This report is particularly chilling to me.  I have been to the very location described in this article, and I have seen mob violence (lynching) in Kenya.  It happens so easily.  This was a very near miss.  All that is necessary for these assassinations to occur is for the police to show up a minute late.  This can be easily arranged.  And no one is accountable.  It is just mob violence. Archbishop Ntigali is one of the stalwarts of African Anglicanism.  Add him to your prayer list.

This is an excellent word for any Monday morning, but it particularly goes well with our recent series in Hebrews.

The Unsurpassed Intimacy of Tested Faith

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, August 29th

Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” —John 11:40
Every time you venture out in your life of faith, you will find something in your circumstances that, from a commonsense standpoint, will flatly contradict your faith. But common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense. In fact, they are as different as the natural life and the spiritual. Can you trust Jesus Christ where your common sense cannot trust Him? Can you venture out with courage on the words of Jesus Christ, while the realities of your commonsense life continue to shout, “It’s all a lie”? When you are on the mountaintop, it’s easy to say, “Oh yes, I believe God can do it,” but you have to come down from the mountain to the demon-possessed valley and face the realities that scoff at your Mount-of-Transfiguration belief (see Luke 9:28-42). Every time my theology becomes clear to my own mind, I encounter something that contradicts it. As soon as I say, “I believe ‘God shall supply all [my] need,’ ” the testing of my faith begins (Philippians 4:19). When my strength runs dry and my vision is blinded, will I endure this trial of my faith victoriously or will I turn back in defeat?

Faith must be tested, because it can only become your intimate possession through conflict. What is challenging your faith right now? The test will either prove your faith right, or it will kill it. Jesus said, “Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me” Matthew 11:6). The ultimate thing is confidence in Jesus. “We have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end…” (Hebrews 3:14). Believe steadfastly on Him and everything that challenges you will strengthen your faith. There is continual testing in the life of faith up to the point of our physical death, which is the last great test. Faith is absolute trust in God— trust that could never imagine that He would forsake us (see Hebrews 13:5-6).

Don’t miss this!

The following excerpts come from today’s devotional reading in Oswald Chambers’ classic My Utmost For His Highest.  I subscribe to it electronically and it comes to my inbox each day.  You might want to do the same.  Here is the link.

We tend to say that because a person has natural ability, he will make a good Christian. It is not a matter of our equipment, but a matter of our poverty; not of what we bring with us, but of what God puts into us; not a matter of natural virtues, of strength of character, of knowledge, or of experience— all of that is of no avail in this concern…. God’s friendship is with people who know their poverty. He can accomplish nothing with the person who thinks that he is of use to God.

The most important aspect of Christianity is not the work we do, but the relationship we maintain and the surrounding influence and qualities produced by that relationship. That is all God asks us to give our attention to, and it is the one thing that is continually under attack.

Here are two videos describing the revival that began in Manhattan in September 1857.

 

 

Here is a text description with more details.

This video contains a montage of old audio clips of great evangelists of previous generations, including some anecdotes of a great revival on the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides by Duncan Campbell.  I found it very encouraging and inspiring. I hope you will too.