© 02 Colin Melbourne
Strength Perfected in Weakness
He Said ‘Go!’
The dear Saviour stood by me one night in a vision and talked face to face with me, and asked what I was doing on earth. I felt condemned, and said,
“Lord, I am going to work in Thy vineyard.”
The Lord said, “When?“, and I answered,
“When I get prepared for the work.”
Then the Lord said to me,
“Don’t you know that while you are getting ready souls are perishing? Go now, and I will be with you.”
I told Him that I could not talk to the people; I did not know what to say, and they would not listen to me. Jesus said,
“You can tell the people what the Lord has done for your soul; tell of the glory of God and the love of Jesus; tell sinners to repent and prepare for death and the Judgment, and I will be with you.”
Still I made one excuse after another, and Jesus would answer,
“Go, and I will be with you.”
She said ‘No’
Maria Woodworth resisted that call for two decades, and paid an awful price for her rebellion. One by one, whilst making excuses to her Saviour, she buried five of her six beloved children.
It’s easy to understand her reluctance. Being naturally gentle, introspective and shy, Maria thought herself more suited to the role of demure homebuilder than the Spirit-filled firebrand God was calling her to be.
This was 30 years before women could vote in America. Women preachers were practically unheard of, and banned by her denomination, those who ventured to obey Christ’s injunction to believers, were ridiculed, and made sport of.
Maria also felt inhibited because she had no education to speak of, being sent into service as a child to support her widowed Mother and large family. Maria’s Father had been an alcoholic who wouldn’t allow the Bible in their house, until he reformed and attended a denominational church in his final years. He died suddenly of sunstroke whilst harvesting on their farm, leaving his poor widow to raise eight children.
Maria was saved at thirteen, she wrote,
‘Soon after I was converted I heard the voice of Jesus calling me to go out in the highways and hedges and gather in the lost sheep’.
But instead she procrastinated, married, and settled on a farm to raise a family.
Satan’s Blow
Listen to Maria recounting the loss of three of her children:
“One year had hardly passed by when the angel of death came again to our home and took away our baby Freddy, and at the same time I lay for weeks between life and death. In all this I could see the hand of the loving Father calling me to leave all and follow Him. About this time our little daughter Georgie was converted. She was about seven years old. She was a great comfort to me. She loved to talk of the goodness of God and our Redeemer. Many happy times we enjoyed talking together of the beautiful home over the river, where her brothers had gone.
I did not think she would leave me so soon to join their ranks and raise her voice with theirs in singing salvation to our God, who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb forever. She was taken sick with that dreadful disease, Scrofula, and lingered about eight months. Her sufferings were great, yet she never murmured or complained, but only said it was for her good. She loved to read about Jesus, and the beautiful mansions He was preparing, and the robe and crown that were waiting for her. She would talk to all who came to see her of Jesus and His love, and tell them to meet her in Heaven.
She sent messages to her Sabbath School teacher and scholars, and to her friends far and near, to meet her in Heaven. For weeks before she died her face was all lighted up with the glory of God. The angels seemed to be hovering about her bed. She could hear them singing. Her body was with us, but her spirit seemed to be above the Earth communing with God. She was willing to go and be with Jesus, but it seemed hard for her to leave me. She would say:
“O Mamma, if you could go with me I would be so happy. I hate to leave you; but oh, say you will meet me in Heaven.”
I said: “Georgie, I will try.”
But that would not do. She said:
“O Mamma, say you will: I cannot die unless you promise to meet me in Heaven.”
I said: “Georgie, by the grace of God I will meet you in Heaven”
She said: “Now I am ready; I know you will come, Mamma; I shall always be looking for you, and when you die I am coming for you.”
My health had been very poor all through her sickness. Three weeks before her death little Gertie was born. She was the picture of Georgie, and seemed to have her sweet disposition, and I thought, as she grew older she would take her place; but the precious bud was not permitted to bloom in this world of sin. At the age of four months the angels bore her away where the flowers never fade nor die, there to join her sister and brothers who were waiting to welcome her at the Golden Gates. I could say with David, they cannot come back to me, but I will go to them. Praise the Lord for the Christian’s hope!”
Please understand that God didn’t kill her children, but because their Mother was living in disobedience, the Devil could.
