Brothers and sisters, I have been led by God to deal with an important truth that will transform your Christian life.
For some time now, this thought has been pressing on my mind with such weight that I cannot keep silent about it any longer. It’s the thought of abiding in God.
Listen to me carefully. There is joy, unspeakable joy in being at the place where we can always count on being in the presence of power. There’s a place where you know that God’s presence is with you, leading you to the place where victory is assured.
Here’s what most believers don’t understand. If we keep in the right place with God, God can do anything with us. Anything.
But the tragedy is that most Christians are running around trying to do something for God in their own strength. and they wonder why nothing is happening.
They’re exhausted, frustrated, and powerless.
In this teaching, I’m going to show you why. More importantly, I’m going to show you the secret that changes everything.
Let me take you to two powerful passages of scripture that will revolutionize the way you walk with God.
Turn with me to Luke chapter 4, verses 1 and 2. The scripture declares, Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. Now Mark’s gospel uses an even stronger word.
Mark 1:12 says Jesus was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness. Driven, not suggested to, not politely invited, driven. Beloved, I want you to really think about this. Whatever Luke and Mark meant by Jesus being led or driven by the Holy Spirit one thing is absolutely certain, a power, a majesty had fallen on Jesus and he was no longer the same man. He had received this mighty anointing power of God at his baptism when the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove.
And when that anointing came upon him he realized that the only thing for him to do was to submit. Can you see it?
As he submitted, he was more and more covered with the power and led by the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit took him away into the wilderness, with its darkness and great privations.
For forty days he was without food. Forty days! But because of the presence and the power within him and upon him, he was certain of victory.
Listen to what I’m saying. With this power, he faced the wild beasts of the wilderness. With this power, he endured the lack of every human sustenance. With this power, at the end of the forty days, in that holy attainment, he was brought into a state of persecution and trial, such as a man likely has never been attacked by before or since.
But here’s what I want you to see: in that place of persecution and trial, God sustained him mightily. With what did God sustain him? With this holy, blessed anointing.
God sustained Jesus with the holy, blessed anointing that was upon him, and that anointing so brought the word of God to bear upon Satan, that Jesus was like the pen of a ready writer, as Psalm 45:1 says, And he slew Satan every time with God’s word.
Every attack the devil launched, Jesus met it with Scripture. Every temptation Satan threw at him, Jesus defeated it with the Word of God. And he did this not in his own strength, but by the power of the Spirit that was upon him. Now watch what happens next. This is critical, church.
Luke 4:14-15 tells us, Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of him went out through all the surrounding region. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. Did you catch that?
After the trials, after all the temptations, after everything Satan threw at him, Jesus came out more full of God, more clothed with the Spirit, and more ready for the fight.
The endowment with power had such an effect on him that other people saw it and flocked to hear him, and great blessings came to the land.
He was among his kinsfolk and relatives, and in the spirit of this kind of holy attainment, he went into the synagogue.
They handed him a scroll of the scriptures, and he read these words from Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
Brethren, I want you to keep in mind where this anointing came from. How was Jesus anointed? How did it come to him?
Luke 3:21-22 tells us, Jesus also was baptized, and while he prayed, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form, like a dove upon him. The anointing came through yielding, the anointing came through prayer, the anointing came through the Holy Spirit descending upon him.
Now, here’s what you need to understand: in just the same manner, I see that the Holy Spirit also fell upon the disciples at Pentecost.
Acts 2:1 records it. I see that they were anointed with the same power. I see that they went forth, and success attended their ministry until the power of God swept through the whole earth.
Think about Peter and John at the gate of the temple in Acts 3:1. They encountered a man who had been lain from birth, and because of the anointing, because of the power that was upon them, When Peter spoke to that lame man, the man was able to rise and leap for joy. Glory to God.
The Holy Spirit coming upon an individual is capable of changing him, fertilizing his spiritual life, and filling him with such power and grace that he wouldn’t be able to say that anything was impossible, but that all things are possible with God.
Matthew 19:26 declares it, With God, all things are possible.
Church, what could happen, what is possible, if we reach this place and stay in it? If we abide in it?
Now, some people have an idea that they have to be doing something. They’re constantly busy, constantly active, constantly trying to make things happen in their own strength.
But I implore you, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that you see that there is only one thing that is going to accomplish the purposes of God, and that is being in the Spirit.
Let me say it again. There is only one thing that will accomplish God’s purposes: being in the Spirit.
I don’t care how dry the land is. I don’t care how thirsty the land is. I don’t care how many or how few vessels are available.
