Me: What are you doing?
Prodigal: I am looking for a four leaf clover
Me: They’re as scarce as grass ’round a hog trough.
Prodigal: I might still find one though.
Me: Have hope Prodigal!
This is from the book Believe and Rejoice by James P. Gills M.D.
The experience of John Wesley, the great evangelist and founder of the Methodist movement, shows how abandoned faith can change a life. By the time he was thirty-five, Wesley knew a lot about Christ. He had graduated from Oxford University and resolved to become a priest in the Church of England. He was ordained a priest in 1728. He and his brother, Charles, helped start the Holy Club at Oxford. He read one hundred spiritual books a year for a dozen years. He even traveled to Georgia on a mission trip. But he knew there was something missing. On his mission trip he met some Moravian immigrants who had the spiritual peace he realized he was lacking. His work in America was not very effective, and he returned to England.
Back in London, Wesley met Peter Bohler, a Moravian who convinced him that what he needed was simple: he needed faith, not just knowledge. During a meeting in Aldersgate Street in 1738, Wesley was transformed. As he heard Martin Luther’s preface to the Commentary on Romans being read, he was truly elated. He realized the promises of God are true! He wrote, “I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation. He felt a quickening that comes from truly experiencing God’s grace and presence. He was filled with God’s complete and perfect joy.
From this point on, Wesley was a changed man. He preached with a spiritual fire and fervor that was fed by his faith. And he was filled with a glorious joy that affected him the rest of his life because he relinquished to God and believed in His promises.
1 John 4:20-21
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him; whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
