Revival in America

“Restore us, O God of our salvation, And cause Your anger toward us to cease. Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? Will You not revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your mercy LORD, And grant us Your salvation.” (Psalms 85:4-7)

    If you are like me you probably have been involved in many church revivals over the years. For much of our nations history there have been tent revivals or weeks set aside in our churches to ask God to move in our church, our community and in our nation. We know that we need the power of the Holy Spirit to take the gospel to the majority of this world that do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior. Perhaps you have read about some of the great revivals in America in the 18^thand 19^thcenturies or about the revival in Wales in the early 20^thcentury. But what about more recently, here in the U.S.? 

     Well there was a more recent revival that originated on the campus of Asbury College in 1970 that spread to many parts of the nation and world that you may not have read about. Here is what Robert Coleman, editor of the book “One Devine Moment” , had to say about this event:

  “One of these divine moments came on February 3, 1970. The visitation occurred in Wilmore, Kentucky, a small town near Lexington. While many students across America were burning down buildings and rioting in streets, students at this college community were strangely drawn to their knees to pray. It was as if the campus had been suddenly invaded by another Power. Classes were forgotten. Academic work came to a standstill. In a way awesome to behold, God had taken over the campus, Caught up in the wonder of it, a thousand students remained for days in the college auditorium---not to demand more freedom or to protest the Establishment, but to confess their sin and to sing the praises of their Savior.

  This divine moment did not come about through human scheduling or preaching. Instead, it came as people opened themselves to the living God and received the forgiveness and cleansing which God alone can give. The change wrought in them was and is too great to keep secret. It must be shared. Thus one man’s divine moment becomes a gateway through which others may come to know the same experience.” (One Divine Moment , The Asbury Revival by Robert E. Coleman, pp10-11)

    As is the catalyst in all revivals, this one was preceded by prayer. Several groups of people on campus who met at various times to pray for spiritual awakening. During the beginning of the weekly chapel service the Dean of the college, who was scheduled to talk, was not impressed to preach and opened the floor to any students who would like to give a testimony. Several students got up to speak and increasingly the testimonies were powerful confessions of sin and a desire to obey God better. One of the professors, as the normal chapel hour was coming to an end, announced that the altar was open if anyone wanted to pray. 

“No sooner had the invitation been extended than a mass of students moved forward.  The congregation began singing “Just As I Am.” There was not room for all at the altar. Many had to kneel in the front seats of the auditorium. Their prayers were mingled with heartfelt contrition and outburst of joy. It was evident that God was moving among His people in power. The presence of the Lord was so real that all other interests seemed unimportant. The bell sounded for classes to begin, but it went unheeded.” (Ibid, p.15)

The service continued as many others came forward to confess sins of cheating, theft, animosity, prejudice, jealousy, and other actions and some made their way to individuals to ask forgiveness and to make restitution. A long line began to form and many waited their turn to tell what God had dealt with in their hearts.

“The service continued on into the afternoon as an announcement was made that classes were suspended for the rest of the day…..Toward the supper hour some began to leave, but the building began to fill again as the marathon service entered into the evening. At times nearly every seat in the 1,500-seat auditorium was occupied….there was continual movement to and from the altar. At times, the whole front of the auditorium was crowed with people on their knees---some praying, some giving counsel, some just rejoicing in the Lord.” (Ibid, p16)

The revival spread across the street where Asbury Seminary was located and the people continued to gather in great numbers until late at night or early morning and then dwindling to about a 100 but then refilling in the morning. This continued for a week! Many townspeople joined in, and on Sunday many of the local churches came to the campus to participate in the revival. Additionally, people from all over North America came that had heard about the revival. They came from as far away as  California, Florida, and Canada!

The revival did not stop there. Many Christian colleges (130) and churches requested students to come to their campuses or churches and in many cases revivals broke out there also! Two campuses that saw big movement of the Spirit were Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Texas and Azusa Pacific College in California.

(To read the whole story get a copy of: One Divine Moment, the Asbury Revival (25th anniversary edition) edited by Robert Coleman and David Gyertson, published by the Fleming H. Revell Company, 1995.)

   So what do you think is keeping us from having a revival today in 2018? I think we all know the answer. We need a group of people gathering together and praying for God to move! Are you willing to meet with someone else or a group and just pray for our awesome God to come down and fill us with His Spirit and fire us up to go and tell the world about Him?

