_CLAIMING._
Having considered the two conditions necessary to being filled with the
Spirit, viz., the cleansing of the heart, and the consecration of the
cleansed heart to God, we come now to the very practical question--How is
this Fullness to be obtained by the cleansed and consecrated believer?
Before proceeding to consider the answer, "Claim it," let us notice what
the Divine Word has to say about (1) prayer and (2) laying on of hands in
connection with the obtaining.
_1. Prayer._
"How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them
that ask Him?" (Luke xi. 13.) This promise is given to God's children. It
is the dearest wish of the great Father-heart of God that His children
should be filled with His Spirit. Who has a fathoming line long enough to
sound the depths of that "how much more"? You "ask;" Father "gives." What
is the next step? Why, of course, you "receive!" else all Father's "giving"
will be of no avail.
"When they had prayed ... they were all filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts
iv. 31).
"Prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost" (Acts viii. 15).
"Tarry" (Luke xxiv. 49). "Wait" (Acts i. 4)--not idling, but praying,
pleading the promise. "These all with one accord continued steadfastly in
prayer" (Acts i. 14).
"They were all with one accord in one place, and suddenly" the answer
came! (Acts ii. 1.) So in obtaining the blessing of the Fullness, prayer
has its place.
_2. Laying on of hands._
"Then laid they their hands on them and they (Samaritan converts) received
the Holy Ghost" (Acts viii. 17).
"Then when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they
sent them away" (Acts xiii. 3). Barnabas and Saul were men who were
already full of the Holy Ghost, but by the laying on of hands (it is
probable that hands had been laid on these men before this) they received
a fresh anointing of the Holy Ghost, a fresh equipment for special
service, and thus they were set apart for the work to which the Holy Ghost
was calling them.
"And when Paul had laid his hands upon them (the men of Ephesus), the Holy
Ghost came on them" (Acts xix. 6).
"They laid their hands on them" (the deacons) (Acts vi. 6).
"Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy,
with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery" (1 Tim. iv. 14).
"Stir up the gift of God, which is in thee through the laying on of my
hands" (2 Tim. i. 6). It is quite evident that laying on of hands was no
meaningless ceremonial in the primitive Church. Is there any reason why it
should ever be an empty, barren form in our own day?
We come now to examine the answer given to the question--How is the
Fullness of the Spirit to be obtained?--viz., "Claim it." It must be borne
clearly in mind that we are dealing now with a cleansed and consecrated
soul. If you are not "cleansed," attend first to the cleansing. If you are
not consecrated, attend at once to the consecrating, and then (but not
till then) will you be able to profit by what will be said about the
claiming of the blessing. Do we appreciate the immense difference between
"claiming" and "asking"? I "claim" that which is mine own; I "ask" for a
favor. For instance, if a man has a credit balance of $250 in his current
banking account, and draws a check for $50, he does not require to go to
the manager and "ask" for $50; he presents his check and "claims" it, for
it is his own. But supposing that same man is in need of an advance of
$500; he goes into the manager's room, and "asks" for the favor of a loan.
No "claiming" now! So it is often with the Christian and his God. When God
gives him a definite promise for some definite blessing, it is the
Christian's privilege to "claim," to "receive" by faith the thing
promised. If God tells him a certain blessing is his by virtue of his
sonship, it is his to "claim," to "receive" what through grace has been
made his own. There is no "asking" needed here, that is "asking" in the
sense of saying--"Lord, _if_ it be Thine holy will, give me this." Where
is the room for an "if"? Has not God told him it _is_ His will?--has He
not promised it?--has He not given it to him? Why, then, should he mock
his Lord by saying, "If it be Thy will"? But supposing, on the other hand,
that that man wants something which God has not expressly promised to give,
something in reference to which He has _not_ revealed His will; all the
Christian can do in this case is to "ask"; he cannot "claim;" and God
_may_ give him what he asks, or He may see that it will be for the best
to refuse His child's request. A Christian may want $250, and may "ask"
his Father to send it to him, and God may give or withhold. But if a
Christian man wants to be filled with the Holy Ghost, he need be in no
doubt as to the issue here, he may "claim" the Fullness, for has not God
promised it? Is not this blessing his very own? His birthright by virtue
of his new birth? Let us learn then clearly to distinguish between
"claiming" as an act of faith based on an express promise in the Word,
and "asking" as a request in prayer. That the Fullness of the Holy Ghost
is one of the blessings which it is our privilege to "claim," to "receive"
by a simple act of faith, is abundantly clear from the Book of God.
"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus
Christ; that we might receive the promise of the spirit _through faith_"
(Gal. iii. 13, 14). The double purpose of Christ's redeeming work, of His
being made a curse for us, is here plainly stated. He was "cursed" that
we might be blessed with a double blessing--(1) with "the blessing of
Abraham," that is, righteousness, justification; and (2) with "the
promise of the Spirit." How many of God's children forget the second
blessing!--they think that if they are saved from wrath and justified,
that that is all!--but that is only half salvation; full salvation
consists in receiving the promise of the Spirit in _addition_ to being
justified. Have _we_ overlooked this fact? Have we been stopping short at
half salvation? Those who are not living the "Spirit-filled life" are
making void to a most alarming extent, as far as they are concerned, the
work Christ accomplished on the tree. Christ died that we might be made
the righteousness of God, _and_ that we might be filled with God. As God
holds the sinner guilty who neglects so great salvation, and rejects the
offered righteousness, so He holds the justified believer guilty who
neglects the second blessing which Christ purchased with His Blood, viz.,
the offered "promise of the Spirit."
