Why Am I Not More Used Of God?
By Keith Brooks (1888 – 1954)
For the very times in which we are living, our Lord left a striking parable. The “wise virgins” of Matthew 25:1-10 – those who are ready to go with the Bridegroom when He appears – are those who have lamps to light their paths in the times of dense darkness at the age end, and oil in their vessels with their lamps.
There is a startling message here for thousands of professing Christians today! Nothing is more useless in the dark than a lamp with a dry wick. Having a “form of godliness without the power thereof” is Paul’s characterization of many who will be caught in the apostasy of the last days (2 Tim. 3:5). Many own Bibles who know nothing of the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
The Holy Spirit’s control in the life is not only for personal protection, but to make one an effective witness for Christ (John 7:38-39). In the dawn time of this age of grace our Lord said, “…Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you…” (Acts 1:8); “…Tarry ye…until ye be endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49).
From that day to the present, there has never been a conquest for God but by the Holy Spirit’s power. He alone can give conviction for sin or renovate the souls of men. Pride of education, of skill, of personality – only perpetuate the spirit of Babel in the church.
God’s biggest things have been done by the most unlikely people. He has ever been causing the weak to confound the mighty. Unschooled men rise up and do impossible things where highly trained men have miserably failed. The secret: they have abandoned themselves unto the use of the Holy Spirit.
For holiness, for service, for spiritual prosperity, the Holy Spirit is our need. The Davids who kill Goliaths are those who have crowned Jesus in their hearts and surrendered themselves to be flexible instruments of the Spirit (Rom. 6:13).
At no time in human history has it been more important to understand this than today. Satan “knoweth that he hath but a short time” (Rev. 12:12) and is releasing demons of the pit to seduce the sons of men. The coming of the Bridegroom is close at hand. Thousands grope in spiritual darkness and the church has lost its testimony. Professing believers often manifest great activity, flitting about with lamps in their hands, but possessing no oil for their lamps.
Only here and there do we find humble believers, filled with the Spirit, who have become mighty in the power of the Almighty and are able to lead souls to Christ.
The Bible says nothing about developing a personality. God asks only for yielded persons. Regardless of personal qualifications, He is able to do extraordinary things through those who will make a full surrender to Him.
“Power belongeth to God” (Psa. 62:11). The work of Christ cannot be done through the power of psychology or the energy of the flesh. Have you oil with your lamp? Do you know the Bible and are you “filled with the Spirit”? This is a command (Eph. 5:18). “…Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Eph. 6:10). God never meant for any child of His to be powerless and useless.
What is the trouble? “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psa. 139:23-24). The soul that is filled with self has no room for the Lord and the power of His might. If the joy of the Lord is not in our hearts it can only be because, like Bethlehem’s Inn, we are crowded full of our own thoughts, our own plans. We must decrease that HE might increase (see John 3:30).
Our one lack is the power that comes by the Holy Spirit. If we were fully surrendered to Him, we would be equal to every temptation, the master of every fear, competent for every duty.
The Holy Spirit charged early believers with the sense of Christ’s spiritual presence. Christ became to them the one great living Reality who filled the whole horizon of their lives.
He will not do less for any sincere believer today. He waits to fill our lives with the consciousness of Christ, to put a new quality into our characters, to connect us to eternal springs of power in the Risen Lord.
Are you ready to face the issue? Would you know this more abundant life? Have you ever stopped to ask, “Lord, why am I not more used of Thee?”
He may not wish you to be great. He may leave you to toil on in some obscure corner unapplauded, but He can make your work precious. He can communicate to the outward expression of your life the fragrance of the very presence of Christ. He can give you His peace and joy that will make you feel you are living in the vestibule of heaven.
Fill now your vessel with the oil before it is forever too late! Deal directly now with the Holy Spirit. “…Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1). God will do the rest.
Laid on Thine altar, O my Lord divine,
Accept my gift this day for Jesus’ sake,
I have no jewels to adorn Thy shrine,
Nor any world-famed sacrifice to make;
But here I bring within my trembling hands,
This will of mine, a thing that seemeth small,
Yet Thou alone, O Lord, cans’t understand
How, when I yield Thee this, I yield mine all.