The Mountain Where Christmas Evans Got His Fire Back

He rode into the Welsh mountains with a cold heart. Hours later he came down a different man.

The One-Eyed Preacher of Wales

Christmas Evans was born on Christmas Day in 1766, into deep poverty. His father died when he was nine. At seventeen he still could not read. After he met Christ, he taught himself his letters and began to preach. One night his old friends beat him in the dark, and he lost an eye. Years later, when a man mocked him for having only one, the preacher Robert Hall said that single eye could “light an army through a wilderness on a dark night.” God used the very man the world had written off.

The Day His Heart Caught Fire Again

Even great preachers grow cold. Riding alone between Dolgellau and Machynlleth, Christmas Evans felt his own fire dying. So he climbed the mountainside and prayed until the coldness broke. He wrote a covenant with God that day and signed his name to every line, giving himself away again to the Savior who bought him. He came down a changed man, and revival followed his preaching across Wales. Jesus once told a cooling church, “You have left your first love” (Revelation 2:4). Then He showed them the road home.

Draw Near, and He Will Draw Near

Maybe your fire has burned low too. You still show up, but the warmth is gone. There is a road back, and it runs straight uphill into honest prayer. James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” That is the whole secret of the mountain. Christmas Evans drew near, and God drew near, and the love came flooding back. You do not need a mountain in Wales. Draw near right where you are.

And that, friend, is how God lifts up your day.

Keep Looking Up!
Pastor Rodney

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• The Man Who Prayed Alone: Lessons from the Fulton Street Revival
• The Unfinished Baptism: The Civil War Revival of 1863