I
pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner
strength through His Spirit. Ephesians 3:16
The strength of the Lord's
people is none other than the strength of the Holy Spirit in the inward man.
Right at the very center of the being, deeper than thought or reason, deeper
than emotion or feeling, deeper than all that which comprises the more outward
man which, under given circumstances, may prove weak and incapable of standing
up to the situation. In the variations of our soul life, the changes of our
moods, our ideas, our attitudes, our feelings, our minds; deeper down there is
that strength which does not let us go. That is the true nature of
spirituality. It is not the tremendously forceful conviction of our intellects
or the mighty power of our wills. When these cannot stand up to conditions of
intense spiritual antagonism, opposition or perplexity, there is that more
inward thing, right in the inward man, which is of God – the Holy Spirit: “Strengthened
with might by His Spirit into the inward man.”
Test that out and the
result is that when the mind is bewildered by the perplexity of a situation,
and the arguments are all in the direction that a mistake has been made, a
wrong course has been taken, everything is false – when all the feelings are
churned up, disturbed, anxious, fearful, or when there are no feelings at all,
they are simply petrified by the position – when circumstances are all arguing
in the opposite direction of that which we, in the purest moments of our
fellowship with God determined upon. The world around us – and very closely
around us, even within the sphere of our own natural life, our own soul life –
is an inexplicable mystery. Then spirituality is proved by that inward strength
which abides: that standing when you cannot go forward; that holding when you
can do nothing; that remaining when all the forces are seeking to sweep you off
your feet. That represents a measure of spirituality. That is the true nature
of the child of God. The opposite is to be carried away by argument, reasoning,
appearance, circumstance, and all such things. That proves a lack of true
spirituality. In a sentence, true spirituality is not to live on the outside;
it is to live with God right down deep in the inner part of your own being,
where He, the Spirit, is.
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