CATCH
THE FIRE
by
Peter H Lawrence
I have always hated the thought of
havin a bald head and so far I still have something through which to put a comb.
But I think if I did look like a billiard ball I would struggle to find
enough faith within myself to believe that Jesus could heal me.
Unless. I suppose. I was sitting next to three bald-headed men whose hair
suddenly grew at the laying-on of hands.
Then, I reckon, I might believe.
I’ve often thought this was the
scenario in Mark I & 2. Jesus
leaves Nazareth and builds a house by the sea in Capernaum.
Good idea. The local beauty spot where crowds would go on their
day off not to mention those who used the water in a hot land to help make a
living. Much more a
centre of commerce than Nazareth with many more people.
Anointed by the Holy Spirit Jesus speaks in their church soon after
he’s arrived and heals a demonised man with unusual authority.
So - when the Sabbath is over -
everyone who is sick - well everyone who is sick who can walk - comes to his
door. “The whole town
gathered at the door”. Now
I wouldn’t be first in the queue with my bald head but I’d definitely be
there. Curious to start with but after a few blind eyes
opened, lepers cleansed and more demons cast out I really do think hope and maybe even faith would
rise inside me.
Jesus is then out of town for a
day or two but when he returns, guess what?
You got it.
More crowds and this time some important people too.
So four friends carry unsuspecting crippled Charlie up on the roof -
smash a hole in it so that all the debris falls on the important guys below -
and then lower him down. If
I’d been Jesus I’d have……
Now where do they get that kind of
faith from? Come to think of
it where does crippled Charlie - cast out of home, town and especially synagogue
for being a sinner - get his friends from?
Obvious. He was a
member of the sick colony who couldn’t get to Jesus the first time round
because he couldn’t walk. But
his sick friends, blind Bert.. leper Larry, coughing Claude and Arthur-ritis
made it and came back rejoicing .
That’s where you get that kind of faith from.
Admittedly faith can be a
spiritual gift dropped from on high at the will of God, but in my experience
even that can be caught. From
1973-76 I went to St. Margaret’s Aspley where a mini-revival was taking place.
I’d never seen anything like it.
And while I was there I too
received words of knowledge, led people to Christ and laid hands on the sick who
recovered.
But - full of faith and a little
bit of experience I moved to Birmingham in 1976 and saw virtually nothing like
this happen at all. Same
hands, same belief system but not a sausage.
In 1985 I went to a John Wimber Conference and there it all was again
only more so. I raced
home with my hands still burning and for five years we saw all kinds of
extraordinary things taking place.
I wrote several books about it which I’d be happy to sell to you any
time you like.
I then moved to Dorset and saw
very little until 1994 when I went to Toronto. And there - bless my soul - God was at it again -
this time with a touch more humour to help us in not taking ourselves too
seriously. We brought it back
but keeping the fire going was difficult.
Those who had not been and not experienced it provided some enormously
powerful wet blankets.
In 2000 some people came to our
church from Portsmouth who have seen God produce gold dust out of nothing.
(Failed alchemists and Harry Potter addicts eat your heart out, this was
the real thing). And
occasionally since then, whenever God chooses, one or two from our congregation
have experienced the same phenomenon, which is glorious to behold.
Why do we need to go to Anaheim
and Toronto or Portsmouth? Why
did Smith Wigglesworth have to go to Sunderland to receive tongues?
Why did the guys in Capernaum see more healings than
those in Nazareth? The
answer is quite simple. In the area of faith the horizontal dimension can be as
important as the vertical. In
heaven we’ll all believe but here on earth we need help - from one another as
well as God. May I suggest if we want to see things happen in our
own church we put ourselves about a bit.
Get where the action is.
Try and catch the fire wherever it is as well as talking and singing
about it.
And when you have done this may I
recommend the following activity which we tried the other day with remarkable
consequences.
Get all the O.T. T ‘s from your
church, the raving charismatics, to line up in pairs ‘oranges and lemons
style’ to form a tunnel. Then
persuade all the doubters and cynics to pass through the tunnel of fire, pausing
at each pair to receive prayer. A
lot of ours went round a second and third time while some never reached the end
at all.
lt may not put hairs on your head
or on your chest, but if tackled with fasting, prayer and proper preparations it
may put fire in your belly. We
had a great time doing it
Little saucepans to you all and may God bless your rugby team. Keep buying the books.