The Day Dwight Moody Was Filled with the Holy Spirit
“God is a supernatural God, and you’ve got to have supernatural power to do His work.” –D. L. Moody
Dwight Lyman Moody’s life began with severe challenges.
One of nine children, his father died when Dwight was only four years of age. He was raised in poverty and only attended a few years of elementary school. At the age of seventeen, he moved from his hometown of Northfield, Massachusetts, to Boston where he began working as a shoe salesman. A kind and compassionate Sunday School teacher named Edward Kimball took an interest in Dwight, even though he described the young man’s mind as spiritually dark.
Kimball visited Moody while he was at work, and there, in the stock room, Kimball presented what he said later was a “very weak plea for Christ.” But the love of God touched Moody’s heart and he responded.
Kimball writes, “It seemed the young man was just ready for the light that then broke upon him, and there, in the back of that store in Boston, he gave himself and his life to Christ.” [28] When Moody applied for church membership a month later, he was rejected because of his inability to answer certain questions by the examining committee, but was accepted into membership a year later.
In September 1856, at the age of nineteen, Moody moved to Chicago; and though he continued selling shoes for a season, Moody threw himself wholeheartedly into gospel work. He began reaching out to young men, inviting them to church, and teaching them the Bible in his Sunday School class. He eventually moved his burgeoning class into an abandoned building, and by 1859, he had one thousand students in his program. During the Civil War, Moody was a chaplain for the Union Army, ministering to the soldiers and making nine trips to the front lines.
Moody’s later work included working with the Illinois State Sunday School Board, serving as president of the YMCA in Chicago and preaching as an itinerant evangelist both in America and in England; he made seven trips to England. He also founded a church and a Bible School that continue to this day. Even though Moody had no formal ministerial training and was never ordained as a minister, his work powerfully impacted both America and England. According to one estimate, Moody brought the gospel to 100 million people, and that was before the benefits of modern technology.
Why God Used D.L. Moody
R. A. Torrey was an associate of Moody’s. He served as the second president of the Moody Bible Institute, following Moody, and was also the senior pastor of the Chicago Avenue Church, which would later be called the Moody Church. From his close and personal association, Torrey produced a wonderful piece titled Why God Used D. L. Moody.
He lists seven vital factors he believed were the basis of Moody’s tremendously fruitful ministry. He writes that Moody:
Was a Fully Surrendered Man
Was a Man of Prayer
Was a Deep and Practical Student of the Bible
Was a Humble Man
Was Entirely Free from the Love of Money
Had a Consuming Passion for the Salvation of the Lost
Was Endued with Power from on High
As admirable and necessary as all of these traits are, this article will focus on Torrey’s seventh point—the on-going fullness of God’s power in Moody’s life. Torrey notes that prior to 1871, Moody was a very diligent worker, but that he lacked spiritual power. Torrey actually asserts that Moody “worked very largely in the energy of the flesh.” [29] This was about to change, though, because of two praying women who regularly attended the services where Moody regularly preached. They let him know that they were praying for him; and upon Moody’s inquiry, they informed him specifically that they were praying for him “to get the power.” Instead of taking offense, as some preachers might have, Moody began to diligently inquire and seek God regarding this heavenly empowerment.
According to Moody’s son, a very intense hunger and thirst for spiritual power was aroused in him. [30] Of this hunger, Moody says, “I began to cry as I never did before. I really felt that I did not want to live if I could not have this power for service.” [31] Torrey describes what happened to Moody shortly afterward as he was walking up Wall Street in New York City.
In the midst of the bustle and hurry of that city his prayer was answered; the power of God fell upon him as he walked up the street and he had to hurry off to the house of a friend and ask that he might have a room by himself, and in that room he stayed alone for hours; and the Holy Ghost came upon him, filling his soul with such joy that at last he had to ask God to withhold his hand, lest he die on the spot from very joy. He went out from that place with the power of the Holy Ghost upon him. [32]
Moody notes that the effects of his preaching after this encounter were significantly enhanced, that hundreds now began to be saved. He also said that this experience he had was beyond description, and that it was so sacred to him that he rarely spoke of it.
The Spirit Within and the Spirit Upon
As a Spirit-anointed evangelist, Moody led untold thousands to Christ. He also shared frequently about the Source of divine power who was at work in his life, enabling him to be an effective ambassador of Heaven. He was adamant that it was one thing to have the Holy Spirit inwardly, in the sense of being a child of God, but that there is a definite and subsequent experience of being filled with the power of the Spirit for service. For example, in Secret Power, Moody writes:
I think it is clearly taught in the Scripture that every believer has the Holy Ghost dwelling in him. He may be quenching the Spirit of God, and he may not glorify God as he should, but if he is a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost dwells in him. But I want to call your attention to another fact. I believe today, that though Christian men and women have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them, yet He is not dwelling within them in power; in other words, God has a great many sons and daughters without power. [34]
In this same work, Moody contends powerfully for ministers and the church to recognize and receive the Holy Spirit in His fullness.
There has been much inquiry of late on the subject of the Holy Spirit. In this and other lands thousands of persons have been giving attention to the study of this grand theme. I hope it will lead us all to pray for a greater manifestation of His power upon the whole Church of God. How much we have dishonored Him in the past! How ignorant of His grace, and love and presence we have been? [35]
Through His agency we are “born again,” and through His indwelling we possess superhuman power… The Holy Spirit who inspired prophets, and qualified apostles, continues to animate, guide and comfort all true believers… I believe, and am growing more into this belief, that divine, miraculous creative power resides in the Holy Ghost. [36]
Around three years before Moody passed away, he preached in Boston—the city where he met Jesus as a teenager—and he spoke on the topic of “Power for Service.” In this message he articulated that the Church should seek and anticipate another outpouring as was experienced at Pentecost.
