The Renewing of

the Holy Ghost

The Renewing of

the Holy Ghost

By Dr. Mark D. Hanby

© Copyright 1991—Dr. Mark D. Hanby

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may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or

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Permission will be granted upon request. Unless

otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from The

King James Version of the Bible.

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to Reverend C. R.

Free, who rescued my young pastorate by

teaching me the principles of the renewing of

the Holy Ghost.

Contents

Introduction. ..........................................................7

Chapter 1

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost. .....................11

Chapter 2

The Absolute Necessity of Renewal. .................23

Chapter 3

From Glory to Glory. ..........................................35

Chapter 4

Wells and Cisterns. ..............................................45

Chapter 5

Love Finds a Way. ...............................................59

Introduction

I can’t remember when I lost interest in

performance religion and actually ceased being

concerned with everyone else’s doctrinal issue,

but I believe it was near the time I discovered

how futile our conventional methods of

evangelism were. This, along with my disdain

for ministerial competition and a fervent urge

to flee religious politics, left me with few

professional crutches.

So, when I accepted my first pastorate at the

tender age of twenty-three, I had already

become an active member of the God seekers!

My program for church growth and spiritual

success consisted mainly of frequent fasts and

prayer-filled days and nights.

The truth is that I had left myself so few

options that the greatest proposition of my life

simply became the pursuit of divine purpose.

While the great preachers spoke imposingly

of the magnificent doors of revelation and

explained with classic illustrations the weight

of chains and locks, I was always scratching

8

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

around on my hands and knees looking for

keys.

One of the sages of our denomination

encouraged me, however, by explaining to me

that I really wasn’t a rebel; and, in his own

sweet way said, “You’re a maverick. . there is a

difference, you know!" I didn’t know the

difference and, for that matter, I really didn’t

know who or what I was.

I was convinced, however, that the church

did not have to smell like a mortuary and

sound like a five-hundred year old pipe organ.

My frustration was compounded by the

constant prattle that our “group” had all the

truth and that the whole world would have to

come to us to find salvation.

I realized that, while we had been blessed to

know many truths concerning the baptism, gifts

and operations of the Holy Spirit, we had lost

purpose and compassion, leaving us vulnerable

to Phariseeism and hypocrisy.

The only way I found to release the

straining geysers in my spirit was to preach

“Revival, Revival, Revival—God wants to give

Introduction

9

a great last-day revival to the Church! ”

I rose up out of the dust of spiritual

confusion, holding a great key in my hand and

heart. Revival would be the result of spiritual

renewal! Thus was born the theme of this book:

“The Renewing of the Holy Ghost. ”

Today, twenty years later, above the

muttering of popular cliches and worn out

illustrations, still comes the cry of a few

divinely discontented souls searching to

rediscover the boundless untapped resources of

the full apostolic power. These are the

spiritually hungry who have not yielded to the

easy pace of average service accepted by the

complacent majority.

If you are one of those, we’ve been looking

for each other.

Mark D. Hanby

Chapter 1

The Renewing of the Holy

1

Ghost

Not by works of righteousness which we

have done, but according to his mercy he saved

us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing

of the Holy Ghost.

Titus 3:5

The lightning speed with which this

tormented, tragically deceived generation is

plunging toward eternity wrenches from the

heart of every concerned Christian any desire

for gospel ‘games’ or spiritual amusement. The

burdened soul of the prayerful believer is left

with only a lonely crying out to really know

‘where went the power’ of the early New

Testament Church and the profundity of its

gospel witness.

Somewhere, far away from our narrow

religious prisons, surrounded by the dark,

damp tunnels of denominational tradition,

beckon the fresh, sweet paths of spiritual

insight, leading to vast treasures of power and

12

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

success.

Two of these lovely paths are outlined for

us in our scriptural text, Titus 3:5.

Not by the works of righteousness which we

have done, but according to his mercy he saved

us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing

of the Holy Ghost.

Titus 3:5

First is REGENERATION. Next, THE

RENEWING OF THE HOLY GHOST.

Regeneration is what God does for us

spiritually and supernaturally, while renewing

is what we do for ourselves through seeking

and pressing for deeper and closer experiences

with our Lord.

One who claims only an initial experience

in the Holy Spirit will soon become a stagnant

pool, covered with the green slime of betterness

and restless with the larvae of materialism, thus

becoming a breeding place for discontent. In

contrast, those who are consistently renewed

are a refreshing fountain for thirsty souls.

In this chapter, let’s examine regeneration1

1 Strongs—3824 "(Verbatum)” from the root of 1078

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

13

and its life-changing effect on the believer.

Regeneration is the accomplishment of

Deity, stooping to salvage and rescue utterly

doomed humanity. Oh what blessed relief! Old

things are taken away and all things are made

new! We have become new creatures in Christ

Jesus. Without regeneration a man cannot be

saved from pronounced judgment against all

mankind.

Regeneration is the birth of water and the

Spirit (John Chapter 3). It was preached on the

day of Pentecost (Acts 2), introduced to the

Gentiles (Acts 10), and ministered by Paul to

the Ephesians (Acts 19).

We stand on the scriptural platform and

declare that for a sinner to be saved from the

error of his way, he must believe, as the

“scripture hath said” (St. John 7:38), dying to

sin (Romans 6:6-9). He is then buried in a

watery grave (Romans 6:1-4), and resurrected

with Christ (Romans 6:5).

Believing the Gospel message and being

saved (Acts 16:30-39) directly identifies the

“(Verbatum)” Genesis! beginning! Nativity!!

14

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

believer with the death, burial and resurrection

of Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 15:1-4).

Regeneration, then, is the death of the “old

man” and the Genesis or beginning of a “new

creature” in Christ! (Il Corinthians 5:17-21)

Isn't it interesting that the determined love

of the uninformed newcomer to this gospel

truth has produced more for the cause of Christ

and evangelism than the professional-type

attitude of well-settled members? Somehow, we

successfully manage to train out of our new

converts the power and excitement that come to

them with the glorious ‘new birth’ experience.

There is a basic instinct in an unspoiled,

newborn saint that makes him love men,

women, boys and girls, no matter what their

station in life. When these newly baptized souls

stagger up from a Salvation altar, they are often

seen joyfully embracing those nearest them,

crying, “Oh, I’ve got to go tell my family! ”

Now, give them a few months in our

traditionally religious services, and we begin to

see the waning of this great, innate desire, as

we pull them farther and farther away into the

tracks of routine effort that our wheels have

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

15

traveled for so many years.

