Spiritual Strength
Soul Snack 13/11 ... Recognising Spiritual Strength
Some men come to my mind as spiritual superstars, most would also likely wear the mantle of prophet.
Hudson Taylor, J.H.Jowett, A.W.Tozer and Leonard Ravenhill are at the top of my list.
Half a century ago, Ravenhill with his usual incisive precision reflected preachers are heralded, but prophets are hounded. How could he know this? He was a prophet. The question just begs to be asked, so why are prophets hounded?
Please allow me to speculate just one answer (although there are many).
There is a spiritual strength to prophets that is rarely found in preachers. I suspect that Jowett's deep thinking explains why -
We shall never really know our master until we kneel and toil among the driving stones. #
So what is spiritual strength, what is Jowett getting at?
- Wrestling with heaven and pleading for earth.
- Seeing your yesterdays as they truly were. (I recently read this funny line from a retired Aussie racing driver... the older you get - the faster you were.)
- Understanding the eternal, while you live in the temporal. (Jer 33:3)
- Drowning in the divine, while only dipping in the world.
- Thirsting for heaven, while thinking on earth.
- Seeing God's activity in the world and not just the church's.
- Sitting under the canopy of the Tree of Life alone.
For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. (1 Tim 4:8)
#p40 - The Passion for Souls - J.H.Jowett, Pub = Fleming H. Revell Co. 1905 New York
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Today's Soul Snippet:
"Ritual acts are the undoing of authentic religion." Brennan Manning