August 2017
once used. Sin has crept in. They have done that
which God has told them not to do, or they have
refused to do that which God bade them do, and the
power of God has been withdrawn. The one who has
known God's power in service and would continue to
know it, must walk very humbly before Him. He
must be listening constantly to hear what God bids
him do or not do. He must respond promptly to the
slightest whisper of God.
If we would continuously know the power of
God we should go often alone with Him at the close
of each day at least, and ask Him to show us if any sin,
anything displeasing in His sight, has crept in that
day, and if He shows us that there has, we should
confess it and put it away then and there.
3) Power is lost again through self-indulgence
The one who would have God's power must
lead a life of self-denial. There are many things which
are not sinful in the ordinary understanding of the
word 'sin,' but which hinder spiritually and rob men
of power. I do not believe that any man can lead a
luxurious life, overindulge his natural appetites,
indulge extensively in dainties, and enjoy the fullness
of God's power.
The gratification of the flesh and the fullness of
the Spirit do not go hand in hand. “The flesh lusts
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh:
and these are contrary the one to the other” (Gal
5:17). Paul wrote, “I keep under my body, and bring it
into subjection” (1 Cor 9:27. Note also Ephesians
5:18).
We live in a day when the temptation of the
indulgence of the flesh is very great. Luxuries are
common. Piety and prosperity seldom go hand in
hand, and in many a case, the prosperity that piety
and power have brought has been the ruin of the man
to whom it has come. Not a few ministers of power
have become popular and in demand. With the
increasing popularity has come an increase of pay
and of the comforts of life. Luxurious living and
“costly apparel” have come in, and the power of the
Spirit has gone out.
If we would know the continuance of the
Spirit's power, we need to be on guard to lead lives of
simplicity, free from indulgence and surfeiting, ever
ready to “endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus
Christ” (2 Tim 2:3). I frankly confe ss I am afraid of
luxury not as afraid of it as I am of sin, but it comes
next as an object of dread. It is very subtle but a very
potent enemy of power. There are devils today that
“goes not out but by prayer and fasting” (Matt
17:21).
4) Power is lost through greed for money
It was through this that a member of the original
apostolic company, the twelve whom Jesus Himself
chose to be with Him, fell. The love of money, the
love of accumulation, got into the heart of Judas
Iscariot, and proved his ruin. “The love of money is
the root of all evil” (1 Tim 6:10), but one of the
greatest evils of which it is the root, is that of the loss
of spiritual power.How many a man there is today
who once knew what spiritual power was, but money
began to come. He soon felt its strange fascination.
The love for accumulation, covetousness, the love
for more, little by little took possession of him. He
has accumulated his money honestly; but it has
absorbed him, and the Spirit of God is shut out, and
his power has departed.
Men who would have power, need to have the
words of Christ, “Take heed, and beware of
covetousness” (Luke 12:15), written large and
engraved deep upon their hearts. One does not need
to be rich to be covetous. A very poor man may be
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