See the results when the disciples got the power! See how He came on the Day of Pentecost. It is not carnal to pray that He may come again, and that the place may be shaken… I think the Church has made this woeful mistake that Pentecost was a miracle never to be repeated. I believe if we looked on Pentecost as a specimen day, and began to pray, we should have the old Pentecostal fire back in Boston. That’s what we want! May God open our eyes and reveal it to us! [37]
In addition to believing a reoccurrence of Pentecost was both possible and to be desired, Moody believed that the purpose of a new Pentecost would be the same as the purpose of the first. In Acts 1:8, Jesus instructs His disciples, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
I firmly believe that if we had this building filled with men and women expecting the Pentecostal power, we would get it. I believe if this building was filled with men and women hungry for the Spirit of God, we would have this place shaken, and there would be an influence felt not only in this land, but in foreign lands. It wouldn’t take long to reach the whole world. Talk about twenty years. It needn’t take twenty years if the Church of God is baptized and quickened. [38]
You may have noticed that even though Moody placed great emphasis on preaching the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit, he did not seem to give any attention to healings or miracles; they did not seem to occur in his ministry. It is important to realize that such works were not and are not hallmarks of every believer or minister.
John the Baptist, as important as his ministry was, did not minister healing or miracles. As people began to follow Jesus, some of the people said, “‘John didn’t perform miraculous signs,’ they remarked to one another, ‘but everything he said about this man has come true’” ( John 10:41 NLT).
Even though Scripture makes no mention of such a happening, it is always possible that someone or some people received healing while listening to John preach, but that was not John’s focus or objective. His was a message of repentance, admonishing people to turn their hearts toward God in expectation of the Messiah’s coming. That is what the Holy Spirit anointed John the Baptist to do, and he was anointed in a most remarkable way. When the angel appeared to Zechariah announcing the birth of the forerunner of Jesus, the indications of the Holy Spirit’s anointing are most evident:
For he [ John the Baptist] will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly (Luke 1:15-17 NLT).
Isn’t that amazing? John was filled with the Holy Spirit even before he was born. He had “the spirit and power of Elijah,” and yet no one knew of him working any miracles.
Maybe this was a matter of people’s preconceived ideas about the supernatural work of God. The fact that so many people repented and were baptized was indication of the working of God’s Spirit, even though that was not classified as miraculous. Whatever people may call it or not call it, it is nonetheless the work of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus held John in tremendously high regard. Jesus said, “Of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is!” (Matthew 11:11 NLT).
Some people seem to think that every New Testament character went around healing everyone all the time, but that is not the case. While many healings and miracles are recorded, none are mentioned regarding the ministries of Timothy, Titus, Mark, Luke, Apollos, Priscilla, or Aquila. The fact that none are mentioned does not mean that none occurred through them, simply that the New Testament is silent about it. In 1 Corinthians 12:29-30, the apostle Paul asks if all Christians are workers of miracles, or if all believers have gifts of healings, and the implied answer is “no.” This does not mean that any believer might not see a person healed, for example, in response to the prayer of faith or anointing with oil. Rather, it means that not every believer is especially endowed by the Holy Spirit to minister that way as part of his or her calling.
God does not call and equip all of His children the same way. This is a truth that Paul emphasizes in 1 Corinthians 12:11 when he writes, “But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” Likewise, he tells believers in Rome that they have “gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us” (Romans 12:6). I remember hearing the story of Howard Carter, an early Pentecostal pioneer of the twentieth century. After a teaching session, an individual approached him and requested prayer for healing. He told the individual that he could certainly pray by faith, but that his wife had a stronger anointing to pray for healing—his anointing was more in the area of helping people receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit. He suggested that the person have his wife pray, since that was more her gifting.
It is important to remember that God does not want us to compare our gifts or our lives to those of others. In the first chapter, we addressed the topic of the spectacular as opposed to the supernatural. Not every supernatural gift is expressed spectacularly. Some gifts are quite subtle, and yet they are beautiful in their impact.
For example, right in the middle of the dynamic gifts of apostles, prophets, healings, and miracles in 1 Corinthians 12:28, Paul also lists helps and administrations. Where would the church be without those two valuable and essential gifts? The Holy Spirit inspires those gifts just as much as He does the more spectacular ones. Likewise, in Romans 12:8 Paul lists giving and mercy as grace-based activities of believers. We may classify and categorize some of these gifts and workings differently, but they are all given by God to equip us to serve others and glorify Him. We are to honor every gift, every expression, and every working of the Holy Spirit in and through every believer.
Notes:
28.William R. Moody, The Life of Dwight L. Moody: By His Son (Harrington, DE: Delmarva Publications, 2013), loc. 602, Kindle.
29.R. A. Torrey, Why God Used D. L. Moody (Seattle, WA: Amazon Digital Services, 2010), loc. 283, Kindle.
30.Moody, The Life of Dwight L. Moody, loc. 2094, Kindle.
31.Ibid., loc. 2104, Kindle.
32.R. A. Torrey, Why God Used D. L. Moody, loc. 291, Kindle.
33.Moody, The Life of Dwight L. Moody, loc. 2137, Kindle.
34.D. L. Moody, Secret Power, in The Life and Works of Dwight L. Moody (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1881), loc. 8116, Kindle.
35.Ibid., loc. 7859, Kindle.
36.Ibid., loc. 7879, Kindle.
37.Dwight L. Moody, “Power For Service,” in The Life and Works of Dwight L. Moody (Classic Christian Ebooks, 2012), loc. 29318, Kindle.
38.D. L. Moody, The Home Work of D.L. Moody, in The Life and Works of Dwight L. Moody (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1886), loc. 41475, Kindle.
