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032 - Thirty-first Day Filled with the Spirit · Spirit of Christ

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  Speaker 1: Thirty first Day of the Spirit of Christ by Andrew Murray.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Thirty first Day,
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  Speaker 1: Filled with the Spirit. Be filled with the Spirit, speaking
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  Speaker 1: to one another, Ephesians five eighteen. These words are a command.
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  Speaker 1: They enjoin upon us, not what the state of apostles
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  Speaker 1: or ministers ought to be, but to what should be
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  Speaker 1: the ordinary, consistent experience of every true hearted believer. It
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  Speaker 1: is the privilege every child of God may claim from
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  Speaker 1: his Father to be filled with the Spirit. Nothing less
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  Speaker 1: will enable him to live the life he has been
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  Speaker 1: redeemed for abiding in Christ, keeping his commandments, and bearing
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  Speaker 1: much fruit. And yet how little this command has been
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  Speaker 1: counted among those which all ought to keep. How little
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  Speaker 1: has it been thought possible or reasonable that all should
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  Speaker 1: be expected to keep it. One reason of this is
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  Speaker 1: undoubtedly that the words have been wrongly understood. Because with
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  Speaker 1: the Day of Pentecost, and on more than one subsequent occasion,
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  Speaker 1: the being filled with the Spirit was accompanied with the
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  Speaker 1: manifest enthusiasm of a supernatural joy and power. Such a
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  Speaker 1: state has been looked on as one of excitement and strain,
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  Speaker 1: quite inconsistent with the quiet course of ordinary life. The
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  Speaker 1: suddenness and the strength and the outward manifestation of the
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  Speaker 1: divine impulse were so linked with the idea of being
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  Speaker 1: filled with the spirit that it was thought to be
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  Speaker 1: something for special occasions, a blessing only possible to a
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  Speaker 1: very few Christians felt as if they could not venture,
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  Speaker 1: as if they did not need to fix their hopes
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  Speaker 1: so high, as if were the blessing given to them,
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  Speaker 1: it would be impossible in their circumstances to maintain or
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  Speaker 1: to manifest it. The message I have to bring to
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  Speaker 1: day is that the command is indeed for every believer,
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  Speaker 1: and that as wide as the precept is the promise
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  Speaker 1: and the power too. May God give us grace that
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  Speaker 1: our meditation on this his word may awaken in the
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  Speaker 1: heart of every reader not only strong desire, but the
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  Speaker 1: firm assurance that the privilege is meant for him, that
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  Speaker 1: the way is not too hard, that the blessing will
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  Speaker 1: in very deed yet become his own. In a country
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  Speaker 1: like South Africa, where we often suffer from drought, we
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  Speaker 1: find two sorts of dams or reservoirs made for catching
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  Speaker 1: up and storing water. On some farms you have a fountain,
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  Speaker 1: but with a stream too weak to irrigate with. There
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  Speaker 1: a reservoir is made for collecting the water, and the
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  Speaker 1: filling of the reservoir is the result of the gentle
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  Speaker 1: quiet inflow from the fountain day and night. In other cases, again,
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  Speaker 1: the farm has no found in it all. The reservoir
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  Speaker 1: is built in the bed of a stream or in
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  Speaker 1: a hollow, where when rainfalls the water can be collected.
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  Speaker 1: In such a place, the filling of the reservoir with
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  Speaker 1: the heavy fall of rain is often the work of
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  Speaker 1: a very few hours, and is accompanied with a rush
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  Speaker 1: and violence. Not free from danger. The noiseless supply of
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  Speaker 1: the former farm is at the same time the shorer,
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  Speaker 1: because the supply, though apparently feeble, is permanent. In tracts
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  Speaker 1: where the rainfall is uncertain, a reservoir may stand empty
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  Speaker 1: for months or years. There is the same difference in
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  Speaker 1: the way in which the fullness of the Spirit comes
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  Speaker 1: on the day of Pentecost. At times when new beginnings
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  Speaker 1: are made in the outpouring of the spirit of conversion
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  Speaker 1: in heathen lands or of revival among Christian people, suddenly, mightily,
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  Speaker 1: manifestly men are filled with the Holy Ghost in the
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  Speaker 1: enthusiasm and the joy of the newly found salvation. The
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  Speaker 1: power of the Spirit is undeniably present, and yet for
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  Speaker 1: those who receive it, thus there are special dangers. The
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  Speaker 1: blessing is often too much dependent on the fellowship with others,
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  Speaker 1: or extends only to the upper and more easily reached
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  Speaker 1: currents of the soul's life. The sudden is often the superficial.
