

25,000 words

About the Book

This is a White Tree Publishing Home and Group Questions for Today Edition. At the end of each chapter are questions for use either in your personal study, or for sharing in a church or home group. Why? Because: "From many earnest hearts there is rising a cry for more power: more power in our personal conflict with the world, the flesh, and the devil; more power in our work for others. The Bible makes the way to obtain this longed-for power very plain. There is no presumption in undertaking to tell how to obtain Fullness of Power in Christian life and service; for the Bible itself tells, and the Bible was intended to be understood.

"The Bible statement of the way is not mystical or mysterious. It is very plain and straightforward. If we will only make personal trial of The Power of the Word of God; The Power of the Blood of Christ; The Power of the Holy Spirit; The Power of Prayer; The Power of a Surrendered Life; we will then know the Fullness of Power in Christian life and service.

"We will try to make this plain in the following chapters. There are many who do not even know that there is a life of abiding rest, joy, satisfaction, and power; and many others who, while they think there must be something beyond the life they know, are in ignorance as to how to obtain it. This book is also written to help them."

Original Introduction by the author

R. A. Torrey

(1856 - 1928)

American evangelist, pastor, educator, and writer

Fullness of Power

in Christian Life and Service

Home and Group Questions Edition for Today

R. A. Torrey

Study Questions by Chuck Antone, Jr.

©2016 White Tree Publishing

e-Book ISBN: 978-0-9935005-8-9

Published by

White Tree Publishing

Bristol

UNITED KINGDOM

email: wtpbristol@gmail.com

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CONTENTS

Cover

About the Book

Chuck Antone, Jr.

Introduction

Chapter 1 The Power of the Word of God

Chapter 2 The Power of the Blood of Christ

Chapter 3 The Power of the Holy Spirit

Chapter 4 The Power of Prayer

Chapter 5 The Power of a Surrender

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Introduction to this New Edition

When R. A. Torrey wrote this challenging and helpful book in the latter part of the nineteenth century, the main Bible translation in use was the King James Authorized Version (KJV), which is still widely read today. The Revised Version (RV) was a new British version, newly available at the time, and an American edition became the American Standard Version (ASV) in 1901. There are some verses in this book where Torrey clearly feels that the RV gives a clearer English translation of the Hebrew and Greek in which the Bible was originally written. To mark this translation, the letters RV follow a Scripture quotation. Where no attribution is made, the quotation is from the KJV. Readers today have a wide choice of Bible translations in English, and may wish to look up these verses in their preferred translation. R. A. Torrey (1856-1928) was an American evangelist, pastor, educator, and writer whose name is attached to several organisations, and whose work is still well known today.

This is a White Tree Publishing Home and Group Questions for Today Edition. At the end of each of the five chapters are questions for use either in personal study, or for sharing in a group. In addition to these questions, small edits to Torrey's words have been made in this edition, although nothing has been changed in his message. Updating Roman numerals, and shorter paragraphs and sentences are the main changes, with some words updated where their meaning is now obscure or even altered in meaning. Nearly all Bible references, apart from some long readings, are now shown in full, as they are important in the understanding of this book, and might otherwise be overlooked with the constant need to look them up in the Bible. The mixed use of You and Your with Thee and Thy in Torrey's own wording (rather than in the Scripture quotations) is in the original book. White Tree Publishing thanks Chuck Antone, Jr. for contributing the questions. Please pray as you answer each one.

White Tree Publishing

Chuck Antone, Jr.

Chuck Antone and his wife Doni live on the Big Island of Hawaii, and have been missionaries since 1981. They have helped start churches in the Philippines, Hong Kong, South Africa, and also Taiwan where Chuck ministers four months each year.

They have also done outreaches in Japan, Indonesia and in the mainland USA. They have smuggled Bibles into mainland China and hiked up mountains in the Philippines while being watched by the New Peoples' Army, a Communist group that lives and hides in the mountain areas.

Chuck was also arrested in a third world country and faced a year in prison for teaching a seminar on how to be a witness for Christ. After three weeks he was deported and sent back to his home in Hawaii.

He says, "Being a Christian is only boring when one makes it be boring!"

Chuck is the Pastor of the Kona Coast Chaplaincy on the Big Island of Hawaii, and he and Doni are the Directors of Go Spread His Word Ministries, Inc. founded in 1990. You can contact Chuck at: antoneyboksu@gmail.com or write P.O. Box 4404, Kailua-Kona, HI 96745

Chuck is a prolific author, and his books, paperback and some eBooks, can be purchased through major Internet sellers. Of particular challenge are Chuck's two books: You've Got To Be Kidding, Lord: You Want Me To Tell WHO About You! and You Can't Be Serious, Lord: You Want Me To Love WHO? These books also have questions at the end of each chapter for personal or group study.
Chapter 1

The Power of the Word of God

"Power belongeth unto God" (Psalm 62:11). The great reservoir of the power that belongs to God is His own Word -- the Bible. If we wish to make it ours, we must go to that book. Yet people abound in the church who are praying for power, and neglecting the Bible. They are longing to have power for fruit-bearing in their own lives, and yet forget that Jesus has said, "The seed is the Word of God" (Luke 8:11). They are longing to have power to melt the cold heart and break the stubborn will, and yet forget that God has said, "Is not my word like as fire, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" (Jeremiah 23:29).

If we are to obtain fullness of power in life and service, we must feed on the Word of God. There is no other food so strengthening. If we will not take time to study the Bible we cannot have power, anymore than we can have physical power if we will not take time to eat nutritious food.

Let us see what the Word of God has power to do:

1. First of all, the Word of God has power to convict of sin. In Acts 2:37 we read: "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?" If we look back and see what it was they heard and that produced this deep conviction, we find that it was simply the Word of God.

If you will read Peter's sermon, you will find it one of the most Biblical sermons ever preached. It was Scripture from beginning to end. It was, then, the Word of God, carried home by the Spirit of God, that pricked them to their heart. If you wish to produce conviction, you must give men the Word of God.

I heard a man pray some time ago this prayer: "O God, convict us of sin." A very good prayer, but unless you bring your soul in contact with that instrument which God has appointed for the conviction of sin, you will not have conviction of sin. If you wish to produce conviction in others, you must use the Word to do it. Not long ago a fine-looking young man came into our inquiry room. I said to him, "Are you a Christian?"

"No, sir."

"Why not?"

"I think Christianity is a first-rate thing, but I have not much feeling about this."

"But," I said, "do you not know that you are a sinner?"

He said, "Yes, sir, I suppose I am; but I am not very much of a sinner. I am a pretty good sort of a fellow."

I replied, "So, my friend, you have not very much conviction of sin. I have something in my hand that is a divinely appointed instrument to produce conviction of sin." I opened my Bible to Matthew 22:37-38, and asked him to read it.

He read, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment."

"What commandment is that?" I asked.

He replied, "The first and great commandment."

"In the light of that, what must be the first and great sin?"

He replied, "It must be to neglect to keep that commandment."

"Have you kept it?"

The Spirit of God took it home to his heart then and there. It was not long before we were kneeling, and he asking God for mercy through Christ.

2. In the next place, the Word of God has power to regenerate. In 1 Peter 1:23 we read, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." In James 1:18 we read, "Of his own will begat he us with the Word of Truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures."

If you wish to be born again, the way is very simple. Take the Word of God concerning Christ crucified and risen, and drop it into your heart by meditation on it. Look to God by His Holy Spirit to quicken it, believe it with the heart, and the work is done.

If you wish to see someone else born again, give him the Word of God. The process of regeneration on our side is the simplest thing in the world. On God's side it is mysterious, but with that we have nothing to do. The process is simply this: the human heart is the soil; you and I are sowers; the Word of God is the seed which we drop into that soil; God quickens it by His Holy Spirit and gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6); the heart closes around the Word by faith, and the new life is the product.

The new birth is simply the impartation of a new nature, the impartation of God's nature. But how are we made partakers of God's nature? Read 2 Peter 1:4 (RV) and the context, "That through these (exceeding great and precious promises) ye may become partakers of the divine nature." That is all there is to it. The Word of God is the seed out of which the divine nature springs up in the human soul.

3. Again, the Word of God has power to produce faith. In Romans 10:17 we read, "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." You can never get faith by merely praying. You can never get it by any effort of the will. You can never get it by trying to pump it up in any way. Faith is the product of a certain cause, and that cause is the Word of God. It is so, for example, with saving faith.

Suppose you want someone to have saving faith. Simply give that person something definite from God's Word on which they can rest. The Philippian jailor asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30), and Paul answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house." But Paul did not stop there. Read verse 32: "And they spake unto him the Word of the Lord and to all that were in his house."

They did not merely tell the Philippian jailor to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and then leave him there floundering in the dark without giving him something to believe, or something for his faith to rest on. They gave that which God has ordained to produce faith. It is at this point that we often make a mistake. We tell people, "Believe, believe, believe," but do not show them how; do not give them anything definite to believe.

The Biblical way and the intelligent way is, when you tell someone to believe, to give them something to believe. Give them, for example, Isaiah 53:6, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all," and thus hold up Christ crucified. Or give them 1 Peter 2:24, "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."

Here they have something for their faith to rest on. Faith must have a foundation. Faith cannot float in thin air. It is pitiable to see men and women told to believe, to believe, to believe, and then given nothing to rest their faith on.

Not only saving faith comes through the Word of God, but prevailing faith in prayer does also. Suppose I read Mark 11:24, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." I used to say, "The way to get anything I want is to believe I am going to get it." I would kneel down and pray and try to believe, but I did not get the things that I asked for. I had no real faith. Real faith must have a warrant. Before I can truly believe I am to receive what I ask, I must have a definite promise of God's Word, or a definite leading of the Holy Spirit, to rest my faith on.

What, then, shall we do? We come into God's presence. There is something we desire. Now the question is, Is there any promise in God's Word regarding this which we desire? We look into the Word of God and find the promise. All we have to do is to spread that promise out before God. For example, we say, "Heavenly Father, we desire the Holy Spirit. Thou hast said in Thy Word, 'If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?' (Matthew 7:11), and Thou hast said again in Acts 2:39 that 'the promise is unto you and your children and to them that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.'

I am a called man; I am a saved man; and here I have Your word for it. You have promised it. I ask Thee now to fill me with the Holy Spirit." We then take 1 John 5:14-15, and say, "Father, this is the confidence I have in Thee, that, if I ask anything according to Thy will -- and I know that this is according to Thy will -- Thou hearest me, and, if I know that Thou hearest me, I know that I have the petition that I have asked of Thee." Then I rise up, standing on this promise of God, and say, "It is mine," and it will be mine. The only way to have a faith that prevails in prayer is to study your Bible, and know the promises, and lay them before God when you pray.

George Muller (in Bristol, England) is one of the mightiest men of prayer in this [the 19th] century. But he always prepares for prayer by studying the Word (see John 15:7: "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you").

It is just the same with the faith that we desire, instead of doubt. This also comes by the Word of God. Suppose you have a skeptic to deal with, and you wish that person to have faith. What will you do with them? Give them a book on Christian evidences? I have nothing to say against books on Christian evidences, but there is an inspired book on Christian evidences, and it is worth all the libraries ever written on this subject. Turn to John 20:31: "But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.''

Clearly, then, this book of John was given that, through what is "written" therein, men and women, "might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing they might have life through his name." The Gospel of John is an inspired book on Christian evidences. What, then, shall we do with ourselves if we are skeptics? What shall we do with others? First, find out whether their will is surrendered or not. "If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God, or whether I speak from myself" (John 7:17 RV).

After the will is surrendered, just say, "Take this book and read it thoughtfully and honestly and come back and tell me the result." The result is absolutely sure. There is no person, agnostic, infidel, or whatever you please, whose will is surrendered to the truth, who will take this book to God and ask Him to give them light, who will not come out believing in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. I have tried this with I know not how many men and women, and there has never been one exception to the rule laid down by Christ. It has always come out the same way.

The faith that gets the victory over the world, the flesh and the devil, the faith that wins mighty victories for God, is also through the Word. "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (1 John 5:4); "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked" (Ephesians 6:16); "Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens" (Hebrews 11:33-34).

Very early in my ministry I read a sermon by Mr. Moody. In it there was something to the effect that a person would not amount to anything if they had not faith. I said, "That sermon is true. I must have faith." I went to work and tried to work up faith. I did not succeed a bit. The more I tried to work up faith, the less I had. But one day I ran across this text, "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17), and I had learned the great secret of faith -- one of the greatest secrets I have ever learned.

I commenced to feed my faith on the Word of God; and as I have thus fed it, it has kept on growing from that day to this. So in every aspect we see that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. If we are to have faith -- and if we are to have power for God we must have faith -- we must feed steadily, largely, daily on the Word of God.

4. In the next place, the Word of God has power to cleanse. In Ephesians 5:25-26, we read, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word." The Word of God has power not only to take impurity out of the heart, but to cleanse the outward life as well. If you wish a clean outward life, you must wash often by bringing your life in contact with the Word of God. If someone lives in a city whose atmosphere is polluted with smoke, when they go into the street their hands will become black. That person must wash frequently if they wish to keep clean. We all live in a world whose atmosphere is polluted -- a very dirty world.

As we go out from day to day, and come in contact with this dirty world, there is absolutely only one way to keep clean, and that is by taking frequent baths in the Word of God. You must bathe every day, and take plenty of time to do it. A daily, prolonged, thoughtful bath in the Word of God is the only thing that will keep a life clean. "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word" (Psalm 119:9).

5. In the next place, the Word of God has power to build up. In Acts 20:32 we read, "I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up." We hear a great deal in these days about character-building. The Word of God is that by which we must carry it on if it is to be done right. In 2 Peter 1:5-7 we have a picture of a seven-story and basement Christian: "And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity." The great trouble today is we have so many one-story Christians, and the reason is neglect of the Word.

In Peter 2:2 we have a similar thought expressed under a different figure. "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby."

If we are to grow, we must have wholesome, nutritious food and plenty of it. The only spiritual food that contains all the elements necessary for symmetrical Christian growth is the Word of God. A Christian can no more grow as they ought without feeding frequently, regularly, and largely on the Word of God, than a baby can grow to be strong and healthy without proper nutriment.

6. In the next place, the Word of God has power to make wise. Psalm 119:130 is worthy of the most careful attention. "The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple." There is more wisdom in the Bible than there is in all the other literature of the ages.

The person who studies the Bible, if they do not study any other book, will know more of real wisdom -- wisdom that counts for eternity as well as time, wisdom that this perishing world needs to know, wisdom for which hungry hearts are starving today -- than the person who reads every other book and neglects their Bible.

The person who studies the Bible and neglects all other books, will be wiser than the person who studies all other books and neglects the Bible. The person who studies the Bible will have more to say that is worth saying, and that wise people wish to hear, than any person who studies everything else and neglects the one book. This has been illustrated over and over again in the history of the church.

The people who have greatly affected the spiritual history of this world, the people who have brought about great reformations in morals and doctrine, the people others have flocked to hear and on whose words people have hung, have been Bible people in every instance, and in many cases they knew little beside the Bible.

I have seen men and women without culture, who have had almost no advantages in school, but who knew their Bibles, and I would rather sit at their feet and learn the wisdom that falls from their lips, than listen to the person who knows much about philosophy and science and theology even, and does not know anything about the Word of God.

There is wonderful force in the words of Paul to Timothy: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man or woman of God may be perfect, thoroughly (the RV says "completely") furnished unto all good works." Through what? Through the study of the Book.

7. The Word of God has power to give assurance of eternal life. In 1 John 5:13 RV, we read, "These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, even unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God." That is, the assurance of eternal life comes through what is "written."

Suppose someone has not assurance of salvation, what can we do? Tell them to pray until they get it? Not at all. You must take them to some such passage as John 3:36, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." Hold that person right to that point until they take God's word for it, and then is sure that they have everlasting life because they believe on the Son, and because God says that "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life."

