This blessed me tremendously. Thank the Lord for Leonard.
Having a Heart to Love and Pursue People.
Leonard's letters show the importance of having a heart to pursue people with love and encouragement. His example shows us that as Christians we must be interested in people as indviduals, not from a selfish motive of building our ministry but for their sake, even if we gain nothing in return.
Ravenhill's example shows that Christians must think about and pray for people as individuals from a heart filled with the love of God. Leonard was like his Lord in this regard, with a heart for the needy spiritually hungry. Letters can be a real ministry of love to people. But whether we use that ministry or not, a heart of love must move us to care about others as the law of Christ commands us.
It is easy for those in public ministry to have an exalted view of one's importance and to begin to overlook the vital importance of caring about individuals. A one-on-one relationship often has a far greater impact than a ministry of preaching or teaching. As important as public ministry is, the dynamite of person-to-person ministry yields fruit that is not possible any other way.
Ravenhill probably had more impact on individual lives than he did on churches or other ministries. He knew it was important lives than he did on churches or other ministries. He knew it was important to minister to individuals because he realized how one life can deeply affect another life. It happened to him through Samuel Chadwick and Tozer, and his life did the same for others
Leonard never viewed himself as more important than someone else,. Whether he was with a famous preacher or a teenager, he did not show favoritism. He saw every person as significant individual. He did not look past the one to focus on the many. Len excelled in relating to people through personal time with them and especially in letters.
As a result, when God gave the Ravenhill's a relationship with someone, the letters began to go forth. His commitment to a writing ministry was reflected in hundreds of letters he wrote every year. The number of letters totaled over seventy a week at times. It was a private discipline of self-denial to exercise such a practice and he did it because it was important to the Lord and to him.
Some preachers and pastors don't have such a heart. They only see crowds and not individuals. Such men do not have time for one person, especially if that person somehow doesn't benefit their ministry. Some are only opportunists, very friendly with those they need, but not interested when they won't benefit from a relationship.
Loving people one-on-one and caring for them, whether in person or through letters and technology, is the heart of Jesus. It was Leonard's heart also. Loving people is only really accomplished in face-to-face times or through real letters and phone calls. A. W. Tozer once said to Ravenhill, "Leonard, I'm going to love people even if it kills me." Ravenhill loved that way. He had a heart for every person he met. Every Christian should follow his example whether they write letters or not.
From In the Light of Eternity - Biography of Leonard Ravenhill by Mack Tomlinson http://www.ravenhillbiography.com/
If it were not for Paul's letters where would we be? If it were not for Peter's letters, Jude's letter, the Gospels? If it were not for Moses writing the law, would we understand the blessing of Christ today, if it were not for the prophets? And every other servant of God who shared their experiences through writing. After all is it not God who WROTE the Ten Commandments, Is it not God who wrote HIS law in our hearts? For what, to bury, or to share? _________________ Michelle
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