How to Get

Your Prayers Answered

by

Norvel Hayes

HARRISON HOUSE

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

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How to Get Your Prayers Answered

ISBN-10: 0-89274-215-1ISBN-13: 978-0-89274-215-8Copyright © 1981 by Norvel HayesP. O. Box 1379 Cleveland, Tennessee 37311

Published by Harrison House, Inc.P. O. Box 35035Tulsa, Oklahoma 74153

Printed in the United States of America. All rightsreserved under International Copyright Law.Contents and/or cover may not be reproduced inwhole or in part in any form without the expresswritten consent of the Publisher.

How to Get

Your Prayers Answered

Have you ever wondered why yourprayers aren’t answered even though youhave prayed for months, or sometimesyears?

I used to wonder about this myself. Iwould say, “I don’t understand You, Jesus.Why don’t You answer my prayer? I’ve gotto have this, but it’s not coming to pass.Why don’t You answer my prayer?”

One day as I was reading the Bible, theLord began to bring this message intofocus. He began to unfold it right beforeme. Today I can see it so plain — just as ifit had always been a part of me.

How To Approach God

The Lord is so good to us. He gives usdifferent ways to approach Him anddifferent ways to receive things from Him.

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What I am going to share with you here isone of the most important truths in theBible, and it’s actually one of the easiestways I know of to receive things from theLord.

Many people won’t go to God until thevery foundation of their life has crumbledbefore them. Then because they have noplace else to go, they go to God.

This is one of the best times for God toget hold of a person’s life—when the cir-cumstances of his life have crumbled andhis heart is broken. God would like to gethold of us before that, but most people justwon’t go to God until they have to. Theywant to figure out everything for them-selves.

If we will go to God with an open heart,ready to receive, He will be able to comeinto our lives and do what He wants to dowith us.

The Bible says that God will rewardthose that diligently seek Him. (Heb.11:6.)You can’t seek God just a little bit andexpect to find all the “goodies” fromheaven. They don’t come that way. Your

prayers will never be answered that way.You will have to diligently seek Him.

The most important thing is h o w y o uask God for something—the kind of wordsyou use when you speak to Him. Whenyou pray, you are not talking to me, or tothe pastor of your church, or to a friend—you are talking to Jesus.

He doesn’t look at you from the outside,but from the inside. He doesn’t hold yourpast sins against you. (The devil does, butJesus doesn’t.)

Be Sincere

Because He looks on the motives ofyour heart, you have to approach Him inthe right way. You have to be sincere.Jesus said, . . . out of the abundance of the

heart the mouth speaketh (Matt. 12:34).When you start talking, Jesus will knowright away the condition of your heart.

Many times, Jesus doesn’t like the waywe pray.

You may say, “But I’m humble whenI pray. Sometimes when I pray, I evenget on my knees and cry.”

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That doesn’t make any difference.Jesus still won’t answer your prayer if youpray wrong.

Hear and Understand

Let’s look at the book of St. Matthew,chapter 15, beginning with the 10th verse:

And he (Jesus) called the multitude,

and said unto them, Hear, and under-

stand:

Not that which goeth into the mouth

defileth a man; but that which cometh out

of the mouth, this defileth a man.

Then came his disciples, and said unto

him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees

were offe nded, aft e r they heard this

saying?

Many people are offended when theyhear the Gospel straight from the pages ofthe New Testament. They are offendedwhen you tell them what the New Testa-ment says about speaking in tongues.They say, “We don’t teach that in ourchurch,” but it doesn’t make any differ-ence what they teach in their church. It’swhat the Bible says that’s the truth, notwhat anybody teaches in a church.

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The disciples said, “You offended them,Jesus.”

In verse 13, He answered them andsaid, Every plant, which my heavenly

Father hath not planted, shall be rooted

up. You can have all kinds of teaching inyou, but unless God planted it there, itwon’t do you any good.

