Day 10
Today…encouraging words from Henrietta Mears, original member of the Fellowship of the Burning Hearts (1947-49)!
Prayer: To spend 30 minutes a day with God for 21 Days…During the third summer of meetings with college students at Forest Home in southern California (called Summer Briefing), Henrietta Mears invited little known YFC evangelist, Billy Graham to speak to the students. He, at the time was struggling with the authority of the Bible as God’s Word. Billy was to speak in a morning session, and Dr. Edwin Orr would speak in the evening service about the Holy Spirit. At a speaker’s meeting, Billy divulged his struggle to Henrietta and Dr. Orr. They encouraged him to preach each day…by midweek Billy came to an impasse and asked Dr. Orr to pray for him. In her life story, Dream Big, it is recorded that they prayed together “about a complete surrender to God and the infilling of the Holy Spirit.” That night, Billy Graham went out into the woods, knelt by a stump and prayed, “Lord, many things in this Book I do not understand…Here and now I accept the Bible as Thy Word. I take it all. I take it without reservation….If this pleases Thee, give me the authority as I proclaim Thy Word and through that authority convict me of sin and turn sinner to the Savior.” The next message was preached and received with such authority that 400 students responded to the invitation. In Dream Big (Henrietta Mears’ life story) it says, “This experience at Forest Home transformed Billy Graham’s entire ministry, according to his own testimony. He launched into his September Los Angeles crusade…and 1000’s attended and hundreds were converted…overnight Billy Graham’s name became a household word.” This experience, by his own admission, was a turning point in Billy Graham’s life.
I encourage you to head out to the fields, a tree stump, a river bed, the woods, a vista bridge, a landmark…and have a no-turning back conversation with God today. He’s waiting. He is looking for…needs…this generation’s Henrietta Mears and Billy Graham.
Purity: To keep your eyes and actions pure during this 21 Days of Personal Revival. Under Henrietta’s ministry, over 400 students went into full time leadership for the Lord. In her biography is it is recorded, “she always stressed that leadership begins with Christ. No matter how brilliant a youth may be, he (or she) must experience the regenerating power of the resurrected Christ before his (or her) real potential can be liberated. Absolute surrender to the influence of the Holy Spirit was cardinal factor in Henrietta’s own life and in her training of others.”
Submission to the person and power of the Holy Spirit in each of our lives will reveal more, convict more, comfort more, inspire more, move more mountains and create more affection between you and God than any other daily activity.
Purpose: To bring one person to Christ during this 21 One Day Personal Revival—to actively share and pray for lost. Mears said, “If you place people in an atmosphere where they feel close to God and then challenge them with His Word, they will make decisions.”
My thought? People will feel as close to God around you…as you feel close to God. Bring His life-changing Word into your conversations and ask them to make decisions. I truly think that most people want to change…they just don’t know where to begin or how to do it. Simple faith, discussions about the truth found in His Word, and the supernatural presence of His Holy Spirit changes lives!