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April 1997 New Horizons

Going Through Deep Waters

 

Contents

A Waterfall of Grace: Witnessing the Church at Work in Pouring Out Blessing

The Key to Revival

The Grief Group

An Answer to Prayer

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A Waterfall of Grace: Witnessing the Church at Work in Pouring Out Blessing

Editor's note: This is a story of the church at work in the real world under the direction of the Holy Spirit. It is the story of the unlimited grace poured forth at a time of trial for the comforting of the saints . My family has never experienced a season of God's love like the one we experienced last year! We have expressed our thankfulness, in Christ, for all of our fellow saints and the way in which the Holy Spirit has enabled my family and me to be blessed. But there is more to this story: the sharing, from the receiver's perspective, so that all may see what the "waterfall of grace" can mean to the church at large. So that is part of my purpose—to be sure that you are not left outside the work of grace that we have experienced as a waterfall flowing down upon us. And each believer has a distinct part in this outpouring of blessing. If you stand under a water hose, you receive a modest amount of water—perhaps enough to catch in a small bowl. If you stand under several hoses, or in a ... Read more

The Key to Revival

I would like to share with you the secret of revival. Maybe you or your family is in need of revival. Maybe you are praying for revival in your church. Many of us are praying for revival in our nation's churches. What is the secret? The secret can be summed up in one phrase taken from the title of a chapter in a book on personal revival: "The way up is the way down" (Stanley Voke, Personal Revival, pp. 5-7). That is the paradox of the kingdom of God. Lose your life and you will find it. Humble yourself and you will be exalted. Be broken in heart and you will be healed. Jesus said: "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life" (John 12:24-25). The mystery of the kingdom of God is that out of death comes life—eternal life. The world views this mystery as foolishness. Should we not ... Read more

The Grief Group

Only a few weeks had passed since my husband died. My emotions were raw. I controlled them fairly well at church and at my part-time job, but I wept at home. A fellow worker who was still "working through" the death of her father encouraged me to attend a grief support group sponsored by her large charismatic church. The sessions would continue for seven weeks, one evening a week. Before deciding to attend the class, I called the coordinator, a trained counselor, to try to determine whether the general approach and the materials used were biblically oriented. She mentioned the use of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's description of the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance) and assured me that part of the class time would be spent in Bible study using a lesson book based on Job. I figured I couldn't go wrong with a Bible study on Job! Many years ago, after my mother's death, God mercifully used the first chapter of Job to bring me out of an angry, sulking depression. Job ... Read more

An Answer to Prayer

It was a peculiar November evening. A misty fog hung over the area. Just as I was abt to walk out the door, I had a more than strange urge to pray. So I paused and prayed, "Lord, make this a safe trip." It had rained most of the day, and I didn't look forward to driving in bad weather. But I hopped into my pickup and headed for work. I pulled into the yard, parked, and walked over to the office trailer to get my instructions. A note for me read: "Take 'Little Blue' and trailer #234287 to Delaware and bring trailer #187 to Jessup Md. to the produce market." So I hooked up the trailer and headed north. As I left Beltsville, Maryland, the roads were starting to dry up. The evening traffic was moderately heavy, but moving well. When I reached the Port of Wilmington, a high-level, misty fog covered the area. I checked into the guard shack. I drove around to the empty side of the lot, dropped the empty trailer, and then hooked up the loaded trailer and did the pretrip inspection. Noting how dirty the ... Read more

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