Arkansas State Press

ABUNDANT LIFE
by ORAL ROBERTS

At our International Headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, we have a group of people who are engaged in prayer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is called the Abundant Life Prayer Group. Day and night this Group is receiving requests for prayer from people everywhere. The requests are sent in by mail and telegraph, and many come by long-distance telephone. Calls for help in prayer have come from as far away as Oslo, Norway, and from as near as a Tulsa hospital.

The other day, a member of our Abundant Life Prayer Group answered the telephone. The call was coming from a point more than 1,000 miles away. A man's voice said, "I have a loaded revolver in my hand, and I am ready to take my life." Then, in a last desperate plea, the man cried, "Can you help me?"

The Abundant Life Prayer Partner sympathetically, prayerfully, and with understanding listened to the complete story told by "the voice" at the other end of the line.

"For three days, I have been locked in my room with my revolver loaded ready to take my life. But each time I have tried to pull the trigger, something has restrained me. At one time I knew the Lord as my Saviour, but I drifted away from him. The further I strayed from the Lord, the more my life became involved, and I ended up serving a prison term. Now, I have been released and have tried to go straight, but nobody wants to hire an ex-convict. Life has lost its meaning and I just can't go on any longer. Can you help me?"

This time, the question was drowned in convulsive sobs. The Prayer Partner lovingly and prayerfully spoke to the man and told him of the goodness of God. As she talked with him and prayed with him, he suddenly interrupted her, his voice ringing with a new vibrancy. He told her the light had suddenly broken through into his heart as prayer went up to God in his behalf.

The Sun of righteousness had dawned in this man's life with healing in his wings to restore life and health to this individual who only moments before was determined to take his own life.

Only when she was sure that the man had peace in his heart did the Abundant Life Prayer Partner venture the question which had been in her mind from the beginning of the conversation. "How did you happen to call the Abundant Life Prayer Group?" she asked.

The man replied, "A lady gave me your telephone number and said to me, 'Before you shoot yourself, call this number!'"

This incident (one of hundreds that have come to our attention) pinpoints a truth that we should never forget: There is no distance in prayer. God is here and God is there. He is with me, and he is with you. Nearer than breathing and faster than thought, he can respond to the cry of every anxious heart who turns to him for help. He is the answer—the only answer—to the needs of this world today.