By my Spirit

God lives and works today. He is just as alive today as He was 2,000 years ago. And the power of His Spirit is just as powerful.

What does that mean for our lives? Faith, joy, zeal, and much more. Today's meditation by Basilea Schlink shares the testimony of the famous American evangelist, R. A. Torrey. His story gives a clue as to how we can each experience the wonderful reality of God.

O Holy Ghost, we magnify your power so full and great. You come from God's own throne on high, our life do we create. O Holy Ghost, you source of might, you show to us Christ's face.

And let us glimpse God's glory bright, His wondrous deeds of grace. R. A. Torrey, one of the greatest American evangelists, once confessed how hard it had been for him to become a preacher. In his childhood and youth, he was extremely bashful and inhibited.

However, he knew that for the sake of Jesus, he had to become a preacher. Still, it was terribly difficult for him even to pray aloud in the prayer meetings of his own church. He writes, Trembling, I repeated as much of my little prepared verse as I could remember, and then fell back onto my seat.

My first years as a preacher were torment. I preached three times on Sunday. I learned my sermons by heart, and sank back after the third sermon onto my seat with immense relief.

But then followed at once the fearful thought, Tomorrow you've got to begin to prepare the next Sunday's sermon. What a torture my life was. But then the happy day came when a thought took possession of me.

When I stand up to preach, God the Holy Spirit will stand beside me, and He will bear all the responsibility. From that day on, preaching was the joy of my life. Sometimes now when I stand up to preach, before I say a word, my heart is so full of the thought that He is standing right beside me, ready and prepared to take the whole congregation into His hand and do whatever has to be done, that I can hardly refrain from shouting my joy aloud.

Yes, especially in these dark days, we can and should become empowered with the power and strength of the Holy Spirit. We should be mighty prayers and witnesses, so that the mighty acts of God may be seen among us. Let us pray.

O Holy Spirit, You are the Creator Spirit, who can call into existence something which doesn't lie within us. You distribute Your gifts to those who ask for them. And therefore we thank You that You give us what we lack, the spirit of faith, fervor and zeal for Jesus and for His kingdom.

To God the Holy Ghost be praise, within our souls revealing God's image, with its glory bright, transforming and renewing. He pours on us love, joy and peace, and gives our prayer His power and grace. Praise Him who works within us.

You have been listening to a program written by Basilea Schlink of the Little Land of Canaan. To learn more about how God lives and works today, visit us at our website www.canaan.org. That's K-A-N-A-A-N dot org. If you contact us, we would be happy to send you a free inspirational booklet.

If you do not have access to the web, please contact this radio station for our postal address. God bless you.