I was called at one time to Grand Forks to help in a meeting. Coming there,
I saw two or three large, tall ministers whom I had never seen before. I
was scared to preach before them, so when we had prayer that evening, I
prayed the Lord to deliver me from man fear. The committee asked me to
speak that evening and the Lord blessed and gave me victory. Next day one
of those good ministers came to me and said, "I want to talk to you. I was
so blessed before you came, but since you came, I was afraid of you and my
blessing all left. I wonder if you can help me?" "I can," I said. "When I
came last night, upon seeing you and Brother H., I got so scared I wished I
was not here, so I prayed and it left me and then the devil jumped on you."
This made me think of a Swedish song which says in part:
"Menisko frygtens didlige snaror har bringat
Mangen en man paafald."
Which means in English:
"The fear of man the deadly snares
Has brought many a man to fall."
In a case like this it may not mean so much, but in many cases good
ministers have failed to preach the truth because of the fear of man. What
a disaster for themselves and for hundreds of souls!
One Sunday morning I spoke in a chapel for a brother pastor. When the
service was over he came to me and in a very tired tone, he said, "Did you
mean me this morning?" I answered, "Dear Brother, I surely did not mean
you." He said, "Well," and walked away still tired. I did not go for lunch
but remained in the chapel and wept and prayed that I might not be a trial
to my dear brethren. I said, "I will not go into the pulpit again until you
give me more wisdom," but when the afternoon meeting time came, no one else
had a message, and I had to go into the pulpit again. The Lord blessed in a
wonderful way, and a number of souls got saved. After the service the good
pastor came to me and said, "Will you forgive me? You did not mean me this
morning."
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