REVIVALIST in CHINA

Jonathan Goforth written by David Smithers

"You must go forward on your knees" was the advise Hudson Taylor gave to a young Canadian missionary named Jonathan Goforth. 

Mr. Goforth faithfully and fervently followed this advice throughout all has missionary endeavors in China. Yet, after thirteen years of faithful praying and preaching, and what most would consider a very successful ministry, Goforth became restless and dissatisfied. 

It was at this time that an unknown party from England began sending pamphlets on the Welsh revival of 1904.  Goforth was deeply stirred as he read t ese accounts. "A new thought, a new conception seemed to come to him of God the Holy Spirit..." He then gave himself to much more prayer and Bible study. Goforth now found himself being driven by a fresh vision, a vision for a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  

Soon he began to meet daily with other missionaries to pray for revival. These men vowed to God and to one another that they would pray until revival came to China. 

In 1908 Jonathan Goforth's prayers and dreams began to be realized. Goforth began going to different missionary stations and simply led his fellow missionaries in prayer. Then suddenly earnest prayer gave way to the open confession of sin.  

It was when the Christians came clean, confessed and forsook their secret sin that the Holy Spirit rushed in like a mighty wind.  Truly it was this open and honest confession of sin that was the most striking feature of the revival.  

 
Everywhere Mr. Goforth went revival would spread, and almost always in the same way. First prayer was encourage among the Christians, which then spontaneously led to heart- breaking confessions of sin. And then like a flood, the lost were brought into the kingdom by the thousands.  

"Men were searched as with fire".  One after another broken-hearted believers emptied themselves through the uncovering of all secret sin. Mr. Goforth clearly identified unconfessed sin among Christians as a major hindrance to God-sent revival.  Walter Phillips describes for us one of Mr. Goforth's revival meetings: "At once, on entering the church one was conscious of something unusual. The place was crowded to the door and tense, reverent attention sat on every face. 

The people knelt for prayer, silent at first but soon one here and another there, began to pray aloud.  The voices grew and gathered volume and blended into a great wave of united supplication that swelled until it was almost a roar. 

Now I understood why the floor was so wet, the very air was electric and strange thrills coursed up and down one’s body." When Mr. Goforth preached, "The cross burned like a living fire in the heart of every address." It was the person of Jesus Christ who was exalted throughout the entire revival as a King and Savior who must be reckoned with. In the midst of this great revival Jonathan Goforth clearly saw that all of his previous sweating and striving had reaped only frustration. 

He came to the firm conviction that revival is only born through humility, faith, prayer and the power of the Holy Ghost. Goforth writes, "If revival is being withheld from us it is because some idol remains still enthroned; because we still insist in placing our reliance in human schemes; because we still refuse to face the unchangeable truth that 'It is not by might, but by My Spirit.'"

Pray!

Have you ever received a call for prayer or just felt the urge to pray for someone but said, 'I'll pray for them later'?  Once you read the following story that was sent to me, I am sure it will encourage you to pray right away.  I'm not sure if it is really true or not, but it is a great reminder at any rate....

As Amy Carmichael says "if you are ever inclined to pray for a missionary, do it at once, wherever you are.  Perhaps he may be in great peril at that moment."

Here's the story..  “While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, every two weeks I traveled by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This was a journey of two days, and required camping overnight at the halfway point.

On one of these journeys, I arrived in the city where I planned to collect money from a bank, purchase medicine, and supplies, and then begin my two-day journey back to the field hospital.

Upon arrival in the city, I observed two men fighting, one of whom had been seriously injured. I treated him for his injuries and at the same time talked to him about the Lord.

I then traveled two days, camping overnight, and arrived home without incident.

Two weeks later I repeated my journey upon arriving in the city, I was approached by the young man I had treated. He told me that he had known I carried money and medicines. He said, 'Some friends and I followed you in to the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight. We planned to kill you and take your money and drugs.  But just as we were about to move into your camp, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards.

At this, I laughed and said that I was certainly all alone in that jungle campsite. The young man pressed the point, however, and said, 'No, sir, I was not the only person to see the guards, my friends also saw them, and we all counted them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone.'

At this point in the sermon, one of the men in the congregation jumped to his feet & interrupted the missionary and asked if he could tell him the exact day this happened. The missionary told the congregation the date and the man who interrupted told him this story:

'On the night of your incident in Africa, it was morning here, and I was preparing to go play golf. I was about to putt when I felt the urge to pray for you. In fact, the urging of the Lord was so strong; I called men in this church to meet with me here in the sanctuary to pray for you. Would all of those men who met with me on that day stand up?'

The men who had met together to pray that day stood up. The missionary was less concerned with whom they were as how many men he saw. *There were 26. *

This is an incredible example of how the Spirit of the Lord moves in behalf of those who love Him. If you ever feel such prodding to pray, go along with it, you don't know what it can mean to that person.  Nothing is ever hurt by prayer except the gates of hell.

Barrel-ponics - a.k.a. Aquaponics in a Barrel

Grow your own vegetable and fish at the same time, with an Aquaponics system.

Aquaponics is the combination of Aquaculture (growing fish to eat) and Hydroponics (growing vegetables in a non-traditional way, using water).

Aquaponics uses the water and nutrients used in the fish tank to feed and grow your vegetable and plants.  It basically uses a hydroponic system and instead of chemicals, it actually uses naturally sustainable fish waste as nutrients instead of the chemical fertilizers.  These nutrients are filtered through the plants which works as a water filter for the fish, it is set up as a true ecosystem. 

Below is a link to Travis Hughey’s E-book instruction manual & a video.

manual

 video link