Ever Increasing Faith - 7. Our Risen Christ
by Smith
Wigglesworth
Read the fourth chapter of
Acts.
Today we praise God for the fact that our glorious Jesus is the risen Christ.
Those of us who have tasted the power of the indwelling Spirit know something
of the manner in which the hearts of those two disciples burned as they walked
to Emmaus with their risen Lord as their companion.
Note the words of verse 30, "And when they had prayed, the place was shaken."
There are many churches where they never pray the kind of prayer that you read
of here. A church that does not know how to pray and to shout will never lie
shaken. If you live in a place like that you may as well write "Ichabod -the
glory of the Lord has departed"-over the threshold. It is only when men have
learned the secret of prayer, of power, and of praise, that God comes forth.
Some people say, "Well, I praise God inwardly," but if there is an abundance
of praise in your heart, your mouth cannot help speaking it.
There was a man who had a large business in London who was a great
church-Boer. The church he attended was beautifully decorated, and his pew was
delightfully cushioned-just about enough to make it easy to sleep through the
sermons. He was a prosperous man in business, but he had no peace in his
heart. But there was a boy at his business who always looked happy. He was
always jumping and whistling. One day he said to this boy, "I want to see you
?n my office." When the boy was in his office he asked him, "How is it that
you can always whistle and be happy?" "I cannot help it," answered the boy.
"Where did you get it?" asked the master. "I got it at the Pentecostal
mission." "Where is that?" The boy told him, and the next thing was, that the
man was attending. The Lord broke him up there, and in a short while he was
entirely changed. One day, shortly after this, he found that, instead of being
distracted by his business as he formerly had been, he was actually whistling
and jumping. His whole position and his whole life had been changed.
The shout cannot come out unless it is in. There must first be the inner
working of the power of God. It is He who changes the heart, and transforms
the life, and before there is any real outward evidence there must be the
inflow of divine life. Sometimes I say to people, "You weren't at meeting the
other night." They reply, "Oh yes, I was there in spirit." I say to them,
"Well, come next time with your body also. We don't want a lot of spirit here
and no bodies. We want you to come and get filled with God." When all the
people will come and pray and praise as did these early disciples there will
be something doing. People who come will catch fire and they will want to come
again. But they will have no use for a place where everything has become
formal, dry, and dead.
The power of Pentecost as it came at first came to loose men. God wants us
free on every line. Men and women are tired of imitations; they want reality;
they want to see people who have the living Christ within, and are filled with
Holy Ghost power.
I received several letters and telegrams about a certain case, but when I
arrived I was told I was too late. I said, "That cannot be. God has never sent
me too late anywhere." God showed me when I went that something different
would happen to anything I had seen previously. The people I went to were all
strangers. I was introduced to a young man who lay helpless, and for whom
there was no hope. The doctor had been to see him that morning and had
declared that he would not live through the day. He lay with his face to the
wall, and when I spoke to him he whispered, "I cannot turn over." His mother
said that they had had to lift him out of bed on sheets for weeks, and that he
was so weak and helpless that he had to stay in one position.
The young man said, "My heart is very weak." I assured him, "God is the
strength of thy heart and thy portion forever. If you will believe God, it
shall be so today."
Our Christ is risen. He is a living Christ who indwells us. We must not have
this truth merely as a theory, Christ must be risen in us by the power of the
Spirit. The power that raised Him from the dead must animate us, and as this
glorious resurrection power surges through your being, you will be freed from
all your weaknesses and you will become strong in the Lord and in the power of
His might. There is a resurrection power that God wants you to have and to
have it today. Why not? Receive your portion here and now.
I said to these people, "I believe your son will rise today." They only
laughed. People do not expect to see signs and wonders today as the disciples
saw them of old. Has God changed? Or has our faith waned so that we are not
expecting the greater works that Jesus promised? We must not harp on any minor
key. Our message must rise to concert pitch, and there must be nothing left
out of it that is in the Book.
It was winter time, and I said to the parents, "Will you get the boy's suit
and bring it here?" They would not listen to the request, for they were
expecting the boy to die. But I had gone to that place believing God. In
Romans 4:17, we read of Abraham, "(I have made thee a father of many nations,)
before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth
those things which be not as though they were." God help us to understand
this. It is time people knew how to shout in faith as they contemplate the
eternal power of our God to whom it is nothing to quicken and raise the dead.
