The ultimate accolade must surely be to be called a friend of God. One of the marks of a friend of God is that they leave a heritage for people of faith (see 2Chron 20:7, Isaiah 41:8, James 2:21-23). By such a standard Arthur Wallis can be truly called a friend of God.
I am currently reading, to my shame for the first time, Aurthur's book "In the Day of Thy Power" available here on Amazon, and I am struck by how familiar it all is. I don't recall ever hearing Arthur preach (I was 18 when he died), and although my father was a friend of his, I only recall ever meeting him once, shortly before his death.
So why are his words so familiar? Because in them he left a heritage, not primarily on the pages of his books, but in the hearts and minds and on the lips of men and women of God who were genuinely revolutionised by the revelation he carried.
"Write the vision, make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it." (Hab 2:2)
Arthur wrote the vision, he didn't merely write books with good biblical exegeses or clever ideas: he saw something in God which people then caught, became infected with, became consumed by.
I am grateful to God that I was raised spiritually by those who had caught this vision and were running with it; and now in turn my aim is to faithfully pass on these same truths: not the teachings of a man, but the heavenly vision (Acts 26:19) imparted by the Holy Spirit through faithful servants.
"A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children" (Pro 13:22)
To those of you who preach and teach, disciple and nurture God's people, are you writing the vision on people's lives in ways that will leave an inheritance for generations to come? Arthur did, and that made him a great man in the kingdom of God.
Good article. Great to see you blogging again.
Posted by: Roger Aubrey | 30 June 2011 at 02:25 PM
I remember Arthur Wallis from the New Forest Bible Week, the event I became filled with the Spirit. It was like a lot of Bible Weeks, except Arthur didn't 'teach', he would just prophecy for an hour at a time!
Posted by: Chris Morse | 03 August 2011 at 11:45 AM