Eternal Revival

 

Last week I posted about the revival at Asbury College in Kentucky.  A one hour worship service ended up continuing for 2 weeks, uninterrupted, because people didn't want to leave.  It is estimated that 30,000+ people from around the surrounding area and from around the country visited to be a part of what was happening there.   The main service was suspended this week due to issues the crowds were creating for the town of 6000.  The movement made me want to find out what happened to cause it.  Reports I have read say that the service was student led.  There were no well-known preachers invited to speak, and no celebrity musicians were allowed to participate.  The 2-week service from that respect was in a word - unremarkable.  But almost all of the first-hand reports state that God's presence was palpable.  The combined power of prayer, worship and confession was something that only He could orchestrate.   My prayer is that those that were there are able to carry it back to the places where they live, and that the same spirit of revival takes root in me and the people that God puts in my path.  Please pray for revival.

Revival Lives

 

8 days ago, students at Asbury College in Kentucky went for  the one hour worship service in the auditorium that they attend every week.  Today, 192 hours later, that worship service is still going strong.  As word spread about the revival, over 3000 other people have joined to see what God is doing in that place.  Nearby colleges have sent delegations to experience the Asbury revival in hopes that those students might return and start similar movements on other campuses.  As it turns out, there was a similar revival in the 1970's at Asbury that lasted one week, so this revival has now exceeded that one.  Praise God for showing up in a mighty way.  I pray that His revival will continue to explode around the world.  For more information on the Asbury Revival, click here.

Joy from trials

Our small group dove into the first 11 verses of James 1 last night.  There are three themes in that section.  1) Find joy in the trials in your life as they can produce steadfastness.  2) Ask God for wisdom, and He will provide it.   3) Those with few worldly possessions should be glad since they are great in the Lord's eyes.  We had healthy discussions around all three topics, but when I asked the group for any personal experiences with the first, Kim spoke up. (Sharing with her permission.) Her husband, Michael, had a stroke recently.  His mobility is back, but he is still recovering his speech and is in therapy.  Kim works full time and asked for help getting him to and from therapy twice a week.  The men in our group quickly set up a schedule to help him.  She was emotional as she talked about the fact that because of the stroke, Michael was able to spend time with several of us that he wouldn't have had if he were just going to work every day.  Both of them had felt peace and joy through the process.  Praise God for bringing joy from trials.  I hope you have the opportunity to experience the same.

Making The Cut

Our small group from church met for the first time last night.   We are studying the book of James this semester.  We had some healthy discussion about who James was.  We know that he is Jesus' brother.  We believe that Mary is his mother, and Joseph is his father, making him actually a half-brother to Jesus, since Jesus' dad is God.  Some people (mostly Catholics), believe that Mary was a perpetual virgin, meaning that she did not have any other children, even after Jesus' birth.  Those that believe that, believe that James was Joseph's son from a marriage before he was married to Mary.  This thinking stems from a writing called the Gospel of James (not the Book of James), which didn't make it into the Bible.  This led our group into a whole other discussion about who decided what writings made it into the Bible.  That discussion is longer than I have room for in this post, but let's just say that the writings that made it into the New Testament were written by people that knew Jesus or were very close to him in proximity and time.  Writings that came later (including the Gospel of James), that didn't align with the earlier writings, didn't make the cut, but they can sometimes offer value in filling in some of the gaps that might be present in the New Testament books.  Caution should be used as there are usually good reasons they were not included in the New Testament.  Next week, we dive into what James has to say about living a Christian life.