The Midnight Hour

It is late. Sleep evades me like a thief on the run from the police. I sit alone with God, my thoughts, and this computer as my companions. Several steps behind me, on the other side of the wall, Brenda lies asleep under the warm covers. The thermometer on this computer tells me is a chilly 47-degree Faren Height outside. 

The trials abound. Satan has unleashed a torrent of fiery darts in our direction. We hide safely and securely behind the shield of faith. This shield of faith is well worn. Battered and dinged from decades in many battles. The paint is chipped. It is dented from continual assaults. This shield of faith has protected us over and over again. We have been the object of the devil's fury on more than one occasion. We plan to be there again and again. We do not fear him. We understand he is a formidable foe. I can almost hear the arrows hitting one after the other. They are meant to explode in incendiary fire. God through faith extinguishes every single one of them. We are battle weary but unharmed. 

I dare not peek around the edge. I content myself to march behind the shield. Inching forward with the shield in one hand and the sword of the Lord, which is the word of God, in the other. The going is slow. The road is treacherous. It is a battlefield. Our adversary will not give up one inch of territory without a life and death fight. The victory is secured through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Many lay slain around me. They were easy prey without the protection of the shield of faith. Onward we go to gain the upward prize of the high call of God. There is holy ground to be possessed. Inch by inch to be possessed through prayer. 

The enemy is formidable. His demon legions amass in battle formation. It appears that we are outnumbered. Outflanked. Outmatched. Yet the banner that flies over us is Jesus. He is a mighty warrior. A seasoned champion. A conquering King. We rely on Him. This fight is not for the faint of heart. It is a battle of two opposing forces. A clash of wills. Which will prevail? God and His causes or Satan and his sinister schemes. 

Church we are in a war and not on a picnic. The stakes are high. They could not be higher in that the souls and eternal destination of the masses hangs in the balance. The enemy advances while we play instead of pray. Evil rules the day while we entertain ourselves to sleep. Freedoms are lost while we hide in the bunkers of our comfort zones instead of putting on the armor and getting in the fight. We must resist evil. To withstand the wicked schemes of Satan. To fight as hard as any soldier on a battlefield. 

Inching forward with grim resolve. Trusting God behind the shield of faith for every foot advanced.  Our Commander in Chief calls us to fight the good fight. May we not retreat in cowardice, but advance courageously to take back ground stolen from us for the glory of our King. Those are my thoughts in this midnight hour. May God grant us to live and fight another day. 

In The Flow

 Holy Spirit I want to operate in Your flow, 

Even if it means I totally lose control, 

I surrender to wherever You want to lead, 

You are the power this weakling needs, 

Please come move in an unexpected hour,

Filling Your children with heavenly power, 

Holy Spirit may we operate in Your flow, 

Propelling us forward in faith as we go, 

To move the hardest hearts to fully repent, 

From habitual sinning to forsake and relent, 

Moving Your delivered ones to freely testify,

To boast in the blood by which You justify,

Holy Spirit we want to operate in Your flow, 

Ever giving You our yes and never our no. 

Camp Meeting Devotions - Day Thirty-One

 Acts 2:1-4 (NASB)

¹  When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
²  And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
³  And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.
⁴  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

Pentecost means 50, most notably 50 days after Passover. All the disciples were together in one place I suspect praying as we have seen in passages like [Acts 1:14]. Suddenly, unexpectedly the Holy Spirit moved among them in a profound way. He came in energizing force rapidly spreading across the room. What happened next is the miraculous work of God that makes us the book of Acts. 

One day God began moving just as unexpectedly in a Sunday night in South Africa. A servant girl asked if she could sing and pray. Just like God swept in the room at Pentecost, He swept in the room that Sunday evening. Witnesses who were in that meeting said they heard the sound of a distant thunder approaching. As it drew nearer the sound rattled the whole church. This caused other people to start praying out loud. The pastor was unsettled by these sudden outbursts, and rose shouting, "I am your minister sent from God. Silence!" Nobody listened. The congregants continued to cry out for God's forgiveness. The pastor asked the song leader to sing a hymn to quieten the people. Nobody sang but the leader as people kept crying out to God all the more. The pastor lost control of the service. He was not done trying in vain to get control again. 

The pastor walked up and down the aisle trying in futilely to silence the people. Finally, a stranger walked up behind the pastor and whispered in his ear, "Be careful what you do, it is the Spirit of God that is at work here." The words had a sobering impact on the pastor who gave into what God was doing and quit trying to control it. 20 people were saved in that service alone. 

We like to think we are in control. We make our plans and then work our plans. When God decides to suddenly fill the room with His presence, you can throw all manmade plans out the window. God will have His way. He will bypass us if necessary to do the work He purposes. It is so sad that the pastor was one of the last ones to recognize the move of God that Sunday night that started through that servant girl. God chose to bypass the formally educated and experienced pastor. He used the foolishness of a servant girl to shame the wisdom of the pastor. 

We do not want to miss out on God. When He pours His Spirit out suddenly, we want to get in the flow of the Holy Spirit. Much like getting into a canoe and letting the current take us down river, we need to in the same way get into the flow of the Holy Spirit moving among us letting Him take us where He wishes. When you are riding in a canoe downstream you might steer the canoe in between the banks, but you cannot control your direction by trying to reverse course and paddle up stream. That takes a lot of wasted effort to fight a force more powerful than you. It is much wiser and simpler to simply go with the flow.

When the Holy Spirit flows, we need to surrender to His leadership. To hoist our sales to catch His fresh wind. In such times, orders of worship are often scrapped. Sixty-minute detailed worship plans are often extended. Holy Spirit might prompt people to testify, to pray, to sing, to get on their faces before God, to weep, repent of sin, to get saved, and to consecrate their lives. When God moves in this fashion the invitation can become the focal point of the whole service. People may respond to God for an hour or more. Worship intensifies. People do not want to leave the presence of God. 

When that happens, may we not be like the pastor foolishly trying to control the Spirit of God. May we surrender to Him and get in His flow. He knows what He is doing far better than any of us. 

• Can you think of a time you tried to control the work of God in your life?
• Can you explain what getting in the flow of God's Spirit means?
• God often comes suddenly and unexpectedly. In what ways are you preparing yourself?
• Like the servant girl in South Africa, will you make yourself available for God to use?

The Hour is Late

 Time is ticking for this sin diseased planet. Tick tock tick tock. We inch ever closer to the climatic conclusion event of the ages. The script has been written. The players are prepared to take the stage in this unfolding drama of the end of days. The Director sits in His lofty perch keeping careful watch. The Lamb is ready to get His bride and to break the seals. The beast will soon be revealed. The end of days is near. 

Many are oblivious. They eat, drink, and make merry while the countdown winds ever closer to the doom of the Great Tribulation. Days like have never happened in the history of the world. They will be days of God's wrath poured out on all who snubbed His Son the Savior. Horrific days. Days of death and destruction like the world has never known. 

While all of this unfolding, the church sleeps. Unaware or unconcerned about what is happening before our eyes. We are supposed to live on mission assigned with a gospel task. Like Keith Green sang, Jesus rose from the grave, but we can't even get out of bed. 

We are entangled with the sins and affairs of this world. We strive for things that will not last and ignore the things that will last forever. All the while, time is ticking. Inching ever closer, eerily closer to the end of days. World events are aligning. The scene is set. It is just a matter of time now. So little time. I can almost hear the trumpet sounding and the Father telling Jesus, "Go get your children!" An appointed day only the Father knows. A joyous day for some and a horrendous day for others. 

The Great Tribulation days are near. Days of suffering and slaughter. Days of deceit. Days of mass death. Days of denial of God in favor of Satan worship. Days where God's mercy will morph into His righteous indignation. Days of escalating judgment. The hour is late. We are creeping closer to the end of days. I hope you are ready. May we live to be rapture ready. 

