And there are men who have a clear, well-rounded grasp of the blessed message of Jesus, and who give it out clearly and fully.  But they are hampered by their mental swaddling-clothes, in which they have been wrapped up in school-days.  They never get up out of them into the freedom of strong action through the Spirit’s control.

Then, too, without doubt God’s Spirit works alone, without using anybody.  He speaks through nature’s beauty and power.  He speaks in the inner heart of every man.  He is speaking directly to men all the time everywhere.  But the message is a partial one.  The direct revelation of God, in nature and in conscience, is a limited revelation.  The full revelation of God was made in Jesus.  And so it is in this Book that tells of Jesus.

The Spirit of God can speak most fully where that Book is known.  He can work most fully and powerfully through the man who lives the Book.  Every printing of this Bible, or any part of it, is giving the spirit freer entrance into men’s hearts.  Every one of us who produces a new translation of it in the language of his life gives the Spirit a wide-open door where otherwise the opening had been narrow.

Now, whatever combination of these there may be, some of the blessed power of God will be seen and felt.  The truth unembodied or even hampered; men who embody the truth they know, but whose knowledge is small; men of much knowledge, but small practice; men of full knowledge, but who have not learned to let the Spirit sway them fully; the Spirit Himself speaking where Jesus is not known, and without any man’s help—­through each of these, power of life will go out to men.

But the fulness of power that runs like a mighty stream goes only as the three things come into one.  The message, full and clear, the man who lives it, the Holy Spirit possessing and controlling the man who lives the message—­this is the trinity of service through which alone the flood-tide flows.

Unbroken Connection Above.

That blessed flood-tide of power may be much more common than it is.  There needs to be daily quiet time, alone with the Master, with the door shut, the Book open, the knee bent, the will bent too, to a clear right angle, the mind quiet and open, the inner spirit unhurried; broad, thoughtful reading; keen, clear, quiet meditation; the rigorous squaring of the life up to the standard of the Book; the cultivation of the Spirit’s presence and friendship; and these habits steadily followed until they become second nature.

Then will be fulfilled the promise, “Out of His inner being shall flow rivers of water of life."[27] And men have always been drawn irresistibly to the rivers.  And yet, while there will be fulness of power, there will not be full knowledge of how full the power is.  That is reserved for “the Morning.”