Ever Increasing Faith - 11. What it means to be full of the Spirit
by Smith
Wigglesworth
Bible Reading-Acts 6.
In the days when the number of disciples began to be multiplied there
developed a situation which caused the twelve to make a definite decision not
to occupy themselves with serving tables, but to give themselves continually
to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. How important it is for all God's
ministers to be continually in prayer, and constantly feeding on the
Scriptures of Truth. I often offer a reward to anyone who can catch me
anywhere without my Bible or my Testament.
None of you can be strong in God unless you are diligently and constantly
hearkening to what God has to say to you through His Word. You cannot know the
power and the nature of God unless you partake of His inbreathed Word. Read it
at morn and at night, and at every opportunity you get. After every meal,
instead of indulging in unprofitable conversation round the table, read a
chapter from the Word and then have a season of prayer. I endeavor to make a
point of doing this no matter where or with whom I am staying.
The Psalmist said that he had hid God's Word in his heart, that he might not
sin against Him; and you will find that the more of God's Word you hide in
your heart, the easier it is to live a holy life. He also testified that God's
Word lead quickened him; and, as you receive God's Word into your being, your
whole physical being will be quickened and you will be made strong. As you
receive with meekness the Word, you will find faith upspringing within. And
you will have life through the Word.
The twelve told the rest to look out seven men to look after the business end
of things. They were to be men of honest report and filled with the Holy
Ghost. These were just ordinary men who were chosen, but they were filled with
the Holy Spirit, and this infilling always lifts a man to a plane above the
ordinary. It does not take a cultured or a learned man to fill a position in
God's church; what God requires is a yielded, consecrated, holy life, and He
can make of such a flame of fire. Baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire!
The multitude chose out seven men to serve tables. They were doubtless
faithful in their appointed tasks, but we see that God soon had a better
choice for two of them. Philip was so full of the Holy Ghost that he could
have a revival wherever God put him down. Man chose him to serve tables, but
God chose him to win souls. O, if I could only stir you up to see that as you
are faithful in performing the humblest office, God can fill you with His
Spirit and make you a chosen vessel for Himself, and promote you to a place of
mighty ministry in the salvation of souls and in the healing of the sick.
There is nothing impossible to a man filled with the Holy Ghost. It is beyond
all human comprehension. When you are filled with the power of the Holy Ghost,
God will wonderfully work wherever you go.
When you are filled with the Spirit you will know the voice of God. I want to
give you one illustration of this. When I was going out to Australia recently,
our boat stopped at Aden and at Bombay. In the first place the people came
round the ship selling their wares, beautiful carpets and all sorts of
oriental things. There was one man selling some ostrich feathers. As I was
looking over the side of the ship watching the trading, a gentleman said to
me, "Would you go shares with me in buying that bunch of feathers?" What did I
want with feathers? I had no use for such things and no room for them either.
But the gentleman put the question to me again, "Will you go shares with me in
buying that bunch?" The Spirit of God said to me, "Do it."
The feathers were sold to us for three pounds, and the gentleman said, "I have
no money on me, but if you will pay the man for them, I will send the cash
down to you by the purser." I paid for the feathers and gave the gentleman his
share. He was traveling first, and I was traveling second class. I said to
him, "No, please don't give that money to the purser, I want you to bring it
to me personally to my cabin." I said to the Lord, "What about these
feathers?" He showed me that He had a purpose in my purchasing them.
At about 10 o'clock the gentleman came to my cabin and said, "I've brought the
money." I said to him, "It is not your money that I want, it is your soul that
I am seeking for God." Right there he opened up the whole plan of his life and
began to seek God; and that morning he wept his way through to God's
salvation.
You have no conception what God can do through you when you are filled with
His Spirit. Every day and every hour you can have the divine leading of God.
To be filled with the Holy Ghost means much in every way. I have seen some who
have been suffering for years, and when they have been filled with the Holy
Ghost everything of their sickness has passed away. The Spirit of God has made
real to them the life of Jesus and they have been completely liberated of
every sickness and infirmity.
Look at Stephen. He was just an ordinary man chosen to serve tables. But the
Holy Ghost was in him and he was full of faith and power, and did great
wonders and miracles among the people. There was no resisting the wisdom and
the spirit by which he spake. How important it is that every man shall be
filled with the Holy Spirit.
Tongues and Interpretation: "The divine will is that you should be filled with
God; for the power of the Spirit to fill you with the mightiness of God. There
is nothing God will withhold from a man filled with the Holy Ghost."
I want to impress the importance of this upon you. It is not healing that I am
presenting to you-it is the living Christ. It is a glorious fact that the Son
of God came down to bring liberty to the captives.
How is it that the moment you are filled with the Holy Ghost persecution
starts? It was so with the Lord Jesus Himself. We do not read of any
persecutions before the Holy Spirit came down like a dove upon Him. Shortly
after this we find that, after preaching in His home town, they wanted to
throw Him over the brow of a hill. It was the same with the twelve disciples.
They had no persecution before the day of Pentecost; but after they were
filled with the Spirit, they were soon in prison. The devil and the priests of
religion will always get stirred when a man is filled with the Spirit and does
things in the power of the Spirit. And persecution is the greatest blessing to
a church. When we have persecution we will have purity. If you desire to be
filled with the Spirit you can count on one thing, and that is persecution.
