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Spirit Given on Condition, May 25
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?
Luke 11:13
.
Christ has promised the gift of the Spirit to His church, and the promise
belongs to us as much as to the first disciples. But like every other promise,
it is given on conditions. There are many who believe, and profess to
claim the Lord’s promise; they talk about Christ and about the Holy Spirit,
yet receive no benefit. They do not surrender the soul to be guided and
controlled by the divine agencies. We cannot use the Holy Spirit. The
Spirit is to use us. Through the Spirit, God works in His people “to will
and to do of his good pleasure.”
Philippians 2:13
. But many will not
submit to this. They want to manage themselves. This is why they do not
receive the heavenly gift. Only to those who wait humbly upon God, who
watch for His guidance and grace, is the Spirit given....
There is no limit to the usefulness of one who, putting aside self, makes
room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon his heart, and lives a life
wholly consecrated to God....If His people will remove the obstructions,
He will pour forth the waters of salvation in abundant streams through
human channels....
The Spirit furnishes the strength that sustains striving, wrestling souls
in every emergency, amid the unfriendliness of relatives, the hatred of
the world, and the realization of their own imperfections and mistakes. A
union of divine and human endeavor, a close connection first, last, and
ever, with God, the source of all strength—this is absolutely necessary.
To Jesus, who emptied Himself for the salvation of lost humanity,
the Holy Spirit was given without measure. So it will be given to every
follower of Christ when the whole heart is surrendered for His indwelling.
Our Lord Himself has given the command, “Be filled with the Spirit,” and
this command is also a promise of its fulfillment. It was the good pleasure
of the Father that in Christ should “all the fulness” dwell; and “in him ye
are made full” (
Colossians 2:9, 10
, R.V.).
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