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Resurrection Anglican Church
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Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living waterAbout the Toronto Blessing, or Father's Blessing, and what it means at
Resurrection
John Arnott was not there the night I was present. Several months ago I came across his book (above), where he relates the story of what is sometimes called the "Toronto Blessing" and what God is doing in his church, and the fruit of that renewal around the world. The Alpha Course, for example, is the product of an Anglican church in London that was touched by the blessing. The original Alpha Course predates the blessing, but in its present form has been affected by it. I'm always a bit wary of famous preachers with big ministries, but when I read John's book, I wept. It was a pastor's heart speaking out from the pages, a man humbled by God and really trying to care for His people. It wasn't a showman or a promoter. It was a pastor. Ray Waterman and I got to see John Arnott in person when we were in Ohio in early December, at a "Catch the Fire" conference sponsored by St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Akron. Most of you have heard me talk about this since we returned (pick up sermon tape 190 - "Prepare the Way of the Lord" - if you haven't). We met in a small room in a meeting set aside for pastors. Here, too, what we experienced was not a man full of himself, not pretentious or self-important, but just a pastor, a bit scared by the attention his church was getting and the challenge of keeping up with the demands of ministry - but a pastor, a very regular guy, wanting to serve God and His people. Toward the end of the meeting one of the pastors attending asked, "are we going to pray?" John said yes, and we moved all the chairs out of the way so we could have a time of ministry and prayer. John and others on the ministry team went around the room, laying hands on pastors and praying for them. Nearly all of them fell to the floor as they were prayed for, and remained on the floor for quite a while. This is a common phenomenon where the blessing has been present, and recalls the falling of the Roman soldiers and others in the garden with Jesus (John 18:6), the disciple John in Revelation (Rev 1:17), and other places in scripture when the Holy Spirit comes in power. For some people, this seems like something from late-night, fever-pitch, religious TV. You know, the stuff you occasionally watch when you can't sleep. It doesn't seem like something found in an Episcopal or mainline denomination church. Too out-of-control for one thing! Nevertheless, it was going on around me. One of the men on the floor was an Episcopal priest from Virginia, one of the most biblically solid, educated, sensible, warm and caring people I know. Seeing him "slain in the Spirit" surprised me. Arnott and others came by and laid hands on me, and prayed, and it was very gentle and nice (no pushing), but I didn't fall over or even feel like I wanted to. They moved on, and I recognized in myself a continuing wariness. I really don't want to get tricked by my emotions or peer pressure to experience (or pretend to experience) something which isn't genuine. It wasn't just that I didn't fully trust John Arnott (since I don't know him personally), but I wasn't even quite trusting God to be there and be in charge, regardless of John or me or anyone else. I was holding back, in control. Recognizing this, I went up to Roger Ames, the rector of St. Luke's, who was also in the room, and I asked him to pray for me. I know Roger and trust him, and felt a little safer trusting God to work through him (not very trusting of God on my part, but that's where I was at the moment). He prayed, and someone else also came up and prayed with him for me, and then the Holy Spirit showed up. As someone has said, "He never refuses an invitation." I didn't fall over, but I found I no longer wanted to stand. It took too much concentration to stand up, because I was beginning to experience God's presence, and more than thinking about standing up, I wanted to rest in it. I sank down slowly to the floor and then just laid there. People continued to pray over me, and then I began to experience joy, like a river of cool water - a well spring - flowing over me and through me. It was a blessing, the unconditional love and joy of God. It surprised me, because - though I hate to admit it - somehow I had the notion that my relationship with God consisted of doing what He wanted me to do in order to keep Him from getting angry with me. Now here He was, washing me through with love and joy. He wasn't mad at me. He was blessing me. What a shock! I stayed there for probably ten minutes or so, and then sat up slowly, stood up, found Ray, and we left. I was happy and falling in love with God all over again. Now I understand a little bit of what Jesus means when He says: "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive. (John 7:37-39) That night I went to bed and slept soundly, but awoke about 2:30 a.m. Often I wake in the middle of the night and pray for people I care about - folks in the family of Resurrection and elsewhere. So I began to pray and felt the Lord say gently, "Not right now. I just want to show you my love." The joy that I experienced that afternoon came back, even more intensely, again like a cool river of inexpressible love, washing over me. This continued, unrelenting, for two hours, then I fell back asleep. I awoke in the morning still buoyed up by the Holy Spirit, still joyful and in love with my Savior, knowing how very real and present He is. Is it okay to seek something like this? To actually ask the Holy Spirit to come and fill you up? And even to ask for more? Shouldn't we be more restrained, more circumspect - not ask at all but let God fill us up when and if He chooses? Isn't it presumptuous to ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit? No, it's not. On the contrary. Psalm 105 says, "...let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually." And Ephesians 5:18 says, "Stop getting drunk with wine, because this ruins your life. Instead, keep being filled with the Spirit." (paraphrased) The Greek actually means something we do repeatedly or continuously - whether getting drunk (not good, of course) or being filled with the Holy Spirit (good - yes, good!) Jesus invites us to drink of the Holy Spirit, and promises rivers of living water that will flow from our hearts. When I returned to church on Sunday, December 7, I preached a bit about what we had experienced in Ohio. I was still experiencing God's overflowing love, and I know others here experienced His presence too. A week later, some of the sense of His presence had faded. The world set in and I re-entered - to a degree - my "control" mode. Then I went to WellSpring, and people spontaneously laid hands on me and prayed for me. I sank to the floor again and once more experienced the river of His joy and His refreshing presence. Many others experienced something similar, both that evening at WellSpring and during the Sunday service. He was very present with us. I don't believe we should be thrill-seekers in church, nor try to counterfeit or control the Holy Spirit, but I do believe we should be God-seekers, and invite His presence. He will come, and it will be thrilling and genuine and under His sovereign direction. He wants us to do that, to seek His presence, and He wants to love us and refresh us - to bless us and fill us up with His Holy Spirit and His joy. I believe we can encourage each other in this - both by seeking to pray for each other, and by helping each other to get over our fear of giving up control, even to God. Ask for prayer. Keep being filled with the Spirit. And out of your heart shall flow rivers of living water. |
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Love
God, neighbor and enemy. 
Recently I've been reading a warm and wonderful book,
The Father's
Blessing by John Arnott. John is the pastor of the Toronto Airport
Christian Fellowship (Web address: www.tacf.org) where a renewal broke out
in January 1994, and has continued six nights a week ever since, with thousands
of people coming from all over the world. I visited this church two years
ago, and wrote about the renewal there in both Christianity Today and the
SCP Newsletter. I was concerned whether this was a fake, or a hyped-up emotional
event, rather than a work of the Holy Spirit. What I found there was solid
biblical teaching, enthusiastic worship, the Holy Spirit touching people's
lives, and untidiness and "personal agendas" around the edges.
That is, the renewal was drawing people who really sought God - and received
blessing from Him - and also others who seemed drawn by the excitement but
whose motives were questionable, or whose understanding of the Holy Spirit
was unbiblical. My reaction was mixed, and in my articles I encouraged clear
teaching about the person of the Holy Spirit to correct some of this difficulty.