EYEWITNESS To REVIVAL

The Lord will visit those willing to yield to Him.
We must keep humble and little in our own eyes. Let us get built
up by a sense of our own importance and we are gone.
 
God has always sought humble people. He can use no other.
There is much need always of heart preparation, in humility and
separation, before God can consistently come. 

The depth of any revival will be determined exactly by the spirit of repentance that obtains. In fact this is the key to every true revival born of God.  

One evening, July 3, I felt strongly impressed to go the little
Peniel Hall in Pasadena to pray. There I found Brother Boehmer ahead of me. He had also being led of God to the hall. We prayed for a spirit of revival for Pasadena until the burden became well nigh unbearable... The Spirit was interceding through us.

Finally the burden left us. After a little time of quiet waiting a great calm settled down upon us. Then suddenly, without premonition, the Lord Jesus himself revealed himself to us. He seemed to stand directly between us, so close we could have reached out our hand and touched Him. But we did not dare to move. I could not even look. In fact I seemed all spirit.

His presence seemed more real, if possible, than if I could have seen and touched Him naturally. I forgot I had eyes or ears. My spirit recognized Him.
 
A heaven of divine love filled and thrilled my soul. Burning fire
went through me. In fact my whole being seemed to flow down
before Him, like wax before the fire. I lost all consciousness of
time or space, being conscious only of His wonderful presence.
I worshipped at His feet. It seemed a veritable "mount of
transfiguration."
 
For some time He remained with us. Then slowly He withdrew
His presence. We would have been there yet had He not withdrawn. I could not doubt His reality after that experience. 

Brother Boehmer experienced largely the same thing. We had lost all consciousness of each other´s presence while He remained with us. We were almost afraid to speak or breathe when we came back to our surroundings.
 
He had come to strengthen and assure us for His service. We knew now we were workers with Him, fellowshippers of His sufferings, in the ministry of "soul travail."

Real soul travail is just as definite in the spirit, as natural human birth-pangs. The simile is almost perfect in its sameness. No soul is ever born without this. All true revivals of salvation come this way.
 
I received from God early in 1905 the following keynote to revival: The depth of revival will be determined exactly by the depth of the spirit of repentance.
 
A revival almost always begins among the laity [ordinary common people not trained in theology or holding any rank in the church]. 

The ecclesiastical leaders seldom welcome reformation. History
repeats itself. The present leaders are too comfortably situated
as a rule to desire innovation that might require sacrifice on their part. And God´s fire only falls on sacrifice. An empty altar receives no fire. Cold intellectualism, formal ecclesiasticism, and priestly domination are altogether outside the genius of the Gospel. 

Thank God there are exceptions among the leaders. But we
are saved to serve. The true minister is a servant."  

A body must be prepared, in repentance and humility, for every
outpouring of the Spirit.
 
The present Pentecostal manifestation did not break out in a
moment, like a huge prairie fire, and set the world on fire. In fact no work of God ever appears that way. There is a necessary time for preparation.

The finished article is not realized at the beginning. Men may wonder where it came from, not being conscious of the preparation, but there is always such.

Every movement of the Spirit of God must also run the gauntlet of the devil´s forces.

The Dragon stands before the bearing mother, ready to swallow up her child (Rev. 12:4).

And so with the present Pentecostal work in its beginning. The enemy did much counterfeiting.

God kept the young child well hid for a season from the Herods, until it could gain strength and discernment to resist them.

The flame was guarded jealously by the hand of the Lord, from the winds of criticism, jealousy, unbelief, etc. It went through about the same experiences that all revivals have. Its foes were both inside and out. Both Luther and Wesley experienced the same difficulties in their time.

~Frank Bartleman~

Singing A Song In The Midst Of Trial

They that carried us away required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? Psalm 137:3-4.

The people of God were in the hardest place of their lifetime. And as they were carried away, their captors required of them a song. Yet there was no life in them anymore, nothing but depression, despair, hopelessness.

Multitudes of Christians are in the same position today. You may be trapped by your circumstances or the devil is coming at you with an old temptation. You are on the edge of giving up, thinking, “I can't make it. In spite of all my crying and praying, that old bondage is going to hound me forever!"

