Ffald-y-Brenin walking in Renewal today   

       -  Roy Godwin

In the last edition of this magazine I  wrote concerning the move of God’s Spirit here at Ffald-y-Brenin.  I am pleased to inform you that since then things have accelerated.  God is continuing to pour out His Spirit amongst our guests, changing lives, releasing gifts, ministries, healing and deliverance, all through His manifest presence without human ministry.

Now I would like to share with you some of the lessons we have learned on the way.

Lesson 1. Check your foundations.

Are you fed up with the status quo?  Are you tired of battling against the same temptations, the same weaknesses, the same strongholds and powers again and again?

In our early days at Ffald-y-Brenin we found ourselves on a treadmill of warfare.   We would seem to win the victory only to lose it again.  Then the battle would recommence and on we’d go in the cycle.   There came a (sensible) point when we rebelled against this pattern and cried out to God “Enough” !   For me, it meant:

a)     laying down my experience within renewal and telling God that it was He who was the fount of wisdom, not me, and we needed His wisdom, not mine! 

        and b)  I had to acknowledge that I didn’t know how to pray.

Out of weakness came strength.   He showed us a different way of praying for His blessing, and then blessed us with an awesome display of grace.  At the very moment we won victory in the heavenlies, the old springs on our hillside that had been dry for a century suddenly started flowing again!

Summary. Refuse to accept patterns of failure.   Choose to live according to Kingdom vision and principles.   Lay down your strength and acknowledge weakness and look to God, not human wisdom, for vision, answers and methods.

Lesson 2.   Remember past renewal.

Have you experienced renewal in times past?   Do you hunger for those days to be reawakened?   Are you frustrated by church life today?

Over the last couple of years God’s blessing had generally encouraged us. However, one morning in our Chapel Prayers I was struck by the Psalmist’s words; how he was troubled as he remembered the former days, the years of long ago, of songs in the night (Ps 77).   Something stirred in me and I began to cry out that the experiences of renewal in my past might be renewed.  And, just like that, He answered. (But He had to remind me that the experience of the past and the methods of the past are two separate issues.)  As I began to pray more in tongues, the freshness of renewal returned, and the sense of His manifest presence began to increase.

Summary. The experiences of renewal in your past can act as a stimulus towards renewal in the present.   Leave the old methods behind and look for today’s bread.   Remember the acts of God in your past.   Stir up the Spirit within you and start to use what you still have.

Lesson 3.   Leave your past failures behind.

Have you made mistakes in the past?   Mishandled renewal?   Fallen into sin?  Linked in with the wrong people?  Do you think that you have become “unusable”?

If that were true, God wouldn’t have been able to work with the biblical figures (Moses the murderer, David the adulterer etc) – or with me.

The gospel – good news – is that God draws you into fellowship and ministry because of His grace, not because of your goodness.

Summary.  Lay your past down at the Cross.  Relinquish the pain.  Learn lessons.  Make restitution where possible.  Then walk forward into a new start.  You can be liberated from your past and be renewed again.

Lesson 4.   Small is beautiful.

Would you like to see your local church flowing in renewal?   Do you long for revival to sweep across this land?   If so, you are catching the Father’s heart.

But do you despair of actually seeing movement in your church?

Do you realise that if you personally walk in renewal, renewal has come to your church?   That if you, personally, are revived, revival has come to Wales?   That if you draw one other person into fellowship, there is a renewed, revived community

functioning in your area?   What is happening at little Ffald-y-Brenin is now affecting its local community and nations. 

Summary.  Act small: pray big.   Start by bringing yourself back into renewal, without forgetting to pray for your local church and for Wales.

Lesson 5.    God is still good and faithful.

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Prov.13:12).    It is easy to think that wonderful experiences of renewal in the past are lost forever; that we are short of resources; that renewal is not so relevant in the post-modern 21^st Century.

God, of course, has provided Jesus as the deepest and most relevant “word” to every person around us.    Receptivity and style may be influenced by culture, but the Holy Spirit can pierce through all of that.    The promises of God are still “Yes” and “Amen” in Jesus (2 Cor.1:20.)   We have been amazed as the manifest presence of God has consistently fallen on visitors of all ages, and the Holy Spirit has brought revelation and healing to them direct from the Father.

Summary.   Regain faith in God and His promises.   Share His presence with others rather than His story; instead of telling people about him, pray with them.

And finally, it’s all about Him, not us.   Our eyes are on Him.  Jesus.  The Life-giver.  The Glorious One.  The Renewer.  We just respond to Him.  By praying and worshipping.  By loving Him first and then those around us.  By living lives that offer a worthy reflection of His grace. 

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