256 The Spiritual Man
spiritual believers? Success? Being pleasing to man? Self-
edification? People with mixed motives, those of double mind, shall
not be able to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. We perhaps
may judge our motive pure, but our High Priest, through different
circumstances, will enable us to know our true heart. Not until the
work in hand has failed and we are despised and rejected shall we
begin to discern the intent of our heart. Any who are genuinely used
by the Lord always have gone this way. The time when we receive
the power is after the cross has performed its task.
But are there not many of God’s children who, never having had
the deeper experience of the cross, are yet powerful in witnessing
and appear to be greatly used by the Lord? The Bible indicates that
there is an oil very much like the holy anointing oil (Ex. 30.33). It is
compounded like the holy anointing oil, but it is not the holy
anointing oil. Do not be taken in or flattered by your own success or
fame. Take note only as to whether or not the old creation, including
everything which comes by birth, has gone through the cross. Any
power we possess before the flesh is put to death is certainly not the
power of the Holy Spirit. Those with spiritual insight who live on the
other side of the curtain well appreciate that such success has not a
shred of spiritual value.
Only after a person has actually condemned his flesh and begins
to walk according to the spirit will he receive the real power from
God. Otherwise it would be his flesh that would be endued with
spiritual power. How can one’s spirit receive special power if the
flesh has not experienced death, since the flesh rules by its own
energy and invariably suppresses the spirit? The power of God only
descends upon that spirit which is full of His Holy Spirit. This is the
sole possibility. No other way can there be for the dynamism of the
Spirit to flow out. Is it not true that when a vessel is already full, any
added power will naturally overflow? To receive power, therefore, it
is necessary for us to die to the old creation and learn how to walk in
the Spirit.