A discovery of “I am,” or being, with even the slightest sense of the power hidden therein, brings us to the second step-I can. Here is the revelation of possibility. The first vocation of personality is expression. So in the new life one naturally desires to act or do. Since I am, I can. Let us refresh our hearts with a few texts which suggest possibility:
“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).
“I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5).
“Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth” (Mark 9:23).
The new life, throbbing and pulsating in the heart of a Christian, motivated by a love for the Lord, seeks expression. That is quite normal and correct. Usually, the feeling of what can be done is not commensurate with the real task, but the young Christian does not know that. He is flushed and nearly overwhelmed with the idea of service and all the new and grand things he can do.
May I help you? Too often the usual procedure is for one to tackle the task as well as to attempt to live the new life in the power of his own natural strength and spirit. Since he is not doing anything wicked (as his code of ethics would state) he feels justified in the exercise and use of his “will power” and natural gifts.
Of course this meets with failure and defeat. And God allows it to be so. There is also a discovery of the duality of nature. He finds he is still in the natural, the man he was born and yet the new life is there and he is a new creature also. His difficulty is trying to carry over into the new state, the technique and apparatus of the old life. They are good and proper where they belong. Since it is not wicked or vile, as he counts it, it must be good and so should serve. But there is a revelation yet to come to him. The new life cannot be lived under the power of the old spirit, the human or the natural. He must discover that the old self-life, its spirit, strong will, good endeavor and self-discipline are the mechanics, as it were, of the natural life and cannot carry the soul to a victorious life or accomplish the spiritual ministry which God desires of that soul. There must be a divine intervention and equipment. And we find this very clearly stated in the Word.
Do you not remember Christ’s teaching in the manifesto of the kingdom life? He leads the soul through the ideal revelation and then, as a climax, gives the dynamic for its realization. It would have been perfectly cruel and senseless for Christ to establish an order and preach the ideal and then leave the poor soul struggling with an old, broken down life and spirit, to make the life He desires a reality. He is not so cruel and mocking. He gives freely the dynamic for the life.
“If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Ghost to them that ask him?'' (Luke 11:13).
“And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49).
“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).
We need the inner re-enforcement of our moral nature with this heavenly dynamic. I am not now speaking of the new birth-the reception of the new life. I am speaking of the necessary power to make the new life a reality. The natural man is barren of this power-it is a divine gift. No doubt most of you who read this book are familiar with teaching concerning the necessity of the power of the Holy Spirit in the Christian life-first to live and then to serve.
May I help you further? Usually the teaching concerning the power of the Holy Spirit has centered upon one phase of the new life, that of service. No doubt that is due to the fact that to do is much easier than to be. The gift of the Holy Spirit in Pentecostal power was not so much that they might do supernatural things as it was the dynamic of the new life. It was and is the power of God for living.
The outpouring at Pentecost did so much that was revolutionizing and corrective. The whole kingdom complex which they had developed and which rested upon a materialistic concept of life, passed into eclipse after this heavenly visitation of power. Nowhere, after Pentecost, do we find them asking for or mentioning the kingdom. Their attention had been marvelously shifted from a material hope to a new life and outlook. Instead of sharing, as they had hoped, in a material kingdom, they had become the vehicles of a new regime or order. They were the charter members of the Church-a mystery hidden until this hour. The gift of the Holy Spirit was not so much for the service to be rendered ( it did that), but it was to be the dynamic of the new order. It was this element of life, triumphant and victorious, in the face of evil, pressure, persecution and the threatening of life, that characterized the early Church. They were aware of the revolutionizing, centralizing and focusing power of the Holy Spirit in such fashion that it became a living testimony to the whole world. The escape mechanisms which were showing themselves because of disappointed hearts totally disappeared. But what did happen?
We find their discordant and unrelated elements, hazy or partial concepts of truth, were wonderfully focused and related to one divine Person-their living Lord, the Christ. They were conscious of life and a personal living contact by way of the Holy Spirit to a Person-this made the new life an actual possibility. They lived.
Let us look at Luke 9:1: “Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.” According to this word they were already familiar with service and had power for the same. He was not talking about receiving power to go out and do things for Him. Too long the emphasis has been upon the thought of service rather than upon the word, witness. The mighty baptism at Pentecost was to give them power to be or to become a witness. Service is only one phase of witnessing. Christ, according to Rev. 1:5, is called “the faithful witness;” and again in Rev. 3:14 “the faithful and true witness.” That is, He had come from God to a lost, sinful and perishing world as a true and faithful witness of God in the midst of all the loss, ruin and failure. He had faithfully done all that was required of the faithful witness and was now going home. But God will never be without a witness in the world so now Christ places His Church, the Mystical Body, as a witness to Him as He had been the Great Witness for God. And as the whole manifestation of His witnessing had been under the dynamic of the Holy Ghost SO the new order, the Church, His Mystical Body, is to function under the same power. His whole life (not only the signs and miracles) was a glorious and most complete and satisfying witness.
