Richard Baxter

MANY WITHIN THE CHURCH feel as if they are drowning in a river of empty words and hollow promises. Demoralized by superficial religion, their hungry hearts are crying out, “Where is the REAL Church, mighty in truth and power?” There are many who can give us a moving definition of revival, but where are the MEN who can move the Church with a demonstration of revival? As the late Leonard Ravenhill once said, “We can all make the menu, but we can’t make the meal.” Proverbs 27:7 tells us that, “To the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.” Sadly, multitudes of hungry and disillusioned souls are seeking the bitter bread of a godliness that denies power, or a form of power that denies godliness. Oh, how we need the REALITY of revival, a revival that will restore the Church to Her former apostolic beauty of PURITY and POWER. Nothing less than this REALITY will prepare us to face a dying world and the coming King.

With tireless zeal, Baxter fanned the flames of revival with the MIRACLE of passionate preaching. Many believe that Baxter was one of the most powerful preachers that ever addressed an English congregation. He was an intense and forceful preacher, he believed that, “If hard hearts were to be broken, it was not stroking but striking that must do it.” He purposed to always, “Preach as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men.”

His sermons were a combination of cutting and piercing words and a gentle and loving spirit. Baxter consistently spoke like one who had been face to face with Jesus. He drew others to Heaven through his preaching because he had touched Heaven through his praying. In Baxter’s classic book The Reformed Pastor, he reminds us that the pulpit is only a reflection of the closet. He writes, “When your minds are in holy, heavenly frame, your people are likely to partake of it. They will be able to feel when you have been much with God; that which is most on your heart, will be most in their ears.” Richard Baxter considered prayer the first and last thing necessary to be a successful pastor and revivalist. He writes, “Above all be much in secret prayer and meditation. By this you will fetch the heavenly fire that must kindle your sacrifice remember you cannot decline and neglect your duty to your own hurt alone, many will be losers by it as well as you.”

David Smithers – A Church historian that has a passion to see revival that will send out missionaries in this generation. Founded a ministry watchword.org where you can access his writings.

Philip Jacob Spener

IN EVERY GENERATION GOD HAS had a remnant that strived to restore true Christianity according to the Apostolic pattern. 17th century Germany was the home of just such a people known as the Pietist. The Pietist yearned and prayed to see the Church restored to Her original purity and power.

The vision and dreams of these earnest Christians founds a prophetic voice in the ministry of Philip Jacob Spener. Spener, considered the father of pietism, was a man of both vision and practical direction. Over 300 years ago Spener had a good understanding of the churches needs, and how to mend them. Concepts that are today considered new and innovative in many Christian circles were laid out long ago by the old German prophet. 

Philip Jacob Spener, like most 17th century pietist, was a Lutheran. Spener had become deeply concerned that the teachings of Luther had produced a church only half reformed. Germany was filled with professing Christians who had been instructed in the academics of salvation by faith, but yet lacked the holy fruit of faith. Spener saw that many were void of any trace of loving fear and devotion for the Lord Jesus. A spirit of presumption had come into the church, causing many to take the grace of God for granted.

Spener was also a bold advocate of the Lutheran doctrine of the priesthood of the believer. Pietist felt that laymen had not been given sufficient opportunities in the Church. In the home meetings all believers were allowed to express their heart and ask questions. Spener taught that, “believers are not passive in spiritual matters, but have a responsibility for building one another up in the faith.” As a result of Spener’s revival efforts, he was severely maligned and persecuted. He was literally driven across Germany. As Spener fled from city to city new house churches sprang up, reviving the dry and formal Lutheran church.

David Smithers – A Church historian that has a passion to see revival that will send out missionaries in this generation. Founded a ministry watchword.org where you can access his writings.

Girolamo Savonarola

IN JAMES 5:10 WE ARE EXHORTED to “take the prophets for an example”. A careful study of the “Holy Men of Old” can kindle both the fires of self-sacrifice and prayerful devotion. However, prophetic examples are not confined only to the pages of the Scriptures. Though often neglected, maligned and forgotten, God’s prophetic torches have always burned throughout the history of the Church. One such burning prophet was Girolamo Savonarola.  Through his tears, prayers and passionate preaching, the seeds of reformation and revival took root in Italy.

Born in Ferrara, Italy, September 14, 1452, Savonarola was the third in a family of seven children – five sons and two daughters. As a boy his devotion and fervor increased as he spent many hours in prayer and fasting. At times he would kneel in church for many hours engaged in earnest prayer. He was very contemplative, and his soul was deeply wounded by the sin and worldliness he saw all around him.

One day, he saw a vision of the heavens opened, and all the future calamities of the Church passed before his eyes. He then heard God’s voice charging him to warn the people. From that moment he was convinced of his prophetic calling, and he was suddenly filled with a new unction and power. His preaching was now with a voice of thunder, and his rebukes against sin were so terrific that the people who listened to him sometimes went about the streets half-dazed, bewildered, and speechless. His listeners were often so overcome with tears that the whole church echoed with the sounds of sobbing and weeping. Workmen, poets and philosophers, all would burst into tears under his passionate preaching. Often he was so completely gripped by the power of the Holy Spirit that he would be forced to retire to a secluded place. The life of Savonarola exemplifies many precious qualities that our fainthearted and distracted age so desperately needs. We are barren and deficient in prayer, patience, purity and most importantly a sacrificial love for Jesus. Until we as the body of Christ return to these holy principles, true reformation and revival will not be realized; Oh Lord break our hearts and open our eyes!

David Smithers – A Church historian that has a passion to see revival that will send out missionaries in this generation. Founded a ministry watchword.org where you can access his writings.