Your Voice

Yearning for something fresh from God

By Rick Lance
Executive director, State Board of Missions

I was blessed recently to hear Bill Elliff speak on the subjects of prayer, revival and spiritual awakening.

I was touched by his passion for something fresh from God to move in the lives of believers and in our churches.

While he spoke, I began to do a spiritual audit of my life. I began asking questions which convicted me and humbled me. I share these thoughts while praying they may be of help to you.

I asked myself, “Have I been seriously and passionately praying for something fresh from God in my life? Have I been praying for a spiritual awakening in our time?”

These and other questions flowed through my mind and heart.

I must confess with all our cultural challenges and with our seemingly apathetic attitude toward the things of God I felt as though I had abandoned my post in praying earnestly for God to do something fresh among us.

I began rereading a biography of George Whitefield. Here was a man used so mightily by God in his day. He was a contemporary of John and Charles Wesley, both of whom influenced his ministry in so many ways.

Whitefield began praying for God to do something fresh in his life. He prayed for his country Great Britain where he seemed to fan the flames of a Great Awakening. Later he crossed the Atlantic, and he had the same effect on the American colonies.

Some believe Whitefield had a huge impact on the thinking of the Founding Fathers. Undeniably, Whitefield traveled the colonies preaching the Word and seeing God at work in the lives of people.

My heart has been warmed, strangely warmed, as John Wesley would say, but this heartwarming experience is a yearning for true revival among our people. This is so refreshing to my soul.

The situation is desperate. Evil is having a field day in our world, in our country and where we live as well. There seems to be a pandemic of evil causing all kinds of predictable problems.

Prayerful request

The answer is for us to pray earnestly for a fresh wind of God’s Spirit among us. This is not a call for a new program but a plea for us to have extraordinary hunger and thirst for God to move among us.

Let’s do our part and pray. Let’s make this a priority in our lives. This may be the opportune moment for God to do something fresh in our lives and in the lives of others.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Find more articles on evangelism, church revitalization and other ministry topics at alsbom.org/blog.

The rewards of praying Scripture

I love to pray Scripture, and not only the prayers found in Scripture. I love praying many different portions of Scripture. …

When prayed, Scripture comes alive and takes on a more personal significance.

Praying Scripture is simply taking God’s word — what was written by His Holy Spirit through His servants — and applying it to what is going on in my life.

Sometimes those prayers are soothing and comforting. Other times those prayers are strengthening and encouraging. Still there are other times when those prayers are sobering and even convicting.

Not all Scripture is easy to pray. But it is all revitalizing and replenishing. Will you look at Scripture differently after reading this? Will you begin to pray Scripture daily? It will change your life.

George Yates, Church health strategist
Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions

The value of a good reputation

Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” (Ruth 2:10b).

Ruth did not expect favor. She was a needy widow and a foreigner in a stranger’s field.

Ruth does expect favor to have a motive. The favor she experiences is not common or general, but instead it is directed toward her specifically.

Ruth’s life has been fully reported to Boaz: “All that you (Ruth) have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me,” he said in verse 11.

Her full story is common knowledge, not only the hardships she has faced but also her faithfulness to Naomi and her willingness to leave behind her family and land — everything familiar — to help Naomi.

Ruth exchanged her native existence for an unknown one with Naomi. She had a reputation as a hardworking, generous, sacrificial and moral person.

Application

Ruth’s reputation motivated Boaz’s favor toward her.

Reputation influences a person’s generosity and how they receive your words.

Ask others to write down your reputation for you to read after they have left.

• What did you learn about yourself? What parts of your reputation are weak or strong?
• What kind of favor might a reputation like yours prompt?
• What do you need to do to make your reputation more like Christ’s reputation?

God sent Jesus Christ to be an earthly example of His grace and compassion. Strive for Christlikeness in all you do.

Kevin Parker, Editor
Baptist New Mexican and GoBNM.com
From the “Tiny Sermons” series

No matter what you have done. No matter how far you have drifted. No matter how many times you have danced with the devil, there is hope for you.

