The Marvellous Healing Ministries Of Lake, Kuhlman And Wigglesworth. John G. Lake manifested a marvellous ministry in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord used Lake to cast demons out of numerous insane people who became normal afterwards. Thousands of awesome real healings from God occurred through Lake's ministry. These were real healings, not merely confessed healings which never actualised in people's bodies. When speaking of Lake, Gordan Lindsay (the founder of Christ For the Nations) said: "In Africa God gave him a revival unprecedented since the days of the apostles. The fire spreadthroughout the nation, and hundreds of churches were raised up. Miracles occurred of such magnitude as to amaze the world and gave him audience with many leaders of his time. Returning from Africa to Sokane, Washington (in the United States), his ministry is said to have resulted in 100,000 healings in a period of five years." John Lake was one of the founders of the Apostolic Faith Mission which is one of the largest Pentecostal denominations in southern Africa today. Lake taught that the secret of a powerful ministry of healing was not just much you can believe and confess healings for others, but how much the healing minister surrenders to God and His Presence within him or her: "The real secret of the ministry of healing is in permitting the grace of God in your heart to flow out through your hands and your nerves into the other life. This is the real secret. And one of the greatest works God has to perform is to subject our flesh to God. Many Christians, the deepest Christians who really know God in their spirit and enjoy communion with Him, are compelled to wait until a process of spiritualization takes place in them before God can reveal Himself through them. Do not imprison Christ in you. Let Him live, let Him manifest Himself, let Him find vent thorough you…A minister of Jesus Christ…ministers God Himself into the very spirits and souls and bodies of men. That is the reason a Christian throws down the bars of his nature and invites God to come in and take possession of his being. The incoming of God into our body, into our soul, into our spirit accomplishes marvellous things in the nature of man. The medium by which God undertakes to bless the world is through the transmission of Himself. the Spirit of God is His own substance, the substance of His being, the very nature and quality of the presence and nature of God. Consequently, when we speak of the Spirit of God being transmitted to man, we are not talking about an influence, either spiritual or mental. We are talking about the transmission of the living substance and being of God into your being and into mine. Not a mental effect, but a living substance, the living being and actual life transmitted, imparted, coming from God into your being." Kathryn Kuhlman. Kathryn Kuhlman seems to have had the most effective healing ministry of any woman in history. In 50 years of ministry, she ministered before about 100 million people. Another well known healing minister went to one of Kathryn's services in 1971 and spoke of how he came to see that her ministry was far more anointed and deeper than his own and all other healing ministries he had seen: "Recounting that moment, Oral said, 'I looked around. It was a different audience than came to my meetings. You could tell this was an audience that had touched the so-called top people as well as the more common like myself. Then all of a sudden, there was a change which swept over her being. I could see it from the balcony. She said, 'There is someone over on the left who is feeling the presence of God and is being healed. Stand up and come forward.' I turned and saw a woman standing with a little child. The child was in braces and crutches. That little thing stood up, and they were helping as he tried to put one foot in front of the other. By the time they got halfway down the aisle, they stopped. They took off the braces and they took away the crutches and the little boy took a step – and took another step. When he got to the big steps which led to the platform, people started to help him up. 'Don't touch him,' Kathryn said. 'Let's see what the Holy Spirit has done.' 'I was absolutely broken up.' Oral continued. 'When the little boy was turned loose, he didn't walk, he ran.' By that time I knew Kathryn Kuhlman was God's anointed vessel, and I thrilled because as I sat there I saw things that God hadn't done through me. I saw things God hadn't done through anybody I had seen. I rejoiced because God was so great. He was greater than I could conceive Him. He was greater than she could conceive Him." Before her healing ministry fully began to operate, Kathryn Kuhlman went to a tent meeting of a noted healing evangelist. She went there hoping to learn from the minister, but instead came away very discouraged by the fleshly imitation she saw of real Holy Spirit – anointed ministry. Jamie Buckingham recorded her experience: "It was a difficult experience for Kathryn. One of the most difficult of her life. She drove to Erie alone, determined to remain incognito. The giant tent was located on the south edge of the city. The signs, as she entered the parking lot read. 'MIRACLE REVIVAL. SIGHT FOR THE BLIND! HEARING FOR THE DEAF! POWER TO GET WEALTH!' Taking a seat on the back row, she waited. When the evangelist came on the platform, he came on as though shot for a canon. At one point he got up and walked on the back of the long bench behind the pulpit itself. At another time he leap-frogged over the pulpit itself. The audience was worked into a frenzy, screaming, wailing, almost beyond control. Kathryn later described it as a 'nightmare come to life.' During the service, he auctioned off pieces of his old revival tent, to the highest bidders, which he promised would bring health and prosperity to those who wore them on their bodies or slept with them under their pillows. As the meeting grew more intense the preacher began to scream, saying he felt a 'spell coming on,' which he indicated was a 'Holy Ghost unction' enabling him to lay hands on the sick and they would be healed. People in the congregation crowded into the aisles, swaying back and forth. When the meeting was at the peak of frenzy, a healing line was formed. This line belied the seemingly spontaneous nature of the meeting, for each person who wanted to be in it had previously been assigned a number at the gate. Thus, Kathryn noted with dismay, people had to wait, sometimes for days to have their number come up. After all, the evangelist could only pray individually with so many people in one evening. The people lined up by the scores. One by one the evangelist went down the line. Checking cards and slapping people on the head and commanding them to 'BE HEALED!' Many of them keeled to the floor. Others screamed and shook. But Kathryn could not help but notice that the more seriously ill patients were steered out of the healing line to an 'invalids' tent' away from the prying eyes of the public. While some of the people did seem to be genuinely helped – perhaps even healed – the vast majority of those who had broken their crutches had to be helped out of the tent by sympathetic loved ones – still unable to walk. To those the preacher proclaimed that their faith was not strong enough yet; that they should come back the next night for more of the same. In talking about that night, Kathryn said, 'I began to weep. I could not stop. Those looks of despair and disappointment on the faces I had seen, when told that only their lack of faith was keep...... from God, were to haunt me for weeks. Was this the God of all mercy and great compassion?' I left the tent, and with hot tears streaming down my face I looked up and cried, 'They have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid Him.' Years later Kathryn wrote, 'I could not see the hand of God in man's superfluity of zeal, and I saw the harm that was being done in attributing everything to 'lack of faith' on the part of the individual who had not received his healing. Inside myself, I was crushed: my heart told me that God could do anything; my mind told me that through ignorance and lack of spiritual knowledge, there were those who were bringing a reproach on something that was sacred and wonderful and accessible to all. No preacher had to tell me that the power of God was real. I was assured of these facts as I read the Word of God.'" Some other things we can learn from Kathryn Kuhlman's ministry are these: Kathryn believed being born-again was more important than being healed. Also, in Kathryn's meetings sometimes people were slain in the Spirit. But she did not encourage