meeting of temptation, to face such tremendous
antagonisms that unless we have grace given to us which will enable us
to resist, we shall be overcome and swept away. God's power given by the
Divine Spirit does not absolve us from the fight, but it fits us for the
fight. It is not given in order that, holiness may be won without a
struggle, as some people seem to think, but it is given to us in order
that in the struggle for holiness we may never lose 'one jot of heart or
hope,' but may be 'able to withstand in the evil day, and having done
all to stand.'

It is a power for service. 'Tarry ye in Jerusalem till ye be endued with
power from on high.' There is no such force for the spreading of
Christ's Kingdom, and the witness-bearing work of His Church, as the
possession of this Divine Spirit. Plunged into that fiery baptism, the
selfishness and the sloth, which stand in the way of so many of us, are
all consumed and annihilated, and we are set free for service because
the bonds that bound us are burnt up in the merciful furnace of His
fiery power.

'Ye shall be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man'--a
power that will fill and flood all your nature if you will let it, and
will make you strong to suffer, strong to combat, strong to serve, and
to witness for your Lord.

III. And now, lastly, let me point you still further to the measure of
this power. It is limitless with the boundlessness of God Himself. 'That
he would grant you' is the daring petition of the Apostle, 'according to
the riches of His glory to be strengthened.'

There is the measure. There is no limit except the uncounted wealth of
His own self-manifestation, the flashing light of revealed divinity.
Whatsoever there is of splendour in that, whatsoever there is of power
there, in these and in nothing on this side of them, lies the limit of
the possibilities of a Christian life. Of course there is a working
limit at each moment, and that is our capacity to receive; but that
capacity varies, may vary indefinitely, may become greater and greater
beyond our count or measurement. Our hearts may be more and more capable
of God; and in the measure in which they are capable of Him they shall
be filled by Him. A limit which is always shifting is no limit at all. A
kingdom, the boundaries of which are not the same from one year to
another, by reason of its own inherent expansive power, may be said to
have no fixed limit. And so we appropriate and