"Then I Will Accept You"

Today I was reading in Ezekiel 43 and in verses 18-27 God instructs Ezekiel on how sacrifices should be made. The Lord goes into great detail and describes each step down to the smallest degree. But what I was really impressed with was the statement made at the end of God's instructions. After all of those details and requirements, the end of verse 27 says: '"Then I will accept you," declares the Sovereign Lord.'

Isn't the New Covenant glorious! We no longer are labored will all of these duties, all of these rituals that have to be performed just right, down to the smallest, most intricate detail. Any action that God has required, He has required of His Son, and we are counted as righteous! How amazing that God now accepts us, not on our own merits, for we have none, but on the merits of one who lived in sinless perfection, died to pay our penalty, and rose in victory.

"For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant." Hebrews 9:15

Revival in the Congo

A friend of mine recently sent me this copy of an interview with Dr. Helen Roseveare, an English medical missionary to the Congo from 1953-1973. This interview provides accounts of the revival that took place in the Congo during her years of service there. I found it increadibly encouraging and hope that you will also find it a blessing.

What was your background before you went to Africa? I was saved when I was a medical student - I wasn't very bright, so medicine was a real slog! I did no reading apart from my Bible and the next thing I knew I was out on the mission field! I was a good solid Anglican type, totally unprepared for the revival that came.
What led up to the Congo revival? Basically, years of committed prayer that became increasingly desperate. Both senior local pastors and missionaries had been praying regularly with a real burden.
What can you remember of the first experiences you had of revival power? The first day revival came to Ibambi, the actual building shook. We were sitting in the Bible School hall. It was seven o'clock on a Friday night. Jack Scholes, our field leader, had just come back from a trip in the south and he had seen revival down there. He stood up to speak about the revival and started to read from scriptures. Suddenly we heard a hurricane storm. It was frightening!
And not what you expected? No! None of us stopped to think that this was strange because you don't get hurricane storms in July (we have them in February or March). We heard this hurricane coming and the elders began to take the shutters down - the shutters are not very strong and fall in and can hurt people. We looked out and it was moonlight and the palm trees were standing absolutely still against the moonlit sky. It should have been pitch-black and stormy. Then the building shook and the storm lanterns down the centre of the building moved around. There was a terrific noise and a sense of external power around. We were all frightened - there must have been about five whites and 95 Africans present. You could sense fear all around.
How did you respond? Jack stood at the front and said to us - "This is of God, just pray - don't fear and don't interfere." It was as if a force came in and we were shaking. There was no way you could control it and some were thrown to the ground off the benches as if someone had hurled them down! But no one was hurt. Everyone ceased to be conscious of anyone else.
What was the strongest sense you had around you at the time? Conviction of sin. People began to confess publicly what you might call 'big sin' (and these were all Christians). They spoke of adultery, cheating, stealing, deceit. One friend, whom I thought too good to be true, was crying out to God for mercy and confessing her sins. I couldn't imagine she'd done anything wrong!
Sounds amazing! How long did all this go on? We didn't leave the hall that whole weekend! Most of the time God was dealing with our sins. Some needed help from the pastors who moved around with much wisdom and encouragement. Then joy struck the repentant sinners and the pastors moved on. It was remarkable what discernment was given to these uneducated pastors. I remember they discerned that one lady's confession wasn't real and they urged her to confess what was really inside.
Anything else to note about the revival moving of power as God's work continued? Yes! There were amazing visions from people which were often based on Old Testament scriptures - even though they didn't have the Old Testament! I remember one woman standing up with her arms upraised and her face radiant, talking about wheels within wheels and eyes within the wheels and patterns and above it all a great rainbow. It was straight out of Ezekiel. She spoke of the glory and began weeping when she said she saw the glory was in the midst of the Bible School and then it went out of the hall, across the courtyard and into the forest. She broke down, crying, "It's because of our sin, our sin!"
How did you feel about this? The white people just sat back and watched at first and the Bible School students held back. It was all right for the village people, but not for us! But God broke into the Bible School. We were soon broken down as well.
It was irresistible! Yes! There were also amazing visions of hell and people would break down weeping because of unsaved relatives. They carried exhausting prayer burdens. What started off as a ten minute prayer meeting lasted three hours. We didn't discuss anything, we spoke with God. There were waves of outpoured prayer. Some went off at 4am on one occasion and walked twelve miles to a village, compelled by the Holy Spirit, to share the gospel. Many were saved as a result.
Did the revival continue after those early days of God's powerful presence? Yes, it was amazing. In the years following the initial work, revival blessing came in waves. But I still wasn't being revived myself! I was frantic - there was a coldness in my heart. I was saying the right things, doing the right things and being the right things, but somehow I was outside all that was happening.
So how did that change? I spent a long weekend crying out to God. There was little of victory in my life. I was frustrated, hurt and empty, knowing the right answers but getting nowhere. On the Saturday night I went to one of the pastors and his wife and said, "Please help me!" His response was clear although he was very gentle - "We can see so much Helen and we can't see Jesus. Everything revolves around your vision, your work, what you will do." I knew he was right. That was all he said, but somehow Jesus was there. I spent the following ten days in the presence of the Lord, broken. It was wonderful.
What else was special about the effect of God's workings in those days? One example. There were a number of what we called 'fixations'. During the rebellion of 1964, three rebel soldiers came to my house. The middle soldier was the commander and the one on the right had a spear and the other one had a gun slung over his shoulder.

