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tua! experience!
1
carne up out of
that water feeling as if all my sins
had been left buried there.
1
had a
sense of knowing that 1 was CLEAN
spiritually. There was the conscious
knowledge that now
1
was really
God's son- t had fulfilled His re–
quirements.
I
had given my life to
Him, and there was a very definite
KNOWING that His HoL
Y
SPIRIT had
now entered my mind and life! And
His Spirit did definitely witness with
my spirit that
1
was His child (Rom.
8: 16).
It
was a definite KNOWING- a
changed attitude of mine- not a
physical feeling.
Up to this time, as
1
have said,
1
was wrestling with these biblical
questions, studying a lmost night
and day, with a carnal mind.
1
was
really amazed to find that from that
moment, real UNDERSTANDING of
th ings
l
studied in the Bible carne
easily and quickly, compared to my
experience with a carnal mind.
1
was
now WILLING to accept God's truth
whether it was what
1
wanted or not.
1
no longer sought MY will, trying to
prove it by the Bible, but
1
merely
sought Gon's will.
Yes, that was definitely a "suo–
DEN EXPERIENCE." But was ) now
"saved"? Was my salvation now
completed?
Like the Corinthians
Not by any means.
1
was like the
Corinthians. They, too, had gone
through this initial "EXPERIENCE."
They had received the Holy Spirit.
They were under God's grace, for
Paul wrote:
"J
thank my God al–
ways on your behalf, for the grace of
God which is given you by Jesus
Christ"
(1
Cor.
1:4).
But the apostle
continued: " ... there are con–
tentions among you" (verse
JI ).
Later Paul larnented: "And
1,
brethren, could not speak unto you
as unto spiritual [that is, spiritually
minded with spiritual understand–
ing] , but as unto carnal , even as
unto babes in Christ"
(1
Cor.
3:
l ).
Yet, they had repented, believed
and received the Holy Spirit.
But let me intervene to say right
here that tbe Holy Spirit is given to
us BY DEGREES. Most start out with a
VERY SMALL portion of God's Holy
Spirit. They are still perhaps 90 per–
cent carnal, as were these Corinthi–
ans.
The PLAIN TRUTH June 1977
At the opposite extreme was Jesus
Christ Himself. He was the very be–
gotten Son of
God- the
ONLY
begot–
ten- that is, the ONLY one e ver
begotten prior to HUMAN birth
by
God.
Jesus had the Holy Spirit in
FULL measure. We, only partially at
first- yet sorne to a greater degree
than others.
I
firmly believe that God by H is
grace granted me a mucb fuller por–
tion of His Spirit at the very begin–
ning than is the average experience.
Why?
I
had been brought low in
morale, SELF-confidence.
1
had
made a thorough study and ac–
cepted what
1
DID NOT want, but
People do believe what
other books say.
But the Bible is the
very wriHen Word of
God-actually God
speaking in print-and
few indeed believe what
God says. They make of it
a mystic book which
almost nobody
understands.
what
1
saw was God's TRUTH. My
mind was finally more fully open to
God's TRUTH than most.
I
was more
emptied of SELF.
I
made an
uncon–
ditiona!
surrender- gave my life to
God. Further, what
1
did not realize
tben was that God was preparing
me to be His apostle. He had been
working me over spiritually, and as
we might say today, He worked me
over " REAL GOOD."
So much ofthis world's- Satan's–
ways of GET have worked their way
into our minds and attitudes that we
simply do not get rid of all of them
at once. As Peter says, we "GROW in
grace, and in the KNOWLEDGE of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ"
(11
Pet. 3: 18).
Let me here interrupt and ask
again, WHAT IS Goo'S PURPOSE in
placing HUMAN life here on earth?
As
1
have said, the one thing even
God cannot create all at once- in–
stantaneously by fiat- is holy, spiri–
tual, righteous CHARACTER. Tbat
must be BUILT within us witb our
own consent, with a CHANGE of
mind and heart , and with willing–
ness to beseech God to place His
character within us.
And that is definitely a PROCESS!
It requires our own choice, decision,
will, and diligence seeking it and
working at it.
Experience and Process
So conversion is
both
an experience
and a process. But often
1
am forced
to wonder
how many
who
profess
Christianity have ever even so much
as gone through the initial process
by which we receive God's Holy
Spirit! Better search your own
heart!
I
realize fu lly that all do not have
exactly the SAME experience. This
initial EXPERIENCE of receiving the
Holy Spirit may take place in differ–
ent ways under different circum–
stances. All may not have had to
swallow such a bitter pill of adm it–
ting defeat as
1
did.
r
only give you
my experience as one example.
That's the way
l
had to go through
that initial experience.
But
~nversion
definitely DOES re–
quire a TOTAL UNCONDITIONAL SUR–
RENDER to God and His WAY OF
LIFE- Goo's LAw! lt DOES require a
REAL REPENTANCE. As
f
said, that ÍS
much more than just remorse.
J
know a man who was so SORRY for
what he had done-for his sins- that
he broke down and cried like a baby
wben he was with his wife and me.
But the next morning he was back
in the same previous carnal
attitude;
the remorse was all over, and he had
notchanged!
This initial EXPERIENCE
changes
one!
As the Bible says: " ... godly
sorrow
worketh
repentance to salva–
tion"
(JI
Cor.
7: 10).
lt
means a total
ABOUT-FACE.
It
means turning from
the self-centered way of vanity, lust
and greed, envy and jealousy, re–
sentment against wrongs or fancied
wrongs , rebellion against God's gov–
ernment over one's life, the spirit of
competition that leads to strife, vio–
lence, war.
lt
means a change TO the
way of GIVE- the way of LOVE- love
of and
obedience to God,
and out–
going concern for the good and wel–
fare of others equal to your own
self-concern.
You won't completely forsake, at
a ll times, the former SELF; you won' t
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