“Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts”— Zechariah 4:66Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. (Zechariah 4:6).
THIS is a lesson we are all very slow to learn. We try to accomplish things in our own power and by our own wisdom, only to fail again and again. When at last we realize our utter helplessness and yield ourselves to the Lord that He may work in and through us by His Holy Spirit, we find that He can do what we have tried in vain to accomplish before. Oil is a beautiful type of the Holy Spirit, and just as the unseen oil flowed through the golden pipes to keep the light burning, so does the Spirit of God, though unseen, work in and through those who are yielded to Him.
“How I praise Thee, precious Saviour,
That Thy love laid hold of me;
Thou hast saved and cleansed and filled me,
That I might Thy channel be.
Jesus, fill now with Thy Spirit
Hearts that full surrender know;
That the streams of living water
From our inner man may flow.”
—Mary E. Maxwell.