They demanded money from me and when I refused, they got mad and the commander told the one on the right to strike me down. He raised his spear to drive it through me and I just put up an arm to ward off the blow.

Suddenly I realised that nothing had happened. The man's arm was raised and he was standing there a yard away from me with real hatred in his eyes - I've never seen such hatred, wanting to kill me. But he was rooted to the ground and couldn't move! The three were 'fixed' to the spot.
I said to them that my God in me is greater than their god in them. I then backed through the door and crumpled in a heap. But I pulled myself together and made them coffee and took them some John's gospels and talked to them about Jesus. They listened and then left.

And there were other miraculous signs and wonders? Yes. I remember one time I was visiting the sick wife of one of the evangelists. I was driving through a dirt track and came to the top of a hill and then suddenly saw this forest fire.

The fire was at the village where we were going and it lit up the whole sky. We walked the last few miles but as we got closer I was struck that there was no noise! That was strange. Forest fires have an enormous roar, louder than a plane.

As we got closer there was also no heat! As we entered the village one house was ablaze which was the pastor's house - but there were no people about. Again that was strange because everyone would have been out to beat the fire.

Suddenly, there was this terrifying sense of awe. We went into the 'blazing' house with flames everywhere but nothing was burned. The people inside were praising the Lord as the pastor's wife had died and gone to be with Jesus. The Shekinah glory had truly come down on them.

How did the rebellion in 1964 affect the movings of the Spirit? The rebellion came twelve years after the revival first hit us. It was a terrible and appalling time when a quarter of a million people were murdered out of a population of 15 million. Many of them were Christians. The revival made us ready for all this and carried us through the suffering. We didn't mind what happened to us because our hearts were so rooted in Jesus.
What do you feel caused the fervour of revival fire to cool down? I think over the years the effect of western materialism was damaging. We lived a very simple lifestyle. All the money that came to me as gift money I divided equally between the team - it made no difference whether it was my house boy who cleaned the house and cooked my meals or me who did the surgery and cared for the women having their babies or the motor mechanic who kept the ambulance. We were totally equal servants. But when they got radios they found out how the rest of the world lived and wanted more. Also, salaries with differential scales came in with independence.
Any big lessons for us to learn out of all this remarkable visitation of God? You can't live forever on the mountain top. You have to come down into the valley to do the work. You must never look back on the blessing - you must always look on. We contain the treasure of the Lord Jesus. It doesn't matter about the beautiful thin china ware or the cracked old earthen pot - what matters is the treasure within. The key thing is that God and God alone is glorified.

In a recent conversation with Jesus Life, Helen Roseveare added these few reflections on the revival, 40 years on:

• "The revival was wonderful: I hope that I still live in the joy of it and that it burns for ever in me. It's true that the manifestations were there, even that they shocked us and changed us. But the lasting effect of revival was not to make us seek for more manifestations, but, rather, a deep desire for a holy life.
• "Revival gave us all an urgent desire for, a hunger to seek the fruit of the Spirit (rather than merely manifestations). The Spirit taught us to be more gentle, more patient, less judgemental. He worked in us a deep desire to manifest the fruit (Gal. 5:22) in our lives, and so to be more like Jesus. The gifts, in comparison, were a bit on the periphery."

Power and Majesty

"To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One. "Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing." Isaiah 40:25-26

The Underlying Theme

A little while ago Bob Jennings mentioned in a sermon something on how the scripture seems to just tie into itself time and time again. There are hundreds of examples I'm sure, but he specifically pointed out a pattern found in the life of Christ that relates back to the Old Testament. He talked about how the fall of man took place in a garden (Genesis chapter 3), Jesus was often found praying in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives (Luke 22:39), Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane (John 18:1), and Jesus was both crucified and buried in a garden (John 19:41). All of this just served to remind me that over the whole course of scripture the Bible points to one thing. From all of the laws of the Old Testament, to the gospels, and onward into the amazing truths found in the book of Hebrews, the underlying theme points to the work that Christ accomplished on the cross. Glorious redemption for a race of sinful, undeserving men! I wonder how old Jesus was when he realized that his own life was pointing towards the same thing that all of scripture points to--the Cross.