The Lord came to bring division, and even in your own household you may find
three against two.
The Lord Jesus came to bring peace; and soon after you get peace within, you
get persecution without. If you remain stationary, the devil and his agents
will not disturb you much. But when you press on and go the whole length with
God the enemy has you as a target. But God will vindicate you in the midst of
the whole thing.
At a meeting I was holding, the Lord was working and many were being healed. A
man saw what was taking place and remarked, "I'd like to try this thing." He
came up for prayer and told me that his body was broken in two places. I laid
my hands on him in the name of the Lord, and said to him, "Now, you believe
God." The next night he was at meeting and he got up like a lion. He said, "I
want to tell you people that this man here is deceiving you. He laid his hands
on me last night for rupture in two places, but I'm not a bit better." I
stopped him and said, "You are healed, your trouble is that you won't believe
it."
He was at meeting the next night and when there was opportunity for testimony
this man arose. He said, "I'm a mason by trade. Today I was working with a
laborer and he had to put a big stone in place. I helped him and did not feel
any pain. I said to myself, `How have I done it?' I went away to a place where
I could strip, and found that I was healed." I told the people, "Last night
this man was against the Word of God, but now he believes it. It is true that
these signs shall follow them that believe, they shall lay hands on the sick
and they shall recover. And all through the power that is in the name of
Christ." It is the Spirit who has come to reveal the Word of God, and to make
it spirit and life to us.
You people who are seeking the Baptism are entering a place where you will
have persecution. Your best friends will leave you-or those you may esteem
your best friends. No good friend will ever leave you. But it is worth while.
You enter into a realm of illumination, or revelation by the power of the Holy
Ghost. He reveals the preciousness and the power of the blood of Christ. I
find by the revelation of the Spirit that there is not one thing in me that
the blood does not cleanse. I find that God sanctifies me by the blood and
reveals that efficacy of the work by the Spirit.
Stephen was just an ordinary man clothed with the divine. He was full of faith
and power, and great wonders and miracles were wrought by him. Oh, this life
in the Holy Ghost! this life of deep, inward revelation, of transformation
from one state to another, of growing in grace and in all knowledge and in the
power of the Spirit, the life and the mind of Christ being renewed in you, and
of constant revelations of the might of His power. It is the only kind of
thing that will enable us to stand.
In this life, the Lord puts you in all sorts of places, and then reveals His
power. I had been preaching in New York, and sailed one day for England on the
Lusitania. As soon as I got on board I went down to my cabin. Two men were
there, and one of them said, "Well, will I do for company?" He took out a
bottle and poured out a glass of whiskey and drank it, and then he filled it
up for me. "I never touch that stuff," I said. "How can you live without it?"
he asked. "How could I live with it?" I asked. He admitted, "I have been under
the influence of this stuff for months, and they say my `inside is all
shrivelled up,' and I know that I am dying. I wish I could be delivered, but I
just have to keep on drinking. Oh, if I could only be delivered! My father
died in England and has given me his fortune, but what will the good of it be
to me except to hasten me to my grave?"
I said to this man, "Say the word, and you will be delivered." He enquired,
"What do you mean?" I said, "Say the word, show that you are willing to be
delivered and God will deliver you." But it was just as if I was talking to
this platform for all the comprehension he showed. I said to him, "Stand
still," and I laid my hands on his head in the name of Jesus and cursed that
drink demon that was taking his life. He cried out, "I'm free! I'm free! I
know I'm free!" He took two bottles of whiskey and threw them overboard, and
God saved, sobered and healed him. I was preaching all the way across. He sat
beside me at the table. Previous to this he had not been able to eat; but at
every meal he went right through the menu. You only have to have a touch from
Jesus to have a good time. The power of God is just the same today. To me,
He's lovely. To me, He's saving health. To me, He's the lily of the valley. O
this blessed Nazarene, this King of kings! Hallelujah! Will you let Him have
your will? Will you let Him have you? If you will, all His power is at your
disposal.
They were not able to resist the wisdom and spirit by which Stephen spake, and
so, full of rage, they brought him to the council. And God filled his face
with a ray of heaven's light. It is worth being filled with the Spirit, no
matter what it costs. Read the seventh chapter, the mighty prophetic utterance
by this holy man. Without fear he tells them, "Ye stiffnecked and
uncircumcised in heart, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost." And when they
heard these things they were cut to the heart. There are two ways of being
affected at the heart. Here they gnashed their teeth and cast him out of the
city and stoned him. On the day of Pentecost, when they were pricked at the
heart they cried out, "What shall we do?" They took the opposite way. The
devil, if he can have his way, will cause you to commit murder. If Jesus has
His way, you will repent.
And Stephen, full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and
saw the glory of God, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. O,
this being full of the Holy Ghost! How much it means. I was riding for sixty
miles one summer day and as I looked up in the heavens I had an open vision of
Jesus all the way. It takes the Holy Ghost to give this.
Stephen cried out, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." As he was full of
the Spirit he was full of love, and he manifested the very same compassion for
his enemies that Jesus did at Calvary. This being filled with the Holy Ghost
means much in every way. It means constant filling, quickening, and a new life
continually. Oh, it's lovely! We have a wonderful gospel and a great Saviour!
If you will but be filled with the Holy Ghost you will have a constant spring
within, yea, as your faith centers in the Lord Jesus, from within you shall
flow rivers of living water.