Quiet Talks on Power | Page 7

follows. That contact radically
changed her. She went back to her village and commenced speaking
about Jesus to those she knew. She could not preach; she simply told
plainly and earnestly what she knew and believed about Him. And the
result is startling. There are hundreds of ministers who are earnestly
longing for what came so easily to her. What modern people call a
revival began at once. We are told in the simple language of the Gospel

record that "many believed on Him because of the word of the woman."
They had not seen Jesus yet. He was up by the well. They were down in
the village. She was an ignorant woman, of formerly sinful life. But
there is the record of the wonderful result of her simple
witnessing--they believed on Jesus because of the word of that woman.
There is only one way to account for such results. Only the Holy Spirit
speaking through her lips could have produced them. She had
commenced drinking of the living water of which Jesus had been
talking to her, and now already the rivers were flowing out to others.
What Jesus did with her, He longs to do with you, and far more, if you
will let Him; though his plan for using you may be utterly different
from the one He had for her, and so the particular results different. Now
let me ask very frankly why have we not all such power for our Master
as she? The Master's plan is plain. He said "ye shall have power." But
so many of us do not have! Why not? Well, possibly some of us are
like Nicodemus--there is no power because of timidity, cowardice, fear
of what they will think, or say. Possibly some of us are in the same
condition spiritually that Lazarus was in physically. We are tied up
tight, hands and feet and face. Some sin, some compromise, some
hushing of that inner voice, something wrong. Some little thing, you
may say. Humph! as though anything could be little that is wrong! Sin
is never little!
A Clogged Channel.
Out in Colorado they tell of a little town nestled down at the foot of
some hills--a sleepy-hollow village. You remember the rainfall is very
slight out there, and they depend much upon irrigation. But some
enterprising citizens ran a pipe up the hills to a lake of clear, sweet
water. As a result the town enjoyed a bountiful supply of water the year
round without being dependent upon the doubtful rainfall. And the
population increased and the place had quite a western boom. One
morning the housewives turned the water spigots, but no water came.
There was some sputtering. There is apt to be noise when there is
nothing else. The men climbed the hill. There was the lake full as ever.
They examined around the pipes as well as possible, but could find no

break. Try as they might, they could find no cause for the stoppage.
And as days grew into weeks, people commenced moving away again,
the grass grew in the streets, and the prosperous town was going back
to its old sleepy condition when one day one of the town officials
received a note. It was poorly written, with bad spelling and grammar,
but he never cared less about writing or grammar than just then. It said
in effect: "Ef you'll jes pull the plug out of the pipe about eight inches
from the top you'll get all the water you want." Up they started for the
top of the hill, and examining the pipe, found the plug which some
vicious tramp had inserted. Not a very big plug--just big enough to fill
the pipe. It is surprising how large a reservoir of water can be held back
by how small a plug. Out came the plug; down came the water freely;
by and by back came prosperity again.
Why is there such a lack of power in our lives? The reservoir up yonder
is full to overflowing, with clear, sweet, life-giving water. And here all
around us the earth is so dry, so thirsty, cracked open--huge cracks like
dumb mouths asking mutely for what we should give. And the
connecting pipes between the reservoir above and the parched plain
below are there. Why then do not the refreshing waters come rushing
down? The answer is very plain. You know why. There is a plug in the
pipe. Something in us clogging up the channel and nothing can get
through. How shall we have power, abundant, life-giving, sweetening
our own lives, and changing those we touch? The answer is easy for me
to give--it will be much harder for us all to do--pull out the plug. Get
out the thing that you know is