13/08/2026
In October 1946, Billy Graham heard a minister by the name of Stephen Olford when he ministered at Hildenborough Hall in Kent. Olford’s text was Ephesians 5:18: “Be not drunk with w**e, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” Hearing this message, Billy began a struggle to obtain the infilling of the Holy Spirit and His anointing on his ministry. At the end of the service, Billy approached Olford and asked, “Mr. Olford, I just wanted to ask you one question: Why didn’t you give an invitation? I would have been the first one to come forward. You’ve spoken of something I don’t have. I want the fullness of the Holy Spirit in my life too.”
Of meeting Olford, Billy said, “I was seeking for more of God in my life, and I felt that here was a man who could help me. He had a dynamic, a thrill, an exhilaration about him I wanted to capture.”
Billy and Olford agreed to meet shortly thereafter in Wales, near where Billy was scheduled to preach. They spent a day studying the Scriptures together, after which Billy prayed, “Lord, I don’t want to go on without knowing this anointing You’ve given my brother.”546 Billy didn’t receive this blessing, however, for his sermon that night was ordinary, and “not the Welsh kind of preaching,” a phrase that was perhaps left over from the days of Evan Roberts and the Welsh Revival.
The two men met again the next day, and Olford began teaching about being filled with the Holy Spirit, and how one had to be broken as Paul was, when he proclaimed himself “crucified with Christ,” before he could receive this infilling. He taught Billy that “where the Spirit is truly Lord over the life, there is liberty, there is release—the sublime freedom of complete submission of oneself in a continuous state of surrender to the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit.” Billy’s response was, “Stephen, I see it. That’s what I want.”
About mid-afternoon, the two men knelt together to pray. Olford described what happened as they prayed: “All heaven broke loose in that dreary little room. It was like Jacob laying hold of God and crying, ‘Lord, I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me.’” Billy described how he exclaimed after the prayer, “My heart is so flooded with the Holy Spirit!...I have it! I’m filled. I’m filled. This is the turning point of my life. This will revolutionize my ministry.”
The effects were immediate. According to Olford, “That night Billy was to speak at a large Baptist church nearby. When he rose to preach, he was a man absolutely anointed....The Welsh listeners jammed the aisles. There was chaos. Practically the entire audience rushed forward.” Olford told his father that evening, “Dad, something has happened to Billy Graham. The world is going to hear from this man. He is going to make his mark in history.”
- God’s General’s ( The Revivalists )
- Spiritual Notes
