DAY 1

MORNING PSALMS 1–5

Psalm 4:3 “Set apart”

Prepared Before He Was born

John Wesley once said, “If I were to write my own life I should begin it beforeI was born.”8
 This was the way he paid tribute to his past. Wesley’s family tree had a huge effect on his personality and prepared him for the work of evangelism long before he came into the world. He had a strong sense of God’s purpose for his life, as did the prophet Jeremiah. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)Wesley’s ceaseless travel ministering up and down the land, it could be said, “was in his blood”9. Samuel Wesley, John Wesley’s father, was an Anglican, and John was brought up at Epworth in the family rectory. John Wesley’s mother Susanna was the daughter of Doctor Annesley, a well-known puritan, and she herself had been raised in a very disciplined home with very strong moral, devotional and educational standards.10 Susanna Wesley ordered her timetable very strictly. She examined herself before God, she meditated and set herself apart through daily times of devotion, and she kept a spiritual journal, which helped her observe the strict puritan sabbath. This was all part of her daily ‘method’ (a Puritan word, that described the way she ordered her life, many years before John Wesley started his ministry). Wesley drank in his mixed Anglican and puritan inheritance “with his mother’s milk”11, and it influenced him powerfully.
He stayed a Church of England man to the
end of his life, but his prime concern was for the good of souls. He had a strong sense of discipline and he had a keen desire for reform within the Church of England. if existing church order stood in his way, he would cast it aside without hesitation. “The rebel under the skin would keep bursting through.”12

Prayer

In the foreword to John Mulinde’s ‘Set Apart For God’, Charlie Cleverly, vicar of St Aldate’s, Oxford, writes, “I believe we need to see in the West every Christian an intercessor, in every home a prayer altar, every church become a house of prayer and in every town a city-wide prayer centre, but before all these we need people SET APART.”13 Today we pray with the psalmist Psalm 4:3 “The Lord has set apart the godly for himself”. Lord, you set John Wesley apart to be your vessel, to see a national awakening unto revival in the 18th century. Do it again Lord—set your people apart for a national awakening today. Prepare me Lord—SET ME APART, LORD, I am here to do your will.

8 Clarke, A. Memoirs of the Wesley Family, Vol 1, 94.


9 Skevington-Wood, A. The burning heart John Wesley: Evangelist, 19.

10 Monk, R.C. John Wesley: His Puritan heritage, 21.


11 Newton, J.A Methodism and the Puritans, 5


12 Skevington-Wood, A. The burning heart, 19.


13 Mulinde, J. Set Apart for God, Foreword, 10.

DAY 1 EVENING PSALMS 6–8

Psalm 6:4 “Save me because of your unfailing love.”

Saved From Drowning

There is an incident that John Pollock relates at the beginning of his biography of John Wesley concerning how Wesley was saved from drowning. This took place in Cornwall in the late 1770s. Wesley himself was over 70 years of age. Peter Martin, the proprietor of a hostel in Redruth, Cornwall, was preparing John Wesley’s horses, while Wesley was eating his meal with some other travellers. He could tell that John Wesley 
was telling one of his innumerable anecdotes because of the periodic roars of laughter. Every so often, there was a silence. It was then that Mr Wesley must have been speaking of the things of God.14

Although Wesley had made a commitment to preach at St Ives that evening, Peter Martin was concerned about the danger of crossing the estuary by the ford. The man responsible for the vessel tried to persuade him not to cross because it was so dangerous. Although Wesley listened very politely, he said that he had made a promise that he intended to keep. John Wesley looked out of the window of the carriage and cried loudly to Peter Martin, “Take the sea! Take the sea!” Peter Martin responded quickly and after spurring the horses, there was a splash and the carriage entered the ford. Peter Martin says, “I struggled hard to maintain my seat in the saddle, while the poor affrighted animals were snorting and rearing in the most terrific manner and furiously plunging through the opposing waves. I expected every moment to be swept into eternity and the only hope of escape I then cherished was on account of my driving so holy a man.”15 Wesley called quite loudly to him, “What is thy name, driver?” “Peter.”
“Peter, fear not; thou shalt not sink!” Wesley put back his head and peter urged on the horses. They got safely over, but as Peter recalled, “It was a miracle, as I shall always say.” They arrived at St Ives, both
 wet. “Mr Wesley’s first care was to see me comfortably lodged at the tavern. He procured me warm clothes, a good fire, and excellent refreshments. Nor were the horses forgotten by him,” said Peter Martin. Totally unmindful of himself, Wesley proceeded according to his appointment.16Pollock says at the start of his biography that “A biographer may well feel like Peter in danger of being drowned in a sea of material: the millions of words that Wesley wrote!”17 But the story of John Wesley being saved from drowning at St Ives also reminds us that he was a man who was very confident that the Lord was his personal saviour. It was this truth of personal salvation that he preached across the length and breadth of our land.

