John Hyde

Heartbreak led Praying John Hyde into his calling. Born in Carthage, Ill. in 1865, Hyde grew up in a religious home. His father, Reverend Smith Harris Hyde, was a Presbyterian minister. And his brother, Edmund, had his heart set on becoming a missionary.

Tragedy struck when Edmund, with whom Hyde attended seminary, died suddenly. It was a life-changing event that caused a young Hyde to search his hurting heart for answers. With his brother, whom he loved, admired, and looked to for direction and stability for so many years, abruptly removed from his life, Hyde was faced with a weighty decision: go on or give up.

Hyde continued in prayer and seeking God and surrendered himself to the call of missionary. The young man determined to travel in the unwalked footsteps of his brother Edmund for the glory of God. What’s more, he decided that if he was going to be a missionary, then he wanted to be a great one. So he submitted himself to the will of God and began to apply himself to study and prayer in a greater way.

Study and prayer are the foundations of all great ministries (2 Timothy 2:15). Hyde took his time of preparation to heart. In his diligence he found that the more he gave himself to prayer, the clearer and greater his vision became. That call and vision would get him through even the darkest nights. That deep internal knowing would allow him to walk alone.

Before long, Hyde felt a strong calling to the nation of India. He immersed himself in study of the language. Then finally, after years of preparation, his time came. In 1892, Hyde boarded a steamboat in New York bound for India. During his journey, he received a letter from a close family friend promising to “not cease praying for you until you be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Hyde responded in heated anger. How dare someone suggest that he was not filled with the Spirit or equipped for his call! After all, he had received a bachelor’s degree, studied the language, and was well on his way to India. Hyde had waited patiently and was eagerly determined to pursue his destiny. But the word of the Lord challenged him.

Hyde threw the letter in the trash and began walking the decks of the ship. But despite his fury, thoughts that he must be filled with Holy Ghost power continued prodding his thoughts (Acts 1:8).

After much soul searching, Hyde finally came to a place of understanding that his dear friend was right: he needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Education was not enough. Approaching the edge of his cabin bed in prayer, Hyde surrendered to God’s will and was wonderfully filled with power from on high.

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Upon arriving in India Hyde found himself on the harvest field with three women and one other missionary among 1 million non-Christians. It was time to begin to fulfill his calling, to pioneer in a new land. Hyde soon met a man named Reverend Ullman who had served as a missionary to India for 55 years. It was Ullman who taught Hyde about the power of the blood of Jesus. This would prove to be a very important foundation for him.

In 1895, while Hyde was working with another missionary, a small revival broke out. This caused great persecution in that village. New converts were beaten and disowned. The scene drove Hyde into prayer and intercession. You can just imagine how he felt as those that he poured his heart into were drug out of their homes and whipped for serving the living God. Perhaps he was comforted by Acts 4:29: “And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word.”

The next year, 1896, Hyde saw no conversions at all. This greatly disturbed him and he once again went into prayer to “find the reason.” The Spirit of God began to reveal that the “life of the Church was far below Bible standards.” It would take him several years to fully understand how to respond to those words.

Hyde suffered his own afflictions in India. In 1898 he was attacked with Typhoid fever and lay sick for seven months. During this time his prayer was 1 Chronicles 4:10: “And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.”

In 1899 Hyde began to feel a burden to pray all night. During this time he remembered that the Lord had shown him the Church was “far below Bible standards” and he took on the burden to pray for others.
The more time he spent in prayer the less his fellow missionaries understood him. He was even thought to be fanatical and extreme, yet he had been prepared to walk alone and was willing to be called crazy and face this religious opposition. From these times of intercession, history now refers to him as “Praying John Hyde.”

In 1900 Hyde wrote prophetically about what the Lord had showed about the new century. His revelation was this: The new century would be a time of Pentecostal power and a double portion of the Holy Spirit would be poured out, that a great conviction would come and many would be born again.

Hyde saw a full apostolic Christianity restored to the Church. He believed that a great revival would occur after an understanding of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He often preached a message, “You Shall Receive Power After.”

Hyde formed Prayer Group Union in 1904 for the purpose of “targeted prayer” for 30 minutes each day. The group prayed for revival, special blessings on the churches, and a spirit of unity, guidance, and wisdom. The group also scheduled a Gospel convention in 1904.

Thirty days before the meetings they went into all night prayer with fasting, crying out, pleading, and agonizing over the lost. Around this time the group heard of the revival that had begun in Wales. This caused an increase in prayer and faith for the same. The event opened the way for revival to break forth in the convention.

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After Hyde experienced the results of a deeper prayer life, he gave himself even more to prayer. (It should be pointed out that he was not a recluse or a hermit. He was relatable and interacted with others.) During this increased time of prayer, Hyde received a revelation of the watchman in Isaiah. “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence. And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth” (Isaiah 62:6-7).
Hyde would often ask ministers, “Is the Spirit first in your pulpits?” He was referring to John 15, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.”

Such a spirit of intercession was on him that others too would begin to groan in agony for the lost. Hyde’s cry was, “Give me souls, O God, or I die!”

In March of 1911 Hyde left India because his heart had moved from the left side to the right side of his chest cavity and he needed medical attention. He arrived back home to Carthage to spend some time with his sister and on February 17, 1912 he died. He was only 47 years old.

Hyde’s last words were, “Shout the victory of Jesus Christ.” His life’s desire could be summed up in just a few words: a closer walk with the Lord through prayer, a life of holiness, and reaching the lost.

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