Don’t buy into the lie that there is no hope for you, wayward child. The cross of Calvary says otherwise.

“The Lord says, ‘Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever’” (Hos. 14:4).

Read it again: HIS LOVE KNOWS NO BOUNDS.

Kevin Blackwell via Facebook

An orphaned child of God is left to fall into great danger. Therefore, it takes the family of God to raise a healthy child of God. So, please, don’t uncouple evangelism from discipleship within a loving church family.

Daniel Wilson, Director of evangelism
Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions

Our children are watching our habits and routines. Change starts with us.

Aamie Mason
Licensed associate counselor with Living Well Counseling in Little Rock, Arkansas

I’m just thankful for the path that I’ve been on. … God is just so good.

Cooper Kupp
Most Valuable Player, Super Bowl LVI

Everyone is doing theology. Some of us are conscious of it, and others are not. Some theology is done well, and some is done poorly. Everyone has something to say about God, so as Christians, why not make it our aim to say things that are good, right and true about Him to the best of our finite abilities?

Jess Leslie
The-Scroll.com

A teenager who begins to protest going to church may not be rebellious. He may be revealing that relationships at church are becoming so weak they do not draw him there. Teenagers live so much in the present that it does not take many scattered absences from church for them to begin feeling distant from leaders and peers. A teenager’s complaint about attending on Sundays may be the logical consequence of family decisions to miss now and then.

Chris Shirley
“Family Ministry and The Church”

Unlike happiness, joy comes from deep within and is not based on the uncertain circumstances of the moment.

You can have joy in the midst of extremely difficult life experiences, not because of what you do but because Jesus is the One that gives internal joy.

Adrianna Anderson, Director of women’s ministry
Hunter Street Baptist Church, Hoover, Ala.

Sometimes relationships are helped by what you do not say.

Pastor Gary Burton
Pintlala Baptist Church

From the Twitterverse

@pastorjaycbc
God wants you to know the gospel, believe the gospel, obey the gospel, be transformed by the gospel and live to proclaim the gospel.

@GreggMatte
When it comes to friendship, four quarters is better than 100 pennies.

@GregMathias
In talking to a church planter … they spoke about the set times they pray memorized Scripture to combat their fears. The spiritual battle is real. Prayerlessness is not a viable option.

@shane_pruitt78
Sadly, a lot of #exvangelicals have allowed bad experiences, instead of a good gospel, to shape their views of Christianity.

@CatherineRenfro
Rarely do I struggle to find words, but when it comes to planting @HopeChurchJC, I do.

I’m simply in awe of the power and presence of Jesus. I couldn’t be more thankful for Him, this faith family, the community we get to serve and those we get to serve with. #OnlyJesus

@kswhitfield
Political judgments are part of living in a social reality. But for those judgments to be Christ honoring they have to meet a certain criteria.

When they don’t reach that bar, those judgments arise from a culture that opposes Him and not a culture that He inhabits (Eph. 4:20–24).

@drtonywolfe
The gospel doesn’t need to be polished; it just needs to be presented.

It doesn’t need a dynamic messenger; just a faithful one.

@Bezner
The day I stopped trying to become a “thing” in the Christian world and instead decided to serve Jesus wherever the Spirit led was the day my ministry actually began. Burn your ambition.

@BurkParsons
Don’t believe everything you feel. Our emotions are the greatest liars we know. Preach the truth to your emotions, and the truth will begin to change your emotions by the power of the Spirit.

@nathanafinn
Sometimes … in a worship service, I see teenage boys who appear to be bored and uninterested.

More often than not, they are sitting with unengaged fathers who never open their Bibles and refuse to sing. Dads, be the spiritual leader you want your sons to one day become.

@matalexander
When I was younger I felt like churches were generally unhealthy and I felt a sense of respite and hope in broader Christian culture.

Now I feel like broader Christian culture is so unhealthy that I’m remarkably glad for the respite and hope I find in the life of my church.

@davidjeremiah
Salvation is a mystery that can be experienced though not totally understood.