nor discourage this from happening. She did not push people over and then pretend the Holy Spirit caused the people to fall. I myself was pushed over at a large conference in about 1977 by an over-exuberant Australian preacher. Smith Wigglesworth was an early British Pentecostal revivalist. He was always smiling and never without his Bible, the only book he ever read. He saw almost every type of healing miracle from God in his ministry including the raising of the dead. He made some very successful evangelistic tours in the 1920's and 1930's. Frodesham said Wigglesworth "filled the biggest halls, ministered to record crowds and prayed for thousands". If we read the words of Kathryn Kuhlman, John G. Lake and Smith Wigglesworth, we find that they taught Jesus Christ has provided healing in the atonement for all believers Lake and Wigglesworth also taught that healings are mainly received by trusting faith. But the difference between Kuhlman, Lake and Wigglesworth, and numerous modern healing ministries was Kuhlman, Lake and Wigglesworth had an extremely strong preaching emphasis on practical holiness, purity, obedience to God and repentance from all known sin, whereas numerous modern healing ministries mention these things rarely (if at all) and instead preach pitiful easy believism "gospels". For example, Lake said, "Sin manifests itself in three ways: in thought, in acts, in nature. Salvation is a complete transformation. God takes possession of man, changes his thoughts; in consequence his acts change, his nature is new. A Christian is not a reformed man. He is a man renewed, remade by the Spirit of God, a man indwelt by God…" Lake also said, "I believe God by His Spirit has baptised many in the Holy Ghost. But beloved, we have not comprehended the greatness of God's intent. Not that we have not received the Spirit, but our lives have not been sufficiently surrendered to God. We must keep on ascending right to the throne, right to the heart of God, right into the soul of the glorified…A weak Christianity always wants to drop to the imperfect and adjust itself to the popular mind. But a real Christianity seeks to be made perfect in God, both in character and gifts." 11 Lake is not here teaching believers can be in a state of permanent sinless perfection in this life, but what we should all be progressing towards. Lake also stated, "Christianity is the ringing triumph of the mind of God. It is the blessed victory that the individual feels in his own heart of the consciousness of the presence and power of God within the soul which makes man the master now, and gives him the consciousness of mastery over sin and over the powers of sickness and death". 12 Note Lake emphasised the possibility of practical victory over sin through Jesus Christ in our daily lives, not just victory over sickness. Lake also declared, "Sanctification is calculated to apply to the needs of all our nature; first of the spirit, second of the soul, third of the body. Over and over again I have repeated these blessed words of John Wesley as he defined sanctification: 'Sanctification is possessing the mind of Christ and all the mind of Christ.'" The church needs apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers and other leaders with the awesome power of the Holy Spirit, righteous moral character, honesty about money, unconditional surrender to God and straight repentance preaching like that done by Charles Finney, George Whitefield, Peter Cartwright, John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, Evan Roberts, John Lake, Kathryn Kulhman and Smith Wigglesworth. I love seeing powerful ministry in the Holy Spirit with miracles, healings, genuine gifts of the Spirit and spiritual manifestations which give glory to God and result in true conversions. "You will know them by their fruits." Mt. 7:16 The Healer: Dr. John Graham Lake. Editor's Note: The following biography of Dr. Lake is taken from Let Light Shine Out: The Story of The Assemblies of God in the Pacific Northwest by Ward M. Tannenburg, Ph.D. The man who Gordon Lindsay declared was, in his opinion, "the greatest missionary that has appeared since the period of the early Church," was also a man who profoundly impacted the Northwest District with the message -even though he himself was never a member of the Assemblies of God. His name was John G. Lake. John Graham Lake was born at St. Mary's, Ontario, Canada, on March 18, 1870. When yet a small boy, he accompanied his parents to the United States, settling at Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan. In October 1891, he was admitted in the Methodist ministry in Chicago and appointed to a church in Peshtigo, Wisconsin. He finally decided against going there and instead went into the newspaper business. In the town of Harvey, Illinois, he founded the Harvey Citizen. (This town was named after D. L. Moody's brother in law). In February 1893, at age twenty-one, he married Miss Jennie Stephens of Newberry, Michigan. Three years later, she was pronounced incurable of consumption by several physicians who had given her the best treatment then possible. They advised Dr. Lake to take her north. On that advice, they returned to Sault Saint Marie. Five years later on April 28, 1898, she received an instantaneous healing under the ministry of John Alexander Dowie. In Sault Saint Marie, Lake opened a real estate office. As a salesman and a contractor, he remained there until 1901. During this time, together with George A. Feris, he founded the SOO Times, a local newspaper. In 1904, he moved to Chicago and bought a seat on the Chicago Board of Trade with money borrowed from a friend. During this time, he handled Jim Hill's western Canadian land and made a long time personal friend of this great railroad financier. The first day he opened his office, he made $2,500 on a real estate deal. At the end of twenty-one months in the real estate business, he had over $100,000 in the bank, a $30,000 paid-up life insurance policy, and real estate valued at $90,000. (Gordon Lindsay, Sketches from the Life and Ministry of John G. Lake (Shreveport, Louisiana: Voice of Healing Publishing Co., 1952), p. I am familiar with St. Mary's. It is a quaint country town of big trees with it's main street going up a steep hill. A huge Catholic Cathedral with an impressive spire is on another hill. St. Mary's is famed for it's huge deep swimming pool within a small limestone quarry. Stone quarrying and cement making by the large plant of "The St. Mary's Cement Co." still uses the local limestone. The town has a great number of period homes that are built from stone and brick, with great steep roofs of slate. I was doing roofing at the time, (1974) so we had a contract to repair some of them because some of the original square iron nails had rusted away. Some slate was eroded by freeze and thaw, but most of it was still excellent, even after a full century. It is in the prosperous country north of London, Ontario, getting over toward Stratford, which is internationally famed for it's Shakespearean Theatre. TP 14. ) He traveled to New York representing the Chicago Board of Trade. There he met Tom Lawson, together with Mr. Harriman and Mr. Ryan, all celebrated financiers. (the name Harriman is still big on Wall Street. TP) He was employed by Ryan to further his negotiations, amounting to $l70,000, in an effort to form a large insurance trust between the New York Life, Equitable, and Mutual Insurance companies. He also represented Mr. Lawson on the New York Board of Trade. About this time, a huge scandal erupted in New York in relation to insurance companies. Dr. Lake, together with several others, organized the People's Life Insurance Company of Chicago. He was appointed manager of agencies and wrote a million dollars worth of business in his first year. He had received a guarantee of $50,000 a year to continue in this business, but it was during this time that God dealt with him in such a way that the course of his life was definitely altered. A number of years had passed since God had healed his wife, Jennie. During this time, he had continued practicing the ministry of healing. Every answer to prayer and miraculous touch of God created within him a greater longing for the deeper things of the Spirit. During his business life, he made it a habit of speaking somewhere practically every night. After the services, he was in the habit of joining with friends who, like himself, were determined to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit as they believed the early disciples had received it (Acts 2:1-4). His prayer was, "God, if You will baptize me in the Holy Ghost and give me the power of God, nothing shall be