We have a daily meeting at our London Headquarters. This does not sound either original or unique, for what Christian organization does not? But we are going to begin by describing its special characteristics for a particular reason. It is the methods we have been led to adopt in these meetings, which have been the foundation of the advance of the Crusade in times when the only normal course would have been to retrench or put up the shutters.

Practically all can be traced to a great discovery. It had been our custom to divide our prayer meetings into two portions, one for reading the Scriptures, with a few general comments, and the other for open prayer. But much of the praying, although sincere, was without strong assurance, because so often we were not sure if our requests were according to God's will. Therefore, most requests would be prefaced by some such phrase as 'If it is Thy will'. Often we rose from our knees as uncertain in heart about the answer as before we asked, and if we had been questioned whether this or that prayer would be granted, we could only have said 'We hope so'.

We had, however, begun to observe another emphasis in the prayer lives of the men of the Bible. We saw that they went much farther back than we did. They first discovered whether their prayer was God's will; then having received assurance on this point, they prayed, received by faith, persisted, declared things to come, with all the authority of God Himself. We saw this in countless cases: Elijah suddenly appears on the scene and announces, 'As the Lord God of Israel liveth, there shall not be dew nor rain these years but according to my word', and James tells us that this was 'effectual praying'. The contrast struck us between Hezekiah, a man of sincere but unavailing prayer, and Isaiah, a man of effectual prayer. In a crisis Hezekiah cries to God and sends to Isaiah to say, "This is a day of rebuke; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. It may be that the Lord will hear the words of Babshakeh and will reprove . . But Isaiah's answer is 'Thus saith the Lord, be not afraid . . . behold, I will send a blast upon him.'"

So it became more and more impressed on us that effectual praying must be guided praying: that the first essential was not to pray, but to know what to pray for: that special and clear provision has been made for this in the Scriptures, when Paul said in Romans 8:26, 27, that the Spirit is given expressly to guide our praying, for true prayers are God's prayers prayed through us - they issue from God's mind, are taught us of His Spirit, are prayed in His faith, and are thus assured of answer. On this basis our meetings took a new form. Guidance must be found. We must go to our knees only when we know from God for what we are going. To obtain this, formality, time limits, and human control must go.

The objective of the meetings is entirely practical, not a study of doctrine nor a Bible reading, but the tackling of the immediate problems of the work. It may concern a number of new recruits for the field and the need of finance for them, the granting of a Government permit to open a new area of work. A tribe unyielded to the Gospel; a difficulty between workers. The matter is outlined and discussed. Opinions and criticisms are invited. Gradually the conviction gains ground among us all that such and such an outcome would glorify God - a certain sum of money by a certain date; a move of the Spirit at a certain place; the granting of an official permit; a reconciliation. The Scriptures are then examined. What examples have we as a ground for our faith? We turn to David, Daniel, Moses, & Paul. Were they sure of their guidance? Did they believe and declare it? Did it come to pass? Can we fairly compare our situation with theirs? If so, then - and only then - we pray, believe, receive, declare our faith and persist, with all the authority of the Master's words, 'Whosoever shall say (the word of command, much stronger than 'pray') 'unto this mountain, Be thou removed' … and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.'