Dr. Stanley expresses a time in his life when he was dry and searching. Then he says, "Reading through Torrey's book, I ran across a passage that hit me right between the eyes. He described my dilemma perfectly:
So it is clear that every regenerate man has the Holy Spirit. But in many a believer the Holy Spirit dwells away back in some hidden sanctuary of his person, away back of conscious experience. ... In other words, it is one thing to have the Holy Spirit merely dwelling in us but we are conscious of His dwelling, and quite another thing to be filled or baptized, with the Holy Spirit. So we may put it with perfect accuracy in this way: Every regenerate person has the Holy Spirit, but not every regenerate person has what the Bible calls "the gift of the Holy Spirit," or "the baptism with the Holy Spirit," or "the Promise of the Father." (quote from Torrey ends here)
Stanley continues: Whatever you call it, I didn't have it. I had the Holy Spirit. But for some reason He wasn't making much difference. It was as if He was hibernating. (page 34)
Spiritual growth is a process. I must have read twenty books on the subject before I recognized and experienced the filling of the Spirit. ... I don't know where you are in the process, but God does. He is engineering your circumstances with a definite result in mind. Part of His plan is to bring you to the end of yourself, to a point of desperation where you get so sick of yourself and your inability to change that you throw up your hands in surrender. When that happens, you are closer than you have ever been to knowing the joy of the Spirit-filled life. So, relax. There is no rush. God is in control. After all, He wants this for you more than you want if for yourself." (pages 34-35)
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