Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 1 Timothy 4:7-8When John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield attended Oxford, they began meeting together for the purpose of becoming holy. This group became known as the Holy Club. At times the group consisted of only these three and one other; at other times, as many as forty might attend. However, they continued to meet to pray for and exhort one another. They spent time discussing what the Lord revealed to them in their times of study and fasted for one another’s needs and for revival. God heard and answered their prayers, and the First Great Awakening shook Europe and North America for over a hundred years.
Today, however, we do not seek God in such a way. Most of us ask God to make us holy and then go on about our day, wondering all the while why we seem to progress no further in godliness or holiness, except by small increments. In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, Paul commands Timothy to train himself up for godliness. We cannot sit idly by asking and waiting on God to answer our prayers to be made holy and godly when we show no inclination toward such character. While we also will neither holy nor godly without prayer, we will be certainly less so without training and committing ourselves to obeying the Lord’s commands.
One might ask, “But what about God’s good grace?” God’s grace is good, and it is full upon all who call upon His name, believing Jesus Christ to be their Savior by bearing our sin on the cross unto death and rising again to sit at the right hand of the Father. God’s grace through His Spirit transforms the believer, and He makes the believer grow in grace and faith. Yet the flesh and the world war against the believer, and we must fight by standing firm in the grace God has provided. This requires effort and training, fueled by the fire of the Spirit indwelling the believer.
We have been unwise to let down our defenses. We have let those who should have been cast out of the Church long ago water-down the doctrines of faith to where we now have churches calling themselves “Christian” and teaching a gospel of which no true believer may claim knowledge. How these institutions stand is beyond me. And while those arose, the Church turned to defend the true doctrines and lost sight of the lost. And so the lost became more lost, and more lost their way. Might it be too late for revival? Might it be too late to cease trying to turn back those false churches who are utterly fallen away and instead unite to see the un-churched find the risen Christ? May it never be. Let us seek Him and pray for revival again. Let us as one body, whether Messianic Jew, Catholic, Protestant, or any other true believer, seek the face of our beloved Lord and ask Him to show His mighty power once again to shine His light on our lost land and on all the world.
Amen!