Monday, March 06, 2006

Prayer and Preaching

How foolish we can be searching hither and thither for some ways to build the church. God has prescribed a very simple way - prayer and preaching. Saturday's Times newspaper carried the heart warming obituary of Selwyn Hughes who founded Crusade for World Revival. What was it that changed his life? Two simple things owned by God - prayer and preaching. The obituary tells of his conversion to Christ. On his way out for a night's "fun" he overheard his father pray for his conversion at a local mission hall. Those heart felt prayers seemed to lance his soul. He writes in his biography how when he arrived at the dance hall, "the lights seemed less bright that usual, there was something missing in the music...God was calling me." It was not long after this that at a Bible meeting that Hughes committed himself to follow Christ. He spoke of the preaching, "reaching deep into my soul."
Here in the conversion of one man we see what God delights to use - the pleadings of God's people and Spirit owned preaching - Lord imprint this simplicity on the lives of your church - the praying of the saints and the preaching of the Word.

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