Prayer

Lord, we pray that you would raise up more John Wesleys in our day to bring a message of hope and deliverance and freedom from sin. Yours, Lord, is a message of unfailing love. Save us, save our nation because of your unfailing love, we pray. We are in perilous times, you are our only hope of escape, Lord. Save us, Lord, from the huge tide of opposition we face today. You, Lord, are our only hope. Save us and deliver us, Lord Jesus, we pray!

14 Pollock, Wesley: The Preacher, 7.

15 Pollock, Wesley: The Preacher, 8.

16 Pollock, Wesley: The Preacher, 9.

17 Pollock, Wesley: The Preacher, 9.

Introduction

Two bishops in the Church of England, Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, were burnt at the stake as martyrs for their faith in 1555. John Foxe records Latimer’s prayers in the Tower of London while he waited for his execution. He prayed, “‘that God of his mercy would restore his Gospel
to England ONCE AGAIN”; and these words ‘once again’ he did so beat into the ears of the Lord God, as though he had seen God before him, and spoken to him face to face.”1 Just under two centuries later, the Lord moved powerfully, bringing revival to England through John Wesley and the Methodist awakening. One biographer saw John Wesley’s life as a direct answer to that prayer of Hugh Latimer in the Tower of London. Once again the Gospel was restored to our land.

Ridley’s words to Latimer as they were being burnt at the stake, on 16th October 1555, had been “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light
such a candle, by God’s grace in England, as
 I trust shall never be put out.”2 One historian suggests that John Wesley’s life in the 18th century was like a blazing fire, as he travelled around the country on horseback proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.3

As a boy, John Wesley had nearly died in a fire at his father’s rectory in Epworth. He referred to himself in the words of scripture as “a brand plucked out of the fire”(Zechariah 3:2). Many years later John Wesley’s heart was “strangely warmed”4 at a quarter to 
nine at Aldersgate on 24th May 1738, when he heard Luther’s preface to Romans being read aloud. Wesley’s evangelistic zeal then led him to travel on horseback a quarter of a million miles, and the Gospel was preached in England once again. Skevington-wood says, “The symbolism of fire links the upper room in Aldersgate street with the blazing parsonage at Epworth. The brand plucked from the burning had now found his destiny. Henceforth the flame within would carry him throughout the land to ignite the tinder of revival.”5

“Guarding the holy fire; that was what 
he was doing,” writes Prof Bonamy Dobree. “He was himself a flame going up and down the land, lighting such candles as by God’s grace would never be put out; and as one reads [Wesley’s] colossal journal one gets the impression of this flame, never waning, never smoky, darting from point to point, lighting up the whole kingdom, till in due course it burnt out the body it inhabited.”6

Over the next 30 days, let us remind the Lord, of the prayer of Latimer when he was in the Tower of London.

•In your mercy, Lord, restore your Gospel to England once again. Latimer and Ridley followed you to a martyr’s death. Stir yourself to act, Lord! Remember Latimer and Ridley!
Let the candle of your Gospel burn brightly across this land ONCE AGAIN!