Yearning

 I do not yearn for riches or for world-wide fame, 

Nor for social media ever to mention my name, 

I do not yearn to hear men's thunderous applause, 

To be so well adorned it would make others pause, 

I do not yearn for the blessings this world can give, 

Deceived that they would make life better to live, 

No, I yearn for more of my Master and my Maker, 

I yearn for the One who is a powerful soul Shaker, 

The God of wonders and all this majestic creation, 

I yearn for joyous worship saturated with elation, 

A church holy, consecrated filled with God's fire, 

Experiencing God in fullness taken so much higher, 

I yearn for souls around the world to be awakened, 

So, when the rapture comes, they all will be taken, 

I yearn for saved sinners to go and make disciples, 

Boldly sharing gospel truth from well-worn Bibles, 

I yearn for a church to offer up fervent intercessions, 

So, this nation won't continue this path of regression, 

That God would awake this sin deceived woke culture, 

Like a dead carcass to be devoured by demon vultures,

I yearn for awakening a world-wide Jehovah movement, 

That produces lasting wholesale societal improvements.

Dry and Dusty

 O Lord my soul is dry and dusty,

My heart grown hard and crusty, 

There must be more for my soul, 

To fill all the cracks to make whole, 

More than dry and stale religion, 

More than tasting just a smidgen, 

Of You My God, Lord and King, 

Master and Ruler of everything, 

I seek a genuine God encounter, 

Fused with soul reviving power, 

Yearning for more O Yahweh, 

Than futile religious displays, 

Soften the soil of my heart, 

Watering my all not just part,

To dig down deep underneath, 

So my soul again might breathe, 

And bask in Your holy presence, 

Your glory to humbly represent, 

To this world be Your reflection, 

Even it means their rejection, 

Fill this dry and dusty writer, 

You My awesome soul igniter. 

Camp Meeting Devotions - Day Thirty

 Isaiah 55:10 (NASB)

¹⁰  "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

A storm just passed through sending rain with it. Not a violent storm. A quick watering of the earth. The whole thing lasted about an hour. It started with a few sprinkles and soon spread into a soaking rain. A much-needed rain. We are in a severe drought. The ground is hard and thirsty.  

God sends the rain. He controls it. Like a water faucet in heaven, He turns on and off according to His good pleasure. We often take rain for granted. That is until we are in a drought. Then you hear people pleading for God to send it. Farmers do not take rain for granted. They depend on it. Rain is life giving. We all depend on rain even if we are not acutely aware of it. We depend on water. 

There are times when God stirs the clouds until they become dark and with His mighty hands, He squeezes those clouds like a sponge to send showers to water the earth, fill reservoirs, lakes, and ponds. Drought can cripple society. Not just the farmers. Also, the consumers. 

We are living in a time of a spiritual drought. Many in the pew are dry and barren. The ground of their hearts is cracked and thirsty for a drink from heaven. Something more than another Sunday show from the stage. Souls crave healing rain to refresh and replenish. They yearn for more than pop-psychology preaching for their parched souls. They need Holy Spirit inspired, heaven sent, and soul shaking encounters with Jehovah. Mercy drops may fall in our gatherings from time to time, but we long for the showers of His presence and power. 

Falling spiritual rain settles the dust of our desires. It cleanses us washing away the grit and grime of sin. It softens the soil of our souls to receive precious seeds of truth that will sprout into God glorifying fruit. We need spiritual showers to fall on us again. Like when we attended camp as youngsters. Like when we have encountered God at retreats. Like when we have been renewed in private devotions and moved in public worship gatherings. 

We often take water for granted. We turn on the faucet for water to cook or drink. We mindlessly stand under the cascading water in the shower. We may barely even notice the drought conditions until we walk outside and look at the ground. Scorched dead grass. Huge cracks in the ground. Dry dusty land. Upon these examinations we become aware of our need for water from heaven. 

In the same way, we may not even notice the dry desert conditions of our hearts. We may assemble to sing the songs of Zion and hear the proclamation of His truth not even noticing our true spiritual condition. We can get satisfied with a little religion stuck in the same old ruts. Take a closer look. Are our souls cracked from lack of God encounters? Are we dry faking our way through church and life? Are we so parched we no longer bear fruit? If so, we need God to send a spiritual rain to soak into our souls to bring us back to life. 

• Describe the condition of your soul. Well watered, dry, or in drought?
• Upon closer examination what do you see about yourself and your need?
• Ponder what a God sent spiritual rain would mean in your life. 
• Pray for a God encounter this morning to refresh your soul. 

The Night Watch

 It is early. Still dark outside. The wee hours. The family sleeps. So do most others. It is the night watch. A familiar post. To stand on the walls of my home, the Spring Creek Church and community to keep watch. To look for the ever-approaching enemy. The adversary is relentless. He never quits. 

The enemy, tricks, tempts, ensnares, torments, robs peace, steals sleep, and seeks to destroy. He oppresses, deceives, disguises Himself, attacks, enslaves, steals, kills and destroys. I do not need to fear. God is on the job. His word is comfort for sleepless nights. His truth is everlasting in the face of temporary temptations to be anxious. Read and receive sleepless ones. 

Psalm 46:1 (NASB)

¹ God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.

Isaiah 41:10 (NASB)
¹⁰  'Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'

1 Peter 5:8-11 (NASB)
⁸  Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
⁹  But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.
¹⁰  After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.
¹¹  To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

 Isaiah 40:21-31 (NASB)

²¹  Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
²²  It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
²³  He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
²⁴  Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble.
²⁵  "To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?" says the Holy One.
²⁶  Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.
²⁷  Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God"?
²⁸  Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.
²⁹  He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power.
³⁰  Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly,
³¹  Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

God also works the night watches. So with that in mind, we can sleep easy. Rest in peaceful slumber. He does not need sleep. He keeps an ever-vigilant watchful eye. We can sleep under the shelter of His loving care. He is our security. We need not fear nor be anxious no matter what nefarious activities the enemy plots and schemes. God is greater. He is alert. Nothing escapes His notice. Sleep on weary brothers and sisters. God works the night watch.  

From Where I'm Standing

 From where I'm standing with this lofty view,

I get a clearer crisper picture of a part of You, 

Majestic in grandeur and infinite in glory, 

I long to spend my days telling Your story, 

The story of redemption and saving grace, 

Stories of fresh encounters seeking Your face,

Sanctified and holy no one other can compare, 

Truths this idle babbler doesn't tire to declare, 

From this secret room perch by faith I can see, 

Your compassionate and merciful love for me, 

A love that must be shared with those around, 

Discover the immeasurable treasure I 've found,

In My Father who redeemed, rescued and saved, 

One so wretched, unholy, so hopelessly depraved.

Camp Meeting Devotions - Day Twenty-Nine

 Psalm 31:24 (NASB)

²⁴  Be strong and let your heart take courage, All you who hope in the LORD.

There are different kinds of strength. There is strength of a person who can work hard enduring long hours without fading. There is strength of a person in a weight room who can lift heavy amounts in various exercises. There is also an emotional strength to endure hardships and to not lose heart. 

We are commanded to be strong. That means we are commanded to be bold, mighty, forceful and obstinate. Do we take a bold approach to life? More specifically, do we live with might and force beyond our own ability in following God? The opposite of living strong is to live weak. To live timidly, wimpy, to give up too easily. We are to be strong in God's might and power. Therefore, living a strong life is not trying harder. It is surrendering more. Leaning on God more. Trusting Him with strong faith. Obstinately relying on Him to overcome.  

We are also commanded to let our hearts take courage. You could substitute the phrase inner man for heart. The word take means to choose and capture. Each day we make multiple choices. Some of those choices include capturing courage instead of fear. The path of faith walking is the courageous path. In our inner man, we daily choose to capture with resolve how we live. 