8. The Word of God has power to bring peace into the heart. In Psalm 85:8 we read, "I will hear what God the Lord will speak; for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints." There are many people looking for peace today; longing for peace; praying for peace. But deep peace of heart comes from the study of the Word of God.

There is for example one passage in the Bible which, if we feed on it daily until it really gets into our hearts and gets hold of us, will banish all anxiety forever. It is Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose." Nothing can come to us that is not one of the "all things." If we really believe this passage, and it really takes hold on us, whatever comes, it will not disturb our peace.

9. The Word of God has power to produce joy. Jeremiah says in the chapter 15, verse 16, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart." And Jesus said in John 15:11, "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."

Clearly, then, fullness of joy comes through the Word of God. There is no joy on this earth from any worldly source like the joy that kindles and glows in the heart of a believer in Jesus Christ as he feeds on the Word of God, and as the Word of God is brought home to his heart by the power of the Holy Spirit.

10. Patience, comfort and hope also come through the Word of God. Romans 15:4: "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope."

11. Finally, the Word of God has power to protect from error and sin. In Acts 20:29-32 the apostle Paul warned the elders at Ephesus of the errors that would creep in among them, and he commended them, in closing, "to God and to the Word of His grace." In a similar way, Paul, writing to Timothy who was traditionally an elder of the same church, said, "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:13-15).

The one who feeds constantly on the Word of God is proof against the multiplying errors of the day. It is simple neglect of the Word that has left so many a prey to the many false doctrines that the devil, in his subtlety, is endeavoring to insinuate into the church of Christ today. And the Word of God has not only power to protect from error, but from sin as well. In Psalm 119:11 we read, "Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee."

The person who feeds daily on the Word of God will be proof against the temptations of the devil. Any day we neglect to feed on the Word of God we leave an open door through which Satan is sure to enter into our hearts and lives. Even the Son of God himself met and overcame the temptations of the adversary by the Scriptures. To each of Satan's temptations, He replied, "It is written" (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10). Satan left the field completely vanquished.

It is evident from what has been said, that the first step toward obtaining fullness of power in Christian life and service is the study of the Word. There can be no fullness of power in life and service if the Bible is neglected. In much that is now written on power, also in much that is said in conventions, this fact is overlooked. The work of the Holy Spirit is magnified, but the instrument through which the Holy Spirit works is largely forgotten. The result is transient enthusiasm and activity, but no steady continuance and increase in power and usefulness.

We cannot obtain power, and we cannot maintain power in our own lives, and in our work for others, unless there is deep and frequent meditation on the Word of God. If our leaf is not to wither, and whatsoever we do is to prosper, our delight must be in the law of the Lord and we must meditate therein day and night. As the Psalmist says, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper" (Psalm 1:1-3).

Of course, it is much easier, and therefore much more agreeable to our spiritual laziness, to go to a convention or revival meeting, and claim a "filling with the Holy Spirit," than it is to peg along day after day, month after month, year after year, digging into the Word of God. But a "filling with the Spirit" that is not maintained by persistent study of the Word will soon vanish. It is well to bear in mind that precisely the results which Paul in one place ascribes to being "filled with the Spirit" (see Ephesians 5:18-22), he in another place ascribes to letting "the word of Christ dwell in you richly" (see Colossians 3:16-18).

Evidently Paul knew of no filling with the Holy Spirit divorced from deep and constant meditation on the Word of God. To sum up, anyone who wishes to obtain and maintain Fullness of Power in Christian Life and Service, must feed constantly on the Word of God.

Questions for personal or group study

1. What power have you received from the Word of God?

2. What does it mean to pray in faith?

3. "If you wish to see someone else born again, give him the Word of God." Really?

4. How do you grow in the Word of God?

5. How does someone receive eternal life? (1 John 5:11-13)

6. How can you be proof against the temptation of Satan?

7. Why is so important to meditate on the Word of God?
Chapter 2

The Power of the Blood of Christ

"Power belongeth unto God" (Psalm 62:11). It is therefore at our disposal. But there is one thing that separates between each one of us and God -- that is sin. We read in Isaiah, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear" (Isaiah 59:1-2).

Before we can know God's power in our lives and service, sin must be put away from between God and us. It is the blood that puts away sin. "For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Hebrews 9:26). We must know the power of the blood, if we are to know the power of God. Our knowing through experience the power of the Word, the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of prayer, is dependent on our knowing the power of the blood of Christ. Let us see what the blood of Christ has power to do,

1. First of all, the blood of Christ is a propitiation for sin. In Romans 3:25 RV, we read, "Whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, by his blood, to show his righteousness, because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God." In the earlier verses of this chapter Paul has proven all to be sinners, "every mouth is stopped," all the world is seen to be "guilty before God." But God is holy, a God who hates sin. God's hatred of sin is no play hatred. It is real, it is living, it is active. It must make itself manifest somehow. God's wrath at sin must strike somewhere.

What hope then is there for any of us; for we have "all sinned and come short of the glory of God?" In verse 25 God gives us His own answer to this tremendously important question. There is hope for us because God himself has provided a propitiation, the shed blood of Christ. God has "set forth Christ to be a propitiation, through faith, by his blood."

The wrath of God at sin strikes on Him instead of striking on us. Of this great truth the prophet Isaiah got a glimpse several hundred years before the birth of Christ. "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid (literally, made to strike) on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). The first power of Christ's blood is as a propitiation for sin, affording a mark for and satisfying God's holy wrath at sin. He is "our Passover" (1 Corinthians 5:7), and when God sees His blood, He will pass over and spare us, sinners though we are. (Compare Exodus 12:13, 23.)

This propitiation is chiefly for the believer, "a propitiation through faith." All of God's wrath at the believer's sins is fully appeased or satisfied in the blood of Christ. What a wonderfully comforting thought it is, when we think how often and how greatly we have sinned, and then think how infinitely holy God is, how He hates sin, then to think that God's wrath has already been fully appeased in the shed blood of His own Son, the propitiation which He himself provided!

The blood of Christ in a certain measure avails for all, for unbelievers as well as for believers, for the vilest sinner and the most stubborn unbeliever and blasphemer. In 1 John 2:2 RV, we read, "And He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world." By the shed blood of Christ, a basis is provided on which God can deal in mercy with the whole world. All of God's dealings in mercy with man are on the ground of the shed blood of Christ.

God's dealings with those who ridicule the doctrine of the atonement, God's dealings with the most outspoken atheist, are all on the ground of that shed blood. All of God's dealings in mercy with anybody since the fall of Adam are on the ground of that shed blood. If it had not been for the shed blood, God could never have dealt in mercy with a sinner, but must have at once cut him off in his sin.

If anyone asks, "How then could God have dealt in mercy with sinners before Christ came and died?" the answer is simple. Jesus is the Lamb that hath been "slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8). From the moment sin entered into the world, God had His eyes on that sacrifice which He himself had prepared from the foundation of the world. And in the very Garden of Eden the blood of sacrifices, that pointed forward as types to the true sacrifice, began to flow. It is the power of the blood which has secured to men all the merciful things God has wrought for them since sin entered. The most determined rejecter of Christ owes all he has that is good to the blood of Christ.

2. Again in Ephesians 1:7 RV, we read (emphasis added), "We have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses." Through the blood of Christ we have our redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sin is not something the believer in Christ is to look for in the future, it is something he already has. "We have" says Paul, "the forgiveness of our trespasses."

The forgiveness of sin is not something we are to do something to secure. It is something which the blood of Christ has already secured, and which our faith simply appropriates and enjoys. Forgiveness has already been secured for every believer in Christ by the power of the blood.

You may have heard of the old woman who lay dying. Her rector heard of it and called on her. "They tell me," he said, "that you are dying."

"Yes," she replied.

"And have you made your peace with God?"

"No," came the answer."

"And are you not afraid to meet God without making your peace with Him?"

"Not at all," was the answer that startled the minister.

He grew earnest. "Woman, do you realize that you have but a short time to live and that you must soon meet a holy God?"

"Yes, I realize it perfectly."

"And you are not afraid?"

"Not at all."

"And you have not made your peace with God?"

"No."

"What do you mean?" cried the astonished rector.

A smile passed over the features of the dying woman. "I have not made my peace with God because I do not need to. Christ made peace more than 1800 years ago by the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:20), and I am simply resting in the peace He made."

Oh, blessed is the one who has learned to rest in the peace Christ made, who counts his sins forgiven because Christ's blood was shed, and God says so! "We have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to his grace."

3. There is a third passage very closely akin to this, that brings out the power of Christ's blood. It is 1 John 1:7. "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." This brings out the completeness of the forgiveness we get through the blood. The blood of Christ has power to cleanse the believer from all sin. It continually "cleanseth," is cleansing, keeping him clean every day and hour, and every minute.

The cleansing here is from the guilt of sin. When cleansing is mentioned in the Bible in connection with the blood, it is always cleansing from guilt. Cleansing from the power of sin and the presence of sin is by the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and the living and indwelling Christ, not the crucified Christ. Christ on the cross saves from the guilt of sin, Christ on the throne saves from the power of sin, and Christ coming again will save from the presence of sin. But the blood of Christ cleanses from all the guilt of sin, when one is walking in the light, submitting to the light, and walking in Christ who is the light.

"The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin." Our past may be as bad as a past can be. There may have been countless enormous sins, but they are all, every one, the greatest and the smallest, washed away. Our record is absolutely white in God's sight. As white as the record of Jesus Christ himself. Our sins which were as scarlet are as white as snow, though they were red like crimson they are as wool (Isaiah 1:18).

The blood of Christ has power to wash the blackest record white. Some of us may have had a black past. Rather, we all have had a black past, for if we could see our past as God sees it before it is washed, the record of the best of us would be black, black, black. But if we are walking in the light, submitting to the truth of God, believing in the light, in Christ, our record today is white as Christ's garments were when the disciples saw Him on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:2; Luke 9:29; Mark 9:3). No one can lay anything to the charge of God's elect (Romans 8:33); there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

4. Again, in Romans 5:9, we read, "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." The blood of Christ has power to justify. Every believer in Christ is already justified in Christ's blood. Justified means more than forgiven and cleansed. Forgiveness, as glorious as it is, is a negative thing. It means merely that our sins are put away and we are regarded as if we had not sinned. But justification is positive. It means that we are reckoned positively righteous; it means that positive and perfect righteousness, even the perfect righteousness of Christ, is put to our account.

It is a good thing to be stripped of vile and filthy rags, but it is far better to be clothed with garments of glory and beauty. In forgiveness we are stripped of the vile and stinking rags of our sins. In justification we are clothed with the glory and beauty of Christ. It is the power of the blood which secures this. In shedding His blood as a penalty for sin Christ took our place, and when we believe in Him we step into His place. "Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him" (2 Corinthians 5:21 RV).

5. Let us now look at Hebrews 9:14 RV: "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God." The blood of Christ has power to cleanse the conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Do you understand what that means? It is a glorious truth and I will try to make it plain.

When a person is woken up to the fact that they are a sinner and that God is holy, he or she feels that they must do something to please God and atone for sin. They must "do penances," "keep Lent," or give away money, or do something else to atone for their sins. Now, all these self efforts to please God and atone for sins are "dead works." They can never accomplish what they aim at, and can never bring peace.

How many weary years Martin Luther sought peace in this way and found it not. But when we see the power of the blood, how it has already perfectly atoned for sin, how it has already washed away our sins and justified us before God, how we are already pleasing and acceptable in God's sight by reason of that shed blood, then our consciences are not only relieved from the burden of guilt, but also from the burden of these self efforts.

We are now at liberty to serve the living God, not in the slavery of fear, but in the liberty of the freedom and joy of those who know they are accepted and beloved sons. It is the blood which delivers us from the awful bondage of thinking we must do something to atone for sins and please God. The blood shows us that it is already done.

A friend of mine once said to another who was seeking peace by doing, "You have a religion of two letters. My religion is a religion of four letters."

"How is that?" asked the other.

"Your religion is do. My religion is done. You are trying to rest in what you do. I am resting in what Christ has done."

There are many Christians today who have not permitted the blood of Christ to cleanse their consciences from dead works. They are constantly feeling they must do something to atone for sin. Oh, my brother, my sister, look at what God looks at, the blood, and see that it is all done, already done! God is satisfied, sin is atoned for, you are justified. Don't do dead works to commend yourself to God; but realizing that you are already commended by the blood, serve Him in the freedom of gratitude and love, and not in the bondage of fear.

There are three classes of men and women. First, those who are not burdened by sin, but love it. That is wholly bad. Second, those who are burdened by sin and seek to get rid of it by self effort. That is better, but there is something infinitely better yet. Third, those who see the hideousness of sin, and were burdened by it, but who have been brought to see the power of the blood, settling sin forever, putting it away.

"For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Hebrews 9:26). They are no longer burdened, but now work, not to commend themselves to God, but out of joyous gratitude to Him who perfectly justifies the ungodly through the shed blood.

6. In Acts 20:28, we read, "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood," and in Revelation 5:9 RV, "And they sing a new song, saying, worthy art thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and didst purchase, unto God with thy blood men of every tribe and tongue and people and nation." Yes, the blood of Christ has power to purchase us unto God, to make us God's own.

The blood of Christ makes me God's own property. That thought brings to me a feeling of responsibility. If I belong to God, I must serve Him wholly. Body, soul, and spirit must be surrendered wholly to Him. But the thought that I am God's property brings also a feeling of security. God can and will take care of His own property. The blood of Christ has power to make me eternally secure.

7. We learn still more about the power of the blood in Hebrews 10:19-20 RV: "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way He dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say his flesh." The blood of Christ has power to give the believer boldness to enter into the holy place, to approach into the very presence of God. In the old Jewish days of the tabernacle and temple, God manifested himself in the most holy place. This was the place to meet God. But into this hallowed place, only one Jew in the entire nation was allowed to enter: the high priest. And he only once a year, on the Day of Atonement; and then only with blood.

God was teaching the Jews, and through them the world, three great truths -- His unapproachable holiness, man's sinfulness, and that sinful man could approach a holy God only through atoning blood, that "without shedding of blood" there could be "no remission," and consequently no approach to God (Hebrews 9:22). But the blood of the Old Testament sacrifices was only a figure of the true sacrifice, Jesus Christ. By reason of His shed blood, the vilest sinner who believes on Him has the right to approach God -- to come into His very presence, "without fear, in full assurance of faith," and "with boldness."

Oh, the wondrous power of the blood of Christ to take all fear away when I draw near to that God who is holy and is a "consuming fire"! God is holy? Yes. And I am a sinner? Yes. But by that wondrous offering of Christ "once for all," my sin is forever put away, I am "perfected" and "justified," and, on the ground of that blood so precious and satisfying to God, I can march boldly into the very presence of God.

8. But the Blood of Christ has still further power. Read Revelation 22:14 RV: "Blessed are those that wash their robes, that they may have the right to come to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city." By comparing this verse with chapter 7 verse 14 we see that it is in the blood of Christ that robes are washed. The blood of Christ then has power to give those who believe in Him a right to the tree of life, and entrance into the city of God. Sin in the first place shut men away from the tree of life and out of Eden (Genesis 3:22-24). The shed blood of Christ opens to us again the way to the tree of life and to the New Jerusalem. The blood of Christ regains for us all that Adam lost by sin, and brings us much more than was lost.

We see here something of the power of the blood of Christ. Have you appreciated that blood? Have you let it have the power in your life that it ought to have? There are some today who are trying to devise a theology that leaves out the blood of Christ. Poor fools! Christianity without atoning blood is a Christianity without mercy for the sinner, without settled peace for the conscience, without genuine forgiveness, without justification, without cleansing, without boldness in approaching God, without power. It is not Christianity, but the devil's own counterfeit. If we would know fullness of power in Christian life and service, we must first of all know the power of the blood of Christ, for it is that which brings us pardon, justification, and boldness in our approach to God.

