As the Scriptures says...

I remember one day, I asked the little congregation, "Who of you believes in Jesus Christ?" Then I did something which I normally avoid. I said, "I would like those of you who believe in Jesus to raise their hands." Of course there wasn't a single person who didn't raise his hand. So I said, "Look, we have to face things squarely. Jesus says if we believe in Him, as the Scriptures say, then rivers of living water will flow out of our lives. Now let me ask you a personal question: Are there rivers of living water flowing out of your lives?"

"No!" they said.

"Does that mean that you don't believe in Jesus?"

"But we are sure that we believe in Jesus. We have accepted Christ, we surrendered our lives to him. We can't doubt that," they replied.

"Well, if that's the way it is, then we are either deceiving ourselves, or the words Jesus said aren't true."

What were we to do now? We had determined that we would no longer justify or excuse ourselves. All discussions were pointless. Now we were at a loss, we had reached a deadlock and could find no solution to our problem. But suddenly it seemed to me as if the Lord were showing me something. I looked at the verse once more, where Jesus says, "He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said..." In other words, maybe Scripture has something specific to say about the life of a believer, and not only that rivers of living water will flow out of our lives.

So we got together again and took this into consideration. We said to ourselves, "Let's search the Scriptures and let the Word speak to us. Let us not twist and turn what we read, nor tear it apart, rather let us shed light on it from all sides. We must disregard our ways and customs, our church laws and our personal religious opinions, and hear exactly what the Bible has to say. Do we really believe as the Scripture says?"

Erlo Stengen  

excerpt from Revival among the Zulus

photo credit: 

 Stock Images