Just a Thought!

If it is true that only the quickened spirit can receive Divine revelation, it is equally true that such revelation requires a Divine gift of utterance in order to realize its spiritual end. 

 It is possible to preach truth without the preacher having any spiritual apprehension of it; that is, from a merely mental apprehension. 

 The preaching may be just natural ability; but the grievous fact may be that neither the one who preaches nor those to whom he preaches will be in the good of the living and working values of the truth.

 The spiritual results are hardly worth the effort and expenditure. 

 The virtue of speech resulting in abiding fruit to the glory of God, whether that speech be preaching, teaching, conversation, prayer, is not in its lucidity, eloquence, subtlety, cleverness, wit, thoughtfulness, passion, earnestness, forcefulness, pathos, etc., but in that it is an utterance of the Holy Ghost.
T. Austin-Sparks

3 thoughts on “Just a Thought!

  1. Good word. Truth is in the person of Jesus Christ only, and when separated from him becomes mere facts with no power to give life to the hearer. Rather it tickles the intellect resulting in pride and the deceitful notion that the speaker and hearer have grown spiritually when their head alone has grown. No words can bare good fruit unless they spring from a union with Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

  2. I believe I see your point but find it difficult to discern divine utterance from intellectual ability. Understanding that which is flesh is flesh and that which is Spirit is Spirit sometimes can only be determined when fruit is produced. You might say no one can utter divine revelation unless they have experienced it.

  3. Just finished re-reading one of my favorite books about how God speaks to us called “Windows of the Soul”. It had a very good chapter about the proliferation of the abundance of useless and dead words that has been pouring out of the church. It asks the question – if the church could no longer use words to communicate with the world, what kind of message would we communicate? The point being, our actions speak much louder than words. If we could no longer speak, would those around us know that we love them?

What are your thoughts?