1 Foxe, J. Book of Martyrs, Whitaker, 278.

2 Foxe, Martyrs, 309.

3 Dobree, J. Wesley. 96–97, quoted in Skevington-Wood, The burning heart, 68.


4 Wesley, J. The Complete Works of John Wesley, Journal, Volume 1, 24th May 1738, 103.

5 Skevington-Wood, A. The burning heart. John Wesley: Evangelist, 67.


6 Dobree, J. Wesley. 96–97, quoted in Skevington-Wood, The burning heart, 68.

7 http://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc.i.html

LIGHT THE FIRE AGAIN ( May 15- June 14)

In two days time a 30 day season of prayer will begin on Thursday May 15th culminating with the Global Day of outreach on June 14th.

The corporate reading and praying of the psalms will be encouraged through these daily devotionals, covering all 150 psalms over 30 days. Matthew Henry has said concerning the psalms: “There is no one book of scripture that is more helpful to the devotions of the saints than this, and it has been so in all ages of the church.” Each day there will also be two inspirational devotionals, one for the morning and one for the evening following the key events in the life of John Wesley, particularly focusing on 1739, the year that the Methodist Awakening began.

The recommended pattern of daily corporate prayer: 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening, with a small group of two or more people, everyone with the same version of the Bible:

• For 5 minutes:
Start by giving thanks, going round in a circle, each person giving thanks for something, one by one, using at least one or two sentences. The purpose of this exercise is to get everyone to pray out loud briefly, to open their mouths and to ‘break the sound barrier’. Go round in a circle one or two times, depending on the size of the group.

• For 12 minutes:
Divide the group into half. Everyone should have a bible. one half of the room to read out one verse, then the other half the second verse, alternating until the psalms for that session have all been read.

•For 3 minutes:
One person to read the daily devotional inspired by the life of John Wesley.

•For the last 10 minutes:
Different members of the group to take a verse or phrase that has been read out, read it out again and then turn that verse or phrase into a brief prayer.

A hard copy of this 30 day devotional will be available and can be purchased from 15 May and a free electronic version of the whole devotional is already available now. Please contact Andrew Taylor at the following address andrew.taylor7@cantab.net for more information.

30 days of prayer for a national awakening: May 15th - June 14th

In Luke 18, Jesus tells the parable of the persistent widow to show his disciples that they should pray and not give up, encouraging them to 'cry out day and night.' He concludes by saying.. 'however when the Son of Man comes will he find faith on the earth.'

From May 15th - June 14th, on this website there will be 30 days of devotionals encouraging both day and night prayer for a national awakening, inspired by the life of John Wesley, and including the devotional reading of all 150 psalms in one month. This will culminate on June 14th -the Global Outreach day. If you would like to subscribe and receive these daily devotionals sent to your email address, please enter your email address opposite. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Isaiah 35:10 ‘Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away’

• DAY 30 BIBLE READING

REVELATION11-20


• DAY 30 PRAYER DEVOTIONAL

Isaiah 35:10

UNSPEAKABLE JOY

In the 1830s Alexis de Tocqueville said that, ‘the incomplete joys of this world will never satisfy (the human) heart. In America the pursuit of happiness, he noted resulted in ‘ a strange melancholy that haunt the inhabitants in the midst of the abundance.’ What is the cause of this ‘strange melancholy’ ‘that permeates our society even during boom times and turns to despair in times of economic depression, it comes from taking what de Tocqueville calls ‘the incomplete joy of this world.’

In Revelation 21:4 we read Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’

In Philip Stibbe’s book ‘Road to Freedom’ he describes what is what like, when the Japanese commandant realized that the war was over , and he knew that the Rangoon jail would be recaptured, how he marched the Allied prisoners north and left them to wait for the Allies to arrive. . With guards having left, the Brigadier informed his soldiers that they were no longer POWs but free men. Philip Stibbe describes the joy., the freed prisoners felt. Then began the long journey home to Britain. He tells how the aeroplane that he and some of his comrades were flying in suddenly broke through the clouds to reveal the beautiful green landscape of Britain beneath. He speaks of the unspeakable joy of homecoming.


• Lord we long for revival in our land, we long for that new day when the dwelling of God will be with man, and we will be at home with you. We pray for a breaking out of your kingdom life in and through us today. We know the incomplete joys of this world will not satisfy… Lord lead us along that highway of holiness, we long for that day when sorrow and morning will flee away, when the ransomed of the Lord will return and will enter Zion with singing. Come, Lord Jesus

THIS IS THE LAST OF THE 30 DAILY DEVOTIONALS.HOPE TO CONTINUE LATER THIS YEAR.

