Shared…
Pastor Ray shared a Facebook post by Mike Berry about Reinhard Bonnke:
In January 1962, a young exchange student studying at the Bible College of Wales in Swansea was on his way home when he decided to take an unguided sightseeing tour of London. As he walked, he came across a house with a nameplate on the front that said “George Jeffreys.” He wondered if it could be the “great George Jeffreys who had founded the Elim Pentecostal churches in Ireland and England” and whom he had read so much about.”
This is how he told the rest of the story:
“There I rang the bell. A lady opened the door. ‘Pardon my intrusion, ma’am. Does George Jeffreys live here who was the famous firebrand evangelist I have heard so much about?’ ‘Yes, he does.’
‘May I see him?’
‘No. Under no circumstances.’
She had hardly said no when I heard a deep voice from within the house say, ‘Let the young man come in.’
…I stepped forward, took his hand and introduced myself. I told him I had a call of God on my life to be an evangelist and to preach the Gospel in Africa. That I had been to college in Swansea (Bible College in Wales) and was now returning to Germany.
What happened next was extraordinary. All of a sudden, he took me by my shoulders and fell to his knees, pulling me to the floor with him. He placed his hands on my head and began to bless me as a father blesses a son, as Abraham blessed Isaac, who blessed Jacob, and on and on. The room seemed to light up with the glory of God as he poured out his prayer over me. I do not remember the words with which he blessed me, but I do remember their effect. My body felt electrified, tingling with divine energy. After about half an hour, he finished. I stood up and helped him to his feet. He seemed very frail. We said goodbye. The lady came and escorted me away. He could hardly stand. Nor could I, for different reasons.” That young man went on to become one of the greatest healing evangelists of his generation. His name was Reinhard Bonnke. When Bonnke’s train arrived at the station of his parents town, his dad, who came to pick him up, told him that Jeffreys had just died. This morning, I learned that Reinhard Bonnke has left this earth and is now with Jeffreys in heaven. I bet that is a joyful reunion.
Prayed…
Father, Your words are still working today
We need Your fire, let us live lives of fire!
Let Your fire burn away all the chaff
Hallelujah, we praise and worship Your name
We love You, Jesus
Send Your holy fire upon us, we want to carry Your flame forward
Father, without You we can do nothing
Thank You that You are with us, and that we are not alone
We worship You, and we honor You today, Lord
Yes, we are hungry for more of You, we will not settle for anything less
It is Your fire that we desire to burn bright with Your fire
We ask and receive more and more of Your fire, Father
Every day, we pray for more of Your presence
We need more of Your holy fire, Lord
Shared…
The following excerpt is taken from Divided Tongues as of Fire by Reinhard Bonnke:
FIREPLACES
The human heart is a fireplace made to hold fire. There are too many cold grates, many of them ash cans, like dustbins, full of rubbish. Years ago when fireplaces were made of iron, housewives used to spend a considerable amount of time and effort polishing the grates. In the hungry 1930s they had no coal and no fire, but they polished away. Could churches be described as “1930s style” —polished sermons but no fire?
God took an ordinary bush and set it ablaze. He made it extraordinary before He spoke from it. God does not normally speak out of bushes, however beautiful they may be. Until He visited that wilderness, that bush was unremarkable. Moses had seen it before but hardly noticed it. Yet when the flames of heaven were kindled in it, it was no longer unremarkable. The same goes for churches! The world has no respect for a church of sanctimonious milk-and-water sentiments, wishy-washy philosophy, pretty thoughts, and uncertainties. If a church at least burns for God, it will attract notice. When churches are models of decency, decorum, conformity, and correctness, nobody says, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight” (Exod. 3:3). When there is a spiritual blaze, people stop and stare.
FIRE MAKES FAMOUS
Bushes should not burn, and many supposed churches should not burn either! If they do, somebody will look for a fire extinguisher. A church that burns is not normal. It is spectacular, and people stop to look. Some who stop will, like Moses, hear the voice of God, though others will be deaf. However, that is where God separates the people of the past from the people of the future. The past spelled Egypt, bondage. The fire spelled freedom, adventure, and life. People are not seeking perfection but fire, warmth, and passion. Churches may look opulent, popular, and, successful, but I think of Peter and John. They had to confess, “Silver or gold I do not have” (Acts 3:6). They were both too shabby to attract admiration, but they could continue, “But what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” They did not have any cash, but they did have God.
Fire made the bush the most famous bush that ever grew. Only Moses saw it, but nobody can forget it. Fire made it what it was, and it made Moses who he was. He was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt, but for all that he would have died a nobody, a dusty mummy in Egypt. Yet he met the God of fire in the wilderness, and he matters today very much. Similarly, the disciples were unknowns, fishing workers, until the tongues of flame rested upon them and soon they had turned the world upside down. They did not know themselves until the fire transformed them. Their fervor brought them persecution and plenty of verbal abuse, but they are remembered and their persecutors are lost in oblivion. If any preacher hopes to be noted and remembered, let him be a burning bush.
FIRE AND DIVISION
The divided tongues brought an end to division. Even when they were following Jesus, the disciples vied with one another to see who should be greatest. After Pentecost, however, we read that they “devoted themselves…to the fellowship…All the believers were together and had everything in common…They broke bread in their homes and ate together” (Acts 2:42–46, NIV). One fire was divided into many flames, yet each was the fire of God. They did not need two flames for double power. Those divided flames created a new breed of men – not clones of one another but one new race, a new people. One flame represented the entire fire of God. Andrew’s flame burned with a different color than James’s fire. John was still John, but he became a flame called John. Thomas became an on-fire Thomas. Flame people! People who have dwelt with the everlasting burnings cannot stand smoldering smoke. The disciples were called when they were like black candlewicks, but the love of Christ lit them. Candles in a box, tossed into a corner – but taken out and set alight, they lit up the world!
