"God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24)
Only the Holy Spirit can enable a fallen man or woman to worship God acceptably. As far as that's concerned, only the Holy Spirit can pray acceptably; only the Holy Spirit can do anything acceptably. My brethren, I don't know your position about the gifts of the Spirit, but I believe that all the gifts of the Spirit not only ought to be but have been present in His Church all down the centuries.
You cannot account for Augustine and Chrysostom and Luther and Charnock and Wesley and Finney except they were men gifted by the Holy Spirit.
I believe that the Holy Spirit distributes His gifts severally as he will. The Church has been propagated by the Holy Spirit, so we can only worship in the Spirit, we can only pray in the Spirit, and we can only preach effectively in the Spirit, and what we do must be done by the power of the Spirit.
We do not need many gifts but one ... The Holy Spirit is wisdom, power, holiness, faith, love ... all comprehended in the one living Presence that comes to abide in the heart that is yielded wholly to Him.
~A. W. Tozer~
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