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  Speaker 1: The depths of the will and the inner life have
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  Speaker 1: not been reached. Other Christians there are who have never
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  Speaker 1: been partakers of any such marked experience, and in whom, nevertheless,
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  Speaker 1: the fullness of the Spirit is no less distinctly seen
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  Speaker 1: in the deep and intense devotion to Jesus, in a walk,
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  Speaker 1: in the light of his countenance, and the consciousness of
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  Speaker 1: his holy presence, in the blamelessness of a life of
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  Speaker 1: simple trust and obedience, and in the humility of a
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  Speaker 1: self sacrificing love to all around. They have their types
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  Speaker 1: in what Barnabas was a son of consolation, good man,
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  Speaker 1: and full of the Holy Ghost. And which of these
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  Speaker 1: is now the true way of being filled with the Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: The answer is easy. There are farms on which both
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  Speaker 1: the above named reservoirs are to be found, auxiliary to
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  Speaker 1: each other. There are even reservoirs where the situation is favorable,
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  Speaker 1: in which both the modes of filling are made use of.
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  Speaker 1: The regular, quiet, daily inflowing keeps them supplied in time
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  Speaker 1: of great drought. In time of rain, they are ready
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  Speaker 1: to receive and store up large supplies. There are Christians
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  Speaker 1: who are not content, but with special mighty visitations, the
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  Speaker 1: rushing mighty wind, floods outpoured, and the baptism of fire,
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  Speaker 1: these are their symbols. There are others to whom the fountain,
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  Speaker 1: springing up from within and quietly streaming forth appears the
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  Speaker 1: true type of the spirit's work. Happy they who can
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  Speaker 1: recognize God in both and hold themselves all always ready
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  Speaker 1: to be blessed in whichever way He comes. And what
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  Speaker 1: are now the conditions of this fullness of the spirit.
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  Speaker 1: God has one answer Faith. It is faith alone that
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  Speaker 1: sees and receives the invisible, that sees and receives God himself.
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  Speaker 1: The cleansing from sin and the loving surrender to obedience,
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  Speaker 1: which were the conditions of the first reception of the Spirit,
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  Speaker 1: are the fruit of the faith that saw what sin was,
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  Speaker 1: and what the blood, and what the will, and the
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  Speaker 1: love of God of these we do not speak here. Again,
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  Speaker 1: the word is for believers who have been faithful in
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  Speaker 1: their seeking to obey, and yet have not what they
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  Speaker 1: long for. By faith, they must specially see what there
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  Speaker 1: is that needs to be cast out. All filling needs empty.
