The Hell-Shaking Power in Desiring God

“Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergyman or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon the earth.”

(from a letter of John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement)

Wouldn’t it be great if we all woke up each morning with a deep, burning desire to please God? What if our church had a hundred members who feared “nothing but sin” and desired “nothing but God”? Would it really shake Hell’s gates and set up the kingdom of Heaven on the earth?

What if we worshiped with the desire to please only God?

¨ Would worship be transformed from the mundane, ordinary, and unexciting into a transforming encounter with the Creator of all things and the Lord of our lives?

What if we read the Bible with the desire to please only God? 

¨ Would we discover God’s Word was a force so powerful that it could penetrate our hardened hearts, break us down, and reform us into what God intended us to be?

What if we related to the people around us with the desire to please only God?

¨ Would we discover how often we fail to walk in Jesus’ steps: to forgive, to love, to serve, to embrace… to share His good news?

Gilbert K. Chesterton once wisely said that “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.” I am hoping that the day will come when people will look at Verona UMC as a church that was unafraid to try and walk in Jesus’ steps. A church that hated sin but desired God enough to seek his will in everything and then to live according to that will. The Petal Pushers have just donated a garden bench to our church that reads:  “By His grace and to His glory.” Are we living daily by His grace and to His glory?

I believe all of this is possible if we commit to the following:

¨ Accepting God’s grace, love and salvation in Jesus Christ

¨ Speaking with and listening to God

¨ Presenting ourselves for Sunday worship and worshiping with all our being.

¨ Reading the Bible daily with an eye toward living by and through that Word

¨ Spending less time consumed with the things that matter most to this world— and more time consumed with the things that matter most to God.

¨ Loving, forgiving , and serving our friends and our enemies.

 

Are we ready to step out and “shake the gates of Hell and set up the Kingdom of Heaven upon the earth”?

 Bob

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