Prayer and Promises

THE PROMISE 

When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

— Acts 4:31, NKJV

THE TESTIMONY 

How little can men do in the work of saving souls, and yet how much through Christ, if they are imbued with his spirit! The human teacher cannot read the hearts of his hearers; but Jesus dispenses the grace that every soul needs. 

The Holy Spirit must be the living agency to convince…and as the truth is brought in contact with the souls present, Christ wins them to himself, and works to transform their nature.

When one is fully emptied of self, when every false god is cast out of the soul, the vacuum is supplied by the inflowing of the Spirit of Christ. Such a one has the faith which works by love and purifies the soul. 

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God.”

Those who have this spirit will be earnest laborers together with God; the heavenly intelligences co-operate with them, and they go weighted with the spirit of the message of truth which they bear. 

Now we must pray as never before for the Holy Spirit to be more abundantly bestowed upon us, and we must look for its sanctifying influence to come upon the workers, that the people for whom they labor may know that they have been with Jesus and learned of him. 

When God’s people humble the soul before him, individually seeking his Holy Spirit with all the heart, there will be…faces aglow with the love of God, there will be lips touched with holy fire, saying, “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 

When the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the early church, “the whole multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.” The Spirit of Christ made them one. 

Jesus longs to bestow the heavenly endowment in large measure upon his people. Prayers are ascending to God daily for the fulfillment of the promise; and not one of the prayers put up in faith is lost. 

— The Home Missionary, November 1, 1893

THE RESPONSE

When fully emptied of self, when every false god is cast out of the soul, the vacuum is supplied by the inflowing of the Spirit of Christ.

Pray as never before for the Holy Spirit to be more abundantly bestowed upon us. 

Humble the soul before Him, individually seek His Holy Spirit with all the heart. 

Pray daily for the fulfillment of the promise.