The enthusiasm and excitement of this first

love in a newborn child of God once

overlooked the discouraging facts and seeming

impossibilities of soul-winning and said, “I

must; I have to; they’re lost! ”

What is in the heart of a babe who seeks a

mother’s breast; or the instinct in the tiny

songbird that opens its bill wide at the sound of

a fluttering at the edge of the nest? Nature

willingly bequeaths to these helpless, little

creatures an inborn ability to pursue and obtain

the life-source.

What is in a newborn believer who cries

through the night for the lost relatives, prays

throughout the day for unsaved companions,

and sends an endless caravan of faith-packed,

prayer requests to the pastor’s desk for

wayward sons and daughters? Are these the

spastic motions or infantile responses of a

spiritually unfocused mind? No! These spiritual

babes are naturally obtaining and redistributing

the life-source. They are born with the gospel

principle: “... freely ye have received, freely

give. ” These fresh ones, whose eyes are not

16

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

accustomed to our established procedures, look

beyond the walls of our impossibilities and,

with reckless faith, envision what we are

‘confident’ could never come to pass.

Many of these sucklings are thought to be

suffering from a childhood disease. The

symptoms are carefully observed by the healthy

‘spiritual specialists’: running eyes, dripping

noses, unearthly groanings, frequent

stammerings and repeated seizures. After a

thorough examination, the diagnosis is

blushingly reported in these words: “Well, he’s

new here. Please, don’t be alarmed. The

affliction at this stage is not contagious and,

with ‘proper religious treatment, ’ this zealous

young’un will be completely cured in a few

days. ”

I submit that this sweet, young child of God

is not afflicted at all, but is still tender enough

to let his heart be broken with the things that

broke the heart of his Lord.

And when he (Jesus) saw the multitude he

was moved with COMPASSION!

Matthew 9:36

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

17

The new one is still able to put himself in

the position of a sinner with empathy for his

situation. Compassion is simply being able to

say, “I know how you feel; you see, it’s been

just a few hours, a few days, or a few weeks

since I was there. I remember the “pit from

whence I was digged. ." (Isaiah 51:1). “I

remember the sucking mire clinging to my

ankles and knees, dragging me ever

downward, toward a pit from which I could not

extricate myself. I remember the lonely nights

and the agonizing years of endless searching

for hopes and joys that could not be found. I

remember emptiness and waste, the lonely

harbingers of death that knocked endlessly at

my door, with no comforting advocate to put

an arm around my shoulder. ”

The love and compassion in the heart of this

newborn sensitively feel and remember every

pang of sin and reach out to do what a longtime

professional church member ‘knows’ cannot be

done, because time and security have erased

the painful memory of his wretched past. The

comfortable “saint” has been drinking a long

time at the fountain and often does not

18

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

remember the desperate longing for one drop

of cool water. He has long nibbled from tables

laden with rich messages and the fresh fruit of

constant encouragement He’s satisfied !

God prophetically sets Isaiah's warning

alongside the foundation text foretelling the

outpouring of the Holy Ghost.

Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards

of E-phra-im, whose glorious beauty is a fading

flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of

them that are overcome with wine!

Isaiah 28:1

Moses, the meek man of the Bible, endured

the type and shadow for our example (I

Corinthians 10:1-12), fervently warning these

fat souls:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one

Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thine God

with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and

with all thy might. And these words, which I

command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

And thou shalt teach them diligently unto

thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou

sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by

the way, and when thou liest down, and when

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

19

thou risest up.

And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon

thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets

between thine eyes.

And thou shalt write them upon the posts of

thy house, and on thy gates.

And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall

have brought thee into the land which he sware

unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to

Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which

thou buildedest not,

And houses full of all good things, which

thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou

diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which

thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten

and be full;

THEN BEWARE LEST THOU FORGET

THE LORD, WHICH BROUGHT THEE

FORTH OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT,

FROM THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE.

Deuteronomy 6:4-12

In sad consummation to a book full of

messages and with a heart laden responsibility,

Moses finally penned these words:

Remember the days of old, consider the

years of many generations: ask thy father, and he

20

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

When the most High divided to the nations

their inheritance, when he separated the sons of

Adam, he set the bounds of the people according

to the number of the children of Israel.

For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is

the lot of his inheritance.

He found him in a desert land, and in the

waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he

instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his

eye.

As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth

over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings,

taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

So the Lord alone did lead him, and there

was no strange god with him.

He made him ride on the high places of the

earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields;

and he made him to suck honey out of the rock,

and oil out of the flinty rock;

Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of

lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and

goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou

didst drink the pure blood of the grape.

BUT JE-SHU-RUN WAXED FAT AND

KICKED: THOU ART WAXEN FAT, THOU

ART GROWN THICK, THOU ART

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

21

COVERED WITH FATNESS: THEN HE

FORSOOK GOD WHICH MADE HIM, AND

LIGHTLY ESTEEMED THE ROCK OF HIS

SALVATION.

They provoked Him to jealousy with strange

gods, with abominations provoked they Him to

anger.

They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to

gods whom they know not, to new gods that

came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.

(Tradition)

OF THE ROCK THAT BEGAT THEE

THOU ART UNMINDFUL, AND HAS

FORGOTTEN GOD THAT FORMED THEE.

AND HE SAID, I WILL HIDE MY FACE

FROM THEM, I WILL SEE WHAT THEIR

END SHALL BE: FOR THEY ARE A VERY

FORWARD GENERATION, CHILDREN IN

WHOM IS NO FAITH.

Deuteronomy 32:7-18, 20

Chapter 2

The Absolute Necessity of

2

Renewal

... And when they had prayed, the place was

shaken where they were assembled together; and

they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and

they spake the word of God with boldness.

Acts 4:31

Prayerless men, gossiping women, worldly

young people, indifferent Sunday School

teachers and disgruntled church boards, all

totally barren of fruits and gifts of the Spirit,

halfheartedly participate in joyless worship and

browse daintily at our sterile altars. These

should already have convinced us that the

RENEWING OF THE HOLY GHOST is as

important as that first baptism. How can we

exist without the vital life-sign of spiritual

reproduction, which according to God’s Word,

is the very reason for our existence? And how

may we excuse the fact that our offensive

against diseases and devils is pitifully weak and

anemic? We are desperately in need of some

substantial evidence as to the power and effect

24

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

of our bold gospel.

