I recently gave a lecture on the thought of awakening and want to share some thoughts. It’s hard to find the right word for what we hear when we talk about waking up. Renewal, it is an almost too sweet word, and “awakening” today has too many outdated connotations. But is the old definition of an alarm clock useful Does this refer to the time when the usual operations of the Holy Ghost?Not signs and wonders, but the conviction of sin, conversion, the security of salvation and a sense of Jesus’ reality. Christ in the heart? They intensify, so that you can see the growth of the quality of faith in the people of the church, as well as great growth in numbers and conversions.
In an awakening, apathetic Christians wake up, nominal Christians become and non-Christians are reached. An apathetic Christian may believe that he is a Christian, but he has no real meaning of God’s holiness, his own sin, or the depth of his grace. You can be moralistic or relativistic, or live an incoherent life.
- Nominal Christians can go to church.
- But they have never really been convinced of sin or received salvation in person.
- When apathetic Christians and nominal Christians are encouraged.
- Attractive.
- And courageous in their testimonies.
- People they have never believed before begin to become converted.
So how do we wake up apathetic Christians and convert nominal Christians?Let me give you what I call my modernized American versions of the kind of question I would ask people if I really tried to make them think they’re in Christ or not. are adapted from William Williams’ The Experience Meeting, based on Welsh awakenings during the Great Awakening. He asked people to share these types of questions in weekly small group meetings:
To what extent has God been authentically in your heart this week?How clear and alive is your assurance and assurance of God’s forgiveness and the love of parents?How real is this to you right now?
Are you going through a special moment of pleasure in God?Do you really feel his presence in your life, do you feel like he’s giving you his love?
Have you found scripture alive and active? Instead of just a book, do you think the scriptures are after you?
Do you find some extremely valuable and encouraging biblical promises?
Do you think God challenges you or calls you through the Word?In what way?
Have you found God’s grace more glorious and moving now than in the past?Are you aware of a growing sense of wickedness in your heart and, in response, of a growing dependence and understanding of the beautifulness of God’s mercy?
Pick up. It’s a growing understanding of grace.