UNBLOCKING THE WELL OF THE LIVING WORD

Our second day at Barvas, the Firestarters here in the Hebrides on the Isle of Lewis were challenged in the morning by my wife Connie Taylor that God has a burning heart. She said, ”When they came to Jesus they asked him different questions. They asked ‘What is the greatest commandment? Jesus answer was .. you know what Moses taught you.. well, I want to tell you more. Jesus went back to Deuteronomy 6, ‘The Shema’. ‘The Lord our God is one, and thou shalt love, the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind and all your soul and all your strength,’ and Jesus said ‘that’s it.. that is it!.. the whole heart of the kingdom of God.. the very expression of the kingdom of heaven.’ God loves like that. At the heart of the universe is a loving God whose heart is burning with a fiery passion and love for us because he’s a bridegroom God. When John saw Jesus in Revelation chapter 2, there was fire in his eyes. Why?.. because the eyes are the window of the soul and it is because there’s fire in the very heart of God.. that fire is for you. There’s a burning love for you …that is the heart of God.. he is on fire. It is not passive, it’s not cool.. it is fiery, about each one of us. He is a bridegroom. What the Song of Songs is talking about is bridal love.. but it’s also an analogy of Jesus and his church and at the end it says rivers can’t quench this love.. waters can’t put out the fire of this love, for it is a most vehement flame. It is a burning fire… rivers can’t drown it. If someone were to offer all the wealth of his house it would be utterly scorned. It is priceless..that is the love that God focuses on us. This commandment isn’t a heavy thing it is an invitation.. I love you.. I want you to step in to this crazy love and to live in that place.. and to live in the love of God.. because God is love and that is the greatest thing about God. In the book of Revelation we also read that God wants us either hot or cold but not lukewarm, because he is as jealous God. If your affections are somewhere else, he is jealous for you. He doesn’t want half-hearted love. He doesn’t want mediocrity.. He is a fiery God and he wants to put that fire in your heart for him so you can burn.. so nothing is too much for him. The message concluded with some crying out to the Lord, telling him they were sorry that they had put other things first, before Him.

Listen to the message below

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In the afternoon we heard from 4 people who gave testimony from the 1949 revival, associated with Duncan Campbell. They were all in their late eighties and nineties and it was an honour to hear them tell their stories.. There was still a fire burning in their hearts for revival, as they testified. From left to right in picture above are William, Donald John , Agnes and Margaret We heard of their longing for God to do it again .

One of the 4, William when answering questions afterwards said “we should be praying for fire “….He told how he became a Christian a week before Christmas in 1949. He said that one day after one of the meetings he went to bed and at 2am. His testimony was, “I said in Gaelic if you are wiling to accept me, I am willing to follow you for the rest of the days of my life. I woke up in the morning and I was a new man. The Lord had come and when he comes he convinces and converts…the Lord was wanting me to go fulltime into the ministry of the word ….I retired after 50 years in Christian ministry.”

Donald John, shared his story. His father was a blacksmith and he emphasized how his father was a praying man and there are stories that the house in Arnol shook..(see picture of house today below) when he prayed. Donald John says that the outstanding characteristic of the revival was the presence of God. In “Sounds of heaven”, he writes “there was a subduing, an awe that was everywhere and the joy! Even in the fields you felt an inward urge to sing. We were up at 3.00 or 4.00 am at the meetings and then up again between 7.00 and 8.00am to go to work and we were not tired.”[1]

Agnesshared how she came to Christ during 1949 and how the joy was wonderful. She shared how her sister was gloriously saved, and she longed to see revival again. Although old in years with limited mobility she said she had to come to share her story with us yesterday, because she was reminded of Psalm 118:17, “ I shall not die, but live, and tell what the Lord has done.”

Margaret told how many of the office-bearers had been saved in the 1939 revival. She was a 15 year old in 1949, and had come to faith earlier in the year. She remembered the first night of the revival and shared how she cried with tears of joy as she left the church. Night after night more would come down the front of the church asking for prayer. It was commonplace to sing Gaelic hymns after the service. They came from all of the surrounding villages, young people, middle-aged, families and an old man up the road of about 80. She said it was a wonderful, wonderful time with an awareness of the presence of the Lord with them.

Testimonies of these four, who are still so ‘on fire for the Lord’ can be found in “Sounds of heaven: The revival on the Isle of Lewis 1949-52.” As we focus on “The burning heart of God, ” as we “pray for fire, ” may we all burn brightly for him, even when ninety years of age!