Even with the healed crippled standing

with them (Acts 4), obviously testifying of

apostolic power and authority, Peter and John

along with the other disciples, were driven to

their knees by the insatiable thirst for renewal,

thus giving us a living insight into their

spiritual lifeline and secret for continued

victory.

And when they had prayed, the place was

shaken where they were assembled together; and

they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and

they spake the word of God with boldness.

Acts 4:31

The once-born churches of Revelation

received the pronouncement of judgment, not

because of a bad start, but because of a

mediocre follow-through. This eventual blight

of lukewarmness could be cured only by a

repeat of first works, after sincere repentance

and a purchasing of heretofore unattained

spiritual qualities in consecration.

Our modern Laodicean procedures may

salve our bleeding consciences, but they do not

The Absolute Necessity of Renewal

25

brush aside the vindictive finger of judgment

pointed by a glorified Savior at a self-justified

church.

There is an absolute necessity of our

constant reaching for a recharging and

rebaptism of the initial experience. This

renewing does not come automatically or by

the process of time, but only as we show

definite desire and exercise positive faith, as in

our first all-out efforts to reach God.

Many of us have long believed that

regeneration was necessary and mandatory but,

somehow, have never been able to distinguish

between renewing and regeneration. Both of

these roads have been marked with a single

sign, and we have been taught to believe that

the renewing of the Holy Ghost is just ‘praying

through’ again. This is, however, somewhat

faulty in concept and definitely short of

understanding. ‘Praying through’ may be

‘keeping the Holy Ghost, ’ but the renewing of

the Holy Ghost is a spiritual process of growth

and maturity.

The fortunate parents of a healthy child are

not altogether satisfied in the newborn

26

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

remaining alive; they are anxiously concerned

about his growth and development. These

proud parents do not complain when their son

outgrows his crib or when his last year’s

‘britches’ come only to his knees. They gladly

spend their wealth to change wardrobes,

increase shoe sizes, pay lunch bills and buy

note tablets for this healthy, growing youngster.

These same loving guardians would be greatly

distressed and most willing to seek any aid or

remedy, upon learning that their child had

reached an impasse in his journey toward

complete, normal manhood and maturity.

So our heavenly Father is concerned with

more than our birth. It is His desire and will

that we:

... all come in the unity of the faith, and of

the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a

PERFECT MAN, unto the measure of the

stature of the FULLNESS of Christ:

That we henceforth be no more

CHILDREN, tossed to and fro, and carried

about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight

of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie

in wait to deceive;

The Absolute Necessity of Renewal

27

But speaking the truth in love, may GROW

UP into him in all things, which is the head,

even Christ;

From whom the whole body fitly joined

together and compacted by that which every

joint supplieth, according to the effectual

working in the measure of every part, maketh

INCREASE OF THE BODY unto the edifying

of itself in love.

Ephesians 4:13-16

So then, the renewing of the Holy Ghost is

as necessary as regeneration and, in

understanding these spiritual principles and

their individual functions and operations, lies

the option of being a power-witness or being

what we commonly consider ‘a good saint. '

For the invisible thing of him from the

creation of the world are clearly seen, being

understood by the things that are made, even his

eternal power and Godhead; so that they are

without excuse:

Romans 1:20

Physiology (one of those things “being

understood”) has revealed to us many things

about the human body. We are mainly

interested, however, in the basic units of the

28

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

body that give or take life.

Every basic part of the body is made up of a

collection of tiny units called cells. These cells

represent tiny chemical factories that constantly

take in and transform certain raw materials and

send out new and different substances. The raw

materials and the finished products make their

way out of the cell through the extremely thin

membrane forming the cell wall.

It may be interesting to note that there are

trillions of cells in your body; it is said that the

red cells alone number some 25 trillion. Now

just consider, beloved, that each one of our

complex selves originated as a single cell—a

fertilized egg. Scientists further inform us that

all of our present cells were derived from that

original cell by the process of cleavage, or

division.

Lest we fall into the snare of the extreme

wisdom by further discourse, suffice it to say

that it is of great importance in the growth and

development of the body, and in the

maintenance and repair of the body (when it is

full grown), that the process of cell division,

replacement and renewal constantly take place.

The Absolute Necessity of Renewal

29

Cells are continually dying and being replaced

in our bodies. Thousands of dead cells are

washed from the surface of the skin every time

we bathe, and it has been estimated that, during

every second of our life, 100,000,000 red blood

cells die and are replaced by new ones.

It is proven that every cell in the body is

completely replaced and renewed every seven

years. If the body does not receive the raw

material with which to manufacture new cells,

so that the process of renewing may continue, it

cannot live more than a few days. The human

body cannot live without renewal.

The process of renewing in lower animal

life, commonly known as molting, is the

replacement of skin or feathers by an animal.

Some snakes and amphibians, for example,

molt about once a month. The feared and

respected rattlesnake leaves his skin among the

rocks of his lair. Nearly all birds shed and

replace their feathers during the annual molt

which usually takes place in late summer. 'Lost’

feathers don the caps of scouting youngsters.

Some birds also have a second molt in the

spring before the beginning of their productive

30

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

season. With each molt the coloring of the

plumage may change and the bird may go into

partial retirement. You will remember the

farmer’s common friend, the hen, whose

feathers drop out a few at a time, and in

definite order, so that the bird appears ragged

and shedding.

The value of the cycle of seasons, sowing

and reaping, is taught by agriculture (another

of those things “being understood”). It is

impossible for the farmer to reap a crop until he

has first cut down the stalks of last year’s corn,

plowed them back into the soil, and smoothed

the dirt for another year’s planting. The chaff is

scattered before the wheat can be planted again,

and the apples in the orchard must fall to the

ground before new fruit can come.

Modern Technology, understanding the

"things that are made,” also teaches us the

necessity of renewal. No automobile

manufacturer, with all his ingenuity, has yet

designed a vehicle with a fuel capacity to last

the lifetime of a car. One of the most affluent

enterprises in the world is the common filling

station industry; extensive travel is impossible

The Absolute Necessity of Renewal

31

without it.

Consider a modern aircraft that may carry

300-plus passengers half-way around the

world. The burst of power at take-off and the

whisper-smooth ride thousands of feet above

our terra firma would be only a frustrating and

pointless experience if, at its destination, there

were no facilities for replenishing the power

supply. With no refueling, the plane would

become useless, a favorite target of the

elements, a nesting place for sparrows. Great

speeches extolling the virtues, power, and

possibilities of this multimillion-dollar

manifestation of technological achievement

would be lost and tarnished like the oxidizing

of its silver sides, if the power had been

dissipated and there were no sources of

renewal.