permitted to stand between me and one hundredfold obedience." Sometime after this, he accompanied a minister to pray for an invalid lady who had had inflammatory rheumatism for ten years. While the minister talked with the lady, John Lake sat at the opposite side of the room deeply moved in his spirit. He testified that he suddenly felt as though he had just passed under a deep shower or warm tropical rain that fell not only on him, but through him. His whole being was soothed into a deep stillness and calm. An awe of the presence of God settled over him. After moments passed, he seemed to hear the Lord say, "I have heard your prayers, and I have seen your tears. You are now baptized in the Holy Spirit." Then Dr. Lake testified to "currents of power" that began to rush through his being, increasing so greatly at his entire body began to vibrate intensely. At this time, the minister friend asked him to join him in prayer for the woman. He found it difficult to walk across the room - the presence of the Lord was so intense. As he touched the sister's head with his hand, her clenched hands opened and her joints began to work. The woman who had been an invalid for so long arose from her wheelchair and was perfectly healed!' As a result of this baptism, Dr. Lake testified to seeing mankind through "new eyes." He had a great desire to proclaim the message Christ and to demonstrate His power in the world. April 1907, he closed his office door for the last time and disposed of his bank account by giving to various religious and educational institutions. Fred R. Burr of Winamac, Indiana, who was his fnancial agent, assisted him in disposing of everything, including his real estate holdings. Dr. Lake started out in independent evangelistic work with a single dollar, being absolutely dependent upon the Lord - along the faith lines of George Mueller of England and Hudson Taylor of the China Inland Mission. During the next several months, he preached each day to large congregations with outstanding results. Many people accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior, others were healed of diseases, while still others received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. While in a meeting in northern Illinois, the Lord spoke to him and directed him to go to Indianapolis to prepare for a winter campaign. He was instructed to acquire a large hall, and then he was told that in the spring he would to Africa. On April 19, 1908, he left Indianapolis, Indiana, for Johannesburg, South Africa. He needed $2,000 for expenses but had not one cent. In answer to private prayer in his own room, an unknown donor from Monrovia, California, a place he had never visited nor known of anyone living there, sent to a friend four $500 drafts. He told the friend that God had urged him to send Lake $2,000. It was needed for a special purpose, although that purpose was unknown to the donor. God supplied the expenses needed. ARRIVAL IN SOUTH AFRICA. He arrived with his missionary party in South Africa, on May 15, 1908. Before he could come ashore, it was necessary for him to place $125 with the immigration department. He, again, had not one cent. As he stood in the line of people who were making their payments, awaiting his chance to explain his dilemma to the immigration officer, a man walked up, tapped him on the shoulder, and called him out of the line. He handed him a traveler's check for $200 and said, "I feel led to give you this to help your work." Gordon Lindsay, The John G. Lake Sermons (Shreveport, Louisiana: Voice of Healing Publishing Co., 1952), pp. 12-13. On arrival at Johannesburg, he and his family had nowhere to go. They were strangers with no friends or acquaintances there. As they stepped ashore, Mrs. C. L. Goodenough, an American missionary and a complete stranger, walked up to Dr. Lake and said, "While in prayer last night, God told me to meet this boat and that there would be upon it an American missionary with a family of nine, consisting of two adults and seven children, and that I was to give them a home." At three o'clock that afternoon, the Lakes were living in a furnished cottage in Johannesburg that God had provided for them. Some time later Dr. Lake went on an exploring trip in the Kalahari Desert. He returned to Johannesburg to find his wife dead. A sudden stroke had instantly killed her. She had no other illnesses. In God's Generals, Pastor Liardon goes into more detail. Due to the strenuous demands of ministry, Jennie Lake was exhausted and malnourished, which probably caused her stroke. Early in 1909, Dr. Lake met Bishop Furze, the bishop of the Church of England for Africa. At the bishop's request, Dr. Lake arranged a series of meetings for the church of England ministers. He was to teach them along the lines of divine healing. These meetings resulted in the establishment of the Emmanuel Society for the Practice of Divine Healing by the ministry of the Church of England in Africa. As word of these meetings and the work of the society continued to go forth, a committee from England came to examine and report upon Dr. Lake's work. He later accompanied that committee to England and conducted similar meetings in London under the direction of Bishop Ingram. This conference authorized a committee to further visit other healing institutions in England and Europe. In the company of this committee, he visited healing institutions in London and went to Lourdes, France. There, they visited a Catholic institution where healing was reputed to take place by the waters of Lourdes and where they maintained a board of two hundred physicians whose business it was to examine all candidates and report upon them. At Lourdes, they were privileged to visit the then greatest hypnotic institution for healing in the world. This institution sent its representatives to demonstrate their methods to the Catholic board of two hundred physicians, and hearing of the committee, they were invited to go along. Dr. Lake agreed to take part if he were allowed to make the final demonstration. The committee selected five candidates who had been pronounced medically incurable. The hypnotists tried their various methods without success. Dr. Lake then had the five candidates placed in chairs in a row upon the platform in view of the audience of physicians and scientists. He prayed over each one of them separately. Three were instantly healed, a fourth recovered in a few days, and one passed away. Dr. Lake returned to the United States for six months, holding evangelistic crusades in Chicago, Portland, Oakland, and Los Angeles for the purpose of recruiting missionaries to take with him to South Africa. During these crusades, he acquired eight men but needed $3,000 for their expenses. While in Portland, praying alone in his room, he received assurance that the answer was on the way. Four days later in Los Angeles, a letter arrived at his hotel from George B. Studd of Los Angeles. "Dear Dr. Lake: There has been a windfall in your favor today. A person who does not wish to be known gave me a draft of $3,000 saying, "God wants me to give this to Lake of South Africa." I am sending you, enclosed, therefore a draft for $3,005, the $5 being my personal contribution." In January 1910, he returned to South Africa with his missionary party via London, where he preached in Dr. F. B. Meyer's church and spoke in G. Campbell Morgan's weekly Bible classes. He then remained in South Africa for several years, during which time he founded the Apostolic Faith Mission with headquarters at Johannesburg. He was elected its president and continued for years after that to be its honorary president. During his ministry, he organized 125 white congregations and 500 black congregations. In 1920, the African fever ravaged the area in which he lived, and in less than a month, one-quarter of the black and white populations died. Agencies of every description were called into action to combat the epidemic. Dr. Lake worked there with several assistants, four of whom died of the fever, but he never had a touch of the disease. Later in Johannesburg, he was invited by Louis Botha, premier of Transvaal, to visit the Transvaal Parliament, where resolutions were passed recognizing his services during the severe epidemic. Due to the strain of overwork with the Apostolic Faith Mission, he ultimately gave up his ministry in South Africa to return to the United States. There, he met and married Miss Florence Switzer of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on November 27, 1913. In addition to the seven children born from his first marriage, five more children were born into his second union. John G. Lake was on hand at the organizational