The experiences of the Holy Spirit as life within and as power without are different aspects of our experience, but they are the work of the same one Spirit, not two Spirits. According to the New Testament, the one Spirit works upon us, with us, and in us in different steps. In the first step, the Holy Spirit comes in to regenerate us, and as the last step, the Holy Spirit comes upon us to be power. We need to experience the Spirit in all these steps.
The Holy Spirit within us is the Lord, the living Person who directs us, and the Holy Spirit upon us is the power that we direct by the inner life. On the one hand, the Spirit is the Lord Himself to be life to us within, and since He is our Lord, we need to honor and obey Him. On the other hand, the Lord Himself is the Spirit as power upon us to be applied and directed by us. The Holy Spirit within us as life requires that we follow Him, but the Holy Spirit upon us always follows us as the power under our direction. As a result, the Lord is in us, we are in the Lord, and we and the Lord are mingled together. On one side, we obey the Lord and honor Him as the Lord, while on the other side, the Lord is under our direction for us to apply as power. This is the full, complete work and experience of the Holy Spirit.
We must experience this Spirit up to the last step. We may not feel that we need to experience the Holy Spirit as power, but day by day we do need this experience. To come to the prayer meeting, the fellowship meeting, and the Lord’s table meeting, we need power. Many times the brothers and sisters come to the meetings in a quiet way. They do not have the release, the liberty, or the power. They may think that when they attend the meetings, they do not need power; they can simply go to sit, look, listen, and say “amen.” Some have told me that the meeting is a happy, restful time for them. After working all day, the meeting is a good time for rest. For them, to sit and listen to a nice message or some nice prayers is like enjoying music. However, even when we come just to enjoy the meetings, we still need power. If we come to the meetings with power, we will be released; we will have release and liberty.
As a brother who ministers the word to others, I need the listeners to have power; then I can minister in a better way. The more you are powerful, the more I am powerful. We may illustrate this by considering what would happen if there were only chairs, not people, in the room. If I came to minister to a room full of lifeless chairs, I could not minister for more than five minutes; because the chairs are lifeless, I will be lifeless. The more the listeners are living and powerful, the more the minister is living and powerful. There is a living response and reaction within him. If we come even to a message meeting with power, we will be a great help to the meeting. We will release the meeting.
To have power is to be released. If we have power, we are released from darkness, from the evil force, which is the kingdom of Satan. Many times when some brothers and sisters come to the meetings, a part of the kingdom of Satan in darkness is there; the evil force comes in with them, causing a battle. If each one, however, comes into the meeting with power, there is a great release. To come to the meeting, we need power. We should come in power because we are coming to serve the Lord. We must not think that the meeting is the business, the job, of the ministering brother. Rather, we all must come in power.
There is a difference between life and power. Life is for us, ourselves, but in order to minister life to others, we need power. Even to contact one another and fellowship in our daily life, we need power. Without power, we may have life, but we cannot minister what we have to others. Power transmits what we have as life to others. Then when others receive it, the power becomes life in them. When we preach the gospel in power, for example, the audience is moved by this power, and when they receive the gospel, the power becomes life within them. The power and life are of the same Spirit. Power is not life, but power is for life.
Even though we have the Holy Spirit, we may not apply the power because we do not realize our need for it. However, even to render a thanks to the Lord for a meal requires power. We may think that it is a small thing to return thanks to the Lord. We may simply say, “Thank You for the food. You are so good to us.” However, we may not sense the need for power to give thanks. If we sense our need for power, we will realize our need for it even in small matters. Then we will deal with the Lord.
We need power to contact others, to fellowship with the saints, to come to the meetings, to listen to a message, to pray, and to praise the Lord. We should not think that only the apostles such as Peter and Paul need power. Rather, every Christian needs power. Day by day we need life within and power without. Even when we pray in our room, we need power to pray, and when we read a book, we need power to read. If we realize our need of life within and power without, day by day and moment by moment, we will claim it and apply it.
The outward aspect and the inward aspect eventually meet and mix together. The inward aspect is like a reservoir of water, while the outward aspect is like the rain. The rain and the reservoir join together until we cannot tell which is which. Both are the same water. We have the inward bubbling reservoir and the outward rain. This is the normal Christian life. If someone has only the outward rain, after a certain time there will be nothing left. We need to have the full experience of the indwelling of the Spirit and the full experience of the outpouring of the Spirit. Day by day we must be persons filled with the Spirit within and clothed with the Spirit without, persons in the Holy Spirit and with the Holy Spirit in us. This is the one Holy Spirit within and without, for life and for power. This is the proper issue of our experience.
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