Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire

just paying bills and enjoying the weekends. (Location 106)

when I was at my lowest, confounded by obstacles, bewildered by the darkness that surrounded us, unable even to continue preaching, I discovered an astonishing truth: God is attracted to weakness. (Location 200)

God is attracted to weakness. He can’t resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need him. Our weakness, in fact, makes room for his power. (Location 201)

people are not put off by honesty, either. I didn’t have to keep up a ministerial front. (Location 203)

How I treasure those early humblings. (Location 204)

in pastoral work, as in basketball, sometimes you have to confront. (Location 226)

What we needed instead was a fresh wind and fresh fire. We needed the Holy Spirit (Location 241)

I longed and cried out for God to change everything—me, the church, our passion for people, our praying. (Location 245)

One day I told the Lord that I would rather die than merely tread water throughout my career in the ministry … always preaching about the power of the Word and the Spirit, but never seeing it. I abhorred the thought of just having more church services. I hungered for God to break through in our lives and ministry. (Location 246)

I abhorred the thought of just having more church services. I hungered for God to break through in our lives and ministry. (Location 248)

bringing in popular speakers and singers, whoever was hot at the moment. This helped market the church … at least to other Christians. (Location 262)

If you and your wife will lead my people to pray and call upon my name, you will never lack (Location 274)

all the modern trends and new ideas about church growth were now irrelevant. (Location 285)

“You can tell how popular a church is by who comes on Sunday morning. “You can tell how popular the pastor or evangelist is by who comes on Sunday night. “But you can tell how popular Jesus is by who comes to the prayer meeting.” (Location 304)

If God be near a church, it must pray. And if he be not there, one of the first tokens of his absence will be a slothfulness in prayer. (Location 312)

the greatest answer to prayer is more prayer. (Location 323)

essence—touching the Almighty, crying out with one’s whole being. (Location 327)

people weren’t hungry for fancy sermons or organizational polish. They just wanted love. They wanted to know that God could pick them up and give them a second chance. (Location 333)

Carol would begin with a half hour of prayer. Often a spirit of worship fell on the group. Someone might volunteer a testimony or feel impressed to read Scripture. Carol might offer a short exhortation. Many nights there was more prayer and worship than there was practicing; sometimes the choir never got around to singing at all. (Location 353)

There was life, joy, a sense of family, and love. When a meeting ended, people weren’t in a hurry to leave; they lingered and prayed and talked to one another. (Location 383)

Because I had been a basketball player, it never dawned on me to evaluate people on the basis of color. If you could play, you could play. In America it would appear that there is more openness, acceptance, and teamwork in the gym than in the church of Jesus Christ. (Location 399)

God could use the choir, or anyone else, to turn the whole service into a prayer meeting if he wished. (Location 456)

“Oh, God, I need you in my life. Help me, please!” It was the moment of final surrender for me. (Location 520)

Prayer cannot truly be taught by principles and seminars and symposiums. It has to be born out of a whole environment of felt need. If I say, “I ought to pray,” I will soon run out of motivation and quit; the flesh is too strong. I have to be driven to pray. (Location 582)

PRAYER IS THE SOURCE of the Christian life, a Christian’s lifeline. (Location 594)

the great emphasis on teaching in today’s churches is producing such limited results. Teaching is good only where there’s life to be channeled. If the listeners are in a spiritual coma, what we’re telling them may be fine and orthodox, but unfortunately, spiritual life cannot be taught. (Location 597)

Carol and I have told each other more than once that if the spirit of brokenness and calling on God ever slacks off in the Brooklyn Tabernacle, we’ll know we’re in trouble, even if we have 10,000 in attendance. (Location 604)

In the very beginning their original name was “those who call on the name of the LORD (Location 627)

to cry out, to implore aid. This is the essence of true prayer that touches God. (Location 643)

SATAN’S MAIN STRATEGY WITH God’s people has always been to whisper, “Don’t call, don’t ask, don’t depend on God to do great things. You’ll get along fine if you just rely on your own cleverness and energy.” (Location 654)

Trouble is one of God’s great servants because it reminds us how much we continually need the Lord. Otherwise, we tend to forget about entreating him. For some reason we want to carry on by ourselves. (Location 672)

men and women who first inwardly groan, longing to see the status quo changed—in themselves and in their churches. (Location 676)

prayer begets revival, which begets more prayer. (Location 677)

