Craig T. Owens

Pastor, do you preach your sermons to yourself? You should, because you need to hear the Word of God more than your congregation does!

If you are going to speak the living Word of God to others, you need to be a pure vessel for God’s use. You need to allow the Holy Spirit to break you and pour you out. Consider these words from Smith Wigglesworth—

You cannot take people into the depths of God unless you have been broken yourself. … God wants to bring you forth as a flame of fire with a message from God, with a truth that will disturb the powers of satan, and with an unlimited supply for every needy soul.

How important it is for all God’s ministers to be continually in prayer and constantly feeding on the Scriptures of Truth. … None of you can be strong in God unless you are diligently and constantly listening to what God has to say to you through His Word. You cannot know the power and the nature of God unless you partake of His inbreathed Word.

Oh, if I could only stir you up to see that, as you are faithful in the humblest role, God can fill you with His Spirit, make you a chosen vessel for Himself, and promote you to a place of mighty ministry in the salvation of souls and in the healing of the sick. Nothing is impossible to a man filled with the Holy Spirit. The possibilities are beyond all human comprehension. When you are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, God will wonderfully work wherever you go.

(From his book On Healing, emphasis added)