The just shall live by faith
Just before the Lord ascended to heaven, He said to His disciples, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.” Acts 1:8.
This promise is to you as well as to those who heard His voice as He said it; for when you know the Lord you are to be a witness for Him, and nothing can be done without the power of the Holy Spirit. God has promised the Spirit to you if you desire it and if you are willing to undergo all that is necessary to receive the Spirit.
The marginal reading of the text quoted above is, “Ye shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you.” The question is, how is this power to be received? What are you to expect and pray for? One thing may be definitely answered, and that is that the Spirit will not come to you in the way that you may have marked out. For the thoughts of God and the power of God are not after the model of your mind.
When the word of the Lord found Elijah in the wilderness, as he fled from Jezebel, it said to him: “Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?” 1 Kings 19:11-13.
Except for the direct declaration to the contrary, you would say that the Lord was in the wind and the earthquake. It is natural for you to suppose that nothing less than a hurricane could reveal the power of God; but from the experience of Elijah you learn that God shows his power in more quiet ways. It was a voice, “a still, small voice,” that revealed the Lord to Elijah. So it will be with you.
God says to you: “Be still, and know that I am God.” Ps.46:10. It is “in quietness and confidence” that your strength lies; in returning and rest you find salvation. You must be silent before the Lord, or else you will miss the still, small voice which alone reveals Him to the soul. God could thunder with a terrible voice, but you could not understand the thunder. It would only startle and terrify you. So He reveals Himself to you in a whisper that conveys intelligible sound to your understanding. We read, “How small a whisper do we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?” Job 26:14, ASV.
Jesus was on the sea of Galilee with His disciples when “there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves.” The disciples were terrified and appealed to the Master. “And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” Matt. 8:24; Mark 4:39. Do you imagine that Jesus lifted His voice above the roar of the tempest in order to calm it? You cannot imagine such a thing. Only the weak man conscious of his weakness raises his voice in giving commands. The loud voice is used to try to conceal the lack of real power. The man who has authority, and who knows that he has the power to back up his commands, uses a quiet voice. Jesus always spoke as One that had authority; so in stilling the tempest we find the same “still, small voice” which Elijah heard.
This still, small voice is the same voice by which the universe was created. “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.” Ps. 33:6. Was it necessary for God to utter His voice in thunder, in order to bring the worlds into existence? Certainly not; an order from the commander of an army, given in a whisper, is just as effective in setting troops in motion, as an order shouted at the top of his voice. So with the King of the universe; the simple breathing from the Lord was sufficient to create all the worlds.
The still, small voice that spoke to Elijah, was the voice that created. And it is the same word of power that now upholds all things (Heb. 1:3).
Most of the great manifestations of the power of God in the earth are silent and unseen. You only know that the power is there by the results. Think of the thousands of millions of tons of water that the sun is constantly lifting up from the earth to the clouds, to send down again in dew and rain. Not a sound is heard. But you can’t fill a cup of water from the faucet without much noise. The power manifested in the growing plants is beyond all human conception, yet there is no sound. A growing plant can break a rock in pieces yet it is all done silently. The heavens declare the glory of God, yet they don’t ring bells and blow trumpets. God’s work is so mighty that the results speak for themselves; advertisement would belittle it.
But the word by which the heavens were made, and by which they are upheld, and by which all the operations of nature are carried on, is the word of the Gospel which is preached to you. The words of the Lord are Spirit and life. The word of God is living and powerful (Heb. 4:12) and it works effectually in all who believe in it. 1 Thess. 2:13.
The Savior breathed on the disciples, saying, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” John 20:22. It was the same breath by which the worlds were made and by which they are upheld. The power of the Spirit, therefore, is creative power, and that is in the word of the Lord. So you may know that the power of the Holy Spirit, which Christ promised to His followers, comes only through His word.
God speaks to you in His word. The word of God is the sword of the Spirit. Eph. 6:17. It is the Spirit that reproves sin (John 16:7, 8), and it does it by the law; for “the law is spiritual” (Rom. 7:14), and “by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Rom. 3:20.
The first thing that the Spirit does when it comes is to convict you of sin. If you accept the reproof and acknowledge your sin then the Spirit’s power is manifested in taking the sin away. It convinces you of righteousness. If you reject the reproof then the
Spirit is resisted, and its power is not given to you. As the reproofs which the Spirit gives through the word are heeded, the word abides within, and your life is shaped by it. You are then led by the Spirit. As a result of your heeding reproof, the Spirit is poured out on you (Prov. 1:23), and of course the power of the Spirit is manifested in you.
Thus it will appear that it is utter folly and mockery to pray for the pouring out of the Spirit of God, while you are holding off any reproof, or cherishing any sin pointed out by the word of God. The office of the Spirit is to lead into all truth, and therefore to pray for its outpouring means to yield yourself without reserve to every commandment of God. If you do this, God will give you His Spirit without measure. It will not be given simply for your pleasure, but it is given that you may be a witness to the Lord. The pouring out of the Spirit makes known the words of God, so that you may make these words of power known to the world.
But all this will be without boasting or ostentation, although it will be the mightiest manifestation of power ever known among people. The Lord says: “Behold My Servant, whom I uphold; Mine Elect, in whom My soul delighteth; I have put My Spirit upon Him; He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench.” Isa. 42:1-3. That is the way the Lord works by the Spirit. He will bring forth judgment unto truth, working with such power that the nations will be amazed, yet with such gentleness that even the reed that is bruised will not be broken, and the wick that is but dimly burning will not be extinguished. It will not be the power of the tempest, but the power of sunlight and the power of the growing plant.
Therefore, the power that the Spirit gives is the power that works throughout all creation. It is the power of God’s word, and it is manifested only in you as you are fully yielded to that word.
God says, “As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth.” Isa, 55: 10, 11. The Spirit is also likened to water; it is “poured out” as the rain. See Isa. 44:3. The power of the Spirit in you will be the same power that is put in operation when the rain falls on the earth. Will you yield to that blessed influence? As the earth brings forth fruit, so you are to bring forth righteousness. Isa. 61:11. Therefore “it is time to seek the LORD, till He come and rain righteousness upon you.”
Living By Faith- E.J.W. and A.T.J.