The Bible and Life

Thursday, June 6, 2024

George Jeffreys

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Here is an article that I wanted to share.

George Jeffreys began his Spirit-filled ministry in the first half of the twentieth century as a healing evangelist. Thousands came to Christ as a result of the four-part gospel he preached: Jesus as Savior, Healer, Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, and coming King.

Jeffreys was a product of the Welsh Revival, which first brought him into the kingdom of God. Not only was the Welsh Revival responsible for his conversion, but it also influenced his vision of the body of Christ—and would do so for the rest of his life.

In Jeffreys’ concept of the kingdom of God, revival was not to be considered a mere hope for the future; it was available to the church today. Jeffreys knew that God moved in power to bring people to their knees in repentance and new life, and he wanted to see the flames of that revival ignite the hearts of men and women all over the globe.

God placed Jeffreys in the apostolic office according to Ephesians 4:11. This office signifies a servant whom God sends out with the message of the gospel of Christ to those who live in areas bereft of God’s Word. Through signs, miracles, and wonders that accompany their teaching, they birth new churches. Jeffreys was a true apostle—he preached conversion and built churches.

Today, conferences with numerous speakers may fill various halls and conference centers, but Jeffreys, with his apostolic mantle from the Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit, filled the Royal Albert Hall, the Crystal Palace, and Bingley Hall, among others—all by himself.

As such, George Jeffreys deserves to be recognized as one of God’s generals who was used to birth the Pentecostal movement in Great Britain, as well as to help pioneer the healing revivals of the twentieth century.

- God’s Generals ( The Healing Evangelists )

- JESUS SAVES TV

Tuesday, June 4, 2024

Jonathan Goforth

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Here is an article that I wanted to share.

“Brethren, the Spirit of God is with us still. Pentecost is yet within our grasp. If revival is being withheld from us, it is because some idol remains still enthroned; because we still insist on placing our reliance in human schemes; because we still refuse to face the unchangeable truth that it is not by our might, but by His Spirit!”

—Jonathan Goforth

Jonathan Goforth was a pioneer revivalist with a burning passion to win souls for Christ. The quote above is from the closing passage of his book By My Spirit. Throughout his ministry, Goforth boldly proclaimed that men’s hearts would be drawn to the Savior by the Spirit of God alone. Very early in his ministry, his life verse became Zechariah 4:6: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” Because of his unshakable faith in the Holy Spirit to change lives for eternity, Goforth was used by God to usher in sweeping revivals in China, reaching tens of thousands of people at the dawn of the twentieth century.

“Jonathan Goforth was a pioneer, through and through,” his wife Rosalind wrote. “He always had a forward vision and strong convictions about discerning divine guidance for himself....Jonathan believed in the freedom for each missionary to carry on his or her work as each one felt led by the Holy Spirit.”

- God’s Generals ( The Missionaries )

- JESUS SAVES TV

Sunday, June 2, 2024

The Power of Prayer (Lester Sumrall)

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

THE POWER OF PRAYER.

Lester Sumrall left America with $12 ($280 today) in his pocket and a one way ticket in 1934. The pastor who took him to the docks in San Francisco said " I perceive that you're going to go to China and starve to death" Lester " Would you do me a favor? Please send a small gravestone that says --Here lies Lester Sumrall, who starved to death trusting Jesus-- The pastor responded " I won't send it" And Lester " I won't need it, good day" And with that He boarded the S.S. Makura and went on a journey of faith!

The marvelous thing about prayer. It's so far- reaching. The effects of prayer do not know the bounds of distance or time. We can pray for something near or far in the future. We can pray for our next-door neighbor, or for someone halfway around the world. The effect is the same. God hears the prayer of faith and glorifies Himself in the answer.

Early in my ministry, I once became very ill while traveling between China and Tibet. I was riding on a donkey in a caravan when I became so weak I could not go on. I had been bleeding and feverish for nearly two days, and I was severely dehydrated. I dismounted, tied my donkey to a tree, and lay down to die. Almost immediately I passed out.

I don't know how long I was unconscious, but when I finally awoke, I was fine. The fever was gone, and my strength was back. It took me a full day to catch up with the caravan, but I finally did locate them that evening at dusk. Just before I went to sleep that night, I recorded in my diary, "I lay down to die, and God healed me."