Now to the word courage. To live courageously means to live steadfastly minded and fortified. Which is easier? To live cowardly or to live courageously? To fix our minds on the safe and secure path instead of the path of bold adventure?

I witnessed a young skate boarder last night trying to do a drop in move from the highest ramp in the skate park. He had mastered the move on a lower ramp. He climbed to the top and rested the edge of his back wheels on the edge of the ramp. The rest of the skateboard sat suspended with the front wheels in midair. The idea is to hold the board down with the back foot and then to step on the front of the board with the lead foot and ride it down. The young man sat petrified in fear. He tried to pump himself up. He gave himself pep talks. Repeatedly he stood frozen in fear. He could not bring himself to step that lead foot onto the front of the board and ride it down. He had an audience watching. Many encouraged him. The reward did not seem worth the risk in his mind. 

More experienced skaters gave him pointers and demonstrated the move repeatedly. They told him to get out of his head and commit his body. He could not. He did not have a steadfast mind. He entertained doubt, fear, and the risk of injury. He was not fortified in his commitment though he climbed the top of that ramp over and over again. Each time he stood with his backfoot on the board but kept his front foot firmly planted on the ramp. He could not bring himself to drop the lead foot onto the board and drop in down the ramp. 

Let us not be quick to throw stones in judgment. Do we choose cowardice instead of courage in our walks with the Lord? Do we choose fear over faith? Each of us stand on our cliffs with toes wrapped around the edge holding on for fear of falling. Our hearts pound and we get a huge lump in our throats. We hear the voice of God say, "Step out. Drop in." If our minds are not steadfast and our faith fortified in God's faithfulness, we will remain enslaved to fear and risk adverse living. 

We choose courage. We fill our minds with the truth of God and resolve to follow Him even into risky adventures. Standing on the cliff with hearts pounding, pulse quickening, and fear screaming between our ears to take the safe route, we must choose courage. The walls of fear the enemy puts before us are made of tissue paper. It is easily broken through if we choose courage. We have to listen to the counsel of others who have captured courage before us and stepped out. People like Elijah, David, Peter and Paul. Like Joseph and Mary. Like Noah and Abraham. Life Naomi and Ruth. Like Sarah and Sampson. More modern people like George Muller, John Wesely, Amy Carmichael and Jackie Pullinger. 

Steadfast courage leads to hope in God. Confident expectation that God will come through. That He will always be reliable and trustworthy. We can depend on Him. We can hope that courageous steps of faith called by God will lead to grand adventures and fresh encounters with Him. 

So as you stand on the edge of your cliff, don't look down. Hear the voice of God calling you to confidently, courageously, boldly, steadfastly, choose to rely on His strength, and fill you with courage to step out. To drop in. Then in faith, throw caution to the wind and courageously commit to step. Do it and encounter God on the other side of the drop. 

• Which do you naturally gravitate to, cowardice or courage? Explain why. 
• What is the cliff you are standing on and God is calling you to drop in from?
• Will you choose to remain gripped in fear or to step out in faith?
• Think through the worst that can happen to you if you step out? What is the best possible outcome? Is the risk worth the reward?

Camp Meeting Devotions - Day Twenty-Eight

 Psalm 85:6 (NASB)

⁶  Will You not Yourself revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You?

The journey we live on this earth is filled with many plot twists, trials to overcome, and problems to solve. Followers of Jesus face these things like everyone else in addition to the constant spiritual assaults from our adversary. Demonic hounds nip at our heels night and day to trip us and keep us from progressing in our pilgrimage. 

Our affections for God can cool. Our zeal for service wane. Our passion gets diverted. We may still do all the spiritual disciplines required for maintaining a close relationship with God. We may pray, read our Bible, and attend worship. We may do these things and yet our hearts not be moved by them. We may check all the boxes of the things we are supposed to do and yet not be alive spiritually.

We need God to revive us. That means we need God to make us alive, to rekindle the flames of passion for Him and to nourish our souls with His presence. To be revived means to also be recovered, repaired, and restored. Like the hymn writer wrote, "Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love." In our wanderings we need God to find us and bring us back into His safe pasture. Like sheep we wander. We drift further and further from the Chief Shepherd. Believing the grass is greener on the other side of the fence we slip away. The Chief Shepherd does not ignore our wandering. He does not give up on us. He pursues us to recover and restore us to the fold. Whatever wounds we sustain in our wandering, Jesus repairs with the balm of His healing. 

We may drift so far from Jesus that we do not feel comfortable returning to Him out of shame and regret. We may feel He will be so disgusted with us that He will not receive us. That is what revival is. It is repenting, returning and Jesus restoring us. The gate to His pasture is open wide. He stands ever ready to receive the repentant. To restore us to the safety of His loving watch care. 

Rejoicing follows repentance and revival. True gladness, merry hearts, cheerful countenances, and exultation. God is the object of our rejoicing. He is the focal point of cheerfulness. Not in experiences but in encounters with Him that thrill the soul. Rejoicing that infects and infuses public worship. Exultation that fires service. Gladness that defies defeat in the harshest of circumstances. Joy in God should permeate the people of God. It is one sign that we are revived. Does that characterize our lives?

• Identify where you currently are in your relationship with God. Safely in the fold or wandering further away from Him. 
• In what ways do you need to be recovered, repaired and restored?
• Find reasons for rejoicing in God today. 

Camp Meeting Devotions - Day Twenty-Seven

  In the year 1859 in Castlederg, Ireland, a normal worship service started with congregational singing. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary when the first stanza was sung. Onward they sang the second. Suddenly a man fell to the floor. A large strong man. Not wanting to disrupt the service the man was immediately removed from the sanctuary. Nice and orderly. God had something else on His mind that day. 

Eyewitnesses report what happened next. "The whole house was filled with the glory of the Lord, the singing had to cease, there was nothing through the house but sobbing and sighing, some calling for mercy and others rejoicing in the sin pardoning God. The Lord was present in mighty power."

The poor minister totally lost control of the service. God will not be boxed in by our traditions or carefully controlled worship services. He will do what He wants, when He wants, how He wants, and to whom He wants. The glorious presence of God persisted for several hours. Foolishly the minister offered the benediction to dismiss the crowds six times. They did not listen and remain fixed and focused on the presence of God. 

We cannot control God. He is a powerful force. When He shows up in power, people cannot be the same. He cannot be tamed. He refuses to be confined to our preconceived ideas of what He should do. He will not be manipulated into doing what He does not want to do. He is Almighty. When He moves in the fullness of His power, He blows in like a hurricane. Everyone is affected. Sinners cannot find shelter to hide from convicting power. Hypocrites cannot hide from His all-seeing eye. The saved devote themselves to serious supplications for those in need of God encounters. The church is impacted and soon the community around the church.

Do we really want any of that? We are used to routine worship services that wrap up in sixty minutes or less. They are often good but devoid of the full presence and power of God. People are not drawn into God encounters. Do we want God to fully come? We will lose control, as if we were ever really in control to begin with. 

Zechariah 12:10 (NASB)
¹⁰  "I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

Such moves of God result in conviction and piercing weeping that might make others feel uncomfortable. Orders of worship may be disregarded as God does His work. Mourning may supersede rejoicing as people feel the misery of their sin and impending eternal doom. This is messy. Services may prolong as people meet with God. The religious will be on the outside looking in wanting things to go back to normal. Like the minister trying to dismiss the service six different times but getting ignored. 

Bitter weeping accompanies God movements. Tissues are needed. Stamina is required. When God decides to move powerfully among His people, time becomes irrelevant with meetings lasting for hours. Many times, even after the service has ended, the work of God persists in homes all hours of the night. Do we dare dream of such? Such moves of God cannot be controlled. Not by the worship minister. Not by the pastor. Nor by the congregation. Tears may replace singing. Bitter cries may drown out the preaching. Altar calls may extend later than planned. This is just some of what God does when He comes in power. 

