Withstanding Persecution 7/1 Wednesday Wisdom

It is certain that at present we could not stand bitter or prolonged persecution.  The church today would crack.  It is only a revived, strong church that could be entrusted to withstand this fiery ordeal.  Let us not hoodwink ourselves by thinking that it will never come to us  -- many of God's saints are going through it right now in countries under totalitarian rule.

... In that hour we will need all the grace an depth of life and all the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit that God is willing to give.

-- Frank Bartleman

What the Church Must Prepare For 6/30 Tuesday Truth

I will be concluding the Frank Bartleman quotes this week and proceeding to Smith Wigglesworth quotes for up to a year.  I last quoted him four years ago.

What does the future hold?  We know it holds the blessed hope and glorious consummation of the age and the return of the Savior from heaven.  But before that, the church should be prepared for two things:  revival and persecution.  As in apostolic times these two went together, so surely it will be in these end times.  And to the prayerful and watchful, there are significant signs that both are on the way.

-- Frank Bartleman

Hope for Revival 6/29 Monday Meditation

God wants to restore to the church all that she knew in New Testament times of His grace and His power.  What we see in the New Testament is surely available to us.  But are we open for it?
We may be interested in revival.  We may believe that revival is the only hope of the church today.  We may even be praying for it.  But are we ready for what God may be about to do?

-- Frank Bartleman

Willing to Pay the Price 6/26 Friday Faith

Will God visit His people again?  Why not?  As surely as He has done it in the past, He will do it again.  God's skies are full of Pentecosts.  He only waits for us to claim them.  Do we not need one?  Then we can have it, when we are willing to pay the price of obedient faith.

-- Frank Bartleman

Limiting the Holy One 6/25 Thursday Thoughts

Most meetings can only be kept alive now by continuous entertainment, professional evangelism, and a strong social spirit.  And this is all too true in Pentecostal, Holiness, and interdenominational circles, as well as in the older denominations.  Where is the Life itself to draw the people and bring God to them as in the beginning?  This is not New Testament.  It is abnormal, grieving and limiting the Holy One of Israel in our midst.

-- Frank Bartleman

Fleshly Substitutes for the Spirit 6/24 Wednesday Wisdom

The exterior shell of every movement with which it loads itself and in which it later becomes buried, falls to lusting for "flesh."  One can usually judge the progress of this process by the things the movement comes to demand.  Instead of delight in the pure Word, prayer and worship, a love for souls, and zeal for good works, there come entertainment, programs, musicals, sensationalism, and oratory.  These things have no place in essential, true Christianity, but are professionalism -- flesh!  O God, deliver us from fleshly substitutes for the Spirit.

-- Frank Bartleman

Seek Only God 6/23 Tuesday Truth

We must keep our eyes on God, not on a party [denomination].  Keep free from a party spirit.  This is indicative of a respect of persons.  Seek only God and His plan as a whole, His church as a whole.

-- Frank Bartleman