You might as well get rid of everythingthat’s not in the New Testament—regard-less of how many relatives you have whobelieve it that way. Just go ahead andread the New Testament for yourself.Believe what you read and act on it. Youcan receive it from Almighty God yourself.

It won’t do you any good to go aroundand find out what everybody else believes.If you do, you’ll hear 40,000 tales —andall of them will be different!

But God’s Word won’t change. It won’tchange because God doesn’t change. Jesusstays the same all the time, and His Wordstays the same. Every morning when youpick up the New Testament, it will be thesame. It stays steadfast all the time, andit works all the time.

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What does Jesus have to say aboutpeople who are offended by His Word?“Every plant that my heavenly Father hasnot planted will be rooted up.”

Then in the 14th verse He says of thePharisees, Let them alone: they be blind

leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead

the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

Is that plain enough?

Jesus was saying to His disciples, “Ifthey are offended at My sayings, let themalone. Stay away from them. They areblind. If you mess around with them,you’ll be blind, too. You won’t be able tosee, and both of you will fall into theditch.”

Then answered Pe ter and said unto

him, Declare unto us this parable (v. 15).

In other words, “Explain this parable,Jesus. Tell us what You mean.”

And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without

understanding? In other words, “What’sthe matter with you guys? You’ve beenwith Me for a long time—don’t you under-stand yet?”

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You know, I believe most of us are justlike Peter. We are yet without under-standing. I imagine if Jesus walked into achurch service these days, He would prob-ably say something like this: “You peopleare robbing yourselves. Are you yetwithout understanding of all the things inthe New Testament that are for you? Areyou yet without understanding of all thethings I’ve told you in My Word?”

You could ask Him all kinds of ques-tions, but He would always answer youwith a scripture and say, “I’ve told you inMy Word.” It’s not good enough for us justto be hearers of the Word. God wants us tobe doers of the Word, not hearers only.(James 1:22.)

Speak the Word

In verses 17 and 18 Jesus says: Do not

ye ye t understand, that what soeve r

entereth in at the mouth goeth into the

belly, and is cast out into the draught?

But those things which proceed out of the

mouth come forth from the heart.

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What shape is your heart in?

How have you been talking?

Have you been talking faith, or haveyou been talking doubt?

Have you been talking love, or haveyou been talking in a way that the love ofGod can’t work?

Those things, Jesus said, which proceed

out of the mouth come forth from the

heart; and they defile the man.

For out of the heart procee d evil

thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornica-

tions, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

These are the things which defile a

man: but to eat with unwashen hands

defileth not a man.

Then Jesus went thence, and departed

into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon (vv. 18-21).

It’s not what you eat that defiles you,but what you say. It’s what comes outyour mouth that causes all the trouble inyour life and discourages you from receiv-ing from Almighty God.

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Check Your Motives

Verse 22 says, And, behold, a woman of

Canaan came out of the same coasts, and

cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on

me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daugh-

te r is grievously ve xed with a de vil.

Her daughter was possessed by devils,so she approached Jesus for help.

Do you know what it’s like to live in ahouse with someone who is possessedwith devils? It isn’t pleasant. I don’t carehow much you love that person from thenatural standpoint, it still isn’t pleasant.When you love Jesus and want to giveyour life to Him, it isn’t pleasant to hearsomeone close to you curse God and actlike the devil himself.

This woman who approached Jesusknew exactly what that was like. Shecried out, “Have mercy on me, O Lord; mydaughter is grievously vexed with a devil.”

Verse 23 says, But he answered her not

a w o r d . Jesus wouldn’t even talk to her.

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Does that surprise you?

Don’t you think that was a very humbleway for her to approach the Lord? Shecame crying to Him, but He wouldn’t eventalk to her. He wouldn’t pay any attentionto her.

Why?

Because her motives were wrong.

She was crying, “Have mercy on m e ,

Lord,” not, “Have mercy on my daughter.”