• Describe your reaction to reading about the account from Castlederg.
• Do such accounts scare you or intrigue you? 
• Contemplate ways you have tried to control the work of God in your life?
• Consider ways we try to control God in public worship? Do you really want Him to come in with hurricane force?

Liquid Prayers

 People often share prayer concerns with me. Heavy burdens. Many of them are shared in confidence. They openly confess their oppressive loads. Sometimes they are heart wrenching, gut turning, and mind bewildering. 

There are times when the prayers cannot be heard in words. No words are adequately formed. Those prayers can be seen in liquid tears cascading down the cheeks. God sees and saves every drop of them in His bottle of remembrance. 

Psalm 56:8 (NASB)
⁸  You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?

Not one single tear is missed by God. Not one misty eyed prayer. Not one tear-soaked sob. They are all recorded and remembered. 

Some prayers are too deep for words. Groans of grief mixed with leaky eyes make some of the highest forms of prayer. Those tears communicate on a level much deeper than words can express. God is able to interpret every drop. To look beyond the cells into the sorrowful heart that caused them. He knows. He hears. He understands. He is attentive. 

Sometimes we work hard at suppressing broken hearted prayers with weeping. We want to appear strong. We do not want to be seen as weak, especially in pubic. Desperate people do not care what others think. They just need God. If their prayers become liquid, then so be it. We could use a few more liquid prayers in the house of God today. A few more broken people crying out for help. More grievous people pleading with God to bring the nation to repentance. More tear- stained altars. More weepy worshipers. More sobbing saints tender to the move of God.

 Liquid prayers are not to be avoided. They are to be embraced. Even when it makes onlookers uncomfortable. Many of these liquid prayers will be offered in the secret room in privacy. Nobody but God will ever see them. At other times, the tears will stream in public worship. Bleary eyes will water  tissues in intense intercessions. Either way, God saves them and remembers them. Take comfort in that brothers and sisters. Your liquid prayers do not go unnoticed. 

Camp Meeting Devotions - Day Twenty-Six

 The year was 1859 in Coleraine, Ireland. A very unusual event unfolded. In a large boy's school, one of the young men in the large single room school seemed so heavy hearted he could not do his schoolwork. The headmaster wisely discerned that the boy was under conviction. He told him to go home and pray to the Lord for mercy. He sent an older student to go with him. 

The two young men never did reach the younger boy's home. They turned into an old, abandoned house where the older student led the younger in prayer. The love of God broke through, and the youngster was saved. He exclaimed joyfully, "I must go back and tell the headmaster that I am so happy now because I have the Lord Jesus in my heart."

When this young lad testified of his conversion back at school, God began working on the other young men. One by one several silently got up and left the room to go outside to the playground. The headmaster could not see the young men from his vantage point in the school room. When he moved to a different location he was overcome with emotion when he saw each of the students kneeling in prayer independent of one another. He looked at the older student he had sent with the first young man and asked if he could go out and pray with those outside. When he began to pray with the troubled young men outside, their silent prayers turned into loud wailing under conviction. So loud it could be heard by the students left inside the classroom. One by one they arose from their desks and fell to their knees under conviction. 

The wails of the boys reached the girl's school just above their location. Soon the girls too were on their knees in conviction. The headmaster and headmistress were powerless to continue teaching their lessons. 

We do not need to seek these type manifestations of the presence of God. We just need to seek God. He is enough. He is able to do far more than we can ever conceive. We must be careful that we do not substitute our desire for Him with desires for revival experiences. It is God we are after. When He is present among us, His work is sufficient. 

In that same town of Coleraine, Ireland, God moved mightily over the whole community. Prayer meetings sprang up everywhere. It was not uncommon for people to deal with anxious sinners all night long in house after house, leading them to repentance and salvation. Ministers became exhausted. Businesses sometimes were closed temporarily due to employees falling under such conviction they could not work. During this period of revival one church reported 800 conversions. The powerful work of God could not be escaped. He permeated every part of society. Transformation took place. Crime went down. Prostitution ceased. Wrongs were amended. Court cases declined. All as a result of God manifesting His presence. 

John 5:17 (NASB)
¹⁷  But He answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working."

God has always worked. He is working now. We may not be able to see it. We may not even be able to feel it. When the people of God repent of sin and get serious about praying, God works. When He works among us, He is all that is needed to convict people of sin. To draw sinners to salvation. To renew a hunger for holiness. To stir the hearts of people to worship and testify. 

God is always working. So is Jesus. What we need to do is to align ourselves with them and follow Their leadership. We do not need to spend our time asking for revival experiences. We just need to encounter God. To seek Him and obey Him. His presence and work are sufficient for all we need. May we never substitute seeking Him with seeking the experiences that often accompany revival. May we tune to Him and get in on what He already wants to do among His prayerful and repentant people. 

• List the ways you feel God is working in your life and in your church?
• Are you seeking Him or seeking the experiences of revival?
• Describe the ways you believe is God is sufficient for the needs of society.
• Is there anything in your life that hinders God from fully working around you?

More Lord

 It is only two little words. More. Lord. There is a ton of weight behind them though. It is more than just two words. It is a prayer. A passionate expressed desire asking God to do more in our midst. The deep craving cry of our hearts that we are not satisfied with the current state of affairs in our churches, communities and country. 

More Lord is the desperate plea of burdened hearts who are convinced that God can, and longs to do more. He can call His people to repentance across the nation. He can summon His people to pray. He can save the masses. He can turn the tide of evil. He can heal diseases. He can lift the heaviest of burdens. He can deliver from sin. He can rescue the perishing. He can restore marriages. He can revive His people. He can do all of that and so much more. 

Ephesians 3:20-21 (NASB)
²⁰  Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,
²¹  to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Those verses are more Lord verses. He is able to do far more than we can imagine. I can imagine so many things. Filled parting lots. Crowded pews. A constant stream of baptisms. Altars filled with broken repentant people. The prayer room filled with dozens of fiery, faith filled, fervent prayer warriors. Worship that stirs the depths of the soul. The powerful presence of God displayed over and over again.  MORE LORD!

I am just beginning. I believe God so send these blogs around the world to thousands of believers daily. To ignite a burden and passion for revival on distant shores. I believe God to turn these United States back to Him in united faith. I believe God to set the oppressed free. To let justice fall like rain. To send streams of mercy into the darkest communities. I ask God for more. 

More anointing to preach His wonderful word. More anointing to shepherd His flock. More anointing to write. More anointing to teach. More anointing to pray effectively. More anointing to lead. More anointing to evangelize. 

What is your more Lord prayer? I am sure you have some things deep in your mind and on your heart. Taking the truth of these Ephesian verses, let your faith be unleashed in more Lord petitions. Wouldn't it be wonderful if our more Lord prayers turned into mighty moves of God? Think of the rejoicing that would take place through testimonies shared. 

Go ahead. It is just two little words. All of us have time to pray that little prayer. Do we have faith to believe God to answer? If we do, world watch out. The church of God will launch an offensive display of power that will astound. Yes, God. MORE LORD!

Camp Meeting Devotions - Day Twenty-five

 In September of 1857, four Irishmen began meeting together in a small rural schoolhouse near Connor, Country Antrim in Ireland. Four months later the first person got saved. At least one-person trusted Jesus for salvation each week that followed. At the end of 1858, 50 people now gathered in the old schoolhouse to pray. They met for sixteen months to pray for God to send revival. Two of these men were sent out to spread the fire in other regions. 