meeting of the Assemblies of God on April 2, 1914, in Hot Springs, Arkansas! (Irwin Winehouse, The Assemblies of God A Popular Survey (New York: Vantage Press 1959, P. 31) He did not become a member, however, neither at that time nor at any time later. That summer, Jim Lake met Jim Hill while walking along the street one day in St. Paul. When asked about what he was doing, Dr. Lake replied that he was simply trying to gather his health and that he was preaching wherever he went. Mr. Hill invited him to his office and gave him complimentary passes that were good over all of his railroad lines. Dr. and Mrs. Lake began traveling, stopping at Spokane where he was invited to open a healing room. He accepted the invitation and ministered to the sick for about six months. Thus, he was to begin the ministry that was really the climax of his life's work. THE HEALING MISSION IN SPOKANE. Dr. Lake's entire ministry had been profoundly affected by his exposure to John Alexander Dowie. Dr. Lake had been an elder in the Zion Apostolic Church when Dowie was at the height of his power. Thus he, together with various other persons exposed to the Dowie approach to Christian living, became dynamic disciples and missionaries of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, coming west through the Dakotas, Montana, and into Washington. Dr. Lake had made no preparation or study that prepared him for missionary work, nor was he particularly trained in a theological perspective, as were most ministers. But he was a man of strong and forceful personality who seemed to make his way to the forefront in whatever situation he found himself. His ministry had its weaknesses as well as its strengths. It was believed by some that his failure to properly anticipate the heavy responsibilities his wife had to carry was an unfortunate mistake that contributed to her untimely death on the mission field. This fact, plus the responsibilities he now had in order to care for a large family, was one of the primary contributing factors to the close of his ministry on the mission field. However, his days of glory were not yet finished. His early ministry in the city of Spokane became a demonstration of the power of God that resulted in more than one-hundred thousand healings being reported during a period of five or six years. Some declared that Dr. Lake, through his ministry of divine healing, had made Spokane the healthiest city in the world. This, of course, was similar to a documented report that came out of Washington, D.C., some years earlier regarding Zion, Illinois, during the peak days of John Alexander Dowie's ministry. His activity in Spokane had such impact that the Spokesman Daily Review, carried full-page advertisements each week regarding his ministry and the miraculous acts of documented healing. The full-page advertisements in the Spokesman Review were often as follows: (The Spokesman Review, May 19, 1918.). The Church at Spokan. John G. Lake, Overseer. Divine Healing Rooms, 340 Rookery Building. Open each weekday from 10 to 4. Personal interviews and ministry. Through prayer and laying on of hands. Public services on Sunday at: The Masonic Temple at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Our ministry is private and confidential. Persons desiring to Give public testimony must arrange with the ministers in advance. Then would follow letters of testimony from those who had received healing and/or their physicians, as well as articles by Dr. Lake. In a general letter published Saturday, February 8, 1919, in the Spokesman Review, Dr. Lake indicated that they ministered to an average of two hundred people per day in the healing rooms. He indicated that over sixty thousand personal "ministrations through prayer and laying on of hands" had taken place during the previous twelve nonths. In addition, calls for prayer and the ministry came by telephone, telegraph, letter, and cable from all parts of the world. Ministry to the sick in their homes was another phase of work accomplished by the use of two motor cars in which ministers were conveyed from home to home, praying for those who were unable to present themselves at the healing rooms. Dr. Lake indicated that at least one hundred thousand people were ministered to each year either by car, telephone, telegraph, letter, or cable. Thousands of people would attend the Sunday Services held each week at the Masonic Temple. Dr. Lake always liked to make a point of emphasizing that he did not spend money building church buildings and "sepulchers for the dead.". Funds given to the church at Spokane would be used to send forth the Gospel message into the world, according to Dr. Lake. There were no fees charged for any of the ministry, and the entire project was supported by means of love offerings. An especially appealing story was published on September 20, 1919, in the Spokesman Review. It was testimony shared by Walter J. Williams, science department, chairman of an eastern university. In the article, he told about two of his friends in the East who had traveled to Spokane and received amazing healings. This scientist-educator was very adverse to anything savoring of what might be called the supernatural, but he journeyed to Spokane to gather first hand information. He visited several persons who professed to have been healed under Dr. Lake's ministry. Then he visited the man himself. After an extended interview, he was invited to stay and see for himself what God was doing there. Dr. Williams did. "I saw them come, hundreds in a day. I talked to them, asking them questions - the lame, the poor, the rich, the uneducated, and the intellectual. Were they healed? Yes, they were. Was I convinced that it was God? Indeed, I was. The presence of God was there and I left Spokane inquiring if I was true enough to God to be trusted with His power as Dr. Lake and his associates were. I have listened to some of the greatest teachers on earth, both secular and religious, but I have never heard such revelations of life or such a revelation of God as I heard and witnessed at the Healing Rooms in the Rookery Building in Spokane." The Spokesman Review, September 20, 1919. LAKE AND DIVINE HEALING INVESTIGATED. One summer, Dr. Lake and his staff were waited upon at their healing rooms by a committee of the Better Business Bureau of the city of Spokane. Their duty was to investigate the truthfulness of the public announcements that were continuing to appear in the city papers. For some time, Lake's staff had been publishing many of the testimonies through the power of God that had taken place in the of their ministry. These testimonies were so astounding that complaints had reached the Better Business Bureau to the effect that the testimonies must certainly be untrue. The Better Business Bureau immediately undertook an investigation of the Healing Rooms' ministry and Dr. John G. Lake. The committee examined eighteen witnesses whose testimonies had appeared in public print. Further names of persons who had received healings within the city were given to the committee so that they could go personally and investigate for themselves whether or not these things were so. Dr. Lake suggested to the committee that on Sunday, June 23, at 11 o'clock in the afternoon in a public service, he would present one hundred cases of healed persons for their investigation. He invited them to form a committee composed of physicians, lawyers, judges, educators, and businessmen who could render a verdict. During the intervening period between the interview in the healing rooms and Sunday, June 23, the committee continued their investigations. On Friday, June 21, Dr. Lake received a letter from the committee assuring him that they had no desire to interfere in any way with the good being done and had determined that their appearance at the Sunday meeting would not be necessary. Two members of the investigation committee spoke privately to Dr. Lake and his staff and said that the committee was astounded. They had found out upon investigation that "the half had not been told." One of the committee members visited at Davenport, Washington, and found printed announcements advertising a meeting Dr. Lake was about to conduct in the area. He inquired as to why these announcements were being made and the manager of the store replied: "The whole countryside 'round Davenport is aflame with surprise at the marvelous healing of a girl in this community, well-known to me, and, I believe, well-known to yourself, Miss Louise Reinboldt daughter of Mr. Jack Reinboldt. About three and a half years ago, Miss Reingold and her sister were operated on for what the doctors thought was appendicitis. The one girl died as a