Replaced cells, ugly hides, and ragged

feathers are all part of nature’s mute testimony

that renewing is absolutely necessary; without

it, none can live. Renewal is the on-going

process of life.

Renewing takes from us the ‘snakeskin’ of

deceit, the ‘feathers’ of hypocrisy and the

32

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

‘plumage’ of pride. As the trees of the orchard

are of no value, unless their fruit is shared with

others, so the rotten ‘pulp’ of self-centeredness

must be stripped from our branches. Consider

the surrendering stalks in the field; so our past

accomplishments, successes, and personal

achievements must willingly be plowed under

to give richness to a new, spring crop.

With hearts pulverized by this mighty

preaching and our souls disheleved by

conviction, we tearfully succumb to the words

of the prophet:

Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye

even to me with ALL your heart, and with

fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning;

And REND YOUR HEART, and not your

garments, and turn unto the Lord your God; for

he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of

great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Who knoweth if he will return and repent,

and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat

offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your

God?

Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast,

call a solemn assembly;

Gather the people, sanctify the congregation,

The Absolute Necessity of Renewal

33

assemble the elders, gather the children, and

those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go

forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her

closet.

Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord,

weep between the porch and the altar, and let

them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not

thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen

should rule over them; wherefore should they say

among the people, Where is their God?

Joel 2:12-17

But these ragged mourners are not without

the promise of renewing’s benefits!

Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and

rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given

you the former rain moderately, and he will

cause to come down for you the rain, the former

rain, and the latter rain in the first month.

And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the

fats shall overflow with wine and oil.

And I will restore to you the years that the

locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the

caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army

which I sent among you.

And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied,

and praise the name of the Lord your God, that

hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people

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The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

shall never be ashamed.

And ye shall know that I am in the midst of

Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and

none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.

And it shall come to pass AFTERWARD,

that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh...!

Joel 2:23-28

Chapter 3

From Glory to Glory

3

But we all, with open face beholding as in a

glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the

same image from glory to glory, even as by the

Spirit of the Lord.

II Corinthians 3:18

Perhaps each of us could be likened to one

who has just tumbled off the precipice of time

into the swollen, raging tide of this generation,

being carried swiftly toward its eternity. A

drowning man will clutch at any object on the

surface, when trying to keep his head above the

water.

The initial experience in the Holy Spirit was

a welcome limb, supporting our weight and

rescuing us from certain death. However, we

have been in this stream for some time. Our

boots are full of water, our clothes are soaked,

and the limb isn’t nearly as valuable in

supporting weight as it was at that first plunge.

We need something more—something bigger—

something with more security.

It is perplexing for us to leave something

36

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

that has been precious and valuable, in order

that we may find something else; but the

Scripture teaches us that we go “... from glory to

glory" (II Corinthians 3:18). We must be willing

to leave something good to gain something

better. The principle of renewal, working in us,

demands that we let go of complete

dependence in past experiences. With

trembling hands, we release the death grip of

our initial baptism that we may flounder,

plunge, and swim toward the log of greater

glory, drifting a few arm lengths from our

present situation.

We must come to a crisis. We must be

willing to give away what we have, that we

might gain something more; this is the principle

of Heaven.

For God so love the world that he gave...

John 3:16

Is Heaven poorer for His giving? We rejoice

with John as the messenger comes to him, arms

laden with wrath and destruction, and leads

him into the city to be introduced to the Bride,

the Lamb’s wife; (Revelation 21:9) Heaven is

From Glory to Glory

37

richer for His giving, and so are we! The whole

principle is established: WE GET BY GIVING!

He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he

that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Matthew 10:39

We go from victory to victory. We must

leave Samaria’s revival to save the eunuch in

the desert (Acts 8). We must let go of the limb

to gain the log. Then we balance, tottering and

teetering precariously on the log, paying the

price, and taking the chance to reach the

overhanging branches that will save us from

the pounding falls.

Many timid souls are not willing to leave

the victories of the past, and continue to testify

and talk of those blessed things that happened

to them years ago. But those renewed in the

Holy Ghost will talk of the present power and

glory of God, proclaiming the wonderful things

happening NOW and the victories that are

coming in the near future. They have been

willing to go from victory to victory and from

glory to glory.

We are the spiritual elect to God and

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The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

prophetically will be gathered from the four

distinct and different winds, which the Bible

declares will blow at some time upon each of

us.

And then shall he send his angels, and shall

gather together his elect from the four winds,

from the uttermost part of the earth to the

uttermost part of heaven.

Mark 13:27

The East wind of chastening (Hosea 13:15),

the West wind of blessings (Exodus 10:17-19),

the North wind of cleansing (Job 37:21-24), and

the South wind of renewal (Job 37:14-17), must

sometime come to every one of God’s elect.

Solomon, in his Song of Love (Song of

Solomon 4:16), shows us the espoused bride

standing in her withered garden, when she

senses the nearness of her coming groom. She

does not cry for chastening, (East wind) nor for

blessings (West wind); but the urgent voice of

the end-time bride wails out:

AWAKE, O north wind; and come, thou

south; blow upon my garden, that the spices

thereof may flow out...

From Glory to Glory

39

The North wind was Job’s wind that passed

and cleansed him, bringing God to him with all

of His terrible majesty—the God that Job ‘could

not find out.’ It brought His excellent power,

judgment, and justice, and a definite fear and

respect (Job 37). The North wind was Ezekiel’s

wind that brought deity to him in the striking,

fiery amber and power that smote Ezekiel to the

ground (Ezekiel 1:4, 27, 28).

The espoused bride knew that raisins could

not pass for lush grapes and that dried prunes

upon the vine would not be acceptable as sweet

plums. She knew that the shriveled fruit

beneath the brown branch and the dying leaf

would not be pleasant for her beloved to eat.

She had to be willing for the cold, chilling

North wind, that drives the ducks from the

ponds, the leaves from the trees, and the brown

grass into the soil, to come and strip her garden,

until it stood empty and alone, with nothing

but the promise of the South wind.

The South wind is the wind for going (Acts

27:13), the wind of refreshing and renewing. It

is the wind that awoke in the heart of seamen

the desire to put their ships to sea, discover

40

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

new ports, and to explore pleasant islands. The

South wind woos the spring rains that fall

softly upon the cultivated tracts, causing the

small seeds in the soil to burst forth, sending

green shoots upward toward the sun. Only

after a long, hard, cold winter can a farmer

appreciate the small blade of grass or a tiny leaf

of corn. After the winter’s chill, he is so excited

that he may drop to his knees, examining the

first showing of green across the wintered field.