If our churches don’t pray, and if people don’t have an appetite for God, what does it matter how many are attending the services? How would that impress God? (Location 681)

If we don’t enjoy being in his presence here and now, then heaven would not be heaven for us. Why would he send anyone there who doesn’t long for him passionately here on earth? (Location 686)

What a tragedy that the quality of ministry is too often measured by numbers and building size rather than by true spiritual results. (Location 693)

Carol wasn’t being rebellious; she was just depressed after the surgery. (Location 720)

persistent calling upon the Lord breaks through every stronghold of the devil, for nothing is impossible with God. (Location 791)

Jesus is not terribly impressed with religious commercialism. (Location 826)

He is concerned not only whether we’re doing God’s work, but also how and why we’re doing it. (Location 827)

If you sing in a choir, the question is not just if you’re on your note; it’s why you are singing at all. (Location 829)

Our forebears back in the camp meeting days used to say that if people left a meeting talking about what a wonderful sermon the preacher gave or how beautifully the singers sang, the meeting had failed. But if people went home saying things like “Isn’t God good? He met me tonight in such a wonderful way,” it was a good meeting. There was to be no sharing the stage with the Lord. (Location 835)

Preaching, music, the reading of the Word—these things are fine; I believe in and practice all of them. But they must never override prayer as the defining mark of God’s dwelling. The honest truth is that I have seen God do more in people’s lives during ten minutes of real prayer than in ten of my sermons. (Location 850)

let God birth something in people who are spiritually sensitive, who begin to pray and feel a calling. Then they come to us. (Location 889)

believing is not the climax. Even the great Protestant Reformers who taught us the principle of sola fide(“faith alone”) also preached that intellectual assent alone does not bring salvation. There is one more step for demonstrating a real and living faith, and that is calling out to God with all of one’s heart and soul. (Location 984)

Only turning God’s house into a house of fervent prayer will reverse the power of evil so evident in the world today. (Location 1011)

What if, in the last 25 years, we had invested only half the time and energy in writing, publishing, reading, and discussing books on the Christian family … and put the other half into praying for our marriages and our children? I am certain we would be in far better shape today. (Location 1019)

We in America have made the sermon the centerpiece of the church, something God never intended. (Location 1030)

If a meeting doesn’t end with people touching God, what kind of a meeting is it? We haven’t really encountered God. We haven’t met with the only One powerful and loving enough to change our lives. (Location 1034)

But mere teaching is never enough, even if it comes directly from Jesus. (Location 1103)

He ignores our categories. All he sees when he looks down is the body of Christ, (Location 1109)

Our store of spiritual power apparently dissipates with time. (Location 1159)

We need the fresh wind of God to awaken us from our lethargy. (Location 1169)

THE WORK OF GOD can only be carried on by the power of God. (Location 1171)

Our stance must remain militant, aggressive, bold. (Location 1177)

We are too easily distracted from the call to simply wait on the Lord. We get pulled away from the simplicity of the gospel. (Location 1368)

This turned out to be the first truly multicultural church, with multicultural leaders, according to Acts 13:1—Simon the Black, some Jewish leaders, some Greeks, Manaen the boyhood friend of Herod (which would have made him suspect to everyone!), and others. Yet they worked together in a powerful model of cross-cultural unity. (Location 1380)

To go into the power of the gospel, or of prayer, or the Holy Spirit, or divine love is to plunge ever deeper and deeper into God’s well. Every man or woman used by God has gone down into this vast reservoir. (Location 1432)

“People say the church today is ‘growing and expanding.’ Yes, it’s ten miles wide now—and about a quarter-inch deep.” (Location 1441)

Just as our culture in general is taken up with a victim mentality, where everything is somebody else’s fault, to be relieved by psychotherapy, government handouts, or litigation, so in the church people are saying, “It’s the devil’s fault. Don’t blame me.” No wonder there is little brokenness of spirit among us. Why pray and confess if your main problem is oppression (or possession) by an evil spirit that someone else needs to get off your back? Few Christians or sermons use the word “sin” anymore. Few sense the need to repent of their own wrongdoing. Rather, they look to the outside for a scapegoat. (Location 1448)

no church, including the one I pastor, should be measured by its attendance. (Location 1496)

The apostles realized that without a bold, aggressive attitude in proclaiming God’s Word, they would not build the church Jesus intended. (Location 1517)