When Israel fell into Babylonian bondage, their captors cried to them, "Sing for us! Play for us! We've heard all about you and what your God did for you. Now take out your tambourines and bring out your harps. Play us a song. Show us your joy in your God!"

I do not believe this demand was made only in mockery. I believe it was also a pitiful plea. The Babylonians' gods had left them empty and dry. They had no hope. But they had heard Israel singing to their God, a God who had seen them through impossible circumstances. They said, "These people have a God who can open a sea for them. His fire comes down from heaven and He stands against their enemies. There's got to be something to this God of theirs!"

Like all the world, they wanted to see a people who endured the same problems they endured and faced the same battles they faced, yet could sing and shout and hold their faith in the darkest of hours!

The Babylonians demanded a song because there is something in every person's heart that cries out, Where on the face of the earth is something that can make you sing even when you've lost
everything?" They needed a testimony! It is important that the children of God, wherever they are at whatever time, sing the songs of Zion: "God, I believe You, no matter what is happening!"

The world is shouting to us, "You can show us a miracle! It isn't the Red Sea opening up that impresses us. It's not seeing the blind given sight or the lame healed. It's that you can look at the darkest hour of your life, a situation that's hopeless to all human reasoning, and yet smile with joy, singing praises to God. That's the miracle we want to see."

~David Wilkerson~

The "Ism"

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Mat 24:4  And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
 

Mat 24:5  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

In a somewhat extended life and ministry, again and again I have seen dear people of God who were out in the open going on with the Lord in the liberty of the Spirit with great promise and then they’ve been caught in some “ism.”

They simply are helpless to escape themselves from the tenets of that “ism.” Again and again I’ve seen it! Tragedy....

There’s a great “ism” sweeping right over America and over Europe in these last years. I can dare to mention this one, well I’m going to at any rate:

Universalism. It’s an “ism” which has captured multitudes! 

And you just can’t get anywhere with these people once they’ve got it. But I have known them, oh so promising... so promising and then this thing has come subtly along their way, attractive and fascinating.... So appealing: everybody, ultimately, including the devil himself, will be saved.

What are you going to do with that?

Willy-nilly they’ll be saved... undercutting so many of the very vitals of the Gospel.

You may call these things gross errors, but there are things that are not such errors. Not such errors, indeed in themselves they’re quite true, but they have become the beginning of all and the end of all to the people who have taken them on.

You can get no further, no further.  

They have lost the great ground, the vast ground of God’s full purpose for this dispensation and become stuck on some thing that is only partial at best. 

Arrested... like Judaism; come to a standstill, or going round and round in a circle, the circle of this particular thing.

It should be a warning to us because, you see, this is the thing that has been the enemy of the fullness of Christ all through the centuries - this sort of thing....

There are many antichrists in the world and an antichrist is not a spurious, fearful creature, you know, with a tail and a pitchfork.

No, an antichrist is something that assumes the place of Christ.... 

And with the natural judgment, natural powers, you are not able to distinguish between the true and the false. 

The Christ and the antichrist seem to be so much alike. You can’t discern the difference, but the Anointing will tell you! 

The Anointing which you have received, when you come into touch with something false, will tell you if the Anointing is really governing, saying, “Be careful,” not in words, but inside.

You have a feeling there’s something not quite clear here, not transparent here, not safe here... “I don’t feel happy about this,  

I can’t tell you why but I just don’t feel quite happy about this... there’s something in me that says: beware.”

I am convinced that in a day like this of deceptions and misleadings and all that, the great need is our spiritual discernment; of knowing the Holy Spirit in this way, that He’s able to warn you.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Waiting On HIM

The prophet Samuel's command to King Saul was, "Go to Gilgal and wait. I will come and you will get directions" see 1 Samuel 10:8.

Saul’s only responsibility was to wait! God wanted to hear Saul say, "God keeps His word: never once has a word from Samuel's lips fallen to the ground. God said I should wait for directions and I will wait.”

But pride reasons, "God must not have meant it. Maybe I heard it wrong.”
 
Instead of standing on God's word, we start trying to figure out things on our own. Lying in bed in the late hours we say, "Lord, here's how I see it can be done."

It is wicked to do something very logical and reasonable when it is not God's clear word of direction. If you want to prove anything to God, prove you will patiently wait for Him to act.