But note well how Paul tells us this latter blessing is to be made ours;
it becomes ours "_by faith_." No one doubts how we receive the blessing
of Abraham (righteousness, justification); all are agreed that it is "by
faith." "Being justified by faith" (Rom. v. 1). But how blind we are to
see, how slow to take it in, in spite of the plain declarations of
Scripture, that "the promise of the Spirit" is in like manner received "by
faith!" The Holy Ghost is the "gift" of the Father, and of the Son (Luke
xi. 13). This "gift" is received "by faith." There is the whole matter in
a nutshell. Of all the sublime things in God's sublime Book there is
surely not a sublimer than this, that a cleansed and consecrated believer
may by simple faith _here_ and _now_ claim and receive the Fullness of
the Spirit--the greatest gift that even the exalted Christ has in His
power to bestow upon His people. "Be filled with the Spirit," saith the
Holy Ghost. Note that the command is in the passive voice, "Be filled,"
that is, "Let yourself be filled." The Fullness is pressing in upon you,
only let it in! Receive it, and it is yours! _Have you got it?_ If not,
deal with the Lord about it at once, somewhat after this manner, "Lord
Jesus, Thou dost command me to be filled with the Spirit. I take Thy
command and make it my prayer, 'Lord, fill me with Thy Spirit.' Thou hast
told me that 'all things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye
have received them, and ye shall have them' (Mark xi. 24). It is Thy
desire to fill me; it is my desire to be filled. I have made, 'Lord, fill
me,' the prayer of my heart. I claim the Fullness. I believe for it. I
receive it now by faith. I _have_ received it. I have it. It is mine.
Lord, I thank Thee for filling me, even me, with Thine Holy Spirit." And
the blessed business is done! It is yours to believe, to receive. It is
_His_ to fill. Go on your way now, reckoning that you are filled, and God
will make the reckoning good. It is _yours_ to _keep believing_. It is
God's to _keep you filled_. Stagger not at the promise of God through
unbelief, but be made strong in faith, giving glory to God. Some object
to this quick, almost instantaneous, and easy way of receiving this
greatest of the New Testament blessings. But every objection urged against
receiving the Fullness of the Spirit in this way, applies with equal, if
not greater force to a sinner receiving the pardon of his sins when he
comes to God at the first. It is always in grace that God deals with the
sinner, and justifies him the instant he believes in Jesus. It is always
in grace that God deals with the justified one, and fills him with the
Holy Ghost the moment he receives the Fullness by faith. Eternal life is
the gift of God, and all the sinner has to do is to take it. The Holy
Ghost is a gift, and all God's child has to do is to take it. But some
will still object, and say that it is necessary to spend some time
"waiting" on God for the Fullness before we can get it. A night of prayer,
or a half night at least, a more or less protracted season must thus be
spent before we can hope to receive the blessing we desire. Of course not
one word can be uttered against spending seasons of prayer by day or by
night in waiting upon God. We have the example of the Man of Prayer
Himself before us in this. But this much must be said, that many a one has
spent whole days and nights and weeks in earnest crying to God for the
infilling of the Holy Ghost, and all in vain. All in vain? Why? How?
_Because of unbelief._ If you want to fill a corked bottle with water,
and take it to a running tap, but neglect to remove the cork, how long
will you have to wait holding it under the tap before it is filled?
Remove the cork, and the bottle is running over in a few seconds! Many a
one has cried and waited, and waited and cried for the Fullness of the
Spirit, but the stopper of unbelief has been in their empty hearts, and
so no wonder that they did not get what they wanted! Of what avail will
all God's "giving" be if a man does not "receive"? God cannot _give_ and
_receive_ too! But some one may still object, and, in proof of his
contention that we must "wait" for the filling of the Holy Ghost, point
to the case of the disciples, who continued in prayer for ten days,
waiting for the promise of the Father. Quite true that they "waited;" but
it must be remembered that that prayer meeting was ante-pentecostal; _we_
live in post-pentecostal days; _they_ were waiting for the Spirit to come
from Heaven. "The Spirit was not yet given." We have not so to wait. He
_has_ come, He _has_ been given, and all we have to do is to receive Him.
We have read of Christ's coming into the world and of His leaving it. We
have read of the Spirit's descent, but we do _not_ read of _His_
ascension. A Christian man came to me once and said--expecting a word of
encouragement and approval--"I have been seeking that blessing for over
thirty years." "Brother, it's nearly time you got it then!" was the swift
rejoinder. For all these years during which the man was crying, "Give,
give, give!" God was saying, "Take, take, take! Receive, receive! for I
_do_ give!" If I heard my little girl of three years old crying piteously
for a piece of bread, knowing that she must be very hungry, and having
the bread by me would I tell her to cry on for another hour and that then
I might attend to her wants? "How much more," oh! "_How much more_ will
your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" But what
if, in spite of her crying and of my offering, she would not take the
bread I offered, but still went on with her crying, "Father! oh, father!
do give me a piece of bread, I am so hungry!" You silly child! Oh, how
many silly children has the Father in His family, crying year in and year
out, "Give, give!" and Father all the while yearning over them and saying,
"Take, take, My child!" Let some of us give over crying and set to work
"receiving." Take and thank! Receive and thank! "That we might receive
the promise of the Spirit _through faith_."