Forside Articles The Spirit´s Fire (1 Thess.5:17)
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Skrevet af Jørn Nielsen   
Lørdag, 11. februar 2017 10:00


As most of my Danish/Norwegian/Faroese/German friends are pretty good at English, please read this.

In America I´ve listened to many a good preacher , and I was often impressed and thought, our poor preachers don´t reach them even to their waist or belt.  And yet something is lacking I often felt.  Fire!

A Norwegian friend and I once listened to a tape at a  house in Wisconsin.  It was a speech by Paul Fleming, the founder of New Tribes Mission.  "I can tell he´s a good preacher", my Norwegian friend remarked.  "No", said our host, a New Triber, "he was not a good preacher.  He never followed a certain, fixed course.  He tried this and that one, till a fiery passion took over."  He didn´t say those words, but that´s what he meant.

And yet he was riveting. Fire cannot be taught, it must be caught, we sometimes say.  Or as it has also been said, "Say it simple, say it often and let it burn!" The fire was burning all right in that man of God.

I´m now dwelling on the Welsh revival in 1904, the instrument of which was the 25 years old Evan Roberts.  I feel touched when it comes to that man, who in the subsequent years suffered from many depressions and saw himself as a total failure.  The fire had caught on him, however, and his tears and passion won more for the Lord than his sermons.

The man who was instrumental of my own personal awakening may have been a great preacher.  In fact, I think he was.  But I didn´t remember much of what he actually said, for it was his passion and burning love for souls that hit me.  The loving way he talked to me after a meeting soon led to my crucial encounter with God in a basement room in Copenhagen.

"Don´t put out the Spirit´s fire", it says in 1 Thess. 5:19 (NIV).  May that fire catch on us, yes at the cost of our platform performances.  I covet your prayers as I again shall meet with many precious Iranians tomorrow night at a big party.  I´ve won their friendship, but may the soul winning fire be there also at this juncture - there on a simple floor at eye level.

Febr. 11, 2017 - jn

 
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