Variations On a Theme

To me the work of the Holy Spirit, and the person of the Holy Spirit is like a symphony, that can be sung in a different key, but in essence is the same masterpiece. Throughout history men have written concerning the Holy Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit, and above all else the necessity of the Holy Spirit in the life of the individual believer.
I often think that whatever project I am working on tends to bleed into the posts for this blog, and since I have been writing a study on the work of the Holy Spirit for the better part of a month, and nowhere near done, it was only a matter of time that a posting concerning this topic made its way onto Homeward Bound.
Even so, the fact that I have been working on this study takes nothing away from the importance of the subject matter, and as I was going through some of my notes on the topic, I found something Spurgeon wrote long ago. I felt it was worthwhile reading, and I have decided to post it today. It is just another variation of the theme, the great symphony played in a different key, just as soothing, comforting, majestic and divine as the original.
In the end, having read most of what has been written concerning the work of the Holy Spirit going back centuries, the necessity of this precious gift stands out in every writing. Today men look for new gimmicks and new ways of getting people to come to the house of God, from offering gift certificates, to raffling cars, to putting on magic shows, when all the while the thing that would not only draw people to God's house, but keep them there, growing and maturing spiritually is dismissed as antiquated and irrelevant.
I pray the following is a blessing and a challenge.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr.

Spurgeon, “Make this Valley Full of Ditches”
"We must have the Holy Spirit's power and presence, otherwise our religion will become a mockery before God, and a misery to ourselves. We must have the aid of the Holy Spirit, for ours is not a mechanical religion. It is Spiritual, and must be sustained by spiritual means. So dependent is the Christian church upon the Holy Spirit, that there never was an acceptable sigh heaved by a penitent apart from him; never did holy song mount to heaven except he gave it wings; never was there true prayer or faithful ministry except through the power and might of the Holy Spirit.
Sinners are never saved apart from the Spirit of God!
No moral persuasion, no force of example, no power of logic, no might of rhetoric, can ever change the heart. The living Spirit alone can put life into dead souls! And after those souls are quickened, we are still as dependent as ever upon the Spirit of God.
To educate a soul for heaven is as much a divine task, as to emancipate a soul from sin. To comfort a downcast brother, to strengthen his weak hands and confirm his feeble knees, to brighten the eyes of his hope and to give him nerve to hold the shield of his faith- all these are the work of the Spirit of the living God.
O Christian, with all the power you have received,you have not strength enough to live for another second, except as the Spirit of God quicken you. All your past experience, all that you have learned and acquired, must go for nothing, except, daily and perpetually, moment by moment, the Spirit of God shall dwell in you, and work in you mightily, to keep you still a pilgrim to the gate of heaven. Thus, each individual is dependent, and the whole church is dependent on the influence of the Spirit.
Without the Spirit of God, we are like a ship stranded on the beach when the tide has receded- there is no moving her until the flood shall once again lift her from the sands. Until the Spirit of God shall thaw the chilly coldness of our natural estate, and bid the life-floods of our heart flow forth, there we must be- cold, cheerless, lifeless, and powerless. The Christian, like the mariner, depends upon the breath of heaven, or his ship is without motion. There is no truth that needs to be insisted upon more thoroughly than this, "Without me, you can do nothing." Until we are utterly empty of self, we are not ready to be filled by God. Until we are conscious of our own weakness, we are not fit platforms for the display of divine omnipotence. Until the arm of flesh is paralyzed, and death is written upon the whole natural man, we are not ready to be endowed with divine life and energy."