On March 14, 1859, they met at Ahoghill in a church to proclaim the word of God. They met in the largest church in town. So many filled the balcony the minister feared the whole structure might collapse. The crowds were dismissed to go outdoors. Notice this part closely. 3,000 people stood in a bone chilling rain to listen to the word of the Lord. The Holy Spirit convicted so powerfully that people actually knelt in the mud or prostrated themselves face down in it. The conviction of the Holy Spirit so overpowered the listeners, that even the strongest of men were powerless to resist. They melted to the ground like butter on a hot sunny day. They braved the chilling rains and did not use them as an excuse not to hear the word of the Lord. They broke down in tears and had the look of anguish on their faces as they pleaded with God for mercy and salvation. What a sight that would have been to behold. 

The work of God spread. People forsook their work and spent time in prayer. Sometimes all day and at other times prayerful pleadings filled the night watches. Kitchens, barns, schoolhouses, churches, and open fields became cathedrals for prayer, worship, and scripture reading. Be reminded the whole movement started with four men meeting in an old schoolhouse for months to pray before they ever saw the first convert. 

The story is the same wherever God has sent revival throughout history. Look behind the scenes before the times of refreshing began, and you will discover some group of people united in prayer that gave birth to the revival. Afterwards, the revival was spread and sustained with fervent supplications for God to do more. Reading revival stories is like reading the book of Acts all over again. 

Acts 2:41-43 (NASB)
⁴¹  So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.
⁴²  They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
⁴³  Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.

Remember, just before this occurred and Peter's evangelistic sermon God poured out His Spirit at Pentecost in a prayer meeting. What followed in the book of Acts is nothing short of a miracle. God started the church with 3,000 new converts who were baptized. People were awed at the power of God displayed. The more they prayed the more God saved souls. Every single day people were saved and added to the church. 

They devoted themselves to prayer. The word devoted means they attended to it assiduously. The modern church has tried everything to substitute for prayer. We have turned to endless programs, fresh faddish Bible studies hot off the presses, we have copied the methods of other successful churches, carefully crafted worship services, changed preaching styles, updated technology, and many other things. We have tried just about everything but prayer. Focused, sustained, fervent prayer for God to send revival that sprouts into spiritual awakening. 

Can any of us say that our congregants feel a sense of awe at the power of God? Can we point to many wonders and signs happening on a regular basis in our midst? Especially the wonder of multitudes trusting Jesus for salvation. Have we seen anything like Acts 2:41 or like people melting in the rain at Ahoghill, Ireland sinking in the mud crying out to be saved? These are not natural occurrences. 

Why would we as the people of God not tap into God unlimited resource of power to see similar results in our own churches and communities? If we are serious about God impacting our nation and influencing our communities, we will need to get equally serious about prayer. Persistent passionate prayer. Like the early church. Like four Irishmen gathered in a schoolhouse in 1857-1858. Will we follow their example?

• What is it that you most want to see God do in your community and in your church?
• Will you commit yourself to either attending or starting a prayer gathering for revival?
• What has God done or will He do that has and would awe you?
• List the signs and wonders you long to see God do in your life and church. 

Camp Meeting Devotions - Day Twenty-four

 God can do more in days of revival than churches can do in decades of ministry in their own strength. In revival, God convicts people of sin. That is both people in the church and the lost. One true characteristic of this type of move of God is that people repent. There are also salvations. Many salvations. The church gets bolder in their witness. Sinners are less resistant to the gospel. Each one saved is adding more fuel to revival flame. Prayer also fuels revival and sustains it night after night. 

Only God sends revival. It cannot be worked up. It cannot be manufactured. God's people can plan meetings, but they cannot produce supernatural moves of His sovereign will that impacts whole communities and regions. There are conditions that can be met to help the people of God align themselves with His purposes. A check list. 

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NASB)
¹⁴  and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

God desires humility, prayer that seeks Him, and turning away from wickedness. Those are pretty clear-cut conditions of what our responsibilities are.

 Are we humble people? Has spiritual pride crept in so that we appear to be more holy than we really are? Do we work to keep up appearances to those around us? Do we bow the knee at the altar when called to do so, or do we sit stubbornly in the pew more concerned with what others think than what God thinks? Spiritual pride is offensive to the Holy One. He is opposed to proud people. Does that mean that He is opposed to us? Oh that God would break our pride and humble us before Him. 

Do we pray? I mean really spend time seeking the face of God. It is much more common to seek His hand and what He can give us and do for us. To seek His face is to get to know Him. To draw nearer. To pursue knowing Him daily. We have our prayer lists, prayer chains, prayer requests, and prayer request cards. Do we take the time to linger long in His presence to seek Him? To relentlessly pursue a closer relationship? This kind of praying takes time. Much more time than we are willing to devote sometimes. As a result, we have pews filled with people who come to worship a God they really do not know. Therefore, worship services can be lackluster. More like watching the show on the stage than us willingly participating in the worship experience. The most devoted worshipers are the ones who seek His face most in private as well as in public. 

We are supposed to turn from our wicked ways. The truth is sometimes we do not turn from wickedness, but intentionally turn toward it and embrace it. We all battle sin. Sinful thoughts. Sinful attitudes. Sinful desires. Sinful actions. Sinful neglect to act. When God sends revival, He turns the spotlight on the dark places hidden from others. He convicts, breaks, uncovers, exposes, and graciously leads us to repentance. He does this to cleanse us. He is much more willing to forgive than His people are willing to repent in admission of our guilt. 

Those are the things we are called to do in order to align ourselves with Him. He is faithful to do His part. He hears from heaven, forgives our sin, and will heal our land. Doesn't our land need healing. A land where wrong is called right and right is labeled as wrong. A land where children are taught about foolish things like gender neutrality and gender shaming at a young age. A land where some school curriculums teach about the freedom for a child to choose a gender identity for themselves. They are not  taught that God determines gender. A land where a man can win women's athletic competitions because he says he is a woman. A land where God and His word are increasingly pushed out of society. We live in a land where pedophilia is celebrated and practiced among elite. A land where the occult is flaunted before our eyes in entertainment. A land where artificial intelligence is increasingly encroaching on our freedoms. A land where greed, corruption, and fraud can get you into office in Washington, DC. A land where our leaders sell us out as a nation to the highest bidders for their personal profit. Need I say anymore. 

We need God to heal our land. We have no other hope. The unrevived church is a contributor to a nation gone astray. While we planned our programs, boosted our attendance, watered down His word, prayed less, and played our religious roles, the nation wandered from God.   We slept on the walls when we were supposed to be keeping watch as the enemy advanced. We as the church have to own our role in what is taking place is society. It happened on our watch. Only a God sent sweeping move can turn things around. Only He can heal our land. May we diligently meet His conditions so that healing comes once again like in the days of old. 

• Search deep within to see if you have spiritual pride. 
• Can your characterize your praying as seeking His face? Do you spend more time seeking His hand?
• Ask God to identify any wicked way you need to turn from. 
• Describe the level of your desire for God to heal our land. 

Camp Meeting Devotions - Day Twenty-Three

 It was just one little act of obedience. Jeremiah could not have known the far-reaching implications of his choice to follow God. Afterall, he is not the first person in history who called people to gather for a prayer meeting. His God ordained idea was to call businessmen to a noon come and go prayer meeting. 

On September 23, 1857, he held his first prayer meeting. He passed out hand bills advertising the meeting all over New York City. He met on the third floor of the North Dutch Reformed Church and prayed alone for the first 30 minutes. After half an hour, he heard footsteps climbing the stairs. When all was said after the first meeting, half a dozen people showed up. Not a great beginning in such a large city as New York. 

The prayer meetings were scheduled for once a week. The next week 20 gathered. The week after that 40 made their way to the third story prayer meeting. The meeting was so blessed of God that the attendees decided to make it a daily prayer meeting as opposed to weekly. The next time they gathered 100 people showed up. Among that 100 were several unsaved men who were convicted of their sins.  

