NO FLESH SHALL GLORY IN HIS PRESENCE
Struggling thru the early months in our first church, I started praying 2 hours in the morning before going out visiting townspeople or farmers, we stopped passing the plate during church services, for we had some real poor people and some well to do, so we left the offerring plates in the back of the sanctuary and people could drop their love offerrings there. We stopped sending the percentage of money to the "district" and used all available money after the "bills" were paid and gave it to the poor - bought fuel oil and hot water heaters and clothing or shoes for the people in need. The church started filling up with rich people and poor people, educated and illiterate. In that little home mission church that had no air conditioning, bees flying around , smelly kids sometime sitting next to cultured people, GOD started moving, the song services were ALIVE, people were getting SAVED, pews filled up and then GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT started to SIGNATURE these Sunday services with HIS OVERWHELMING LOVE, we went for about 8 months of pure revival, people were filled with HIS PRESENCE, they would leave services and tell their families, people in jails, townspeople, many sickness were healed (and we never had a healing service). This went on for 8 months , word got out to the distict and we became the buzz. The district said Bob, our records show U have not had an evangelist come up there yet, we want to send one to U , so schedule one soon if U would. I felt we didn't need an evangelist as GOD was doing HIS THING SO WELL. I was pressured somewhat to do it -- we did. The revival services were so so - something was lacking , we finished up the "revival" week. After that our weekly services never were the same, same preaching on my part but that "SPECIALNESS" that was SIGNATURE of HIS WORKING in our services was not the same. GOD WAS DOING A SPECIAL WORK, and we put the hand of flesh on it, we had called in "MAN" to stir us up to have "revival" WHEN WE WERE ALREADY IN REVIVAL FOR 8 MONTHS. We put the hand of FLESH on HIS DIVINE WORK. If God is working, sit, listen, absorb, appreciate, share , bless but don't put your ego in there, or say, we are having a "special" speaker this week, lol -- WE HAD A SPECIAL SPEAKER FOR 8 MONTHS -- What brought revival to that little church , was God's method of winning the lost, Godly love and sacrifice, using the money to reach the needs of the poor among us. "A memory from a yesteryear" -- passing-thru
2 comments:
We are a poor and needy people. So caught up in what "man" can do rather than what God IS doing. It looks to me like you learned a very valuable lesson.
Yes indeed , the thing was, I didn't want some evangelist coming in for I knew what God was doing for us already - The district was trying to "keep me in a box" - I stopped giving money to the district and was drawn on the carpet for that ( I told them, I have poor people, some with no shoes or hot water heaters or fuel , and I wasn't going to give what little money came in to support their "big money projects" when they had big well to do city churches. plus they were afraid of "wild fire" with the charismatic movement in the 70's - so I didn't create the problem but was sure the butt end of it - lol -- Claire, it was amazing , week after week to see God working in the service , during the song service alone, people would weep, go to the altar( a rail set up across the front) strangers were drawn to the church, we would have people driving 100 miles one way to the services, became the buzz of the district - Then we had Man put his mark on what God was already doing -- some of those memories embittered me -- "a lifetime ago"
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