Jesus was about thirty years old when He asked John the Baptist to baptize Him. Behind Him lay “the hidden years” of which we catch only glimpses of in the Gospels. We do know that until then He had lived a quiet life in the Nazareth carpenter shop and had attempted “no mighty works.”
That day at the Jordan, the Holy Spirit came upon Him, permanently to make His home in the earthly temple of Christ’s being. Only then did Jesus dare to embark on His public ministry.
In the same way, three years later, the disciples were instructed by their Master to not attempt to preach or to teach or to witness until this same heavenly Dove had implanted His fire in their hearts too…
He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised… Only the Holy Spirit could give them the ability to communicate truth to other people; could supply them with in-depth perception into the needs of others; could give them a message; convict of sin; heal; administer the infant Church – in short, equip them for service.
We in our century are certainly no less needy than our Lord or those disciples. For us to attempt tany church work, any ministry or witnessing solely through man’s devices, talents, and organizational machinery alone is as effective as trying to drive our car with water in the gasoline.
The year 1871 saw Dwight L. Moody apparently a great success as an evangelist. His tabernacle drew the largest congregations in Chicago. But according to Moody’s own estimate of those years, he was a “great hustler” and this work was being done “largely in the energy of the flesh.”
Two humble Free Methodist women, Auntie Cook and Mrs. Snow, used to attend these meetings and sit on the front row. Moody could not help seeing that they were praying during most of his services. Finally, he spoke to the women about it.
“Yes,” they admitted, “we have been praying for you.”
“Why me? Why not for the unsaved?” the evangelist retorted, a bit nettled.
“Because you need the power of the Spirit,” was their answer.
After some weeks of this, Mr. Moody invited the women to his office to talk about it. “You spoke of power for service,” he prodded them. “I thought I had it. I wish you would tell me what you mean.”
So Mrs. Snow and Auntie Cook told Moody what they knew about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Then the three Christians prayed together and the women left.
From that hour “there came a great hunger in my soul,” Moody was to say later. “I really felt that I did not want to live if I could not have this power for service.”
One late autumn day in 1871, Dwight L. Moody was in New York (on his way to England) walking up Wall Street. Suddenly, in the midst of the bustling croweds, his prayer was answered: the power of God fell on him so overwhelmingly that he knew he must get off the street.
Spotting a house he recognized, Moody knocked on the door and asked if he might have a room by himself for a few hours. Alone there, such joy came up on him that “at last he had to ask God to withhold His hand, lest he die on the spot from joy.”
From that hour, Moody’s ministry was never the same. He went on to England for what was to be the first of many evangelistic campaigns there. People thronged to north London to hear him.
“The sermons were not different,” Moody summarized. “I did not present any new truths, and yet hundreds were converted. I would not know be placed back where I was before that blessed experience if you should give me all the world.”
The evangelist was to live another 28 years, and “to reduce the population of hell by a million souls.”
Is something on your heart?
Six intercessors will pray for your request for 21 days.
