with my wife, I fell in love
with her parents as well. I loved them and made over them just
like I did over my own father and mother. In the late forties
279 the Lord told me, "Love them much, for their time is short." On
June 10, 1947, in a dream I saw my wife's father dying in his
rocking chair. And in 1949 Dad Spence said to Mother Spence,
"Grace, I'm slipping. I won't be here very long."
I went to my bedroom and began to cry out to God to extend
his days. I prayed, "Lord, when Jacob was with Laban, you
blessed his household. Let Dad Spence live a little longer.
Make him well. Extend his years!" The Lord helped me pray him
through his sixty-fifth birthday to the time of the dedication.
Not long after, he went Home, and I was privileged to pray him
through the gates of the City.
Some fifty to one hundred men worked on this home from the
cutting of the trees in the woods to its completion. By God's
grace, I never asked one person to help me, unless he first came
to me and asked if he might assist me in some way. And, to God's
glory (to the best of my knowledge), among the fifty to one
hundred men who worked on that home, not one thumb or finger was
smashed. Ordinarily inexperienced workers will hit a thumb or
hurt themselves in some way. But, because of Jesus, the precious
Holy Ghost, not one man was hurt while working on the home which
God had built.
A few dear ones were fearful that we would not be able to
keep such a large home going, for a home involves much care and
upkeep. But one of my brothers told them, "If God is able to
provide them a home, He is able to keep it as well." How true
this was we have found out over the years, and for every single
blessing and help from God we give Him honor.
We moved into this lovely home on December 20, 1953. From
that day until this, God has mercifully seen fit to save a few
souls, encourage hearts, and heal bodies within these walls. One
day Rev. G. brought some friends to see the home. While we were
passing through the dining room God said, "Pray in here." When I
knelt to pray, God revealed that the man from Peoria, Illinois,
to whom I had just been
280 introduced, could get back to Him today. I began to pray for
this fellow whom I had never seen before, and soon he was
weeping. He got back to God that very hour! The joy of the
blessed Saviour came into his soul. He was happy and we were
rejoicing with him.
Mrs. W. E. Baker was a precious Christian woman who had
helped us on several occasions, and we had wanted her to visit
our home ever since it had been dedicated in December. But she
had not been able to come until the following May. As she sat in
the living room, I was sharing answers to prayer and a few of the
marvelous things which had taken place during the building of the
home. A knock on the door interrupted our conversation, and the
man who picked up clothing for the laundry came in. "May I see
you a minute?" he asked. I told him that he surely could, and
took him into the prayer room.
He began to pour his heart out to me. "I prayed last night
as a sinner that I could get through this terrible fix that I am
in," he confessed to me. "I asked God to lead me to one of His
disciples who could help me. When I saw this woman in your front
room, I knew that I was in the right place." Wasn't that
wonderful? Here we had wanted Mrs. Baker to be with us for weeks
and months, but God sent her by on just the right day.
I began to tell him how to find the Narrow Way. I got down
on my knees and prayed and then asked him to pray. When he
finished he said, "Rev. Helm, from the time I started to leave
this chair until my knees hit the floor, I felt like shouting. I
tell you, I really got it! Can I tell your family what Jesus has
done for me?" The Lord had already heard him tell me all his
burdens; so He just took his darkness, his cares, and his sins
from him before he could even kneel to pray.
Going to the north porch he told my wife and her mother, "Do
you see that water tower up there about four squares? I would
like to be on top of it today telling everyone what God
281 has done for me." As he went out the front door he looked up at
the sky and declared with great joy, "What a wonderful day!" It
was cloudy and looked as if it might rain any time, but there was
sunlight in his soul. Three years later he called to say that,
through Christ, he had won seven souls to the Lord.
I was going for prayer one day when I was called back home
sixty miles. When I entered the house I found this young woman
who told me, "My fiance has cancer of the stomach and the doctors
give him no hope. What can be done for him? Is there anything
you can do?"
I prayed for a time to learn the counsel of the Holy Spirit,
then answered, "If you will both repent of all your sins, all
your neglects, all your wrongs--I believe Jesus will shrivel that
cancer in his body."
Suddenly she cried, "Am I having a nervous breakdown?"
"No," I told her, "the Holy Spirit is calling you." Her
heart was throbbing with such force that she didn't know what was
happening to her. I explained, "This is the power of God
speaking to you, saying, `Give Me thine heart.'" She was
converted, he was reclaimed, and the cancer dried up in his stomach.
That was eighteen years ago.
A call came to our home one day and a man's voice said, "I
am in some trouble." I told him that I could hear it in his
voice. "Do you have time for me?" he asked.
"Certainly," I replied.
"Are you sure?" the voice asked again.
"Yes," I assured him. I learned that he had a friend and
that they both were in trouble; but when his friend had gone to
see this one servant, he continued to look at his watch much of
the time, making this person feel as if he wanted to be elsewhere
instead of talking with her. "When do you wish to come?" I
asked.
"When is it best for you?" he said.
"Let's turn it around," I suggested. "When is it best for
you?" He didn't want to be an imposition, but I wanted to
282 make it as easy for him as possible. When he arrived, I heard
that he was in a hard, terrible place. I spent two hours with
him, and when those two hours were over, beloved, he went out a
new man in Christ Jesus.
I was just ready to leave the front door when the Holy
Spirit revealed, "You cannot leave." In four minutes a car drove
up and out stepped a man with a shining face whom I hadn't seen
for three or four years. "My Brother, I'm so glad to see you,"
he rejoiced, meeting me at the door. "I have been trying to get
here for two or three weeks and I knew I was to come today."
When I shared with him that God had stopped me or I would have
been gone, he praised the Lord.
He began to tell me of his trials and struggles, which I
found to be very serious. For three years he had been passing
through a desperate battle of the soul. During this period he
had been going from place to place seeking help, but no one knew
what to tell him. I was able to say to him, "Rejoice, Brother!
You"re going into the deeper things of God." I would not have
known how to counsel him had not God led me through this same
deep river, a similar dark area of testing, some years before.
"As you go into the deeper things of walking with God you will
experience great struggles at times," I was able to share with
him. "Sometimes the enemy fights very severely." We began to
pray, the glory started to fall, and he was delivered. God be
praised for all His marvelous operations and holy workings.
If I had the privilege of taking you from room to room in
this home which God has so graciously provided us, I would try to
point out where one woman was reclaimed in the prayer room.
Another woman with gall bladder trouble met the Saviour and was
healed not far from where this other woman found the victory. In
my room, our youngest daughter came to a real transforming
knowledge of Jesus at the age of twenty-four. Not far from where
she met Jesus, just several months ago, another young woman was
sanctified. Also in
283 this same room, my nephew of twenty-six years, who had been in
very deep sin, was marvelously saved a few weeks ago on February
12. He is now so happy in Jesus. It was in the foyer where God
spoke to me one night, along with several of the prayer group,
about a missionary in Bolivia who was in danger. We later found
out that he and his family were being stoned at that time in
their home. God delivered them through prayer.
We could go on, if Jesus would permit and help me, to recall
the many things which He has accomplished for His glory in this
home: but there is no end to anything which God begins. Our
words are too feeble to convey the deep thankfulness in our
hearts to Jesus for the way He has provided this home and for the
way He continues to bless many who visit it.
We know that we have been unable to mention, nor do we
actually know about, all who helped make this revelatio*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** |