The Holy Ghost Made Manifest

Findlay, Ohio
April 26, 1914

That blessed, old, simple story is burning in my spirit. Let's read John 1:6-13.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

I feel somehow this morning that, as we are a representative body of men and women whose business it is in life to proclaim and exemplify the gospel of Jesus Christ, the presentation of the Son of God as the Savior of the world is the greatest thing we have before us.

God is looking upon us and expecting us to give that satisfactory demonstration of the Christ-life to other men so that the world may desire Jesus as the Son of God, and that men may look forward to and long for the day when the Christ shall come and when He will establish the kingdom of Jesus Christ in the earth. Anything else than this does not seem to me to be worthy of those who have had the special privilege of living in these times when the Spirit is being poured out upon all flesh.

Interpretation of a Message in Tongues

The days of our childhood in the things of God have gone by, and the days of maturity in knowledge of God have now dawned upon us.

God is demanding from us a demonstration of the power of God, the love of God, and the character of Christ that is worthy of the day, the hour, the message, and the time in which we live. Now is a special time when the Spirit of God is being poured upon mankind in preparation for the hour when Jesus shall retum and call the saints of God to His own glory. May we receive from Him during this period of exceptional privilege the instruction, development, capacity, and empowerment that those who are to come again with Him into the establishment of His kingdom receive. May we take part and place with our Lord Jesus Christ in the government of this old world in love, righteousness, purity, holiness, truth, and verity throughout the kingdom age.

Our God, this morning, calls your heart and mine from an ordinary understanding and consciousness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to a Holy Ghost-quickening consciousness, to that especially illuminated, blessedly glorified, spiritual understanding of the Word of God and the mind of God. This is in order that we may be peculiar men and peculiar women, living a peculiar life, peculiar in love, peculiar in holiness, peculiar in reverence for the living God, peculiar in knowing the secrets of divine power and government.

And to Thee, O God our Father, we lift our hearts and ask that Thou will help us, that we may be worthy of the high calling that God our Father hath bestowed upon us, through the mercy and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That we may live, O God our Father, according to Thy mind and according to Thy heart, according to Thy way and according to Thy will, in God.

Shall it be that the voices of all men, and especially the voices of those who realize conscious salvation through the precious blood of Jesus Christ, ring forth in this world God's new message? Shall our voices be raised in the peculiar Spirit and power of God, manifesting Christ in man in these days, giving the message of God, the Savior of mankind, as the Redeemer and Sanctifier of man, as He who joys and dwells in the holiness of His children?

God cannot look with any degree of toleration upon sin and selfishness, but looks with the eye of pity, sacrifice, and holiness upon man, discovering in the very depths of our nature that which is unlike His living, precious holiness. And He desires that our nature shall be changed, our hearts shall be lifted up to Him in the joy and praise and gladness of those who know and understand and realize the sanctity of being permitted to be children of God, washed in His precious blood, crowned with His Spirit, looking for His glory.

So, this morning, our blessed Lord asks all of us who are discouraged, who are weary, who have lived in the ordinary routine of life, that our hearts shall be lifted up to Him, and that we shall realize that He desires in a peculiar way to stamp it upon our hearts that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, died on the cross and His body lay in the grave. Yet, the power of God was sufficient to come and raise Him up into life and quicken Him, strengthen Him, and lift Him up into the place of triumph. Yes, He ascended into the heavenlies and sat down in triumph at the right hand of God.

Therefore, let our hearts faint not, but with a new hope and a new determination yield ourselves to God that we, too, may be lifted up indeed, out of the insecurity of the present hour and moment into the life triumphant and heavenly and holy, for our dwelling place is not on earth, but our dwelling is in the heavens.

The peculiar work of the Holy Spirit in this present hour is according to our present need. Yes, even that our consciousness may be so quickened and our understanding of God and His ways so enlightened, that our hearts may take on a new hope and our lives ascend into heavenly places in Christ Jesus, where all things are beneath our feet and where the powers of earth and the things of life no longer drag us down, but where in the power of the Holy Spirit we move and walk as triumphant men and triumphant women, conquerors of disease, sin, death, and the powers of darkness that drag us down day by day.

