A Revival Memory

I cannot tell you the spiritual impact that this outpouring of the Holy Spirit which started at Asbury Universtiy will have over the years.  I cannot tell you why God chose Asbury again to begin such a powerful spiritual movement.  And, I cannot tell you where the last rippling of the Holy Spirit will be felt in this current awakening.  There is much I cannot tell you or anyone else.  What I can say with certainty is that God is about something in these days and it will only be known as those who have been spiritually transformed and energized go forward.    

Fifty three years ago I was at Asbury College when a similar movement of the Holy Spirit took place.  As I reflect on that holy week in which the Holy Spirit did signs and wonders, I find that there is much about it that I do not know.  What I do know is that the moment I spent at the altar that Tuesday afternoon in 1970 has never been far from my memory and forever shaped my personal spiritual journey and the ministry God entrusted to me.  I never sought to make a shrine out of what happened, I did not talk about it until people were weary of hearing what had happened, and I never felt it was something which could be duplicated or programmed and shoved down the spiritual throat of the churches I was serving.   

What I do know is that the Revival of '70 gave me a hunger for God that has never been satisfied.  It made me thirsty.  It caused me to always want to make more of myself available to the work of the Holy Spirit.  What it did not make me was perfect, neither did it make me feel that I had arrived spirtually, and here toward the end of the journey with that memory still fresh I confess to knowing that there is so much I do not know about the way God works to make Himself known among us.  I am grateful for that day long ago.  It has been an anchor that has held me steadfast to the Cornerstone.  (I Peter 2:6)