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  Speaker 1: I do not here speak of the claimsing out of
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  Speaker 1: sin and the surrender to full obedience. This is always
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  Speaker 1: the first essential. But I speak of believers who in
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  Speaker 1: this think that they have done what God demands, and
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  Speaker 1: yet fail of the blessing. The first condition of all
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  Speaker 1: filling is emptiness. What is a reservoir but a great hollow,
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  Speaker 1: a great emptiness prepared, waiting, thirsting, crying for the water
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  Speaker 1: to come. Any true abiding fullness of the spirit is
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  Speaker 1: preceded by emptying. I sought the blessing long and earnestly,
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  Speaker 1: said one, and I wondered why it did not come
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  Speaker 1: at last. I found it was because there was no
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  Speaker 1: room in my heart to receive it. In such emptying
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  Speaker 1: out there are various elements, a deep dissatisfaction with the
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  Speaker 1: religion which we have hitherto had a deep consciousness of
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  Speaker 1: how much there has been of the wisdom and the
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  Speaker 1: work of the flesh in it. A discovery and confession,
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  Speaker 1: and giving up of all in life that had been
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  Speaker 1: kept in our own hands and management in which self
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  Speaker 1: had hitherto reigned, of all in which we had not
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  Speaker 1: thought it necessary or possible that Jesus should directly be
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  Speaker 1: consulted and pleased. A deep conviction of impotence and utter
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  Speaker 1: helplessness to grasp or seize what is offered. A surrender
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  Speaker 1: in poverty of spirit, to wait on the Lord in
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  Speaker 1: his great mercy and power, according to the riches of
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  Speaker 1: his glory, to strengthen us mightily by his spirit in
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  Speaker 1: the inner man. A great longing, thirsting, waiting, crying, a
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  Speaker 1: praying without ceasing, for the Father to fulfill his promise
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  Speaker 1: in us and take full possession of us. Within Such
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  Speaker 1: an emptying is on the way to the filling. With
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  Speaker 1: this is needed the believing, which accepts, which receives, which
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  Speaker 1: holds the gift. It is through faith in Christ and
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  Speaker 1: in the Father, that the divine fullness will flow into us.
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  Speaker 1: Of the same Ephesians to whom the command is given
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  Speaker 1: be filled with the spirit Paul had said in Christ,
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  Speaker 1: having believed, ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise.
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  Speaker 1: The command refers to what they had already received. The
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  Speaker 1: fountain was within them. It had to be opened up
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  Speaker 1: and way made for it. It would spring up and
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  Speaker 1: fill their being. And yet not as if this was
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  Speaker 1: in their own power. Jesus had said, he that believeth
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  Speaker 1: in Me, rivers of water shall flow out of him.
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  Speaker 1: The fullness of the Spirit is so truly in Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: the receiving out of him must so really be in
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  Speaker 1: the unbroken continuity of a real life fellowship. The ceaseless
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  Speaker 1: inflow of the sap from him, the living vine, must
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  Speaker 1: so distinctly be met by the ceaseless recipiency of a
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  Speaker 1: simple faith, that the upspringing of the fountain within can
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  Speaker 1: only be in the dependence on Jesus. Above. It is
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  Speaker 1: by the faith of Jesus, whose baptism with the Spirit
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  Speaker 1: has as dis distinct to commencement as his cleansing with
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  Speaker 1: the blood, but is also maintained by as continuous a renewal,
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  Speaker 1: that the inflow will grow ever stronger until it comes
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  Speaker 1: to the overflowing. And yet the faith in Jesus and
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  Speaker 1: the hourly and ever growing upspringing of the Spirit will
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  Speaker 1: not dispense with faith in the Father's special gift and
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  Speaker 1: the prayer for his special renewed fulfillment of his promise.
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  Speaker 1: For these same Ephesians, who had thus the Spirit within
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  Speaker 1: them as the earnest of their inheritance, Paul praised to
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  Speaker 1: the Father that he would grant you according to the
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  Speaker 1: riches of His Glory, that she may be strengthened with
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  Speaker 1: power through His Spirit in the inner man. The verbs
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  Speaker 1: both denotes not a work, but an act, something done
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  Speaker 1: at once. The expression according to the riches of His
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  Speaker 1: Glory indicates something which is to be a great exhibition
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  Speaker 1: of the divine love and power, something very special and divine.
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  Speaker 1: They had the Spirit in dwelling. He prayed for them
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  Speaker 1: that the direct interposition of the Father might give them
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  Speaker 1: such mighty workings of the Spirit, such a fullness of
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  Speaker 1: the Spirit, that the indwelling of Christ and a life
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  Speaker 1: in the love that passeth knowledge and being filled with
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  Speaker 1: the fullness of God might be their blessed personal experience.
