The Handshake that Changed a Nation

Despite the fact it was meant to be summer, it had been raining most of the day, and by the evening it looked set to continue. The fine rain blew in his face but George was a man on a mission. Having met Charles, the younger brother, George was on his way to meet John and the rest of the ‘Holy Club’ as they were called.

A scrawny youngster with a squint, George wasn’t much to look at as he ran across the quadrangle at Oxford. Through the rain and down more university corridors, up a staircase and eventually to the door.

John heard the knock and answered. George offered his hand. As the two men shook hands, early in the summer of 1733, the future of our nation was to be radically changed as a result.

George Whitefield (1714 - 1770) and John Wesley (1703 - 1791) were to head up one of the most far reaching revivals ever to affect our shores. Their open air preaching (unheard of in those days) was to be talked of through the country and thousands from every walk of life responded to the good news of Jesus Christ. It is said the revival throughout the UK was the key reason that the bloodshed and anarchy in France never reached our shores.

Further Reading:

'John Wesley' by John Pollock (second hand only)
'George Whitefield and the Great Awakening' by John Pollock
'Great Revivals' by Colin Whittaker (second hand only)

A Candle in the Darkness

Germany. The early 1500’s. A dark time in our history. And as we look in, it’s dark now - its past midnight. The candle is burning low, but the monk at his desk doesn’t seem to notice.

In front of him is a translation of Paul’s letter to the church at Rome. His eyes are wide. He reads and re-reads the passage: ‘For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed - a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”’

That’s it! What he’d been looking for, for so long. All those days of trying to please God were behind him. If he wanted to know God, it was by faith- nothing to do with working hard. Nothing to do with trying harder.

Even though the candle was dying, it was as if his monk’s cell was filled with light. ‘Faith, first to last’! It is God who reveals himself. It is God who saves lives. It is by faith we are saved. So different to the rules and regulations of the Catholic Church. How had he missed it for so long? That night, God revealed himself to an Augustinian monk called Martin Luther (1483-1548).

Here are Luther’s own words:

“I sought day and night to make out the meaning of Paul and at last I came to apprehend it…. The righteousness which availeth with God….’the just shall live by faith’. Straightway I felt as if I were born anew. It was as if I had found the door of Paradise thrown wide open.”

Luther was not the first to have stumbled on the truth, but he was God’s appointed man for a new revolution, a Reformation. The newly invented printing presses played their part. Luther’s ’95 theses’ were soon being read throughout Europe. The hold the Pope had on the church was broken. The cruel teaching that forced to poor to give to ‘buy’ their dead loved ones out of hell was revealed for the lie it was.

The Pope fought back, but too many protested. And the protesters were called by a new name: Protestants.

Further reading:

'Here I Stand - A Life of Matin Luther' - Roland Bainton
'Martin Luther - The Man Who Started the Reformation' - Thomas Lindsay
'Revival - Principles to Change the World' - Winkie Pratney

A Little Thing

'A little thing is a little thing. But faithfulness in a little thing is a big thing.'

As he read Hudson Taylor's words, something hit home. There was a rise of faith, an expectation that God really COULD use him. His heart beat faster, he was giddy with the thought.... maybe, just maybe, God could use even him.

So started a lifetime's work with the Lisu tribes of South West China. Starting out at the age of 22, James O Fraser (1886–1938) faithfully served God in the little things. Living among the mountain people, working with them, sleeping in the mountain ranges, eating with them- on occasion the only meat he could find was rat.

Sometimes we just have to keep pushing through. It was eight years until he saw God move in power. Eight years and just one solid convert. But he continued serving in the little things, giving of his time and energy, talking to the tribal people, writing a whole new language for them.

And then it came. Eight years on, prayers were answered. In the next two years, over 60,000 Lisu people came to salvation in Jesus Christ. The Lisu are still one of the largest tribal Christian communities to this day.

A little thing is a little thing. But faithfulness in a little thing is a big thing.


This is the first post in a new blog. My prayer is that as you read the small stories of a big God, you too will realise that God can use you- even you!


Further reading:


- 'Behind the Ranges' by Mrs Howard Taylor (second hand only)
- 'Mountain Rain' by Eileen Crossman