The Widow's Oil

Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD; and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves." Elisha said to her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" And she said, "Your maidservant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil." Then he said, "Go, borrow vessels at large for yourself from all your neighbors, even empty vessels; do not get a few. And you shall go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour out into all these vessels, and you shall set aside what is full." So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons; they were bringing the vessels to her and she poured. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another vessel." And he said to her, "There is not one vessel more." And the oil stopped. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons can live on the rest." 2nd Kings 4:1-7

I was reminded of this passage today and how gracious God is to those in need. This widow had a debt that she could not pay and she was becoming desperate. All she had left were her sons, who were about to be taken from her, and a tiny jar of oil. I think it is to her credit that she carried out the instructions that Elisha gave her, because to me they would have seemed rather odd. But in faith, she did as she was told and God richly blessed her! He supplied all of her needs, even beyond what she needed because Elisha tells her that after paying off her debt she and her family would have enough to live on. This widow was placed in a position of total reliance upon God, and He was faithful to meet all of her needs. Why do we doubt Him when he is "able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think?"

Streams in the Desert, December 10

Once I heard a song of sweetness,
As it filled the morning air,
Sounding in its blest completeness,
Like a tender, pleading prayer;
And I sought to find the singer,
Where the wondrous song was borne;
And I found a bird, quite wounded,
Pinned down by a cruel thorn.

I have seen a soul in sadness,
While its wings with pain were furled,
Giving hope, and cheer, and gladness
That should bless a weeping world;
And I knew that life of sweetness,
Was of pain and sorrow borne,
And a stricken soul was singing,
With its heart against a thorn.

You are told of One who loved you,
Of a Savior crucified,
You are told of nails that held Him,
And a spear that pierced His side;
You are told of cruel scourging,
Of a Savior bearing scorn,
And He died for your salvation,
With His brow against a thorn.

You "are not above the Master."
Will you breathe a sweet refrain?
And His grace will be sufficient,
When your heart is pierced with pain.
Will you live to bless His loved ones,
Though your life be bruised and torn,
Like the bird that sang so sweetly,
With its heart against a thorn?

~Author Unknown

Fearfully, Wonderfully Made

"You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:13-16

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart..." Jeremiah 1:5

"For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him." Colossians 1:16

The Rocks Will Cry Out

"As soon as [Jesus] was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, shouting: "BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." But Jesus answered, "I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!" Luke 19:37-40

The Person of Christ

I came across this picture on the internet and thought it was a really good reminder of the person of Christ. How amazing that He can be two things that are so very different!

"Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29

"Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome..." Revelation 5:5

"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." Revelation 5:12

The King of Love, My Shepherd Is

The King of love my shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never.
I nothing lack if I am His,
And He is mine forever.

Where streams of living water flow,
My ransomed soul He leadeth;
And where the verdant pastures grow,
With food celestial feedeth.

Perverse and foolish, oft I strayed,
But yet in love He sought me;
And on His shoulder gently laid,
And home, rejoicing, brought me.

In death's dark vale I fear no ill,
With thee, dear Lord, beside me;
Thy rod and staff my comfort still,
Thy cross before to guide me.

Thou spreadst a table in my sight;
Thy unction grace bestoweth;
And oh, what transport of delight
From Thy pure chalice floweth!

And so through all the length of days,
Thy goodness faileth never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing Thy praise
Within Thy house forever.

~An Irish hymn by Henry W. Baker

Every Promise Fulfilled

"I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." Genesis 9:13-16

"God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?" Numbers 23:19

"...You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed." Joshua 23:14

What a comfort that we can lean on His promises forever and not one of them will fail!

"They Did Not Thirst..."

"They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and water gushed out." Isaiah 48:21




While God did use water from the rock as a literal way to meet the needs of Israel, God continues to provide for His people in a more spiritual sense also. I've always found this verse to be very encouraging, because the desert is a perfect picture of some of the seasons that a Christian goes through. There are periods where each Christian may feel dry, not seem to experience much growth, and may get discouraged. But even though the season feels dry, the Christian does not wither. That's because he is rooted in the Lord, and his strength comes from a source that is deeper than himself! "He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither..." Psalm 1:3 The Christian is sustained through all things and eventually there comes an end to the dry season. How did God end the dry season for the Israelites? It says that water "gushed out" of the rock. This wasn't a trickle, or a little puddle. Their thirst was quenched and their needs met in an abundance! "...and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there will be showers of blessing." Ezekiel 34:26 Not only that, but look at where the water came from--it came from the rock, which is often used to symbolize Christ. Any time there is a need met we should always remember the source, which is Christ. "And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19