Chapter 13

POWER TO PREVAIL

          In 1964, Eric Hoffer, the stevedore philosopher wrote "The Ordeal of Change." Included in it is the statement, "We are more ready to try the untried when what we do is inconsequential. Hence the remarkable fact that many inventions had their birth as toys." It is probably because of the deep roots of religious traditions that we have such a difficult time pulling them up to replace them with healthier growth. I am reluctant to censure too severely those who resist change. I know what a trying experience it was for me to come to a recognition of the vital role of the Holy Spirit in my life.

     I grew up in a circumscribed religious party whose members regarded it as the sum total of the kingdom of heaven upon the earth. To be outside of it was to be outside of Christ. Its constituency was composed generally of honest, hardworking and neighborly people. They became bitter and rude only in their defence of their opinions and interpretations of the meaning of the sacred scriptures. They sought to demonstrate their loyalty to the Father by attacking His other children who differed with them.

     The basis of such thinking and behavior, of course, is the philosophy of the grounds upon which we are related to God. The way we regard our brothers is determined by the way we regard the Father. If we are convinced that righteousness is by grace through faith we will act graciously. If we conclude it is by law we will spend our time laying down the law and arguing about its implications. The seeds of strife and dissension lie dormant in every legalistic system, awaiting only the proper conditions to produce the frightful fruits of division. Tragedy is the inevitable result when any group substitutes love of law for the law of love.

     I was delivered from the insecurity which is always created by legalism when I first became aware of the fact of the indwelling Spirit. Insecurity is the child of inadequacy. It is born of recognition that one can never be good enough to earn God's approval even while convinced that he must be. The only remedy for failure to measure up is to work harder while the intensification of effort makes the failure more apparent. The sublimity of truth is obscured by the sublimation of man.

     The burden is lifted the moment that one realizes that "there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." These walk not according to the flesh but the Spirit. Condemnation belongs to the fleshly walk, the carnal bias of existence. Those who walk after the Spirit start with that for which those who walk after the flesh always seek and can never attain. The hope of the saints is the hopelessness of the unreconciled.

     "No condemnation" is not the reward of those who are perfect, properly informed, or living up to all of the law flawlessly. It is the natural state of those who are in Christ. If one is not in Christ he is under condemnation, if he is in Christ he is not. He has passed from death unto life. He is a new creation. One is not saved because he is perfect, nor condemned because he is imperfect. It is his relationship to Christ Jesus which places him in a state of salvation or leaves him in a state of condemnation.

     In Christ Jesus the motivating principle is the Spirit of life. It is this rule of action which makes one free from the law of sin and death. One who is free is no longer a slave. He has no obligation to a former master. He need not listen to him. He need not pay attention to him. He is no longer a debtor to him. It was the majesty of the revelation that the Spirit had broken the ties which bound me to sin and death, which started me on the real road to joy and happiness. I no longer had to prove I was justified. The fact of the indwelling Spirit was the proof. His presence was God's validating seal.

     I would not want to leave the impression that I learned all about the Spirit's provision for me in a flood of light. The knowledge came slowly. It is not complete even now although years have passed. I am still growing in grace and knowledge of the truth. Life remains a voyage of discovery. The acceptance of the Spirit's blessings was made more difficult at first by my reluctance to recognize the Spirit as their source. I had always been taught that one received from God what he deserved. It was a real and tremendous switch to acknowledge that it was precisely because of acknowledgment that you were undeserving that God could enrich you.

     The meaning of grace comes with difficulty to one who regards God's covenant as a legalistic document. To divest oneself of his carefully fabricated way of life sustained by works of righteousness and to trust absolutely in the unmerited goodness of another to receive him without merit is a heady thing. It is like divesting yourself of all your clothing and stepping out on the promise of another that he will provide you a garment to cover your nakedness. A former legalist is always afraid that grace will turn out to be a dream and he will find himself on a downtown street without a stitch on and no place to hide.

