The Spirit Speaking Through Apostles and Ministers

For it is not ye that speak.—The Christian ministry is fundamentally a ministry of the Spirit. When Christ spoke these words to His disciples, the primary reference addressed the apostles themselves. The fact that the Spirit of the Father spoke through the apostles is evident from the effects produced by their word—boldness before magistrates, clarity in persecution, and transformation of nations.

This dispensation of the Spirit extends to ourselves. The disciples were helpless for their own defense, simple and ignorant of what lay before them. Yet when called before magistrates, it would be given them in that hour what they should say. Their range was limited—not comprehensive theology or providence, but power of self-defense and maintenance of innocency.

Henry Ward Beecher observed that mental faculties possess instantaneous development: like a grain of powder touched by fire, expanding instantly into thousand-fold power, so the mind can be touched with divine fire, giving immense flash and penetration utterly unlike ordinary human experience.

There exists a latent prophetic gift in everyone highly organized spiritually. When a man's leading idea is submission to Adonai, he possesses instinct by which he avoids things unfavorable to witness. The minister of the Spirit prepares diligently for pulpit ministrations, yet trusts ultimately in Yahweh's utterance through willing vessels.