We cannot know the power of the Spirit unless we first know the power of the blood. We certainly cannot know the power of prayer, unless we know the power of that blood by which alone we can approach unto God. There are some teachers of "the higher life" who ignore the fundamental truth about the blood. They are trying to build a lofty superstructure without a firm foundation. It is bound to tumble. We must begin with the blood, if we are to go on to the "holy of holies."

The brazen altar, where blood was shed first, met every priest who entered into the holy place. There is no other way of entrance there. If we do not learn the lesson of this chapter, it is vain for us to try to learn the lessons of Chapters 3 and 4 in this book. To everyone who wishes to know the power of the Spirit we first put the question, "Do you know the power of the blood?"

Questions for personal or group study

1. What is the power of the blood of Christ?

2. How can you find the power of God?

3. What does redemption through His blood mean?

4. What does it mean to be walking the light? (1 John 1:4-7)

5. What is a religion of DO and a religion of DON'T?

6. What is Christianity to you?
Chapter 3

The Power of the Holy Spirit

"Power belongeth unto God" (Psalm 62:11). The Holy Spirit is the Person who imparts to the individual believer the power that belongs to God. This is the Holy Spirit's work in the believer, to take what belongs to God and make it ours. All the manifold power of God belongs to the children of God as their birthright in Christ. "All things are yours" (1 Corinthians 3:21). But everything that belongs to us as our birthright in Christ becomes ours in actual and experienced possession through the Holy Spirit's work in us as individuals.

To the extent that we understand and claim for ourselves the Holy Spirit's work, to that extent do we obtain for ourselves the fullness of power in Christian life and service that God has provided for us in Christ. A large portion of the Church only know and claim for themselves a very small part of that which God has made possible for them in Christ, because they know so little of what the Holy Spirit can do for us, and longs to do for us. Let us study the Word, then, to find out what the Holy Spirit has power to do in us.

We cannot not go far before we discover that the same work which we see ascribed in one place to the power of the Word of God, is in other places ascribed to the Holy Spirit. The explanation of this is simple. The Word of God is the instrument through which the Holy Spirit does His work. The Word of God is "the sword of the Spirit" (Ephesians 6:17). The Word of God is also the seed the Spirit sows and quickens. "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God" (Luke 8:11); "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever" (1 Peter 1:23).

The Word of God is the instrument of all the manifold operations of the Holy Spirit, as seen in Chapter 1 of this book. If therefore we wish the Holy Spirit to do His work in our hearts, we must study the Word. If we wish Him to do His work in the hearts of others, we must give them the Word. But the bare Word will not do the work alone. The Spirit must himself use the Word. It is when the Spirit himself uses His own sword that it manifests its real sharpness, keenness and power. God's work is accomplished by the Word and the Spirit, or rather by the Spirit through the Word. The secret of effectual living is knowing the power of the Spirit through the Word. The secret of effectual service is using the Word in the power of the Spirit.

There are some who seek to magnify the Spirit but neglect the Word. This will not do at all. Fanaticism, baseless enthusiasm, and wildfire are the result. Others seek to magnify the Word, but largely ignore the Spirit. Neither will this do. It leads to dead orthodoxy, to truth without life and power. The true course is to recognize the instrumental power of the Word through which the Holy Spirit works, and the living, personal power of the Holy Spirit who acts through the Word.

But let us come directly to the consideration of our subject. What does the Holy Spirit have the power to do?

1. Turn to 1 Corinthians 12:3: "Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost."

The Holy Spirit has power to reveal Jesus Christ and His glory to man. When Jesus spoke of the Spirit's coming, He said, "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me" (John 15:26), and it is only as He does testify of Christ that men will ever come to a true knowledge of Christ.

You send men and women to the Word to get a knowledge of Christ; but it is only as the Holy Spirit takes the word and illuminates it, that they ever get a real living knowledge of Christ. ''No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost." If you wish men and women to get a true knowledge of Jesus Christ, such a view that they will believe on Him and be saved, you must seek for them the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Neither your testimony nor that of the Word alone will suffice, though it is your testimony, or that of the Word, which the Spirit uses.

But unless your testimony is taken up by the Holy Spirit, and He himself testifies, they will not believe. It was not merely Peter's words about Christ that convinced the Jews at Pentecost. It was the Spirit himself bearing witness. If you wish people to see the truth about Jesus, do not depend on your own powers of exposition and persuasion, but cast yourself on the Holy Spirit and seek His testimony. If you yourself wish to know Jesus with a true and living knowledge, seek the witness of the Spirit through the Word. Many a person has a correct doctrinal conception of Christ, through a study of the Word, long before they have a true personal knowledge of Christ through the testimony of the living Spirit.

2. Now let us turn to John 16:8-11: "And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin because they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged."

The Holy Spirit has power to convict the world of sin. This is closely connected with the preceding, for it is by showing Jesus and His glory and His righteousness that the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Note the sin of which the Holy Spirit convicts: "Of sin because they believe not on me."

It was so at Pentecost, as we see in Acts 2:36-37. "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?"

You can never convict anybody of sin, because that is the work of the Holy Spirit. You can reason and reason, and you will fail. The Holy Spirit can do it very quickly. Did you never have the following experience?

You have shown someone passage after passage of Scripture, and they were unmoved, and you have wondered why they did not break down, and suddenly it has occurred to you, "Why, I am not looking in my helplessness to the mighty Spirit of God to convict this person of sin, but I am trying to convince them of sin myself." And then you have cast yourself on the Spirit of God for Him to do the work, and conviction came. The Spirit can convince the most careless, as experience has proven again and again.

But it is through us that the Spirit produces conviction. In John 16:7-8 we read: "I will send him to you, and when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." It was the Spirit sent to Peter and the rest, who convicted the 3,000 through Peter and the others on the day of Pentecost. It is ours to preach the Word and to look to the Holy Spirit to produce conviction. (See Acts 2:4-37.)

3. In Titus 3:5, we read: "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost."

The Holy Spirit has power to renew men, make men new, to regenerate. Regeneration is the Holy Spirit's work. He can take a person dead in trespasses and sins, and make them alive. He can take the person whose mind is blind to the truth of God, whose will is at enmity with God and set on sin, whose affections are corrupt and vile, and transform that person, impart to them God's nature, so that that person thinks God's thoughts, wills what God wills, loves what God loves, and hates what God hates.

I never despair of anyone when I think of the power of the Holy Spirit to make new, as I have seen it manifested again and again in the most hardened and hopeless cases. It is through us that the Holy Spirit regenerates others. "For though ye have ten thousand instructers in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel" (1 Corinthians 4:15).

As we have seen in Chapter 1 of this book, the Word has power to regenerate. However, it is not the bare word, but the word made a living thing in the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. No amount of preaching, no matter how orthodox it is; and no amount of mere study of the Word will regenerate, unless the Holy Spirit works. Just as we are utterly dependent on the work of Christ for us in justification, so we are utterly dependent on the work of the Holy Spirit in us in regeneration.

When someone is born of the Spirit, the Spirit takes up His own abode in them. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16) and "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6:19).

The Holy Spirit dwells in everyone who belongs to Christ. "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:9). We may not have surrendered our lives very fully to this indwelling Spirit; we may be very far from being "full of the Spirit;" we may be very imperfect Christians -- but if we have been born again, the Spirit dwells in us, just as Paul said to the Corinthians, who were certainly far from perfect Christians, that He dwelt in them,

What a glorious thought it is that the Holy Spirit dwells in me! But it is also a very solemn thought. If my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, I certainly ought not to defile it as many professed Christians do. If we can bear in our minds that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, it would solve many problems that perplex young Christians.

4. We find a further thought about the power of the Holy Spirit in John 4:14. "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst: but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." You may not see at first that this verse has anything to do with the Holy Spirit, but compare John 7:37-39 and it will be evident that the water here means the Holy Spirit: "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)"

The Holy Spirit then has power to give abiding and everlasting satisfaction. The world can never satisfy.

Of every worldly joy it must be said, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again." But the Holy Spirit has power to satisfy every longing of the soul. The Holy Spirit and He alone can satisfy the human heart. If you give yourself up to the Holy Spirit's inflowing, or rather upspringing, in your heart, you will never thirst. You will not long for worldly pleasure, worldly gain, or honor. Oh, with what joy unutterable and satisfaction indescribable the Holy Spirit has poured forth His living water into many souls. Have you this living fountain within? Is the spring unchoked? Is it springing up into everlasting life?

5. In Romans 8:2 we read: "For the law of the Spirit of Life, in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death." The Holy Spirit has power to set us free from the law of sin and death. What the law of sin and death is we see in the preceding chapter of Romans (Romans 7:9-24). Read this description carefully. We all know this law of sin and death.

We have all been in bondage to the law of sin and death. Some of us are still in bondage to it, but we do not need to be. God has provided a way of escape. That way is by the Holy Spirit's power. When we give up the hopeless struggle of trying to overcome the law of sin and death, of trying to live right in our strength, in the power of the flesh; and when we in utter helplessness surrender to the Holy Spirit to do all for us; when we live after Him and walk in His blessed power; then He sets us free from the law of sin and death.

There are many professed Christians today living in Romans 7. Some go so far as to maintain that this is the normal Christian life. That one must live this life of constant defeat. This would be true, if we were left to ourselves; for in ourselves we are "carnal sold under sin" (Romans 7:14). But we are not left to ourselves. The Holy Spirit undertakes for us what we have failed to do ourselves. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Romans 8:2-4).

In Romans 8 we have the picture of the true Christian life, the life that is possible to us, and that God expects from each one of us; the life where not merely the commandment comes, as in Romans 7, but where the mighty Spirit comes also, and works obedience and victory. The flesh is still in us, but we are not in the flesh. "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live" (Romans 8:12-13) Now compare verse 9: "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."

We do not live after the flesh. We "live after the Spirit." We, "through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body." We "walk after the Spirit," and do "not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16).

It is our privilege, in the Spirit's power, to get daily, hourly, and constant victory over the flesh and over sin. But the victory is not in ourselves, not in any strength of our own. Left to ourselves, deserted of the Spirit of God, we would be as helpless as ever. It is all in the Spirit's power. If we try to take one step in our own strength we will fail. Has the Holy Spirit set you free from the law of sin and death?

Will you let Him do it now? Simply give up all self effort to be free from "the law of sin and death," to give up sinning; believe in the divine power of the Holy Spirit to set you free; and cast yourself on Him to do it. He will do it. Then you can triumphantly cry with Paul, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death" (Romans 8:2 RV).

6. We find a closely allied but larger thought about the Holy Spirit's power in Ephesians 3:16 RV: "That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man."

The Holy Spirit strengthens the believer with power in the inward man. The result of this strengthening is seen in verses 17-19: "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."

Here the power of the Spirit manifests itself not merely in giving us victory over sin, but (a) In Christ's dwelling in our hearts; (b) Our being ''rooted and grounded in love;" (c) Our being "made strong to apprehend with all the saints what is breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." Ultimately, it comes to our being "filled unto all the fulness of God."

7. We find a still further thought about the Holy Spirit's power in Romans 8:14 RV: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God."

The Holy Spirit has power to lead us into a holy life, a life as "sons of God," a godlike life. Not merely does the Holy Spirit give us power to live a holy life, a life well pleasing to God when we have discovered what that life is: He takes us by the hand, as it were, and leads us into that life. Our whole part is simply to surrender ourselves utterly to Him to lead and to mould us. Those who do this are not merely God's offspring, which we all are. "For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring" (Acts 17:28), neither are we merely God's children: "These are sons of God" (Romans 8:14 RV).

8. Further down in the chapter there is a new thought. Romans 8:16 RV: "The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are children of God." The Holy Spirit bears witness with the spirit of the believer that he or she is a child of God. Note that Paul does not say that the Spirit bears witness to our spirit, but with it. "Together with our spirit" is the exact force of the words used. That is, there are two who bear witness to our sonship. First, our spirit bears witness that we are children of God. Second, the Holy Spirit bears witness together with our spirit that we are children of God. How does the Holy Spirit bear His testimony to this fact? Galatians 4:6 answers this question. "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father" (RV).

The Holy Spirit himself enters into our hearts and cries, "Abba, Father." Note the order of the Spirit's work in Romans 8:2, 4, 13, 14, 16. It is only when "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (verse 2), and so "the righteousness of the law is fulfilled" in me "who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit" (verse 4), and I "through the Spirit of God do mortify the deeds of the body" (verse 13), and when I am surrendered to the Spirit's leading (verse 14), it is then, and only then, that I can expect verse 16 ("The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God") to be realized in my experience, and that I have the clear assurance of sonship that comes from the Spirit of God testifying together with my spirit, that I am a child of God.

There are many seeking this testimony of the Holy Spirit in the wrong place; namely, as a condition of their surrendering wholly to God, and confessing the crucified and risen Lord as their Savior and Lord. The testimony of the Holy Spirit to our sonship comes after all this is done.

9. An exceedingly important thought about the Holy Spirit's power is found in Galatians 5:22-23: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." The Holy Spirit brings forth in the believer Christ-like graces of character. Compare Romans 14:17: "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost"; with 15:13: "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost"; with 5:5: "And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us".

All real beauty of character, all real Christ-likeness in us, is the Holy Spirit's work. It is His "fruit." He bears it; not we.

Note that these graces are not said to be the fruits of the Spirit; they are the "fruit." There is a unity of origin running all through the multiplicity of manifestation. Not some of these graces, but all, will appear in everyone in whom the Holy Spirit is given full control. It is a beautiful life that is set forth in these verses. Every word is worthy of earnest study and profound meditation: "Love," -- "joy," -- "peace," -- "longsuffering," -- "gentleness," -- "goodness," -- "faith," -- "meekness," -- "self-control."

Is not this the life we all long for, the Christ life? It is not natural to us, and it is not attainable by any effort of "the flesh," or nature. The life that is natural for us is set out in the three preceding verses (19-21): "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

But when the indwelling Spirit is given full control in the one He inhabits; when we are brought to realize the utter badness of the flesh, and give up in helpless despair of ever attaining to anything really good in its power; when, in other words, we come to the end of self, and just give over the whole work of making us what we ought to be to the indwelling Holy Spirit: then, and only then, these holy graces of character are His "fruit."

Do you wish these graces in your character and life? Renounce self utterly, and all its strivings after holiness; and let the Holy Spirit, who dwells in you, take full control and bear His own glorious fruit. We get the same essential truth from another point of view in Galatians 2:20: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

Settle it clearly and forever that the flesh can never bear this fruit; that you can never attain these things by your own effort -- that they are "the fruit of the Spirit." We hear a good deal about "ethical culture," which usually means a cultivation of the flesh until it bears the fruit of the Spirit. It cannot be done, until thorns can be made to bear figs, and a brambles bush bear grapes (Luke 6:44; Matthew 12:33).

We hear also a good deal about "character building." That is all very well, if you let the Holy Spirit do the building, and then it is not so much building as fruit-bearing. See, however, 2 Peter 1:5-7: "And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity."

We hear also about "cultivating graces of character," but we must always bear in mind that the way to cultivate true graces of character is by submitting ourselves utterly to the Spirit to do His work. This is sanctification of the Spirit. "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied" (1 Peter 1:2); "But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" (2 Thessalonians 2:13).

We turn now to the power of the Holy Spirit in a different direction.

10. "Howbeit when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but what things soever he shall hear, these shall he speak: and he shall declare unto you the things that are to come" (John 16:13 RV).

The Holy Spirit has power to guide the believer "into all the truth." This promise was made in the first instance to the apostles, but the apostles themselves applied it to all believers. "But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things" (1 John 2:20); "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him" (1 John 2:27). It is the privilege of each of us to be "taught by God." Each believer is independent of human teachers. "Ye need not that any man teach you."

This does not mean, of course, that we may not learn much from others who are taught by the Holy Spirit. If John had thought that, he would never have written this epistle to teach others. The person who is most fully taught by God is the very one who will be most ready to listen to what God has taught others. Much less does it mean that when we are taught by God we are independent of the Word of God, for the Word is the very place to which the Spirit leads His pupils, and the instrument through which He teaches them.