PRAY

1.    Lord please help me to be led by Your Spirit and prepare my heart to be a prayer warrior for You.

2.    Forgive me Lord for my sin of laziness and help me to be more faithful in praying for Your will to be done in my life and in the life of those You have put in my life.

3.    Thank You Lord for loving me so much that You saved me from my sins and have adopted me to be your son or daughter. 

  

The Only Answer is Prayer

“I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring;” (Isaiah 44:3)

    We all know that prayer is powerful and is the most important activity we can be involved with, but evidently, we do not believe it because we do not spend much time there and when we do we are not passionate for those who are lost and on their way to hell. Below is a story of what our God can do if two people decide to be serious and passionate about praying for their community.  The story takes place in the Hebrides Islands off the west coast of Scotland. (If you are like me, you have to look on a map to see where that is. I know where the New Hebrides Islands are in the South Pacific Ocean but I did not now where their namesake was located.)

  “The year was 1950. The famous revival on the windswept Isle of Lewis on the Scottish Outer Hebrides was underway. It began when two elderly sisters fervently prayed. Peggy Smith was 84 and completely blind. Christine, her younger sister by two years, could hardly walk and was bent over double from arthritis. 

   

  With a deep burden in their hearts, they began praying. Twice a week for many months, they went down on feeble knees at 10:00 p.m. and did not rise until 3.00 or 4:00 a. m. In the midst of their prayers, God gave them a vision of a man they had never met, a man God would use to change the island. The man’s name was Duncan Campbell—and God brought him to the Hebrides to preach and shepherd the revival.

   People of the island were inexplicably drawn to Christ. Without publicity, telephones, or Internet, they awoke in the middle of the night and felt compelled to gather in a farmer’s field or at a local parish church. Sometimes they did not make it—and instead simply fell by the side of the road, confessing their sins to God. Bars and dance halls shut their doors for good. Starting with the small town of Barvas, the entire Isle of Lewis turned from darkness to light. Entire towns were being converted to Christ, with the exception of the stubborn little parish of Arnol.

   Arnol defiantly resisted the gospel. No one wanted to hear what Duncan Campbell had to say. In fact, the citizenry held opposition meetings to denounce the revival. Campbell and his fellow leaders knew the only answer was prayer.

   They gathered one evening in a farmhouse and began to pray, earnestly appealing to the promises God had made in the Bible. At midnight, Campbell asked John, the local blacksmith, to pray, which he did for more than two hours! Near the end of his prayer, with his cap in his hand, John looked heavenward and said: ‘God, do You know that Your honor is at stake? You promised to pour water on the thirsty and floods on dry ground…..I stand before You as an empty vessel and I am thirsty—thirsting for Thee and for the manifestation of  Your power. I’m thirsty to see the devil defeated in this parish. I’m thirsty to see this community gripped as You gripped Barvas. I’m longing for revival and, God, You are not doing it! I’m thirsty and You promised to pour water on me. God, Your honor is at stake, and I take it upon myself to challenge You now to fulfill Your covenant engagement.'

    At that moment, the house shook violently. A jug on the sideboard crashed to the ground and broke. Those who were present said that wave after wave of power swept over the room.

  At the same time, the town of Arnol was awakened from its slumber. Lights went on. People came into the streets and started praying. Others knelt where they were and asked God to forgive them. Men carried chairs and women carried stools, asking if there was room for them in the church. At 2:00 a.m., revival came to the last resistant town on the island.” (When God Answered the Prayers of a Scotsman by Jim Jarman as seen in the One Cry newsletter, 7/19/18.)

   Do we need revival in our community? Do we need to see our loved ones, neighbors, and acquaintances come to know Christ as their Savior? You know that we do! So how can we begin to take the time to gather with other believers to pray? It is simple: just do it and start today!

"Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in My name, I am there in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:19,20)

Pray

1.    Lord help me to find someone to pray with me for the lost in my family and neighborhood and help me start today.

2.    Lord forgive me of my laziness and give me the courage and faithfulness to pray for those people You impress on my heart. 

3.    Help me to pray for a mighty revival in my church, town, state and nation; and Lord start with me!

   

   

Waiting patiently

  

“I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. “ (Psalms 40:1-2)

King David is the author of Psalms 40. “A man after God’s own heart” is in clear view as we read this marvelous Psalm to our Lord and our God.  This is a great Psalm to read whenever you go through a trial. I remember my pastor telling us one time that you are always going through a trial, coming our of a trial, or about to go into a trial. In my short 71 years on this planet I can say that has been true of  my life. There are trials in your job, in your family, your church, and your nation.

