ORDINARY PEOPLE
It seems I am about as burdened for a move of God in the Church and in our culture as I have ever been. It has been over 100 years since the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Wales. I’m certainly not a great student of Church history but it seems to me, when God gets ready to move, he often uses someone who is a relative unknown. Why he does that I’m not sure, except that using an unknown almost guarantees all the glory going to God.
As I viewed the video clip above, my parched soul began to long for streams in the desert. I yearn to hear the lapping of
the water of life on the shores of my heart. My flickering spiritual eyes strain to see the Son of Righteous rising with healing in his wings. Brother Leonard Ravenhill once said that he was tired of reading and hearing stories about revival. I concur. Stories about revival are wonderful, challenging and inspiring. But there comes a time when a picture, story or video won’t do. There must be a ‘want to’ in the heart of the believer.
the water of life on the shores of my heart. My flickering spiritual eyes strain to see the Son of Righteous rising with healing in his wings. Brother Leonard Ravenhill once said that he was tired of reading and hearing stories about revival. I concur. Stories about revival are wonderful, challenging and inspiring. But there comes a time when a picture, story or video won’t do. There must be a ‘want to’ in the heart of the believer.
It’s one thing to be a football player who sits on the bench cheering but it is an entirely different thing to actually be in the game. I remember playing football in high school and standing on the sidelines. I wanted to be in the game so badly that I kept pestering the coach till he put me in the game. That’s sort of how I see Evan Roberts and the Welsh Revival. God took a young man of only 26 years. He could have chosen G. Campbell Morgan, but he didn’t. He chose an ‘ordinary’ young man with a passion for God, a man unknown by men but known by God. The dictionary defines ‘ordinary’ as ‘unexceptional’ or ‘commonplace’. Interestingly, when our Lord Jesus went looking for men to handle the greatest assingment ever given, he too chose the ordinary and unlearned. Paul, in writing to the Church at Corinth pointed out that “…God chose what is foolish…to shame the wise…what is weak…to shame the strong…what is low and despised…to bring to nothing things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” (I Cor. 1:27-29). Today, perhaps more than any time in history, there are Christian celebrities. When one thinks of God sending revival, surely it would be through one of them. Perhaps. However, if history is any indicator, the instrument through whom God would send revival will be one through whom God can get all the glory. He will be a person, who can serve God without getting in the way and stealing the glory. He will be one who can say,”…may the lamb that was slain receive the reward of his suffering…” He will lay down his own life that Christ be exalted. He will decrease that He might increase.
It has been over 100 years since the Welsh Revival. Seems like an awfully long time to me. Could it be that God is in search of another man, woman, or group of believers through whom he could send an awakening? Surely the time is right. Wonder who it might be? One hundred years ago it was a young man named Evan, whose passion for God lit the flames of revival on multiple continents. Who could it possibly be? You? Me? “Coach! Coach! Put me in!”
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