     A lot of people sing about grace who neither understand nor mean what they sing. This does not particularly bother them for there seems to be an idea that if ignorance or equivocation is set to music it will not count. A congregation can lustily belt out all kinds of promises, but if they are set to four-four time, no one expects to keep them. It now seems incongruous for an audience to stand and sing "Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt," just before a preacher mounts the platform to "lay down the law" and make everyone feel a heavier burden of guilt. But we used to sing songs about grace and then make it appear that the real function of grace was to provide a written code which we must keep meticulously or be damned forever.

     A legalist is one who postulates that righteousness comes by absolute conformity to a written code. Every legalist must be inconsistent in order to survive. He must engage in casuistry and self-deception to live with himself. If he once sat down and logically carried his thinking to a conclusion, his own heart would condemn him until he would be driven to insanity or suicide. It is for this reason he must engage in all kinds of little tricks and strategems, and develop all kinds of little subterfuges. A legalist always wears a mask. No one ever sees him as he really is, not even those who seem to be most intimate with him. Legalism makes for life behind a closed door. Grace is life in the sunshine.

     Perhaps I was dragged into the sunshine gradually and reluctantly. Nothing is more frightening than to be set free after you have spent your entire life in the gloom of a prison. This is especially true when one has decorated his cell to suit himself and make himself believe that it is not he who is in prison but those on the outside. He is safe while they are in constant danger. One does not need to worry about associating with "the wrong people" if he is locked in a cell. He is not torn inwardly by having to make decisions. He does not need to be anxious about the things which trouble the heathen, or say, "What shall I eat? what shall I drink? what shall I wear?"

     The thing about grace and life in the Spirit which frightens a lot of folk is the fact that grace creates personal responsibility. We are not given a program of little acts to be performed as "worship." Instead, we come to realize that everything we do in word or deed is done to the glory of God in the name of Jesus Christ. We do not have an institutional calendar of events which we must attend or be on a divine blacklist. There is no organizational determination of priorities. In fact, grace does not abandon one if he is shipwrecked upon a desert isle, and resume its relationship when he can "start attending services" again.

     The most awesome thing about the whole divine grace-faith concept is its absolute individuality. This means that when my life goes askew I have no one else to blame. In a legalistic framework it is easy to find a scapegoat. I can confess my sins over the head of someone else and send him out of sight to bear my guilt. The preachers are just out after money, the elders are in a conspiracy for power, the congregation is made up of hypocrites, the sermons are "Mickey-mouse" types, the whole thing is organized, ritualized and paralyzed, until it cannot be energized. Everyone of these accusations might be true and not affect the grace of God one iota. I cannot say, "Grace has failed, therefore my obligation is ended." No one has ever found a means for experiencing grace while serving the devil with a clear conscience. Even in a moment of fleshly gratification he will hear the distant bay of the hound of heaven and know that he is on his trail.

     Life in a legalistic camp is always one of weakness. There is no power to deliver one from frustration, disappointment, or futility. It is like being sentenced to a life of hard labor, under the surveillance of guards who make you produce or go into exile. Frequently the instructors are weaker than those whom they teach, and the weary prisoners are served up doses of the same religious and traditional fare, in a monotonous repetition which destroys the will to believe and the desire to reason.

     One of the first things which caught my attention when I was extricated from the web of law and led to see the working of divine love in the provision of the Spirit was the association of the word "power" with the indwelling Spirit. I should have expected this, knowing that the Spirit was the other Helper. A powerless helper would need help. A tow-truck with a battery so weak it would not start would accomplish nothing in helping stranded motorists.

     The Greek language was rich in words for power. There was dunamis, inherent power or ability. There was exousia, delegated power, the right or authority to exercise power. There was ischus, strength or power as an endowment. There was kratos, manifested or governing power. There was energeia, operative power. William Barclay aptly calls it "divine power in action." With such an array, it is not too much to say that God's revelation is "power-packed" and that we operate by Spirit-propulsion. We are propelled, not pushed.