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  Speaker 1: When the flood came of old, the windows of Heaven
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  Speaker 1: and the fountains of the Great Deep were together opened.
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  Speaker 1: It is still so in the fulfillment of the promise
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  Speaker 1: of the Spirit, I will pour floods upon the dry ground.
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  Speaker 1: The deeper and clearer the faith in the indwelling Spirit,
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  Speaker 1: and the simpler the waiting on him, the more abundant
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  Speaker 1: will be the renewed downcoming of the Spirit from the
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  Speaker 1: heart of the Father direct into the heart of his
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  Speaker 1: waiting child. There is one more aspect in which it
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  Speaker 1: is essential to remember that this fullness comes to faith.
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  Speaker 1: God loves when he appears to come in lowly and
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  Speaker 1: unlikely appearance, to clothe himself in the garment of humility,
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  Speaker 1: which he wants his children to love and wear. The
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  Speaker 1: Kingdom of Heaven is like a seed. Only faith can
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  Speaker 1: know what glory there is in littleness. Thus was the
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  Speaker 1: dwelling of the sun on earth. Thus is the indwelling
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  Speaker 1: of the Spirit in the heart he asks to be
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  Speaker 1: believed in. When nothing is seen or felt, believe that
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  Speaker 1: the fountain that springs up and flows forth in living
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  Speaker 1: streams is within, even when all appears dry. Take time
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  Speaker 1: to retire into the inner chamber of the heart, and
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  Speaker 1: then send up praise and offer worship to God in
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  Speaker 1: the assurance of the Holy Ghost within. Take time to
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  Speaker 1: be still and realize, and let the Spirit himself fill
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  Speaker 1: thy spirit with this most spiritual and heavenly of all truth,
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  Speaker 1: that He dwells within thee not in the thoughts or
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  Speaker 1: feelings first, but in the life deeper than where we
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  Speaker 1: can see and feel, is his temple, his hidden dwelling place.
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  Speaker 1: When one's faith knows that it hath what it has asked,
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  Speaker 1: it can afford to be patient and can abound in thanksgiving,
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  Speaker 1: even where the flesh would murmur. It can trust the
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  Speaker 1: unseen Jesus and the hidden Spirit. It can believe in
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  Speaker 1: that little and unlikely seed, the smallest of all the seeds.
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  Speaker 1: It can trust and give glory to Him who is
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  Speaker 1: able to do, exceeding abundantly above all. It can think,
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  Speaker 1: and can mightily strengthen in the inner man. Just when
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  Speaker 1: all appears feeble and ready to faint, Believer, expect not
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  Speaker 1: the fullness of the Spirit in the way which thy
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  Speaker 1: human reasoning deviseth, but even as was the coming of
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  Speaker 1: the Son of God, without form or comeliness, in a
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  Speaker 1: way that is folly to human wisdom, Expect the divine
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  Speaker 1: strength in great weakness. Become a fool to receive the
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  Speaker 1: divine wisdom which the Spirit teacheth. Be willing to be nothing.
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  Speaker 1: Because God tootheth the things that are not, to bring
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  Speaker 1: to naught the things that are. So shalt thou learn
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  Speaker 1: not to glory in the flesh, but to glory in
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  Speaker 1: the Lord, and in the deep joy of a life
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  Speaker 1: of daily obedience and childlike simplicity. Thou shalt know what
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  Speaker 1: it is to be filled with the Spirit o My God,
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  Speaker 1: Thy fullness of love and of glory is like a
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  Speaker 1: boundless ocean, infinite and inconceivable. I bless THEE that in
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  Speaker 1: revealing Thy Son it pleased THEE that all the fullness
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  Speaker 1: of the Godhead should dwell in him bodily, that in
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  Speaker 1: him we might see that fullness in human life and weakness.
