Evidence of God's Spirit at Work in our Times

Ray Ortlund with a very encouraging post that I heartily agree with.  He writes:

I was ruined at 19. I saw the Holy Spirit come down and change the subject on the streets of L.A. to Jesus. It was known as “the Jesus Movement” — from around 1969 to 1972. I thought this was just how ministry was done, this is what to expect. All my life since I have prayed and labored to see breakthrough spiritual power of that magnitude.

I am seeing it. We are seeing it. But this time, it’s better. The Jesus Movement was more like a power surge. Kaboom. It came, it went. Much good was done. But it was too soon over. This time, however, we’re planting churches, forming coalitions and networks, building websites, writing books of lasting value, and much more. This time, it’s built to last. This is thrilling.

These advances are pouring out of a broad renewal in the biblical gospel. Union with Christ crucified and risen, regeneration, justification by faith alone, sanctification by grace, the church as ground zero for the purposes of God, and so forth — robust gospel doctrine is being run up the flagpole through The Gospel Coalition, Together for the Gospel, Acts 29, Sovereign Grace Ministries, Reach Records, and so forth, and a new generation is saluting. I see this as evidence of God’s power in our midst. And here’s the cool thing. It’s not as though a human committee met in a hotel conference room somewhere to mastermind the progress of the past decade. God has done this himself. And it’s no stunt. He has a plan, and he’s working his plan. He is creating conditions for an even better future, if we will steward his blessing wisely.

How can we do that? How can we live in such a way that, twenty years from today, we won’t be regretting how we handled our historic opportunity? What can we do, within our limitations, not to squander what God is giving us but to parlay it into even more?

Read the rest for his exhortations on how we move into the future with such blessing.


Check out Ray's books here:
Proverbs: Wisdom that Works
Isaiah: God Saves Sinners
A Passion for God: Prayers and Meditations on the Book of Romans
God's Unfaithful Wife: A Biblical Theology of Spiritual Adultery
When God Comes to Church: A Biblical Model for Revival Today