Let us look a little more carefully at this word, witness. It is from a Greek word, martus, meaning martyr. How suggestive! A martyr is one who by his death bears witness to the truth of the Gospel, one put to death for his religion. This does not necessarily mean the actual, physical death of the body. It may include that. The early Church composed of spirit filled and baptized members became a witness to Christ in the world, but not all suffered actual physical death. However, the real meaning force and deeper spiritual significance of the word still holds good. To really become a witness to Him and fulfill the meaning of the word we will come to understand that witness still means death. We die that we might live and thus become witnesses to Him. The whole life is a witnessing or process of divine manifestation of Christ through the human instrument. This witnessing life is only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore He gives us this wonderful word as encouragement, lest we faint when we become conscious of human limitations. I like to think of the natural life, as a martyr, dying out to all things, that there be a clear witness of Christ to the world. We may serve and do, 0 so much, teaching, talking, preaching, coming and going and have quite a manifestation of service, but not very much witnessing of Jesus' life, where we have died and passed out of the picture. The truth as it is in Christ will slay the natural and even the good natural religious man, if he will let it. That is why truth is such a dangerous thing-the truth sets us free and lets Christ live in us.
It was the general testimony of their changed lives from helplessness and despair, to a radiant display of courage and living contact with a risen Lord that moved the unbeliever and skeptic. I do not suppose that all of them possessed supernatural gifts, but all could live the Spirit-filled life.
I was amused at a conversation which I overheard at a camp meeting one day. A Christian who was zealous for all Christians to enjoy the Spirit-filled life, was arguing the point with a Christian farmer. He kept saying to the farmer, “You need the baptism for service, brother, for service.” But the farmer had no call for service upon him and he kept saying, “Yes, but I am not called to any special service of public ministry. I am only a plain farmer and see but few people and have but little contact with others.” And so they reasoned together. The one wanted to be true to a slogan: “The baptism is for service,” and hence revolved about that point. Had he been taught the Word and not a slogan, he might have helped the farmer to a place of seeking. He should have known that the gifts are for service-of course operated by the Holy Spirit. He might have helped the farmer to see that the gift of the Holy Spirit in such a baptism was not only for gifted service but for life to be demonstrated in the pattern of a farmer. The farmer needed the fullness of the Spirit to correctly live the Christian life-not to do miracles, but to live and become by that “an epistle read and known of all men.”
So that slogan, instead of helping, was a direct hindrance. Use God’s Word and plan and line up with His purpose and you will be safe in ministering life and light to needy people. The too close association of the baptism with service, has hindered so many needy people who have no direct call to any special service and yet were so needy of power to live. The Christian life cannot be lived in victory without the power of the Spirit. We need to be baptized, immersed, submerged and swallowed up with the dynamic personality and power of the Third Member of the Trinity. All Christians need the baptism, whether farmer, housewife, preacher or teacher. “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” (Acts 19:2)
May I help you with another matter closely connected with the fact-I can-? There are two words we must all learn the meaning of, as they relate to this new life as it is lived in the power of the Spirit. They are possibility and probability. As a rule, the impact of truth as to possibility now opening to the young Christian, comes with terrific force. It floods the inner consciousness of the believer and if he is not careful, he is swung from the correct pivoting of his inner life. In other words, he loses the norm of his being in regard to prayer, its purpose and range, and also phases of expression in service. His vision is lifted and filled with the glorious opportunities to prove God and show to the unbelieving world what God can do. This glorious uplift and sense of possibility nearly overwhelms some. He is inclined to think others, who to him appear to be asleep or back-slidden, have never tapped the resources of divine power. There is a subtle spiritual pride here, but God cannot yet deal tactfully with it. He will later on. God answers prayer for such a person and he is wonderfully encouraged and quite bold in the problems he tackles and difficulties he dares to handle. You see he is moving under one concept of truth-the phase of possibility. He does not yet know modification or limitation. Anything short of an immediate and complete victory is a form of defeat and failure. To keep his courage up he quotes all the promises which hold any thought of victory. He just must have the answer to his prayers; God must come through and honor his faith and keep His Word. When things do not move to suit him, he claims more vigorously the “precious promises” and tackles some most impossible situations. Of course he feels perfectly justified since he quotes the promises and is swinging (free of any human impedimenta or reason) out into the field of glorious possibility. Such sanguine temperaments have a difficult time. They feel they must justify God, keep His glory shone up, prove the Bible and convince and convert the unbelieving world. They must show that God is right (only usually there is a subtle form of showing they are right). All such performances move under the impact of a revelation of possibility without its counter balance of God’s probability. There is always the other side of a truth.
May I help you? Remember this simple fact: All things which are possible are not always probable. That is, in God’s divine plan and will it may not be expedient or to His glory to do many things He is able to do. It is not always a question: “Is God able?'' but, “Is it God’s will and purpose?”