Jesus looked on her heart as she cried,“Have mercy on me, Lord. I’m living intorment because my daughter is vexedwith a devil.”

Jesus didn’t answer. He wouldn’t eventalk to her.

What does the Bible say He did?

He answered her not a word. In every-day language, that means He wasn’t eventalking to her. She was praying selfishlyand Jesus wouldn’t listen to her.

Let me ask you a question: Are you aparent with a wayward child—a child whodoesn’t know the Lord?

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Here Jesus gives you the secret togetting your child back in tune with Him.Now if you don’t do it, it won’t be Jesus’fault. It won’t be anybody’s fault butyours.

You have probably spent many hours,praying for your child. When he firststarted going against your teachings, I’msure you felt like all the blood had beendrained out of your body. You probablyfelt like a failure. I know how you feltbecause I’ve been there. Sometimes youreally feel sorry for yourself.

The only reason your child is waywardis because of the power of the devil. Theonly reason your child is like that isbecause the devil has tempted him andled him astray. It doesn’t make any differ-ence whether he is involved in drinking ordope or sex. In any case, the devil hastaken over and caused your child to beseparated from God.

You’ve prayed and cried and wept. Youcan’t understand why God won’t answer

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your prayers. Why won’t He answer?Maybe your motive is wrong.

When you ask Jesus for something self-ishly—if you have only yourself in mindwhen you pray—He won’t give it to you.

Maybe you are living in torment.Maybe you are being buffeted by some-thing and want to be released from it.When you pray, God looks inside you andsees your heart. It is no trouble for Him tolook inside you; He made every part ofyou. He is interested in you, and He knowswhether or not you are interested inmaking Him your God.

Spend Time With God

The number one thing God wants is tobe your God and have you be His people. Itwould be so easy to receive things fromGod if you would open yourself to Him andlet Him do what He wants in your life.

If you want to please the heart of God,place yourself before Him and let Him

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work His perfect will in your life. Just belike putty in His hands.

Sometimes you need to shut yourselfoff from “religious activities.” Sometimesyou need to shut yourself off from witness-ing and teaching. Just go to God when noone else is around.

You shouldn’t spend all your time goingto meetings. You need to spend time lovingand worshipping God, telling Him howmuch you love Him.

Don’t allow yourself to get caught up inreligious activities without putting Jesusfirst place in your life and worshippingHim when you are alone in your prayercloset. Don’t let any work—I don’t carewhat it is—take so much of your time thatyou aren’t able to shut yourself off from itto worship Jesus. If you do, you’ll cut your-self off from the blessings of AlmightyGod.

The more time you spend in your prayercloset, worshipping Jesus, the betterwarrior you’ll be when you get outside.

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Let God Be #1

So often we run around in our own reli-gious Christian life, doing this and that atthe church, trying to help people; but wedon’t spend any time alone with God. It’slike we are partly lying to the people. Wetell them how important Jesus is in ourlives, yet He really isn’t occupying thatnumber one spot. Sometimes our God isreligion and church, not Him.

God doesn’t want your duty to benumber one in your life. He wants to benumber one. Don’t push Him over to theside and do all the work for God withouttaking time to worship Him. If you do, youare lying—to yourself and to Him.

You can work for Jesus 15 hours a day,but if you don’t take the time to spendeven 15 or 20 minutes in private worshipof Him, you are lying to yourself. He reallyisn’t your number one God.

We are supposed to worship the Lordwith all our hearts. Luke 10:27 says, Thou

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shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy

heart, and with all thy soul, and with all

thy strength, and with all thy mind; and

thy neighbour as thyself.

Many times we miss God by getting ourlives so involved in going to church andworking for Jesus that we grieve Hisheart. I know we are going to be judged onthe day of judgment by the works we do;but many people are trying to promote theKingdom of God in the wrong way. Theydo it from an intellectual standpoint andfrom a labor standpoint. God is notpleased with that.