The Lord wants us to pray.

The Spirit of the Lord, as we prayed, told my soul that the peculiar sin of the present hour among the children of God is a peculiar spiritual lethargy that has been permitted to gradually steal over our souls, robbing us of the quickened consciousness and understanding of the blessed Holy Ghost and of His presence; that instead of lifting up our hearts and welcoming Him, we have descended into a study of the understanding of His ways and works and methods until a dimness has come over our spirits.

God wants once again to take us out of the natural things, the exercise of our natural minds and our natural spirits, into the Holy Ghost, into the ascended life, into the life in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, where the Spirit of God in enduement and power rests upon our souls. And returning, filled with His presence and glory, we may bring into this world the quickened consciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ:

That the transforming power of the Spirit may be so freely realized that mankind may see and know it is the day of His preparation.

That our whole lives and beings may be so yielded up to the living God that every heart shall be a vessel through which the Spirit of God shall flow to the blessing of the lost world.

That the spirit of criticism of one another, and of all men, shall cease within the Christian heart and the enlightened conscience.

That everyone shall realize that he or she has the possession of the degree and measure of the Holy Ghost that God, in His love, has been able to bestow upon the individual in his or her present state of development.

That, instead of placing ourselves above another and looking with scorn even upon the sinner, we shall see even as Jesus sees men and understand others even as the heart of Christ understands.

That in love and mercy and sympathy and compassion, we shall reach out our arms and embrace our fellows and lead them to the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

When the Christian consciousness and the Christian understanding are illuminated by the presence of the loving God in the measure that God does desire to give us, the world shall give forth an exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ so pure and holy and true and blessed that all men shall see and know that there is a living God. And the real Christ and living Savior will manifest through the church, the body of Jesus in the world, through whom the manifestation of the living Christ is being given to all men to the glory of God.

So, our blessed God, we lift our hearts up this morning and ask Thee, our blessed God, that You will take out of our spirits every wretched little bit of hidden selfishness that is hidden within us. O God, apply the precious blood of Jesus Christ, that we may be so purified and so illuminated by the Holy Ghost and the glory of God, that we shall give forth that real reaction of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Ghost, for Jesus' sake. Lord God, we ask Thee this morning, as we lift our hands to heaven and as we submit our souls to Thee, as we confess our littleness and our meanness and our self-righteousness, that the blessed Christ shall establish within us the Holy Spirit, who Himself shall manifest the truth of the Spirit, for Jesus' sake.

And our God, we pray Thee that Thou wilt lift up each one into the presence of God, and that Thou wilt put upon us such a consciousness of God, of His love, of His purity, of His holiness, of His power, that, O God, our Christ, our praise to Thee and our worship of God shall be in the beauty of holiness. O God, that we shall worship Thee in spirit and in truth, for Jesus' sake. O we ask, our God, that every hidden thing, everything that would not bear the glory-light of God, shall be driven from our natures. That, O God, our Christ, once again we can stand before Jesus, even as did Nathaniel, an Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile. O God, we ask Thee then that You will sweep from our souls and wash from our natures and cleanse from our hearts every unholy thing, every deceitful thing, Lord Jesus, this devilish spiritual pride that is so subtle. O God, sweep them away. Let us stand, O God our Christ, guileless before our God, for Jesus' sake.

Blessed be Thy name, O God. We worship Thee and lift our hands and our hearts to heaven, and we say this morning, blessed be Thy name. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord. Blessed be His name! Our God, to Thee this morning we offer our praise and worship and adoration and glory and praise and honor unto Thy name forever and ever and ever. Blessed be Thy name. Amen.

Our God, we pray this morning that the blessing and power of God shall so rest upon us, that a yieldedness to the living God and to all the works of the Holy Spirit within us shall be so manifest, our God, that those will be able to lift us up, so that we will be permitted to enter into the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has become the Ruler of this universe, King of kings and Lord of lords, with angels and archangels, rejoicing before God because of the triumph of the Son of God, through the spilling of His precious blood for all men and all mankind's acceptance of Him, for Jesus' sake. Amen.