Do you not remember that choice verse in I John 5:14-“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing, according to his will, he heareth us”? Here is the divine censorship of our prayers. We may pray long, inclusive, far-reaching prayers, touching all phases of life-and think they are to His glory-but they must all be boiled down and pass the censorship of “His will.” His will is the highest, most costly and inclusive prayer we can make. So there is the word, probably, also to be learned. I am certain that we all know that He is able, but now the question is, is this probable?
Some will at once say, “Do you mean that God answers only prayers which are according to His will?” No, I am not saying that. He does let people go on and on praying and having their own way, and they do get and have plenty, but that does not prove that it is all to His glory and His will. God does send leanness sometimes and lets people have what they want. What a tragedy! The world is full of that. I am talking about Spirit-filled Christians who seek to glorify God and do His will. When our prayer is in accord with His will, He hears and makes all things work to His glory and our good. But when not according to His will, the flesh is satisfied for the time being, but there is no spiritual progress, no glory to God, and no development of the inner man.
One has to be brave and stand the criticism of other Christians who do not yet know this truth. It takes more grace to stand still and get God’s Word and stand on it, than to make a great display of words and outward demonstration. But as one has said, “Keep on keeping on” and God will teach and show you the way through. Learn to interpret God’s dealings and plans. Get God’s Word or thought as it relates to a situation, and then stand. Do not mind the noise of battle and confusion; the dust will settle in time. You will be counted a backslider, indifferent, no lover of souls, lacking in the aggressive side of your ministry, and lacking in power. But one who is centered in God does not worry and he is not trying to prove anything. He abides, and God does the rest.
You may think it difficult, but let me tell you where the hard place is. Let such aggressive souls battle on, claiming all sorts of promises, putting God to the test and proving their point when God has no idea of answering, since the whole matter is not in His plan. Finally God does not answer. They try harder; they make use of all the known technique (scriptural or otherwise) but to no effect. God seemingly has left them and the whole matter collapses. Then, 0 then listen, to all the concocted excuses and reasons for the failure. Then follows the usual procedure of blaming everybody from the pastor to the weakest babe in the church. It is pitiful. The reaction in hearts thus entangled is appalling and disastrous. Some lose what faith they did have; weak ones are completely overwhelmed, and the faith of all receives a sad and perplexing shock. Excuse themselves as they may, and blame as they may, they must finally admit that they are on the wrong track and God is not in the matter. Why all this failure and confusion? The answer is simple. They are like soldiers going to battle at their own orders. ‘Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges?” ( I Cor. 9:7) God was not in the matter over which they had made such an ado. It was the eager soul swung out under the power of “possibility” without a divine command under the “probability” of God’s plan. The natural, religious mind can think up some of the most amazing schemes, plans and patterns for God to flow into. Such schemes are a natural religious output and not a plan born of the Spirit. That which is born of the flesh (even a religious pattern) is still flesh. The whole affair which has ended in such total and unexplained defeat could have been avoided had the people been taught to first know if God is in the desire and if it is to His glory and in His will.
Paul learned this lesson in two phases of his wonderful life. One is in relation to his personal life concerning the messenger of Satan to buffet him and torment him. Naturally he sought deliverance. He might well have used such a promise as, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.” He might not have used this exact word but surely the equivalent for he had most successful dealings with such messengers before, and of course might have thought the procedure in this case would be the same. Even though there was a great possibility in God’s plan to destroy the trouble, it did not necessarily mean that Paul was right in claiming the power for deliverance. He tries three times in prayer, as he had done many times, but no deliverance. Finally, when he got to God about the difficulty, he found the entire matter was contingent upon the will of God for Paul’s life, and another promise was to garrison his troubled mind and heart. “My grace is sufficient for thee” (II Cor. 12:9 ). It was possible God could have destroyed the work of Satan, but He just did not do so. He gave grace instead. Paul also learned that all things which are possible under certain circumstances are not always probable.
In the case of his ministry he had to learn the same lesson. There was the divine commission given by Jesus Himself: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age” (Matt. 28:19, 20).
Paul was zealous for Christ’s kingdom and desired to reach everyone. So why not go up to Bithynia? Surely Bithynia is a part at least of the whole world. So why not go up? So up he goes, only to be forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia-“but the Spirit suffered them not’' (Acts 16:7). This is a fine place for Paul to claim the power of God to meet the command to go. Well, he might have tried it and battled on in Bithynia against God. And some would no doubt think the devil was withstanding them. But Paul meets God and finds His plan and lets Bithynia rest with God. He turns in the will of God, to go away from Bithynia to Troas, and the miracle happens. God is glorified by the Christian message turning to girdle the globe from East to West. And as the sun travels the ordered path for giving natural light, so truth, the Christian faith, was to follow God’s ordained plan and will, and not Paul’s good, noble, religious, natural plan to help the people in Bithynia. God got light to Bithynia in His own time and way. And Paul was learning, growing, and coming into spiritual discipline and power by the things which he suffered.
So when meditating upon the glories of “I can,” do so under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who will open to you not only the possibilities designed for your life, but will also lead you on and into the probabilities of His plan.