result of the operation. Louise came out of it unable to speak. She was taken to throat specialists, who pronounced her case absolutely incurable. Recently she was taken to Spokane to Dr. Lake's Healing Rooms and ministered to for twenty-six days. On the twenty-sixth day she startled her mother and family and, in fact, the whole countryside, bycalling her mother on the long distance telephone and announcing to her in plain words the fact that she was "healed." While preparing for her daily visit to the Healing Rooms she heard herself whistling and said, "Well, if I can whistle, I can speak also," and thus discovered the paralyzed condi ion of her throat was truly healed." " Gordon Lindsay, Sketches from the Life of John G. Like, 0p, Cit., pp. 107-110." After the Better Business Bureau committee backed away from further investigation, Dr. Lake announced that there would be no change in the program. He indicated the meeting would take place as announced, and if the Better Business Bureau would not take their place, he would appeal to the public for its verdict. Thousands of people attended that afternoon in the Masonic Temple, while hundreds were refused admittance due to lack of space. Testimonies by ministers and lay people alike of significant, documented healings were given throughout the remainder of the afternoon. The publicity of this meeting was tremendous and was perhaps one of the high points in the sometimes controversial, but always unique, ministry of John G. Lake. In May 1920, Dr. Lake moved to Portland, Oregon, to establish a similar work to that of his church in Spokane. Within a few years, this ministry in Portland was making a similar impact in Oregon as had the church in the Inland Empire. One of his converts in Portland was Gordon Lindsay, who later became an independent Pentecostal evangelist of some significance and forerunner of the present Christ for the Nations ministry headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Lake's ministry was unusual - to say the least. He possessed a remarkable ability to create faith in the hearts of his hearers. Gordon Lindsay was no exception. Having followed Dr. Lake's ministry with deep respect and admiration, he one day had need of the great man's faith. He was stricken with a critical case of ptomain poisoning and hung for days between life nd death. Dr. Lake offered prayer for Gordon, and although deliverance did not immediately come in a visible manner, he professed confidence that indeed the Lord had answered prayer. Mrs. Lake brought Reverend Lindsay some of the typewritten sermons her husband had recently given, and while reading these faith suddenly sprang into his heart. He arose from what many had thought was a deathbed, instantly healed. While he was in Portland, Dr. Lake entertained hopes for raising up a chain of healing missions on the order of his works in Spokane and Portland. However, though he was not yet advanced in age, he lived with an intensity that had taken its toll. A decline in the strength and vitality that had characterized his earlier ministry became apparent. He seemed unable to match his spiritual vision with the physical strength that was required to bring it to pass. In Houston, Texas, he had some initial success in the founding of a church, but was called away to the side of his eldest son who had suffered a serious accident almost took his life. He never returned to Houston. For awhile, he ministered in churches throughout California. However, the dynamic touch that he once had was lacking. He returned to the city of Portland, where he pastored for a time. Afterwards, he returned to Spokane. There he pastored until his death. On Labor Day 1935, Dr. and Mrs. Lake attended a Sunday school picnic. He came home very tired and after a hot supper, lay down to rest. A guest speaker was at the church that evening so Mrs. Lake prevailed on him to stay at home. She went to church in his place. When she arrived home, she found that he had a stroke in her absence. He lingered for about two weeks, unconscious most of the time, until September 16, 1935, when he went to be with his Lord. His ministry was summed up in the brief testimony of Reverend B. S. Hebden who spoke at the memorial service: "Dr. Lake was a strong, rugged character of loving and winning personality, and he has left his mark indelibly upon the world of Gospel Truth. Dr. Lake came to Spokane. He found us in sin. He found us in sickness. He found us in poverty of spirit. He found us in despair, but he revealed to us such a Christ as we had never dreamed of knowing this side of heaven. We thought victory was over there, but Dr. Lake revealed to us that victory was here, a present and possible reality. We regarded death almost as a friend, but Dr. Lake came and revealed to us the Christ, all-glorious and all-powerful, that is triumphant, compassionate, and lovely, and our night was turned into day and despair was turned into laughter. A light shone in the darkness and we, who found Christ at last as He really is, only have words as the words of Thomas, who said, "My Lord and My God." How I thank God that Brother Lake came to Spokane! How I thank Him that I ever contacted that man, unique, powerful! I will never forget the day in the Hutton Block when I was sick with several chronic complaints and I heard that message of Christ, that His arms were under me, and I kept it and the message kept me and instead of my being long and long ago, gone and forgotten, I am here rejoicing and thanking our brother, Dr. Lake, who brought that message to me. Friends, he should still speak in me, not by the pen but by the Spirit that is in me, by the Light that is in me, by the regeneration of Jesus Christ that is in me. Let us finish, friends, not to go and squander it by hiding it in a napkin, but let us keep it by giving it out." NOTE: Much of the additional information came from conversations with various persons who knew him and from some of his mimeographed messages. This article was sourced from "John G. Lake- The Complete Collection of His Life Teachings" Compiled by Roberts Liardon 994 pages Edited and published by T. E. Plumb. We hope this selection has built your faith to enter His own Rest... http://www.EnterHisRest.org "You will know them by their fruits." Mt. 7:16 Triune Salvation. This sermon was delivered in London, England, by Reverend John G. Lake at a conference of Church of England ministry presided over by Ingram, Bishop of London, who said, "It contains the spirit of primitive Christianity and reveals the distinction between the Christian soul of the first and (and of) the twentieth century, the Spirit of Christ dominion, by which primitive Christianity attained its spiritual supremacy ... It is one of the greatest sermons I have every heard and I recommend its careful study by every priest." "Mr. Lake had been invited to address us and has traveled 7000 miles to be here. A committee of the Church of England was sent to South Africa to investigate Mr. Lake, his work, his power, his teaching, and his ministry. His presence here is the result of their satisfactory report." Sermon delivered at London, England, and Washington, D.C., by Reverend John G. Lake. In the beginning of all things, even before the creation of man at all, there was a condition in which all things that then existed were obedient to God. Angels were obedient to the Lord. But there came a time when angels themselves rebelled against the government of God. In Isaiah, Satan is spoken of as "Lucifer, son of the morning." (Isaiah 4:12) Again the Word says, in substance, concerning him, "Wast thou not pure and holy until pride was found in thine heart?"3 (See Isaiah 14:13-15, paraphrased) Pride was the condition which, in the angel who was pure and holy, generated the desire to be separated from God and to rebel against Him. It was the same pride, or desire to substitute his will for the will of God, which caused Adam to sin. From Adam, humanity has derived the same instinctive desire to insist on their way instead of God's way. Through the continued exercise of the human will and the world's way, the race has drifted into misty conceptions of the real will and the real way of God. This is particularly true in regard to the nature and substance of God. It seems difficult to think of Him as a Being and a Substance. God is Spirit, but Spirit is a materiality. And God Himself is a materiality, a heavenly, not an earthly materiality. The forms of angels are a substance, otherwise theywould not be discernible. It is not an earthly substance or material, but a heavenly one. As we think of the substance of which heavenly beings are composed and of which God Himself must necessarily be a composition, the mind settles on light and fire and spirit as a possibility. Then the Word tells us that God breathed into Adam the breath of life, and man became a living soul. 4 (See Genesis 2:7) There came a time when God made man. The Word tells us, "He made man's body of the substance of the earth." 