Let Him Love You

One day as I had just finished tapingsome radio broadcasts, the Spirit of theLord came upon me in a sudden manifes-tation. During that time the Lord revealedto me what was wrong with the world.These were the words He said to me thatday: “People make Me complicated. All Iwant them to do is let Me love them.”

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We don’t let the Lord love us much.We’re too busy. I get guilty of this myself.If you let the Lord love you, then His lovecan go from you out to others. You canhave more understanding and morepatience about things when you let theLord love you.

Many people might think, “Well, theLord loves me anyway.”

That’s not what He is talking about.

If you would bow down to Him andworship Him in your prayer closet, thenHis power would come on you and meltyour heart. He would begin to love you,and you would begin to love Him back.

All Jesus wants you to do is let Himlove you. He wants to take you in Hisarms and love you. He wants to manifestHimself to you. He wants His pure love toflow down through your body and intoyour mind, just as if you had taken a bath.

If you don’t spend any time before Him,it’s hard for Him to get you stil l longenough to love you. He loves all of us in a

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general love, but that’s not good enough.He wants to boldly show you how muchHe loves you.

His love will melt you down until youcan have compassion on drunks andthieves and prostitutes. With His love inyou, you can see people in a differentlight. You can see what sin and the devilhave done to them.

If you will let God love you, you won’talways just go to Him with the big moun-tain in your life.

If you have been praying for things andnot getting any answers, start lettingJesus love you. Start worshipping Himand loving Him, telling Him how you feelabout Him:

“Jesus, You’re the Lord of my life. Ithank You that You died on the cross forme. I worship You, Jesus, and praise Youbecause my name is written in the Lamb’sBook of Life. I worship You, Jesus. I praiseYour wonderful name. I hold Your nameabove all names that are on this earth.”

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It’s a good thing to be involved with achurch and with God’s work; but the greatestthing you will ever do is shut yourself offfrom the world and spend time with Jesus—just y o u and Him. Jesus wants y o u— j u s tyou alone. Spend time worshipping Him,and you will learn more about His beautythan you have ever known.

Worship Has Rewards

This woman in the 15th chapter ofMatthew had to learn these things thehard way. Again, verse 23 says, H e

answered her not a word. And his disci-

ples came and besought him, saying, Send

her away; for she crieth after us.

But, of course, Jesus loved her. Heknew she was in trouble. He didn’t wantto turn anybody away troubled, but shehad to learn a lesson. You see, God hasHis own standards. We have to come Hisway; we can’t come our way.

He answered His disciples and said, I

am not sen t but unto the lost sh eep of the

house of Israel (v. 24).

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Now notice her second approach toJesus in the 25th verse: Then came she

and worshipped him. She said, “I worshipYou, Jesus. I love You.”

As she was worshipping Him, she wassaying, Lord, help me. She knew therewas help in Jesus.

There was no worship involved in herfirst approach—when she cried out, “Lord,have mercy on me.” That was a selfishprayer. She wanted to be relieved of thething that was causing her so muchtrouble. She wanted to be relieved, butthere was no worship in her plea. That’swhy Jesus wouldn’t talk to her.

But when she came the second time,she was worshipping Him as her God,and He found favor in what she was doing.When God finds favor in the way youbelieve and talk and act, He will movefor you.

When she came to Jesus the secondtime, He gave her a little test to see howsincere she was. He wanted the rightwords to come out of her mouth. Hewanted her to talk right.

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Verse 26 says, He answered and said,

It is not meet to take the children’s bread,

and to cast it to dogs.

In other, words, He was telling her,“I’m a Jew, and I came for the children ofthe house of Israel. You’re out of a differ-ent coast, from a different tribe. It’s notright for Me to cast the children’s bread todogs.”

Then verse 27 says, And she said,

Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs

which fall from the ir master’s table .

After she worships Him, she says,“Jesus, You are my Master, and I’mwilling to eat even the crumbs that fallfrom my Master’s table. I’m willing totake anything that you have to give me. Iworship You, Jesus, because You are myMaster.”

