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TOPIC: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Quiet Talks on Power (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 42. Three Laws of Continuous Power
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Three Laws of Continuous Power
Power depends on good connections. In mechanics: the train with the locomotive; the machinery with the engine; the electrical mechanism with the power house. In the body: the arm with the socket; the brain with the heart. In the Christian life the follower of Jesus with the Spirit of Jesus. We have been talking together about making connections, and I believe some of us have made the vital connection this hour, which means new inflow and outflow of power.
Now there will be time for only a brief word about breaking connections. "But," you say, "we do not want to break connections." No, you do not. But there is someone else who does. Since you have put yourself into intimate contact with Jesus this someone else has become intensely interested in breaking that contact. And this enemy of ours, this Satan, the hater, is subtle and deep and experienced and more than a match for any of us. But greater is He that is now in you than he that is in the world. Satan will do his best by bold attack and cunning deceit to tamper with your couplings.
One of the saddest sights, and yet a not uncommon one, is to see a man who has been mightily used of God, but whose usefulness is now wholly gone. One can run back through only recent years and recall, one after another, those through whom multitudes were blessed, but who, yielding to some subtle temptation, have utterly and forever lost their opportunity of service. The same is true of scores in more secluded circles whose lives, spiritually blighted and dwarfed, tell the same sad story.
These recent instances are but repetitions of older ones. Three times the writer of judges tells of Samson that "the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him," and then is added the pathetic sentence-"but he wist not that the Lord was departed from him." And between the two occurs the story of an act of disobedience. Twice the same thing is recorded of King Saul, "the spirit of God came mightily upon him," and the same sequel follows, "the spirit of the Lord had departed." And between the two is found an act of disobedience to God's command. The ninth of Luke tells a similar story, The disciples had been given power; had used the power for others; were requested to relieve a demonized boy; had tried to; had expected to; but utterly failed, to their own chagrin, and the father's disappointment, amid the surprise and criticism of the crowd. The Master explains that a slipshod connection with God was at the bottom of their failure. Power is not stored in us apart from God's presence. It merely passes through as He has sway. Once the connection between Him and you is disturbed, the flow of power is interrupted. We do not run on the storage battery plan, but on the trolley plan. Constant communication with the source of power is absolutely essential. The spirit of God never leaves us. We do not lose His presence. But whatever grieves Him prevents His presence being manifest. The evidence of His presence may be lost through wrongdoing. So I want to give you in very brief compass the three laws of the life of power-continued and increasing power. I wish someone had given them to me long ago. It might have saved me many a bad break.
The first law can be put in a single word-obey. Obedience is the great foundation law of the Christian life. Indeed it is the common fundamental law of all organization, in nature, in military, naval, commercial, political and domestic circles. Obedience is the great essential to securing the purpose of life. Disobedience means disaster. If you turn to Scripture you must read almost every page if you would get all the statements and illustrations of obedience and its opposite. Begin with the third of Genesis, where the first disastrous act of disobedience brought a ruin still going on. Run through the three wilderness books, where the new nation is grouped about the smoking mountain. Listen in Deuteronomy to the old man Moses talking during the thirty days' conference they had in Moab's plains before he was taken away. Then into Joshua's book of victory and Judges' dark story of defeats, through the kingdom books, and the prophecies, and you will find the changes rung more frequently upon obedience than anything else. The same is true of the New Testament clear to the last column of the last page.
The fact is, every heart is a battlefield whose possession is being hotly contested. If Jesus is in possession Satan is trying his best by storm or strategy to get in. If Satan be in possession whether as a coarse or a cultured Satan, then Jesus is lovingly storming the door. Satan can not get in without your consent, and Jesus will not. An act of obedience to God is slamming the door in Satan's face, and opening it wider for Jesus' control. Listen with your heart! An act of disobedience, however slight, as you think, is slamming the door of your heart in Jesus' face and flinging it open to Satan's entrance. Is that mere rhetoric? It is cold fact. No, it is hot fact. The first great simple law is obedience.
But someone asks, "How shall I know what "whom," to obey? Sometimes the voices coming to my ear seem to be jarring voices; they do not agree. Pastors do not all agree; churches are not quite agreed on some matters; my best friends think differently; how shall I know?" Here comes in the second law, Obey the book of God as interpreted by the Spirit of God. Not the book alone; that will lead into superstition. Not to say the Spirit without the book He has indited; that will lead to fanaticism. But the book as interpreted by the Spirit, and the Spirit as He speaks through His book. There is a voice of God, and a Spirit of God and a book of God. God speaks by His Spirit through His word. Sometimes He speaks directly without the written word. But very, very rarely. The mental impressions by which the Spirit guides are frequent. But I am speaking now, not of that but of His audible inner voice. He is chary-cautious and reluctant—in the use of that. And when He so speaks the test is that, of necessity, the voice of God always agrees with itself. The spoken word is never out of harmony with the written word. And as He has given us the written word, it becomes our standard of His will. This book of God was inspired. It is inspired. God spoke in it. He speaks in it today. You will be surprised to find how light on every sort of question will come through this in-Spirited book.
But someone with a practical turn of mind is thinking: "But it is such a big book. I do not know much about it. I read the psalms some, and some chapters in Isaiah, and the gospels and some in the epistles, but I have no grasp of the whole book; and your second law seems a little beyond me." Then you listen to the third law, namely: time alone with the book daily. It should be unhurried time. Time enough not to think about time. At least a half hour every day, I would suggest, and preferably the first half hour of the morning, rising at least early enough to get this bit of time before any duty can claim you. It may seem very difficult for some. But it is an absolute essential, for the first two laws depend on this one for their practical force.
When Joshua, trembling, was called upon to assume the stupendous task of being Moses' successor, God came and had a quiet talk with him. In that talk He emphasized just one thing as the secret of his new leadership. Listen: "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein." There are the three laws straight from the lips of God, packed into a single sentence.
Let us plan to get alone with the Master daily over His word, with the door shut-other things shut out, and ourselves shut in-that we may learn His will, and get strength to do it. And when in doubt wait.