I come across some who would be giants in the power of God but they have no
shout of faith. I find everywhere people who go down even when they are
praying simply because they are just breathing sentences without uttering
speech, and you cannot get victory that way. You must learn to take the
victory and shout in the face of the devil, "It is done!" There is no man who
can doubt if he learns to shout. When we know how to shout properly, things
will be different, and tremendous things will happen. In verse 24 we read,
"They lifted up their voice with one accord." It surely must have been a loud
prayer. We must know that God means us to have life. If there is anything in
the world that has life in it, it is this Pentecostal revival we are in. I
believe in the Baptism of the Holy Ghost with the speaking in tongues, and I
believe that every man who is baptized in the Holy Ghost will speak in other
tongues as the Spirit gives him utterance. I believe in the Holy Ghost. And if
you are filled with the Spirit you will be superabounding in life-living
waters will flow from you.
At last I persuaded the parents to bring the boy's clothes and lay them on the
bed. From the natural viewpoint, the young man lay dying. I spoke to the
afflicted one, "God has revealed to me that, as I lay my hands upon you, the
place will be filled with the Holy Ghost, the bed will be shaken, you will be
shaken and thrown out of bed by the power of the Holy Ghost, you will dress
yourself and be strong." I said this to him in faith. I laid hands on him in
the name of Jesus and instantly the power of God fell and filled the place. I
felt helpless and fell flat on the floor. I knew nothing except that a short
while after the place was shaken, I heard the young man walking over me and
saying, "For Thy glory, Lord! For Thy glory, Lord!"
He dressed himself and cried, "God has healed me." The father fell, the mother
fell, and another who was present fell also. God manifested His power that day
in saving the whole household and healing the young man. It is the power of
the risen Christ we need. That young man is today preaching the gospel.
For years we have been longing for God to come forth, and, praise Him, He is
coming forth. The tide is rising everywhere. I was in Switzerland not long
ago, preaching in many places where the Pentecostal message had not been
heard, and today there are nine new Pentecostal assemblies in different places
going on blessedly for God. All over the world it is the same, this great
Pentecostal work is in motion. You can hardly get to a place now where God is
not pouring out His Spirit on hungry hearts. God has promised to pcur out His
Spirit upon all flesh, and His promises never fail. Our Christ is risen. His
salvation was not a thing done in a corner. Truly He was a man of glory who
went to Calvary for us, in order that He might free us from all that would mar
and hinder, that He might transform us by His grace, and bring us out from
under the power of Satan into the glorious power of God. One touch of our
risen Christ will raise the dead. Hallelujah!
Oh, this wonderful Jesus of ours! He comes and indwells us. He comes to abide.
He it is who baptizes us with the Holy Ghost, and makes everything different.
We are to be a kind of firstfruits unto God and are to be like Christ who is
the firstfruit, walking in His footsteps, living in His power. What a
salvation this is, having this risen Christ in us. I feel that everything else
must go to nothingness, helplessness and ruin. Every thought of advantage for
ourselves must be on the decrease in order that Christ may increase, that we
may live in another state, where all things are under the power of the Spirit.
Dare you take your inheritance from God? Dare you believe God ? Dare you stand
on the record of His Word? What is the record? If thou shalt believe thou
shalt see the glory of God. You will be sifted as wheat. You will be tried as
though some strange thing tried you. You will be put in places where you will
have to put your whole trust in God. There is no such thing as anyone being
tried beyond what God will allow. There is no temptation that will come, but
God will be with you right in the temptation to deliver you, and when you have
been tried, He will bring you forth as gold. Every trial is to bring you to a
greater position in God. The trial that tries your faith will take you on to
the place where you will know that the faith of God will be forthcoming in the
next test. No man is able to win any victory save through the power of the
risen Christ within him. You will never be able to say, "I did this or that."
You will desire to give God the glory for everything.
If you are sure of your ground, if you are counting on the presence of the
living Christ within, you can laugh when you see things getting worse. God
would have you settled and grounded in Christ, and it is only as you are
filled with the Holy Ghost that you become steadfast and unmoveable in Him.
The Lord Jesus said, "I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I
straitened till it be accomplished." He was assuredly straitened in the way,
at Gethsemane, at the judgment hall, and, after that, at the cross, where He,
through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God. God will take
us right on in like manner, and the Holy Spirit will lead every step of the
way. God led Him right through to the empty tomb, to the ascension glory, to a
place on the throne; and the Son of God will never be satisfied until He has
us with Himself, sharing His glory and sharing His throne.