© 19 Colin Melbourne, Transcribed and annotated from The Pentecostal Evangel 1923
Made to Stand
Oh, this life in the Holy Ghost! This life of deep, inward revelation, of transformation from one state to another, of growing in grace, and in the knowledge, and in the power of the Spirit, the life and the mind of Christ being renewed in you, and of constant revelations of the might of His power.
It is only this kind of thing that will enable us to stand.
In this life, the LORD puts you in all sorts of places: And then reveals His power.
RMS Lusitania about to depart from New York harbour on her maiden voyage in 1907
I had been preaching in New York, and sailed one day for England on the Lusitania. [Later sunk by a German submarine in May 1915, off Ireland, with the loss of 1200 lives.]
As soon as I got on board I went down to my cabin. Two men were there [ie. shared cabin. Ed.], and one of them said, “Well, will I do for company?” He took out a bottle and poured out a glass of whiskey and drank it, and then he filled it up for me.
“I never touch the stuff,” I said.
“How can you live without it?” he asked.
“How could I live with it?” I asked.
He admitted, “I have been under the influence of this stuff for months, and they say my ‘inside is all shrivelled up’ and I know that I am dying. I wish I could be delivered, but I just have to keep on drinking. Oh, if I could only be delivered! My Father died in England and has given me a fortune, but what will the good of it be to me except to hasten me to my grave.”
I said to the man, “Say the word, and you will be delivered.”
He enquired, “What do you mean?”
I said,”Say the word, show you are willing to be delivered, and God will deliver you.”
But it was just as if I was talking to this platform for all the comprehension he showed.
I said to him, “Stand still,” and I laid my hands on his head in the Name of Jesus, and cursed that drink demon that was taking his life.
He cried out, “I’m free! I’m free! I know I’m free!”
He took two bottles of whiskey and threw them overboard, and God saved, sobered and healed him.
I was preaching all the way across. He sat beside me at the table. Previous to this he had not been able to eat, but every meal he went right through the menu.
You only have to have a touch from Jesus to have a good time.
The power of God is just the same today
To me, He’s lovely.
To me, He’s the Lily of The Valley.
Oh this blessed Nazarene, this King of kings! Halleluia!
Will you let Him have your will, will you let Him have you?
If you will, all His power is at your disposal.
Outrageous Truth!
They were not able to resist the wisdom and spirit by which Stephen spake, and so full of rage, they brought him to the Council.
And God filled his face with a ray of Heaven’s Light.
It is worth being filled with the Spirit, no matter what it costs.
Read the seventh chapter, the mighty prophetic utterance by this holy man.
Without fear he tells them, “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost…”
And when they heard these things they were cut to the heart.
There are two ways of being cut to the heart.
Here they gnashed their teeth, and cast him out of the city and stoned him.
On the day of Pentecost, when they were cut, or pricked, at the heart they cried out, “What shall we do?” Acts 2:37 KJV;
Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
They took the opposite way.
The Devil, if he can have his way, will cause you to commit murder.
If Jesus has His way, you will repent
And Stephen…Acts 7:55 KJV;
…being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.
Oh, this being full of the Holy Ghost! How much it means.
I was riding for sixty miles one Summer day, and as I looked up in the heavens I had an open vision of Jesus all the way.
It takes the Holy Ghost to give this.
Stephen cried out, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.”
As he was full of the Spirit, he was full of love, and he manifested the very same compassion for his enemies that Jesus did at Calvary.
This being filled with the Holy Ghost means much in every way. It means constant filling, quickening, and a new life continually. Oh, it’s lovely!
We have a wonderful Gospel, and a great Saviour!
River of Life
If you will but be filled with the Holy Ghost you will have a constant spring within, yea as your faith centres in the Lord Jesus, from within you shall flow rivers of Living Water.
Smith Wigglesworth
Preached at Springfield Assembly of God in 1922, and printed in 1923
END
© 19 Colin Melbourne, Transcribed and annotated from The Pentecostal Evangel 1923
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