God was just beginning to work. Jeremiah Lamphier could not have possibly known what his one little act of obedience would mean for the city of New York and for the country. Pastors who had attended the noon prayer meetings soon started morning prayer meetings with their congregations. Soon the places they met were overcrowded with intercessors. Within three months similar prayer meetings sprang up all over the country. These meetings became so popular even newspapers began reporting on them.

By March a theater opened its doors for the noon prayer meetings with Jeremiah Lamphier. By 11:30 the place was packed and nobody else could get in, even though the prayer meeting did not officially begin until noon. Hundreds waited and prayed outside. By the end of March over 6.000 people were gathering daily for prayer in New York alone. God answered those prayers mightily. It's estimated that during that time over 150 prayer additional prayer meetings started all over the city. 

During that span the Methodist reported they saw 8,000 conversions. In Louisville, KY the Baptist churches testified of 17,000 people getting saved in the month of March. By the time June arrived just a few short months later, the number of conversions jumped all the way up to 96,216. This great move of God is called the Second Great Awakening. 

God used one man, with a burden for his city, in one simple act of obedience to start a prayer meeting. How could Lamphier fully know what his one act of obedience would mean for the salvation of thousands of souls.  

Acts 1:13-14 (NASB)
¹³  When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.
¹⁴  These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

Just like Jeremiah Lamphier did not know the full implications of what God would do on September 23, 1857, neither did those early believers know what God would do in the days following their upper room prayer meeting. In Acts 2:31 we read that God gloriously saved 3,000 people and started the first New Testament church in these verses that followed. The gospel spread all over the world in answer to that one prayer meeting and other prayer meetings that followed. 

What could God do if His people got a burden and started gathering to pray for their communities? It started with one in New York City. It started with a group in an upper room in Acts. Who will be the one to answer the call of God to lead the followers of Jesus to pray? Perhaps what God did in the past He will come and do again. 

• Is God calling you to start a prayer meeting?
• If so, when and where will it be held? Whom will you invite? 

Camp Devotions - Day Twenty-Two

 James 5:16 (NASB)

¹⁶  Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 

Many people know this verse and quote it. That is they quote the last part of the verse. Not many quote the first part of it. The first part of it makes us squirm in discomfort. Do we really want to confess our sins to one another? Are we comfortable with people really knowing the truth about is hidden in the secret chambers of our lives.  

That is exactly what happened on the campus of Howard Payne University several decades ago. College students started lining up in the auditorium openly confessing their sins before the student body in a revival service. Witnesses say students lined up deep down the aisle to confess their sins many through broken tears. That service lasted several hours into the next day. That revival spread around the nation. One of the pastors in that town came to the town where I lived. I saw people openly confessing sin in a church for myself. I am sure most of those people did not want to do so before family and friends. The Spirit of God compelled them to do so. 

How many people live in shame in the shadows? They pretend to be better than they really are. They are gripped with fear of being exposed. Satan loves to keep us hiding in the shadows of our secret sins. He also condemns us. He holds us hostage by threatening what would happen if people knew the truth. It takes raw courage to own up to the truth. 

Let me say right now I am not advocating for anyone to openly confess sins before the congregation. Jesus is our great High Priest. We confess to Him, and He forgives. We do not have to confess our sins to other people. Except for this verse today. We are told to confess our sins to one another. One is a single person. A trusted brother or sister in the Lord. Even that is not easy. 

Living in the shadows seems safe. Nobody knows the truth. We are able to keep up appearances. The trouble is we may still struggle with the same old sins. We live enslaved rather than free. We are unable to break free. We may even hate the sin that enslaves us and promise God we will never commit that trespass again. We do though. Some for months. Others for decades. Even to the point people become convinced of the lie that they will never be free. They live in condemnation and shame. 

The reason we are commanded to confess our sins to one another is so that we can be prayed for and healed. Imagine the joy and relief of not just being forgiven but being freed from chains of our evil choices. It takes courage and trust to openly confess sin to anyone. No matter how much we love and trust that person. It seems safer to hide in the shadows of secrecy. 

This may be one of the most difficult things God asks us to do. Raw courage and tremendous faith must be exercised to follow through. Once we do confess our sin to a trusted person and bring the hidden things in the light, Satan can no longer hold us hostage. Freedom and healing await available to all of God's children. May the Lord direct our steps if, when, and to whom we are to confess our sins. 

• Spend some time searching your heart for anything you need to confess before God and repent from doing.
• Ask God if He requires you to openly confess your sin to anyone. If He does lead you to do so, ask Him whom that trusted person is to be.
• Believe that God has made freedom available for you. Choose to walk in that freedom today. 

Camp Meeting Devotions - Day Twenty-one

 James 5:17-18 (NASB)

¹⁷  Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.
¹⁸  Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit. 

The prophet Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. He was an ordinary man with an extraordinary faith. He was made of flesh, bones, sinews, and blood just like we are. He had no supernatural superhuman powers. His constitution was of a man. 

We read that he prayed earnestly. Therein lies the secret to Elijah. He prayed. Not only did he pray, but he prayed earnestly. He entreated God zealously. He petitioned the Almighty passionately. He prayed diligently. He also prayed with authority that defied natural laws. He prayed that it would not rain, and it did not rain for three and a half years. Not a drop. Elijah prayed with so much faith and in the will of God that supernatural events followed his requests. 

As I write this, wildfires are burning all over the state of Texas because of drought conditions. The fires have burned through whole towns, destroying churches, homes, and businesses. Twice yesterday I sat in prayer meetings pleading with God to send rain to put out the fires. It is early on Monday morning and the rain still has not come. I know there are farmers and ranchers as well as other Christians pleading with God to send rain. The rain is still withheld. The need is great. The hour is critical. 

I recall living in another community years ago praying for rain. One lady showed up to church one Sunday evening with rain boots on and carrying an umbrella. She left that umbrella on the stage where it remained until the day God sent rain. That was her sign of faith for what she trusted God to do. She wore those rain boats around town for days. She got some strange looks, but you could not say that she did not believe God to answer her. 

Prayer is such a complex subject. So many factors can play into whether we receive the answers we ask for. Do we pray in the will of God? I John 5:14-15. Do we pray in faith? Hebrews 11:1, 6. Do we pray long enough? Luke 18:1. Do we pray without doubt? Mark 11:23-24. Each of these is a factor. 

When we read that Elijah prayed, and then what happened afterward, I am not sure we can fully grasp the depth and breadth of his prayer life. Who knows how many hours he spent shut up to God alone to receive prophetic words? He often forsook the company of people to keep company with God. We do not find recorded the times he spent in the secret place offering secret prayers. 

Elijah was a common person just like the rest of us. What set him apart is the fact that he had an uncommon prayer life. Does that describe us? Do we have an uncommon prayer life? Are we at home in the secret place shut up alone to God day in and day out? Elijah also had an uncommon faith. People who pray uncommonly will see uncommon results that glorify God. 

After three and a half years of no rain, Elijah prayed again. The rains fell soaking the land. God broke the drought in dramatic fashion. We need to pray with faith like that. This old land needs a drink from God. If Elijah could pray and believe God to defy the laws of nature, I am inclined to think so can we. May we devote ourselves to praying for rain to come soak the land again. May we also pray for God to send the rain of revival on this sin saturated soil of a nation. 

• Identify anything about your ordinary life that you use as an excuse for not praying with greater effectiveness. 
• Write down one uncommon prayer you believe God will grant you. 
• Plead with God to build in you an uncommon faith to match the mountains you face. 
• Ask God to teach you to pray with authority that gets results. 

