Our Bible Reading

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Apr 18, 1911

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 38, No. 16.

Our Bible Reading

The Holy Spirit

1. What did our Lord promise on His going away? If ye love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; even THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH; whom the world can not receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. John 14: 15-17.

2. How does God assure us of His willingness to give us that Spirit? And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 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? Luke 11: 9-13.

3. What will it give? Power.

4. What will that power do? But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be WITNESSES UNTO ME both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Acts 1: 8.

NOTE.—That Spirit will enable the sinner to overcome his sin; it will cleanse that sin away. It will crucify the flesh with its passions and lusts. Rom. 8: 13. And it will enable the soul to be a true witness for God.

5. What will it give? And hope putteth not to shame; because THE LOVE OF GOD hath been shed abroad in our hearts THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT which was given unto us. Rom. 5: 5.

6. What will love do for the soul? For this is THE LOVE OF GOD, THAT WE KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS: and His commandments are not grievous. 1 John 5: 3.

7. What else will it do? Write God's law in the heart. "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put My laws into their mind, and WRITE THEM IN THEIR HEARTS: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people." Heb. 8: 10.

8. How will the soul then regard the law? O how LOVE I THY LAW! it is my meditation all the day. Ps. 119: 97.

9. What are we admonished to do? Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. Zech. 10: 1.

NOTE.—It is time for God to pour out His latter rain, and He earnestly exhorts us to ask for rain in the time of the latter rain. Surely bearing in mind His promise we can ask in faith believing. The only thing that will hinder His Spirit from coming in is cherished sin.