And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash; therefore said I, the Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the Lord; I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering.

And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee" (1 Samuel 13:11-14).

Saul waited seven days—but that wait was unholy. He was impatient, angry, fearful and pouting. We must wait with faith, believing that God cares for us and loves us, that He will be there on His time. This matter of waiting is so important that I must show you some Scriptures to prove it.

And is shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us; this is the Lord, we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation"
Isaiah 25:9.

For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him
Isaiah 64:4.

~David Wilkerson~
 

Sin Of Pride

John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

What is the sin of the world? It is pride. 

You may not think so; you may not see it: but I would ask you to consider again and see if all that is called sin cannot be traced to this, if it is not this in some form of expression.

For what is the root of pride? What is pride? It is selfhood come to life, risen up, active – that is the root of pride.

And the branches and the fruit – how many they are! – jealousy, covetousness, wrath, and all the rest. 

How is wrath pride? Well, wrath, if it is not holy, purified, blood-purged wrath like the wrath of the Lamb, if it is wrath which is actuated by ourselves and our interests, is the wrath of selfhood. 

So often our anger is our self-preservation, our reaction to some threat to our interests or our likes.  

Rebellion, stubbornness, prejudice, and much of our fear, are all traceable to pride. 

What are we afraid of? What are we fearing? 

If we examined our fears, why are we afraid?

If we were utterly severed from the personal interest – that is, if we could hand entirely over to the Lord and get out of the picture ourselves – would not a lot of our fear go?

And so we might go on: but we do not want to indulge in a wholesale analysis of human nature or of pride.

We have mentioned enough to show that pride is the root and that there are countless fruits traceable to that root....

So may this be a word of interpretation as to why the Lord is dealing with us as He has and does

On the one hand, overcoming this evil thing, breaking, emptying, grinding to powder, until there is nothing of us left in the matter of self-sufficiency; on the other hand, giving Himself, increasing Himself.

Now this is not a word, perhaps, of great inspiration, but I feel it to be a word of very great importance. 

This must be true of us individually. There must also be a corporate humility. This is the way along which the Lord will commit Himself.

He will never give us anything to feed our flesh, to enlarge and strengthen our natural life.

He will hold us to the way that keeps us safe where that is concerned. 

How wonderfully the Bible becomes alive when you look at it in this way!

~T. Austin Sparks~

No Second Causes

Jas 1:4  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

We can take one of two attitudes toward the ways of God with us; we can get bitter, sour, hard; or we can have the enlargement by exercise, development by exercise, to develop capacity, to bring us into the large place that we may be intelligently His instrument for governing under His Headship in ages to come. 

Things that enter into our history we cannot always fathom, but the explanation which we can give is that, whatever there may be as second causes, the Lord is Sovereign and He thinks it worthwhile sometimes to allow what the world would call the most terrible thing to overtake for the time being.

And it would seem that His Name and interests suffer through that thing, but through that thing He brings His people to a place of maturity and they get to know the Lord for themselves. 

Through these terrible things we find the Lord produces something that is very much more worthy of Himself in the life of His children. That is His justification, His vindication; if He could do it in any other way He would.

In the long run He does get spiritual maturity among His people, where they know Him.

He would get us to a place where we know the Lord and we have our senses exercised to know. 

The Lord give us grace to accept all His dealings with us in the light of His great purpose.

~T. Austin Sparks~

The Verdict Of The Long Run

The position in which both Timothy and Demas - amongst others - found themselves at the time when Paul wrote this letter was the acid test. 

Various other forms of testing might leave the metal still undetermined as to its through-and-through genuineness, but when at length subjected to the acid the verdict will be final.

Paul and his position was the acid test. 

It was not alone the fact that he was Rome's prisoner, and that the world was against, so that his life was to be forfeit for his faith. There were more factors than that. 

There was the fact that in every city and town the whole Jewish fraternity was against him. Then, not only was the world and the religious system which had - in a sense - produced Christ and Christianity - against him, but he was suspect amongst many Christians themselves.

Even Peter found some things in his letters "hard to be understood."

Paul's position of being outside of the world, outside of the so widely established religious order, and so utterly spiritual and heavenly in object and method, meant well-nigh universal misunderstanding, suspicion, and ostracism. 