     The two words which truly fascinate me in this list are dynamis and kratos. The first has been transliterated to become our English words dynamo, dynamic and dynamite. The second appears in such combined forms as democracy, or autocracy. But it is the first which is generally used in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. A good example of it is found in its two appearances in Romans 15. In one of these the apostle credits "the power of the Holy Spirit" as one of the means by which Christ wrought through him to win obedience from the Gentiles. It is interesting that in this instance as related in verse 19 he distinguishes between "the power of signs and wonders" and "the power of the Holy Spirit."

     It seems plain from the sacred scriptures that the power of the Holy Spirit may be exercised without resorting to signs and wonders, and the mere appearance of signs and wonders does not indicate the exercise of the power of the Spirit (2 Thessalonians 2:9). It is doubtful that anyone is led to obey Christ by human ingenuity alone. It is Christ working through human instrumentality and by the power of the Holy Spirit who wins obedience from the Gentiles or any other group. Any theory of effective evangelism which leaves out Jesus, men, or the Spirit, is lacking in a vital essential.

     Not only are men won by the dynamic of the Spirit, but those who are won abound in hope by the same power. In verse 15 the apostle says, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope." God is the author of hope. One who does not recognize the God of hope will never experience the hope of God. Joy and peace are directly related to hope. One who is hopeless will also be joyless and unsettled. God can fill us with all joy and peace in believing because He is the God of hope.

     The Holy Spirit has the power to take joy, peace and faith, with which we are filled and energize them until we not only possess hope but actually abound in it. To have an abundance means to have an overflowing amount. One who is filled with hope above and beyond the normal or expected cannot be discouraged or depressed. Hope sweeps away all thought of inferiority and refuses to entertain even a thought of doom or gloom. It stands at the door of the heart and refuses admission to such negative thinking. The indwelling Spirit is God's dynamo. He enables us to do what we are called to do.

     As I look back upon my life before I became conscious of the abiding Spirit it seems to me that my weakness manifested itself in three ways. First, there was a lack of real incentive. It was not that I did not believe that Jesus was who He claimed to be. I was wholly convinced that He was Lord. I had no doubt that He had been raised from the dead and was actually seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

     I read the Bible and accepted it as a revelation from above. I defended its authenticity and integrity. I attended the assemblies of the saints with whom I was identified, and often went out of a sense of duty when I was so tired I could hardly sit through the proceedings. I was so regular in my attendance that my brethren in the church called me "faithful," and those out of it thought of me as "a religious nut" and later as "a Jesus freak." Still there was something missing, an absent ingredient.

     When I read about the life of the disciples as described in Acts, it seemed there was a quality about it which my own life did not exhibit. I wanted to recapture whatever it was which made them live so vibrantly and die so joyously. After I learned the glorious secret, everything I had ever read fell into place automatically. The friction was gone. The abrasiveness no longer "rubbed me raw" on the inside. And the secret was simply to quit trying so hard and turn the whole thing over to the Spirit. As the apostle wrote to the Galatians, whom he addressed as "cheerful idiots" according to J. B. Phillips, "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit" (Galatians 5:25).

     It makes a great deal of difference if you are "flying by the seat of your pants" as early operators of small planes described the experience of piloting small aircraft by one's own feeling and sensitivity, or with someone in the control tower. As soon as I became convinced from reading the "handbook for pilots of single engine aircraft" that there was a co-pilot who never had a wreck and couldn't ditch one because the name of the manufacturer was at stake I "wanted to take her up." I have been flying high ever since. And I am conscious of His presence. I want to live for Christ. I want to share with the saints. I want to go with God.

     Probably the one passage which describes how I feel, and which always comes to mind when I am thinking in this vein is Colossians 1:11, 12, "May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light." All power! Glorious might! All endurance! There's nothing humdrum about that kind of life. And it is such a life for which you will be motivated by the Spirit.