Look at these verses. "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Ephesians 6:17); "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63); "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:18-19); and compare them with Colossians 3:16: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."

But, while we may learn much from men, we are not dependent on them. We have a divine teacher, the Holy Spirit. We shall never truly know the truth until we are thus taught.

No amount of mere human teaching, no matter who our teachers may be, will give us a correct apprehension of the truth. Not even a diligent study of the Word, either in the English or original languages, will give us a real understanding of the truth. We must be taught by the Holy Spirit. And we may be thus taught. Each one of us. The one who is thus taught, even if he does not know a word of Greek or Hebrew, will understand the truth of God better than the one who knows the Greek and Hebrew, and all "the cognate languages," and is not taught by the Spirit. The Spirit will guide the one He teaches "into all the truth." Not in a day, or in a week, or in a year, but step by step.

There are two special lines of the Spirit's teaching mentioned in John 16:13: (a) "He shall declare unto you the things that are to come." Many say we can know nothing of the future, that all our thoughts on that subject are guesswork. Anyone taught by the Spirit knows better than that; (b) "He shall glorify me (i.e. Christ), for he shall take of mine and shall declare it unto you."

This is the Holy Spirit's special line, with the believer as well as the unbeliever, to declare unto them the things of Christ, and glorify Him. Many fear to emphasize the truth about the Holy Spirit, lest Christ be disparaged. But no one magnifies Christ as the Holy Spirit does. We will never understand Christ, nor see His glory, until the Holy Spirit interprets Him to us.

The mere listening to sermons and lectures, the mere study of the Word even, will never lead you to see the things of Christ. The Holy Spirit must show you, and He is willing to do it. He is longing to do it. I suppose the Holy Spirit's inmost desire is to reveal Jesus Christ to men. Let Him do it. Christ is so different when the Holy Spirit glorifies Him by taking the things of Christ and showing them to us.

11. Turning to John 14:26, we find again the Holy Spirit's power to teach, but with an added thought. "But the comforter, even the holy spirit, whom the father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you" (RV). The Holy Spirit has power to bring to remembrance the words of Christ. This promise was made primarily to the apostles, and is the guarantee of the accuracy of their report of what Jesus said. But the Holy Spirit does a similar work with each believer who expects it of Him and looks to Him to do it. He brings to mind the teachings of Christ, and the words of Christ, just when we need them, for either the necessities of our own life or of our service.

How many of us could tell of occasions when we were in great distress of soul, or great questioning concerning our duty, or at a loss as to what to say to one whom we were trying to lead to Christ, or to help; and just the scripture we needed, some passage we had not thought of for a long time, and perhaps never thought of in this connection, was brought to mind. It was the Holy Spirit who did this, and He is ready to do it even more when we expect it from Him.

It is significant that in the next verse (27) after making this great promise, Jesus says, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." Look to the Holy Spirit to bring the right words to remembrance at the right time, and you will have peace. This is the way to remember Scripture, just when you need it, and just the Scripture you need.

12. Closely akin to what has been said in the two preceding sections is the power of the Holy Spirit as seen in 1 Corinthians 2:10-14 RV:

"But unto us God revealed them through the Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For who among men knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God. But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God. Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged."

In these verses we have a twofold work of the Spirit: (a) The Holy Spirit reveals to us the deep things of God, which are hidden from and foolishness to the natural man. It is pre-eminently to the apostles that He does this, but we cannot limit this work of the Spirit to them; (b) The Holy Spirit interprets His own revelation, or imparts power to discern, know, and appreciate what He has taught.

Not only is the Holy Spirit the author of Revelation -- the written Word of God -- He is also the interpreter of what He has revealed. How much more interesting and helpful any deep book becomes when we have the author of the book right at hand to interpret it to us! This is what we always may have when we study the Bible. The author -- the Holy Spirit -- is right at hand to interpret. To understand the book we must look to Him. Then the darkest places become clear. We need to pray often with the Psalmist, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law" (Psalm 119:18).

It is not enough that we have the objective revelation in the written Word, we must also have the inward illumination of the Holy Spirit to enable us to comprehend it. It is a great mistake to try to comprehend a spiritual revelation with the natural understanding. The foolish attempt to do this has landed so many in the quicksand of the higher criticism. A person with no aesthetic sense might as well expect to appreciate a famous work of art, because he is not color blind, as an unspiritual person to understand the Bible, simply because he understands the laws of grammar, and the vocabulary of the language in which the Bible was written. I would as soon think of setting a person to teach art merely because he understood paints, as to set him to teach the Bible merely because he understood Greek or Hebrew.

We all need not only to recognize the utter insufficiency and worthlessness of our own righteousness, which is the lesson of the opening chapters of the epistle to the Romans, but also the utter insufficiency and worthlessness in the things of God, of our own wisdom, which is the lesson of the first epistle to the Corinthians, especially the first to the third chapters. See for example 1 Corinthians 1:19-21, 26-27:

"For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe" and "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty."

The Jews had a revelation by the Spirit, but they failed to depend on Him to interpret it to them; so they went astray. The whole evangelical church realizes the utter insufficiency of man's righteousness, theoretically at least. Now it needs to be taught, and made to feel, the utter insufficiency of man's wisdom. That is perhaps the lesson that intellectual conceit needs most of any.

To understand God's word we must empty ourselves utterly of our own wisdom, and rest in utter dependence on the Spirit of God to interpret it to us. "At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes (Matthew 11:25).

When we put away our own righteousness, then, and only then, we get the righteousness of God (Philippians 3:4-9; Romans 10:3). When we put away our own wisdom, then, and only then, we get the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 3:18; Matthew 11:25; 1 Corinthians 1:25-28). When we put away our own strength, then, and only then, we get the strength of God (Isaiah 40:29; 2 Corinthians 12:9; 1 Corinthians 1:27-28). Emptying must precede filling. Self poured out that Christ may be poured in. We must be daily taught by the Spirit to understand the Word.

I cannot depend today on the fact that the Spirit taught me yesterday. Each new contact with the Word must be in the power of the Spirit. That the Holy Spirit once illumined our mind to grasp a certain passage is not enough. He must do so each time we confront that passage. Andrew Murray [1828-1917] has put this truth well. He says, "Each time you come to the Word in study, in hearing a sermon or reading a religious book, there ought to be as distinct as your intercourse with the external means, a definite act of self-abnegation, denying your own wisdom and yielding yourself in faith to the divine teacher" [The Spirit of Christ 1888].

13. The Holy Spirit has not only power to teach us the truth, but also to impart power to us in communicating that truth to others. We see this brought out again and again. "And I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the mystery of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God" (1 Corinthians 2:1-5 RV), "Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost" (1 Thessalonians 1:5). "But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come on you" (Acts 1:8).

The Holy Spirit enables the believer to communicate to others in "power" the truth that he or she has been taught. We not only need the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth in the first place; and the Holy Spirit in the second place, to interpret to us as individuals the truth He has revealed: but in the third place we also need the Holy Spirit to enable us to effectually communicate to others the truth He himself has interpreted to us. We need Him all along the line.

One great cause of real failure in the ministry, even when there is seeming success, and not only in the ministry but in all forms of service by Christian men and women, is from the attempt to teach by "enticing words of man's wisdom," i.e., by the arts of human logic, rhetoric or eloquence, what the Holy Spirit has taught us. What is needed is Holy Spirit power: "demonstration of the Spirit and of power."

There are three causes of failure in Christian work. First, some other message is taught than the message which the Holy Spirit has revealed in the Word. Men preach science, art, philosophy, sociology, history, experience, etc., etc., and not the simple Word of God as found in the Holy Spirit's book, the Bible.

Second, the Spirit-taught message, the Bible, is studied and sought to be comprehended by the natural understanding, i.e. without the Spirit's illumination.

Third, the Spirit-given message, the Word, the Bible, studied and comprehended under the Holy Spirit's illumination, is given out to others with "enticing words of man's wisdom," and not ''in demonstration of the Spirit and of power."

We need, we are absolutely dependent on, the Holy Spirit all along the line. He must teach us how to speak as well as what to speak. He must be the power as well as the message. [Original footnote: The subject of the Holy Spirit's power in communicating truth is fully considered in the author's book on "The Baptism with the Holy Spirit."]

14. The Holy Spirit has power to teach us how to pray. In Jude 20 we read, "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit" (RV). And in Ephesians 6:18: "Praying at all seasons in the Spirit" (RV).

The Holy Spirit guides the believer in prayer. The disciples did not know how to pray as they ought, so they came to Jesus and said, "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1). "We know not how to pray as we ought," but we have another helper right at hand to help us (John 14:16-17). "The Spirit also helpeth our infirmity" (Romans 8:26 RV). He teaches us to pray. True prayer is prayer "in the Spirit," i.e. the prayer which the Spirit inspires and directs.

When we come into God's presence to pray, we should recognize our infirmity, our ignorance of what we should pray for or how we should pray, and in the consciousness of our utter inability to pray aright, look up to the Holy Spirit and cast ourselves utterly on Him to direct our prayers, to lead out our desires, and guide our utterance of them.

Rushing heedlessly into God's presence, and asking the first thing that comes into our minds, or that some thoughtless one asks us to pray for, is not "praying in the Holy Spirit," and is not true prayer. We must wait for the Holy Spirit, and surrender ourselves to the Holy Spirit. The prayer that God the Holy Spirit inspires is the prayer that God the Father answers. From Romans 8:26-27 we learn that the longings which the Holy Spirit begets in our hearts are often too deep for utterance; too deep, apparently, for clear and definite comprehension on the part of the believer himself, in whom the Holy Spirit is working.

God himself must "search the heart," to know "what is the mind of the Spirit" in these unuttered and unutterable longings. But God does know "what is the mind of the Spirit." He does know what those Spirit-given longings mean, even if we do not. These longings are "according to the will of God," and He grants them. So it comes that He is "able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us" (Ephesians 3:20). There are other times when the Spirit's leadings in prayer are so plain that we "pray with the Spirit and with the understanding also" (1 Corinthians 14:15).

15. The Holy Spirit has also power to lead out our hearts in acceptable thanksgiving to God. "Be filled," says Paul, "with the Spirit; speaking one to another in Psalm and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father" (Ephesians 5:18-20 RV). Not only does the Spirit teach us to pray, He also teaches us to render thanks. One of the most prominent characteristics of the "Spirit-filled life" is thanksgiving. Compare Acts 2:4: "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" with verse 11: "Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God." True thanksgiving is "to God, even the Father," "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ," "in the Holy Spirit."

16. The Holy Spirit has power to inspire in the heart of the believer in Christ worship that is acceptable to God. "For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3 RV). Prayer is not worship, thanksgiving is not worship. Worship is a definite act of the creature in relation to God. Worship is bowing before God in adoring acknowledgement and contemplation of Himself. Someone has said, "In our prayers we are taken up with our needs; in our thanksgivings we are taken up with our blessings; in our worship we are taken up with Himself." There is no true and acceptable worship except that which the Holy Spirit prompts and directs. "Such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers" (John 4:23 RV).

The flesh seeks to enter every sphere of life. It has its worship as well as its lust. The worship which the flesh prompts is an abomination to God. Not all earnest and honest worship is worship in the Spirit. A person may be very honest and very earnest in his worship, and still not have submitted himself to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the matter, and so his worship is in the flesh. Even where there is great loyalty to the letter of the Word, worship may not be "in the Spirit," i.e. inspired and directed by Him.

To worship aright we must "have no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3). We must recognize the utter inability of the flesh, i.e. our natural self as contrasted with the divine Spirit who dwells in and should mould everything in the believer, to worship acceptably. We must realize also the danger there is that the flesh, self, intrude itself into our worship. In utter self distrust and self abnegation we must cast ourselves on the Holy Spirit to lead us aright in our worship. Just as we must renounce any merit in ourselves, and cast ourselves utterly on Christ and His work for us for justification; just so we must renounce any capacity for good in ourselves, and cast ourselves utterly on the Holy Spirit, and His work in us, in living, praying, thanking, and worshipping, and all else that we are to do.

17. Let us next consider the Holy Spirit's power as a guide. In Acts 13:2-4, we read: "As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed into Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus."

The Holy Spirit calls Christians and sends them forth to definite lines of work. The Holy Spirit not only calls us in a general way into Christian work, but He also selects the specific work and points it out. "Shall I go to China, to Africa, to India?" many a one is asking, as many another ought to ask. You cannot rightly settle that question for yourselves; neither can any other person settle it rightly for you.

Not every Christian is called to China or Africa or any other foreign field. God alone knows whether He wishes you to go to any of these places. He is willing to show you. How does the Holy Spirit call? The passage before us does not tell. It is presumably purposely silent on this point, lest, perhaps, we think that He must always call in precisely the same way. There is nothing to indicate that He spoke by an audible voice, much less that He made his will known in any of the fantastic ways in which some profess to discern His leading, as, for example by some twitching of the body, or by opening the Bible at random and putting the finger on a passage that may be construed into some entirely different meaning than that which the inspired writer intended by it. But the important point is that as He made His will clearly known then, He is as willing to make His will clearly known to us today.

The great need in Christian work today is men and women whom the Holy Spirit calls and sends forth. We have plenty of men and women whom men have called and sent forth; we have far too many who have called themselves. There are many today who object strenuously to being sent forth by men, by any organization of any kind, who are, what is immeasurably worse than that, sent forth by themselves, not by God. How shall we receive the Holy Spirit's call? By desiring it, seeking it, waiting on the Lord for it -- and expecting it. "As they ministered to the Lord and fasted" the record in Acts 13:2 reads.

Many a person is saying, in self-justification for staying out of the ministry, or for staying home from the foreign field, "I have never had a call." How do you know that? Have you been listening for it? God speaks often in a still small voice. Only the listening ear can catch it. Have you definitely offered yourself to God to send you where He will? While no person ought to go to foreign fields unless he is clearly and definitely called, he ought to definitely offer himself to God for this work, and be ready for a call, and listening sharply so that he may hear it when it comes.

No educated Christian man or woman has a right to rest easy away from the foreign field until they have definitely offered themselves to God for that work, and it is clear no call from God has come. Indeed, a person needs no more definite call to Africa than to a city or area close to home.

18. We learn something further about the Holy Spirit's power to guide in Acts 8:27-29 and 16:6-7 RV. "And he arose and went: and behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot, read Esaias the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot."

"And they went through the regions of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden of the Holy Ghost to speak the Word in Asia; and when they were come over against Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not."

The Holy Spirit guides in the details of daily life and service, as to where to go and where not to go, what to do and what not to do. It is possible for us to have the unerring guidance of the Holy Spirit at every turn in our lives. For example, in personal work it is manifestly not God's intention that we speak to everyone we meet. There are some to whom we ought not to speak. Time spent on them would be time taken from work which would be more to the glory of God. Doubtless Philip met many as he journeyed toward Gaza, before he met the one of whom the Spirit said, "Go near and join thyself to this chariot." In the same way He is ready to guide us in our personal work. He is ready also to guide us in all the affairs of life: business, study, social life -- everything.

We can have God's wisdom, if we will, at every turn of life. There is no promise more plain and explicit than James 1:5: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not: and it shall be given him." How shall we gain this wisdom? James 1:5-7, answers. There are five steps:

First: That we "lack wisdom." We must be conscious of and fully admit our own inability to decide wisely. Not only the sinfulness but the wisdom of the flesh must be renounced.

Second: We must really desire to know God's way, and be willing to do God's will. This is implied in the asking, if our asking is sincere. This is a point of fundamental importance. Here we find the reason why men often do not know God's will, and do not have the Spirit's guidance. They are not really willing to do whatever the Spirit leads. It is "the meek" whom he guides in judgment, and the meek to whom "he will teach his way" (Psalm 25:9). It is the person who "willeth to do his will" who "shall know" (John 7:17 RV).

Third: We must ask, definitely ask guidance.