Keller, T. Counterfeit Gods, x, xi

Tocqueville, A. Democracy in America, 296

Stibbe, M. I am your Father, 208

Stibbe, P. Return via Rangoon, 199-221

Isaiah 35:10 ‘Gladness and joy will overtake them'

• DAY 29 BIBLE READING

REVELATION1-10


• DAY 29 PRAYER DEVOTIONAL

Isaiah 35:10

WHEN THE HOLINESS OF GOD GOES PUBLIC

We know that salvation has come into this world and it will come fully at the end of this age.In Romans 8 we read that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth. Tom Wright says in 'Surprised by hope' ‘The early Christians did not believe in ’progress’, that the world was getting better and better under its own steam. They believed that God was going to do for the whole cosmos what he had done for Jesus at Easter…. The whole creation…. is on tiptoe with expectation, longing for the day when God’s children are revealed, when their resurrection will herald new life.’

Here at the end of Isaiah 35 we are caught up with some of the joy of this glorious future that is ahead of us. The whole of creation is going to be redeemed and restored. Isaiah 55:12 says ‘ the trees of the field will clap their hands.’ But Jesus told us to pray for the kingdom of God to come TODAY and as we pursue the Lord,as we ask for the Lord to take us on his highway of holiness,we can be encouraged that although the gladness and joy will overtake us at the end of this present age, the joy of the coming kingdom can break out TODAY.

Corey Russell expressed this passion for the kingdom to come today at the One Thing Conference in December 2013 at the `International House of Prayer in Kansas City . He said I want the manifest presence of God in my life, in our churches and in our cities, in this nation . I am desperate for the revival spirit to touch this nation. I don’t worship revival, I worship Jesus but revival is Jesus. It is the manifest presence of God when the holiness of God goes public, when the glory of God goes pubic, when God’s presence breaks in and when God shifts that landscape, where there is a tangible geographical zone , where the Lord breaks into bars and into crack houses.’


• Lord we wait on tip-toe in expectation for the glory of God to be revealed… we long for revival in our lives , we long for it in our churches we long for it in our nation. Break into our lives today we pray. We are desperate , we are hungry for you Lord Jesus. Change the landscape Lord and let the joy of the coming kingdom break out in my life, my family's life and my church today.

Wright, T Surprised by hope, 104, 115

Russell, C . One Thing Conference 2013, 31/12/13

Isaiah 35:10 They will enter Zion with singing,

• DAY 28 BIBLE READING

2 Peter 1- Jude


• DAY 28 PRAYER DEVOTIONAL

Isaiah 35:9

TAKE US HIGHER IN PRAISE


Wesley Duewell says that ‘praise and worship prepare us to prevail in prayer and are themselves a means of prevailing during our prayer.' Why? He says that:

'Praise focuses our hearts on God. Praise is key in prevailing prayer.

Praise cleanses our hearts of cares , fears and earth-centred thoughts. We need to enter God’s presence and shut the door behind us on the world. To prevail effectively we must forget all other duties, activities involvements and concerns. Praise pulls the curtain over extraneous things. Praise shuts the door on intruding ideas, our normal thought life and satanic suggestions. It shuts you in with God and his angels.

Praise increases faith Praise gives you the spirit of triumph and overcoming. Praise fires you with holy zeal. It lifts you above the battles To the perspective of God’s throne.

Praise invokes God’s presence God manifests his presence in the midst of His praise. God is enthroned among his praising creatures.

Praise confounds the enemy Praise beats back the powers of darkness, scatters the demon opponents and frustrates Satan’s strategies.‘


• Huegel said ‘ The highest expression of faith is not prayer in its ordinary sense of petition, but prayer in its sublimest expression of praise. Lord, draws us closer to you. We long to enter Zion with singing on our lips. Take us deeper with you in prayer, and take us higher in praise.

Duewell, W. Mighty prevailing prayer, 167-170