Revitalize Your Church

John Wesley was only five years old when he was literally saved from a burning building. The fire nearly caused Wesley his life, but by God's grace, he was rescued from an upstairs window seconds before the building collapsed. Throughout his life, Wesley often referred to himself as "brand plucked from the fire". God surely had plans for John Wesley who eventually went into the ministry.  Another kind of “fire” strangely warmed Wesley's heart and consumed his life, sparking the fire of a great spiritual awakening that spread throughout the entire world.  This fire from God could not be quenched and came with a zeal that nothing could contain. He spread the gospel throughout the land just as a wildfire consumes a forest.  Set ablaze for God, Wesley knew he could not just “live off of the smoke” but needed to keep the fire of holiness burning in his heart.  John Wesley was a man on a mission from God who had no other desire but to spread scriptural holin...

29 years ago today, God did a beautiful work in my heart that changed my life.  I call this turning point my "Sanctuary Experience".  Allow me to share a chapter from my book, Purple Fish, which tells the story: Something was missing. I was a professional Christian, raised in a parsonage, went to church three times a week, spent summers at camp, attended a Christian college, married a Christian girl, graduated from seminary, and landed a youth pastor job; but my spiritual life fell woefully short. There’s a big difference between serving God and loving him. I was dry and lukewarm with exterior religion: self-serving at the core with an outer glaze of holiness. Though attempting to cover my soul anemia through busy church activity, Isaiah’s lament echoed in my honest moments. “My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me!” (Isa. 24:16 kjv). I was one of those rule-bound Christians who had just enough religion to make myself respectable and miserable. I actually got away with h...

A tattered book on my library shelf, Deeper Experiences of Famous Christians , by James Gilchrist Lawson, has been a tremendous blessing and spiritual benefit to me down through the years.  The stories of these godly men and women from the past inspire me to plunge in to the deep end of the prayer pool -- and live in the overflow of holy love. A digital copy is available here for free.

"Dusty, musty, wrapped in the mummy-like grave clothes of formalism and modern theology, without an 'amen' in the soul or a 'hallelujah' upon the lips, without the soft flowing pearls of erstwhile tender tears of conviction upon her cheeks, sits the professing church of Jesus Christ today, like a garden drooping; like a fountain that has ceased its flow; and offers but the poor apology of a bucket of muddy water from a hardly reached well." -- Aimee Semple McPherson

I have a need of such clearance as the Savior effected in the temple of Jerusalem a riddance of clutter of what is secondary that blocks the way to the all important central emptiness which is filled with the presence of God alone -- Jean Danielou

"Satan is not necessarily opposed to all Christian work. He cares little how zealously we busy ourselves at good things so long as we do not work in the power of the Holy Spirit. He is often pleased if we work so hard and so long that we begin to fret and worry. He is happy if we undertake more work than we can saturate with prayer. He would not seriously oppose if every Christian were a tireless worker -- so long as he worked only in his human energy and was not empowered and anointed by the Spirit of God." -- Wesley L. Duewel

God is love—love lived out through the power of the Holy Spirit in a community of gifted individuals playing one musical piece in different parts, a holy symphony.   Holiness is life lived by people in the fullness of the Holy Spirit who are empowered to offer a drastic alternative to the world around them. Love is the melody running through the community, underneath the community, and all around the community.   The Christian community is not a place of jarring instruments singing different songs, or a place of gossip, conflict, rejection, pain, strife, and hatred. It is a place where the Spirit’s fruit is present in abundance, so much so that the world around the Christian community can’t help but join the melody. It is a community that is so unified, so melodious, so beautiful that it stops others in their tracks. Those on the outside can’t help but peer in, and watch with awe and wonder, and notice the unity of the symphony.   Instead of...

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

  God is love—love lived out through the power of the Holy Spirit in a community of gifted individuals playing one musical piece in different parts, a holy symphony.   Holiness is life lived by people in the fullness of the Holy Spirit who are empowered to offer a drastic alternative to the world around them. Love is the melody running through the community, underneath the community, and all around the community.   The Christian community is not a place of jarring instruments singing different songs, or a place of gossip, conflict, rejection, pain, strife, and hatred. It is a place where the Spirit’s fruit is present in abundance, so much so that the world around the Christian community can’t help but join the melody. It is a community that is so unified, so melodious, so beautiful that it stops others in their tracks. Those on the outside can’t help but peer in, and watch with awe and wonder, and notice the unity of the symphony.   Instea...

  “ That I may know Him," -- Father grant the longing that burns within me as a quenchless fire: For in these words what wondrous depths lie hidden, embracing all I need or can desire.   “That I may know Him " -- this is life eternal, not to possess a gift apart from One who is the fount from which all true life springs, and whom to know is heaven on earth begun.   “That I may know  Him" -- not in name or theory, This brings no         power to stand amid earth’s strife. No; I will know Him as my living Savior,  the very strength and center of my life.  -- Freda Hanbury Allen, from  That I May Know Him, a beautiful collection of spiritual poems published in 1904.