Camp Meeting Devotions - Day Twenty

 Genuine revival shakes up the status quo. God disturbs the complacent and apathetic. When God sends revival, the comfortable get afflicted and the afflicted get comforted. Such moves of the Holy Spirit are not welcomed by all. There are always some who prefer to leave things the way they have always been. Not only do such people not accept revival, but these will also openly oppose the revival with all their might. They will be critical. They will rally people behind their crusade to resist revival. 

For a couple of days, we have looked back at how God used Charles Finney. Revival broke out in each town he visited. I read a story where Finney was invited to tour a cotton mill one day. Reports are that when Finney walked in among the workers, he did not say a word. The workers stopped working and were moved to tears just looking at Finney. The owner stopped all the workers so Finney could preach. Nearly every employee got saved that day. 

Another story is that in certain towns wherever one went people were either praying together, witnessing to others boldly, and talking about the revival. In some meetings hundreds met Jesus as their Savior. Some of the most resistant were worn down through persistent prayer and conviction from the Holy Spirit. Whole families came to know Jesus as their Savior. Transformation took place. 

One elderly pastor did not appreciate all this. He openly complained that everywhere he went people were talking about prayer and revival. He got fed up with it. He got up in a public meeting and angrily spoke against the revival so viciously that many prayed that night for the revival not to be hindered. The next morning, they found that pastor dead in his hotel bed. 

The revival in that town was not hindered. News spread far and wide by word of mouth. 500 additional souls were added to the kingdom of God. People came from surrounding towns to see for themselves if what they heard was really true. They experienced the fresh work of God for themselves.

Just like a grass fire can get out of control quickly, so can revival. Nobody can tame the move of God. He ruthlessly uncovers sin calling people to repentance. He will not tolerate hypocrisy and pretention. He can break down the most resistant heart and save any sinner. As the wind fuels grass fires, so fervent prayer is like fanning the winds to blow revival fire further and farther than can be imagined. 

So, we get to these questions. Is that really something we want God to do? To the point that we will pay the price in preparation through prayer, fasting, and personal repentance? When revival comes will we openly oppose it or embrace the move of God with all that is within us? 

John 10:30-39 (NASB)

³⁰  "I and the Father are one."
³¹  The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him.
³²  Jesus answered them, "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?"
³³  The Jews answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God."
³⁴  Jesus answered them, "Has it not been written in your Law, 'I SAID, YOU ARE GODS'?
³⁵  "If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),
³⁶  do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?
³⁷  "If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;
³⁸  but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father."
³⁹  Therefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp.

People have always opposed the work of God. They even opposed the Savior Himself. Jeremiah's prophetic ministry landed him in prison. So did Paul's evangelistic zeal eventually resulting in his beheading. Which camp will we fall in? When God sends revival will we oppose it or embrace it? May we be discerning to fully welcome such a refreshing move of God. 

• In what ways have you been critical of different moves of God in the past?
• Can you identify any areas where you are not open to a fresh work of God?
• Express your deepest longings for God to move mightily. 
• Plead with God to guard you against being critical of Him and His work. 

 

Camp Meeting Devotions - Day Nineteen

 Matthew 16:24 (NASB)

²⁴  Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

Yesterday we were introduced to a character named Charles Finney. He doubted the power of the praying people of Adams, NY. God must have heard their prayers, because Finney increasingly felt conviction about needing to be converted. He often strolled into the woods to be alone to work through all sorts of emotions. He eventually surrendered and was saved near a log in those woods. 

The story is told of a profound encounter he had with God back in his office that night. He reported feeling like liquid love fell over him and consumed him. Finney began testifying and witnessing to people the next day. Soon crowds gathered to hear him. Everywhere he went crowds gathered and the masses fell under conviction and were saved. 

He went from one town to another and experienced the same results wherever he went. He also devoted himself to much prayer when he was not preaching. Sometimes the people fell under such conviction they fell from their seats to the floor in tears. At times, he could not lead the congregants to salvation all at once because of the loud weeping. He spent hours going from one person to the next during extended altar calls. 

On October 5, 1824 Finney paused his revival ministry to marry his love Lydia. He left her the next day to go back to her hometown to fetch her belongings and bring them to their new home. Finney had no idea what was about to unfold. All along the way when people learned that he was in town or coming through town they begged him to preach. In each place, God poured out His Spirit and God saved many people in the meetings. One day he sent his horse and sleigh with a Christian brother to go get his wife SIX MONTHS LATER! Imagine that from his and her perspective. Revival is costly. 

There were no churches in some of the little towns. . In such places Finney preached in schoolhouses. Everywhere he went the revival spread. Whole towns of people were nearly all converted in one place after another. He reported that some of the meetings lasted all night long as sinners were convicted and were led to Christ one by one after the preaching. 

I wonder how many of us are so devoted to Jesus that we would give up our honeymoon and even seeing our new spouse for six months due to laboring for the Master from dawn to setting sun. I am betting some would not. Jesus laid it out straight in the passage today. If we really want to go after Him, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. None of those things is easy. 

We often live just the opposite of denying ourselves. We indulge ourselves with pleasures, delicacies, sleep, entertainment, and hedonistic desires. There is little denying ourselves. Fasting is one simple way of denying ourselves. Late night and early morning prayers is another way of denying ourselves sleep. 

Taking up our cross means be willing to suffer. To even die spiritually and live the crucified life. [Gal 2:20] This is a whole other level of discipleship. It is the high cost of commitment to Christ. Jesus bids us to lay our lives down to Him as acts of worship and be available to Him. [Rom 12:1]

We are also called to follow Him. To follow Him anywhere, at any time, to do anything. Not for a season, but for our entire lives. To follow Him daily. [Luke 9:23]. It does not matter whether the course is easy or difficult. It does not matter whether we are comfortable or uneasy in the assignment. Wherever He leads we are follow in pursuit. 

Finney understood these things. He left his law practice to argue the case for people getting saved. He even put his new bride on the back burner in order to fulfill the ministry opportunities God set before him. He knew about denying himself. He knew about the crucified life and about following his Master from town to town to labor without regard to personal rest. How many times has it been written and said that revival is costly. Is it a cost we are willing to pray?

• Make a list of all the ways you indulge yourself instead of deny yourself.
• Ask God what He wants you to deny yourself in preparing for revival. 
• Pray through the implications of living the crucified life. 
• Answer where it is you sense Jesus is calling you to follow Him during these days.

Camp Meeting Devotions - Day Eighteen

Matthew 7:7-8 (NASB)
⁷  "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
⁸  "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Charles Finney was a brilliant-minded lawyer. He was not saved. He did attend religious services and prayer meetings. He listened to the prayers offered up by others for months. He was not impressed. While he heard their many words, he did not see answers to their prayers. Logically he deduced that prayers, especially their prayers, did not work. 

One day someone in the group asked his permission if they could pray for him during those meetings. His response is sobering. "No. I suppose I need to be prayed for, for I am conscious that I am a sinner, but I do not see that it will do any good for you to pray for me, for you are continually asking, what do you receive. You have been praying for revival of religion ever since I have been in Adams, NY, and yet you have it not. You have been praying for the Holy Spirit to descend upon yourselves and yet complaining of your leanness. You have prayed enough since I have been attending these meetings to have prayed the devil our of Adams, if there were any virtue in your prayers. But here you are praying on and complaining still."

Finney knew he sinned. He even knew he needed someone to pray for him. He wrestled with the fact that he was not converted for some following this incident. His words sting when he comments that he did not see that it would do any good for those people to pray for him. I wonder if it would be any different for the rest of us if we had asked Finney if we could pray for him? Would he see any difference in our prayers? Could we point out a long list of answered prayers that glorified God? 

We are scheduled to have a prayer meeting this Sunday night. Similar prayer meetings have been held in the past. Words will be offered and petitions pleaded. At the end and in the weeks that follow will we be able to point to any great work of God as a result of our praying? Do we really believe the phrases and cliches we pray? Have we conditioned ourselves to ask without expectation of receiving?