The North wind has driven everything but

memory away, and now comes the renewing.

The new world is sweet and fresh, all things

come to life again. The feelings that once died

in the farmer, through familiarity, are now

vibrantly renewed. Where once he strolled

carelessly through the fields, tramping down

the familiar stalks, not careful for the moaning

of the common plants, he now places his feet

very carefully between the tender rows. The

heart of the husbandman “thrills with the song of

spring” (James 5:7). He has been willing to leave

one victory to come to another. After suffering

the North winds, the renewing again brings to

him that “first love," THE ONLY HOPE OF THE

From Glory to Glory

41

CHURCH!

The cry of the espoused bride, in hearing

the footfall of her coming lover, is not for

blessings, nor for wealth, but that she may be

stripped of all past benefits and be renewed

with lush new fruit, that her lover may find her

garden pleasant to eat from.

The renewing of the Holy Ghost is God’s

“Shibboleth” to the church (Judges 12). It is the

watchword of life or death! Renewing brings a

sense of emergency to the church. Strickened

members moan with their heads under the

altar, as though they had never known God at

all. Young people in the congregation lay on

their faces, groaning out spiritual utterances in

repentance expressing their pain and grief.

Pastors find themselves staring blindly at the

people with a haunting emptiness in their souls,

strangling at times on the very words they try

to moralize. Eventually, the once well-satisfied,

comfortable congregation becomes a ragged

nest of mourning, searching, dying people,

striking out wildly from the limb of salvation to

the log of renewing. Floundering, flailing,

coughing and choking, where once they were at

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The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

ease and secure, they now chance life, to find its

deeper meaning.

The bland messages that have been warbled

over and over again unexpectedly become

choking sobs, as the ministers weep between

the porch and the altar, standing pleadingly

between God and men. Tact is flung to the

winds, and arguments for security disappear.

Past blessings and accomplishments are

completely obliterated by rivers of salty tears.

The unconcerned and the hypocrites become

sadly more outstanding by their refusal to

participate, and every church service seems to

be paced by the chiming of the bells of eternity.

The phrase “inherit the wind" (Proverbs

11:29), reveals the principle that rewards,

especially evil rewards, will come in time.

Many modern day Christians, however,

passively insist that greater glory and victory

may be “inherited” by those who wait. These

drowsy souls have immortalized the phrase

‘when God gets ready,’ and have evasively

omitted “the violent take the kingdom by force”

(Matthew 11:12).

Beware! We haven’t time for pleasant

From Glory to Glory

43

zephyrs to awake and aid us at their leisure.

The coming of our groom is at hand! We

observe His approach through the sooty

mirrors and darkened glasses of this hell-bound

generation. In guttural tones of anguish we

should plead:

Oh, blessed wind of Pentecost, where did you

make your bed in this dark night of sin. Holy wind

of Apostolic boldness, our churches are unshaken in

your absence. WAKE UP, OH WINDS, and gust

into our sanctuaries, leveling our idols of tradition

and ripping down our proud banners of apathy.

Now, “the God seekers" fill hours with

tearful prayers; men leave their jobs and come

home early because of crushing burdens. Ladies

abandon their washings to kneel beside the

couch, battling to gain a new place in God.

Young people tearfully look for closets of

prayer.

It’s happening! Fresh testimonies are

bursting forth. Reports of spiritual healing

sweep in! The entire church is abruptly caught

up in a vast feeling of revival. No one is talking

about the “good old days,” for everybody is

consciously aware of the present power and

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The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

renewing of the Holy Ghost!

The sound of the dresser’s axe rings clearly

throughout his vineyard! His pitiful voice

speaks.

Behold these three years I come seeking fruit

on this fig tree and find none...

With a sign of resignation he regretfully

announces:

... cut it down!

Luke 13:6-9

Alas! Necessity is laid upon us; we must be

re-baptized. As Rachel mourned for children

and would not be comforted:

... Give me children or else I die.

Genesis 30:1

So may we sorrow for our fruitlessness.

RENEW ME OR I DIE!

Chapter 4

Wells and Cisterns

4

Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be

horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the

Lord.

For my people have committed two evils;

they have forsaken me the fountain of living

waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken

cisterns, that can hold no water.

Jeremiah 2:12-13

Having much mercy upon the author’s poor

ability at mental artistry, let us all patiently

‘gather round’ in an attempt to decipher the

meaning of the following illustration.

The next time you stand in your

congregation, try to imagine the auditorium as

an open field and each individual member as

representing a hollow, sunken cylinder, like a

hand-dug well.

Please disregard the fact that they all look

similar externally and consider that all of them

fall into one of two distinctively opposite

categories. Each regular member, is either a

WELL or a CISTERN.

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The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

There is an all-important difference between

a well and a cistern.

A WELL has a source within itself and

flows ever upward and outward, bathing its

surroundings in cool, refreshing, life-giving

water. Jesus spoke of these wells saying:

... but the water that I shall give him shall be

in him a well of water springing up into

everlasting life.

St. John 4:14

In sharp contrast, the CISTERN has all the

possibilities of being a well—except that the

inward supply is gone. These empty souls have

forsaken the “fountain of living water.” Their

walls are soon cracked by dryness, neglect, and

self-hewn philosophies so that even when filled

by some external supply, as they must be if

they possess anything at all, the water is lost

into the black humus of their carnal hearts.

Indifferently, these spongers wait in motionless

satisfaction for some spiritual well to overflow

and again moisten the thirsty abyss of their

souls.

Jude beheld these and with unbridled

Wel s and Cisterns

47

candor, penned this searing rebuke:

These are spots in your feasts of charity,

when they feast with you, feeding themselves

without fear: clouds they are without water,

carried about of winds; trees whose fruits

withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up

by the roots;

Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their

own shame; wandering stars, to whom is

reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

These be they who separate themselves

(“They have forsaken me, the fountain of living

waters, and have hewed them out cisterns,

broken cisterns, that can hold no water”),

sensual, HAVING NOT THE SPIRIT.

Jude 12-13, 19

Nor could the insidious spiritual crime of

the cisterns be overlooked by the apostle with

the keys; for Peter said:

These are wells without water, clouds that

are carried with a tempest: to whom the mist of

darkness is reserved for ever.

II Peter 2:17

For it had been better for them not to have

known the way of righteousness, than, after they

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The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

have known it, to turn from the holy

commandment delivered unto them.