     I think another manifestation of weakness was found in my lack of ability to chart a single overwhelming purpose in my life and adhere to it regardless of external factors. I knew what the Bible taught about stability and satisfaction in Jesus and I was not about to shift from my foundation on the Rock. But I had all kinds of dreams of what I could do and would like to do. In fact, I thought of so many things, I hardly did anything consistently and persistently. I could not translate any specific dream into reality.

     One becomes frustrated when he sees life drifting by while he is standing still. He tries to imagine he is moving. It is a little like being on a train on a sidetrack when another passes you on the mainline. You have a fanciful notion that it is your train which is in motion until the other clears your vision and you realize you are immobile and rooted to the same spot. I often sat down and meditated about how meager my feeble accomplishments were and how few lives I had really touched.

     When I came to a recognition of the dynamic of the Spirit who abides within I sensed almost immediately what I had been lacking. I had enlisted in a war for world conquest and was trying to prosecute it without any well-defined personal strategy. No war on earth has been successfully waged without a strategy. A great field general does not merely send up trial balloons. He does not commit his troops at random. Probing actions are in order only if they are part of a strategic approach leading toward victory.

     My whole approach to life has changed. The Spirit enabled me to "put it all together." After long weeks of prayer for help and guidance I began to see what my part in God's "purpose which he set forth in Christ" should be. I took stock of my gifts and assets, and assessed my liabilities which had hindered and thwarted my progress. I dropped some tactics which I felt would be detrimental in the long-run, and adopted others which seemed more adapted to the kind of battle in which I was engaged.

     You can hardly imagine what a difference it makes to project a long-range plan, sufficiently flexible that it can be altered to meet changing conditions. One has to take into account the intrigues of the enemy, and also the attacks of those who should be fighting with him, but who are frequently moved by jealousy and envy to exert more hostility than those against whom there has to be an open declaration of war. It is exciting to be a commando for Christ.

     No soldier is ever apathetic when pinned down by enemy fire. The best cure for indifference or unconcern is to crawl across No Man's Land at night with flares bursting above the lighting up the landscape. The reason why so many of us react as we do is because we were baptized into a rest and recreation camp and have never smelled the smoke of battle except in a skirmish with some of the brethren in a business meeting over the color of the aisle carpet in the new meetinghouse. I thank God that He has delivered me from childish quarrels over trivia and sent me into the frontline trenches with the "bombs bursting in air."

     The third weakness which plagued me in the days when I thought the Holy Spirit was something which inspired the apostles and then went into hiding, was my lack of perseverance. It was a lot easier to start things than to see them through to the end. I suspect we labored under the misapprehension that if we could come up with the right gadget we could convert the world. We developed tract programs, visitation programs, special meeting programs and a lot of other programs. We were going to program the world into Christ. Any program seems successful at first because you hit it with all you have. It soon becomes apparent that it is not going to bear the fruit you expected to pluck, and if you possess a "program mentality" you must quickly swing into another.

     The fascinating thing about the spread of the Good News in the first century is that it was done without any of the things we consider so essential in our generation. The early saints had no printing-presses, duplicating devices, tracts or bulletins. They owned no church buildings, homes for the aged, or missionary headquarters. There were no ministerial offices, church secretaries or telephones. There were no automobiles, planes, trains or buses. Yet the message went out to the ends of the world and was heard by every creature under heaven.

     It would appear while a lot of things we value so highly are helpful there is an internal dedication to the Cause which they can neither replace nor displace. One can never be unaware, as he reads the book of Acts, that the source of real power among those who first accepted Jesus as the Messiah consisted of their prayers and their being filled with the Holy Spirit. Their prayers were for boldness in the proclamation. Every child of God testified of his faith. They that were scattered abroad by intense persecution went everywhere preaching the Word.

