_“I pretend to no extraordinary revelations or gifts of the Holy Ghost; none but what every Christian may receive, and ought to expect and pray for.”_ -John Wesley

Wesley wrote these words toward the very beginning of the Revival in 1739 when many people were concerned about the message of the Methodists. The concern was based on a number of different things; some of them valid. We have to…

_“But it is generally his pleasure to work by his creatures: to help man by man. He honours men to be, in this sense, ‘workers together with him’. By this means the reward is ours, while the glory redounds to him.”_ -John Wesley

Even though he never had any children of his own, John Wesley took a particular interest in the spiritual nurture of children, their education, and their general…

_“A Methodist is one who has ‘the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost given unto him.’”_ -John Wesley

One of Wesley’s finest works is a short piece that he wrote in 1742 toward the beginning of the revival in Britain called “The Character of a Methodist.” I remember reading this as a teenager and even at that time it struck me that he was simply describing a Christian.

While…

What is entire sanctification? Is the Christlike life possible in this life? Four Wesleyan scholars discuss holiness of heart and life—the driving force of the Wesleyan revival—including myself, Dr. Ryan Danker of the John Wesley Institute, Dr. Suzanne Nicholson of Asbury University, Dr. Jason Vickers of Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University, and Dr. Jonathan Powers of Asbury…

“For it plainly appears God does not continue to act upon the soul unless the soul re-acts upon God.” -John Wesley

Wesley’s vision of the Christian life was such that one scholar described it as a dance. I still remember hearing this and watching some of my Holiness friends shift a little in their chairs, but what the presenter was trying to describe was the dynamic nature of the Christian life,…

_“Entire sanctification, or Christian perfection, is neither more nor less than pure love—love expelling sin and governing both the heart and life of the child of God.”_ -John Wesley

Wesley included the quote you see above in a letter to Walter Churchey in the winter of 1771. Over the course of his ministry, he had to describe entire sanctification, or Christian perfection, many times.

When we…

_“It is plain to me that the whole work of God termed Methodism is an extraordinary dispensation of His providence.”_ -John Wesley

Over the years, many people have asked me which Wesley biography I recommend. There are many good ones out there.

In seminary, we were assigned Richard Heitzenrater’s _Wesley and the People Called Methodists_. Later during my doctoral work, I was encouraged to read…

_“By holiness I mean, not fasting, or bodily austerity, or any other external means of improvement, but that inward temper to which all these are subservient, a renewal of soul in the image of God.”_ -John Wesley

The quote above comes from a letter written by John Wesley to his father, Samuel, in 1734. John was 31 at the time and the Methodist movement still a fairly new enterprise. But at the…

_“Every good gift is from God, and is given to man by the Holy Ghost. By nature there is in us no good thing. And there can be none, but so far as it is wrought in us by that good Spirit.”_ -John Wesley

Grace is a vital part of the Christian life. In fact, it’s the fuel that we need to participate in God’s work in the world and his work in us.

Sometimes, I hear rather humdrum definitions of…

_“See Him set forth before your eyes, behold the bleeding sacrifice…”_ -Charles Wesley

There are times when words fail us. We’ve all had the sensation, whether encountering unspeakable joy or pain, the birth of a child, or the death of a loved one. Words don’t always capture these moments. Within the Christian faith, a faith that encompasses the whole of our experiences, we encounter mysteries…

_Behold Him, all ye that pass by,
the bleeding Prince of life and peace!
Come, sinners, see your Savior die,
and say, “Was ever grief like His?”
Come, feel with me His blood applied:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified! _—Charles Wesley

This week is Holy Week. This is a particularly important time of the year for Christians and one of the most formative enactments of our faith. It began with Palm…

_“You may as well expect a child to grow without food as a soul without private prayer.”_ -John Wesley

John Wesley believed in the power of prayer. He experienced it. And he encouraged faithful Christians to pray together in worship and to set aside time for what he often called “private prayer.” In this quote from a letter that he wrote to the Methodist societies in Bristol in 1764, his view of…

_“The knowledge of ourselves is true humility. And without this we cannot be freed from vanity, a desire of praise being inseparably connected with every degree of pride.”_ -John Wesley

The call to holiness of heart and life includes an honest assessment of ourselves. And it is for this reason, that Lent is a time of introspection. It’s preparation for the great feast of Easter, certainly, but…

_“God so loved the world—That is, all men under heaven; even those that despise His love, and will for that cause finally perish.”_ -John Wesley

In many churches this past Sunday, we heard the familiar words of John 3, including that beautiful verse given here in Wesley’s translation: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him may not perish,…

_“We could not rejoice that there is a God, were there not a Mediator also; one who stands between God and men, to reconcile man to God, and to transact the whole affair of our salvation.”_ -John Wesley

These words come from John Wesley’s comment on 1 Timothy 2:5 in his _Notes Upon the New Testament_. The verse reads: “For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ…

_“It is not all; nor yet is it nothing. It is not the end, but it is a precious means thereto, a means which God himself has ordained; and in which therefore, when it is duly used, he will surely give us his blessing.”_
-John Wesley

Wesley is speaking here of fasting in his sermon “Sermon on the Mount, VII,” from a collection of sermons that he gave on Jesus’s famous exposition found in Matthew…

_“Experience is sufficient to confirm a doctrine which is grounded in Scripture.”_

Experience has always played a vital part within the Wesleyan movement. From that still small voice heard in prayer to the ecstatic encounter of worship, the early Methodists placed great emphasis on experiencing the transforming love of God. This is why John Wesley penned the words above in his sermon, “The…