June 27

Read: Acts 1:6-8

Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you (Acts 1:8).

Our Continuing Source Of Power

If the life of holiness is to be a continuing experience, it must be a growing experience. There is no way to get permanent grace at an altar in a moment of time. Wesley writes, “The holiest of men still need Christ… for God does not give them a stock of holiness. But unless they receive a supply every moment, nothing but unholiness would remain” (Christian Perfection).

An accurate figure of God’s sanctifying power is not a storage battery but a trolley. The trolley car has no ability to move itself but it is connected to a source of power adequate for every load that it must carry and for every hill along its route. In the use of this power the motorman has an element of freedom. He can drive in the center of the street or pull to the curb. However, his freedom extends only to the limit that the trolley car can move and still keep its connection with the power line.

Have you ever observed the motorman whose trolley has jumped the wire? His car goes nowhere and pulls no load. The motorman must again establish contact with his overhead source of power. So it is in the sanctified life. By an honest effort to know and do the will of God, we can keep the trolley on the wire. But we know that it is God who gives us our power — and He gives it moment by moment as we daily cultivate His presence.

Ev’ry day, ev’ry hour Let me feel Thy cleansing pow’r; May Thy tender love to me Bind me closer, closer, Lord, to Thee.

— Fanny J. Crosby