Ollen and Flora’s devotional times usually began with some combination of singing, worship, praying, and reading the Bible. At some point they would then wait on the Lord to see if he had anything to say through the Spirit-given gifts. Many times either he, his wife, or their sons (if present) would feel prompted to first speak in their own spiritual language, which is described in the Bible in I Corinthians, chapters 12 and 14 and is illustrated in various parts of the book of Acts.
The messages received thereafter would on occasion be a literal interpretation of that tongue, from the viewpoint of that person’s inner spirit speaking to the Lord. But the vast majority of the time, it seemed to be more of a catalyst to spark the prophetic gift, in which the Heaven spoke directly to them. Furthermore, the length of time he would prophesy in English would be far greater than the minute or less the unknown tongue was spoken.
With his eyes closed, several words would become very strong in his mind, being distinctly different than his own thoughts. As soon as he spoke those, other words would immediately follow and there was a rhythm achieved between receiving the words and speaking them. Interestingly, he had to speak the first group of words in his mind before any other words would follow. It was like being in a sandbag relay, where he needed to pass on what he had before being handed any more.
From outward appearances, it looked as if he was just talking with his eyes closed. It was all very natural and casual. There were no odd movements, physical excitement, or change in pitch or tone from his normal voice. He was conscious of his surroundings and was not in a trance. However, he could be very much affected by what he spoke and was by no means emotionless. Ollen could laugh or weep, being touched by the joyful or serious tone of what was coming forth.
During the first five years or so, the length of an average message would last between five to ten minutes before the words would stop. But sometimes, especially in the first couple of years, they could last as long as thirty minutes. When the flow of words would end and Ollen would usually add the phrase, “And then there is a pause” to indicate the break. However, for the sake of simplicity in the full-length transcriptions, the greek letter “omega” Ω is used instead.
The spiritual utterance part of their devotions usually contained several messages, with many starts and stops. The subsequent ones could continue along the same theme or they could take an entirely different direction. A devotional would finally end when either the messages stopped coming, Ollen grew tired, or they just needed to get on with daily activities.
During the first few months after his gift’s sudden growth period, Mr. Hardin had a significant disadvantage in that he himself could remember only a general sense of the message he had just spoken. Yet if he tried to think about what he was saying at that same time he was speaking them, this interrupted his spiritual reception. He therefore learned to keep his concentration on speaking what he was getting until the words paused or stopped on their own. He would then try to remember what he could or have others who were present repeat what they remembered, so he himself could be edified.
It soon became apparent that the best solution to this problem was to use a tape recorder so the messages could simply be played back for him. This could be conveniently done within their own prayer time at home. And since they treasured what was happening, they did not record over previous ones, but preserved all recordings they could.