In working through some of the research of John Wesley I am beginning to see some things in him that make his especially interesting and relevant to us. Most of us have heard the story about the time when he was young and he went to a Moravian service of worship and he heard someone reading from Paul's letter to the Romans. It was stated that he went to the service reluctantly and it was stated that he said, "My heart was strangely warmed." The heard warming experience is something that has been a hallmark of our church. It is a way of expressing faith that comes through the affect as well as the intellect. Faith is something we can feel as well as something we can learn about by study.
Some of us have heard that when John Wesley was older and was thinking about his past he wrote his brother in code. He didn't want anyone to read it other than his brother Charles. He indicated that the things he had preached and taught were things that were alien to him. He really didn't believe it and he had been a fraud. Richard Heitzenrader decoded the letters about 20 years ago and discovered the ultimate sense of doubt Wesley had and the idea that he thought himself to be a failure.
I discovered something that happened to John Wesley after he had been expelled from America. He had been in Georgia. He went there to convert people and found that he, himself, needed conversion. There was an unfortunate love affair and he had been labeled an "enthusiast". He was expelled.
At that time in his life he had a mentor. It was Peter Bohler who was a Brethren pastor and leader. He told Bohler that he didn't have a depth of faith. Bohler told him that he should preach it and then he would have it.
How do we recover a sense of belief? Do we preach it until we believe it? Do we fake it until we make it? Is it a matter of the power of positive thinking?
What do you think? Have you ever had a crisis of faith? How did you overcome it?
If you have suggestions write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have other people read your thoughts click on the "comments" box below.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles Schuster
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2 comments:
We must all have positive thinking about all things, even if we have to fake it to make.
It won't be easy.
I believe faith is the active reliance on the truth of God's Word. As believers we already have God-provided faith in our spirit man. What we need to do is renew our soulish minds by meditating the Word. See Josh 1:8; Ps 1:2; and Rom 12:2. Meditating includes saying the Word, and contemplating what it means and saying what it means. Tale II Cor 5:17 for example:
"Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
I am a new creation being. I am a new creature in Christ Jesus with the life of God & the nature of God & the ability of God in me. My new man dominates the outward man. God sees me in Him. I am a spirit, I have a soul & I live in a physical body. I am completely brand new in my spirit. This is my identity, my spirit man. [Repeat several times.]
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