|
Friends United Meeting |
 |
July 1997
Walking in the Light of Renewal by Floyd Benda
In my spiritual journey I find that the "renewal experience" is not an event. "Renewal" is a process. This is confirmed in Scripture. The apostle Paul writes: "Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day." (2 Corinthians 4:16 NKJV)
The process of "renewal" involves hearing and obeying the prompting of God through the Holy Spirit. In August of 1996, I experienced what I now see as the first installment of the touch of the Holy Spirit. The Lord took hardened Quaker clay and began to prepare it to be used in a vessel worthy to carry the treasure of the Gospel.
Paul writes earlier in the same chapter: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels," (2 Cor. 4:7 NKJV) The Lord took this lump of clay and shook out a good measure of prejudice and pride. What was left He then caused to be wetted with tears of repentance so that the lump might be pliable to be molded by the hands of the Master Potter.
From that first experience of trembling before the Lord, and weeping, and praying in the Spirit came one reality. A sense that, "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever." (Westminster Shorter Catechism) The second "renewal experience" would come to me as a complete surprise. There were no great divisive issues to stimulate the mind. No worship band stirred the emotion. No charismatic speaker excited the spirit. The Spirit of the Lord quietly visited a weekly prayer meeting.
Pastors gathered at the end of the meeting every week to pray for one another. These brothers in Christ began to pray in general for my needs and for the needs of the meeting. One of them began to pray prophetically about some minor issues in my life. You know, those things that are too small to take to GodÉthose things we can handle ourselves. As this man continued to pray I sensed the Lord speaking to me saying, "Just rest in Me, Floyd...Just rest in Me." As I heard these words in my mind, I felt as if I was reclining in my big easy chair and leaned back to rest.
As I "rested in the Lord" I felt the Light of Glory flood over me, around me, through me. A blessed sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit surrounded me as I could hear my brothers in Christ continue to pray over me. The fullness of the experience exceeds the ability to comprehend or explain.
The touch of God, the presence of the Holy Spirit always surpasses our understanding. However, such a touch brings a thirst for more of the same. Gone is a fear of an overwhelming flood that would wash away any sensibility. Instead there is a thirst for more of that cleansing flow. There is a desire to bathe in those healing waters of the River of Life.
Hearing the Lord's invitation, "Rest in Me," has given me a greater desire to hold on to that blessing from the Lord. No self-inspired goal, no selfish desire is worth jeopardizing that intimate relationship and experience of resting in Christ. Beyond quaking, beyond praying in the Spirit, beyond falling under the power of the Holy Spirit is that everyday experience of hearing that still small voice of the Lord Jesus Christ who still speaks to our condition.
Floyd Benda is pastor of Kilpeck Community Friends Church, Muscatine, Iowa. He reported on the "first installment" of renewal in the October 1996 issue of Quaker Life, as part of our coverage of the sessions of Iowa Yearly Meeting.
Copyright (c) Friends United Meeting 1997
Back to July/August 1997 Contents