     A recognition of the empowering of the Spirit banished from my mind any thought of defeatism. The idea of "throwing in the towel" or of "climbing out of the ring" was gone forever. I could see that the concept of success, as the world looks at that delusive term is not in the word of God. We are not required to be a success but to be faithful. If we are faithful to the end we are successful. One of my real weaknesses had been human ambition for attainment, recognition, and acclaim. All of these are unworthy and no one will ever experience inward peace until the Spirit scoops all of them out of his heart and pours it full of the love of God.

     When I quit trying to sell God on plans and devices which I had borrowed or drummed up, and got on his wavelength where I could commune with Him, and literally placed my eager desires in His hand, things began to happen. One thing which impressed me greatly was the beautiful prayer of Paul for the saints at Ephesus as recorded in Ephesians 3:14-19.

     Here I learned that it was possible for me to be strengthened with might through the Spirit of God in the inner man. This was a grant of God, and it was according to the riches of His glory. I had once applied for a grant to enable me to continue in school but I was rejected. There were certain restrictions and qualifications which barred me as a recipient. But God's grants are not made on the basis of our worth but because of the worthiness of His Son in whom we place our trust and to whom we submit our lives. It is because we have no merit which deserves His grace that it is made possible unto us.

     The more I thought about those three pulsebeats of power the more I became convinced that God wanted me to be victorious. Strengthened with might! Through the Spirit! In the inner man!. What a trio of dynamic terms to be linked together in a person like myself. Sinful but forgiven. Fleshly but spiritual. Weak but powerful. Poor but wealthy. I threw myself in His arms and knew that here was safety, security and salvation.

     Of course, it did not stop with that. I came to experience what it meant that Christ could dwell in my heart by faith. As if it were not enough that I could be strengthened with might in the deep recesses of my being, my blessed Lord would also abide in my heart. It was thus I was led to see that while faith is the belief of testimony it becomes vital when it leads one to embrace the object of that testimony. It is not enough to recognize and admit the veracity of those statements concerning our Lord. It is a fact that He was born in Bethlehem of Judea. It is a fact that He died on the cross. It is a fact that He was raised from the dead. These are facts to be defended and attested against all challengers. They are historical and can be substantiated as any other fact of history.

     But the ultimate Fact to which all of these must lead is that I am His and He is mine. That Fact, which is demonstrable only by a transformed life is personal. Jesus is the Alpha and Omega. He is the beginning and the end. He is the first and the last. Just as one cannot spell a word with a letter before "a" and after "z" so there is no life before He enters and none after He departs, if we reject Him. Thus, all faith leads to the merging of my life into His until "It is not I who live but Christ who lives in me." I would as soon try to live without a heart as to try to live without Jesus in my heart.

     I learned what it meant to be "rooted and grounded in love." Roots have to do with living things--with shrubs and trees. The word "grounded" has to do with building foundations. It makes a great deal of difference in the life of trees to have the proper soil into which the roots can penetrate. A large horticultural firm in the area in which I live set out hundreds of apple trees to create an orchard to which people might drive and pick their own fruit for a modest price. The place selected looked like a very poor location to the uninformed but a company survey revealed that it had the right soil mix to give substantial strength to growing trees. It was explained that the roots had something to grip. It is amazing to many visitors from outside of New York City to see so many towering skyscrapers built so close to one another as they are on Manhattan Island. One man from the prairies of the Kansas wheat belt exclaimed, "I can't understand what keeps the place from getting top heavy and turning over on its side." The secret is that the island is almost solid rock. It is a proper foundation for huge structures.

     The human personality is both a living organism and a growing structure. Without proper footing survival is impossible. In a world colored by sin trials of every kind are certain to come. Storms will beat against us. Disappointments will batter our hearts. The only foundation which can possibly survive is love--the love that God is! And that love is not something we develop. It is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Filled with that love one can only be victorious!

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