5 (Genesis 2:7, paraphrased) He made man, theWord says, "in his own image, in the image of God created he him"; 6 (Genesis 1:27) not just in the form that God was, but God breathed into him His own self, His own being - that heavenly materiality of which God consists. He injected or breathed Himself into the man, and the man then became a composition of that heavenly substance or materiality and earth or the substance of the earth. "I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless [without defilement, corruption] unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." 1 (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). Triune Salvation. Adam was the created son of God. He was just like God. He was just as pure as God was pure. God fellowshipped with him. The Word of God tells us that God came down into the garden in the cool of the day and walked with Adam and talked with Adam. There was perfect fellowship between God and Adam. He was a sinless man. He could look right into the face of God, and his eyes and his spirit did not draw back. The purity of God did not startle him. He was just as pure as God was pure. That was the originalman. Man being composed of God - of heaven - of a heavenly materiality and his body of the earth, being a sovereign like God, being equal with God in sinlessness. God treating him on an equality and giving him dominion over the earth. Man was a reigning sovereign on the earth. Everything, all conditions, spiritual and physical were subject to that God-man. The way of sin was this: that man chose to follow the inclinations of his earth-being, animal consciousness, or body instead of his God-man, Godbeing, or spirit. The result was that because of the suggestion of Satan there developed calls of the earth for the earthly. After awhile he partook of things earthly and became earthly himself. Therefore the fall of man was his fall into himself. He fell into his own earthly self, out of his heavenly estate, and the separation was absolute and complete. God had said, "In the day that thou sinnest, thou shalt die." 7 (Genesis 2:17, paraphrased) That is, in the day thou sinnest, partaking of that which is earthy, the conditions of the earth being that of decay, the death process begins. So death reigneth from the time that sin came. Sickness is incipient death. Death is the result of sin. There is no sickness in God. There never was, there never will be, there never can be. There was no sickness in man - in the God-man - until such time as he became the earthman, until by the operation of will he sank into himself and became of the earth, earthy. Therefore, sin is the parent of sickness in that broad sense. Sickness is the result of sin. There could have been no sickness if there had been no sin. Man, having fallen into that condition and being separated from God, needed a Redeemer. Redemption was a necessity because the Word says, "Ye must be born again." 8 (John 3:7) God had to provide a means of getting man back into the original condition in which he had once been. One man cannot save another because one man is of the earth, earthy even as another is, and man in the natural cannot save another. One cannot elevate another into a spiritual condition or put that one in a spiritual condition which is not in himself. Thus it became necessary for God, in order to redeem the race, to provide a means of reuniting God and man. So Jesus was born, even as Adam had been made. He was begotten of God. He was born of God, but He partook of the tendencies of the natural life and received His natural, physical body through His mother, Mary. The Word of God speaks of the first Adam and the last Adam. 9 ( See I Corinthians 15:45) They were both Adams. They both came to produce a race. The first Adam had fallen and sinned. Therefore, the race that was produced through him was a race of sinful people with the same tendencies in their natures which were in his. The last Adam, Jesus, had no sin. He had exactly the same privileges that the first Adam had. He could have sinned if He so chose. Jesus was a man in this world just as every man is. "He took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham." 10 (Hebrews 2:16) He did not take upon Him a heavenly condition. He took upon Himself the natural condition of the human family - fallen human nature. But Jesus Christ triumphed over that condition of fallen human nature and did not sin, though the Word of God emphasizes that "[He] was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). The Word also says, "Having been tempted, he is able to succour (or to save, or deliver) them that are tempted, having himself been tempted even as we are tempted" (Hebrews 2:18, paraphrased). This is what makes Him a sympathetic Savior and Christ. The purpose of Jesus in the world was to show us the Father. So Jesus came and committed Himself publicly at His baptism at the Jordan before all the world in these words, "unto all righteousness," 11 (Matthew 3:15, paraphrased) to do the will of God. He willed not to obey His own natural human will, but to do the will of the Father and to be wholly and solely and entirely obedient to the will of God. He declared, "I came... not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." 12 (John 6:38). Triune Salvation. When a Christian is born of God and becomes a real Christian, he is made a Christ-man. If the world wants to see Jesus, it must look upon the Christian who is the Christ-man, just as we who want to look upon the Father and understand Him look upon the man Jesus, who was the embodiment of the Father. Everything that Jesus did was the will and the Word of the Father. So everything the Christian does, if he is a real one, should be the will and Word of Jesus Christ. The Christian commits himself as entirely to the will of Jesus and becomes a Christ-man as Jesus committed Himself to the will of the Father and became a God-man. A low standard of Christianity is responsible for all the shame and sin and wickedness in the world. Many Christians think it is all right if they pattern after Jesus in a sort-of way. They imitate Him and they do the things which He did; that is, they outwardly do them. They perform kind acts and they do other things which Jesus did. But the secret of Christianity is not in doing, the secret is in being. Real Christianity is in being a possessor of the nature of Jesus Christ. In other words, it is being Christ in character, Christ in demonstration, Christ in agency of transmission. When one gives himself to the Lord and becomes a child of God - a Christian - he is a Christ-man. All that he does and all that he says from that time on should be the will and the words and the doings of Jesus, just as absolutely, just as entirely as He spoke and did the will of the Father. Jesus gave us the secret of how to live this kind of life. Jesus showed us that the only way to live this life was to commit oneself, as He did, to the will of God and not walk in his own ways at all, but walk in God's ways. So the one who is going to be a Christ-man in the best sense and let the world see Jesus in him, must walk in all the ways of Jesus and follow Him. He must be a Christ-man, a Christian, or Christ-one. Therefore, the things which possess the heart and which are unlike God fasten themselves because the inner being is not subject to the will of God. One of the reasons for this low standard of Christian living is the failure to recognize the trinity of our own being. Man is triune - body and soul and spirit just the same as God is triune, being Father and Son and Holy Ghost. Salvation begins at the time when the spirit is surrendered to God, where the name is written in the Book of Life, and we receive the conscious knowledge of sins being forgiven. Then God witnesses to the spirit that our sins are blotted out. The Word, in the eighth of Romans, says, "His Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God."13 (See Romans 8:16) That is, the testimony of the Spirit of God to our spirit is that we are the children of God when we surrender our spirits to God. People wonder why, after having given their hearts to God and after having received a witness of the Spirit, they are troubled with evil desires and tempted in evil ways. The nature has three departments, and therefore, the surrender of the spirit to God is not all that He demands. God demands also