Oh, for more and mightier power for God!

Oswald Chambers, whose book, My Utmost for His Highest, has blessed millions and continues to bless many today, has this verse engraved on his tombstone: 

“How much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him (Luke 11:13). 

Oswald, who was a man of unceasing prayer, lived his life hungering for the Spirit to work mightily in him and through him for the cause of Jesus. This was often the subject of his prayer time. The fruit of his prayers were undeniably evident in his life and ministry.

“On April 7, 1907, Oswald wrote, “We had a grand day yesterday. God comes on you in the hour of preaching in an unspeakable manner. Yesterday God laid hold of me and I uttered things that amazed me even while I spoke. I could see what God was evidently working in my heart and soul. Oh, for more and mightier power for God! It is a zeal that eats me up” (Heroes of the Holy Life, Wesley L. Duewel). 

After traveling to the United States, during the summertime to speak in Bible schools and camp meetings, an English minister wrote of his meeting with Oswald, “The outstanding impression of that great meeting was Mr. Chambers’ own testimony. He reminded you of the Apostle Paul, a teacher and leader of the first rank. It was Oswald Chambers who led me more deeply into the meaning of the cross” (Heroes of the Holy Life,  Wesley L. Duewel). 

Oswald hungered for deep spiritual reality. “He said, ‘I see churches and schemes and missionary enterprises, and holiness movements, all tagged with His name, and how little of Himself! I wish every breath I drew, all speech I made, could make Him come and seem more real to men. Nothing is worth living for but just Himself. . .”’ (Heroes of the Holy Life, Wesley L. Duewel). 

This hunger for the manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s power for ministry began early in his life. “While Oswald was a tutor at Dunoon College, Dr. F. B. Meyer came and spoke about the role of the Holy Spirit in the believer. Oswald said, “I determined to have all that was going and went to my room and asked God simply and definitely for the [fullness] of the Holy Spirit, whatever that meant.” In the next four years God used Oswald in the conversion of others. But in his own heart Oswald still was not satisfied. The last three months of those years things reached a climax. I was getting very desperate. . . . Then Luke 11:13 got hold of me. . . . God brings one to the point of utter despair.” At a small meeting while the congregation was singing a chorus, by naked faith Oswald claimed the fullness of the Spirit. He felt no dramatic change but knew he had trusted God...Oswald was asked to speak at a meeting, and at the close forty people came forward to seek the Lord. He was so terrified at what had happened that he walked out of the room and went to the Reverend McGregor, the principal of Dunoon College. McGregor asked Oswald, “Don’t you remember claiming the Holy Spirit as a gift on the word of Jesus, and that He said, ‘Ye shall receive power. . .’? This is the power from on high” (Heroes of the Holy Life). 

Oswald sought the fullness of the Spirit in prayer, not knowing what that fully meant. Similarly, Jesus encouraged His disciples to pray when he taught them,  “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13). 

Perhaps one of the reasons Oswald said, I prayed for the fullness of the Spirit not knowing what that fully meant was because he knew that the Bible teaches clearly that the Spirit resides in all who know Christ as Lord and Savior. However he also knew that apart from the empowering of the Spirit his ministry would not be fruitful. So with childlike trust he prayed to that end and God, who promises to answer such prayer, granted his petition. 

Oswald didn’t just talk the talk: he lived out day by day the title of his best-known book, My Utmost for His Highest.” He lived it out in the power of the Spirit. He sought in prayer and through the Holy Spirit to know the much more of the fullness of Christ and to make Him much more fully known. 

May we all pray like Chambers, Heavenly Father, I don’t understand fully how it all works, but I know that I need your Spirit to more fully and powerfully work in me and through me. I pray every breath I draw, all speech I make, could make Jesus come and seem more real to men. Nothing is worth living for but to know Him and make Him known. Take all of me, dwell fully in me, and make my life a blessing for the greater fame of Jesus.