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I recently
ministered in the place where Spurgeon once ministered. The location
is on Spurgeon Road in Croydon, London, England.
The history and
the legacy of Spurgeon’s ministry were not lost on me as I came to
the pulpit. In fact, an almost strange
sense of awareness of Mr. Spurgeon accompanied me throughout the
days I was there.
As I spoke that
first night, I remembered preaching in a building constructed in a
field where Wesley preached in Northern Ireland. I
recalled that two summers ago we stood in Moriah church at Loughor
in Glamorgan, at Swansea, Wales. This was the epi-center of the
Welsh Revival of 1904. It was here that Evan Roberts preached to
school children resulting in
worldwide revival.
Charles Haddon
Spurgeon, John Wesley, and Evan Roberts became God’s Generals in
their time. They shook
nations and turned millions of hearts to God. I revere their
memories; I thank God for their examples. The kind of
anointing of the Holy Spirit on their lives is something for you and
for me to strive for.
A few years ago I
listened to an excited preacher crying out to get hold of Smith
Wigglesworth’s anointing and mantle. Shortly afterward I heard
somebody else proclaiming boldly that we (our generation) needed to
lay claim to the Azusa Street anointing. While we were in Northern
Ireland, some of “the lads” on our team got excited about Patrick –
Saint Patrick; the man who brought Ireland to Jesus in a single
generation. Some of the guys wanted to find Patrick’s tomb
and stretch out over his grave and somehow “absorb” Patrick’s
anointing.
I admired their
zeal, but didn’t accompany those dear friends on their quest. It
occurred to me then as it does today
that while I thank God for Spurgeon and Wesley, Roberts and Wigglesworth and Patrick and the boys of Azusa Street; and while I admire and appreciate the anointing God
gave to each of them, those men all are dead. Each of these blessed men was given an anointing for his generation
and for his time. You and I live in a new generation and in a new time and require a new anointing to touch
our world in this hour.
We need to honor
the past and appreciate those who have gone before us. Many
faithful, dedicated men and women have accomplished hard work to
plow the ground and to prepare the way for you and for me; but while
we admire past heroes and learn from their experiences, we must
press on and receive Our Anointing for Our Hour in Our World.
There is a verse
that sings to me. It’s a verse that pushes at me and encourages me
and beckons me: Therefore we also, since we are
surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every
weight, and the sin which
so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that
is set before us... (Heb.12:1).
This verse follows
immediately after the incredible list of “Faith Heroes” in Chapter
11. No mention of seeking the anointing of Gideon
or Barak or David or Samuel or the prophets. No encouragement to run
back into history to
obtain faith, power, miracles, determination. Only this: “let us lay
aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares
us.” And this, “and let us run with endurance the race that is set
before us.”
The heroes – this
cloud of witnesses ran their race; now we must run ours. We don’t
get to choose the race or conditions on the race
track; it’s the one “set before us.”
So what about you?
What are you doing today to “lay aside” and to “run?” A generation
awaits a new Spurgeon, Wesley, Roberts,
Wigglesworth – why not ask, “why not me?”
In His Grace,
Greg |
