Greetings to you in the wonderful, beautiful, and powerful name of Jesus Christ – THE Risen Savior! What a beautiful late autumn morning in the Kingdom! This morning we declare that this is the day that the Lord has made…and we will rejoice and be glad in it! I trust that you have had a good week and are enjoying each blessings that God gives you. This morning I will be praying for you, asking Father to release his wrap-around presence that will bring healing, shalom-peace, mercy, and ‘amazing grace’…may you experience his divine providence in ways that will make you smile.
This morning a line in an email caught my attention…”When God’s presence draws near, everything changes”! Now I did not go on to read the article, it made me think. I have been noticing how many of our traditional Advent and Christmas hymns either directly reference or allude to the state of the world. You know the lines…”the hopes and fears of all the years – in sin and error pining..in the dark streets…in a world of sin.” And then all the positive responses of peace and joy and hope and love…because Emmanuel had come…God with us, God coming near.
Over the years I have been interested in those moments when God came near…we’ll call them revivals. This morning I read of the great meeting in a place called “Blaenenerch” – a small community in Wales, where on September 29th, 1904, God came near and touched the heart of Evan Roberts. Roberts was praying…”Bend me, O God” – to You and your will. Then some forty years later came the revival in Scotland at Berneray…and then again some forty years or so later to the Jesus people movement in USA. Now we are forty years or so from that moment…and maybe God wants to draw near to his people – in a world that is in darkness, disarray, and ‘in sin and error pining’.
Perhaps our prayer needs to include a desire to be “bent” to the Lord’s will and purpose. Maybe God will re-introduce Emmanuel. Maybe He sees that it is time for a “change”!
something to think about – have a good day