Subtitled, “An Easter message by Smith Wigglesworth.”
Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, April 24, 1943.

Paul writes: “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.”

This is what the Lord does for us when we come to Him; He takes out the heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh. The Spirit of God will write in both our hearts and minds the law of Christ. He cleanses us from all iniquity, takes away the old order and brings in the new, and He gives us His blessed Holy Spirit who causes us to walk in a way that is pleasing to Him.

The old life is brought to the cross of Calvary. Our old nature is crucified there and we are brought into the position that Paul speaks of when he says, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”

Beloved, God would have us see that no man is perfected on any line only as Christ the living Word abides in him.

In this new life we must have the Word of God dwelling richly in us. This Word is living and powerful and effective. It is the sword of the Spirit that will prove an effective weapon in the hands of the Spirit-filled warrior. By it we get complete victory over all the power of the enemy. But we need the power of the Spirit within to enable us to wield the sword of the Spirit effectively.

When Christ dwells in us, our life will be like that life which is described of Him in the Gospels, a life of constant communion with the Father. Ours will be a life of dependence on the Spirit of God, for we do not know how to pray as we ought. It is only as the Spirit prays through us that things will be accomplished for God. But as we yield ourselves wholly to God and ask for the Spirit, He will graciously give the Spirit so that we can pray in the Holy Ghost. And as we pray in the Holy Ghost we shall see signs and wonders wrought in the name of the holy child Jesus. We can have a ministry of the miraculous even as the early apostles had, if we give ourselves to prayer, for in response to prayer God will send the Pentecostal power as at the beginning. Nothing is so sweet as to have our hearts yearning with compassion, moved with compassion for the poor and needy. As the Lord fills your heart with love and compassion, you will find the inward cry from the depths of your need is met by the depth of God’s love. When God gets into the depths of our hearts He purifies every intention and He fills us with His own joy.

When Moses received the tables of stone and he returned to the people, God made his face to shine. There was a glory in the giving of the law. But there is a more wonderful glory in the giving of the Spirit. Much more wonderful than the shine on Moses’ face is the moving of the Spirit to write His commandments on our hearts, the deep movings of the God of eternity as He writes His law of love and compassion into our inner beings. O beloved, let us let the Holy Spirit have His way in our lives to unfold to us the grandeur of Christ’s glory.

The Lord will bring us into a life of humility where we have no confidence in ourselves, but our whole trust rests upon the authority of the mighty God who has promised to be with us at all times. He has made us able ministers of the New Testament, ministers of the Spirit that giveth life. Rivers of living water will flow from us as our confidence rests in Him. As we constantly partake of the living Christ within, He will give us a message direct from heaven, hot, burning, living. Just as the old prophets said, “Thus saith the Lord,” speaking as the Spirit gave them utterance, so we shall go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit, our whole minds illuminated by the blessed Holy Spirit. He will elevate our minds until we have heavenly minds. We will be able to bring the vision of heavenly things to the people until they will want more of God and more of the Spirit, till they long to be filled with Spirit that they may be fruitful on every line.

I have found that the Baptism in the Holy Ghost infuses into us an intensity of zeal. You will remember it is written of Him, “The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up,” and we too, like our Lord, will be eaten up of holy zeal. He will fill us with a passion for the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The Spirit of God will bring us to the place called Calvary, to the place where we are dead unto sin; but alive unto God, and filled with the resurrection life and power of the living Christ. Oh, beloved, we must live in the Spirit. We must grow into the likeness of our Master. We must be continually changed from glory to glory as we behold His face, until we are changed into the same image by the Spirit of God.

Have you failed God? He has mercy for you. Out of the depth of your sins and failures you can cry to God for all unrighteousness to be cast out and for His righteousness to be revealed within. Christ was made sin for you and took your sin, that you might become the righteousness of God in Him, that you might receive His righteousness. But it means a constant going to the cross of Calvary for the bringing to death of the old natural order, that you may come into the supernatural plan of God which He has for you.

God wants each one of us to be indeed an epistle of Christ, an epistle that recommends Christ to men. We can only be this as the Spirit of God writes into our hearts and minds the Word. He will make the Word of God life within. Now out of the abundance of a heart steeped in the Word of God there will come forth that which will bring blessing to all those with whom you come in contact. Let your heart cry go up to Him, “O God, lead me step by step in this divine life, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.”

Labels: 1943, Pentecostal Evangel