you need power
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
DL Moody was a shoe salesman until God sent him into full-time evangelistic ministry, often on the streets of Chicago. There came a time in his journey with God when he realized that he needed more in his life than what he was experiencing. “At the conclusion of the Sabbath evening prayers I remember two holy women saying to me, ‘We are praying for you.’ I said, ‘Why don’t you pray for people?’ He replied, ‘You need strength.’
‘I need electricity?’ I said to myself. Why, I thought I had power. I had a large Sabbath school and the largest congregation in Chicago. I was satisfied in a way. But then came these two godly women who prayed for me, and their serious conversation about “ordination for special service” got me thinking. I asked him to come and talk with me and we got down on our knees. He poured out his heart, that I might receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And a great hunger arose in my soul. I didn’t know what it was. I started crying like I had never cried before. Hunger increased. I really felt that if I didn’t have this power to serve I didn’t want to live anymore. I kept crying all the time that God would fill me with His Spirit. Well, one day, in New York City – oh, what a day it was! I can’t describe it; I rarely mention it; It’s almost a sacred experience for me. Paul realized that he had never spoken for fourteen years. All I can say is, God revealed Himself to me, and I felt His love so much that I had to ask Him to hold my hand.
I went to campaign again. The sermons were no different; I did not present any new truth, yet hundreds of people were converted. If you gave me all of Glasgow I would never go back to where I was before that blessed experience.*
*Elmer Townes, Understanding the Deeper Life, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1984, pp. 224, 225