Fourth: We must confidently expect guidance. "Let him ask in faith, nothing doubting" (verses 6 and 7 RV).

Fifth: We must follow step by step as the guidance comes.

Just how it will come no one can tell. But it will come. It may come with only a step made clear at a time. That is all that we need to know -- the next step. Many feel they are in darkness because they do not know what God will have them to do next week, or next month or next year. Do you know the next step? That is enough. Take it, and then He will show you the next. See Numbers 9:17-23. God's guidance is clear guidance. "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5).

Many are tortured by leadings which they fear may be from God, but which they are not sure about. You have a right as God's child to be sure. Go to God, say, "Here I am, Heavenly Father, I am willing to do Thy will, but make it clear. If this is Thy will, I will do it; but make it clear if it is." He will do it, if it is His will and you are willing to do it.

You need not and ought not to do that thing until He does make it clear. We have no right to dictate to God how He will give His guidance, as, for example by "shutting up every other way," or by a sign, or by letting us put our finger on a text. It is ours to seek and expect wisdom, but it is not ours to dictate how it will be given. "But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will" (1 Corinthians 12:11).

19. In one more direction has the Holy Spirit power. Read Acts 4:31; 13:9-10: "And when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness" and "Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him. And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?"

The Holy Spirit has power to give us boldness in testimony for Christ. Many are naturally timid. They long to do something for Christ, but they are afraid. The Holy Spirit can make you bold if you will look to Him and trust Him to do it. It was He who turned the craven Peter into the one who fearlessly faced the Sanhedrim and rebuked their sin (see Acts 4:8-12).

Two things are clear from what has been said about the power of the Holy Spirit in the believer. First, how utterly dependent we are on the Holy Spirit at every turn of Christian life and service. Second, how perfect is the provision for life and service that God has made; and what the fullness of privilege that is open to the humblest believer, through the Holy Spirit's work. It is not so much what we are by nature either intellectually, morally, spiritually or even physically that is important; but what the Holy Spirit can do for us, and what we will let Him do.

The Holy Spirit often takes someone who gives the least natural promise and uses them far more than those who give the greatest natural promise. Christian life is not to be lived in the realm of natural temperament, and Christian work is not to be done in the power of natural endowment.

The Christian life is to be lived in the realm of the Spirit, and Christian work is to be done in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is eagerly desirous to do for each of us His whole work. He will do for each of us all we will let Him do.

Questions for personal or group study

1. To you, what is the power of the Holy Spirit?

2. What can the power of the Holy Spirit teach you?

3. What is the Fruit of Spirit? (Galatians 5:22-23)

4. The Holy Spirit guides the believer in prayer. What does that mean to you?

5. What does worship in the Spirit mean to you? (John 4:20)

6. What are the five steps in gaining God's wisdom?
Chapter 4

The Power of Prayer

"God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God" (Psalm 62:11), but all that belongs to God we can have for the asking. God holds out His full hands and says, "Ask, and it shall be given unto you. ... If ye, being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (Matthew 7:7, 11).

The poverty and powerlessness of the average Christian finds its explanation in the words of the apostle James: "Ye have not, because ye ask not" (James 4:2). "Why is it," many Christians are asking, "that I make such poor progress in my Christian life?"

"Neglect of prayer," God answers. "You have not, because you ask not."

"Why is it there is so little fruit in my ministry?" asks many a discouraged minister.

"Neglect of prayer," God answers again. "You have not, because you ask not."

"Why is it," many, both ministers and laymen, are asking, "that there is so little power in my life and service?"

And again God answers, "Neglect of prayer. You have not, because you ask not."

God has provided for a life of power, and a work of power on the part of every child of His. He has put His own infinite power at our disposal, and has proclaimed over and over again, in a great variety of ways in His Word, "Ask and ye shall receive." Thousands upon thousands have taken God at His word in this matter, and have always found it true.

The first Christians were men of tremendous power. What power Peter and John, for example, had in their lives! What power they had in their work! There was opposition in those days -- most determined, bitter and relentless opposition; opposition in comparison with which that which we encounter is but as child's play -- but the work went right on. We constantly read such statements as these: "The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2:47). "Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand" (Acts 4:4). "And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women" (Acts 5:14).

The apostles themselves explain the secret of their resistless power when they say, "We will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word" (Acts 6:4). But it was not only the leaders who had power in life and service; so had the rank and file of that early church. What a beautiful picture we have of the abounding love and fruitfulness of that early church! (Acts 2:44-47; 4:32-37; 8:4; 11:19, 21).

The secret of this fullness of power in life and service is found in Acts 2:42: "They continued steadfastly ... in prayers." God delights to answer prayer: "Call on me," He cries, "I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me" (Psalm 50:15). There is a place where strength can always be renewed; and that place is the presence of the Lord: "They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31). How little time the average Christian spends in prayer! We are too busy to pray, and so we are too busy to have power. We have a great deal of activity but we accomplish little; many services but few conversions; much working on systems and organizations but few results.

The power of God is lacking in our lives and in our work. We have not, because we ask not. Many professed Christians confessedly do not believe in the power of prayer. It is quite the fashion with some to contemptuously contrast the pray-ers with the doers -- forgetting that in the history of the Church the real doers have been pray-ers, that the men and women who have made the glorious part of the Church's history have been without exception people of prayer. Of those who do believe theoretically in the power of prayer, not one in a thousand realizes its power. How much time does the average Christian spend daily in prayer? How much time do you spend daily in prayer?

It was a masterstroke of the devil when he got the Church and the ministry so generally to lay aside the mighty weapon of prayer. The devil is perfectly willing that the Church should multiply its organizations and its deftly contrived systems for the conquest of the world for Christ -- if it will only give up praying. He laughs softly, as he looks at the Church of today, and says under his breath, "You can have your Sunday schools, and your YMCAs, and your YWCAs, and your YPSCEs, and your BYPUs, and your Epworth Leagues, and your WCTUs, and your Boys' Brigades, and your Institutional Churches, and your Men's Clubs, and your grand choirs, and your fine organs, and your brilliant preachers, and your revival efforts even, as long as you do not bring into them the power of Almighty God, sought and obtained by earnest, persistent, believing, mighty prayer."

The devil is not afraid of systems and organizations; he is only afraid of God. Systems and organizations without prayer are systems and organizations without God. Our day is characterized by the multiplication of man's plans, and the diminution of God's power sought and obtained by prayer, But when men and women arise who believe in prayer, and who pray in the way the Bible teaches us to pray, prayer accomplishes as much as it ever did. Prayer can do today as much as it ever could. Prayer can do anything God can do; for the arm of God responds to the touch of prayer. All the infinite resources of God are at the command of prayer.

Prayer is the key that opens wide the inexhaustible storehouses of divine grace and power. "Ask and it shall be given you" (Matthew 7:7 and Luke 11:9) cries our Heavenly Father, as He swings wide open the doors of the divine treasure-house. There is only one limit to what prayer can do; that is what God can do. But all things are possible to God; therefore prayer is omnipotent.

Christian history and Christian biography demonstrate the truth of what the Word of God teaches about prayer. All through the history of the Church, men and women have arisen in all ranks of life who believed with simple, childlike faith what the Bible teaches about prayer; and they have asked and they have received. So what are some of the definite things that prayer has power to do?

1. Prayer has power to bring a true knowledge of ourselves and our needs. There is nothing more necessary than that we know ourselves, our weakness, our sinfulness, our selfishness. "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not" (Romans 7:18). Lives of power have usually begun with a revelation of the utter powerlessness and worthlessness of self. So it was with Isaiah. In the year that king Uzziah died, he was brought face to face with God, and saw himself, and cried out, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips" (see Isaiah 6:1-5). Then a life of power began for Isaiah, and God sent him forth to a mighty work. "I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. " (Isaiah 6:8).

It was so with Moses. He met God at the burning bush, and was emptied of his former self-confidence, saw his utter unfitness for the Lord's work, and then the Lord sent him as a mighty man of power. "And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed" (Exodus 3:2) ... "And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground" (verse 5) ... "And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?" (verse 11).

Now compare the earlier chapter, Exodus 2:11-15: "And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well."

It was so with Job. It was after Job met God, and cried concerning himself, "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes," that the Lord turned the captivity of Job, and that he received power to intercede for his friends, and to bear abundant fruit. "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:5-6); "And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before" (verse 10); "So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses" (verse 12).

It is needful if we are to have fullness of power, that we get a view of ourselves as we are by nature. It is in prayer that we get it. If we sincerely pray the Psalmist's prayer, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts" (Psalm 139:23), He will do it. There will come a true revelation of self as God sees us, a consequent utter emptying of self, and room will be made for the incoming of the power of God. It is not enough to pray this prayer once for all. It needs to be repeated daily.

2. Prayer has power to cleanse our hearts from sin; from secret sin and from known sin. "Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression" (Psalm 19:12-13).

"Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin" (Psalm 51:2). In answer to David's prayer after his disastrous fall, God washed him thoroughly from his iniquity, and cleansed him from his sin. Many a person has fought for days and months and years against some sin that has been marring his life, and sapping his spiritual power, and at last has gone unto God in prayer, and held on to God, and would not let Him go until He blessed him; and he has come out of the place of prayer a victor.

In this way sins that seem unconquerable have been laid in the dust. In this way the secret sin that the sinner himself scarce discerned, but that has robbed him of power, has been discovered in all its real hideousness, and rooted out. Of course, as seen in the previous chapter, it is the Holy Spirit who sets us free from sin's power, but the Holy Spirit works in our lives in answer to our prayers (Luke 11:13).

3. Prayer has power to hold us up in our goings, and give us victory over temptation. "Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not," cried David (Psalm 17:5). That is a prayer God is ever ready to hear. Jesus himself said to His disciples, as the hour of trial drew nigh, "Pray that ye enter not into temptation" (Luke 22:40). But the disciples did not heed the warning. They slept when they should have prayed, and when the temptation came in a few hours, they failed utterly. But Jesus Himself spent that night in prayer, and when the next day the fiercest temptations that ever beset a son of man swept down on Him, He came off gloriously triumphant. We can come off victorious over every temptation, if we will prepare for it, and meet it by prayer. Many of us are led into defeat and denial of our Lord, just as Peter was, by sleeping when we ought to be praying.

4. Prayer has power to govern our tongues. Many a Christian who has desired fullness of power in Christian life and service, has found himself kept from it by an unruly tongue. He has learned by bitter experience the truth of the words of James, "The tongue can no man tame" (James 3:8). But while no person can tame it, God can and will, in answer to believing prayer. If one will earnestly and believingly pray with David, "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips" (Psalm 141:3), God will do it. Many and many an unruly tongue has been brought into subjection in this way. Tongues that were as sharp as the piercings of a sword, have learned to speak words of gentleness and grace. True prayer can tame the unruliest tongue by which man or woman was ever cursed, because true prayer brings into play the power of Him with whom nothing is impossible.

5. Prayer has power to bring us wisdom. The word of God is very explicit on this point: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him" (James 1:5). No promise could be more explicit than that. We can have wisdom, the wisdom of God himself, at every turn of life. God does not intend that His children shall grope in darkness. He puts His own infinite wisdom at our disposal. All He asks is that we ask, and ask in faith. "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord" (James 1:6-7).

Many of us are stumbling on in our own foolishness, instead of walking on in His wisdom, simply because we do not ask. He greatly desires us to know His way, and is willing to make it known on our asking. Oh, the joy of knowing and walking in God's way! And we can all have this joy for the asking.

"Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy path" (Psalm 25:4); "Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name" (Psalm 86:11); "Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end" (Psalm 119:33); "Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness" (Psalm 143:10).

6. "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law" (Psalm 119:18). Yes, prayer does have power to open our eyes to behold wondrous things out of God's word. It is wonderful how the Bible opens up to one who looks to God in earnest believing prayer to interpret it to him. Difficulties vanish, obscure passages become clear as day, and old familiar portions become luminous with new meaning, living with new power. Prayer will do more than a theological education to make the Bible an open book. Only the man or woman of prayer can understand the Bible.

7. Prayer has power to bring the Holy Spirit in all His blessed power and manifold gracious operations into our hearts and lives. "If ye then being evil," says Jesus, "know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him!" (Luke 11:13). It was after the first disciples had "continued in prayer and supplication" (Acts 1:14), that "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost'' (Acts 2:4). On another occasion "when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 4:31).

When Peter and John came down to Samaria and found a company of young converts who had not yet experienced the fullness of the Holy Spirit's power, "they prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost" ... "And they received the Holy Ghost" (Acts 8:15, 17). It was in answer to prayer that Paul expected the saints in Ephesus to be strengthened. "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 3:14) and "That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man (verse 16), and he prayed that "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory," would give them "the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him" (Ephesians 1:16-17).

It is obviously prayer that brings the fullness of the Spirit's power into our hearts and lives. One great reason why so many of us have so little of the Holy Spirit's power in our lives and service, is because we spend so little time and thought in prayer. We "have not, because we ask not."

Every precious spiritual blessing in our own lives is given by our Heavenly Father in answer to true prayer. Prayer promotes our own spiritual growth and our likeness to Christ as almost nothing else can. The more time we spend in real, true prayer, other things being equal, the more we shall grow in likeness to our Master.

One of the saintliest, and most Christ-like men that ever lived was John Welch, the son-in-law of John Knox, the great Scottish reformer. He is said to have given one third of his time to prayer, and often to have spent a whole night in prayer. One who knew him well, speaking of him after his departure to be with Christ, said of him, "He was a type [a perfect example] of Christ." Many illustrations could be given of the power of prayer to bring our lives into conformity with Christ's. In prayer we gaze into the face of God, and "reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18 RV).

8. But prayer has not only power to promote our own spiritual growth into the likeness of Christ; prayer has also power to bring the fullness of God's power into our work. When the apostolic church saw themselves confronted by obstacles that they could not surmount "they lifted up their voice to God with one accord" (Acts 4:24).

"And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all" (Acts 4:31-33). "And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women" (Acts 5:14).

Do you desire the power of God in your Sunday school class, in your personal work, in your preaching, in your training of your children? Pray for it. Hold on to God until you get it. "Men ought always to pray, and not to faint" (Luke 18:1).

I shall never forget a sight I once witnessed. A woman of limited experience in public speaking was called on to address an audience filling the old Tremont Temple in Boston. It was a notable audience in its makeup as well as in numbers. Many of the leading clergymen of all evangelical denominations were there, also many men prominent in philanthropic and political affairs. As the woman spoke, the audience was hushed, swayed, melted and molded. Tears coursed down cheeks unwonted to them. The impression made on many was not only salutary, but permanent. It was an address of marvelous power. The secret of it all lay in the fact, known only to a few, that that woman had spent the whole of the previous night on her face before God in prayer.

It is related of John Livingstone that he spent a night with a few like minded in prayer and religious converse. On the next day he preached in the Kirk of Shotts with such power that 500 persons dated their conversion or some definite uplift in their spiritual life from that sermon.

A mother once came to me in great distress about her boy, one of the most incorrigible children I ever knew. "What shall I do?" she cried. "Pray," I said. She did with a new definiteness and earnestness and faith. The change came soon, if not immediately, and the change continues to this day. We can all have power in our work, if we will only believe God's promises regarding prayer, and meet the conditions of prevailing prayer, and lay hold on God with an importunity, a holy boldness, that will not take no for an answer.

9. But the man or woman of prayer can not only have power in his own life and service, he can have power in the life and service of others. Prayer has power to bring salvation to others. "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death" (1 John 5:16). Prayer avails for the salvation of others where every effort for their salvation fails.

There is little doubt that Saul of Tarsus, the most dangerous human enemy the church of Christ ever had, became Paul the apostle in answer to prayer. There have been countless instances where men and women seemingly past all hope have been converted in most direct and unmistakable answer to prayer.