    David says he waited patiently for the LORD! How does a man or woman wait patiently these days when we need help now? We want an answer today! It is hard but David tells us that he waited patiently and so are we to do! I think we can learn a thing or two by reading what David has to say in this Psalm.  He knows that it was God that pulled him out of the miry pit and set his feet upon a rock.  (Can you just imagine your feet stuck in some deep claylike mud and you are struggling to put one foot before the other as the clay holds tight to your boots?) Then God set his feet on a rock and directed his feet where to walk safely and securely. He declares that God established his steps. He continues:

   “He has put a new song in my mouth---Praise to Our God; Many will see it an fear, And will trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done: And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, They are more than can be numbered.” (vs. 3-5)

  When God has delivered you from a trial do you rejoice, and make sure everyone knows it was God who got you through your trouble? Do you have a song in your mouth? Are you praising the Lord on a daily basis? Are you trusting in His truth, the Bible, or are you turning aside to the lies of the world? Have you taken time out today to remember some of the countless works He has performed for you in the past? David continues:

  “I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness In the great assembly: Indeed, I do not restrain my lips, O LORD, You Yourself know, I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart: I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation: I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth From the great assembly.” (vs 9-10)

   Have I done a good job of telling my children, my grandchildren, my neighbors, my coworkers, my siblings, and my friends of God’s faithfulness to me and how He has saved me and adopted me as His child? It is the desire of David to do the will of God because he has His law written in his heart! Like David, I should proclaim the good news in my church and wherever He sends me to share the Good News of His faithfulness, and mercy.

   “Do not withhold Your tender mercies form me O LORD; Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have surrounded me; My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; They are more than the hairs on my head; Therefore my heart fails me. Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O Lord make haste to help me!” (vs 11-13)

  Are you surrounded by trouble and evil? Are your sins weighing you down. Cry out to Him! He is able to forgive you and return you to the right path.

   “Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let such as love Your salvation say continually, ‘The LORD be magnified!’ But I am poor and needy; Yet the LORD thinks upon me. Your are my help and my deliver; Do not delay, O my God.” (vs16-17)

   Wow! Let us all who are followers of the King of Kings rejoice and be glad in Him! We are needy people, but God is our help and deliverer! Are you waiting on the Lord, or are you trying to handle this life in your own strength?

Read the whole Psalm yourself and rejoice in the faithfulness of our heavenly Father and the benefits He bestows upon His loyal followers and disciples!

PRAY

1.     Lord, thank You for Your faithfulness and lovingkindness that you give to all who call upon Your Name and allow You to control their lives everyday.

2.     Help me to be a better prayer warrior for Your Kingdom on earth and in the kingdom you are preparing for us in the future when You return to this earth or when You call us home before that glorious day.

3.     Help my life to reflect the joy of Your salvation which You have so wondrously given to those of us who accepted Your free gift of salvation and eternal life.

Nehemiah's prayer

Nehemiah’s Prayer

“So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.” (Nehemiah 1:4)

   Nehemiah was a Jew living in captivity in Persia. We don’t know his early life story but we do know that he was the cupbearer to the King of Persia so he had a good life in the palace of the king and was someone whom you could say had arrived at a place of importance and luxury. (Something you can actually say for almost anyone living in 21^st century United States who has a job and a place to live.) But God called upon him to leave his life of ease and to go to Jerusalem and help to rebuild the wall that had been torn down and to help the High Priest, Ezra, there. His prayer in chapter one of the book named for him is one of 10 times in thirteen chapters that he goes to God in prayer.

“ And I said:  ‘I pray, LORD God of heaven, O great and awesome God. You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night for the children of Israel, Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations: but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from the there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling place for My name.’ Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.’ For I was the king’s cupbearer.” (Nehemiah 1: 5-11)

  Since May third was a national day of prayer I couldn’t help but think or how appropriate much of this prayer is applicable to our country today! We are a nation who has sinned against God and has not obeyed His commandments! Although everyone is not a Christian, we are nation that was founded on Christian principles by men and women who had a desire to be obedient to the teachings of the Christian faith in our government, in our communities, and in our families. But just like the Israelites, we have turned away from God and have not been obedient to God’s laws and precepts.

    It is time to start with ourselves individually and as families and churches to return to God; to seek His forgiveness and to follow His leading in all aspects of our lives.

