As I read a word from Leonard Ravenhill, two concerns began to stir in my soul. One was his insight that all it took for a great man of God to fall, Samson, was for him to sleep.
And then I think about how the church today has fallen asleep. We have cried out to God for a generation for the church to awaken in America. For Samson, when he rose from his slumber, he had no power. The Lord had left him and thus his strength was gone. If and when the church awakens, will we know Pentecost or prison?
The other thought came from the end of Ravenhill's article, regarding how Rees Howell had little money to start a Bible school in Wales. From a few schillings in his pocket, however, he received enough money to launch the school and see it become a mighty force for God.
People marveled at what God had done. Yet, his wife reminded Ravenhill that Rees had prayed 12 hours a day for 11 months before the funds came in.
I marvel at Rees Howell—this giant man of God—and ponder who can pray 12 hours a day. Where does the love, the discipline, the perseverance come from to spend such hours of devotion before God?
What a contrast to Samson, an undisciplined mighty man of God, who squandered his call in sinful living, stripped of his strength, blinded and enslaved by his enemies. Yet, he humbly repented in the end and fulfilled his destiny in his death.
In exploring these two men of contrast, I wondered about the church in America. Are we so drowning in a sea of sin that we are blind to our spiritual slumber like Samson? Few seem to have a love for Jesus, aflame with the passion of a Rees Howell for God. We are more like Samson—caught up in the pleasures of our lusts—than devoted to Christ.
I was told in seminary that the three great temptations I would face would be sex, money and power. My teachers were right. Yet, we appear to have little defense against these spirits in the church. We are lulled asleep in our sins. We are desensitized to the demons that enslave us.
The cry to awaken has been silenced by ears that cannot hear. We continue along like Samson, deaf to the Spirit's conviction; or like Esau, selling our birthright for a pot of stew. I hear the rationalization for our sins; they are under the blood!
Christ called us to reign with Him as priests and kings, to rule with dominion and power, to trample scorpions and walk as conquerors in the love of God. Yet, we settle for mediocrity and waste our time in sinful living instead of doing battle in the power of the Spirit.
What will it take to awaken us from our slumber? What will we need when we do arise and find ourselves shorn of our power and surrounded by enemies?
Perhaps, we have already awakened because of the prayers of so many faithful saints, and are now blind, naked and enslaved, grinding away like a donkey at the millstone. May the Spirit of God give us new vision for living as Jesus gave the blind new sight to see.
May we humble ourselves and rediscover our destiny in Christ to boldly proclaim Jesus as the only hope of the human race, call nations to repent and believe, and then make disciples of these nations.
In death, did Samson become a Rees Howell for his generation? Only in divine conviction can we die to self and receive a new heart, circumcised by the Spirit to live for Christ alone. Only then can we come forth from our tomb to finish the work of Christ and prepare a world and a church dead in sin for the return of our Savior.
May a love for Jesus grip our hearts and souls so strong and powerful that we will not slumber nor go off after foolish oil to fill our lamps but remain faithful and ready until the bridegroom comes. O may God do in my heart and in our heart as He did in Rees Howell's.
Blake Lorenz is the founder of Blake Lorenz Evangelistic Ministries in Orlando, Florida. He is also the pastor at Encounter Church in Orlando and travels the world as an evangelist and missionary.
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