Do you know what He did for her?

Verse 28 says, Then Jesus answered

and said unto her, O woman, great is thy

faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.

And her daughter was made whole from

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that very hour.

Jesus spoke the Word and it happened.The devil left her daughter, and she wasmade whole. Why? Because her motherpleased God.

Stand Steadfast In Faith

As a parent, you have spiritual author-ity over your child. It doesn’t make anydifference if your child rebels. I knowbecause I went through this for a timewith my daughter.

God dealt with me strongly about thisone day. He said:

“Son, I want you to understand some-thing: There is no power on earth greaterthan My power—no power!

“Your daughter doesn’t have the powerand the faith to get out of the trouble sheis in. It will have to be done by your faithin Me.

“I can set her completely free throughyour faith, but your faith concerning herhas been wavering a l ittle. You have

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started wondering about when I am goingto do it. That is none of your business.I don’t need your help. All I need is yourfaith. I have to have your faith before Mypower is even available to move on yourchild.

“Every time—not just part of the time,but every time—your faith wavers, it cutsoff My power from dealing with her. You’reher father, and your unwavering faith willbring My power out of heaven and uponher life to set her free.

“But your faith wavers from time totime concerning her complete freedom.Sometimes you even wonder if I am goingto do it. When you waver, My power stops.”

That’s the reason Hebrews 11:6 saysthat without faith it is impossible toplease God. You can’t please God withoutfaith. You m u s t have faith. He wants youto recognize Him as your number one God.He wants you to know that He will workin your life. But to know that, you mustspend time with Him and get to knowHim.

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If you will stand with an unwavering,steadfast faith, you can keep your childout of the hands of the devil. If your childis away from God now, you can bring himback to God.

If you will spend time worshipping theLord through faith, the devil can’t destroyyour child. There is no way the devil candestroy any of your children if you willfollow the Lord and listen to His instruc-t i o n s .

Confession Brings Possession

When I was holding a meeting in onechurch, a woman suddenly stood up in theaudience and challenged me. I had beentelling them that God would do anythingfor them if they would let Him.

She said, “Brother Norvel, you’ve beentelling us for two or three days how muchthe Lord loves us and that God would doanything for us. What about our situa-tion? My husband and I have a 17-year-old daughter that we love with all ourhearts. About six months ago she just

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walked off from the house one day andnever came back.

“Brother Norvel, I ’ve prayed andprayed and prayed. Doesn’t God knowwhere she is?”

I said, “Absolutely.”

“Will He show me where she is?”

I said, “Sure, He’ll show you where she is.

“Well, as I’ve been sitting here listen-ing to you, I’m beginning to see somethingI’ve never seen before. I feel like Godrequires something of me other than whatI’ve been doing.”

“Well,” I said, “your faith can bring herin. You can speak her back into existence,back into your presence. I’ll teach you howto do it if you want me to.”

“I’ll do anything you say,” sheanswered. “Just tell me what to do, andI’ll do it.”

“Okay. Jesus said in Mark 11:23, F o r

verily I say unto you, That whosoever

shall say unto this mountain, Be thou

removed, and be thou cast into the sea;

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and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall

believe that those things which he saith

shall come to pass; he shall have whatso-

ever he saith.

“Now, according to James 4:2,3, youhave not because you ask not; and whenyou ask and receive not, it’s because youask amiss.

“I can imagine how the devil hastreated you—how he has thrown darts ofdoubt into your mind about your daugh-ter. He’s probably told you over and overthat she’s been kidnapped and killed. He’sprobably told you all kinds of things.”

She said, “Yes, he has. Sometimes Ithink she will call; then I’ll begin to doubtand start thinking she’s dead.”

“Well, you can speak her back into yourpresence if you’ll believe that those thingswhich you say will come to pass. You cando it because this Scripture says youcan—and it’s the truth. God can’t lie.

