05/24/2026
BREAKING NEWS...
This just in, May 24, 1738, John Wesley, who later became known as the founder of the Methodist church, experienced his "heart strangely warmed" at a religious meeting on Aldersgate Street in London.
It is arguably the best-known event in his life, followed only by his narrowing escape from a fire at the Epworth Rectory in Lincolnshire when he was 5-1/2 years old.
For thirteen years, Wesley focused his efforts on attaining a pure heart before God, but always felt the lack of assurance of salvation.
Then on May 24th, he found what he longed for:
“In the evening, I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s ‘Preface to the Epistle to the Romans’. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
John Telford writes, "Wesley at once began to pray earnestly for his enemies, and publicly testified to all present what he now felt. He was much tempted when he returned home, but when he prayed, the temptations fled. He soon found how different they were from his former struggles. Then he was sometimes, if not often, conquered; now he was always conqueror."
Isn't that the way we once felt, conquered by our struggles and fears? We must pray to and trust in Jesus Christ for our salvation. Make Him Lord of our life, then we too can become a conqueror.