     “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 I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

PRAY:

1.     Lord forgive me of my sins (list them) and forgive my family and church for not being the salt and light You have called us to be in our community.

2.     Help me today to spend time with You in prayer and in the reading of Your Scripture so that You can direct my paths aright.

3.     Help me and all those who call Your Lord, to be quick to obey all that You have commanded of us for our own good.

4.     Thank You for loving us so, and allowing us to be Your children now, and for eternity.

He is Risen!

He is Risen!!!!!

  “Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, ‘Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’’ And they remembered His words.” (Luke 24:1-8)

     All four gospels record this event and it is one event in history that can be believed with certainty!

CHRIST AROSE FROM THE DEAD ON EASTER MORNING!

   He demonstrated once and for all time that He was who He claimed to be: The Son of God, the Messiah, that had been prophesied about for a thousand years!

   He had died on a cross and taken the sins of the world upon His shoulders on Good Friday, just as Isaiah the prophet had said he would over 500 year earlier:

  “Surely, He has borne out griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned everyone to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:5-6)

   Now on Easter morning He had risen from the dead just as he had prophesied on numerous occasions. (Matthew 20:18-19, 17:22-23, 16:21) As we read further in the gospel accounts and the book of Acts, we know that he spent forty days on earth after the resurrection and then ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives.

    So the question for you now is this: Do you believe that Jesus died on a cross and rose from the dead on the third day and sits at the right hand of God today and that He is coming again as He promised to take all believers to heaven to live with Him for eternity? That is what the Bible teaches us. That is what the Apostle Paul is telling us in the book of Romans when he says:

   “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10: 9-10)

    “You will be saved!” And if you are already a believer, then you are already saved! What a glorious message for us today as we rejoice in what our Savior had done for us on Calvary and has demonstrated that He has power over death and hell!

Hallelujah, what a Savior we have! As Jesus stated on the cross: “It is finished!” (John 19:30) He has paid the price for our sins. We have only to believe and give our lives over to Him and allow Him to be our Master and King. Let today be a day of celebration and joy as we celebrate what He did for us 2000 years ago and be comforted in the fact that He is coming back to establish His kingdom someday and we will be his beloved sons and daughters in the kingdom.

PRAY:

1.     Lord help me to take time today to celebrate what You did for me on the cross and to rejoice over your resurrection from the dead.

2.     Lord, thank you for paying the penalty for my sin and for adopting me to be your son or daughter.

3.     Fill me with Your Holy Spirit everyday and help me to be a faithful disciple  and witness for you in my family, my workplace, neighborhood, school, and to the uttermost parts of the world.

4.     Help me to love those around me with a love that can only come from You that I might see people as You see them Lord.

Centurion at the Cross

Centurion at the Foot of the Cross

   “Then they struck Him on the head with a reed and spat on Him; and bowing the knee, they worshiped Him. And when they had finished mocking Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him. And they brought Him to the place of Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. And when they crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take.” (Mark 15:19-20, 22, 24, NKJV)

 Pastor and author Max Lucado, tells a great story about what it must have been like for the centurion that was in charge of killing Jesus on Good Friday:

“The day began as had a hundred others---dreadfully. It was bad enough to be in Judea, but it was hell to spend hot afternoons on a rocky hill supervising the death of pickpockets and rabble-rousers. Half the crowd taunted, half cried. The soldiers griped. The priests bossed. It was a thankless job in a strange land. He was ready for the day to be over before it began.

He was curious at the attention given to the flatfooted peasant. He smiled as he read the sign that would go on the cross. The condemned looked like anything but a king. His face was lumpy and bruised. His back arched slightly and his eyes faced downward. ‘Some harmless hick,’ mused the centurion. ‘What could he have done?’

Then Jesus raised his head. He wasn’t angry. He wasn’t uneasy. His eyes were strangely calm as they stared from behind the bloody mask. He looked at those who knew him---moving deliberately from face to face as if he had a word for each.

For just a moment he looked at the centurion—for a second the Roman looked into the purest eyes he’d ever seen. He didn’t know what the look meant. But the look made him swallow hard and his stomach feel empty. As he watched the soldier grab the Nazarene and yank him to the ground, something told him this was not going to be a normal day.

As the hours wore on, the centurion found himself looking more and more at the one on the center cross. He didn’t know what to do with the Nazarene’s silence. He didn’t know what to do with his kindness.

