jesus is the way....

Linda as a seminary student, praying during an Associational Missions Committee Meeting in New Hampshire in 1992 during a snow storm. Two years later, a church starter used our resources to start churches in New Hampshire we were praying about that night.

By Linda Hokit
​God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble…
Be still and know that I am God. Psalms 46: 1 and 10 (NIV)

Oh, my word. The young ones in my community are on the streets heading for schools, running to cars and buses for pickups and filling the little library in my town after school. The energy level is at a high pitch, the enthusiasm is high and I love to see it. Their hope, joy and enthusiasm are contagious! However, there are times I just want to pull aside and linger with the Lord and imagine how God will turn things to good for them!

If you read the verses between the ones I shared above, you’ll recognize similar upheaval that exists in the world today. Upheavals that affect young and old alike. And yet, we are told to go to God and let Him lay the course for the future.

I remember early in my career hearing about a mother who found a brilliant way to pull aside
and linger in the Lord’s presence. Her name was Susana Wesley. She had a son named John and another named Charles. They were among the 19 children Susana and Samuel had! I can not even imagine what craziness must have gone on in their home! Even so, Susana set aside time during her busy day to pray. As the story goes, she laid her apron over her head when she wanted time alone with God. The children soon learned that when she covered her head and shut out the world, it was time to settle or go outside the house so their mother could pray. John and Charles must have witnessed her prayer routine many times.

The Wesley’s lived in England during the 1700’s, which is before the Revolutionary War. John and Charles were among those God eventually used to bring Spiritual Awakening to England. They also wrote a number of hymns still sung today, such as O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing, Hark the Herald Angels Sing and Christ the Lord has Risen Today. They also helped form the Methodist denomination.

In 1735, John and Charles sailed for America to minister to the English who had settled near
what is now Savanah, Georgia as well as the nearby native tribes. James Oglethorpe who
founded the Georgia colony invited them to come. Charles got sick and went home early but John stayed about a year longer. Even though he started the first Anglican church in American, he did not consider his efforts successful. I had the honor of praying in that church!

John may have considered his journey a failure, but it triggered a spiritual renewal in his life. Once back home, a Moravian minister led him to the Lord. Soon John began preaching in the highways and byway of England and was part of a spiritual awakening there. In 1784 John ordained Thomas Coke, who Methodists then sent to American. I fully believe that had Susana not stopped and prayed so faithfully things would have worked out very differently in the livesof John and Charles.

We have had a number of spiritual awakenings in America. However, there were three historically recognized Spiritual Awakenings in early America: 1) The First Spiritual Awakening (1730-1755) that covered primarily the American Colonies; 2) The Second Spiritual Awakening (1790-1840) that spread across the nation existing at the time; and 3) The Third Spiritual Awakening (1857-1859) in New York City known as the Businessman’s Revival. It started as a
result of a noontime prayer meeting when a financial crisis was happening.

There have also been more modern-day revivals. A friend of mine was part of the Saskatoon in 1971. I was part of the awakening known as the Jesus Revolution. Many might be aware of his awakening because of the movie by that name. Although that movie focused on the California
awaking, it happened in other locations. Perhaps you know about one of the revivals that broke out on a college campus over the past few years. And, of course, there were awakenings recorded in the scriptures.
An evangelical awakening was defined by a man named Edwin Orr as, “a movement of the Holy Spirit bringing about a revival of New Testament Christianity in the church of Christ and its related community.” It often comes about as a result of prayer and in answer to great need.

So, are we willing to pull aside like Susana Wesley on a regular basis? Are we willing to pray on a regular basis for the children and young adults in our families, church and community? Are we
willing to ask God to lead us to our knees and beyond our doors for His sake? Do we believe
God is our refuge? Do we believe He is able and active in our world today?
In closing, I am reminded of the chorus of a song by the late Andrae Crouch wrote in the 1990’s.
Do you remember it?!
Jesus is the answer for our world today. Above Him there’s no other. Jesus is the way…