II Peter 2:21

There is a river, the streams whereof shall

make glad the city of God, the holy place of the

tabernacles of the most High.

Psalms 46:4

He that believeth on me, as the scripture

hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of

living water.

St. John 7:38

What? know ye not that your body is the

temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which

ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

I Corinthians 6:19

Very little research is needed to arrive at the

conclusion that a well is not dug for the mere

pleasure of digging, and that it was never

meant to be a satisfaction to itself alone. No

matter how elaborately the well-cap may be

fashioned or how elegantly the springhouse

may be designed, the most worthy reason for a

well’s existence is that it shares its water.

These scriptures teach us that, out of the

Wel s and Cisterns

49

tabernacles (temples, wells, and innermost

beings), shall come a river driven by the force

of many tributaries. Each source is a singular

well, pouring its precious substance into a

torrent of unity, coursing its way through the

desert to the sea.

Ezekiel was led in vision one day past the

door of the House of the Lord (typical, perhaps,

of our present church facilities):

... and, behold, waters issued out from under

the threshold of the house eastward: for the

forefront of the house stood toward the east, and

the waters came down from under from the right

side of the house, at the south side of the altar.

Then brought he me out of the way of the

gate northward, and led me about the way

without unto the utter gate by the way that

looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out

waters on the right side.

And when the man that had the line in his

hand went forth eastward, he measured a

thousand cubits, and he brought me through the

waters; the waters were to the ankles.

Again he measured a thousand, and brought

me through the waters; the waters were to the

knees. Again he measured a thousand, and

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The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

brought me through; the waters were to the

loins. Afterward he measured a thousand; and it

was a river that I could not pass over; for the

waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river

that could not be passed over.

And He said unto me, Son of man, hast

thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused

me to return to the brink of the river.

Now when I had returned, behold, at the

bank of the river were very many trees on the

one side and on the other.

Then said he unto me, these waters issue out

toward the east country, and go down into the

desert, and go into the sea: which being brought

forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.

And it shall come to pass, that everything

that liveth, which moveth, withersoever the

rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a

very great multitude of fish, because these

waters shall come thither; for they shall be

healed; and everything shall live wither the river

cometh.

Ezekiel 47:1-9

After being spiritually enlightened by the

prophet’s challenging vision, who among us

would not humbly confess that there are

multitudes of fish (people) in our sea (city) who

Wel s and Cisterns

51

will never be reached by our present

mechanical witness or powerless presentations.

They are longing, languishing and dying,

waiting for the flowing of a river. Lonely

executives, weary housewives, sensation-

addicted youths and disgusted church

members, though hiding behind a pretense of

self-sufficiency, still unconsciously beg for

living water. Isn’t it a shame, that we can’t get

this life-giving substance past our cisterns?

Perhaps now we can see why Jeremiah

spoke fervently and with fear. The Lord did not

anoint him to say, “the religious people have

made a mistake,” but rather, “MY PEOPLE

have SINNED.” To be a cistern is not merely a

fault; it is evil (Jeremiah 2:13).

Well, the ladies are chattering and the men

are swapping stories, while their young’uns

skip impishly through the aisles scattering

songbooks, or plucking choice morsels of used

bubble gum from the underside of well-carved

pews. Giddy young people zealously prepare

many precious strips of paper on which to

smuggle their romantic notes across the

congregation. Sorrowfully, somewhere in the

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The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

background, from a tiny Sunday School room,

the faithful few send up a series of odd moans

in an attempt to gain a belated spiritual victory.

It’s Sunday morning and the Wells and Cisterns

are gathering!

I wonder .. have we forgotten the thirsty

masses beyond the empty wastes of pleasure

and sin, eagerly awaiting the sound of rushing

water (Job 6:14-20)?

By contrast, as Ezekiel passed the door of

the House of the Lord (his church), a trickle of

water issued out from under the threshold.

When he crossed the first time, the water was

ankle-deep. Upon returning, after a time, the

prophet found that the flow had risen to his

knees; and again when he came by, the water

was to his loins. In the final crossing, the waters

were risen until there were “... WATERS TO

SWIM IN, a river that could not be passed over”

(Ezekiel 47:5).

It has never been the plan of God for His

people to assemble only to get their ‘bucket

full.’ The church has, since its birth, been

intended to execute a particular PURPOSE in

this world; the New Testament states it like

Wel s and Cisterns

53

this:

These signs shall follow them that believe.

Mark 16:17

And they went forth, and preached

everywhere, the Lord working with them, and

confirming the word with signs following.

Mark 16:20

Pouring over the threshold of the upper

room, into the streets, the members of the first

church filled Jerusalem with the river of their

doctrine and turned their world upside down!

It is, inescapably, our responsibility to produce

enough water within the sanctuary to cause a

flood to burst out of the door, cascading into

the streets, so that the Spirit of God may flow

into every highway, thoroughfare, alley and

byway, preparing the way and convicting souls

of their overwhelming need for salvation.

Well, since it’s church time, we will again

dutifully set out to produce some living water.

Yet, even while we prime a few faithful wells,

our enthusiasm is short-lived; for, to our

helpless dismay, as we view the field, we

observe that all the painfully-gained substance

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The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

we are managing to produce trickles only a few

feet before splattering into the cavity of a

gaping cistern that personally produces

nothing.

Meanwhile, the steps of our church remain

unmoistened by any spiritual overflow, and

every powerful act of the Spirit is completely

absorbed by those who prefer spiritual feasting

to spiritual conquest. This tragic picture

demands an honest answer to an honest

question: of what lasting value are a few wells

to a lost world, if their most extreme effort in

production is completely and selfishly

devoured within their own sanctuary walls?

We often encourage ourselves by saying,

“We had a wonderful meeting tonight”; and it

may be true, at the climax of the service, after

pumping, priming and preaching, we are able

to say that all were blessed by the Spirit, and

everybody went home rejoicing. But what

about the next service night, when we all

congregate for good ole’ Bible study? The

cisterns will have successfully soaked away

their blessings, and our tiresomely repetitious

task begins once more. While the world waits

Wel s and Cisterns

55

longingly for the sound of water, we can’t get it

past the door.

We MUST overcome the balance of power.

We MUST have more wells than cisterns. Do

not despair, however, this can quickly be

accomplished by the Holy Ghost renewal of the

long inactive spiritual fountainhead within the

cisterns of your congregation.