“I’ll pray with you; then I want you tosay this every day: ‘Thank You, Jesus, for

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showing me where my daughter is. ThankYou, Jesus, for having her contact me.’

“Don’t ever say anything else. Justkeep it up every day. Keep firing downthat same line. Then God will move on herheart. He’ll have her get in touch withyou. Your faith in His Word will cause herto do this. Her soul can be rescued throughyour faith.”

She said, “Okay, I’ll do it.”

A few months later, I was back thereministering, and that same lady stood upand said:

“You know what you told me, BrotherNorvel, that if my faith didn’t waver, theLord would move on my daughter?Sometimes I would do that day after dayafter day. The devil tried to tell me itwouldn’t work, that it was too simple, thatmy daughter was dead. But I wouldn’tlisten to him.

“Every time I got to the point where Iwas about to doubt, the Lord wouldremind me of what you told me. Thosewords would ring in my head and I would

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say, ‘No! I’m not going to doubt! I’m notgoing to doubt!’

“Then one day the phone rang, and itwas my daughter on the phone! Not onlythat, but she was under conviction andcrying. We drove over, picked her up, andbrought her here to church. She gave herlife to the Lord and Jesus baptized her inthe Holy Ghost. She’s sitting right overthere.”

When she told me that story, I wasreally blessed; but God added a bonus—asupernatural bonus. The Spirit of theLord came on that young girl. She got outof her seat and walked very slowly up tome. She put her arms around my neck andjust held on.

The Spirit of God was all over her. Forabout ten minutes, we just stood theretogether, weeping.

You know, all the money in the worldcan’t buy that experience from me. It wasglorious—an experience I will neverforget.

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Be A True Worshipper

Jesus said, The hour cometh, and now

is, when the true worshippe rs shall

worship the Father in spirit and in truth:

for the Father seeketh such to worship

him. God is a Spirit; and they that worship

him must worship him in spirit and in

truth (John 4:23,24).

If your prayers aren’t getting answered,maybe you should check and see howmuch time you are spending before theLord in worship and praise.

Set yourself to be a true worshipper.Put aside time for the Lord. Put Him firstplace in your life. If you do—I promiseyou—you will see your prayers answered.

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Norvel Hayes

Norvel Hayes is a successfulbusinessman, internationallyrenowned Bible teacher, andfounder of several Christianministries in the U.S. anda b r o a d .

Brother Hayes founded N e w

Life Bible College, located in Cleveland, Tennessee,in 1977. New Life Bible Church grew out of the Bibleschool’s chapel services. The Bible School offers atwo-year diploma and off-campus correspondencecourses. Among it’s many other out-reaches, thechurch ministers God’s Word and hot meals daily tothe poor through the New Life Soup Kit chen.

Brother Hayes is also the founder and president ofNew Life Maternity Home, a ministry dedicated tothe spiritual, physical and financial need of younggirls during pregnancy; Campus Challenge, an evan-gelistic outreach that distributes Christian litera-ture on college campuses across America; S t r e e t

R e a c h , a ministry dedicated to runaway teenslocated in Daytona Beach, Florida; and C h i l d r e n ’ s

Home, an orphanage home and education centerlocated in India.

Known internationally for his dynamic exposition ofthe Word of God, Brother Hayes spends most of histime teaching and ministering God’s deliverance andhealing power in churches, college classrooms, con-ventions and seminars around the world.

For a complete list of tapes and books

by Norvel Hayes, write:

Norvel Hayes • P. O. Box 1379 • Cleveland, TN 37311

Books by Norvel Hayes

Don’t Let the Devil Steal Your Destiny

How to Live and Not Die

Worship

The Blessing of Obedience

The Chosen Fast

Confession Brings Possession

How To Get Your Prayers Answered

Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled

Misguided Faith

The Number One Way To Fight the Devil

What To Do for Healing

Available at your local bookstore,or from:

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