A Presbyterian evangelist named Charles G. Finney, who lived from 1792-1875, successfully popularized the altar call. Finney referred to the altar call as coming to the “anxious seat” or to the “inquiry room,” and began using it in his evangelistic services in about 1820. Evangelist D.L. Moody took Finney’s altar call and refined it, and in turn it was passed on to its modern champion, Billy Graham.
In Finney’s time, most denominations were not preaching a gospel that allowed you to publicly call on the name of the Lord for your conversion to Christ. They were preaching a gospel of predestination, which said you were predestined to be born again so you would eventually find Christ on your own.
Finney was willing to challenge the status quo, and he preached his emotional messages with altar calls in all the churches. Of course, he was highly criticized for challenging the accepted Christian theology of the day. He faced many difficulties because the religious hierarchy didn’t believe you could stand up on the platform and call the people down front and have them call on the name of the Lord to be saved. Yet, undeniably his preaching ushered in one of the greatest revivals ever experienced on the North American continent.
To comprehend our position on miracles, like Charles Finney, we must challenge the broad understanding that it is ok to ask Jesus into your heart, but not ok to ask Him into your heart and expect healing at the same time!
If you think you’re working for a person, then you’re allowing a person to hold back your potential. You could easily slip into destructive attitudes of doing only what is necessary instead of what is right. You could end up being a men-pleaser or a clock-watcher. This creates mediocrity, and mediocrity is not rewarded with promotion, increase or new opportunity.
There is no average person in the Kingdom of God. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead now dwells in you with His resurrection life force inspiring and directing (Romans 8:11 paraphrased).
In God’s eyes you were destined for success the moment you became born again!
Industrious work is essential to self-esteem and dignity. Several years ago we were ministering in Brazzaville, Congo, preparing for a national leadership conference and crusade. At that time the unemployment rate was 95 percent. The Congo had just experienced ten years of civil war and no building was untouched by mortar fire. No family was untouched by bullet or tragedy. They were in total need.
We laid out our strategy for the upcoming meetings and told them that they would partner in this event. They would pay for it. At first they resisted such an idea. No evangelist had ever said that before! No one in the country had ever paid for a foreigner’s event, especially a preacher from rich America. With gentle persuasion we challenged them to take this responsibility, encouraging them that they were able.
At the end of the crusade, after experiencing crowds reaching over fifty thousand, the leaders came to us saying, “Thank you so much for pushing us to sponsor this event! You have given us back our dignity. Now we know we can do it! We don’t have to wait for foreigners to finance our work!”
“Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).
Diligence in life means that we are working with all our heart, with total commitment. How do you put your whole heart into your work, school or your home? Recognize that what you are doing is unto the Lord and not unto man.
A halfhearted effort receives halfhearted results. That’s not prosperity! To prosper we need to work with a diligent attitude! There are some deceptive attitudes in Christian circles that are often disguised by religious terminology:
- “Whatever happens is God’s will so my input doesn’t matter.”
- “I don’t like my job.”
- “My ungodly boss doesn’t deserve my best.”
- “My job is only temporary so I’m not going to give it my all.”
- “I’m not one of the lucky ones who are gifted so I’ll just slide by.”
- “I tried the Bible way and it didn’t work for me.”
The Blessing comes as you work. You will never escape poverty’s hold without good, old fashioned hard work. The river-life of continuous blessing comes through your hands, your mind, and your effort.
Blessing is God’s business. Finding what He can bless is your business!
In Jesus’ parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30, the servant who hid his talent had a wrong perception of his Master. He said “I knew you were a hard man.” The ruler only asked for a minimum increase. In other words, just do something with what I give you. He was not making it hard. He was making it fair. A wrong perception of God causes fear, and fear causes wrong actions that result in destruction.
God is for you! He understands the fallen environment you live in and has given you gifts to overcome in this environment:
He gave you the gift of eternal life so you would have peace of mind about your future.
He breathed into you part of Himself so you would have awareness of His presence.
He gave you the name of Jesus so you would have authority over all evil spirits.
He gave you His promises for every area of your life so you would know His best for you.
He is not hard, He is benevolent! Right thinking will bring right increase!
Where is the place you can go to obtain “maximum increase” in your life? God designed church so that the maximum number of people could gain benefit with a minimum amount of effort.
God directs a man or woman to prepare a message and preach it with anointing, so people can sit and listen and their lives will be increased and inspired. The result is a burden-free life with God’s ideas filling your mind and faith filling your heart to do the impossible.