After this welcome increase in pumping

power, those non-producing remaining few, as

there seemingly always will be, can quickly be

replenished by the rapidly rising surge. Waters

then gush from our doors, terracing down the

steps, plunging into the homes of hard-hearted

and spiritually starving church attenders. We

have vaulted into the realm of the Supernatural.

The Spirit of the Lord is going where we could

not go before and doing what we could not do!

Our activity in the Spirit is no longer an

endless task of filling cisterns; the water is now

flowing from one cylinder to another, but this

time to be met by a similarly powerful force.

These streams all join together, building a

unified strength until suddenly:

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The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

... there is a river, the streams whereof shall

make glad the city...

Psalms 46:4

In the past, we have battled frantically,

struggling against unbelievable odds, to spread

this gospel. Our extreme effort to convince

unbelievers and professional rejectors has met

with constant and bewildering failure, until we

have become satisfied with only the faintest

motion forward.

But something new is happening now. Out

of the individual tabernacles of the Holy Ghost

issue bubbling springs, merging to form a

sweeping river. Those we could not convince

before, though evading us personally, are

unexpectedly finding themselves sloshing

through water they did not ask for. Whereas

they could easily withstand the onslaught of

our verbal bombasts, having managed to dispel

each convicting message, they cannot cope with

water that seeps under their doors, flooding

bedrooms and kitchens. They find no rest at

night and are strangely absent from their places

at dinnertime. The river has enveloped them.

Meanwhile, among the regular members,

Wel s and Cisterns

57

chronic illnesses and afflictions are

miraculously disappearing, and a greater

percentage of folks prayed for are healed.

Testimony services yield up these exciting

reports:

Yesterday, my mother and father

listened for the first time to my

testimony. My husband is coming

Sunday, to find God.

The pastor’s message is only minutes old

when a young man rudely interrupts by

screaming, “I must be saved tonight!” The

molested service comes to a screeching halt, as

men repent, women weep, and saints team into

prayer groups all about the auditorium. The

enduring virus of infectious faith contagiously

races through the congregation, dispelling

doubt and encouraging unpremeditated

spiritual recklessness. Chronic seekers easily

receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, causing

spiritual riots at our congested altars.

Revival has come: we have overcome the

balance of power! The water has “over-flowed

the hiding place” (Isaiah 28:17), and the church

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The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

has found its apostolic unction. When those

once immobile church members are

sarcastically questioned, "Can any good thing

come out of Nazareth (THAT church)?” They

enthusiastically retort, "Come and see!” (John

1:46)

Now we are not putting our blistered hands

to the plow alone. We are “laborers together with

God” (I Corinthians 3:4).

... the Spirit AND the bride say, Come. And

let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that

is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take

the water of life freely.

Revelation 22:17

Each consecutive service is not a repeat of

the previous cycle of priming, but continues

with gushing power where we left off. Our

once dry sanctuary has become a pool of clear

water, and every street in our city is a stream.

Chapter 5

Love Finds a Way

5

Though I speak with the tongues of men and

of angels, and have not charity, I am become as

sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

I Corinthians 13:1

A great percentage of all soul-winning done

in the average evangelical church is

accomplished, not by veteran members, but

rather by new converts who have been saved

six months or less!

Properly speaking, this situation defies all

normal logic and bespeaks serious spiritual

imbalance. In our quest for understanding,

however, the causes behind this astonishing

paradox are more clearly understood when we

remember the sweet relief of righteousness,

overwhelming peace and tremendous joy that

accompanied our own initial baptism, firing us

with a frantic urgency.

OH, BLESSED FIRST LOVE! What

beckoning call of evening wooed you to

take your flight from my lean and

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The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

hungry soul?

The untrained spiritual children teach us

that soul-winning is not an educated art or

concept, nor can it be guaranteed by following

a set of rules. It must be the result of something

personal and powerful stirring within us. The

weak, retreating disciples in Gethsemane

became the powerful, mountain-moving

patriarchs of the newborn Church after

receiving the Holy Ghost. These formerly

bewildered disciples, recognizing their own

inability to fulfill the kingly charge of their

departing master, "Go ye into ALL the world and

preach the gospel to EVERY CREATURE" (Mark

16:15), tenaciously clung to this solitary ray of

hope: "Ye shall receive POWER after that the Holy

Ghost is come upon you... and ye SHALL BE

witnesses unto me...” (Acts 1:8)

The common church member today usually,

comes to soul-winning class well-armed, and

doesn’t hesitate long before exploding with a

number of excuses with which he is obsessed.

Hiding his slothfulness, carelessness and

faithlessness, he offers these remarks as an

answer for his fruitlessness:

Love Finds a Way

61

“I have a shy nature.”

“I never have been able to talk to people."

“You know I’m very reserved.”

“I don’t think we should push people.”

“The folks on my block are just not

interested.”

“I live in a strange neighborhood.”

“My job’s had me tied down lately."

“I just can’t get my housework finished, and

I think it’s more important to keep a home than

to be out beating the streets all day."

“My children demand so much of my time.”

“It seems to me that all we do is go to

church; aren’t we ever supposed to have any

time for ourselves and our family?”

“I’ve tried and tried, and it’s no use."

“The Lord didn’t call me to knock on

doors.”

“I thought we paid the preacher to do the

visiting.”

“I couldn’t sell a glass of water to a man

dying of thirst. Let Henry do it. He could sell a

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The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

snowball to an Eskimo!”

It seems they have forgotten the old

scriptural adage, “... If any man will come after

me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily,

and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

He that loveth father or mother more than

me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or

daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And

he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after

me is not worthy of me.

Matthew 10:37-38

Many try to make their excuses sound

legitimate by using justifiable, normal human

activity as a ‘reason’ for not attending to God’s

spiritual business. The Lord, however, is

certainly neither fooled nor impressed by those

who constantly fabricate excuses, and He

exposes both the fallacy of and judgment for

their unrighteous activity in Luke 14:16-24.

Then said he unto him, A certain man made

a great supper, and bade many:

And sent his servant at supper time to say

to them that were bidden, Come; for all things

are now ready.

And they all with one consent BEGAN TO

Love Finds a Way

63

MAKE EXCUSE. The first said unto him, I

have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs

go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And

another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen,

and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me

excused.

And another said, I have married a wife, and

therefore I cannot come.

So that servant came, and shewed his lord

these things. Then the master of the house being

angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into

the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in

hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt,

and the blind.

And the servant said, Lord, it is done as

thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.

And the lord said unto the servant, Go out

into the highways and hedges, and compel them

to come in, that my house may be filled.