I implore you, in the name of Jesus, to keep in the Spirit. That’s the secret.
You want to know why so many Christians are frustrated? Why so many ministries are powerless? Why so many prayers seem to go unanswered?
Because people are trying to do God’s work in human strength instead of abiding in the Spirit.
Now let me show you something powerful from the book of Ezekiel. Turn with me to Ezekiel 37:1 The Lord brought the prophet Ezekiel to a valley, and this valley was full of bones, dry bones, dead bones, hopeless bones. The scripture says they were very dry.
And the Lord asked the prophet Ezekiel a penetrating question, Son of man, can these bones live?
Ezekiel, who was filled with the Spirit, answered, O Lord God, you know.
Beloved, listen to what I’m saying. When you are in the Spirit and the dry bones surround you, when barren conditions are all around you, when you think everything is exactly the opposite of your desires, and you can see no deliverance by human power. Then, knowing that your condition is known to God, and that God wants men and women who are willing to submit and yield to the Holy Spirit until their bodies are saturated and soaked with God, you realize that God your Father has you in such a condition that, at any moment, he can reveal his will to you.
Do you hear what I’m saying? God wants you saturated and soaked with God. Not just a little bit of the Spirit, not just a touch here and there, but saturated, soaked, filled to overflowing.
I want you to understand that there is something more in this. I want you to see that God is everything to us. I believe that we have come to a place where we must submit ourselves to the mighty anointing power of God, and where we will see that we are in the will of God.
I pray to God, the Holy Spirit, that if he does one thing among us today, it will be to show us our leanness and our distance from this place. It is not that we are not contending for it, but what we need is a great hunger and thirst for God. Now watch what happened in that valley.
Ezekiel 37:4 records that God said, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. I would like you to understand that God spoke first. He spoke so loudly and clearly and so distinctly that this man, Ezekiel, who was filled with the Spirit, heard every word.
But here’s what you need to see. There was not any movement in that valley of dry bones. Until the word of the Lord was spoken by the prophet, the bones were as dry as at the beginning. God had spoken, and the message had gone forth, but nothing had yet happened. What was the matter?
Ah, it was only that the word of God needed to go forth through his servant, the prophet.
The world has to be brought to a knowledge of the truth, but this will only be brought about through human instrumentality.
This will occur when the human instrument is at a place where he will say all that the Holy Spirit directs him to say. Can you see it?
God was waiting for a yielded vessel. God was waiting for someone who would speak exactly what he said to speak.
Ezekiel rose up and clothed with divine power, began to speak. He began to prophesy.
Then there was a rattling among the bones. Bone came together with bone at the voice of the man, filled with the Spirit of the living God.
God had given him the victory. God wants to give us the victory in a similar way. What does the Word say?
Psalm 46:10 declares, Be still, and know that I am God.
This is the place of tranquility, where we know that He is controlling and moving us by the mighty power of His Spirit.
Beloved, this is the place that we need to reach. This prophecy is for us. Truly, God wants to begin this in us. There are many dry places what does that have to do with you, you are to be the lord’s instrument.
Isaiah 59: 1 proclaims the lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save man’s extremity is God’s opportunity his word will awaken to meet the need.
Mark 9: 23 says all things are possible to him who believes but if we are to do the will of God at the right time and place we must get into the Spirit and, in so doing, give God a fair chance. Give God a fair chance.
Most Christians never give God a fair chance because they’re too busy doing their own thing in their own strength.
Ezekial 37:7 says, So I prophesied as I was commanded. He did just what he was told to do.
Church, it takes more to live in that place than any other that I know of. to live in the place where you hear God’s voice.
It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that you can quickly do as you are told. Ezekiel continued, And, as I prophesied, there was a noise and suddenly a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone. There is something worth your notice in this. It is only the Spirit who can make what is crooked straight.
Isaiah 42:16 speaks of this. Only yield so that he may have full control of all that you are. We must get to the place where we will see God and know his voice when he sends us with a message that brings life, power, and victory.
What happened when the prophet spoke the word of the Lord exactly as God commanded?
Ezekial 37:10 tells us, and breath came into them, and they lived and stood upon their feet an exceedingly great army. An exceedingly great army, not just living people, not just breathing bodies, but an army, a victorious, powerful, mighty army of God.
This is what happens when you abide in the Spirit. This is what happens when you yield completely to God. This is what happens when you stop trying to do things in your own strength and let the Holy Spirit have full control.
Now I want to speak directly to you. Here’s what most Christians struggle with, and I’m not going to sugarcoat it.
