Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire
Title: Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire: What Happens When God's Spirit Invades the Hearts of His People
Author: Jim Cymbala
Publisher: Zondervan, 1997
Pages: 185
Date Read: October 30, 2009
An easy read. I read it in one day. Ate it up. My soul needed the reminder that there was such a thing as Pentecostal power and that our God is a prayer-hearing God. While this book is about prayer it is really a story about the Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York. Cymbala tells about their very humble beginnings, his lack of theological training, and his inexperience in ministry. When things were as low as they could possibly get he and his wife began to cry out to God and lead their tiny congregation in prayer. The stories of God's blessing are thrilling and convicting.
Cymbala is Pentecostal, but he must not be stereotyped as a typical mega-church Charismatic preacher who is irresponsible with theology and God's truth. In fact, I was impressed with his strong conviction, his commitment to his principles, and his well-spoken antipathy for the church growth "expertise" that is so popular in American evangelicalism. Truly, his singular passion in this book is to get people to realize that God is jealous for His Name and wants His people to be a people of prayer.
As is often the case when someone is trying to make a very important point, Cymbala occasionally overstates his case, sometimes sounding as if he diminishes the importance of preaching. Since I believe so strongly in the centrality of preaching it is tempting to react too strongly in my mind and shut down his influence, but the truth of the matter is that my heart yearns for God to work and I know that prayer is vital.
One story was particularly touching to me. Cymbala shared how he had lost touch with his daughter because of the huge growth of his church and how she rebelled. God used this to break him and he could not -- his soul refused to -- accept that his children would be lost to the Devil. He humbled himself before his congregation and they prayed (Cymbala describes their congregational praying times as groanings and cryings) and God brought his daughter to spiritual repentance.
This is not a book about prosperity and health. This is a book about seeing God radically change lives, break hearts, and have their souls liberated from sin. This is about a church that really believes that prayer is a Christian's method to help save people from their sins. Powerful. I needed it. I'm praying so much more now too.
posted by Bob Bixby | 2:07 AM
3 Comments:
Great review. Great encouragement/rebuke.
I really don't understand how Cymbala can legitimately fear that his children will be lost to the devil, as you say, in light of God's sovereignty. They are either elect or not, right?
Also, please help: how does an increased emphasis on prayer in your family's life connect with sovereignty? Does prayer change things . . . or not?
I guess I'll have to read it again. I read it quite a few years ago, and wasn't too impressed. He's got some weird ideas, and as I thought then, quite unbiblical. He does believe in prayer, that's true (Bob and I talked about this) and that is good. And I can't fault his sincerity. At least he comes across that way. There was a girl from Kenya whose mother goes to that church and she had been there and loved their choir, which is quite famous. You have to have tickets to go to church there. Dad
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