BYM ONLINE DESK Blessing February 2019 English Emagazine | Page 9

february 2019 | bymonline.org
had listened to, from week to week, were not, that I could
see, answered. Indeed, I understood from their utterances
in prayer, and from other remarks in their meetings, that
those who offered them did not regard them as answered.
“They exhorted each other to wake up and be
engaged, and to pray earnestly for a revival of religion,
asserting that if they did their duty, prayed for the
outpouring of the Spirit, and were in earnest, that the
Spirit of God would be poured out, that they would have a
revival of religion, and that the impenitent would be
converted. But in their prayers and conference meetings
they would continually confess, substantially, that they
were making no progress in securing a revival of religion.
This inconsistency, the fact that they prayed so
much and were not answered, was a sad stumbling block
to me. I knew not what to make of it. It was a question in
my mind whether I was to understand that these persons
were not truly Christians. and therefore did not prevail
with God; or did I misunderstand the promises and
teachings of the Bible on this subject, or was I to conclude
that the Bible was not true? Here was something
inexplicable to me, and it seemed, at one time, that it
would almost drive me into scepticism. It seemed to me
that the teachings of the Bible did not at all accord with
the facts which were before my eyes.
On one occasion, when I was in the prayer meeting.
I was asked if I did not desire that they should pray for me.
I told them no, because I did not see that God answered
their prayers. I said, 'I suppose I need to be prayed for, for
I am conscious that I am a sinner; but I do not see that it
will do any good for you to pray for me; for you are
continually asking, but you do not receive. You have been
praying for a revival of religion ever since I have been in
Adams, and yet you have it not.'”
When John Wesley concluded his message he cried
to God to “confirm His Word,” to “set to His Seal,” and to
“bear witness to His Word.” And God did. Sinners were
stricken immediately, and began to cry for mercy under
fearful conviction of sin, and soon after, in a moment they
were set at liberty, and filled with unspeakable joy in the
knowledge of a present Salvation.
Such was also the experience of the Early Church.
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“Now when they heard this they were pricked in their
hearts, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles,
men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37), “Long
time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the name of
the Lord, which gave testimony unto the Word of His
grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their
hands” (Acts 14:3).They prayed “that signs and
wonders”might “be done” (Acts 4:30). And Paul
declared that the Gospel is “the power of God unto
Salvation” (Rom 1:16). Yet all this was utterly foreign to
my work.
In the Irish Revival of 1859, “signs and wonders”
were seen on every side. Among the Early Methodists
they were of daily occurrence. But with me the Gospel
was not “the power of God unto Salvation.” God did not
“confirm His Word,” “set to His seal,” or “bear witness
to His Word,” when I preached. And I knew I had the right
to expect it for Jesus Himself had given the promise.
“The works that I do,” He declared, “shall ye do also and
greater works than these shall ye do” (John 14:12).
Then one day I read the Acts of the Apostles to find
out if God's servants in the Early Church got results
wherever they went. And I found as I read that they aimed
at, worked for, expected, and never failed to get fruit.
Peter preached on the day of Pentecost and 3,000
responded to that first appeal. There was a definite
Outcome. With Paul it was the same. Follow him from
place to place, and wherever he goes churches spring up.
See how repeatedly the results are noted throughout the
book. “They were added unto them about 3,000 souls”
(2:41), “Many of them which heard the Word believed,
and turned unto the Lord” (11:2), “Much people was
added unto the Lord” (11: 24), “A great multitude
believed” (11: 1), “Some believed, of the devout Greeks a
great multitude, and of the chief women not a few” (17:4),
“Many believed.” (17:34) “Some believed” (28:24). And
Paul was able to declare “what things God had wrought
by His Ministry” (21: 19).
Oh, how far short I fell! How fearfully I had failed!
failed in the very thing for which God had called me into
the Ministry. How seldom I could write after having
preached that “a great number believed and turned unto
the Lord,” or even that “some believed.” Nor was it
possible for me to declare with Paul “what things God