Metro Voice News Celebrating Faith, Family & Community
Last February, the world mourned the loss of Reverend Billy Graham, especially the evangelist’s children. Now, Anne Graham Lotz, the daughter whose preaching style most closely resembles the style of “America’s Pastor,” is speaking about how the family has handled his passing.
She spoke about the day her father died and how peaceful his passing was.
“He was getting ready to have breakfast, took a few breaths, and he was in heaven. You know, no struggle, no pre-warning. Just, he was there,” she said.
Lotz says the family is staying close since Billy Graham’s passing, but it’s been tough.
“You know, I think we’re doing all right. It’s been difficult in many ways. We’re all scattered. I talked to one of my sisters last night. I talked to Franklin day before …and so we’ll stay in touch. But without that home base, it’s going to be different,” she says.
Lotz says she misses so much about her father, from the tender moments they shared to the depth of his biblical knowledge.
“Well, of course, Daddy’s missing. And to think of what I miss the most is just everything,” she says. “It’s knowing that I can’t go home to see him anymore. Even in his last few years when he was weak, I just loved to sit there and hold his hand. Or stroke his head, or he was affectionate when I would lean down to kiss him, he would just – he was so warm and would embrace me.”
“But he loved God’s Word. And I miss hearing his comments. But, you know, the sweet thing, I’ve written a new book on the Holy Spirit that’ll come out next spring. And I was thinking I wish I had Daddy to talk to. You know, I wish I could discuss this with Daddy. And I looked up in my bookcase and he had a book on the Holy Spirit that I don’t know, it’s maybe 40 years old. And so I pulled it down and in the flyleaf, he’d written the most beautiful thing to me. And I read it, it was like talking to Daddy about the things I wanted to talk about.”
While Lotz has her family to care for as a mother to three grown children and grandmother to three young ladies, she continues to minister to audiences around the globe, spurring them to a deeper devotion to Christ.
Lotz has powerfully proclaimed the gospel for 30 years in her own right. And she continues that ministry with her newest book: The Daniel Key, all about the power of prayer and how Daniel engaged in spiritual warfare.
“I believe that the enemy has unleashed an attack on God’s people, on the leaders of God’s people, on the children of God’s people,” she says. “And of course it goes back to our choices. We’ve made choices as a nation that have taken us away from God’s Word, taken us away from the truth, taken us away from faith. And our foundation of faith is crumbling.”
But Lotz says the prayer of Daniel in chapter 9 is powerful, proving Christians have the authority to change the world through prayer.
“When we go into prayer, there is a spiritual battle that ensues. Where the enemy, who is the devil, and all of his, you know, demons, if he can’t keep us from prayer, then he wants to distract us in prayer or he wants to keep our answers from coming,” she says.
“And so it’s just – it’s a battle, but we have the victory in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. There’s no spirit that we’ll ever face that’s greater than the authority that we have been given in Jesus’ name.”
“I believe that there is hope if God brings His Spirit, pours out His Spirit, and we have revival in the church. If God’s people will wake up and they’ll start living for Him and loving Him and paying the price for taking a stand for Him and sharing the Gospel, then I believe revival, the church could greatly impact our nation.”
“I believe Jesus is soon to come. In fact, I said it at my father’s service. I felt that God had told me a long time ago that when my father went to heaven, that that would be a shot across the bow and that would be a wake-up call to the whole world. And that the Gospel will be preached to the whole world, which it was.”
–CBNNews