That is not what Jesus said in the passage for today. The point of asking is to receive. The point of seeking is to find. The point of knocking is to have doors opened. May we never be content to keep on asking, seeking, and knocking without any results. Do we really believe the things we pray for?

 Many factors must be considered when praying. Do we pray the will of God? What He wants to do and answer? Do we pray in faith? Are we confident that God can and will answer what we petition? Do we pray long enough? Have there been times when we lost heart and gave up praying for something too soon? Can we really take Jesus at His word in Matthew 7:7-8? 

• Read I John 5:14-15 and pray through the truths in those verses. 
• Reread Matthew 7:7-8 and consider if you are experiencing those things in your prayers. 
• Read Luke 18:1 and identify times when you gave up too soon praying about something. 
• Identify specific answers to recent prayers. 

Camp Meeting Devotions - Day Seventeen

 Hebrews 12:2-3 (NASB)

²  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
³  For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Nobody endured to the end more than Jesus. He endured the cross. More than that, he did it joyfully. Think about the cross. The cruel agony of it. The excruciating pain. The bloodied body. The piercing railroad like spikes in His wrists and feet. On top of all that, He endured the sorrow of His Father turning away from Him as the sins of the world fell on Jesus' shoulders. 

When we think of all that, how can we not give Jesus our absolute best? No matter where He leads us and what it costs us. Following Jesus is costly. There is little cost to being a church member. Being followers of Jesus is a different matter.  Jesus calls us to deny our self, to take up our cross, and to follow Him. These are costly things. 

When our attention is fixed on Jesus, we endure not growing weary and losing heart. Quitting is often easier than finishing. The sacrifices made, the hardships embraced, and the sorrows overcome are not for the faint of heart. It takes courage to follow Jesus fully. It takes faith to step away from comfort and security into risky and dangerous situations. 

Each day followers of Jesus do just that. They forsake the American dream for the passionate pursuit of proclaiming Jesus on distant shores. They willingly harness themselves to the call of God to sacrifice and even suffer. They don't quit. They remain resolved in their commitment to fulfill their ministry. To labor tirelessly for their Master. 

What about people not called to be missionaries? What does endurance look like for ordinary people? It means fulfilling commitments. When we say we will do something, we follow through. We show up for meetings, we follow through on teaching ministries, we give of our finances sacrificially, we serve. We complete the studies we sign up for. We also refuse to remain tight lipped about sharing Jesus. 

When we think about what Jesus did to redeem us, is any sacrifice too much? Is any cost in following Him too great? Does His example propel us to endure and not lose heart?

• Spend some time meditating on the cost Jesus paid for your salvation. 
• When have you been tempted to quit following Jesus?
• Make a list of things you absolutely are not willing to do in following Him? Explain your answer. 
• Which habit have you cultivated; quitting or finishing?

Camp Meeting Devotions - Day Sixteen

 2 Timothy 4:5 (NASB)

⁵  But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

John Weseley knew about enduring hardship and doing the work of an evangelist in the 1700s. He devoted himself to sacrificial service for His Savior. Tireless zeal into his late eighties. He did not use old age, opposition, or closed churches as an excuse not to fulfill his ministry. 

One year alone he walked over 1,000 miles to preach in churches around Oxford. Most of his traveling was by horseback where he mastered the art of reading while riding. He averaged about 13 miles a day. It is estimated that in all he traveled 226,000 miles in his lifetime. No cars. No planes or trains. He did this by walking or riding. He rode in wind, hail, bitter cold, rain, crossing streams and swamps to get to his appointed destination. He refused to be kept from his appointed assignments. 

He experienced persecution.  He had rocks, dung, and eggs thrown at him. At times, the mobs beat him and ripped his clothing. None of these things stopped him from continually telling people about Jesus. He fearlessly shared the love of Christ no matter what price he had to pay. 

Wesely also sacrificed. Instead of profiting from his preaching he gave money away to help impoverished people. In fact, when he died it has been written that all he left behind was a well worn Bible, a few hundred dollars and the Methodist church. 

None of us are John Wesely. We can still be faithful and endure where we are in our ministry to tell others about Jesus. To be indefatigable in our evangelism ministry. To overcome obstacles, charge past challenges, and surge beyond surprising setbacks. We cannot use weather as an excuse. Nor can we use aging bodies as a reason not win to souls to Christ. We certainly cannot use intolerance and opposition in society as reasons for not sharing our message. There are persecuted saints suffering around the world for proclaiming Jesus as the only way to salvation. They endure hardship. Why shouldn't we? 

We must be willing to endure some hardship. To plead for souls, to boldly share truth, to fearlessly talk of the love of Jesus. This is a message worth suffering for and enduring to the end of our lives in communicating. We have more tools at our disposal than Wesely ever did. We have faster transportation, more modern technology, and the ability to communicate with people all over the world. Are we willing to endure? Our excuses hold no water. It is time to choose whether we will squander our days in fruitless living or to live on mission for Jesus. 

• How committed are you to sharing the gospel of Jesus with lost people? When is the last time you verbally witnessed?
• Can you recall any time when you have endured hardship in the work of evangelism?
• List the excuses you have used in the past for not evangelizing. 
• What reasons can you identify for not enduring in the work of Jesus?

Camp Meeting Devotions - Day Fifteen

Hebrews 12:1 (NASB)
¹  Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

God has set a race before each of us. Each race a unique challenge for us to endure. Each race personalized for our calling God assigns. Some races are harder than others. Some last longer. The finish line is the same. To press on until we reach heaven. Others have finished their race. They overcame and made it to their eternal home. 

Along the way there are some things we have to lay aside. There are encumbrances that must be cast off. What are encumbrances? They are weights and burdens. Imagine a person getting in the starting blocks at a track meet. Warmups have been completed.  The starter has called racers into the blocks. You notice something odd about one of the runners. That person is wearing a heavy backpack like one would wear on a camping trip. Sure enough, when the gun sounds to start the race that runner gets out of the blocks last and lumbers down the track laboriously in last place. 

What encumbrances weigh us down? What burdens slow our pace. These things are to be cast aside. [Ps 55:22] and [I Pet 5:7] urge us to do the same. The weight of worries drains the vitality out of us. The daily battle to forge ahead under such an oppressive load takes all the strength one can muster. There is little energy left for things like seeking and serving God. Encumbrances trip us up. We are to throw these things off. 

We are also supposed to lay aside sin. Sin crouches at the door ready to pounce on us. Temptations abound. The enemy constantly tries to ensnare us. To entice us to leave the God we love. To deceive us into defiled behavior. In the race God set before us, sin is like leaving the track to pursue lesser things that will only harm us. To lay aside sin is to put it off and refuse to carry it any longer. The cycle of sin, confession, and returning to the same sin over and over again must be broken. Running the race assigned to us is like running a race with shackles on our ankles. We cannot reach our full spiritual stride. 

We must also run with endurance. This journey to prepare for revival is a marathon and not a sprint. It will take endurance to complete. The work of revival is an exercise in endurance as well. To endure means to run with steadfast constancy. So many start out well in the faith and then lose heart, quit, get distracted or tempted. It is not an easy journey. It is a rewarding journey. We are to set our pace and steadily remain constant daily, through all seasons of life, and stay in the race to the very end. God wants finishers and not just starters. 

• Describe where you are in the race of life. Tired and tuckered out? Just hitting your stride? Running with a steady pace making progress? Not even running at all?
• Make a list of all the encumbrances that are keeping you from running effectively. 
• Name any sins that need to be laid aside? Commit to throwing them off. 
• How is your endurance? Do you have what is needed to finish? If not ask God to strengthen you as you lean on Him to press forward.