p. 5 | POWER FOR WITNESSING by A. F. Ballenger

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 25, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 43.

POWER FOR WITNESSING.

By A. F. Ballenger

Whence Comes the Power?—What Have You to Tell? Power Misused—Power over Sin.

"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."

Reader, have you received this power for witnessing? If not, are you seeking this power? Have you sought, but sought in vain? Are you really anxious to receive the Holy Ghost and thereby become a powerful witness for Christ?

What do you know that you are so anxious to receive power to tell? A witness tells only what he knows. Do you become impatient when sorely tempted? If so, do you want power to tell this "to the uttermost parts of the earth"? Are you proud, or envious, or jealous, or selfish, or ambitious, or quarrelsome, or faultfinding? Are you given to evil surmising or evil speaking? Do you love the world? Do you love worldly pleasures? Are you a slave to appetite or lust? Do you think unclean thoughts? Do you love this world's goods? Are you covetous? Are you given to jesting or foolish talking? Are you headstrong or self-willed? Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation from all these things. Do you know Him as such? If not, what have you to tell that you are so anxious that God should give you witnessing power, or power to tell?

Don't you think you have power enough already to publish your weaknesses to the world? If the Lord should give you the power of the Holy Ghost for witnessing, while you know so little of His power to save, you would become a powerful witness against Him. Power would bring you into prominence. And just in proportion as you were brought into prominence, just in that proportion would that enslaving, besetting sin of yours be brought into prominence; and just in that same proportion would you become a powerful false witness, bearing testimony against Christ and His promise "to save to the uttermost."

The Lord gave Solomon great power when he was humble; and Solomon became a witness for God unto the uttermost parts of the earth. "And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart." 1 Kings 10:24. But when Solomon sinned, all the earth heard of his sin, and he became the most powerful witness in "all the earth" against the Lord. There were many other idolaters in Israel in the time of Solomon, but their power for evil did not compare with that of Solomon. Should the Lord baptize you with power from on high while your character was weak at any point, it would simply result in advertising that weakness to the world.

First, Fullness of Victory.

Therefore it is plain that no one can share in the "latter rain," or the power of the Holy Ghost for witnessing, until he knows in his own life the victory over every besetting sin. Fullness of victory, then fullness of witnessing power. Something to tell, then power to tell it.

The Holy Ghost came upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost, not to persuade them to put away their self-seeking and their differences—this the Spirit had already accomplished in them. Peter did not spend the Pentecostal morning in confessing his denial of Christ, his lying, and his profanity. This work of repentance the Spirit had already accomplished in Peter. The very first thing that Peter did after the witnessing power came upon him, was to begin witnessing of what he already knew of the power of God.

"Well," says some one, "if these are the qualifications necessary for receiving the Holy Ghost, I am afraid it will be a long time before I receive the witnessing power. I have been struggling for years to overcome my besetting sins, and if I get on no faster in the future, it will be years before I receive that power, if I ever do. But you can get on faster. You have been trying to gain the victory by the long-time process of evolution. Give up the theory of evolution and accept the Bible doctrine of creation. "He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast." Let Him speak to you, and have it done, and done so it will stand fast. Once Christ spoke to a man and said, "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee." He did not say, Taper off by the process of evolution through a long series of years, lest a worse thing come upon thee, but, "Sin no more." He speaks these same words to you, and He wants you to believe His Word, and thereby be miraculously delivered from your sinning. Did you think it was necessary for you to taper off, or sin a little in order to keep you from becoming exalted? Did you think you would have to fall into that same old sin occasionally in order that you might receive the grace of forgiveness? "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" Rom. 6:1, 2. "Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you." Verses 11-14.

Reader, stop right here and ask God in faith to break the dominion of sin over you. You can get the victory over every sin of which the Spirit has convinced you, in just the time it takes you to believe that God tells the truth where He says that sin shall not have dominion over you. "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Mark 11:24.

Hasten and get the victory. Hasten and get something to tell, and then you can ask God for power to tell it—for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. A. F. BALLENGER.