A Moment in September 2023
Mid-September, Bloemfontein: 40 like-minded leaders from across the country gathered at Ebenhaeser Christian Church, our warm and comforting host as usual. We came to reflect again on Psalm 11:3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
We gasped in awe at the extent of God’s dealings with a Remnant in human history, wondering if in the present age of apostasy and disregard for the Word of God, a Remnant is once again being washed up by the postmodern waves of false doctrine and woke philosophies. Even for us there is nothing to pride ourselves in, because the judgments of the Lord of Lords remain relentless as He continues to call those who have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Just as Paul, the Apostle, wrote in Romans 11:5 – So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
So we gathered humbly, sensing both the present time seriousness and urgency of being addressed as a Remnant, needing to freshly hear His voice.
A brother shared online from Canada: Daniel’s three young friends daring to stand against public trends and threats, even in the fierce fiery furnace of retribution. Unashamed of Him who revealed Himself to them; unmoved by the relentless threat against their deep-founded faith; and unharmed by the fire… they persevered and were blessed by the presence of a Fourth One with them in the flames.
It was a moment of reflective truth, a moment of softening of hearts – hearts that so easily become calloused as year after year you fight on both sides – outside and inside the camp – to fend off the mind-war against truth.
A brother shared some salient points from historic revival records, when believers sensed their desperate need for God, and called out to Him, and He answered. Again it was relived as a moment of divine visitation when this motley gathering of softened hearts called out to God, and He touched those burdened, praying hearts and stirred them into expectation.
God’s manifest presence left the attendees open to one another – open to share remembrances from past revival visitations in the Church of our Lord in South Africa. Deep dependencies were humbly shared, as well as times of arrogant carnal agendas. What a sense of hurt descended as the reminder came of the 1857 Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church deciding to formalise racial separateness in worship. God worked with the Remnant as an awe-inspiring visitation started in 1861 in the town of Worcester, then overflowed to other Boland, Cape Province and countrywide local Dutch Reformed Churches. In moments the testimonies flowed of divine visitations as a historic mission-sending surge flooded numerous churches, issuing forth in those golden years of Andrew Murray and many others, giving their all for the sacrificial obedience to Christ’s command. To some of us present, there was the joyous remembrance of the nationwide visitations of the 1970s in numerous local church revivals, the vibrancy of the Jeug tot Jeug Aksie, the renewed ten day prayer vigils during the seasons of Pentecost. We sensed the depth of need and the urgency to again wait upon the Lord in prayer.
These were moments when God filled hearts with his Spirit, softened hearts in contrition, moulded minds with His corrective Word. A glory-filled moment in time!