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  Speaker 1: I bless THEE that His Church on earth is even
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  Speaker 1: now in all its weakness, his body, the fullness of
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  Speaker 1: Him that fileth all in all that in Him we
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  Speaker 1: are made full. That by the working of Thy Spirit
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  Speaker 1: and the in dwelling of Thy Son, and the knowledge
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  Speaker 1: of thy love, we may be filled to all the
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  Speaker 1: fullness of God. Blessed Father. I thank THEE that the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit is to us the bearer of the fullness
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus, and that in being filled with the Spirit
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  Speaker 1: we are made full with that fullness. I thank THEE
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  Speaker 1: that there have been men on earth since Pentecost, not
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  Speaker 1: a few of whom thou hast said that they were
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  Speaker 1: full of the Holy Ghost. O, my God, make me full.
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  Speaker 1: Let the Holy Spirit take and keep possession of my
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  Speaker 1: deepest inmost life. Let Thy Spirit fill my spirit. Let
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  Speaker 1: thence the fountain flow through all the soul's affections and powers.
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  Speaker 1: Let it flow over and flow out through my lips,
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  Speaker 1: speaking thy praise and love. Let the very body, by
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  Speaker 1: the quickening and sanctifying energy of the Spirit, be thy
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  Speaker 1: temple full of the divine life. Lord my God, I
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  Speaker 1: believe thou hearest me. Thou hast given it me. I
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  Speaker 1: accept it as mine. Oh, grant that throughout thy Church
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  Speaker 1: the fullness of the Spirit may be sought and found,
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  Speaker 1: may be known and proved. Lord Jesus, our Glorified King, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: let thy church be full of the Holy Ghost, Amen one,
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  Speaker 1: filled with the Spirit. It is not in the emotions,
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  Speaker 1: nor in conscious light or power or joy that the
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  Speaker 1: filling of the Spirit must first be sought, but in
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  Speaker 1: the life, in the hidden, inmost part deeper than knowledge
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  Speaker 1: or feeling, the region to which faith gives access and
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  Speaker 1: where we are and have before we know or feel.
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  Speaker 1: Two would you know what it is to be filled
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  Speaker 1: with the spirit. See Jesus look at him on the
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  Speaker 1: last night, knowing that the Father had given all things
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  Speaker 1: into his hands, and that he was come from God
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  Speaker 1: and went to God, washing the disciples feet in the
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  Speaker 1: deep calm of the consciousness, that he was of God.
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  Speaker 1: See the fullness of the Spirit. Seek it thus, in
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  Speaker 1: due time it will break out in testimony, in the
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  Speaker 1: fellowship of the saints, or for the saving of the lost. Three.
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  Speaker 1: Notice carefully the connection be filled with the Spirit speaking
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  Speaker 1: to one another. It is only in the fellowship of
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  Speaker 1: the body, its building up in love, that the Spirit
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  Speaker 1: reveals his presence. Jesus said, the Spirit shall bear witness,
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  Speaker 1: and ye shall bear witness. It is action on our
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  Speaker 1: part in obedience that the full consciousness of the Spirit's
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  Speaker 1: presence comes. They were filled with the Holy Ghost and
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  Speaker 1: began to speak, having the same spirit of faith. Therefore
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  Speaker 1: we speak. The fountain must spring up, the stream must flow.
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  Speaker 1: Silence is death. Four. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.
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  Speaker 1: This word precedes the other. Be filled with the Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: We cannot give the life or the growth, but we
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  Speaker 1: can remove the hindrance. We can give up to obedience.
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  Speaker 1: We can turn from the flesh to wait on God.
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  Speaker 1: We can yield to the spirit. As far as we
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  Speaker 1: know God's will, the filling comes from above. Wait for it,
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  Speaker 1: tarrying at the footstool of the throne in much prayer.
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  Speaker 1: And as thou prayest, turn inward and believe that the
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  Speaker 1: unseen power hath indeed possession of thy whole being. Five
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  Speaker 1: be filled with the spirit. It is the duty, the calling,
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  Speaker 1: the privilege of every believer, a divine possibility in virtue
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  Speaker 1: of the command, a divine certainty in the power of faith. God,
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  Speaker 1: Haste the day when every believer will believe this end
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  Speaker 1: of thirty first day