Walking with a Vibrant Living Faith
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Acts 1:8
And…
“Now faith is…”
Hebrews 11: 1
These are some of the greatest verses in the Word, but sadly, like so many great verses, it has become commonplace in our lives. We have lost the “NOW.” We have lost the burning revelation the Lord has for us, and we fail to hear all that He is saying to us in it. We stand convinced we already know what the Lord is saying.
Smith Wigglesworth explained:
“And so, beloved, it is all for us tonight. Do not forget this. Every one of you can know this union, this divine relationship, this uttermost power which will be within keeping you alive to the fact that God has come to make you know that everything is subject to you. You have to reign in that body by one Christ Jesus. It is a lovely word, reigning in life by one Jesus.”
The Lord never intended us to walk defeated, depressed, sick, discouraged and lost on this earth. He came to destroy the works of the enemy, and He did so on the Cross. Jesus told us, as Smith explained:
“Greater works than these shall ye do; because I go to My Father.’ Jesus left nothing less than this, a power which was for them, and to which more was to be added if we believe.”
The Lord always has set times, and if He can simply get us in the right place at the right time, standing in faith, the mighty things He will do. He has, by His Holy Spirit, given us power. Stop and meditate on that for a while. Smith explained:
“This power is so much different; it restores the fallen, it heals the brokenhearted, it lifts, it lives, it brings life into existence in your own hearts. All the time there is something that is round about you, something that you know is lasting and will be forever, until the Lord will receive us unto Himself.”
As long as we are on this earth the mighty Holy Spirit is here with us, and His power never fails, and it never changes. What he did before, He can do again. He longs for us to hear His call and for us to step up and move forward with His purpose for our lives.
Smith said:
“It is a wonderful thing to get into touch with the living God, it is a glorious thing, a blessed condescension of God to fill us with the Holy Ghost. But the responsibility after that, for the Spirit of God, for Jesus to be so pleased with His child that He fills His child with the Holy Ghost; that the child may now have full revelation of Himself, for the Holy Ghost shall not speak of Himself, but He shall take of the truth and reveal it unto us. As He is we have to be, and just as righteous as He is we have to be, we are truly the offspring of God, actuating with divine impulse, and God is proving us to see that we must step into live, and see that the truth is still the same.”
How many of us have asked, “What is God waiting for?” He is waiting for us, for us to come and wait, seeking after Him with holy desperation. Why? Because he is everything, and we must be like Him. Oh, He has become commonplace to us. But we need a fresh touch from Heaven, and we need the Master to breathe on us.
Smith said:
“Brothers, it is so real, His life for me the life of the Son of God within, characteristics to make the whole body a flame of fire, after that ye shall receive power. I am clearly coming to understand this in my ministry, God has given me a gracious ministry and I thank God for it. God has given me a ministry which I prize because it helps me to stir people, especially leaders. I am here tonight to stir you, I could not think that God would have me leave you as I found you.”
We should never leave the Presence of the Lord the same. Sadly, we settle for experiences and refuse to press in for an encounter. Why? We are satisfied that we know it all, and the truths have become commonplace in our lives. It is like two people who fell in love and, somewhere along the way, forgot the pursuit. Their love became commonplace to them, and they stopped paying the price daily to press in and have it grow. If we talk about so many truths of the Word, we would all confess to knowing them, and so we don’t hunger after the Lord to hear them afresh and with a deeper penetration and impact.
What is He waiting for? For us to stop moving by what we feel and learn to truly and fully walk by faith. The enemy holds us captive in so many areas because we walk by feelings.
Smith explained:
“There is a great deal too much on the lines of, ‘If I can only feel the power.’ Our young brother sad distinctly that the Holy Ghost came to abide. What are we waiting for? What us God waiting for? For you to get into the place. What do I mean? I mean this: that Jesus was a perfect activity, a life of activity. The Scripture declares it. He began to do, and then to teach. It is as clear as possible, in a realm of divine appointment, where He was able to make the act conform.”
He longs for us to come and press in to know Him and spend time with Him so He can transform us. If we could only see, there is too much of us and not enough of Him in our lives. Listen, we have received His power, but we are too dim of sight, and baptism has become so commonplace that we fail to understand fully all He has for us.
Smith explained:
“So I am truly on the Word of God tonight, if we have received the power the power is there. I am not going to say, that there has not to be an unbroken fellowship with Him, He never separates power from holiness, the pure in heart shall see God. But I believe that is He has come to reveal unto us Him, you cannot lack it, because he that believes that Jesus is the Christ, overcomes the world.”
Oh, He longs that every day we would come and have a fresh encounter with a fresh revelation of who He is, who we are in Him, and our inheritance because of Him. He comes to teach us and show us that we might be utterly changed. He wants us to be free from all the past with its rejections, abandonment, hurts, disappointments, etc., and to be fully satisfied in Him. How many of us leave our time in the Secret Place satisfied? Yet, He would have us experience nothing less.
Smith said:
“He is the purified, He is the abiding Presence, the One great source of righteousness, then all the fulness of the Godhead bodily dwells in Him, there is the situation.”
If we truly come daily to the Secret Place of His Presence seeking an encounter, then He will meet with us, purify us, and make us like Him. He comes to breathe on us as afresh. Smith said:
“I would like to speak for a few moments on the breath of the Spirit, because I see the Holy Spirit came as a breath, or as the moving of a mighty wind. I see so much divine appointment in this for humanity, this great thought, the Holy Spirit fills the life by the breath. It is wonderful- this prophetic position.”
Smith further said:
“When you are filled with the breath of the Spirit, the breath of God, the holy fire and the Word, it is Christ within you.”
Oh, to experience the breath of the Spirit breathing on us again, purifying us, and making us flames of fire. Oh, when He breaths on us, our eyes are opened so that we might see so that the Word has free access into our lives and can bear rich fruit. The Word must be fully received, and when it is, it produces life, health, and wholeness.
Smith said:
“Life is given, he that heareth My words and beleiveth on Him that sent Me hath everlasting life. We need the Spirit, to be filled with prophetic power to bring forth to the needs of the people, life. This is life, I am perceiving that I must be so in this order.”
Oh, that we fully hear and receive His word. It must stop being commonplace and become fresh and life-giving as we press in with holy desperation to meet with Him.
‘God wants everybody, without exception, to being on the Word of God, and to act. It will be the most surprising thing that ever came. As you stand on the Word it will be an amazing thing.”
We need to hear the Word afresh and allow His mighty power, freedom, and authority to rebuke, correct, inspire, and encourage us. He wants us always ready so that with every challenge, we meet it with a living Word burning in us and filled with full authority. Yes, we understand daily that He is Lord and King.
Smith said:
“It is no little thing to b baptized, it is the promise of the Father, Jesus must be there, and the Holy Ghost also bringing us to the place where we can be baptized. Are you going to treat it as a great thing? What do you really believe it is? I believe when the Holy Ghost comes that he comes to crown the King.”
Is the Word commonplace or fresh fire in your bones? So many backslide because they lose the fresh fire of His Presence and walk where it is all commonplace. But when it is fresh fire, He walks and operates with full authority in and through our lives. The One who came to destroy the enemy’s works comes, and what He did before He now does in and through us.
Smith explained:
“And the King from that day gets His rightful place, and we don’t have to claim anything, and He becomes King of all the situations.”
Yes, all situations in our life now bow to His authority!