Prayer will bring blessing on a church. It will settle church quarrels, allay misunderstandings, root out heresy and bring down gracious revivals from God. Dr. Spencer [Ichabod Smith Spencer 1798-1854] tells, in his Pastor's Sketches how a great revival was brought down on his church by the prayers of a godly old man who was shut up in his room by lameness. In Philadelphia during the pastorate of Dr. Thomas Skinner [1825-1906], three men of God came together in his study to pray. "They literally wrestled in prayer."

From this meeting sprang up a powerful revival in that city. One of the most notable, widespread and enduring revivals ever known in America, according to the account given by Mr. Finney [Charles Finney 1792-1875], arose from the prayers of a humble woman who had never seen a revival, but was led to lay hold of God for this. One of the greatest needs of the hour is that some of God's children should devote themselves to calling on God until He visits this land again with a mighty outpouring of His Spirit.

There have been in times past great revivals without very much preaching, and with almost no systems and organizations. There has never been a great and true revival without much prayer. Many modern so-called revivals are gotten up by man's systems and organizations. Genuine revivals are brought down by prayer.

Prayer will bring wisdom and power to ministers of the gospel. Paul was a matchless preacher and worker, but he so deeply felt the need of the prayers of God's people, that he asked for them from every church to which he wrote save one -- the backslidden church in Galatia. It has been demonstrated again and again that prayer can transform a poor preacher into a good one. If you are not satisfied with your pastor, pray for him. Keep on praying for him and you will soon have a better minister. If you think your present minister a pretty good one, you can make him far better by more prayer. Little do many Christians realize how much they have to do with the powerful or powerless preaching their pastor gives them, by their prayer or neglect of prayer.

But the power of prayer reaches across the sea and around the earth. We can contribute to the conversion of the unsaved and the evangelization of the world by our prayers. The prayers of believers in America have brought down the power of the Spirit in India and China. Doubtless more men and more money are needed for foreign mission work, but the greatest need of foreign mission work is prayer. It is a sad fact that much money given to foreign mission work has been largely wasted. There has not been enough intelligent prayer behind the giving.

There is mighty power in prayer. It has much to do with our obtaining fullness of power in Christian life and service. The one who will not take time for prayer may as well resign all hope of obtaining the fullness of power God has for him. It is "they that wait on the Lord" who "shall renew their strength" (Isaiah 40:31).

Waiting on the Lord means something more than spending a few minutes at the beginning and close of each day running through some stereotyped form of request. "Wait on the Lord." True prayer takes time and thought, but it is the great timesaver At all events, if we are to know fullness of power we must be men and women of prayer.

Questions for personal or group study

1. What is the power of prayer in your experience?

2. How much time do you spend in daily devotion?

3. What can you do to have more prayer time?

4. How important is prayer in your life, and why?

5. Why do you feel prayer has the power to cleanse our hearts from sin and temptation?

6. What miracle have you seen through your prayers for others?

Chapter 5 (last chapter)

The Power of a Surrendered Life

"Power belongeth unto God" (Psalm 62:11), but there is one condition on which that power is bestowed on us. That condition is absolute surrender to Him. In Romans 6:13, we read, "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as they that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." Again in Romans 6:22, we read, "Being now made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life."

The great secret of blessedness and power is found in these verses. "Yield yourselves unto God" \-- the whole secret is found in those words. The word translated "yield" in the KJV, is rendered "present" in the RV. It means, to put at one's disposal. "Put yourselves at God's disposal" is the thought. In other words, surrender yourselves absolutely to God, to be His property, for Him to do with you what He will, and use you as He will. That is the wisest thing anyone can do with himself. By that act he has secured all the blessedness that is possible to man, and day by day, and year by year, it will be bestowed on him in ever-increasing measure.

If anyone asks, "What is the one thing for me to do if I wish to know all that God has for me?" the answer is very simple. Surrender absolutely to God; say to Him, "Heavenly Father, henceforth I have no will of my own; Thy will be done in me, through me, by me, and regarding me, in all things. I put myself unreservedly in Thy hands; now do with me just what Thou wilt."

When one does that, God, who is infinite love, and infinite wisdom, and infinite power, does the very best thing with that one. We may not see at once that it is the best thing, but it is, and sooner or later it will be seen. Sooner or later God floods the heart of the person who surrenders absolutely to Him with light, and joy, and fills their life with power. Absolute surrender to God is the secret of blessedness and power. Let us look at some of the things that are definitely said in the Bible to come from absolute surrender.

1. The first of these you will find in John 7:17 RV: "If any willeth to do his will he shall know of the teaching." Knowledge of the truth comes with the surrender of the will. Nothing so clears the spiritual vision as surrender to the will of God. "God is light and in him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5). Surrender to Him opens our eyes to the light which He himself is. It brings us at once into harmony with all truth. Nothing so blinds the spiritual vision as self-will or sin. I have seen questions which bothered men for years solved in a very short time when those men simply surrendered to God. What was dark as night before has become as light as day.

An unsurrendered will lies at the back of almost all the skepticism in the world. Oh, you who are filled with doubts and questions, would you have certainty instead of doubt? Yield yourselves to God. Oh, you who are floundering in the mire, would you get your feet on the solid rock? Yield yourselves to God. Oh, you who are trying to feel your way in the dark, would you see your path plain before you? Yield yourselves to God.

The greatest truths, the truths of most significance for time and for eternity, cannot be learned by mere investigation and study. They cannot be reasoned out. They must be seen. The only one who can see them is the one whose eye is cleared by absolute surrender to God. "If, therefore, thine eye be single," says Jesus, "thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness" (Matthew 6:22-23).

A surrendered life and will is the secret of light and knowledge. Many a person has confided to me how he was wandering in the dark, not knowing what he believed, and not quite sure if he believed anything. To such I have put the questions, "Will you surrender your will to God? Will you give yourself up to God, for Him to do what He will with you?" And not a single one who has done it but has soon said, "My doubts are gone, my uncertainties have gone, my darkness is gone. It is all light now."

2. The next result of a surrendered will and life is power in prayer. The greatest secret of prevailing prayer is that which John records from his own joyous experience in 1 John 3:22: "Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things which are pleasing in His sight." Just note those wonderful words "whatsoever we ask we receive of Him." Think of it! Not one prayer, great or small, that fails to get what is sought. Then note the reason: "because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight."

A life entirely surrendered to the doing of God's will as revealed in His word, and to doing the things that are pleasing in His sight; a life wholly surrendered to God's will and pleasure; a life wholly at God's disposal. This is the secret of prevailing prayer.

Do you ask why you do not get what you ask, why you cannot say like John, "Whatsoever I ask I get?" It is not because he was an apostle and you are just an everyday Christian. It was because he could say, "I keep His commandments and do those things (and them only) which are pleasing in His sight," and you can't say that. It was because his life was entirely surrendered to God, and yours isn't.

There are many people greatly puzzled because their prayers never seem to reach the ear of God, but fall back powerless to the earth. There is no mystery about it. It is because you have not met the one great fundamental condition of prevailing prayer -- a surrendered will, a surrendered life. It is when we make God's will ours, that He makes our wills His. "Delight thyself also in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart" (Psalm 37:4).

Jesus said to the Father, "Thou hearest me always" (John 11:42). But why? ''Oh," you say, "because He was His only begotten Son." Not at all, but because Jesus could say, "I am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me" (John 6:38); and again, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me" (John 6:34); and again, "Lo, I come to do thy will, O God" (Hebrews 10:7).

A surrendered will and a surrendered life is the great secret of prevailing prayer. George Muller in Bristol [1805-1898], perhaps stands out as the one man who, above all others, has wrought things by prayer. Why? Because many years ago he set out to be and do just what God would have him to be and do, and to daily and deeply ponder God's Word, that he might know His will. He yielded himself to God. There is not one of us who cannot become a mighty prince of God if we will do the same thing.

3. The next result of a surrendered will is a heart overflowing with joy. In the face of awful trial and agony through which He was to pass, Jesus said to His disciples, "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be fulfilled" (John 15:10-11 RV).

Jesus had found joy in keeping His Father's commandments, by complete surrender to His will. And now, if His disciples would follow on in that path, His joy would be in them, and their joy would be "fulfilled," or filled full. This is the only way to find fullness of joy -- complete, unconditional surrender to God. "Yield yourselves unto God" (Romans 6:13). There is no great measure of joy in a half-hearted Christian life.

Many so-called Christians have just "enough religion to make them miserable." They can no longer enjoy the world and they have not entered into the "joy of the Lord." There they stand, deprived of the "leeks and the onions and the garlic" of Egypt (Numbers 11:5), and without the milk and honey and the finest of the wheat of Canaan. That is a wretched place to be in.

The way out is simple: absolute surrender to God. Then your joy will be fulfilled. I have known so many who have entered into this fullness of joy. Sometimes it has been after a great struggle. They were so afraid to yield absolutely to God. So afraid to say, "O God, I put myself unreservedly into Your hands; do with me what You please."

They were afraid God would ask some hard thing. Afraid God might whisper "China," "India," or "Africa," -- and sometimes He has. Sometimes there has been what to the world seemed great sacrifice, the giving up of cherished ambitions, the giving up of those dearly loved, the giving up of much money, perhaps all one had. But there has been joy, joy "fulfilled," joy filled full.

In one case I have in mind there was great pain, as someone I know lay on his back with a broken leg in a cast, but there was joy, such overflowing joy that the sufferer lay there with dancing eyes and radiant face and throbbing heart shouting, "Glory, glory, glory!"

There is but one way to find that fullness of joy -- a surrendered life! A will and life, completely surrendered to the God of love, will bring joy under all circumstances. In 1555 in Coventry, England, a man called Lawrence Saunders who was thus surrendered to God was led out to be burned at the stake for preaching, and he threw his arms around the stake and cried out, "Welcome, cross of Christ! Welcome everlasting life!"

4. The next result of a surrendered life is Christ manifesting himself to us. On the night in which Jesus was betrayed, He said to His disciples, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him" (John 14:21). A surrender of self to Christ brings Christ to us. The full manifestation of Jesus lies, it is true, in that future glad day when "the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God" (1 Thessalonians 4:16). But there is a present manifestation of Jesus to us now, when the Son and the Father come unto us and make their abode with us, He will manifest himself unto us. "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (John 14:23).

"I don't know what that means," some will say. Have you yielded yourself to Him? Are you keeping His commandments, not asking which commandment is great and which is small, which is important, and which is unimportant, but only asking which commandment is His, and keeping that? If you are, you will know what it is to have Him manifest himself unto you, and that is joy. We are told in one place "then were even the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord" (John 20:20). You will be glad when you see the Lord, and you will see Him when you go to Him and say, "I surrender my life absolutely to You; now show me Yourself.''

5. There is one more result of the surrendered will and life. Peter tells it in Acts 5:32: "The Holy Ghost, which God hath given to them that obey him." The surrendered will and life is the great secret of receiving the Holy Spirit. All turns on this. We may deal with individual sins, and we may cry to God for the filling of the Holy Spirit, but unless there is total surrender to God at the center of our being, unless we yield ourselves to God, nothing is likely to come of it.

Oh, how many have longed, and prayed, and agonized, that the Holy Spirit might come on them, but He came not. There was no complete surrender; there was no yielding of self to God. And then they have yielded themselves to God. Then they have bowed their faces and said, "O God, I yield, I give myself up utterly to You. I place myself unreservedly at Your disposal. I hold nothing back, and I hold back from nothing that You ask."

As they have bowed, the Holy Spirit has fallen on them. Perhaps it was with great surging waves of power and joy; perhaps in a gentle calm that stole over their whole being; perhaps in a still small voice that whispered, "If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us, and if we know He heareth us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions we desired of Him" (1 John 5:14-15). But whatever way He came, He came -- and when He came, power came.

The great secret of power for God is the Holy Spirit on us. "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts 1:8). And the great secret of the Holy Spirit coming on us is the surrendered will, a yielded life.

Oh, how wondrous, how blessed, how glorious is the Holy Spirit's power! Will you have it, my brother? Will you have it, my sister? "Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God" (Romans 6:13). Will you do it? Will you do it now?

We have seen in previous chapters of this book the Power of the Word of God, the Power of the Holy Spirit, the Power of Prayer; but the one great condition of obtaining the power of each and all in our own life and service is a surrendered will, a life surrendered absolutely, unreserved, totally to God. Will you yield?

Oh, how foolish, how utterly foolish, are those who will not yield, or who hesitate to yield themselves to God! You are robbing yourself of all that makes life really worth living, that makes eternity rosy and golden with gladness, beauty and glory. Will you yield today?

Questions for personal or group study

1. What is the power of a "Surrendered Life"?

2. What are your fears and doubts?

3. Why do you feel God doesn't seem to answer your prayers the way you want them answered?

4. How can you find God's joy?

5. What makes you hesitate to surrender your will to God?

6. Are you ready to receive the power of the Holy Spirit? Why or why not? (Acts 1:8)

THE END

**More books from White Tree Publishing are on the next pages, some of which are available as both eBooks and paperbacks. More Christian books than those listed here are planned for future publication. The full list of published and forthcoming books is on our website** www.whitetreepublishing.com **. Please visit there regularly for updates.**

White Tree Publishing publishes mainstream evangelical Christian literature in paperback and eBook formats, for people of all ages. We aim to make our eBooks available free for all eBook devices, but some distributors will only list our books free at their discretion, and may make a small charge for some titles -- but they are still great value!

Not all distributors stock eBooks that are based on older work that is in the public domain (out of copyright), not even ours that have been sensitively abridged and edited by White Tree Publishing to make a much more readable book for today! (The original writer's teaching and doctrine is never changed!) You may need to look in the site belonging to your dedicated eBook reader, or download the app or program to read them on a smartphone, tablet or PC if you find them on a different site or in a different format. Every published title is out there somewhere.

We rely on our readers to tell their families, their friends and churches about our books. Social media is a great way of doing this. Take a look at our range of fiction and non-fiction books on the following pages and pass the word on. Also, please write a positive review on the eBook site if you are able.

## Christian Non-fiction

Four short books of help in the Christian life:

_So, What Is a Christian?_ An introduction to a personal faith. Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9927642-2-7, eBook ISBN: 978-0-9933941-2-6

_Starting Out_ \-- help for new Christians of all ages. Paperback ISBN 978-1-4839-622-0-7, eBook ISBN: 978-0-9933941-0-2

_Help!_ \-- Explores some problems we can encounter with our faith. Paperback ISBN 978-0-9927642-2-7, eBook ISBN: 978-0-9933941-1-9

_Running Through the Bible_ _\--_ a simple understanding of what's in the Bible _\--_ Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9927642-6-5, eBook ISBN: 978-0-9933941-3-3

### Be Still

Bible Words of Peace and Comfort

There may come a time in our lives when we want to concentrate on God's many promises of peace and comfort. The Bible readings in this book are for people who need to know what it means to be held securely in the Lord's loving arms.

Rather than selecting single verses here and there, each reading in this book is a run of several verses. This gives a much better picture of the whole passage in which a favourite verse may be found.

As well as being for personal use, these readings are intended for sharing with anyone in special need, to help them draw comfort from the reading and prayer for that date. Bible reading and prayer are the two most important ways of getting to know and trust Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

The reference to the verses for the day are given, for you to look up and read in your preferred Bible translation.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9933941-4-0

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9932760-7-1

116 pages 5x7.8 inches

A Previously Unpublished Book

### The Simplicity of the Incarnation

J Stafford Wright

Foreword by J I Packer

" _I believe in ... Jesus Christ ... born of the Virgin Mary."_ A beautiful stained glass image, or a medical reality? This is the choice facing Christians today. Can we truly believe that two thousand years ago a young woman, a virgin named Mary, gave birth to the Son of God? The answer is simple: we can.

The author says, _"In these days many Christians want some sensible assurance that their faith makes sense, and in this book I want to show that it does."_

In this uplifting book from a previously unpublished and recently discovered manuscript, J Stafford Wright investigates the reality of the incarnation, looks at the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, and helps the reader understand more of the Trinity and the certainty of eternal life in heaven.

