August 2017
very much absorbed in the desire for wealth just as
much so as any greedy millionaire.
5) Power is lost through pride
This is the subtlest and most dangerous of all
the enemies of power. I am not sure but that more men
lose their power at this point than at any of those
mentioned thus far. There is many a man who has not
consciously gone back upon his consecration. He has
not allowed sin in the sense of conscious doing of that
which God forbade, but still he has failed. Pride has
come in. He has become puffed up because of the
very fact that God has given him power and used him,
puffed up, it may be, over the consistency and
simplicity and devotion of his life, and God has been
forced to set him aside.
“God resists the proud, and gives grace to the
humble” (1 Pet 5:5). The man who is puffed up with
pride and self-esteem cannot be filled up with the
Holy Spirit. Paul saw this danger for himself. God
saw it for him, and “lest [he] be exalted above
measure through the abundance of the revelations,
there was given to [him] a thorn in the flesh, the
messenger of Satan to buffet [him], lest [he] should
be exalted above measure” (2 Cor 12:7).
How many men have failed here! They have
sought God's power, sought it in God's way and it has
come. Men have testified of the blessing received
through their word, and pride has entered and been
indulged, and all is lost.
If God is using us at all, let us get down very
low before Him. The more He uses us the lower let us
get.
6) Power is lost through neglect of prayer
It is in prayer especially that we are charged
with the energy of God. It is the man who is much in
prayer into whom God's power flows mightily. John
Livingston spent a night with some Christians in
conference and prayer. The next day, June 21, 1630,
he so preached at the Kirk of Shotts, that the Spirit fell
upon his hearers in such a way that five hundred
could either date their conversion or some
remarkable confirmation from that day forward. This
is but one instance among thousands to show how
power is given in prayer.
Virtue or power is constantly going from us, as
from Christ (Mark 5:30), in service and blessing; and
if power would be maintained, it must be constantly
renewed in prayer. When electricity is given off from
a charged body it must be recharged. So must we be
recharged with the Divine energy, and this is effected
by coming into contact with God in prayer.
Many a man whom God has used has become
lax in his habits of prayer, and the Lord departs from
him and his power is gone. Are there not some of us
who have not today the power we once had, and
simply because we do not spend the time on our faces
before God that we once did?
7) Power is lost through neglect of the Word
God's power comes through prayer; it comes
also through the Word (Psa 1:2-3; Josh 1:8). Many
have known the power that comes through the
regular, thoughtful, prayerful, protracted meditation
upon the Word. But business and perhaps Christian
duties have multiplied, other studies have come in,
the Word has been in a measure crowded out, and
power has gone. We must meditate daily, prayerfully,
profoundly upon the Word if we are to maintain
power. Many a man has run dry through its neglect.
I think the seven points mentioned give the
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