Ephesians each one: "Be filled with the Spirit, and do not be drunk with
wine." Just as little as you may be drunk with wine, so little may you live
without being filled with the Spirit. Now, if God means that for believers,
the first thing that we need is to study, and to take home God's Word, to
our belief until our hearts are filled with the assurance that there is
such a life possible which it is our duty to live; that we can be spiritual
men. God's Word teaches us that God does not expect a man to live as he
ought for one minute unless the Holy Spirit is in him to enable him to do
it.

We do not want the Holy Spirit only when we go to preach, or when we have
some special temptation of the devil to meet, or some great burden to bear;
God says: "My child can not live a right life unless he is guided by my
Spirit every minute." That is the mark of the child of God: "As many as are
led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." In Romans V. we read:
"The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given unto
us." That is to be the common, every-day experience of the believer, not
his life at set times only. Did ever a father or mother think, "For to-day
I want my child to love me?" No, they expect the love every day. And so
God wants His child every moment to have a heart filled with love of the
Spirit. In the eyes of God, it is most unnatural to expect a man to love
as he should if he is not filled with the Spirit. Oh, let us believe a man
_can_ be a spiritual man. Thank God, there is now the blessing waiting
us. "Be filled with the Spirit." "Be led by the Spirit." There _is_ the
blessing. If you have to say, "Oh, God, I have not this blessing," say it;
but say also, "Lord, I know it is my duty, my solemn obligation to have
it, for without it I can not live in perfect peace with Thee all the day;
without it I can not glorify Thee, and do the work Thou wouldst have me
do." This is our first step from carnal to spiritual,--to recognize a
spiritual life, a walk in the Spirit, is within our reach. How can we ask