¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

²Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God._{Hebrews 12:1-2}

Throughout history, whether within the time in which the Bible was being written, or any of the centuries that have followed, there has always been people who have urged us to depart from man-made religion and to become reconciled directly to the Living God through Jesus Christ.  The key word here is 'directly'.

Whether in Luther's time in which he railed against the selling of papal indulgences, or in the Wesleys' time in which they travelled back and forth throughout the UK and abroad preaching salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and setting up chapels as alternative venues of worship, or in Henri Staples' time in which he preached a message of restoring the Joy of the Holy Ghost amongst born again believers, all had one thing in common - the urge to move away from the shackles and contraints created by man, and to become reconciled to God directly.

No-one stated it more simply than John the Baptist when he quoted Isaiah:

³The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

“Prepare the way of the LORD;
Make straight in the desert
A highway for our God.

⁴Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough places smooth;

⁵The glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” _Isaiah40:3-5

Simply, no obstacles should come between ourselves and Christ. Our access to Him is direct.

Henri Staples, and many others who have gone before, was only special in one respect - he believed the calling of God upon his life, and was obedient to that calling.  Henri's calling was to preach liberty in the Holy Ghost and in so doing to set the captives free through Christ as outlined in Isaiah 61.

We, as born again believers, are the inheritors of that calling, as is everyone who has accepted Christ as his or her saviour. 

We have not inherited a liturgy, or a particular style of worship, nor have we inherited a new denomination - there are already more than enough of those.  As distinctive as the 'glory meetings' as many came to know them were in being loud lively, and to the eye of some, chaotic, these things were only outward manifestations of the Holy Spirit moving within individuals.

What we have inherited is an environment, both physical and spiritual, in which we can lift up the name of Jesus in complete liberty, within which every believer can testify what God is doing within their life today, and within which everyone is expected to exercise as an able minster of the new covenant.

Just as King David created the environment within which a temple could be built - a place within which people could enter in and worship the Living God with great joy, many have been faithful to their calling, ancient and recent, have left it to us to continue in these last days. 

There is simply no greater calling than to lift up the name of Jesus Christ.

Just as John the Baptist used simple language, Henri similarly stated it in absolute simplicity. "It's in you!" he often said.

Some reading this will think it incredibly presumptuous to mention ourselves within the same sentences as the Baptist, King David, and suchlike.  We, as is true of those gone before us, are nothing of ourselves.  Whatever we are is through Christ, and we are all called to lift up His name.