the mind and the body. The mind is the soul life; and it continues being of the earth, earthy, and doing earthy things until God does something, until we seek God for a new mind. It is similar to the change which occurs in the spirit, and the mind that formerly thought evil and that had wicked conceptions becomes as the mind of Christ. The Church at large recognizes the salvation of the spirit. But they have not recognized the salvation of the mind from the power of sin, and that is why many Church people will say there is no such thing as sanctification. There are Christian bodies that believe in the power of God to sanctify this mind, even as the spirit is saved. John Wesley, in defining sanctification, says that it is "Possessing the mind of Christ, and all the mind of Christ." An individual with all the mind of Christ cannot have a thought that is not a Christ-thought, no more than a spirit fully surrendered to God could have evil within it. In later years, as the revelation by the Spirit of God has gone on, man has begun to see that there is a deeper degree of salvation than these two. He is a triune being. As he needed salvation for the mind and spirit, so he has a body which needs to be transformed by God. The whole question of physical healing, the redemption of the body, the possible translation, the resurrection, are included there. Christ is a Savior of the whole man - of spirit, of soul, of body. When Jesus at the Jordan committed Himself unto all righteousness to His Father, He committed His body just as He committed His mind and just as He committed His spirit. Christians have not been taught to commit their bodies to God, and therefore they feel justified in committing them to someone else, or something else, rather than to God. Triune Salvation Therefore, it is clear that in a whole salvation it is just as offensive to God to commit the body to the control of man as it would be to commit the spirit to man for salvation. Salvation for the spirit can only come through Jesus, through the blood of Christ, through receiving His Spirit. Salvation from natural thoughts and ways and the operation of the natural mind can only come through the natural mind being transformed into the mind of Christ. Salvation for the body is found in the same manner, by committing the body now and forever to God. No one would think of sending to any other power than God for a remedy for the spirit. There is no spirit that one could go to, unless it is the spirit of the world or the spirit of the devil; and one goes not to either of these for the healing of the spirit or mind. The real Christian is a separated man. He is separated forever unto God in all the departments of his life, and so his body and his soul and his spirit are forever committed to God. Therefore, from the day that he commits himself to God, he can go to no other power for help or healing, except to God. This is what gives such tremendous force to such Scriptures as this: "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord" (Jeremiah 17:5). Second Chronicles 16, relates that Asa, the king of Israel, who in the thirty and ninth year of his reign became diseased in his feet, and in his disease he trusted not the Lord but the physicians, and he died. Asa had been trusting God for many years by taking his little, insignificant army and delivering the great armies into his hand. But when he became diseased in his feet, he trusted not the Lord but the physicians, and that was the offense of Asa against God." 14 (See 2 Chronicles 16:12-13). The impression I wish to leave is this: that an hundredfold consecration to God takes the individual forever out of the hands of all but God. This absolute consecration to God, this triune salvation, is the real secret of the successful Christian life. When one trusts any department of his being to man he is weak in that respect and that part of his being is not committed to God. When we trust our minds (soul) and our bodies to man, two parts are out of the hands of God and there remains only our spirits in tune with heaven. It ought not to be so. The committing of the whole being to the will of God is the mind of God. Blessed be His name. Such a commitment of the being to God puts one in the place where, just as God supplies health to the spirit and health to the soul, he trusts God to supply health to his body. Divine healing is the removal, by the power of God, of the disease that has come upon the body. But divine health is to live day by day and hour by hour in touch with God, so that the life of God flows into the body just as the life of God flows into the mind or flows into the spirit. The Christian, the child of God, the Christ-man, who thus commits himself to God ought not to be a subject for healing. He is a subject of continuous, abiding health. And the secret of life in communion with God, the Spirit of God, is received into the being, into the soul, into the spirit. The salvation of Jesus was a redemption of the whole man from all the power of sin, every whit - sin in the spirit, sin in the soul, sin in the body. If salvation or redemption is from the power of sin and every sin in our being, then the effect that sin produces in us must disappear and leave when the source is healed. Thus, instead of remaining sick, the Christian who commits his body to God becomes at once - through faith - the recipient of the life of God in his body. Jesus gave us an example of how perfectly the Spirit of God radiates not only from the spirit or from the mind, but from the body also. The transfiguration was a demonstration of the Spirit of God from within the man radiating out through his person until the illumination radiated through his clothes, and his clothes became white and glistening, and his face shone as the light. It was the radiation of God through his flesh. In a few instances, God permitted me to see Christians thus illuminated in a measure. I am acquainted with a brother in Chicago, whose face is illuminated all the time; there is a radiation from it. His countenance is never seen in a condition of depression or as if the pores of his flesh are closed. There is an unmistakable something that marks him as one through whom the Spirit of God radiates. God radiated through the purified personality of Jesus so that even His very clothes became white and glistening. Christians are Christ-men and stand in the stead of Jesus. The Word of God says to the Christian and to the Church: "Ye are His body." 15 (See Ephesians 1:22-23 and Ephesians 5:29-30) The accumulated company of those who know Triune Salvation Jesus, who really have the God-life within, are the body of Christ in the world and through that body of Christ all the ministry of Jesus is operative. The nine gifts of the Holy Ghost are the divine equipment of God by which the Church, His body, is forever to continue to do the works of Jesus. "To one is given the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge, to another faith, to another the gifts of healing, to another working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the interpretation of tongues." 16 (1 Corinthians 12:8-10, paraphrased) All these gifts Jesus exercised during His earthly ministry. The people who exercise these gifts create another practical Christ - the Church which is His body, Christ being the head. When this truth is seen, Christianity will be on a new-old basis. The illumination of God, the consciousness of our position in the world, the consciousness of our responsibility as the representatives of Christ, places upon us as Christ-men and Christ-women the burden of Christ for a lost world. Of necessity, this lifts the heart and spirit into a new contact with God and the consciousness that if a son of God, if a Christ-man to the world, then one must be worthy of his Christ. The only way to be worthy is to be in the will of Jesus. Men have mystified the Gospel; they have philosophized the Gospel. The Gospel of Jesus is as simple as can be. As God lived in the body and operated through the man Jesus so the man on the throne, Jesus, operates through His body, the Church, in the world. Even as Jesus Himself was the representative of God the Father, so also the Church is the representative of Christ. As Jesus yielded Himself unto all righteousness, so the Church should yield herself to do the will of Christ. "These signs shall follow them that believe" 17 (Mark 16:17) - not the preacher or the elder or the priest, but the believer. The believer shall speak in new tongues, the believer shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. The believer is the body of Christ in the world. The Word says, "There shall be saviors in Zion." 18 (Obadiah 1:21, paraphrased) As Jesus took us and lifted us up to the Father, and as He takes the Church and lifts it to the Father and gave Himself to sanctify and cleanse it, so the ("real, sanctified"-TP) Christian takes the world and lifts it up to the Christ, to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." 