God’s Man for the Hour.

Wyne  E  Warner

Throughout church history there periodically were men God raise up to 

lead in revival and reform.Eighteenth – century England found itself in 

such desperate need and Westley was the man God used. America’s 

Pres. Woodrow Wilson saw in Wesley that answer: “The church was 

dead and Wesley awakened it; the poor were neglected and Wesley 

sought them out; the gospel was shrunken into formulas and Wesley 

flung it fresh upon the air once more in the speech of common men.”

     Praying for Persecutors

     John Wesley was often viciously persecuted as he preached the 

gospel in the fields or wherever he could find an audience. Ruffians 

would try to break up his meetings by driving cattle through the 

crowds or by throwing rocks at Wesley or by other means. One day a 

bully hit him with a club, and others knocked him to the ground with 

rocks.  Lying on the ground, Wesley prayed for the persecutors.  The 

gang leader was touched by the prayer.  He said, “Sir, get up. Not one 

man will harm a hair on your head.” The gang leader accepted Christ 

that day and later became a preacher himself.