Carriers

 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all  Acts 4:33....."I pray that God will send us a man out of the fire." A.W. Tozer

My heart's desire is to see the prayer of Tozer realized in our day. I think it may well be happening. The Holy Spirit fire that has been falling at Asbury College for more than two weeks seems to be spreading outward. God is sending men, and women, and the young and the old, out of the fire and into the dryness that has been the church. They have encountered a God, a Savior, a Holy Spirit that they never really knew and are going to a church that has had such an imperfect knowledge of them as well. They are filled with Spirit fire and I can only pray that the fire will spread. Spread to the church, and then through the church, to the surrounding culture. Not just in this nation, but in all the nations.

Author John Eldredge said in one of his books, "I want to see Jesus. The real Jesus." I think, among the many thousands that have been a part of the Asbury Outpouring, that has been the result. They've "seen" Jesus. The real Jesus.  And as Sandy Patti's classic song goes, "Nothing will be the same anymore." 

Some years back, I read a Larry Crabb book entitled, "Real Church: Does It Exist? Can I Find It?" It detailed the large number of not only church members, but pastors and leaders who have grown bored and disillusioned with what they were experiencing, or better put, not experiencing in what they called "worship." There was a mundane sameness to all of it. They were meeting in the name of a Savior who didn't seem to be very much present with them. They were talking about Him. Singing about Him, but they were not encountering Him. As the Bible recounts concerning the people of Israel and their drifting from God, "leanness entered their souls." I fear that same leanness has entered into the souls of too many and into the soul and heart of His church itself. Thus our desperate need for Carriers of His Fire.

The internet has made this move of God available in ways that no previous outpouring could. Millions have watched, and not merely watched, but been swept up by the Spirit that they saw so present in the midst of those who were at Asbury. Prayer groups and worship gatherings are spontaneously springing up everywhere, and in some very unlikely places. Walls are coming down. Differences are being resolved. Reconciliations are taking place. His love, peace, and joy are being described as the central fruit of what is happening. Where once having people willing to stay much beyond 60 minutes in a church service, people are lingering for hours on end, singing, praying, soaking in His presence. They don't want to leave.

I think most who would describe themselves as regular church goers would say that they know pretty clearly what to expect at this Sunday's worship in their church. That's a problem. There is little if any expectation of His presence being anything but ordinary. In fact, His presence is mostly taken for granted, and they, we, have no way of "proving" that He was even there. Into such the voices and carriers of fire must come. The need is desperate.

The first century church depicted in Acts set a fire that spread through the known world. Though the winds never ceased, they have surely slowed to a crawl, at least here in America. May it be that all those who've been impacted in any way by what has happened at Asbury, be carriers of His fire. Sent out from the fire to be used by Him to set fire to His church, and through His church, the world to which they've been sent. Scripture says that our God is a consuming fire. May He consume us. All of us. Come Holy Spirit.....we need you.

Blessings,
Pastor O