V v q Y
HOW TO OVERCOME SPIRITUAL POVERTY
by Douglas C. Hartley
I F today ’ s C hristians are not all gloriously experi encing the fulness of the Holy Spirit, the lack does not lie with God. Quite possibly it will be found in one of four human sources: (1) Willful choice of a mundane existence; (2) spiritual laziness in claiming God’s most precious gift after salvation; (3) so much carnality within, that we remain “ children . . . carried away by every wind of doctrine”. (Eph. 4:14) ; (4) Lack of pro vision for systematic “ edifying of the body of Christ” for which pastors and teachers are given (v. 12). Whatever the cause, that the unimpeded operation of the Third Person of the Godhead in the lives of all the redeemed was to be as natural a result of the fin ished work of Christ on Calvary as the new birth itself, is clearly stated by Jesus, Luke 11:13 : “ 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?” And if this were not enough, our Lord promised, “ I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever” (John 14:16). How earnestly the prophets and other godly stal warts of the Old Testament desired God’s Spirit in all fulness! While they were always given His assurance that He would be with them in every service required, we are told in 1 Peter 1:10, 11 that the grace of a com plete, continuous filling of the Spirit should only come after the shedding of Christ’s blood for sinners of all time. How the Old Testament saints longed to be in our place of preferential blessing! From the prayers of Peter and John that the Samaritan Christians might receive the Holy Ghost (Acts 8:15), and Paul’s inquiry of the Ephesians, “ Have ye received the Holy Spirit since ye believed?” (Acts 19:2), it is obvious that our lack today is both unnatural and appalling in the sight of God. Possibly a brief look at what the Holy Spirit enabled Old Testament and early church saints to accomplish for the Lord, as they “ quit (themselves) like men” (1 Cor. 16:13), will create a real desire for Holy Spirit experi ence in these latter, momentous days when His dynamic power is so essential to restore the “ first works” of a largely apostate church : THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY Like the Pharisees, all too often we are surprised, and secretly just a little disturbed, by the manner in which the Holy Spirit sometimes works. It was no dif ferent in Moses’ day. In Numbers, on his complaint of the burden of a lustful and ungrateful people, the Lord God commanded Moses to select seventy elders. He would take of the spirit Moses had and put it on them (v. 17). And “when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease” (v. 25). 14
But two of the seventy, Eldad and Medad, did not go up to the Tabernacle with the people, but remained in the camp, no doubt to pray. “ And the spirit rested upon them, and they prophesied in the camp” (v. 26). God met them where they were! Whereupon a young man ran and told Moses. Joshua, Moses’ servant and later to succeed him, said: “My lord Moses, forbid them” (evidently they had not been authorized by the local assembly). “ And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord’s peo ple were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them” (vv. 28, 29). ALL GLORY TO GOD Evidently unsuspected by Joseph, God saw his great capacity for spiritual things, ordering his life even to permitting the hatred of his brethren, that he was sold into Egypt, the place where God could use him. Immediately he found favor and prospered. “ And his master saw that the Lord was with him, . . . and made all he did to prosper. And he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand” (Gen. 39:2, 3, 6). Wrongfully imprisoned, Joseph found the king’s butler and baker upset because none could interpret their dreams. Did Joseph immediately exclaim, “Why I can do that for you?” No! He asserted, “ Do not inter pretations belong to God?” When Pharoah also heard of Joseph and asked him to interpret a dream that all Egypt’s wisemen could not unfold, Joseph again wit nessed to the Spirit of God: “ It is not in me. God shall give Pharoah an answer of peace” (Gen. 41:16). FORGOTTEN VOWS AND LOST POWER Even the unpredictable Samson had God’s hand upon him. The angel of the Lord announced to his mother, hitherto barren, that he was to be born, would be a Nazarite from birth, and would “ begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines” (Judges 13:3-5). “ And the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan” (w . 24b, 25). Of Samson, Matthew Henry says, “When God gives blessing, He gives His Spirit to qualify for the bless ing. . . . The Spirit moved him . . . as the wind blows, when he listed, to show that what he did was not of himself, for then he could have done it at any time.” The Philistines came to fear Samson and sought to kill him, but because of God’s Spirit he always pre vailed, and he judged Israel in the days of the Philis tines twenty years. And then he met and sought to please an evil woman, rather than God. How subtle is the evil one, and how often we see mighty men of God shorn of His Spirit’s power, as Samson was. Like many another, Samson thought he
> i
>
THE KING'S BUSINESS
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker