One time Paul thought it would be good to go over east into the province of Bithynia, and even tried to make a start that way.  But the Spirit made plain His plan that they were to go in just the opposite direction, to the west.  Had Paul’s thinking been more open to the Spirit’s touch at that point, he wouldn’t have made the false start.  But he was wise clear beyond the great crowd of us.  For at once he dropped his own thought-out plans, and did as he was bid.

The keener our mental processes are, the better informed we are, the better poised our judgment—­the better can the Spirit reveal His plans to us through this natural channel, if it is open to Him.  But there is one thing higher up than our thinking powers.  And that is the spirit-perception.  The mental isn’t at the top.  It’s a step up to the spirit floor, the highest of all.

Some men of splendid ability and training and consecration are constantly hampered because they insist on living on the mental floor.  All their decisions are made there, not subject to change from above.  And the Holy Spirit, who is the Commander-in-chief of all the forces in this campaign, is unable to use them as He would.

They haven’t got the sensitized inner ear of the quiet time that would lead them up into higher, broader service.  They go faithfully plodding along on the lower level.  The Spirit can use them, of course.  He does; but never to the full The Spirit of God controlling the man who embodies the message—­this brings fulness of power in winsome service; and only this can.  It is not by keenness of thinking, nor fulness of learning, nor shrewd, well-balanced judgment, but by the Spirit of God working through these, and sometimes working higher up than they have reached.

Partial Weavings of the Strands.

Now it will help us, I am sure, and make the truth stand out more clearly, to recall a good many variations that belong in here.  Running back over these things brings up certain facts.

The truth has power of blessing in itself, regardless of who is speaking it.  A bad man may preach the Gospel, and the truth itself will be felt in spite of the man.  There is a life in truth itself, quite apart from the medium of its transmission.  This explains why men who have turned out to be bad men have had good results attending their ministry.  But it was the truth making itself felt in spite of the handicap it suffered at the hands of the man talking.

And men whose understanding of the truth is very one-sided and meagre have been greatly used and blessed in their work.  It is striking how a man who has been rescued from a life of open sin, and who goes into Christian service with tremendous earnestness, will have great power.  His emphasis of truth may be one-sided.  It is quite apt to be.  He tells what he has experienced.  The man himself is a living illustration of the truth spoken.  All the truth that can get out through him has the tremendous push forward of his life.  But the extent of his service is limited.