Editorial: “Directed By the Spirit”
A. T. Jones
OF the angels it is written, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”
Yet in this ministration the angels go only as they are directed by the Spirit of God; for it is written, “Whither the Spirit was to go, they went.”
Now to men is written, “As every man has received the gift, and even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
Thus men who are partakers of the grace of God, which brings salvation, are engaged in the same ministration as are the angels.
And as the angels engaged in this ministration only as they are directed by the Spirit of God, then how can any human being engage in it, except as he is directed by the Spirit of God?
As the angels, to perform this ministration according to the will of God must be directed by the Spirit of God, how much more must we who are so far less in power, might, and holiness, conveyed to perform the like ministration according to will of God,—how much more must we be directed by the Spirit of God!
How all-important then it is that all who profess to be God's people shall receive, shall be baptized with, the Holy Spirit!
Without this what can we do? How all-important the message which now the Lord sends to His people, “Receive the Holy Spirit”!
“Ask, and it will be given to you.” “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, June 21, 1898
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Editorial: “The Spirit Makes Us Know”
A. T. Jones
“At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (John 14:20).
At what day?—The day the Helper would come; the day that He Himself, by the Helper, would come.
For He said, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you;” and, “At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”
Do you know this? Do you know that He is in His Father, and you in Him, and He in you?
If you do not know it, why do you not?—There can be but one reason for any one’s not knowing this; that is, he has not received the Helper, which is the Holy Spirit.
For “by this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit” (1 John 4:13).
Then when He has promised that we “will know,” and has abundantly and freely supplied the means by which we shall know, that “we abide in Him, and He in us,” why should any one go a single hour without that blessed knowledge?
“You will know.” “By this we know.” Blessed, blessed knowledge! Thank the Lord!
“Ask, and it will be given to you.” “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, June 28, 1898
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Editorial: “Joy in the Spirit”
A. T. Jones
“The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh. 8:10).
Did you know that there is real reviving strength in the joy of the Lord?
It is really so, as every one can certify from experience, who knows the joy of the Lord.
How could it be otherwise? Is there not reviving and strength in mere human joy? How much more, then, in divine joy,—in joy that is the Lord’s, and that comes direct from Him to the believer!
When a person is worn, and weary, and ready to faint, and just then receives a bit of joyful news, is not all his thought of faintness at once dissipated by the joy? and is not all his weariness replaced by freshness and strength, which the joy has brought?
And when that is true in affairs altogether human, how much more must it be true in affairs divine! It is so, as every one knows who know the joy of the Lord.
But how shall we be partakers of the joy of the Lord?
The joy of the Lord in human life is the fruit of the Spirit of God. “The fruit of the Spirit is. . . joy.” And we cannot have the fruit without the root.
“The kingdom of God is . . righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17); and “indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21).
Therefore, the joy of the Lord in human life is only by the Holy Spirit. And “the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Is the joy of the Lord your strength?
Are you worn, and weary, and ready to faint? “The joy of the Lord is your strength;” and this comes only by the Holy Spirit. Have you received the Holy Spirit?
“Ask, and it will be given to you.” “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, July 5, 1898
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