Repentance and Blessing
Finally, at the age of 35 Maria repented and began proclaiming Christ, and was immediately endorsed by a powerful anointing that became the hallmark of her ministry. People are still being healed today simply by Reading her sermons. She didn’t use notes, but waited for the Lord to give her a text, often at the last minute, then she would simply speak from her heart, and the words flowed like a torrent from the Throne of God.
This was the key to the success of her ministry, she depended totally upon the Lord to meet all her needs, in preaching, ministering, and financially. Sinners flocked to hear her messages, and thousands wept their way to salvation. In 1880, nearly 30 years before the Azusa Street Pentecostal outpouring, the Holy Spirit was blessing Maria’s ministry just as in the Book of Acts. Hundreds were laid out in trances, today we call it being slain in the Spirit, she prophesied, laid hands on the sick and countless wonderful miracles occurred. Her rule was:
“Let the Holy Ghost work in any way that agrees with the word of God.”
Praise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves. My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the LORD.
Holy Bible, Judges 5:2,9 KJV
So sang Israel’s Leader Deborah, after the Lord gave her and Barak total victory over their oppressors, and the enemy Commander Sisera was slain by a housewife. Rejoice Christian women, and follow in the steps of these meek and gutsy believers. The devil’s man arrived at Jael’s tent looking for protection, but her heart was with the LORD, so she nailed Sisera’s head to the floor with a tent-peg, and he lay dead at her feet.
There’s a divine parallel in this historic victory. The LORD Jesus Christ, the God-Man, was nailed to a tree, as our Substitute, in the process crushing the head of the Serpent, Satan, and handed believers total victory over the devil’s works. Through Christ’s glorious rout, Satan and all demons are under your feet, and as you go into all the world announcing the Good News, He will confirm His word through you.
Strength in Weakness
By 1894 Maria had crossed America three times from coast to coast, proclaiming Christ in churches, theatres, opera houses, and under her famous tent. (The largest tent seated 25,000 people, and she preached without any public address system.) She had no itinerary, and often changed plans as the Lord led her. Once she was going to California, but in obedience to the Spirit’s correction turned and headed for St. Louis instead. The resulting tent meeting at the infamous Kerry Patch, a stronghold of Catholic idolatry and rampant vice, was an epic victory that she describes in her 1918 book, Signs and Wonders;
St. Louis, Missouri, 1890:
“They had pistols and clubs, and were ready to kill us, and tear down the tent. It looked as if we would all be killed. Several ministers tried to talk, but were stoned down, or their voice drowned out. It looked like surrender or death.
“It was an awful sight to see a little band of Christians, sitting nearly frozen to their seats with fear, surrounded by a mob of wild, fierce men and women, many of them half drunk, their eyes and faces red and inflamed. Every effort failed, and we could do nothing with them. I said to my co-workers:
“We will never give up, and if they take us out of the tent before we are ready to go, they will take us out dead.”
I told them to lead in prayer one after the other, and the God of Elijah would answer.
“A sister knelt on the pulpit pale as death, her hands and face raised to Heaven, and in a clear ringing voice asked God to save and bless the Judgment-bound multitude. A feeling of the awful Presence of God began to fall on the people. Another sister followed in prayer, then I arose, and stood before them. I raised my hand in the Name of the Lord, and commanded them to listen. I said the Lord had sent me there to do them good, and that I would not leave until the Lord told me to, when our work was done. I told them the Lord would strike dead the first one that tried to harm us or to strike us with a dagger. If any tried to kill us the Lord would strike them dead.
“The power of God fell, and the fear of God came upon all the multitude. The sweat came on their faces, and they stood like as though in a trance; the men began to take their pipes out of their mouths, and their hats off. The women began to cover up their bare necks and arms with their aprons. They felt they stood naked and guilty before God. They began to get off the seats, and try to sit down, but some fell and lay like dead. Others stood with their mouths open. One Catholic said that I struck him down, and showed him Hell. Tears ran down many faces, through the dirt, leaving streaks. They stood like they were afraid to move, and they all passed out quietly. After that the hoodlum element always respected me.”
Continue Reading Maria Woodworth-Etter’s Biography
Be sure of a place in Heaven: Come to Christ now
© 02 Colin Melbourne