This is the rich soil for increase that God designed for people, but many see it as an intrusion into their lifestyle. Only when famine comes do they run to the pastor for a quick fix, a drink of water for their parched ground.
In reflecting upon this holiday, we can only imagine the fear and trepidation our founding fathers faced as the imminent separation from England was approaching. We meet many people facing tremendous difficulties and fears in today’s world. The 4th of July celebrates the decisive action that our forefathers took. It was a moment in time from which there was no turning back. Their faith and commitment became the beacon of hope and freedom shining on a hill for every person to see. Their cry for freedom has become the rally cry for those held captive to oppression, poverty and fear.
As we have travelled the nations of the earth we have heard both villager and king declare that the freedom experienced in the USA is a model for all people. This freedom and independence came at a great cost. These brilliant thinkers of 1776 dared to believe in something greater than themselves. Facing fear, they stood up to proclaim new destiny!
Samuel Adams said,
“The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great Anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.” (Note: Adams prediction written to his wife was off by 2 days, thinking we would celebrate the momentous day on the actual day the document was drafted.)
On this distinguished 4th of July holiday, let this be a declaration day for each household, ministry and business. A group of people with purpose did this in 1776 and affected the whole world! As we are called to affect the whole world, let us arise and declare our freedom from poverty and fear, and declare our alliance with King Jesus!
Regardless of what the economic and political pundits say about the “good ole USA”, we choose to meditate on the good promises of the Lord and declare His word!
When the fireworks go off we will be shouting “Hallelujah! Jesus is Lord! We are FREE!”
Happy 4th of July!
In the fall of 1988 Kevin and I were married. I had struck out on a new journey in life and was so excited—yet very apprehensive! Our goal was to impact the lost with the love of God. After we paid all of our bills and prepared for our first journey overseas, we had exactly $1.00 left over!
Now, I had gone to a faith school, been trained in faith principles and married a faith man, but still, it somehow seemed incredible to me that after sharing our vision with friends and partners we had only $1 left for our trip! How could this be? What should I do??
Well, I decided to go! I remember thinking to myself as I boarded the plane, Are you crazy? You’re going overseas for three months with only $1 in your pocket?!
To make a very long story short, when we arrived in Detroit on the first leg of our journey, we found that the airline had overbooked our next flight and was asking for volunteers to give up their seats for $400 per ticket. As you can imagine, we jumped at the opportunity! We took the money and ended up having a wonderful overnight visit with family and friends in Detroit.
I learned a great lesson. By making a decision to act, I put myself in position to receive a blessing. We often intersect God’s blessings as we travel life’s road. This is our day of opportunity, and I say “I AM READY!!”
When I was in Moscow one winter, record setting freezing temperatures froze the pipes of the heater units and caused a real flood, as well as a dangerous freeze inside. Our director had the good idea of an old iron gas heater in the center of the main room to warm up the house until we could replace the whole system. The heater had to be turned off at night, and the first thought in the morning was how to get the heater going again. A little spark was all it took, and everyone would gather round until the warmth began to spread.
Friends, don’t start your day without a spark. Yesterday’s spark won’t do! The fire has to be rekindled every morning. What is that spark to you? You probably know how to find that java jolt for your body, but it might take a little more time to spark the divine impulse within you that will lift you to a place of expectation and peace as you deal with the day’s issues. When you are warm then everybody around you will benefit.
“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:6).
“Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior…” (2 Peter 3:11).
Scripture tells us in Isaiah 53:4 that in fact Jesus has borne our griefs and has taken our sorrows and our pains, yet we ignorantly thought that He was stricken and struck down by God.
Many years ago I was traveling across Russia in a sweltering hot train with no air moving and no way to open a window. The flu was going around everywhere and I was coughing from a deep burning pain that was attacking my chest. I remember as I lay back on the bed I picked up my Bible, and as I was experiencing these symptoms of flu or bronchitis this scripture in Isaiah leapt out at me.
I said to the Lord, “I have not considered what you did on the cross for me and I have yielded to this sickness that is trying to take over my body. Lord, I know who You are, I know You paid the price so I don’t have to suffer this sickness because God put it on You.” I remember at that moment with great confidence I said, “Lord, I will no longer consider you ignorantly, and right now in the name of Jesus I receive what you did for me 2,000 years ago and command these symptoms to go from my body!” I fell asleep right at that moment and woke up a few hours later without one sign or symptom of cough or a fever…not one symptom in my body at any level!
I encourage you today to take an aggressive stance against every form of sickness and disease trying to come against your body!