They aimed for a piercing of the heart, for conviction of sin. (Location 1520)

when I preach to press Christ upon the people then and there, I try to bring them to a decision on the spot. (Location 1546)

“If God is real and you truly want his help in your life, then go his way. Otherwise, do whatever you like! Of course, it will destroy you in the end; you can’t change God’s consequences any more than you can change the law of gravity.” (Location 1585)

Seriously, what will our children and grandchildren grow up experiencing in church? Extended times of waiting on the Lord will be totally foreign to their experience. There will be no memory bank of seeing people reach out to God. All they will recall are professionally polished, closely timed productions. (Location 1633)

if our attention is on the market reaction, we move away from the power of the gospel. (Location 1641)

These days we are so programmed that God couldn’t break in if he wanted to. During times of worship in many churches, the schedule of songs and hymns is so rigid that nothing, not even God’s Spirit, can interrupt. (Location 1648)

A basic sign of revival is that the wind is allowed to blow where it will. (Location 1651)

All he wants are people simple enough to trust him. (Location 1653)

So what is missing? BEYOND HEAD KNOWLEDGE THE ABSENT ELEMENT IS what is expressed in the final sentence of the prayer recorded in Acts 4: “Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders” (v. 30). What gains unbelievers’ attention and stirs the heart is seeing the (Location 1696)

What gains unbelievers’ attention and stirs the heart is seeing the gospel expressed in power. (Location 1699)

It takes more than academic rigor to win the world for Christ. Correct doctrine alone isn’t enough. Proclamation and teaching aren’t enough. God must be invited to “confirm the word with signs following” (see Heb. 2:4). In other words, the gospel must be preached with the involvement of the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. The apostles prayed for God to do supernatural things. They wanted people to know their belief was more than positional or theoretical. There was power in this faith. (Location 1700)

the gospel must be preached with the involvement of the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. (Location 1702)

People pay attention when they see that God actually changes persons and sets them free. When a new Christian stands up and tells how God has revolutionized his or her life, no one dozes off. When someone is healed or released from a life-controlling bondage, everyone takes notice. These things bear witness to a God who is strong and alive. (Location 1719)

if you and your wife have any value to me, if you have any purpose in my work—it has to do with this odor. This is the smell of the world I died for. (Location 1760)

In true preaching, the sermon proceeds out of the man. It is part of him, flowing out of his life. (Location 1798)

People must not only hear but feel, see, and experience the grace of God we speak about. (Location 1815)

Without an anointing and prophetic edge to declare something fresh from God’s Word, church life can be reduced to little more than a lecture series. (Location 1825)

there has never been a revival of religion so long as the order of service has been strictly followed. (Location 1834)

“God, please don’t send us out there alone just talking. Work with us; confirm your message in a supernatural way.” What way and in what manner was left entirely (and rightly) to God alone. (Location 1841)

Does anyone really think that America today is lacking preachers, books, Bible translations, and neat doctrinal statements? What we really lack is the passion to call upon the Lord until he opens the heavens and shows himself powerful. (Location 1861)

What we really lack is the passion to call upon the Lord until he opens the heavens and shows himself powerful. (Location 1862)

They knew the written word of God very well, but not the living Word, even as he stood before them. (Location 1870)

The Scriptures are not so much the goal as they are an arrow that points us to the life-changing Christ (Location 1871)

We are not seeing God’s visitation in our gatherings. (Location 1875)

But as Paul said, “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6). If the Holy Spirit is not given an opening among us, if his work is not welcomed, if we are afraid of what he might do, we leave ourselves with nothing but death. (Location 1877)

God will manifest himself in direct proportion to our passion for him. The principle he laid down long ago is still true: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13). O God, split the heavens and come down! Manifest yourself somehow. Do what only you can do. (Location 1902)

The first step in any spiritual awakening is demolition. We cannot make headway in seeking God without first tearing down the accumulated junk in our souls. Rationalizing has to cease. We have to start seeing the sinful debris we hadn’t noticed before, which is what holds back the blessing of God. (Location 1934)

we will not let you talk critically about people who are not present to defend themselves.’ (Location 1951)

I know what most easily destroys churches. It is not crack cocaine. It is not government oppression. It is not even lack of funds. Rather, it is gossip and slander that grieves the Holy Spirit. (Location 1955)

This is a classic example of a cardinal principle of God’s dealing with humanity. Hebrews 11:6 expresses it best: “Anyone who comes to [God] must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” I cannot say it strongly enough: When we seek God, he will bless us. But when we stop seeking him … all bets are off, no matter who we are. (Location 1970)