  This morning, I was inspired by something beautiful. The basic idea is from an old evangelist from 100 years ago named S. A. Keen. When we our lack becomes evident -- and we realize we need more than we can possibly offer in order to make it through (rest, assurance, cleansing or power) our natural tendency is to ask for "it."  "God, please give me strength. . . God, please give peace. . ." But, often, those prayers only bring little trickles of help. Instead of asking for "it", try asking for HIM. "Lord, I don't need 'it' nearly as much as I need You. Please come, and fill my heart, my soul, my mind, my strength, my memories, my moments -- with YOU!   If we ask for "it", we may or may not get it. But if we ask for HIM, He will come and bring it with Him!  He, alone, is our secret source of soul refreshment.  The next time you pray, just say, "Lord, give me your Holy Spirit that I may know I am you...

"Now, who is going to trust God for the winged life? You can crawl instead if you wish. God will even bless you if you crawl; He will do the best He can for you, but oh how much better to avail ourselves of our wonderful privileges in Christ and to “mount up with wings as eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not faint.”  O beloved friends, there is a life on wings. I feel the streams of His life fill me and permeate my mortal frame from my head to my feet, until no words are adequate to describe it.  -- Carrie Judd Montgomery

Revival is just the life of the Lord Jesus poured into human hearts.    Jesus is always victorious.  In heaven they are praising him all the time for His victory.  Whatever may be our experience of failure and barrenness, He is never defeated.  His power is boundless.  And we, on our part, have only to get into a right relationship with Him, and we shall see His power being demonstrated in our hearts, lives and service and His victorious life will fill us and overflow through us to others.  And that is revival its essence.  --  Roy Hession in "Brokenness - "The Beginning of Revival" (Herald of His Coming, April 2016)   (Photo by Hannah Wilson)

Wesleyan Publishing House recently reprinted the works of  Samuel Brengle, the great Salvation  Army leader and holiness evangelist.  Brengle's writings have inspired and impacted greatly me since my teenage years when my youth  camp counselor, Larry introduced them to me.  My prayer is that this new publication of holiness classics will bring this beautiful message to today's  generation -- as it did so powerfully in years past.  This excerpt from the Introduction to Helps to Holiness , which describes when Samuel Brengle experienced the fullness of the Holy Spirit, resonates deeply with my heart:   He gave me such a blessing as I never had dreamed a man could have this side of heaven: a            heaven  of love in my heart.  I walked out over Boston Common before breakfast weeping for joy and  praising God.  Oh, how I loved!  In that hour I knew Jesus and loved Him till it seem...

"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)

A tattered book on my library shelf, Deeper Experiences of Famous Christians , by James Gilchrist Lawson, has been a tremendous blessing and spiritual benefit to me down through the years.  The stories of these godly men and women from the past inspire me to plunge in to the deep end of the prayer pool -- and live in the overflow of holy love. A digital copy is available here for free.

While celebrating our anniversary in Stillwater, Minnesota last week, my bride, Cathy, graciously agreed to accompany me to Loome Theological Booksellers -- a treasure trove of used and rare books.   I was like a kid in the candy store! I found Albert Outler's work on John Wesley's theology for $2 on the bargain table, and snapped it up immediately.   What a find!  I've heard of this book for years and am now reading it during my daily quiet time. It contains so many rich insights. John Wesley was a practical, rather than systematic theologian.  He was a thinking doer --  too busy leading a revival movement to sit down and write a comprehensive book of doctrines.  Wesley's beliefs, however, can be gleaned from his vast collection of journals, sermons and letters.  Outler does exactly that: drawing John Wesley's thoughts into grand themes that reflect Methodist understanding and priorities.   I found this excerpt from the introduction...

The following observation of the Wesleyan Church by historians, McLeister and Nicholson, is fascinating:  "It is significant that our greatest losses occurred in those periods when our church was debating questions of reform; and our greatest gains occurred in those periods when our church was most zealous in promoting holiness evangelism."   Perhaps we should learn something from our history. (Ira F. McLeister & Roy S. Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment: History of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of America,  1976, p. 643.)

Samuel Chadwick is one of my favorite holiness authors.  His little book, The Way to Pentecost , is a classic.  Lately I've been pondering this observation from Chadwick: "Prayer doesn't bring revival."   At first glance, that doesn't sound right. Anyone who knows anything abour revivals says that prayer is essential to every great movement of God.   But,  prayer, alone, does not bring revival.   If it did, then the Pharisees would have been the greatest renewal leaders in history -- they prayed a lot. However, their prayers were mostly perfunctory. The secret is found in 2 Chronicles 7:14,  "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then they shall hear from heaven. I will forgive their sin and heal their land." So, there we have it -- some important things that need to go along with our praying if we are to experience significant spiritual breakthrough. 1) ...