Five Conditions

[Chad]

FIVE CONDITIONS
F.B. Meyer

First. You cannot have the power of the Holy Ghost without having the Holy Ghost Himself.

That is, the Holy Ghost must come to you as a person before you can enjoy His attribute. In other words, you must be a holy man before you can wield the power of the Holy Ghost. There are plenty of men who think that if they could only get the power of the Holy Ghost they would be able to fill their churches and sell their books and get themselves name and fame. They want it, but not Him. You cannot have it without having Him. If you want the power of the Holy Ghost, open your heart to-day and be filled with the Holy Ghost, and then you will have His power.

Second. You must be cleansed.

Oh, I do want to speak wisely! I do not want needlessly to offend you, or denounce you. But I do feel in my heart that if the Holy Spirit is going to work through you or any body He must have a cleansed vessel. The body must be clean.

:Now I know that I might here dilate on many of those indulgences that men and women permit. I would much prefer not to characterize them, because you yourselves know anything in your life which is inconsistent with the perfect majesty and purity of that Spirit who has made your body His temple. But if my body is really the temple, the residence and the throne of the Holy Ghost, I must be as careful of it as I would be if I were the custodian of a temple in the inner part of which the light of God shone. I need not say more than that.

Third. You must live for the glory of Christ as your supreme end.

Jesus Christ, came into the world to glorify the Father, and the Holy Ghost came into the world to glorify the Son. If therefore you want the Holy Ghost to work with you, you must agree with the Holy Ghost to glorify Jesus, for the Spirit was not given till Jesus was glorified.
Fourth. Your preaching and teaching must be in harmony with the Word of God.

I am a Quaker by extraction, and I glory in it, especially when I know what they have been in this country. I dissent from them because I believe they went wrong when they magnified the Holy Spirit to the exclusion, in many cases, of the Word of God. And with all love I would say that if there is one danger ahead for the Salvation Army of the present day, it is lest they should magnify the work of the Spirit of God in experience, apart from the Word of God taught to their converts. Remember that the Holy Spirit is like a locomotive, the Word of God

 

[Property Of God]

But if my body is really the temple, the residence and the throne of the Holy Ghost, I must be as careful of it as I would be if I were the custodian of a temple in the inner part of which the light of God shone. I need not say more than that.

I really agree with that condition, so many Christians who claim they are saved, go to church and read the bible everyday, still have the guts to go and do very unholy acts with their bodies, once you are saved, you are changed, the holy spirt will stop you from doing everything you used to do, a true saved Christian won't keep on living in sins, he/she will hate the sin and will feel very bad about it.