The Abundant Power J. McConkey

“…ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you,” said Christ to His disciples. And their lives straightway became a neverceasing record of mighty deeds done in the power of the Spirit. “Stephen,” we are told, “full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people” (Acts 6:8).

Charles G. Finney, entering a mill, was so filled with the power of the Spirit that the operatives fell upon their knees in tears before the mere presence of the evangelist, ere he had uttered a word. At a camp-meeting where the most learned and eloquent sermons had utterly failed to move men to repentance, the whole congregation broke down in tears of conviction and penitence under the quiet words of an unassuming man who spoke manifestly filled with the Spirit. A word, a prayer, an earnest appeal, a song that would fall otherwise unheeded, goes home to the heart, filled with some subtle power when issuing from a Spirit-filled life.

Moody testifies that never until he knew the fullness of the Spirit did he know the fullness of God's power in his preaching, but after that his preached words never failed of some fruitage. Neither is the power of the abundant life confined to the preaching of God's word.

God gives to some power in prayer; to others power in testimony; to others power in song; to others power in suffering and affliction. Every soul that knows the Spirit's abounding life is touching other lives with power whose full scope and intensity he will never know until the Lord comes to reward.

Nor is the fullness of the Spirit limited to abundant love, peace and power. It is a life, too, of abundant joy, for the joy of the Lord is our strength; of abundant long-suffering, girding us with patience under trials that we never could otherwise endure; of abundant gentleness, as Christ's own gentleness takes possession of us; of abundant goodness, abundant faith, abundant meekness, abundant self-control. That it is not meant for apostles, or ministers, or missionaries, or teachers only, but for all of God's children is clear, “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off…” (Acts 2:39).