Recent events at Asbury University have raised questions: At what point do we label something revival? Is it simply that large numbers of people gather because of reports that God is touching lives? Or are other things necessary? Social Media causes reports to go viral as soon as crowds descend on a place for more […]
Chemical tests are helpful but the results are sometimes unwelcome. Sodium rhodizonate is an example. When it is applied to something containing lead, like older paints, it turns red—helpful to know, because it warns of poison, but potentially expensive to fix. There’s a reaction when Jesus and religion make contact too. It happened with one […]
Nothing can stop the Lord answering those who cry out to Him sincerely. Psalm 130 begins with an anguished cry for the Lord to meet some deep request; it ends with unswerving hope. Sin might separate us for a while but repentance breaks the power of iniquity (straying from or twisting the abundant life that […]
As a teenager, I spent Saturdays working on a family vegetable farm—cutting lettuce, wrapping radishes, digging potatoes. There was always a morning tea break. Everyone headed down to the farmhouse and the farmer’s wife served tea . . . and, sometimes, amazing chocolate digestive biscuits! (You should try them.) Sometimes the farmer fell asleep for […]
Luke chapter fifteen contains a set of three parables about rejoicing. The first two have three important elements: something lost, a loser, and a celebration when the loser finds the lost. Jesus asks the men and women listening to imagine that they have each lost a sheep or a coin. When they find it they […]
A glorious sunrise or sunset includes several ingredients apart from the sun. It usually features an interesting foreground of rocks, plants, or wave patterns. Often the scene is of a stunning vista. In the most beautiful, sunlight bursts through clouds. Spiritual revival comes like a sunrise. Every revival is a unique combination of the sun […]
Spiritual revival on a large scale or as an individual usually follows a pattern. The revival under Judah’s King Hezekiah is typical: Hezekiah opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them into the square on the east. Then he said to […]