Fire in our hearts - The Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS THE LORD TOOK HOLD OF BUGBROOKEA gracious little bombshell! It meant they were breakingfree from tradition and the battle was shifting from personalblessing to church renewal.Meanwhile, Carol was feeling the need for water baptism.Jesus had been baptised, and the formula in Acts 2 was clearenough: ‘Repent! Be baptised! Receive the Spirit!’ Baptismspelt goodbye to the old life. It was the burial of a sinful naturealready slain upon the cross. The old Carol with the sinstainedlife, and the broken heart, had come to an end. Shecould bury it all, and rise with no shadow to follow her.One July evening she stood in the warm water. All aroundthe baptistry were friendly faces and cross-legged kids peeringexcitedly down. Carol was plunged into the water and upshe came again spluttering and radiant. A ripple of laughterwent through the chapel, and the organ groaned into action.A word of prophecy was given that she would be a ‘fruitfulvine’. A brief pause, then a tambourine swung into a song.‘Lifted! I’ve been lifted, I’ve been lifted by his love, out of sinand sorrow into boundless realms above!’ The congregationburst into praise.Within days a minibus and two cars were speeding throughthe night to Scotland. Another chapel holiday had begun. Carolhad brought a friend, Mim, with her. Mim was excited butCarol slept peacefully on her shoulder. ‘Thirty-two Spirit-filledChristians in a castle for two weeks!’ thought Mim. ‘Well,thirty-one plus me!’Mim was from the Elim Pentecostal Church and there wasa kinship between the two fellowships. The chapel admiredtheir well-established pentecostalism, and the Elim young-48