THE SECRET OF POWER

^[p. 144] THE SECRET OF POWER

How little we like to learn death! “We who live are alway delivered unto death”; but prior to this there is a purpose to bear about in my body the dying of Jesus. I believe as the Spirit of God works in me, so have I power to refuse the old man, that Christ may appear in me. I think we behold the Lord’s glory first. Like the queen of Sheba, we are entranced, and as we are supremely happy, apart, and morally severed from our own sensualities, we can readily bear about in our bodies the dying of Jesus. The old man, who had no place in the presence of our Solomon, where our happiness was unbounded, is positively refused as we walk here in the Spirit; and then God helps us; we are delivered unto death; the things that would hold us are actually cut off, like Jerusalem to Paul. I mean that the measure of our power is the extent in which the old man is refused, as having been terminated in the death of Christ. It is not power merely to see our calling, or to apprehend the meaning of it in scripture; but power is shown in the removal of obstacles, the overcoming of obstructions, conquering and to conquer. The Spirit would manifest Christ fully if there were no hindrances in us, and therefore He removes the hindrances. When we accept death with Christ, the Spirit has a fair field for the display of Christ in us. Thus a servant’s power is in proportion to the extent of his bearing about in his body the dying of Jesus.