“Anyone who comes to [God] must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” I cannot say it strongly enough: When we seek God, he will bless us. (Location 1971)

Can you believe that Asa had the nerve to bust his own grandmother! The people of the land could not help but say to one another, “This king is serious about pleasing God.” Imagine the social current he was up against. Imagine the emotional ties he had to sever. His whole sense of family allegiance was arrayed against God’s will. But Asa was determined to be more than just “Maacah’s grandson.” (Location 1981)

God did not call me to be a white middle-class Christian; he called me to be a Christian, period, and whatever he asks takes precedence over every other loyalty. Even being an American is not of the same magnitude with being a seeker after God. Preserving the American culture cannot be allowed to compete with advancing God’s kingdom. Whatever God approves of comes first. Whatever grieves him has to go. Asa understood who deserved his first loyalty. It was not his grandmother, his culture, his tradition, or anything else. It was God alone. What (Location 1986)

But the Bible teaches that we are always either drawing nearer to God or falling away. There is no holding pattern. (Location 1995)

Whatever “works” is the way to go. If a technique gets the building filled and the bills paid, it must be blessed by God. Visible results are the proof that a strategy is heaven-ordained. (Location 2006)

For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. (Location 2014)

people who stop seeking God tend to get crusty and arrogant. (Location 2031)

People who have a seeking heart still make mistakes. But their reaction to rebuke and correction shows the condition of that heart. It determines what God is able to do with them in the future. (Location 2036)

Your future and mine are determined by this one thing: seeking after the Lord. (Location 2046)

the gospel of Jesus Christ will be planted today in hostile cities and territories and nations only by mighty men and women who dare to take risks. (Location 2072)

When it comes to spiritual matters, you and I will never know our potential under God until we step out and take risks on the front line of battle. We will never see what power and anointing are possible until we bond with our King and go out in his name to establish his kingdom. Sitting safely in the shelter of Bible discussions among ourselves, or complaining to one another about the horrible state of today’s society, does nothing to unleash the power of God. He meets us in the moment of battle. He energizes us when there is an enemy to be pushed back. (Location 2107)

Sitting safely in the shelter of Bible discussions among ourselves, or complaining to one another about the horrible state of today’s society, does nothing to unleash the power of God. (Location 2109)

What the world’s situation cries out for today is this kind of determined and desperate faith that grips the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, (Location 2121)

They would have found this humble man not worthy of comment because he lived on a totally different plane. (Location 2154)

In every century, on every continent, warriors such as these are the ones who press forward the kingdom of God. They lay aside the distractions of life to do exploits in the spiritual realm. Whether or not they become famous on earth is beside the point. They are heroes and heroines nonetheless. (Location 2160)

That is the great yearning of all spiritually minded people. They are not enchanted with polished sermons and slick organizational technique. (Location 2170)

God’s plan for the local church has always centered in evangelism. Those brought to Christ are thus born into the very place where they can be nurtured and discipled. This avoids the slippage we often see when parachurch ministries try to do the work mainly assigned to the local church. (Location 2189)

An evangelistic focus, of course, would force us back to serious prayer and an emphasis on the simple gospel of Jesus Christ. God would prepare us as only he can for victorious spiritual warfare. Concerned believers wouldn’t have time to watch as much television as they do now. A lot of other activities would have to give way. Living in the Bible, calling upon the Lord, fasting, and then reaching out to the unsaved would consume us. We would (Location 2192)

That is not how we select leaders in the church today, is it? (Location 2215)

David looked for bravery and boldness in the real world of battle. (Location 2216)

No personal or church situation is too hopeless for the all-sufficient power of the Holy Spirit. God will be no more eager to act tomorrow than he is right now. He is waiting for us to take his promises seriously and go boldly to the throne of grace. He wants us to meet the enemy at the very point of attack, standing against him in the name of Christ. When we do so, God will back us up with all the resources of heaven. (Location 2225)

Let us all lead our congregations with the desire for divine acceptance, rather than focusing so much on current trends or what is popular with our peers. (Location 2242)

we all need to go humbly before him with open hearts, letting him rearrange all we do in order to meet his approval. (Location 2244)

it is very important to discern God’s guidance as to the true spiritual temperature of a congregation and what the next step should be. (Location 2249)