Day 4 – February 26, 2010
Harry Denman would agree with Dwight L. Moody, who told one of his critics, “I like the way I am
doing evangelism better than the way you are not doing it!” (Prophetic Evangelist: The Living
Legacy of Harry Denman, 1993) Howard W. Ellis
Harry Denman was a man who blazed a trail for Christ. He spent a lifetime telling others about
Jesus. Today he sits among that great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 12 – cheering us on! I imagine
he is telling us to quit sitting on our hands, to move our feet, to keep our eyes on the prize, and to
run the race with perseverance. Harry never lost sight of his goal, and we are to study how he ran
the race. He never stopped. He never gave up. He responded to God’s call on his life, and he spent
his life sharing the love of Christ with everyone he met. Winning souls for Christ requires
ACTION, and we must be a VERB for Christ. We become that VERB when we practice prayer,
fasting, serving, seeking, and winning souls for Christ. We cannot do any of this without prayer
first and foremost and like Epaphras in verses 5-8, Harry was one reliable worker for Christ and so
are you!
Colossians 1: 3-12 (The MESSAGE)
3-5Our prayers for you are always spilling over into thanksgivings. We can’t quit thanking God our
Father and Jesus our Messiah for you! We keep getting reports on your steady faith in Christ, our Jesus,
and the love you continuously extend to all Christians. The lines of purpose in your lives never grow
slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope.
5-8The Message is as true among you today as when you first heard it. It doesn’t diminish or weaken over
time. It’s the same all over the world. The Message bears fruit and gets larger and stronger, just as it has
in you. From the very first day you heard and recognized the truth of what God is doing, you’ve been
hungry for more. It’s as vigorous in you now as when you learned it from our friend and close associate
Epaphras. He is one reliable worker for Christ! I could always depend on him. He’s the one who told us
how thoroughly love had been worked into your lives by the Spirit.
9-12Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you, asking God to
give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways
in which God works. We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work
hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work.
We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting
your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over
into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful
that he has for us.
13-14God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He’s set us up in the kingdom of the Son he
loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep
repeating.
May your prayers today be spilling over with thanksgiving! We are no longer in the pit and our sins
are gone! Now we must carry out that promise to others and continually throw out the lifeline of
hope. May the strength of the Lord fill you as you put your prayers into action just as that great
cloud of witnesses did who went before us. May your heart overflow with the joy that comes in
knowing Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
Submitted by: Donna Godwin, Lay Member Holston Conference UMC
