wasn’t enough water to turn the big wheel. How foolish it would be for him awkwardly to try to push it around. It would be the height of folly to call in neighbors to help him make it move. What he would need would be to go up the creek and re move the obstructing debris which clogged the channel, and get the wa ter flowing. If I may “change horses in the middle of the stream,” using the figure of air instead of water, our Lord said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.” The Spirit was not yet given at that time, because Jesus was not yet glo rified. Here again, however, we have the giving and the receiving. Have you ever looked at a large electric sign with some of the letters out, or quivering because some poor connection was worn out? Some churches are like that, either out or rather shaky in their testimony. They are not plugged in to the socket of divine power. There must be openness toward God. We are hearing a great deal today that the church needs to get out of its sanctuary and into the world.. This is no new idea. The Lord Him self said, “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” The trouble is, we try to send some people out be fore they are ready to go. We are activists and always want to be do ing something. It is erroneous to think that if we can get enough church members out doing some thing, this will solve the problem. There always must be a personal experience with God. We must tarry with the Lord in our deep breathing exercises. Dr. A. W. Tozer said that he once read a book on deep breathing. He did very well with his exercises until he got all tangled up reading the instructions. Finally he quit his ex ercising because of the confusion in volved. A good many books on “how 4
to be filled with the Spirit” remind me of this. Some confuse more than clarify the issue. In 1887, Dr. F. B. Meyer at the Keswick Convention in England, worn from long seasons of praying to be a spiritual Christian, testified, “I climbed a little hill and said, ‘Lord, I’m too tired to think or to feel or to pray intensely.’ But it seemed as though a voice said to me, ‘As you took Me for forgiveness long ago, take the Holy Spirit for power and testimony. According to your faith, be it unto you.’ I said in return, ‘Lord, as I breathe this whiff of air, so I breathe thy Holy Spir it.’ ” Just as physically we grow short of breath these days, going through life by gasps, we need to ex ercise our full spiritual lungs. Too many Christians today have spiritual emphysema. We live by gasps when the Lord would have us breathe deeply from His bountiful supply. Going from church to church, I see pastors, Sunday school teachers, educational directors, music leaders and laymen all out of breath. There is no regular devotional life, no mo- ment-by-moment appropriation of the living Christ for each need. Get out of the smoggy air of this world. You need not live in the polluted atmos phere. Pray as the hymn-writer sug gests: “Breathe on me, Breath of God, Fill me with life anew, That I may love what Thou dost love, And do what Thou wouldst do. “Breathe on me, Breath of God, Until my heart is pure, Until with Thee I will one will, To do and to endure.”
The ability to 'peak in several languages is valuable, but the privilege to keep your mouth closed in one is sometimes priceless.
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