You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judaea and Samaria and to the remotest parts of the earth. (Acts 1:8 WEY)
This is a challenge to every personal worker. Before Christ left this earth, leaving His followers to carry on His message of redemption, He told them that they would receive the ability to be His witnesses after the Holy Spirit came.
The only thing that will make us effectual workers for the Master is our using this ability. In order to help us understand this ability, we are going to study it from two angles.
First, the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to keep the one command that Christ gave to us in John 13:34: “Love one another.”
Without this love that loves as Christ loves, no one can ever become a real soul winner. The love that compelled the Son of God to give His life for lost man is the only motivating force that will compel us to give our lives to win that man for Christ.
As we stand before this commandment in our own strength, we are absolutely helpless. How can we human beings love as the Son of God loves? How can we generate that divine love that will cause us to be known by the world as His disciples?
The only answer to these questions is found in Acts 1:8. When the Holy Spirit indwells us, He will give us the ability to love as He loves.
“God is love” (1 John 4:8). Therefore, the Holy Spirit is love. When the Holy Spirit indwells us, He sheds abroad in our very being the love of God. (See Romans 5:5.)
COMPARISON OF HUMAN AND DIVINE ABILITY
Let us now compare this divine ability that is ours with human ability.
Human ability is inherited, but it must be developed. It is common knowledge that a person of great natural ability will be a failure in life unless he develops the ability that he has.
Many with mediocre ability surpass those of great ability because they consistently work to develop the ability that is theirs.
So it is with this divine ability. It is ours by inheritance, but it must be developed. Every child of God has a right to ask for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. (See Luke 11:13.)
This divine ability to love must be developed by constant use and practice. It is developed by faith, by acting on Romans 5:5.
One can practice love by doing the thing that he would do if he did love. If you had love for the unsaved man, you would pray for him, and you would speak to him about Christ. Begin to do it.
Begin to practice love toward the unsaved man and you will find that by giving the love of God that is within your expression, it will grow and develop.
Unless you practice love, you will smother it; you will hinder the development of that ability to love.
The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to know the truth. (See John 16:13–15.)
The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to become efficient ambassadors for the Master. We are the only ambassadors for Christ. (See 2 Corinthians 5:19–20.)
We are the only ones who have the message of reconciliation for the world. Angels desire to look into the truths that the Holy Spirit has revealed to us. (See 1 Peter 1:12.)
Would God give to us this important mission without equipping us for it?
He has sent us the Holy Spirit to give us the ability to use the Word of God to lead men and women to Christ.
We must, however, study the Word of God if we are to know it well enough for the Holy Spirit to use it through us.
This fact should cause us to earnestly study the Word. The great tragedy of the church today is that the majority of Christians, who are the only ambassadors for Christ, do not know the plan of salvation well enough to explain it to an unsaved man.
Unless you know the Word of God, the Holy Spirit is going to be crippled in His ministry through you, for the Word of God is His sword. (See Ephesians 6:17.)
“The Spirit of truth” (John 14:17) is in you. The ability to know the truth is yours, but it must be developed. You must set aside time daily for systematic study of the Word of God in order to develop this ability, just as you would set aside time for daily practice if you were going to develop musical ability.
This book was written for that very purpose, to enable you to develop the abilities that are in you, to know the plan of salvation.
This ability to know the Word of God must also be developed by faith.
There are so many who say, “I do not read the Word because I cannot understand it.” You can understand it because the Holy Spirit is in you to guide you into the truth. Whenever you study the Word of God, study it by faith, depending upon the Holy Spirit to be your teacher, to guide you.
When you have equipped yourself with the Word of God, depend upon the Holy Spirit to anoint that Word and use it as His sword through your lips.
You can never become an effectual personal worker unless you develop this ability to know the truth.
In the distribution of human ability, there is no law of equality. Men are not created equal in regard to natural abilities. There are some who have great musical ability, while others have none. Some have artistic ability; others do not. Then there are those who are very versatile, having many talents, while others have hardly any.
However, there is no law of inequality in regard to the ability that is imparted by the Holy Spirit.
God has no favorite children. No one is born into His family with special endowments of the Holy Spirit’s ability. In the spiritual creation in Christ, all men are created equal.
No child has any more right to ask for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit than you have. Just as a human father will not withhold good gifts from his children, God will not withhold the Spirit from any child of His.
No child of God can have any more ability to love or know the truth than you can.
There are some who have more love, there are some who know the Word better than others, but it is not due to the fact that they have any more ability by inheritance.
The fact that one excels another in music does not mean that he has more innate ability. It may only mean that he has worked harder.
It is due to the fact that they have intelligently developed the ability of God that is within them.
You can excel in love, you can excel in the knowledge of the truth, regardless of natural ability, by developing by faith the ability of the Holy Spirit that is yours.
You can excel as a soul winner, if you drive yourself.
Good fishers are hard workers.
QUESTIONS
- How does love come into our hearts?
- What are the essentials for soul winning?
- Can all have the indwelling Holy Spirit?
- Can all have God’s ability?
- What is your part in soul winning?