In the later part of the eighteenth century, a man called John Hyde went to India on a long term mission. He had high hopes of preaching but he suffered from a stuttering difficulty. This meant that he spent more of his time in prayer.

As a young Christian many years ago, I had read a biography about Mr. Hyde and it stated that he prayed so intensely that his heart actually shifted towards the right part of his chest. So being a bit sickly and having a stuttering ailment would normally mean that his time in India would not be fruitful.

Instead, as the biography mentions, that whenever a conference was held and praying Hyde was present, revival broke out throughout the conference and many lives were powerfully touched. He didn’t speak much but he prayed a lot. Before and during the conference, he made it his personal business to lock himself away and pray.

In his daily life, an oft repeated daily prayer of Praying Hyde was, “Lord, give souls or I die”. Then he would be specific and say, “Lord, give me one soul or I die”. It was a usual sight to see him praying for an Indian man on the road-side and then they would go into the water for the convert to be baptized right there.

His life was a great encouragement to me those many years ago and his prayer still rings in my soul.

“Lord, give me souls or I die” is a daring prayer and it brings the urgency of soul-winning more clearly into focus. “Lord, give me one soul or I die”, is even more daring and yet helps us to focus on a specific goal which I believe will activate our faith towards action. Of course, we can pray for souls without expressing a reference to death as I believe this was Hyde’s way of expressing his concern for the lost.

As a church, we have seen the power of prayer and the many lives that has been touched when God’s people pray. But now, I want us to go even higher. Let’s make this Praying Hyde’s prayer, our prayer as a church and individually.

“Lord, give me souls”… “Lord, give me one soul”. We can even be asking for a time period of a day, a week, a month, or more, for winning of a soul. “Lord, give me one soul this week”.

If we can pray this regularly in our personal prayer and look for spirit-directed opportunities to share our faith with others, we might be surprised by what God will do.

Here is a short video summary of the Life of John Hyde by Trail of Fire Ministries. I pray that your life will be impacted and challenged by the Life of Praying Hyde as mine was changed many years ago.