Category: Devotion of the Day

PROPHETIC AND PASTORAL

And he gave some,…prophets; and some evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.
Ephesians 4:11

In the middle ages the church retired into solitude and seclusion and God had to raise up awakeners. There come high tides of revival and evangelism, and God balances them with pastors and teachers. Moody was a messenger to the multitudes, but he had the good judgment to associate with him men like Morgan and Meyer, who could teach and build up the saints.

We must have both. If we have only teachers we may become passive Bible students and fail of aggressive evangelism. We may spend ourselves in public activity and starve the inner life. The church needs both and the individual Christian needs both. It is pitiable indeed if the evangelist disparages the work of the teacher or the teacher belittles mass evangelism.

Some saints need a prophet to blast them out of a comfortable quietism. Some need a teacher to make them be still and take in that they may have something to give out.

Our Lord combined both in His perfect ministry, quietly teaching His disciples and shepherding His flock, while at the same time He was a prophet and challenged us to a life of service in His Name.

CARMEL AND HOREB

Then the fire of the Lord fell…
I Kings 18:38

But the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
I Kings 19:12

God was in the fire at Carmel; He was not in the fire at Horeb. We are not to gather from the still, small voice that God is never in wind, earthquake, and fire. He often is. He came at Pentecost with a sound as of a rushing mighty wind. He came in an earthquake in the Philippian jail.

God works in nature in the cataclysmic, in flood and tornado; and He works in the gradual, quiet process of the seasons. He works in mighty mass movements in revival with a Whitefield or a Moody. But He also moves in quiet gatherings in the day-by-day work of faith and labor of love among the churches.

And into our hearts He sometimes breaks in sudden and tempestuous ways, in mountain-top raptures and third-heaven experiences. But He also works in daily growth in the knowledge of Christ, the quiet walk by His sufficient grace.

You cannot live at Carmel all the time. Carmel happens only once in a while. God is at Horeb too – if you have ears to hear.