WHY WE DO NOT ENJOY MORE OF THE SPIRIT.
By George Ide Butler
THAT there is a great dearth of spiritual power among God's professed people in this age, few will deny. We seem to have reached the time of which Paul speaks, when the “form of godliness” prevails largely, and the “power thereof” is the exception. We are in the “perils” of the last days. And there is no one feature of these “days” so forcibly described in 2 Tim. 3: 1–9 more dangerous than the one just mentioned,—the prevalence of the “form” and the absence of the “power” of godliness. This “power” of godliness must come wholly from the possession of the Spirit. It is God working with our poor weak human efforts. This renders them effectual for the accomplishment of good results. Man's efforts alone can never convert a soul. He never can eradicate one sin from the heart. The fountain is corrupt, and will continue to send forth impure streams till the Spirit of God cleanses that fountain. Many struggle long and weary years in their own strength to gain victories over their own wicked hearts, and always fail, until discouragement seizes them, and they give up all hope of improvement. If they would come humbly to the foot of the cross, and fall broken at the feet of Jesus, one touch of his finger could impart strength which would fill their hearts with courage and peace, and then they would have a kind of strength which would surprise them, and they could gain victories over their own carnal hearts which would make them feel like new creatures indeed. One has recently said that anciently “one sermon converted three thousand persons, while now it takes three thousand sermons to convert one person.” There is too great a measure of truth in this. Why is it? Because of the great lack of this element in modern preaching. The apostles preached “not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” In these days there is ten times the effort made to succeed with “enticing words of man's wisdom,” that there is to get the Spirit and power of God to help do the work. Hence we see but little done, and that little but poorly done. Many souls that might be reached are not affected, and those whose hearts are touched a little are not half converted to God, but are principally converted to the preacher. If ever there was a people who needed the power of God's Spirit, we need it. We have an unpopular truth, carrying with it a heavy cross. God's great platform of truth for the last days, upon which his people must stand, embraces “the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ,” and hence it includes every neglected duty and every forgotten truth of revelation. These are to be fearlessly proclaimed amid the skepticism and terrible wickedness of the last days, opposed by formal professors, scientific infidelity, the general corruption of the times, and the agents of Satan's grandest delusion, which, if possible, “will deceive the very elect.” Every opposing influence will combine to hinder and thwart God's work, yet it must go to “peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.” As well might a flock of sheep undertake to subjugate a pack of hungry wolves as we, unaided by the Spirit of God, to successfully contend with the powers of evil around us. What could the early disciples have done contending with the hoary superstitions of the past without it? But with it they carried the torch of heavenly light everywhere. They counted not their own lives dear, if they might win souls to Christ. That Spirit filled them with a power which their enemies could not withstand. It will fill us, if we have enough of it. But situated as we are, surrounded by formality, having seen, many of us, but little of the power of God manifest, having been trained up in the midst of cold, lifeless professors, and exposed all our lives to influences tending naturally to deaden our faith, it takes a great effort to arouse us to seek with true and living faith for blessings we have not been accustomed to consider it possible for us to obtain. God will not give us blessings for which we do not seek. If we are satisfied with, and only expect, very limited blessings, we shall not be likely to obtain more than we seek for. Hence we are liable to live on a very low spiritual plane. Thus all the tendencies of the age are calculated to make us satisfied with “the form of godliness without the power” of it, while we are in the greatest possible need of this power to do the work we have to do. Here we are in special danger of the perils of the last days, and much in danger of not realizing it. Could we but realize the blessings a real spiritual experience would bring to us, we should seek for such an experience earnestly, because its blessings would be so desirable. We should seek it on the same principle that worldly men labor so hard for riches, honor, worldly fame, or other earthly good. Men will risk life to obtain these. They go to the most distant parts of the earth, work in mines deep under water or on mountain heights, toil through desert plains, suffer burning thirst, frosts, and untold hardships, to obtain them. Why? Because they seem to them so desirable. Could we be made to feel the same interest in the Spirit's presence that men feel in obtaining these, we would seek for it with proportionate earnestness. Most of us do not feel that it is very important that we obtain it. We think we can get along pretty well with our own ability and shrewdness, if we do not have much of God's Spirit, and hence we do not so seek that we may obtain. If we really do not value the presence of God's Spirit as much as we do other things, he surely will not bestow it largely upon us. To his Son God gave his Spirit without measure, i. e., in unlimited fullness; but to us he gives it by measure (John 3: 34), just in proportion to the desire we have for it, and the faithfulness with which we live out his truth. What a beautiful and forcible thought this is of God's measuring out his Spirit to us in the ratio of our appreciation of it, and the efforts we make to obtain it. James, in speaking of a class of professors who really loved the world more than God, says, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your pleasures” (margin). James 4: 3. God knew that these really desired his Spirit, not to make them useful in saving souls, but merely to make them feel happy for the time being. The motive was not right. Many, no doubt, fail of obtaining its assistance for this reason. What will the Spirit do for us if we have its constant presence with power?—It will reprove and convince of sin. John 16: 8. It will enlighten the understanding. John 14: 26. It will implant heavenly desires in our hearts. Rom. 5: 5. It enables us to put away our sins, and to keep the law of God. Rom. 8: 4. It enables us to become children of God, and witnesses our adoption. Rom. 8: 14–16. It makes intercession for us, and helps our infirmities. Rom. 8: 26. It is a helper in the ministry, and in the thorough conversion of those we seek to save. 1 Cor. 2: 4, 5. It brings to our minds the glories of the better world. 1 Cor. 2: 9, 10. It comforts the hearts of believers, and brings a peace that passes all understanding. John 14: 16. It makes us the true disciples of Christ, and is to us the pledge of our future resurrection, and the agent which accomplishes that great work. Rom. 8: 9, 11; Eph. 1: 13. Surely here are objects of sufficient importance to prompt to the most active efforts. God gives his Spirit to them “that obey him.” Nothing can take the place of obedience. Obedience is the best test of our love that we could possibly give. Nothing pleases the parent better than willing obedience. So of God. He gives his Spirit to such as have that mind in them, and the Spirit enables us to obey. We are in great danger of grieving the Holy Spirit away from us, when it does visit us in mercy. “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Our great danger is, that when God blesses us with the presence of the Comforter, and our hearts are full of peace and joy, and every burden of anguish is removed away, then we become careless, lightness and trifling follow, and we thus grieve the Holy Spirit from us. We should make use of this great blessing to do good. We should be grateful for it, and thank God for all his benefits, and watch ourselves closely that we sin not with our lips. We should cultivate a spirit of watchfulness. “Watch, pray, and work are the Christian's watchwords.” Never were truer words spoken. To sum up the matter, we want first to take a thoughtful, careful view of the importance of the Spirit's influence, and to learn what it will do for us and enable us to do for others. If we could realize this, how we should long for its presence. Then we should pray for it with some sense of its real value. “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him.” He is ready to bestow it, when we realize its true value. We should watch, then, lest we grieve it from us by folly, or by disobeying God. We should use the blessings he gives us to do others good, and constantly seek him for a larger measure of his help. What a power we could be as a people if we were clothed with the Spirit of God. As a people, we lack here more than in anything else. Let us all seek for the Holy Spirit more earnestly. GEO. I. BUTLER.