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E V E R Y D A Y L I G H T
Daily readings to help you see Jesus' light in your life
by Selwyn Hughes
"The Shop is Always Open"
"So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about
to spit you out of my mouth." (v.16)
-- For reading & meditation: Revelation 3:14-22
Having examined some of the ingredients of a spiritual revival we
consider now arguments advanced by those (and there are many) who
believe that revival is an irrelevant issue in today's Church. Some
say the Church is essentially a religious institution not wholly
unlike the institutions of law and medicine. And just as the
institutions of law and medicine have the resources to meet the needs
of those who wish to draw upon them, so also has the Church. The
exponents of this view say that the Church possesses everything we
need to live an effective life - sacraments, hallowed forms of
worship, hymns, fellowship, and so on. If someone is spiritually
sick, so they say, all that person has to do is make their way to the
Church and they will find there the medicine they need for their
soul. Emyr Roberts and Geraint Davies in their booklet Revival and
Its Fruit rightly take issue with this view and say of it: "In this
sense the Church exists independently of the congregation; if nobody
calls, the shop is always open." There can be little doubt that one's
view of revival depends on one's view of the Church. Those who see
the Church as an institution rather than a community of people
brought into being and maintained by the Holy Spirit and the Word
will regard revival as irrelevant. But what is the Church? It is not
a building but a body made alive by the Holy Spirit. And the secret
of her survival is in continually opening herself to the Spirit who
gave her life. She was not only born of the Spirit but survives and
thrives by the Spirit.
PRAYER:
Father, I see that unless the red blood of the Spirit's energy and
power flows through the veins of the Church she becomes weak and
faint and anaemic. Give us, oh give us, a greater flow of Your life
and power. Start in me today. Amen.
FURTHER STUDY:
Heb. 1:1-14; 8:4-6; 1 Cor. 10:11; 2 Pet. 2:6
1. Why has God given us a historical account of the Church?
2. What is the significance of a shadow?
Additional devotionals are available from Crosswalk.com:
http://link.crosswalk.com/UM/T.asp?A1.7.26370.1.1698058
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Copyright 2002 Selwyn Hughes, CWR, Waverley Abbey House,
Waverley Lane, Farnham, Surrey, England. Come to
http://link.crosswalk.com/UM/T.asp?A1.7.26370.2.1698058
for more inspirational devotions by Selwyn Hughes.
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