But most of all, he was perplexed by the darkness. He didn’t know what to do with the black sky in mid-afternoon. No one could explain it…No one even tried. One minute the sun, the next darkness. One minute the heat, the next a chilly breeze. Even the priests were silenced.

For a long while the centurion sat on a rock and stared at the three silhouetted figures. Their heads were limp, occasionally rolling from side to side. The jeering was silent….eerily silent. Those who had wept, now waited.

Suddenly the center head ceased to bob. It yanked itself erect. Its eyes opened in a flash of white. A roar sliced the silence. ‘It is finished.’ (John 19:30 NIV) It wasn’t a yell. It wasn’t a scream. It was a roar….a lion’s roar. From what world that roar came from the centurion didn’t know, but he knew it wasn’t from this one.

The centurion stood up from the rock and took a few paces toward the Nazarene. As he got closer, he could tell that Jesus was staring into the sky. There was something in his eyes that the soldier had to see. But after a few steps, he fell. He stood and fell again. The ground was shaking, gently at first and now violently. He tried once more to walk and was able to take a few steps and then fall….at the foot of the cross.

He looked up into the face of this one near death. The King looked down at the crusty old centurion. Jesus’ hands were fastened; he couldn’t reach out. His feet were nailed to the timber; they couldn’t walk toward him. His head was heavy with pain; he could scarcely move it. But his eyes…they were afire.

They were unquenchable. They were the eyes of God!

Perhaps that is what made the centurion say what he said. He saw the eyes of God! He saw the same eyes that had been seen by a near-naked adulteress in Jerusalem, a friendless divorcee in Samaria, and a four-day-dead Lazarus in a cemetery. The same eyes that didn’t close upon seeing man’s futility, didn’t turn away at man’s failure, and didn’t wince upon witnessing man’s death.

‘It’s all right,’ God’s eyes said. ‘I’ve seen the storms and it’s still alright.’

The centurion’s convictions began to flow together like rivers. ‘This was no carpenter,’ he spoke under his breath. ‘This was no peasant. This was no normal man.’

He stood and looked around at the rocks that had fallen and the sky that was blackened. He turned and stared at the soldiers as they stared at Jesus with frozen faces. He turned and watched the eyes of Jesus lifted and looked toward home. He listened as the parched lips parted and the swollen tongue spoke for the last time.

‘Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.’ (Luke 23:46 NIV)

Had the centurion not said it, the soldiers would have. Had not the centurion said it, the rocks would have---as would have the angels, the stars, even the demons. But he said it. It fell to a nameless foreigner to state what they all knew.

‘Surely this man was the Son of God.’ (Matthew 27:54 NIV)”

From the book “This is Love—The Extraordinary Story of Jesus by Max Lucado (Thomas Nelson, 2011)

PRAY

1.     Lord thank you for dying on that cross for me and taking the sins of the world upon your shoulders.

2.     Thank you for allowing everyone who calls upon Your name and believes that You are the Son of God can become one of Your adopted children.

3.     Help me to tell Your story to anyone who will listen to me and about how You have change my life and given me joy and peace now, and for eternity.

Hosanna in the highest!

   Soon we will celebrate  Palm Sunday, the beginning of the last week in Jesus human life on earth, the earth He had help create. “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”(John 1:3) Let us look at what the Apostle Matthew said about what happened on this special day in history:

  “Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them,  ‘Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” (Matthew 21:1-3)

   “All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet saying: ‘Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.’ (Matthew 21:4,5)

  The Apostle Matthew was quoting the Scripture found in Zechariah 9:9 where the prophet spoke of the coming Messiah, hundreds of years before the coming of Christ.

     “So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: 

     “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! Hosanna in the highest!’ (Matthew 21:6-9)

     What an exciting scene is painted for us by Matthew! We can picture the palm branches being waved and the people throwing their cloaks on the ground as Jesus descends the path down from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem.  (Can you remember a time in your youth, as I can, when your church had palm branches and celebrated Palm Sunday by waving them and singing praises to the King of kings and Lord of lords?) 

    However not everyone was rejoicing. Luke in his gospel tells us that:

    “And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, ‘Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” But He answered and said to them, ‘I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.’” (Luke 19:39-40)

  Are you rejoicing today? Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to fill you and to show your thankfulness to the God who made you in His image? Or are you burdened by the cares of life and have allowed them to overcome you? Today is a day to remember that Jesus is the King of kings, and Lord of lords, and He deserves to be worshiped and obeyed. Did you notice what Matthew said Jesus disciples did in Matthew 21:6? Read it again: “So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.”

