Lloyd John Ogilvie - Experiencing the Power of the Holy Spirit: You Can Live Gods Best Each Day

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Verses marked RSV are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All emphasis (italics) in Scripture quotations has been added by the author.

Cover by Koechel Peterson & Associates, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota

Cover photo iStockphoto / Thinkstock

The names and characterizations in this book that are drawn from the authors ministry and counseling experience are usually rendered pseudonymously and as fictional composites. Any similarity between the names and characterizations of these individuals and real people is unintended and purely coincidental.

The author expresses his gratitude to the people who responded to his series of messages on the Holy Spirit on radio and television that eventually became the basis of some of the chapters of this book. He has quoted from some of these responses in various places within this book. Permission was granted at the time of writing the first draft of the manuscript.

EXPERIENCING THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Revised edition of The Greatest Counselor in the World

Copyright 1994, 2001 by Lloyd John Ogilvie

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ogilvie, Lloyd John.

Experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit / Lloyd John Ogilvie.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-7369-5249-1 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-5250-7 (eBook)

1. Holy Spirit. I. Title.

BT121.3.O35 2013

231.3dc23

2013010341

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Contents

To Dr. Robert Docksongreat friend, generous benefactor, and benchmark leader in education and business

I want to express my gratitude for the people who have helped me experience the power of the Holy Spirit .

In 1948, when I was a freshman at Lake Forest College, I was an agnostic. Bruce Larson was the proctor of my dormitory. Every Wednesday evening he led a Bible study along with his friend Ralph Osborn. In response to their persistent invitations to attend the Bible study, one evening I reluctantly slipped in to listen. Both Bruce and Ralph were seniors who had become Christians during World War II. Their explanation of Christianity was exciting and impelling. After six months of never missing a meeting, they challenged me to give as much as I knew of myself to as much as I knew of Christ. I returned to my room and, after a long struggle that night, got on my knees and committed my life to Christ. I was given the gift of faith in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. That night 65 years ago, I began the adventure of being a disciple of Christ .

I changed my major from speech and dramatics to philosophy and theology, and my career plans from acting and media to preparation for the ministry. All through college and in seminary, I was privileged to have outstanding professors who encouraged my intellectual growth .

It was during the final stage of my theological training at New College, University of Edinburgh, that I had two professors who helped me move from being a bitarian who gratefully believed in the Father and the Son to a Trinitarian, who claimed the fullness of Pauls benediction, The grace of the Lord Jesus, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Corinthians 13:14) .

My classes in New Testament theology, taught by Dr. James S. Stewart, and dogmatics, taught by Dr. Thomas F. Torrance, were a life-changing intellectual and spiritual experience. Friendship with both of these giants in the Christian faith lasted through the years. Later, during my study leaves each summer, I returned to Edinburgh and visited with these former professors and confirmed my deepening convictions and experience of the Trinity .

My own Bible study, devotional life, and preaching during my service as a pastor in several churches enabled me to grow in my understanding of the Holy Spirit .

All through the years of my ministry I have been a participant in small groups, churches in miniature, in which I had the opportunity constantly to experience both encouragement and accountability. With trusted brothers and sisters in Christ, I was able to discover the power of the Holy Spirit for my personal life as well as my preaching and writing .

During my ministry in Hollywood, California, two of my prayer partners were Dr. Jack Hayford and Bishop Ken Ulmer. Together we claimed the power of the Holy Spirit for each others challenges and opportunities, and worked closely in seeking to bring renewal in the churches and clergy of Los Angeles. For that we needed a constant replenishment of supernatural power. I am grateful to these two gifted brothers .

When I served as chaplain of the United States Senate I was very thankful for the five Bible studies I taught each week for the senators, their spouses, their staffs, and the general Senate staff. In each group we claimed the biblical promises of strength from the Holy Spirit for the high calling of leadership of the nation. I am particularly grateful for a prayer group of senators who met with me weekly in addition to the Senators Bible Study. These dynamic men and women shared profound times of intercession for the nation and for each others needs. I learned to take no one for granted. Underneath the surface, we all needed daily anointing with the Holy Spirits wisdom, discernment, and courage .

Most of all, I want to express my greatest thanks to the One about Whom this book is written. Wonder Who that is? Press on to the first chapter!

L ife is not easy. We only go around once. And for most its no merry-go-round ride, but a difficult, bumpy journey.

Problems get us down. Minor problems and sometimes serious ones. Many of them never seem to go away. We overcome one obstacle and then get hit by another one with full force. Often problems pile up. Worry about them saps our strength and creativity. They accumulate and suddenly too many surface at the same time. Panic sets in. We wonder how much we can take. We can take one problem if we can concentrate all our energies on solving it. But so often our energies are dissipated by other problems that worsen at the same time. Its difficult to stay up during financial hard times. Our own health problems or those of our loved ones make us anxious. Our carefully laid plans get messed up by human error or carelessness. Foul-ups happen at work, at home. Then, as if staying afloat wasnt difficult enough, we feel the undertow of the larger social problems of violence, racial tensions, and human misery when we turn on the television news.