"This Is That"

"But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and you old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will [show] wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Acts 2:16-21)

I have been off of work for five days now, and I stumbled upon a book entitled "This is That," by Aimee Semple McPherson, founder of the Foursquare denomination.  It was originally written in the early 1900's.  I have been moved by it so deeply, and am now longing to return to the days of my early Pentecostal experience that was common in the 1980's.  The manifestations of the Holy Spirit and supernatural healings have dwindled down to rare occurrences in the churches in America.  She writes of the days that she evangelized and many souls were saved and filled with the Holy Spirit as seen by the initial evidence that was taught in those early years of Pentecostalism.  We are now more cultured and more seeker friendly but have our churches grown much?  I dare say that many of them have not.  Mrs. McPherson writes about people coming to these services in droves.  Hundreds were saved, filled, and healed in her services, but today the revival service has all but died out in American Pentecostal churches.  These powerful moves of God are still seen, but often in the context of a state or regional conference with a key note speaker that brings the fire of God to the services.  It may be one or two services that bring these mighty moves of God about.  In some cases, churches have tried to keep the flame alive. But it is usually private.  Unfortunately, it would be difficult to return to actual tent meetings. Can we return to these "glory days" or have we moved passed that? Was God not a part of those great moves that Mrs. McPherson writes about or has He, too, become more refined and seeker friendly?  It must start with me!  I must seek God like my earlier years, even if it means getting on my knees for long periods of time, or fasting once or twice a week.  I have control over that!  Hopefully God can help me to get those coals lit and stoked in my own life, until we see it begin to catch and spread to other souls.  Perhaps others around America are seeing and doing the same thing?