_RECEIVING THE HOLY GHOST_
ACTS ii. 37-47.
The sacred process by which the Holy Spirit is received is the same
throughout all the years.
First there is _repentance_. And repentance is not a flow of emotion, but
a certain direction of mind. I may repent with dry eyes. It is not a
matter of feeling, but of willing. It is to lay hold of the aimless,
drifting thought, and _steer it toward God_! It is a change of mind.
Second, there is a definite and avowed choice of my new Goal, my new Lord
and King. The Christian life cannot be a subterfuge. It cannot be lived
incognito. I cannot be the Christ's and wear the livery of an alien power.
There must be _confession_, a bold and clarion-like avowal that henceforth
I am a soldier of the Lord.
And the spiritual experiences will be sure, as sure as the law-governed
processes of the material world. There will be "_remission of sins_." The
old guilt will fall away from my soul as the chains fell from Peter's
limbs when the angel touched them. And there will be "_the gift of the
Holy Ghost_." A new dynamic is mine! I enter into fellowship with the
power of the ascended Lord.