    That is what we who call ourselves disciples are required to do. We are to do all that He has commanded us! Let us celebrate this day by showing our love for Him and our desire to show gratitude for our wonderful salvation by being obedient, and to pray for the lost this week and to pray for many to come to our Easter service and to come to know the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.

PRAY

1.     Lord, fill me with Your Spirit today! Bring to my mind the people in my family, my neighborhood, work, school, church, who need to be saved or just need to be in church this Easter so that they can hear of Your love and sacrifice for them.

2.     Lord I pray that you will keep me faithful throughout this week to spend time with you in Your Scriptures and in prayer for those you place on my heart.

3.     Lord, thank you that I can have a small part in building Your kingdom by praying for the lost and those who are going through tough times.

Tortured for Christ

“Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scougrings, yes, and of chains of imprisonment. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise,” (Hebrews 11: 35,39)

   Pastor Richard Wurmbrand is a man who understands what it means to suffer for Christ. As a pastor in Romania during the occupation of the Nazis in World War II and under the communist government that took over after the war, he suffered greatly as did his family and thousands of other Christians for their faith in Christ. He spent 14 year total in prison for his work with the underground church, many of those years in solitary confinement. Every time he would be released after years of torture and abuse he would still continue to share the gospel with all who God directed him to tell, even Russian army officers and prison guards after a torture session.

      In 1966 he was able to leave Romania with his family after a Christian organization paid a $10,000 ransom for him to leave on the condition that he would not tell the outside world about how Christians were being treated behind the Iron Curtain. He did not agree to be quiet but miraculously they released him anyway. He became the founder of The Voice of the Martyrs and has worked tirelessly to help Christians enduring persecution around the world. This year is the 30^th anniversary of his book, “Tortured For Christ,”  in which he told the world of the suffering Christians were enduring behind the Iron Curtain, and are still enduring in China, Indonesia, and countries of the Middle East.

     In his book, Pastor Wurmsbrand tells how Christians could effectively witness to those who had been brainwashed by the communists that there was no God:

   “They prove that eternal life exists. I heard one pleading with an atheist: ‘Suppose that we could speak with an embryo in his mother’s womb and that you would tell him that the embryonic life is only a short one after which follows a real, long life. What would the embryo answer? He would say just what you atheist answer to us, when we speak to you about paradise and hell. He would say that the life in the mother’s womb is the only one and that everything else is religious foolishness. But if the embryo could think, he would say to himself, ‘Here arms grow on me. I do not need them. I cannot even stretch them. Why do they grow? Perhaps they grow for a future stage of my existence, in which I will have to work with them. Legs grow, but I have to keep them bent toward my chest. Why do they grow? Probably life in a large world follows, where I will have to walk. Eyes grow, although I am surrounded by perfect darkness and I don’t need them. Why do I have eyes? Probably a world with light and colors will follow.’

      So, if the embryo would reflect on his own development, he would know about a life outside of his mother’s womb, without having seen it. It is the same with us. As long as we are young, we have vigor, but no mind to use it properly. When, with the years, we have grown in knowledge and wisdom, the hearse waits to take us to the grave. Why was it necessary to grow in knowledge and wisdom that we can no longer use any more? It is for what follows. So it is with us here. We grow in experience, knowledge, and wisdom for what follows. We are prepared to serve on a higher level that follows death.’”  (Tortured For Christ, by Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, p88) (Tortured For Christ is now available on DVD through TheVoice of the Martyrs)

    What are you doing to prepare for the eternity? Some of us are happy just to know that we are saved and that we have our name written in the ‘Lambs Book of Life.” Yes, and Praise God, that is the most important thing that has happened or can happen in your life, but why not reach for more? Get to know Him better! Serve Him in you family, church, and every other area of you life. Look forward to meeting Jesus in heaven and hear Him say: “Well done, good and faithful servant…… enter into the joy of your lord.” (Matthew 25:23)

PRAY:

1.     Lord thank you that I can know without a shadow of a doubt that You are my God, my Savior, and my Lord.

2.     Help me to draw closer to You every day by spending time learning about Your life and many other godly men and women who were sold out for you in Your Holy Word, the Bible.

3.     Help me to be obedient to Your commands and the leading of Your Holy Spirit that lives within me that I might be a witness of Your great love for me and all mankind.