Opening the Gates of Heaven Perry Stone

thoughts, biblical promises, and words from the Lord. To pray without ceasing can also have a double meaning—it can indicate praying without interruption. In other words, when you pray, don’t pray for ten minutes, get up for a cup of coffee, then go back for ten more minutes, get up to watch the news, and then return for ten more minutes, then get a sandwich from the fridge. Don’t interrupt your prayer time with distractions. Really pray without ceasing! 6. D ON’T B E I NFLUENCED BY S URROUNDINGS Dad taught me that surroundings don’t influence your prayer. This was something I had to learn early in my ministry. At age eighteen I began traveling full-time in three states: Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland. I ministered in small rural congregations with an average of forty to eighty attendees— mostly present on Sunday mornings. My accommodations were often a small upstairs bedroom or, at times, a cold and moldy basement in the church. At one church I spent the entire week in the attic of an old house, barely able to walk, continually bumping my head against the low beams. The precious people provided what they could, and as a single minister on fire for the Lord, I did as Paul and “learned to be content whatever the circumstances” (Phil. 4:11). I remembered how Daniel prayed in a smelly lions’ den (Dan. 6). I recalled Old Testament prophets who received numerous visions while they were in captivity in foreign