This book was written shortly before the author's death in 1985. _The Simplicity of the Incarnation_ is published for the first time, unedited, from his final draft.

eBook ISBN 13: 978-0-9932760-5-7

Paperback ISBN: 9-780-9525-9563-2

160 pages 5.25 x 8 inches

Available from bookstores and major internet sellers

### Bible People Real People

An Unforgettable A-Z of Who is Who in the Bible

In a fascinating look at real people, J Stafford Wright shows his love and scholarly knowledge of the Bible as he brings the characters from its pages to life in a memorable way.

Read this book through from A to Z, like any other title

Dip in and discover who was who in personal Bible study

Check the names when preparing a talk or sermon

The good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly – no one is spared. This is a book for everyone who wants to get to grips with the reality that is in the pages of the Bible, the Word of God.

With the names arranged in alphabetical order, the Old and New Testament characters are clearly identified so that the reader is able to explore either the Old or New Testament people on the first reading, and the other Testament on the second.

Those wanting to become more familiar with the Bible will find this is a great introduction to the people inhabiting the best selling book in the world, and those who can quote chapter and verse will find everyone suddenly becomes much more real – because these people are real. This is a book to keep handy and refer to frequently while reading the Bible.

" _For students of my generation the name Stafford Wright was associated with the spiritual giants of his generation. Scholarship and integrity were the hallmarks of his biblical teaching. He taught us the faith and inspired our discipleship of Christ. To God be the Glory."_ The Rt. Rev. James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool

_This is a lively, well-informed study of some great Bible characters._ Professor Gordon Wenham MA PhD. Tutor in Old Testament at Trinity College Bristol and Emeritus Professor of Old Testament at the University of Gloucestershire.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9932760-7-1

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9525956-5-6

314 pages 6x9 inches

Note: This book is not available in all eBook formats

Christians and the Supernatural

J Stafford Wright

There is an increasing interest and fascination in the paranormal today. To counteract this, it is important for Christians to have a good understanding of how God sometimes acts in mysterious ways, and be able to recognize how he can use our untapped gifts and abilities in his service. We also need to understand how the enemy can tempt us to misuse these gifts and abilities, just as Jesus was tempted in the wilderness.

In this single volume of his two previously published books on the occult and the supernatural ( _Understanding the Supernatural_ and _Our Mysterious God_ ) J Stafford Wright examines some of the mysterious events we find in the Bible and in our own lives. Far from dismissing the recorded biblical miracles as folk tales, he is convinced that they happened in the way described, and explains why we can accept them as credible.

The writer says: _When God the Holy Spirit dwells within the human spirit, he uses the mental and physical abilities which make up a total human being . . . The whole purpose of this book is to show that the Bible does make sense_.

And this warning: _The Bible, claiming to speak as the revelation of God, and knowing man's weakness for substitute religious experiences, bans those avenues into the occult that at the very least are blind alleys that obscure the way to God, and at worst are roads to destruction._

eBook ISBN 13: 978-0-9932760-4-0

Paperback ISBN 13: 9-780-9525-9564-9

222 pages 5.25 x 8 inches

Available from bookstores and major internet sellers

Howell Harris

His Own Story

Foreword by J. Stafford Wright

Howell Harris was brought up to regard the Nonconformists as "a perverted and dangerously erroneous set of people." Hardly a promising start for a man who was to play a major role in the Welsh Revival. Yet in these extracts from his writings and diaries we can read the thoughts of Howell Harris before, during and after his own conversion.

We can see God breaking through the barriers separating "church and chapel", and discover Christians of different denominations preparing the country for revival. Wesley, Whitefield, Harris. These great 18th century preachers worked both independently and together to preach the Living Gospel. This book is a vivid first-hand account of the joys, hardships and struggles of one of these men -- Howell Harris (1714-1773).

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9933941-9-5

From the Streets of London

to the Streets of Gold

The Life Story of

Brother Clifford Edwards

A True Story of Love

by

Brother Clifford Edwards

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9933941-8-8

(A printed copy is available directly from Brother Clifford)

This is the personal story of Clifford Edwards, affectionately known as Brother Clifford by his many friends. Going from fame to poverty, he was sleeping on the streets of London with the homeless for twenty years, until Jesus rescued him and gave him an amazing mission in life. Brother Clifford tells his true story here in the third person, giving the glory to Jesus.

English Hexapla

The Gospel of John

(Paperback only)

Published to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the Authorized King James Version of the Bible, this book contains the full text of Bagster's assembled work for the Gospel of John. On each page in parallel columns are the words of the six most important translations of the New Testament into English, made between 1380 and 1611. Below the English is the original Greek text after Scholz.

To enhance the reading experience, there is an introduction telling how we got our English Bibles, with significant pages from early Bibles shown at the end of the book.

Here is an opportunity to read English that once split the Church by giving ordinary people the power to discover God's word for themselves. Now you can step back in time and discover those words and spellings for yourself, as they first appeared hundreds of years ago.

Wyclif 1380, Tyndale 1534, Cranmer 1539, Geneva 1557,

Douay Rheims 1582, Authorized (KJV) 1611.

English Hexapla -- The Gospel of John

Published by White Tree Publishing

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9525956-1-8

Size 7.5 x 9.7 inches paperback

Not available as an eBook

### Roddy Goes to Church

Church Life and Church People

Derek Osborne

**No, not a children's book!** An affectionate, optimistic look at church life involving, as it happens, Roddy and his friends who live in a small town. Problems and opportunities related to change and outreach are not, of course, unique to their church!

Maybe you know Miss Prickly-Cat who pointedly sits in the same pew occupied by generations of her forebears, and perhaps know many of the characters in this look at church life today. A wordy Archdeacon comes on the scene, and Roddy is taken aback by the events following his first visit to church. Roddy's best friend Bushy-Beard says wise things, and he hears an enlightened Bishop . . .

Bishop David Pytches writes: _A unique spoof on church life. Will you recognise yourself and your church here? ... Derek Osborne's mind here is insightful, his characters graphic and typical and the style acutely comical, but there is a serious message in his madness. Buy this, read it and enjoy!_

David Pytches, Chorleywood

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9935005-0-3

Paperback ISBN: 978-09927642-0-3

46 pages 5.5 x 8.5 inches paperback UK £3.95

Available from bookstores and major internet sellers

### Heaven Our Home

William Branks

White Tree Publishing Abridged Edition

"I go to prepare a place for you." This well-known promise from Jesus must cause us to think about the reality of heaven. Heaven is to be our home for ever. Where is heaven? What is it like? Will I recognize people there? All who are Christians must surely want to hear about the place where they are to spend eternity. In this abridged edition of William Branks classic work of 1861, we discover what the Bible has to say about heaven. There may be a few surprises, and there are certainly some challenges as we explore a subject on which there seems to be little teaching and awareness today.

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9933941-8-8

### I See Men as Trees, Walking

Roger and Janet Niblett

Roger and Janet Niblett were just an ordinary English couple, but then they met the Lord and their lives were totally transformed. Like the Bethlehem shepherds of old, they had a compulsion to share the same good news that Jesus Christ had come into the world to save sinners. Empowered by the Holy Spirit they proclaimed the gospel in the market place, streets, prisons, hospitals and churches with a vibrancy that only comes from being in direct touch with the Almighty and being readily available to serve Him as a channel of His grace and love. God was with them and blessed their ministry abundantly. Praise God! (Pastor Mervyn Douglas, Clevedon Family Church)

The story of Roger Niblett is an inspiration to all who serve the Lord. He was a prolific street evangelist, whose impact on the gospel scene was a wonder to behold. It was my privilege to witness his conversion, when he went forward to receive Christ at the Elim Church, Keynsham. The preacher was fiery Scottish evangelist Rev'd Alex Tee. It was not long before Roger too caught that same soul winner's fire which propelled him far and wide, winning multitudes for Christ. Together with his wife Janet, they proceeded to "Tell the World of Jesus". (Des Morton, Founder Minister of Keynsham Elim Church)

I know of no couple who have been more committed to sharing their faith from the earliest days of their journey with the Lord Jesus Christ. Along the way, at home and abroad, and with a tender heart for the marginalised, Rog and Jan have introduced multitudes to the Saviour and have inspired successive generations of believers to do the same. It was our joy and privilege to have them as part of the family at Trinity where Janet continues to serve in worship and witness. Loved by young and old alike, they will always have a special place in our hearts. (Andy Paget, Trinity Tabernacle, Bristol. Vice President, International Gospel Outreach)

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9935005-1-0

Also available as a paperback

(published by Gozo Publishing Bristol)

paperback ISBN: 978-1508674979

### Leaves from

My Notebook

New Abridged Edition

William Haslam

(1818-1905)

You may have heard of the clergyman who was converted while preaching his own sermon! Well, this is man -- William Haslam. It happened in Cornwall one Sunday in 1851. He later wrote his autobiography in two books: _From Death into Life_ and _Yet not I_. Here, in _Leaves from my Notebook_ , William Haslam writes about events and people not present in his autobiography. They make fascinating and challenging reading as we watch him sharing his faith one to one or in small groups, with dramatic results. Haslam was a man who mixed easily with titled gentry and the poorest of the poor, bringing the message of salvation in a way that people were ready to accept. This book has been lightly edited and abridged to make reading easier today by using modern punctuation and avoiding over-long sentences. William Haslam's amazing message is unchanged.

Original book first published 1889

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9935005-2-7

### Blunt's Scriptural Coincidences

Gospels and Acts

J. J. Blunt

New Edition

This book will confirm (or restore) your faith in the Gospel records. Clearly the Gospels were not invented. There is too much unintentional agreement between them for this to be so. Undesigned coincidences are where writers tell the same account, but from a different viewpoint. Without conspiring together to get their accounts in agreement, they include unexpected (and often unnoticed) details that corroborate their records. Not only are these unexpected coincidences found within the Gospels, but sometimes a historical writer unknowingly and unintentionally confirms the Bible record.

Within these pages you will see just how accurate were the memories of the Gospel writers -- even of the smallest details which on casual reading can seem of little importance, yet clearly point to eyewitness accounts. J.J. Blunt spent many years investigating these coincidences. And here they are, as found in the four Gospels and Acts.

First published in instalments between 1833 and 1847

The edition used here published in 1876

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9935005-5-8

### Fullness of Power

### in Christian Life and Service

Home and Group Questions for Today Edition

R. A. Torrey

Study Questions by Chuck Antone, Jr.

White Tree Publishing

This is a White Tree Publishing Home and Group Questions for Today Edition. At the end of each chapter are questions for use either in your personal study, or for sharing in a church or home group. Why? Because: "From many earnest hearts there is rising a cry for more power: more power in our personal conflict with the world, the flesh, and the devil; more power in our work for others. The Bible makes the way to obtain this longed-for power very plain. There is no presumption in undertaking to tell how to obtain Fullness of Power in Christian life and service; for the Bible itself tells, and the Bible was intended to be understood.

"The Bible statement of the way is not mystical or mysterious. It is very plain and straightforward. If we will only make personal trial of The Power of the Word of God; The Power of the Blood of Christ; The Power of the Holy Spirit; The Power of Prayer; The Power of a Surrendered Life; we will then know the Fullness of Power in Christian life and service. We will try to make this plain in the following chapters. There are many who do not even know that there is a life of abiding rest, joy, satisfaction, and power; and many others who, while they think there must be something beyond the life they know, are in ignorance as to how to obtain it. This book is also written to help them." (Torrey's Introduction.) R. A. Torrey (1856-1928) was an American evangelist, pastor, educator, and writer whose name is attached to several organisations, and whose work is still well known today.

The edition used here published in 1903

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9935005-8-9
eBook Coming November 2016

Twenty-five Days Around the Manger

# A Light Family Advent Devotional

Marty Magee

Will a purple bedroom help Marty's misgivings about Christmas?

As a kid, Martha Evans didn't like Christmas. Sixty years later, she still gets a little uneasy when this holiday on steroids rolls around. But she knows, when all the tinsel is pulled away, Whose Day it is. Now Marty Magee, she is blessed with five grandchildren who help her not take herself too seriously.

Do you know the angel named Herald? Will young Marty survive the embarrassment of her Charley Brown Christmas tree? And by the way, where's the line to see Jesus?

Twenty-Five Days Around the Manger goes from Marty's mother as a little girl awaiting her brother's arrival, to O Holy Night when our souls finally were able to feel their full worth.

This and much more. Join Marty around the manger this Advent season.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9954549-1-0

Also in full colour paperback

from Rickety Bridge Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-4923248-0-5

Available from bookstores and major internet sellers

eBook Coming

### Gospels and Acts

### In Simple Paraphrase

Charles Foster

White Tree Publishing Edition

# In 1873 Charles Foster published his much acclaimed paraphrase of the whole Bible, adding his simple explanations of various events along the way. It had the rather misleading title of The Story of the Bible which implied it was the history of how we got our Bible. Charles Foster made a single account from the four Gospels -- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John -- combining the four Gospels relating Jesus' birth, life, death and resurrection into one continuous narrative. For this edition, White Tree Publishing has taken just the Gospels and Acts from the original, and updated thee and thou to you and your etc, bringing the work inline with modern practice. Some of the traditional wording has been left alone, but we have added speech marks and more modern punctuation, while making no changes to the Bible message. Included in this White Tree Publishing eBook is Foster's account of the period between the Old and New Testaments, and his brief summary of the Epistles and Revelation. For readers unfamiliar with the New Testament, this book makes a valuable introduction, and it will surely help those familiar with the New Testament to gain extra knowledge and understanding as they read it. Please note that this is not a translation of the Bible, it is a paraphrase.

eBook only

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9935005-9-6

eBook Coming

### Faith that Prevails

The Early Pentecostal Movement

Home and Group Questions for Today Edition

Smith Wigglesworth

Study Questions by Chuck Antone, Jr.

This is a White Tree Publishing Home and Group Questions for Today Edition. At the end of each of the seven chapters are questions by Chuck Antone, Jr. for use either in your personal study, or for sharing in a church or home group. Why? Because _Smith Wigglesworth, often referred to as the Apostle of Faith, putting the emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit, writes, "_ God is making people hungry and thirsty after His best. And everywhere He is filling the hungry and giving them that which the disciples received at the very beginning. Are you hungry? If you are, God promises that you shall be filled."

_Smith Wigglesworth was one of the pioneers of the early Pentecostal revival. Born in 1859 he gave himself to Jesus at the age of eight and immediately led his mother to the Lord._ His ministry took him to Europe, the US, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Pacific Islands, India and what was then Ceylon. _Smith Wigglesworth's faith was unquestioning._

_In this book, he says, "_ There is nothing impossible with God. All the impossibility is with us, when we measure God by the limitations of our unbelief."

eBook only

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9954549-4-1

## Christian Fiction

### The Lost Clue

Mrs. O. F. Walton

Abridged Edition

A Romantic Mystery

With modern line drawings

Living the life of a wealthy man, Kenneth Fortescue receives devastating news from his father. But he is only able to learn incomplete facts about his past, because a name has been obliterated from a very important letter. Two women are vying for Kenneth's attention -- Lady Violet, the young daughter of Lady Earlswood, and Marjorie Douglas, the daughter of a widowed parson's wife.

Written in 1905 by the much-loved author Mrs. O. F. Walton, this edition has been lightly abridged and edited to make it easier to read and understand today. This romantic mystery story gives an intriguing glimpse into the class extremes that existed in Edwardian England, with wealthy titled families on one side, and some families living in terrible poverty on the other.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9932760-2-6

### Doctor Forester

Mrs. O. F. Walton

Abridged Edition

A Romantic Mystery

with modern line drawings

Doctor Forester, a medical man only twenty-five years old, has come to a lonely part of Wales to escape from an event in his recent past that has caused him much hurt. So he has more on his mind than worrying about strange noises behind his bedroom wall in the old castle where he is staying.

A young woman who shares part of the journey with him is staying in the same village. He is deeply attracted to her, and believes that she is equally attracted to him. But he soon has every reason to think that his old school friend Jack is also courting her.