For I say unto you, That none of those men

which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

We are compassionately and clearly warned

by this parable that the Lord cannot accept this

type of excuse but will, rather, choose a

different group of people to replace those who

were first bidden to the supper.

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The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

Few will argue against the right of a man to

buy and inspect a piece of land, and it is

unreasonable to ask that a farmer not try the

oxen he has purchased. And who among us

would deny a man the blessing of spending

time with his wife and family? However, these

fine activities become mere baseless excuses

when offered as reasons for not obeying the

commandments of our Lord, such as:

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with ALL

thy heart, and with ALL thy soul, and with ALL

thy mind. This is the first and great

commandment.

Matthew 22:37-38

Such a fervent and comprehensive

statement brings again to our minds one of the

‘Laws of Grace’:

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and

his righteousness: and all these things shall be

added unto you.

Matthew 6:33

All decent and upright things may be done,

in proper time and in proper order. But

NOTHING takes pre-eminence over our

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65

responsibility to save lost and dying men.

No man tells the river where to flow or the

wind where to blow. The river does not wait for

hills to be moved or for valleys to be dug. It

automatically flows to the lowest point, and the

rushing of its power sends its streams around

hindrances, over insurmountable obstacles, and

through thickets that even a rabbit could not

negotiate. Tumbling before it that tattered

debris, the watercourse carves out a channel on

its way to the oceans. Though crooked and

twisting, we may be sure that the river always

finds a way!

The third chapter of Acts discloses to us the

story of the healing of a lame man at the

Beautiful Gate, followed by the unparalleled

preaching of Peter, when he brazenly

condemned the sons of Abraham for denying

the Holy and Just One and accepting a

murderer, instead. He further denounced them

for killing the Prince of Life and then excited

them with the unbelievable tale that God

actually raised Him from the dead. The bold

fisherman refused to apologize for being a

witness of that resurrection and further

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The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

commanded every hearer to repent and be

converted.

Peter then explained to all of the inquirers

and agnostics that through the name of Jesus

the lame man had been made well. Blazing into

the fourth chapter, the uneducated Simon Peter,

filled with the Holy Ghost and fire, delivered

an invincible rebuttal against the stuffy high

priests and scribes, by majestically unveiling

the foundation truth that the unorthodox stone

which was set at naught by the religious world

of his day had become the Head of the corner.

With this torrent of condemnation blasting

their bitter hearts, the chief priests took counsel

as to how they might rid themselves of these

fearless preachers. Now, it seems that the

overwhelming influence of the religious leaders

of that day should have easily out-maneuvered

and stopped the mouths of these simple

fishermen. When these stung high officials

threatened and commanded them not to speak

or teach at all in the name of Jesus, that warning

should have been enough.

With a lion-like boldness these ill-bred,

uncouth laborers fearlessly faced the elite mob

Love Finds a Way

67

who had successfully executed their Master

and, with the Spirit surging like a pounding

surf in their hearts, the disciples explained their

usual position saying in effect, “We can’t help

it. We cannot but speak the things which we

have seen and heard.” SILENCE IS

IMPOSSIBLE!

Hence we are instructed, by example, that

soul-winning is not a rule that can be made or

dictated but, rather, a result of uncapped

spiritual pressure built up in the hearts of

conscientious and concerned men and women.

At any given time, in any given place, this inner

fire may erupt into a POWERFUL WITNESS of

what Jesus Christ has done, and is now doing.

Love for mankind in the heart of a true

believer is not a passive feeling but an active

energy.

It is no more possible for a renewed man or

woman to be silent about the power of

salvation than for a skinny branch to support

the weight of a flying elephant, or a single man,

by himself, to throw a dam across the mighty

Amazon. Can one person stop an avalanche by

spreading out his arms, or has history shown us

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The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

a man who has harnessed the winds and tied

them at his feet? Could we, by thinking, drain

the oceans dry or move the mighty Teton

Mountains to the east? Can a child pick up a

fallen oak and stand it in its place again, or can

a mother bring to life her stillborn babe? Nay!

So neither can circumstances, ridicule, excuses

or any other reason stop the POWER WITNESS

of a spiritually renewed child of God!

Let us take a moment, now, and slow our

restless attention to a thinker's walk; to be

spiritually wise we must “let these things sink

down into our ears” (Luke 9:43-45), hearing what

the “SPIRIT sayeth to the churches.” There is no

debate about God’s knowing our uncertain

works, the pertinent question is, however: do

we understand the simple meaning of the

Spirit, as when Jesus pointedly declared that

the very gates of Hell could not withstand the

righteous bombardment of a glorious Church?

Have we then hidden our timid spirits

among the shallow rushes of passive

acceptance, whimpering that revival days are

past? Are we sighing, “Just so we can somehow

manage to hang on till He comes?"

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69

We must rise up for these slimy pallets; our

patient Master “hath somewhat against us!” He

did not ask degrees of education or worlds of

understanding, only a fresh new FIRST LOVE.

We also clearly understand that any means or

methods proposed without love are not only

impractical, but utterly useless.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and

of angels, and have not charity, I am become as

sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and

understand all mysteries, all knowledge; and

though I have all faith, so that I could remove

mountains, and not charity, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed

the poor, and though I give my body to be

burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me

nothing."

I Corinthians 13:1-3

Promising crowns, thrones and worlds

without end to all who will follow Him, our

magnificent Lord omnipotently strides to the

forefront of this generation’s seething holocaust

and sternly reminds our cowering hearts of the

unlimited apostolic power lying dormant with

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us.

Behold, I give unto you power to tread on

serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of

the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt

you.

Luke 10:19

Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the

dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received,

freely give.

Matthew 10:8

With love twisting their manly hearts, Peter

and John found time for a begging cripple (on

their way to prayer meeting) and delivered to

him a portion of the power they personally

possessed: “Such as I have give I thee.” Nothing

more was needed, and nothing less would

suffice.

Love does not seek for assistance, only for

acceptance. Without it, we shall always find

excuses; and with it, we will always find a way.

Document Outline

- The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

- Contents

- Introduction

- 1 The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

- 2 The Absolute Necessity of Renewal

- 3 From Glory to Glory

- 4 Wells and Cisterns

- 5 Love Finds a Way

Table of Contents

Introduction.

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost.

The Absolute Necessity of Renewal.

From Glory to Glory.

Wells and Cisterns.

Love Finds a Way.

ation1

The Renewing of the Holy Ghost

Contents