© 19 Colin Melbourne
God is a Cleanser
All the mighty movings of God are always to purge you, perfect you, make you holy, make you see that He can dwell in you mightily, and move in you by the Spirit gloriously.
We have to be ‘insulators’, as it were, of the mighty power, the saving power in the world. [Ed. We are like ‘insulated wires’, or ‘fresh-air conduits’, connected to God allowing Him to bring His Life to Earth through us.]
There is such a thing as a preserving power; God wants us to be a preserving power in the world, that sin may have no place where we are; God controlling everything we touch.
Did you hear me say that you must not expect gifts until after you have received the Holy Ghost? [ie. Received the Acts 2 Baptism in the Holy Ghost. Ed]
Gifts are the property of the Holy Ghost, and they do not clash, as I said, with the gifts of Jesus.
If you are filled with the Holy Ghost, He will drive you, from day to day, and hour to hour, to truth.
Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the Word of God is the power of the Christ, and the life of Christ.
It will be no comparison; however you are filled with the Spirit, whatever peace you have, and whatever conditions are in your life, to your leaving out the word of God. [Leaving out: Not conforming to both the written word and the Rhema word. Ed.]
If you do, you will leak out, and become weak; your peace will fade, and your joy will leak out.
The word of God brings one into a place of fact. [ie. God has said it so it is so, despite any contrary evidence. Ed.]
Knowing What We Know
We must be in a place where we know what we know, and the baptized believer knows what he doesn’t know. He has forgotten a lot that he used to know, and that is a blessing. [Meditate on these powerful truths to understand what Smith means. Ed.]
The Gift Giver Within
Now beloved, we dealt with the Word of Wisdom [In a previous message. Ed.] and we must clearly understand about the power of the Holy Ghost within the body.
Paul says, ‘I would not have you ignorant, brethren, of spiritual gifts.’ [1 Co. 12:1 Smith’s paraphrase.]
We must examine ourselves and see if we are in this faith, and you cannot have faith without you have the Word, for the Word of God is faith.
If you will turn to Hebrews 12:2 you will find that Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith; so if you have Jesus: You have faith.
You will have the Giver within you.
Letting God Loose
And as you let the Word of God move in your life, you will find you are living in the real place of the personality of Jesus Christ.
In the first place, the Holy Ghost must make within you ministrations, in the second, it must be in operation, and the third essential is the manifestation. [See Endnote. Ed.]
If you are afraid of manifestation, you haven’t come into operation, and if you are afraid of operation, it is because you never had ministrations.
The same Spirit will bring you these three effects, and when they are in your heart and life, you will find God takes you, and moves upon you, just as He did upon Moses and Aaron, and Samuel, and the Prophets.
The difference between the dispensation of the Jews, and the dispensation of grace to the Gentiles, is this; in the days of the Prophets, the Holy Ghost was upon them from time to time. The Spirit of the Lord was upon Samuel from time to time; the Spirit of the Lord came upon Moses, upon Samson; it came upon Ezekiel, and the Prophets.
These operations were ‘types’ of the greater dispensation to come.
Greater Day
Remember, this is an important matter, because if you hear the Word of God, and do not take heed, you will come into the line where God uses the Gentiles to perfect the Jews.
Without us, the Jews cannot be made perfect. So we are living in a great day; we are in the dispensation of the Grace of God, with the fulness of the revelation of the inward power, personality, and presence of the Holy Ghost. And so we are in a greater day in every way than the Jews were.
Not that the day isn’t coming for the Jews; it is, but we are in a greater day than the Jews have had heretofore.
The Only Reason You Are On Earth
God has an appointment with every baptized soul, and His appointment is that we are in the Earth for the specialty of witnessing, and bringing out the glories of the cross.
No baptized soul who is going on with God can ever again enter into worldly things as long as he lives. And God will strip him of all superfluities, and of foolishness.
No Mixture
If you are not stripped of worldliness there becomes a mixture in the church, instead of a perfect place in God.
Mixtures are always bad; that is why there was to be no mixture in the priest’s garment: It had to be pure linen, and pure wool. [Eze. 44:17]
I find that the world is becoming worse and worse on these lines, because she is full of mixtures. When you go to shop, you never know whether you will get the pure article, or adulteration.
The Spirit of God is no mixture.
The Real Presence
Continue Reading: Wigglesworth On The Gift of Prophecy
Endnote: By ministrations Smith means the prompting of the Holy Ghost in the believer’s heart leading what to do. By operation he means the believer follows that leading, and does what the Spirit wants him to do, that is, co-operates. By manifestation Smith means the desire of God is manifested as a result of the believer’s cooperation.
© 19 Colin Melbourne