Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS THE LORD TOOK HOLD OF BUGBROOKE
sending professional people into our midst. The drop-outs
woke up to find themselves disciples of Jesus (and got jobs!).
The straights were suddenly surrounded by converted freaks.
We just wanted to be together and see the work of God go
forward. Church life was of overwhelming interest and there
was little time for the world and its pursuits.
We didn’t think much of the ‘goggle box’ and quoted this
piece of ironic verse in Jesus Reality: ‘The TV is my shepherd.
My spiritual growth shall definitely want. It maketh me to sit
down and do nothing for his name’s sake.’ 17
We began to see how unconventional the first disciples of
Jesus were. They kicked the system. They broke the mould.
They trusted God. They left all else and shared in great simplicity.
Around Jesus arose an upheaval of such dramatic proportions
that the establishment put him down.
Where did we stand? For revolution? Yes! A revolution of
love. A revolution that would turn the world’s values upside
down. But that required commitment, and some among us
didn’t want the hassle. There were many new converts but
too few of us poured out our lives for them. Revival was blessing
at a cost. We had enjoyed the charismatic blessings, but
would we get on the charismatic cross?
Some of the young Christians were overtaking us in their
radical devotion to Jesus; others were rapidly backsliding.
They could not be absorbed into our middle-class lives. God
was forcing us to see that we had to make a choice between
the world’s culture and Christ’s church. We knew that the
spirit of British culture had to go. A marvellous thing then
emerged. Relationships formed that were spiritually based,
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