Interview With Derek Prince (Part 7)

Geoff Buck: What is your very favorite memory of Ruth?

Derek Prince: I don’t know that I could answer that, but I would say the thing I treasure most and respect her most for is the unqualified dedication to my ministry. She was there to serve me in every way she could. And she was no pushover, as you know that. I mean, if she disagreed with something she’d tell me flat out. She believed she was called of God to serve my ministry and she did it to the utmost of her power until she could do it no more. And I’m jealous for married couples who don’t have that kind of relationship. I mean I can see, I can see, married couples where the wife has her own personal ambitions. It doesn’t threaten me, it doesn’t concern me but I think they’re missing the best. The two shall be one and that is a miracle that only God can do. And when He does it, let’s not spoil it.

Geoff Buck: So you had two wonderful marriages.

Derek Prince: Yes, and very different. So there’s not one pattern as the only pattern. In my marriage to Lydia we were refugees much of the early years. I mean we had to flee from our house in the middle of the night twice in Jerusalem. When we came to England we were refugees in my own nation of England. So you know there’s no one set pattern of life, which, on which happiness depends. Happiness depends on your relationship with God and with people.

Geoff Buck: We were talking earlier about Ruth. One of the amazing things about Ruth was how much she loved to worship.

Derek Prince: Yes, that’s right. And I’m really not gifted in worship. I mean I do worship but I don’t have the musical expression. And when we prayed together as we did every morning we’d start praying and after a little while Ruth would begin to worship and she was just like an eagle soaring up into the sky. And then God’s glory would come upon us both. But she was the one that led way into that. And everybody who remembers Ruth closely always thinks of her as a worshiper and it’s wonderful to think that’s what she’s doing, that’s what she’s doing now.

Geoff Buck: Is there any possibility in your mind that you would remarry?

Derek Prince: I don’t expect to. I’ve had two good marriages. I think that’s enough. Furthermore, I’m eighty-four. The kind of woman I need would have to be about fifty and that really is not a very easy kind of marriage. I mean some dear lady, I won’t even tell you where, was really concerned for me. It was very sweet of her and she had a widow of seventy ready to get me linked up with. I said thank you but no.

Geoff Buck: So you’re not advertising or soliciting for a wife?

Derek Prince: No, definitely not. I’m not expecting one.

Geoff Buck: What, as you look back on your life, what regrets do you have, if any?

Derek Prince: I’m not a person who looks back very much. I’m always looking forward really. I regret some broken relationships, but most of those have since been healed. But now I would be much more careful about letting a relationship get broken. There’s one brother I had a relationship with more than twenty years ago, a very warm relationship. He’s a leader in a certain ministry, and I wrote to him recently and I said, “I’m eighty-four. I don’t know how much longer I have. I don’t want to leave any unfinished business behind. If I’ve ever offended you in any way, if there’s any breach between us, I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I’d like a good relationship.” And I just received a week or two ago, a beautiful letter from him repairing the relationship. I wouldn’t want to leave life with any unhealed relationship.

Geoff Buck: I have observed in you something as a leader that I believe is, to me, impressive as a younger man, and that is the fear of the Lord. Is that something that came naturally to you? Did you have some experience where you came into that understanding? Why are you like that?

Derek Prince: I’m like that because I read my Bible. I challenge people to find anything to which there are attached more promises of blessing than the fear of the Lord. People who don’t cultivate the fear of the Lord are cutting off their blessing. Also I think it’s one of the best safeguards in success is to be motivated by the fear of the Lord. I’ve taught often on tests of faith and I always say the hardest test of faith is success and very few people pass it. In the Bible very few people passed it. Even David didn’t pass it. Solomon certainly didn’t. Most of the kings of Judah didn’t. None of the kings of Israel did. And you can go. So I am very. I’m very concerned that such success as I have had will not in any way affect my relationship with the Lord. You see, the basic problem with Adam and Eve was not sin. It was mistrust. The devil enticed them into believing that somehow God hadn’t treated them right. And if you analyze that there’s a succession of mistrust, distrust, disbelief, disobedience and disaster. But redemption is not complete when we come back to belief. You have to come back to trust, which is, “The world is falling apart all around me, I don’t understand, but, Lord I trust You.”

Geoff Buck: Is there anything that you would say to a young person, a young man or a young woman, who was considering fulltime ministry or giving their life to Christian service, what would you say to a young person?

Derek Prince: I would say make sure that it’s the Lord who’s speaking to you and calling you. And if it’s the Lord than do whatever He says. You know Mary, the mother of Jesus, she only left one recommendation for her Son, which was, “Whatever He says, do it.” And that I think is the best testimony she could ever give. And that’s what I would say to young people. Don’t try and plan your own life. Be sensible. Be circumspect, but hear from God and be sure you’ve heard from God. And if you are in a relationship with a more mature believer who cares for you, probably share with him, but in the last resort do what God says.

Geoff Buck: I’m still thinking of your longevity in ministry. What keeps you going? Why don’t you sit down in a chair and just enjoy the Lord’s presence?

Derek Prince: Well, I don’t believe I would enjoy the Lord’s presence if I sat down in a chair and the Lord didn’t want me sitting in a chair.

Geoff Buck: Well I guess I’m interested in your perhaps talking about that vision that you’ve articulated so often about—Reaching the Unreached and Teaching the Untaught. There’s something in that that seems to always take a person to the next place. What does that phrase mean to you?

Derek Prince: Well, I think that probably goes back to a situation when I was in Kenya in the 1950s, late 1950s and there’s a very beautiful lake at the west end of Kenya, Lake Victoria Nyanza just a glorious lake. I took my pocket Bible with me one day when I had a few hours to spare, sat down on a bench on the shores of Lake Victoria and started reading the Bible. And I got to Matthew 24:14: “This gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come.” And I felt the Lord spoke to me very clearly: “This is priority number one for My people.” And it was almost as if the words were, you know, splashed across the sky. I won’t say they were but it was so vivid.

So I was the principal of a college for training teachers at that time and I knew God had put me in that position. I said, “Lord, I’m happy in this position, but if it’s not the ultimate fulfillment of Matthew 24:14 then I ask you to move me to a position in which I’m more totally in line with that.” And through various circumstances which I couldn’t describe in detail God led me to, I don’t think I ever started Derek Prince Ministries, it just began. But anyhow, as you know, our motto is Reaching the Unreached, Teaching the Untaught. And I believe that’s the absolute thrust of God’s heart from that day to this, is Reaching the unreached and teaching the untaught.

Then just recently we found ourselves involved in a mercy ministry to Kosovo to Albania and we kind of collectively decided to add one more phrase, Reaching the Unreached, Teaching the Untaught, and Touching the Untouched. And some of our people have been to Kosovo and the impact that it’s had on them cannot be put in words really, including one of my own grandsons. He’s come back a changed person. One thing he said was, “I’ll never complain again.” And I mean the tragic thing is that there are millions of people in desperate need in many parts of the world and so few Christians are really concerned about them. I say it’s a tragic commentary on life that Americans are always glad to say, “I’ve lost so many pounds,” weight, when millions of people don’t have enough to eat. I mean, I’m not blaming anybody, but it’s an extraordinary illogical situation. Now I’m concerned about the people who don’t have enough to eat.