School of Ministry - Church History

My hubby and I have one more week and we will complete the first year of the school of ministry at our church. It has been an awesome year and we have been so awed by seeing more clearly the plan of our Father, Jesus our Redeemer and Holy Spirit. For several weeks, we have been studying Church History. Now I'm not at all a history buff and thought I'd be lost and perhaps bored in the class but it has been anything but!

The pastor who is teaching this module, declared the first night that he was teaching church history from the viewpoint of restoration. That he would show us the plan of God to restore all things unto Himself through Christ and the creation of the church. Class has been so interesting and after seeing each place where the Lord was awakening something that was lost, I saw the great persecution that resulted from the church. For instance, after the dark ages and all things the apostles walked in were completely lost, Martin Luther who was trying to make himself right but living a life of despair realizing that he never could, had gone off to a monastery and began to study the book of Romans. For the first time, he saw "the just shall live by faith" (Rms 1:17). Father was restoring a relationship by believing and not by keeping laws. He shared this new discovery and he was mocked, berated and eventually excommunicated from the church. He paid a great price for us to live in this great truth. There were many men & women who saw what was lost and when they proclaimed the truth, they were reviled. Included in this was the Azuza Street Revival. It awakeded the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost. Again, they were mocked, berated and put out of fellowship. I began to think about the awakening that is taking place today in Florida. Is it possible for the Lord to be restoring again? Restoring signs, wonders and miracles.

I don't want to be one of those who rejects what the Father is trying to restore. I know he uses humans, and there will always be a part of flesh in it, but because we are made in His image, there will be a part of Him in it too! I am more determined to look for Him in all things. To see the face of my Father, to hear the voice of my Father, to be touched by the hand of my Father and to experience the heart of my Father.

Because of this class, I hope my heart will be awakened. Awakened to our human tendency to be unaccepting of things we don't fully understand. Awakened to our bend to negate rather than restore. Awakened to my narrowmindedness instead of wholeheartedness. Father, I am so grateful for those who paid the utmost price for the truth I walk in today. Because I believe more in Your ability to keep me, "To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy..." (Jude 24) than the enemies power to deceive me, I ask You to awaken me. Awaken me to anything that causes me to slumber. I give You permission to disburb me to awaken me!