IN WORD AND IN POWER

Posted under Uncategorized on April 14th, 2007 by with no responses 

I Thessalonians 1:5 “For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost.”

Revelation 3:1 “I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”

These verses might be disturbing for they evidently teach that the message of the gospel may be received in either of two ways: in word only, without power; or in word with power. When the “word is received with power” it effects a change so radical as to be called a new creation. But the message may be received without power, and apparently some have so received it, for they “have a name to live and are dead.”

As an athlete uses a ball, so do many of us use words: words spoken and words sung, words written and words uttered in prayer. We throw them swiftly across the field; we learn to handle them with dexterity and grace; we build reputations upon our word skill and gain as our reward the applause of those who have enjoyed the game. But the emptiness of it is apparent from the fact that after the pleasant religious game no one is basically any different from what he had been before. The basis of life remain unchanged, the same old principles govern, the same old Adam rules.

I have NOT said that religion WITHOUT power makes NO changes in a man’s life, only that it makes NO FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCE.

Water may change from liquid into vapor and still be fundamentally the same. So powerless religion may put a man through many surface changes and leave him exactly where he was before. Right there is where the snare lies. The changes are in form only, they are not in kind. Behind the activities of the non-religious man and the man who has received the gospel without power lie the very same motives. An unblessed ego lies at the bottom of both lives, the difference being that the religious man has learned better to disguise his vice. His sins are refined and less offensive than before he took up religion, but the man himself is not a better man in the sight of God. Selfishness still throbs like an engine at the center of his life. The man who has received the Word without power has trimmed his hedge, but it is still a thorn hedge and can never bring forth the fruits of the new life. Yet such a man may even be a leader in the Church and his influence and vote may go far to determine what religion shall be in his generation. Wherever the Word comes without power its essential content is missed.

Jesus told the woman at the well (John 4:24) “God is a Spirit and must be worshiped in spirit and in truth.” While it is never possible to have the Spirit without at least some measure of truth, it is, unfortunately, possible to have the shell of truth without the Spirit.

We must take time to CONSIDER, WAIT, BE STILL BEFORE HIM IN MEDITATION AND PRAYER.

We must truly know Him, and that takes time, Job says “How little a portion is known of Him.” Oh, to wonder at and worship Him for His character, perfections and works.

Once I should have considered such thoughts to be mere metaphysical bric-a-brac without practical meaning for anyone in a world such as ours. Now I recognize them as sound and easy-to-grasp truths with unlimited potential for our benefit.

Failure to get a right viewpoint in the beginning of our Christian lives may result in weakness and sterility for the rest of our days.

May not the inadequacy of much of our spiritual experience be traced back to our habit of skipping through the corridors of the kingdom like children through the marketplace, chattering about everything, but pausing to learn the true value of nothing.

In my creature impatience I am often caused to wish that there were some way to bring modern Christians in a deeper spiritual life painlessly by short, easy lessons; but such wishes are vain. No shortcut exists. God has not bowed to our nervous haste nor embraced the methods of our machine age. It is well that we accept the hard truth now: The man who would know God must give time to Him. He must count no time wasted which is spent in the cultivation of His acquaintance. He must give himself to prayer and meditation.

The eternal God must be more than a text in a book, an idea in our head. The true Christian will crave to know God with vital awareness that goes beyond words and to live in the intimacy of personal communion. While the Bible is absolutely essential as the revelation of our God, we must plumb the depths and reach to the heavens for the “life” of those words. For many in the church, God may simply be entombed in a book. No, we must see with our own eyes, and hear with our own ears, and our own hands must handle the Word of Life.

(Don’t just glance at this and lay it aside, give some time and serious thought to what Mr. Tozer has said. Give yourself to prayer over it for yourself and the Church. Judge your own life in light of this message. Then turn again to deep and prayerful consideration of God Himself as He is revealed in the Word and His “handiwork”. Pray for the Holy Spirit to do His true office work daily in you. JCS)

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