06/04/2026
THURSDAY — THE MAN WHO WOULDN’T SETTLE
Matthew 11:12
“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.”
— NKJV
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Good morning Living Water family,
This week we have been looking at what greatness in the Kingdom of God looks like.
On Monday, we met The Unbending Oak, Smith Wigglesworth, who stood firm when others bent.
On Tuesday, we met The One Who Left Comfort Behind, David Wilkerson, who walked away from safety to obey God’s call.
Yesterday, we met The Watchman, Leonard Ravenhill, who refused to stop praying for revival.
Today we meet another one of God’s generals.
A man who understood what Jesus meant when He said:
“The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.”
Not violence against people.
Not anger.
Not striving in the flesh.
But a holy determination that refuses to settle for less than God’s presence.
Today we meet:
The Man Who Wouldn’t Settle.
His name was William Seymour.
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THE HUNGRY STUDENT
In 2016, Tamar and I traveled to Los Angeles for the Azusa Street Centennial gathering.
Nearly one hundred people from our church made the trip.
The event was held in the Los Angeles Coliseum.
Thousands upon thousands of believers gathered from around the world. Estimates were around 30,000 people.
I still remember standing there looking across that sea of people.
Worship filled the stadium.
People prayed everywhere.
Hands were lifted.
Voices rose toward heaven.
And I found myself thinking about a little mission building on Azusa Street one hundred years earlier.
How did it begin?
How did a small prayer meeting become a revival that would touch the entire world?
The answer leads us back to William Seymour.
Seymour was born in Louisiana in 1870, the son of former slaves.
He grew up in poverty.
Smallpox left him scarred and blind in one eye.
By the world’s standards, he seemed like the least likely candidate for God to use.
Yet God was preparing him.
One of the defining moments of Seymour’s life happened before revival ever came.
Hungry to learn more about the Holy Spirit, he traveled to hear a Bible teacher named Charles Parham.
But because of segregation, Seymour was not allowed to sit inside the classroom.
Think about that.
He came desperate to learn.
Desperate to grow.
Desperate for God.
Yet he was forced to sit outside the door.
While the other students sat comfortably inside, Seymour sat in the hallway and listened through the doorway.
Most people would have become bitter.
Most people would have quit.
Most people would have concluded that the door was closed.
But Seymour stayed.
Day after day.
Lesson after lesson.
Listening.
Learning.
Seeking.
Praying.
Sometimes the people who take the Kingdom by force are simply the people who refuse to walk away when others would.
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THE BOX
Years later, after arriving in Los Angeles, Seymour experienced another closed door.
After preaching about the Holy Spirit, the church that had invited him locked the doors and refused to let him return.
Again, another opportunity to quit.
Again, another reason to go home.
But Seymour stayed.
A few believers opened their home.
Prayer meetings began.
The Holy Spirit was poured out.
Soon the crowds became so large they moved into a humble building on Azusa Street.
Revival had begun.
One of the things that fascinates me most about Seymour is that he never wanted attention.
Many people have seen pictures of him sitting with a wooden box over his head.
Before he would preach…
Before he would lead…
Before he would direct the service…
He would often sit quietly waiting on God.
Sometimes for long periods of time.
The people would gather.
The room would fill.
The worship team would wait.
And Seymour would remain hidden.
He wasn’t interested in building a platform.
He wasn’t interested in building a name.
He wanted people to encounter Jesus.
Those who were there said he often refused to do anything until he had first spent time listening to God.
Prayer wasn’t something he did before ministry.
Prayer was the ministry.
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WHEN HEAVEN TOUCHED EARTH
One of my favorite books is The Azusa Street Revival: They Told Me Their Stories by Tommy Welchel.
Welchel spent years interviewing people who were actually there.
Not historians.
Not secondhand accounts.
Eyewitnesses.
One of those eyewitnesses was a man named Charles Sines.
Sines often sat near Seymour during the meetings.
He described what would happen when Seymour finally removed the box and instructed the congregation:
“Sing in the Spirit.”
The room would change.
The worship would rise to another level.
People began singing in heavenly languages.
Others joined with melodies they had never learned.
Voices blended together in a way no choir director could have organized.
Sines said it sounded like thousands of voices.
Like thousands of pianos.
Like heaven itself had joined the worship service.
The saints spoke of the Shekinah Glory filling the room.
Some described it as a mist.
Others said it looked like a cloud.
Many spoke of a sweet fragrance like roses.
Children would play in the glory.
Adults would sit quietly in awe.
Some simply wept.
No one was trying to create an atmosphere.
No one was trying to manufacture a moment.
They were simply hungry for God.
And God came.
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THE CRIPPLED BOY
One evening during a service, Charles Sines noticed a crippled boy sitting quietly off to the side.
No one had prayed for him yet.
No one had noticed him.
Sines walked over and asked him a simple question.
“Do you believe God is going to heal you?”
The boy looked at him with anticipation and answered,
“Why, yes!”
Sines took the boy’s crutches and laid them on the floor.
Then he placed his hands on the boy and prayed.
At first nothing happened.
Then suddenly the boy began shouting,
“I feel it! I feel it!”
He jumped to his feet.
The crutches stayed on the floor.
The boy began running.
Dancing.
Shouting.
Praising God.
And Sines ran right behind him rejoicing.
What happened?
The atmosphere was saturated with worship.
Faith filled the room.
People expected God to move because they believed He was present.
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THE KINGDOM ADVANCES
When Jesus said,
“The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force,”
I don’t believe He was describing angry people.
I believe He was describing hungry people.
People who refuse to settle.
People who keep pursuing God when doors close.
People who keep praying when answers delay.
People who keep worshiping until heaven touches earth.
William Seymour sat outside a classroom because he was hungry.
He prayed when church doors were locked because he was hungry.
He waited beneath a wooden box because he was hungry.
And God entrusted revival to a man whose greatest qualification was that he desperately wanted more of Jesus.
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THE GREATER STORY
As Tamar and I stood in the Los Angeles Coliseum in 2016 surrounded by tens of thousands of believers, I was reminded of something important.
The God of Azusa Street has not changed.
The same Holy Spirit is still moving.
The same Jesus is still saving.
The same Jesus is still healing.
The same Jesus is still filling hungry hearts.
The same Jesus who touched that little mission building in 1906 is touching lives today.
The question is not whether God is willing.
The question is whether we are hungry.
Because the Kingdom still belongs to those who refuse to settle for less than His presence.
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QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
1. Where have I become comfortable when God may be calling me deeper?
2. What would it look like for me to pursue God’s presence with greater hunger this week?
3. Do I truly believe Jesus still moves today the way He did in the book of Acts and throughout church history?
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PRAYER
Lord Jesus,
Give us the hunger that marked William Seymour and the saints of Azusa Street.
Forgive us for settling for comfort when You are calling us deeper.
Teach us to seek Your presence above everything else.
Help us to pray with persistence, worship with expectation, and pursue You with all our hearts.
Fill us afresh with Your Holy Spirit.
And remind us that You are still the same yesterday, today, and forever.
May we never settle for less than Your presence.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
Have a blessed Thursday,
Pastor Bob
