From the January-March 2008 Issue
Not losing the hope of great things
Luis and Pilar Cano
Cuidad RealWe are still in the time of small things as regards the Lord’s work, at least here in Europe and particularly in Spain. May the Lord forgive me for calling the conversion of a few sinners and the sorting out of some mess or other “small things”, but the fact is that He can do more! He has shown just this in other times and in other places.
When I read in the Acts of the Apostles about those three thousand people who were converted in Jerusalem (Acts 2:41), or I read about the transformation of Europe through a friar and a few of his contemporaries, or about the revivals in the following centuries, I say to myself: “When will my eyes be able to see something like that?”
I know that we may be called to the same destiny as John Wycliffe and Jan Huss, who “died without seeing”, but how I long to witness “great things”! I know that even if we achieve a good testimony by means of our faith, we may not receive what is promised (Hebrews 11:39), and I will be thankful to the Lord and I will patiently run the race ahead of me (Hebrews 12:1), but…
How must Nehemiah have felt on seeing the people crying tears of repentance (Nehemiah 8:1 and ff.), or George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards preaching to a crowd who asked for more, or C.H. Spurgeon in the Music May of Surrey Garden when more than ten thousand people fought to get in, or Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones and others who moved thousands? I’d like to see it for myself and also be instrumental in it, and not because my confidence is placed in myself (woe betide me if ever it is!) but in God. “I want to be the pen that God writes with, the hammer that He hits with, and the voice that He speaks with”.
Local blessing
In August I was asked to give a series of messages at a family camp for several churches, and I felt the need to do it on the theme of “Spiritual Desertion” (backsliding), although apparently it wasn’t the most suitable one. During those days we experienced a special presence or expression of the Holy Spirit in the fellowship —breaking some, spiritually renewing others and even bringing about the conversion of six young people from different churches. We didn’t want the meetings to come to an end, and in our free time we went on talking about spiritual subjects and about a sincere wish to return to our first love.
At our own church in Ciudad Real, we have enjoyed seeing two people baptised. Two others have asked for membership, and three have testified that they have been converted.
The Lord has sweetened our state of mind, and now we want to see even more growth in the Sunday services and other meetings, as well as feedback from the evangelism done in the main square and in the villages, and results from different projects, and so on.
If God has been so gracious to us, what about Him multiplying this by ten? This is my longing, and I’m sure it is the same one as many of you have. Let’s pray about it.