The true secret of all ministry is spiritual power.
It is not man's genius, or man's intellect, or man's energy, but simply the power of the Spirit of God. This was true in the days of Moses, and it is true now. "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." It is well for all ministers to bear this ever in mind. It will sustain the heart, and give constant freshness in ministry. A ministry which flows from abiding dependence upon the Holy Ghost can never become barren. If a man is drawing upon his own resources, he will soon run dry. It matters not what his powers may be, or how extensive his reading, or how vast his stores of information; if the Holy Ghost be not the spring and power of his ministry, it must sooner or later lose its freshness and its effectiveness.
How important, therefore, that all who minister in the Gospel, or in the Church of God, should lean continually and exclusively on the power of the Holy Ghost; He knows what souls need, and can supply it. But He must be trusted and used. It will not do to lean partly on self and partly on the Spirit of God. If there be aught of self-confidence, it will soon be made apparent. We must really get at the bottom of all that belongs to self, if we are to be the vessels of the Holy Ghost.
It is not-need we say it ?-that there should not be holy diligence and earnestness in the study of the word of God, and in the study too of the exercises, the trials, and the varied difficulties of souls. Quite the reverse. We feel persuaded that the more absolutely we lean in self-emptiness upon the mighty power of the Holy Ghost, the more diligently and earnestly we shall study both the book and the soul. It would be a fatal mistake for a man to use professed dependence upon the Spirit as a plea for neglecting prayerful study and meditation. "Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all" (1 Tim. 4:5).
But, after all, let it ever be remembered that the Holy Ghost is the ever-living, never-failing spring of ministry. It is He alone that can bring forth in divine freshness and fulness the treasures of God's Word, and apply them in heavenly power to the present need of the soul. It is not a question of bringing forth new truth, but simply of unfolding the word itself, and bringing it to bear upon the moral and spiritual condition of the people 0of God. This is true ministry. A man may speak a hundred times on the same portion of Scripture to the same people, and on each occasion he may minister Christ in spiritual freshness to their souls. And, on the other hand, a man may rack his brain to find out new subjects and new modes of handling old themes, and all the while there may not be one atom of Christ or of spiritual power in his ministry. . . .Notes on Numbers.