More than two years later, while I was in Mobile, Alabama, to visit my mother, I was sharing some of my diary entries with her Christian women's group. A dear woman in that group showed me her own diary. Written there was an account of how at 10:00 P.M. on the day before I almost died in Tibet, she had been strongly impressed to pray for me. She had prayed fervently that the Lord would not let me die. Her diary showed that she had prayed for nearly two hours before she felt certain I was all right. Then she made the diary entry before she went to bed for the evening.

At 10:00 P.M. in Mobile, Alabama, it is 10:00 A.M. the following day in Tibet. In other words, at the exact time that woman was praying, I was lying under a tree unconscious, halfway around the world! God had guided her in her praying, and He had glorified Himself by answering.

Prayer does indeed change things. It changes us. It strengthens our faith. It helps us to see things through God's eyes. It softens our hearts. It sensitizes our consciences. It gives us superhuman courage. And it molds us into champions God can use.

How is your prayer life?

-The Making of a Champion, by Dr. Lester Sumrall

Friday, May 31, 2024

Levels Of Prophetic Revelations

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

LEVELS OF PROPHETIC REVELATIONS

There are many levels of prophetic revelation.

The beginning levels include prophetic "impressions." These are genuine revelations. They can be extraordinarily specific and accurate when interpreted by those who are experienced and sensitive to them. However, it is on this level that our "revelations" can be affected by our own feelings, prejudices, and doctrines. I have therefore resolved not to use such expressions as "thus saith the Lord" with any revelations that come on this level.

Visions can come on the impression level, also. They are gentle and must be seen with "the eyes of our heart." These, too, can be very specific and accurate, especially when received and/or interpreted by those who are experienced. The more the "eyes of our hearts" are opened, as Paul prayed in Ephesians 1:18, the more powerful and useful these can be.

The next level of revelation is a conscious sense of the presence of the Lord, or the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which gives special illumination to our minds. This often comes when I am writing, or speaking, and it gives me much greater confidence in the importance or accuracy of what I am saying. I believe that this was probably experienced by the apostles as they wrote the New Testament epistles. This will give us great confidence, but it is still a level where we can still be influenced by our prejudices, doctrines,etc. This is why I believe, in certain matters, Paul would say that he was giving his opinion, but that he thought he had [the agreement of l the Spirit of the Lord. In general, there is much more of a need for humility than dogmatism when we deal with the prophetic.

"Open visions" occur on a higher level than impressions; they tend to give us more clarity then we may have even when we feel the conscious presence of the Lord, or the anointing. Open visions are external, and are viewed with the clarity of a movie screen. Because they cannot be controlled by us I believe that there is far less possibility of mixture in revelations that come this way.

Another higher level prophetic experience is a trance, such as Peter had when he was first instructed to go to the house of Cornelius and preach the gospel to the Gentiles for the first time, and such as Paul had when he prayed in the temple in Acts 22. Trances were a common experience of the biblical prophets. Trances are like dreaming when you are awake. Instead of just seeing a "screen" like in an open vision, you feel like you are in the movie, that you are actually there in a strange way. Trances can range from those that are rather mild, so that you are still conscience of your physical surroundings, and can even still interact with them, to those where you feel like you are literally in the place of your vision. This seems to be what Ezekiel experienced rather frequently, and what John probably experienced when he had the visions recorded in the book of Revelation.

- The Final Quest, by Rick Joyner

Roop-Crappell Ministries

Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Jennie Evans Moore

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Here is the amazing witness of a beautiful saint.

Jennie Evans Moore Seymour is reported as the first woman in Los Angeles to speak in tongues. Jennie left Texas and found work in Los Angeles as a servant. Later she became a cook for an influential white family and lived at 217 North Bonnie Brae Street. Jennie lived across the street and regularly attended the meetings William Seymour was holding at Richard and Ruth Asberry's home at 214 North Bonnie Brae Street. When Jennie received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, she spoke in six different languages.

Never playing the piano before, she went to the piano and began to play under the anointing while singing in tongues. She also began attending the revival meetings at 312 Azusa Street. She married Seymour on May 13, 1908. The congregation at Azusa Street continued meeting until William Seymour's death on September 28, 1922. Jennie took over the leadership of the church. She continued meetings with the faithful in her home on Bonnie Brae Street until her health deteriorated. She died on July 2, 1936.

By B.E. Taylor

William James Roop

Roop-Crappell Ministries