Association with him left no hope of popularity, wide acceptance, or even generous appreciation.

On the contrary; the shadow resting upon Paul would rest upon all his associates, and their chances of influence would be prejudiced before ever they gave their message.

The alternatives were quite clear. 

If the world was at all in their hearts, the utterness of Paul's way left them no honest course but to leave all that for which he stood and go where that heart-dividing element drew them - back to the world.

Demas did this. Paul was too much for anyone who had a secret love for the world.

Another course was open to such of whom it could not be said bluntly that they "loved this present evil age."

As open association with Paul jeopardised their existing opportunities in the Lord's work, or introduced an element of risk into the prospects of wide ministry.

They could secretly and inwardly be in sympathy with Paul, but keep quiet about it, and never let their sympathies be known.

They might even go as far as to let Paul know that they had a very real agreement with him, but at the same time intimate that their very usefulness to the Lord (?) would become curtailed if they openly associated themselves with him and his position. 

Thus they would be involved in being one thing to Paul, and another to his enemies. 

The only remaining course would be to be quite sure about Paul's position, decide whether God was with him, and risk everything on a full unashamed fellowship with him, believing that in the long run God would vindicate.

And in the meantime a man with a mandate from heaven cannot have his ministry stopped by all the forces of earth and hell; God will sovereignly see to that, and if every door which man can close is closed, God has others which no man can shut.

This last course Timothy took. What is the verdict of the long-run?

Tragic as is the answer concerning Demas, perhaps his was the more honest way than that of those who adopt the middle course.

These three courses are presented to many of the Lord's people today, and the question for many - especially those in the Lord's service - is, will they compromise in the matter of their position and relationships in order to preserve their own influence, or will they pay the price, lose everything, and have such a Divine support as will see at length something accomplished which is in spite of everything having conspired to make it impossible?

~T. Austin Sparks~

Showers Of Blessing

What is your season today?

Are you experiencing a season of drought? If so, then it is the season for showers.

Are you going through a season of great heaviness with dark clouds? Then that too is the season for showers.

Your strength will equal your days (Deut. 33:25).“I will send . . showers of blessing.” Notice that the word “showers” is plural.
 
God will send all kinds of blessings. 

And all His blessings go together like links in a golden chain.

If He gives you saving grace, He will also give you comforting grace.

God will send “showers of blessings.

Look up today, you who are dried and withered plants. Open your leaves and flowers and receive God’s heavenly watering.

Charles H. Spurgeon

Nature Of Light~As To Character~Fearlessness

Another thing about light is that it is absolutely fearless.

If the Holy Spirit is really there in this character, we are never afraid of something being discovered.

A good conscience, a clear conscience, is a wonderfully courageous thing. It is a very strong thing; it puts you in a very strong position.

Where there is light, and no darkness, nothing to be hidden and nothing that we do not want to be discovered or uncovered, there is no fear. 

There is a great strength of confidence and assurance.

Light is a fearless thing. If there is anything doubtful or questionable, anything about which we are not sure; if we have some question, if we are not sure whether our position is right or wrong: then we are always afraid, we are in the weakness of fear.

Darkness and fear always go together - it is like that naturally, is it not? - fear belongs to darkness. 

There can be no confidence, no strength, where there is darkness. 

This City, this people, at the end, is a strong city, "having a wall great and high" Rev. 21:12 it is the very embodiment of the idea of strength: but its strength lies in its character - in its purity, its light.

~T. Austin Sparks~

HE WILL REPAY!!!

Isa 59:18  According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence. 

As the enemies of his people have treated them, so will the Lord deal with them; as they have shed their blood, he will, according to the laws of retribution and retaliation, give them blood to drink, as they deserve. They shall be rewarded as the followers of Christ have been rewarded by them and double shall be rendered to them double, according to their works

The LORD'S True people's adversaries and enemies are Christ's enemies and so He esteems them to be so. And therefore his wrath and fury is poured out by way of recompence to them, for all the ill they have done them, even the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath

Even to those who dwell in the more distant and remote parts of the antichristian jurisdiction; for when the cup of wrath shall be given to Babylon every island will flee away