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THE K I NG ’ S BUSI NESS
January, 1942
does not. One temple has light, and life, and joy within, while the other temple is black with sin and Satan’s presence. It is not easily admitted, particularly by those who avoid the grosser sins and feel they live on a higher moral plane than do most of their associates, that these temples are inhabited, if not by the H o l y Spirit, then by the evil spirit—Satan. The Holy Spirit seals each individual who accepts Christ, making that one a member of the Body of Christ so that he forever belongs to Him. It is impossible to accept the Son and to refuse the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:9). II. INDWELLING (Rom. 8:10,11). In Romans 8 we have a picture of the true Christian life. This life is possible to every one of God’s chil dren. God not only gives the com mandment, but also gives the power through His Spirit to obey and obtain victory. It is a life not in the flesh, but in the Holy Spirit where we not only see the beauty of the law of God, but where the Spirit Himself im parts power to keep it. III. VICTORY. The indwelling Holy Spirit leads us into holy living. We still have the “flesh,” but we do not liv.e after it: we “through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body” (v.. 13). We walk after the Spirit and do not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5:16). It is our privilege in the Spirit’s power to get daily, hourly, constant victory over the flesh and over sin. But this vie- tory is not in ourselves, not in any •strength of our own. Left to ourselves, deserted of the Spirit of God, we would be helpless as ever. It is still true that in us, that is, in our flesh, dwelleth no good thing (cf. Rom. 7:18). Victory is all in the Spirit’s power. % The Spirit’s power may be in such fullness that one is not conscious even of the presence of the fleshly nature— it seems dead and gone—but the car- nal- nature is kept in the place of death only by the Holy Spirit’s power. If we try to take one step in our own strength, we fail; we must live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit if we would have victory (Gal, 5:16-25). Sometimes quarrymen find a very hard kind of rock, so hard that they cannot split it with iron wedges • driven into little grooves by h e a v y sledge hammers. Failing in this, they substitute little wooden wedges of a hard fiber. These sharp-edged, well-made wooden wedges are f i r s t soaked in water. -Then they are put in the grooves tightly while wet, and water is kept in the grooves. The water and the wedges are left to do their work. The damp Wood swells. The granite heart of rock cannot stand against this new pressure. It
takes longer than iron wedges and sledge, but after a while the rock yields and lies split wide open. The water works on the wood, and that in turn on the stone. The iron wedges sometimes fail, but the wood and water never fail. It seems to be a part of our make-up to make plans, and to count on the plans; and plan ning does much. We do not want to plan less, but to learn to depend more in our planning on the soft, noiseless, but resistless power of the Holy Spirit. i For the Leader 1. The Holy Spirit is.a divine Per- son worthy of our adoration, our faith, and our love (Rom. 8:11). 2. The Holy Spirit is a personal Be ing, holy and tender, who is to get hold of us and use us (Acts 1:8; 1 Cor. 2 : 10 , 11 ). 3. We must .know the Holy Spirit as a Person, gracious in influence, an ever-present, 'loving Friend and Help er. Do We in our real thought of Him, or in our practical attitude toward Him, treat Him as a Person? Do we regard Him as indeed as real a Person as Jesus Christ—as loving, wise, and strong, as worthy of our confidence and love and surrender, as He? He came tQ be to the disciples, and to us, what Christ had been to them during the days of His personal companion- ship with them. NOTE: Hymns on the subject of the Holy Spirit and His work are list- ed topically in most hymnals and can be used as poetry or music to enrich the program of the meeting. FEBRUARY 15, 1942 H OW DOES THE HOLY SPIRIT W OR K T O D A Y ? J ohn 16:7-11 By Richard W . Hightower Introduction “A Christian mother had just kissed good-night to her little daughter, and was busy in the dining room arrang ing the table for dinner, when she heard little feet on the stair. Won dering what was the matter, she slip ped into the window recess and hid herself behind the curtains and waited. Presently the little one came into the room, and going straight up to some peaches that were on the table, she took one of them away with her! Oh, the agony in that m o t h e r heart! She did not speak to her child, but standing where she was, she spoke to God her Father, and asked Him so fervently to speak to her child. God heard that cry, and in a little while the sound of the pattering feet was heard on the stair again. »The child came into the room, not know-
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