Most believers never learn to truly abide in the Spirit. They pray. They read their Bibles. They go to church. They’re busy with religious activities. But they never reach that place of complete surrender, where the Holy Spirit has full control.
They’re doing, doing, doing, but they’re not being. They’re working, working, working, but they’re not abiding. They’re striving, striving, striving, but they’re not yielding.
And the result? Powerlessness, frustration, barrenness, dry bones instead of living armies.
I’m calling you today to stop. Stop trying to accomplish things for God in your own strength. Stop relying on your own wisdom, your own plans, your own abilities.
God is calling you to a place of such dependence on the Holy Spirit that you won’t move until He moves you. You won’t speak until He speaks through you. You won’t act until He directs your actions.
This isn’t passivity. This is power. Because when you’re in the Spirit, when you’re anointed with God’s power, when you’re yielded to His control, that’s when He can do anything with you.
The word that keeps coming up in this message is yield. God wants men and women who are willing to submit and submit and yield and yield to the Holy Spirit until their bodies are saturated and soaked with God.
Not partially filled, not occasionally touched, but saturated, every part of you soaked with his presence. When Jesus submitted to the spirits leading into the wilderness, he came out more powerful.
When Ezekiel yielded to speak exactly what God told him to speak, an army was raised from dead bones.
What will happen when you yield completely to the Holy Spirit? What impossibilities will become possibilities in your life? What dead situations will spring to life? What victories will you experience? This is what I’ve been led to share with you today.
There is a place, a spiritual position, where victory is assured. It’s the place of abiding in God. It’s the place of being in the Spirit. It’s the place where God’s presence is so real, so powerful, so overwhelming that all things become possible.
If we keep in the right place with God, God can do anything with us. The same anointing that was on Jesus is available to you. The same power that worked through Ezekiel can work through you. The same Holy Spirit that descended on the disciples at Pentecost wants to fill you, but you must abide.
You must yield. You must submit. You must get to the place where you’re saturated and soaked with God.
Stop trying harder. Start yielding more. Stop doing more. Start being more. Being in the Spirit, being in His presence, being under his anointing.
I believe with all my heart that some of you reading this have been exhausting yourselves, trying to accomplish things for God. You’re tired, you’re frustrated, you feel powerless. And God is saying to you today, Come to the place of abiding. Come to the place of yielding. Come to the place where my Spirit has full control.
There, and only there, will you find the victory you’ve been seeking. The secret is not in doing more. The secret is in being more. Being in the Spirit, being yielded to God, being saturated with His presence. Keep in the Spirit. That’s the secret. That’s the place of victory. That’s where God can do anything with you and through you.
Heavenly Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, I come before you with a hunger and thirst for your presence. Lord God, forgive us for trying to do your work in our own strength instead of abiding in you.
Father, we ask you now. Teach us to abide in the Spirit. Help us to abide in you continually, moment by moment, day by day.
Holy Spirit, give us the grace to remain in your presence and not move in our own strength.
Bring us to that place of complete surrender where we yield quickly to your voice.
Saturate us, and soak us with your presence, until abiding in you becomes our natural dwelling place.
Give us the ability to stay in the Spirit, not just visit the Spirit. Fill us with your anointing power, so that as we abide in you, we walk in victory over every impossible situation. Let our lives become a testimony of what happens when your people learn to truly abide. In Jesus’ mighty name, amen.
I believe with all my heart that as you’ve learned about abiding in the Spirit today, you’ve been activated into a new level of yieldedness to God. The understanding you’ve gained about the power of being in the Spirit, rather than doing in your own strength, is already transforming how you approach your walk with God.
Starting today, begin each morning with this practice: Before you do anything, before you make any plans, before you take any action, spend time being still before God. Say out loud, Holy Spirit, I yield completely to you today. I will not move in my own strength. Saturate me with your presence. Control every word I speak and every action I take.
Then wait in silence for at least 10 minutes, allowing his presence to fill you.
Throughout your day, whenever you face a decision or challenge, pause and ask, Am I acting in the Spirit or in my own strength?
Let this question keep you abiding in that place of victory.
Now that you understand abiding in the Spirit, what happens when you refuse to settle spiritually?
What if God has something beyond victory, the best with improvement? How do you move from surviving trials to counting them as joy? Knowing you’re being perfected?
What does radical faith look like, asking God once and believing without wavering?
Learn James’ secret to being complete, lacking nothing, and find out how to position yourself for continuous spiritual advancement that never stops growing in God’s power and glory.
By Smith Wigglesworth