Revitalize Your Church

A Prayer of a Minor Prophet  by A. W. Tozer (revised/updated by Mark O. Wilson) This is the prayer of a man called to be a witness to the nations. This is what he said to his Lord on the day of his ordination. After the elders and ministers had prayed and laid their hands on him he withdrew to meet his Savior in the secret place and in that silence, farther in than his well-meaning brothers and sisters could take him. And he said: O Lord, I heard your voice and was afraid. You called me to an awesome task in a grave and perilous hour. You are about to shake all nations and the earth and also heaven, that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. O Lord, our Lord, you have stopped to honor me to be your servant. No humans take this honor upon themselves except those called of God as Aaron. You have ordained me your messenger to them that are stubborn of heart and hard of hearing. They have rejected You, the Master, and it is not to be expected that they will receive me, the ser...

As you came near the spring you would marvel, seeing that the water was endless, as it constantly gushed up and poured forth. Yet you could never say that you had seen all the water. How could you see what was still hidden in the bosom of the earth? Hence no matter how long you might stay at the spring you would always be beginning to see the water. For the water never stops flowing, and it is always beginning to bubble up again. It is the same with one who fixes his gaze on the infinite beauty of God. It is constantly being discovered anew, and it is always seen as something new and strange in comparison with what the mind has already understood. And as God continues to reveal himself, man continues to wonder; and he never exhausts his desire to see more, since what he is waiting for is always more magnificent, more divine, than all that he has already see. -- Gregory of Nyssa

"We are not called primarily to create new structures for the church in this age; we are not called primarily to a program of service, or to dream dreams or have visions. We are called first of all to belong to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord , and to keep our lives warmed at the hearth of His life. It is there the fire will be lit which will create new structures and programs of service that will draw others into the circle to dream dreams and have visions."   -- Elizabeth O'Connor

"We need a generation of preachers who seek God and seek Him early, who give the freshness and dew of effort to God, and secure in return the freshness and fullness of His power that He may be as the dew to them, full of gladness and strength, through all the heat and labor of the day."  --  E. M. Bounds (Preacher and Prayer)

Recently, in a sermon, I shared this beautiful letter from the great missionary,  J. Hudson Taylor to his sister, Amelia, dated October 17, 1869.   It expresses the joy and depths of what it means to be one with Christ: My own dear Sister— So many thanks for your long, dear letter... I do not think you have written me such a letter since we have been in China. I know it is with you as with me—you  cannot , not you  will  not. Mind and body will not bear more than a certain amount of strain, or do more than a certain amount of work. As to work, mine was never so plentiful, so responsible, or so difficult; but the weight and strain are all gone. The last month or more has been perhaps, the happiest of my life; and I long to tell you a little of what the Lord has done for my soul. I do not know how far I may be able to make myself intelligible about it, for there is nothing new or strange or wonderful—and yet, all is new! In a word, "Whereas once I was blind...

"Not I, but Christ" be honored, loved, exalted; "Not I, but Christ" be seen, be known, be heard; "Not I, but Christ" in every look and action; "Not I, but Christ" in every thought and word. "Not I, but Christ" to gently soothe in sorrow; "Not I, but Christ" to wipe the falling tear; "Not I, but Christ" to lift the weary burden; "Not I, but Christ" to hush away all fear.  -- Herald of His Coming