Written and taking place in the early 1900s, this romantic mystery is a mix of excitement and heartbreak. What is the secret of Hildick Castle? And can Doctor Forester rid himself of the past that now haunts his life?

Mrs. O. F. Walton was a prolific writer in the late 1800s, and this abridged edition captures all of the original writer's insight into what makes a memorable story. With occasional modern line drawings.

* * *

Ghosts of the past kept flitting through his brain. Dark shadows which he tried to chase away seemed to pursue him. Here these ghosts were to be laid; here those shadows were to be dispelled; here that closed chapter was to be buried for ever. So he fought long and hard with the phantoms of the past until the assertive clock near his bedroom door announced that it was two o'clock.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9932760-0-2

### Was I Right?

Mrs. O. F. Walton

Abridged Edition

A Victorian Romance

With modern line drawings

May Lindsay and her young stepsister Maggie are left penniless and homeless when their father the local doctor dies. Maggie can go to live with her three maiden aunts, but May at the age of nineteen is faced with a choice. Should she take the position of companion to a girl she doesn't know, who lives some distance away, or accept a proposal of marriage from the man who has been her friend since they were small children?

May Lindsay makes her decision, but it is not long before she wonders if she has done the right thing. This is a story of life in Victorian England as May, who has led a sheltered life, is pushed out into a much bigger world than she has previously known. She soon encounters titled families, and is taken on a tour of the Holy Land which occupies much of the story.

Two men seem to be a big disappointment to May Lindsay. Will her Christian faith hold strong in these troubles? Was she right in the decision she made before leaving home?

Mrs. O. F. Walton was a prolific writer in the late 1800s, and this abridged edition captures all of the original writer's insight into what makes a memorable story. With occasional modern line drawings.

E-book ISBN: 978-0-9932760-1-9

### In His Steps

Charles M. Sheldon

Abridged Edition

This new abridged edition of a classic story that has sold over an estimated 30 million copies, contains Charles Sheldon's original writing, with some passages sensitively abridged to allow his powerful story to come through for today's readers. Nothing in the storyline has been changed.

A homeless man staggers into a wealthy church and upsets the congregation. A week later he is dead. This causes the Rev. Henry Maxwell to issue a startling challenge to his congregation and to himself -- whatever you do in life over the next twelve months, ask yourself this question before making any decision: "What would Jesus do?"

The local newspaper editor, a novelist, a wealthy young woman who has inherited a million dollars, her friend who has been offered a professional singing career, the superintendent of the railroad workshops, a leading city merchant and others take up the challenge. But how will it all work out when things don't go as expected?

A bishop gives up his comfortable lifestyle -- and finds his life threatened in the city slums. The story is timeless. A great read, and a challenge to every Christian today.

E-book ISBN: 978-0-9927642-9-6

Also available in paperback 254 pages 5.5 x 8.5 inches

Paperback ISBN 13: 978-19350791-8-7

A Previously Unpublished Book

### Locked Door Shuttered Windows

A Novel by J Stafford Wright

What is inside the fascinating house with the locked door and the shuttered windows? Satan wants an experiment. God allows it. John is caught up in the plan as Satan's human representative. The experiment? To demonstrate that there can be peace in the world if God allows Satan to run things in his own way. A group of people gather together in an idyllic village run by Satan, with no reference to God, and no belief in him.

J Stafford Wright has written this startling and gripping account of what happens when God stands back and Satan steps forward. All seems to go well for the people who volunteer to take part. And no Christians allowed!

John Longstone lost his faith when teaching at a theological college. Lost it for good -- or so he thinks. And then he meets Kathleen who never had a faith. As the holes start to appear in Satan's scheme for peace, they wonder if they should help or hinder the plans which seem to have so many benefits for humanity.

eBook ISBN 13: 978-0-9932760-3-3

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9927642-4-1

206 pages 5.25 x 8.0 inches

Available from bookstores and major internet sellers

### Silverbeach Manor

Margaret S. Haycraft

Abridged edition

Pansy is an orphan who is cared for by her aunt, Temperance Piper, who keeps the village post office and store. One day Pansy meets wealthy Mrs. Adair who offers to take her under her wing and give her a life of wealth in high society that she could never dream of, on condition Pansy never revisits her past life. When they first meet, Mrs. Adair says about Pansy's clothes, "The style is a little out of date, but it is good enough for the country. I should like to see you in a really well-made dress. It would be quite a new sensation for you, if you really belong to these wilds. I have a crimson and gold tea gown that would suit you delightfully, and make you quite a treasure for an artist." This is a story of rags to riches to ... well, to a life where nothing is straightforward. First published in 1891.

White Tree Publishing Abridged Edition

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9935005-4-1

### Gildas Haven

Margaret S. Haycraft

Abridged edition

For several years in the peaceful English village of Meadthorpe, the church and chapel have existed in an uneasy peace while the rector and the chapel minister are distracted by poor health. Now a young curate arrives at St Simeon's, bringing high church ritual and ways of worship. Gildas Haven, the daughter of the chapel minister is furious to discover the curate is enticing her Sunday school children away. The curate insists that his Church ways are right, and Gildas who has only known chapel worship says the opposite.

Battle lines are quickly drawn by leaders and congregations. Mary Haycraft writes with light humour and surprising insight in what could be a controversial story line. With at least one major surprise, the author seems to be digging an impossible hole for herself as the story progresses. The ending of this sensitively told romance is likely to come as a surprise.

White Tree Publishing Abridged Edition

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9935005-7-2
Due October 2016

### When it Was Dark

Guy Thorne

Abridged Edition

What would happen to the Christian faith if it could be proved beyond all doubt that Jesus did not rise from the dead? This is the situation when, at the end of the nineteenth century, eminent archaeologists working outside Jerusalem discover a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea, with an inscription claiming that he took the body of Jesus from the first tomb and hid it. And there are even remains of a body. So no resurrection!

As churches quickly empty, some Christians cling to hope, saying that Jesus lives within them, so He must be the Son of God who rose from the dead. Others are relieved that they no longer have to believe and go to church. Society starts to break down.

With the backing of a wealthy industrialist, a young curate puts together a small team to investigate the involvement of a powerful atheist in the discovery. This is an abridged edition of a novel first published in 1903.

Guy Thorne was the English author of many thrillers in the early twentieth century, and this book was not intended specifically for the Christian market. It contains adult references in places, but no swearing or offensive language. Although it was written from a high church Anglican viewpoint, the author is positive about the various branches of the Christian faith, finding strengths and weaknesses in individual church and chapel members as their beliefs are threatened by the discovery in Jerusalem. White Tree Publishing believes this book will be a great and positive challenge to Christians today as we examine the reality of our faith.

White Tree Publishing Abridged Edition

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9954549-0-3

eBook Coming

### Amaranth's Garden

Margaret S. Haycraft

Abridged edition

"It seems, Miss, Mr. Glyn drew out that money yesterday, and took it all out in gold. The Rector happened to be in the Bank at the time, but was on his way to town, and could not stop to talk to your father just then, though he wondered to hear him say he had come to draw out everything, as treasurer of the fund." Amaranth Glyn's comfortable life comes to an end when the church funds disappear. Her father, the church treasurer who drew out the money, is also missing, to be followed shortly by her mother. The disgrace this brings on the family means Amaranth's marriage plans are cancelled. Amaranth is a competent artist and moves away with her young brother to try to earn a living. There are rumours that her parents are in France and even in Peru. Living with her sick brother, Amaranth wants life to be as it was before the financial scandal forced her to leave her family home and the garden she loved.

White Tree Publishing Abridged Edition

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9935005-6-5
eBook Coming

### A Daughter of the King

Mrs. Philip Barnes

Abridged edition

There are the usual misunderstandings in the small village of Royden, but one year they combine to cause serious friction. An elderly lady, the embodiment of kindness, is turned out of her favourite pew by the new vicar. Young and old residents start to view each other with suspicion when a banished husband returns, allegedly to harm his wife and children. Both Mary Grey and Elsa Knott want to marry Gordon Pyne, who lives in the white house. When Gordon's father returns, Gordon is accused of his murder. This is a very readable romance from 1909, with many twists and turns. It has been lightly abridged and edited.

White Tree Publishing Abridged Edition

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9954549-2-7
eBook Coming

### Rose Capel's Sacrifice

Margaret S. Haycraft

Abridged edition

Rose and Maurice Capel find themselves living in poverty through no fault of their own, and their daughter Gwen is dangerously ill and in need of a doctor and medicine, which they cannot possibly afford. There seems to be only one option -- to offer their daughter to Maurice Capel's unmarried sister, Dorothy, living in the beautiful Welsh countryside, and be left with nothing more than memories of Gwen. Dorothy has cut herself off from the family, so although Gwen would be well cared for, if she got better and Rose and Maurice's finances improved, would they be able to ask for Gwen to be returned? Another story from popular Victorian writer Margaret S. Haycraft.

White Tree Publishing Abridged Edition

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9954549-3-4

eBook Coming

### Secrets of the Oak Room

Marion E Forster

Abridged edition

It is 1902. Three fifteen-year-old boys meet on holiday at an old house on Dartmoor in Devon, where they hear talk of a haunted room that no one else in the house will enter. Joined by Rosie, the young sister of one of the boys, they set out to discover just what secrets the room holds. When one of the four disappears while exploring the house, and then another, it is clear that something serious has happened. One of the boys wants to enlist in the army when he is older, but in whose army will it be? Originally intended for younger readers, this story of secret passages and sinister men will also engage older readers who want to enjoy a past they never knew!

White Tree Publishing Abridged Edition

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9954549-5-8

## Books for Younger Readers

(and older readers too!)

### Mary Jones and Her Bible

An Adventure Book

Chris Wright

The true story of Mary Jones's and her Bible

with a clear Christian message and optional puzzles

(Some are easy, some tricky, and some amusing)

Mary Jones saved for six years to buy a Bible of her own. In 1800, when she was 15, she thought she had saved enough, so she walked barefoot for 26 miles (more than 40km) over a mountain pass and through deep valleys in Wales to get one. That's when she discovered there were none for sale!

You can travel with Mary Jones today in this book by following clues, or just reading the story. Either way, you will get to Bala where Mary went, and if you're really quick you may be able to discover a Bible just like Mary's in the market!

The true story of Mary Jones has captured the imagination for more than 200 years. For this book, Chris Wright has looked into the old records and discovered even more of the story, which is now in this unforgettable account of Mary Jones and her Bible. Solving puzzles is part of the fun, but the whole story is in here to read and enjoy whether you try the puzzles or not. Just turn the page, and the adventure continues. It's time to get on the trail of Mary Jones!

eBook ISBN: **ISBN: 978-0-9933941-5-7**

Paperback ISBN 978-0-9525956-2-5

5.5 x 8.5 inches

156 pages of story, photographs, line drawings and puzzles

### Pilgrim's Progress

An Adventure Book

Chris Wright

Travel with young Christian as he sets out on a difficult and perilous journey to find the King. Solve the puzzles and riddles along the way, and help Christian reach the Celestial City. Then travel with his friend Christiana. She has four young brothers who can sometimes be a bit of a problem.

Be warned, you will meet giants and lions -- and even dragons! There are people who don't want Christian and Christiana to reach the city of the King and his Son. But not everyone is an enemy. There are plenty of friendly people. It's just a matter of finding them.

Are you prepared to help? Are you sure? The journey can be very dangerous! As with our book Mary Jones and Her Bible, you can enjoy the story even if you don't want to try the puzzles.

This is a simplified and abridged version of Pilgrim's Progress -- Special Edition, containing illustrations and a mix of puzzles. The suggested reading age is up to perhaps ten. Older readers will find the same story told in much greater detail in Pilgrim's Progress -- Special Edition on the next page.

eBook ISBN 13: 978-0-9933941-6-4

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9525956-6-3

5.5 x 8.5 inches 174 pages £6.95

Available from major internet stores

### Pilgrim's Progress

### Special Edition

Chris Wright

This book for all ages is a great choice for young readers, as well as for families, Sunday school teachers, and anyone who wants to read John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress in a clear form.

All the old favourites are here: Christian, Christiana, the Wicket Gate, Interpreter, Hill Difficulty with the lions, the four sisters at the House Beautiful, Vanity Fair, Giant Despair, Faithful and Talkative -- and, of course, Greatheart. The list is almost endless.

The first part of the story is told by Christian himself, as he leaves the City of Destruction to reach the Celestial City, and becomes trapped in the Slough of Despond near the Wicket Gate. On his journey he will encounter lions, giants, and a creature called the Destroyer.

Christiana follows along later, and tells her own story in the second part. Not only does Christiana have to cope with her four young brothers, she worries about whether her clothes are good enough for meeting the King. Will she find the dangers in Vanity Fair that Christian found? Will she be caught by Giant Despair and imprisoned in Doubting Castle? What about the dragon with seven heads?

It's a dangerous journey, but Christian and Christiana both know that the King's Son is with them, helping them through the most difficult parts until they reach the Land of Beulah, and see the Celestial City on the other side of the Dark River. This is a story you will remember for ever, and it's about a journey you can make for yourself.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9932760-8-8

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9525956-7-0

5.5 x 8.5 inches 278 pages

Available from major internet stores

### Zephan and the Vision

Chris Wright

An exciting story about the adventures of two angels who seem to know almost nothing -- until they have a vision!

Two ordinary angels are caring for the distant Planet Eltor, and they are about to get a big shock -- they are due to take a trip to Planet Earth! This is Zephan's story of the vision he is given before being allowed to travel with Talora, his companion angel, to help two young people fight against the enemy.

Arriving on Earth, they discover that everyone lives in a small castle. Some castles are strong and built in good positions, while others appear weak and open to attack. But it seems that the best-looking castles are not always the most secure.

Meet Castle Nadia and Castle Max, the two castles that Zephan and Talora have to defend. And meet the nasty creatures who have built shelters for themselves around the back of these castles. And worst of all, meet the shadow angels who live in a cave on Shadow Hill. This is a story about the forces of good and the forces of evil. Who will win the battle for Castle Nadia?

The events in this story are based very loosely on John Bunyan's allegory The Holy War.

E-book ISBN: 978-0-9932760-6-4

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9525956-9-4

5.5 x 8.5 inches 216 pages

Available from major internet stores

### Agathos, The Rocky Island,

### And Other Stories

Chris Wright

Once upon a time there were two favourite books for Sunday reading: _Parables from Nature_ and _Agathos and The Rocky Island_.

These books contained short stories, usually with a hidden meaning. In this illustrated book is a selection of the very best of these stories, carefully retold to preserve the feel of the originals, coupled with ease of reading and understanding for today's readers.

Discover the king who sent his servants to trade in a foreign city. The butterfly who thought her eggs would hatch into baby butterflies, and the two boys who decided to explore the forbidden land beyond the castle boundary. The spider that kept being blown in the wind, the soldier who had to fight a dragon, the four children who had to find their way through a dark and dangerous forest. These are just six of the nine stories in this collection. Oh, and there's also one about a rocky island!

This is a book for a young person to read alone, a family or parent to read aloud, Sunday school teachers to read to the class, and even for grownups who want to dip into the fascinating stories of the past all by themselves. Can you discover the hidden meanings? You don't have to wait until Sunday before starting!

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9927642-7-2

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9525956-8-7

5.5 x 8.5 inches 148 pages £5.95

Available from major internet stores

eBook **Coming Soon**

### Secrets of the Oak Room

Marion E Forster

Abridged edition

It is 1902. Three fifteen-year-old boys meet on holiday at an old house on Dartmoor in Devon, where they hear talk of a haunted room that no one else in the house will enter. Joined by Rosie, the young sister of one of the boys, they set out to discover just what secrets the room holds. When one of the four disappears while exploring the house, and then another, it is clear that something serious has happened. One of the boys wants to enlist in the army when he is older, but in whose army will it be? This is an exciting story of secret passages and sinister men!

White Tree Publishing Abridged Edition

eBook only

ISBN: 978-0-9954549-5-8

Return to Table of Contents

