From the Pastor’s Desk

Sunday, September 20, 2020

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church to Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever, Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)

During the Great Awakenings, Puritans spoke of revival as “the manifest presence of Christ.” Prayer for revival is an invitation to this — to something wonderfully beyond “God’s essential presence.” (that is, He is always with us), and beyond His “cultivated” presence (that is, as the believer grows to know and walk with God daily).

The apostle Paul prayed for believers to know that order of reformation or revival that brings about an intensification of the presence and power of Jesus Christ.

Paul asked that the Holy Spirit to deepen His work in their lives in three ways: 1) that Christ would dwell — more literally, to be at home in their hearts by faith and that He would move from being as acquaintance to being the center of their church family; 2) that they would grasp God’s love at a spiritual level, beyond intellectual or theological knowledge; and 3) that they would be filled with God’s fullness; that is, that the Holy Spirit would reveal the things of Christ more fully, achieving God’s fuller work in each life — unhindered, unquenched and ungrieved.

This is my prayer — for me and for each of you. May you be fully aware to the fullness of the Holy Spirit in each day of your lives.

You are loved, Pastor Don