19 (See Ephesians 5:25-26 and John 1:29). The wonderful simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus is itself a marvel. The wonder is that men have not understood always the whole process of salvation. How was it that men mystified it? Why is it that we have not lived a better life? Because our eyes were dim and we did not see and we did not realize that God left us here in this world to demonstrate Him, even as the Father left Jesus in the world to demonstrate the Father. The man with Christ in him, the Holy Ghost, is greater than any other power in the world. All other natural and evil powers are less than God; even Satan himself is a lesser power. Man with God in him is greater than Satan. That is the reason that God says to the believer, he shall cast out devils. 20 (See Mark 16:17) "Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world." 21 (1 John 4:4) The Christian, therefore, is a ruler; he is in the place of dominion, the place of authority, even as Jesus was. Jesus, knowing that all power had been given unto Him, took a basin and a towel and washed His disciples' feet. His power did not exalt Him. It made Him the humblest of all men. So the more a Christian possesses, the more of a servant he will be. God is the great servant of the world. The One who continually gives to men the necessity of the hour. Through His guidance and direction of the laws of the world, He provides for all the needs of mankind. He is the Great Servant of the world, the greatest of all servants. Yea, Jesus, knowing that all power had been committed to Him, and as God gave the power to Jesus, so Jesus commits through the Holy Ghost, by His own Spirit, all power to man. I tell you, beloved, it is not necessary for people to be dominated by evil, nor by evil spirits. Instead of being dominated, Christians should exercise dominion and control other forces. Even Satan has no power over them, only as they permit him to have. Jesus taught us to close the mind, to close the heart, to close the being against all that is evil; to live with an openness to God only, so that the sunlight of God shines in. The glory radiance of God shines in, but everything that is dark is shut out. Jesus said: "Take heed therefore how ye hear," 22 (Luke 8:18) not what you hear. One cannot help what he hears, but he can take heed how he hears. When it is something offensive to the Spirit and the knowledge of God, shut the Triune Salvation doors of the nature against it and it will not touch you. The Christian lives as God in the world, dominating sin, evil, sickness, bless God. I would to God, He would help us to so present Jesus in the true light, that this church and the Church that is in the world, the Christian Body, would be lifted up until they would realize their privilege in Christ Jesus. Bless God, it is coming. By the God within we cast out or expel from the being that which is not God-like. If you find within your heart a thought of sin or selfishness, by the exercise of the Spirit of God within you, you cast that thing out as unworthy of a child of God and you put it away from you. Beloved, so should we do with our bodies. So must we do when sickness or the suggestion of sickness is present with us. Cast it out as evil; it is not of God. Dominate it! Put it away! It is not honoring to Jesus Christ that sickness should possess us. We do not want disease. We want to be gods. Jesus said, "I said ye are gods." (John 10:34) It is with the attitude of gods in the world that Jesus wants the Christian to live. Blessed be His name! Evil is real. The devil is real. He was a real angel. Pride changed his nature. God is real. The operation of God within the heart changes the nature until we are new men in Christ Jesus, new creatures in Christ Jesus. The power of God, the Holy Ghost, is the Spirit of dominion. It makes one a god. It makes one not subject to the forces of the world or the flesh or the devil. These are under the Christian's feet. John said, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God." (John 3:2) Beloved, God wants us to come, to stay, and to live in that abiding place which is the Christian's estate. This is the heavenly place in Christ Jesus. This is the secret place of the most high. Bless God! TheWord of God gives us this key. It says, "That wicked one toucheth him not." 25 (1 John 5:18)When the Spirit of God radiated from the man, Jesus, I wonder how close it was possible for the evil spirit to come to Him? Do you not see that the Spirit of God is as destructive of evil as it is creative of good? It was impossible for the evil one to come near Him, and I feel sure Satan talked to Jesus from a safe distance. It is the same with the Christian. It is not only in his spirit that he needs to be rid of sin, nor only in his soul that he is to be pure, it is God in the body that the individual needs for a well body. It is just God that he needs. The complaint of the devil concerning Job was, "Hast not thou made an hedge about him?"26 (Job 1:10) He was not able to get through that hedge to touch the man. Don't you know that the radiation of the Spirit of God around the Lord Jesus was His safeguard? The artists paint a halo around the head of Jesus. They might just as well put it around His hands, feet, body, because the radiation of the Spirit of God is from all the being. Now the Spirit of God radiates from the Christian's person because of the indwelling Holy Ghost and makes him impregnable to any touch or contact of evil forces. He is the subjective force himself. The Spirit of God radiates from him as long as his faith in God is active. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." 27 (17 James 4:7) "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." 28 (1 John 3:8) "Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world ... even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" 29 (1 John 5:4-5) The reason people become sick is the same reason that they become sinful. They surrender to the suggestion of the thing that is evil and it takes possession of the heart. Sickness is just the same. There is no difference. The suggestion of oppression is presented, and becoming frightened, the disease secures a foothold. "In my name they (the believers) shall cast out devils." 30 (See Mark 16:17). The believer says, "In the name of Jesus Christ I refuse to have this thing." For 15 years God has let me move among all manner of contagious diseases, and I have never taken one of them. The devil could not make me take them. I have prayed with smallpox patients when the pustules would burst under the touch of my hands. I have gone home to my wife and babies and never carried contagion to them. I was in the "secret place of the most High." 31 (Psalm 91:1) Indeed, contact with diphtheria, smallpox, leprosy, and even bubonic plague and the whole range of diseases was part of my daily work in connection with the work of the Apostolic Church of South Africa. `Behold, I give you power over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall in anywise hurt you."32 (Luke 10:19, paraphrased) So the prayer of the apostle comes to us with a fresh understanding. "I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless (without corruption, defilement) unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Triune Salvation. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). CONSECRATION PRAYER. My God and Father, in Jesus' name I come to Thee. Take me as I am. Make me what I ought to be in spirit, in soul, in body. Give me power to do right if I have wronged any, to repent, to confess, to restore. No matter what it costs, wash me in the blood of Jesus that I may now become Thy child and manifest Thee in a perfect spirit, a holy mind, a sickless body. - Amen. (Pages 780-793). This article was selected from"John G. Lake, The Complete Collection of His Life Teachings" by Roberts Liardon. Albury Publishing, 992 pages. Tom Plumb 2003. We hope this selection has built your faith to enter His own Rest... For further information see http://www.EnterHisRest.org The truth is that we are all part of the church- and sometimes need help from it. This is especially so if a trouble does manage to fasten hold; often the first thing it does is to physically weaken the ability to pray and carry faith. Sometimes Lake himself asked for others to pray for his health- see page 3 "Sanctification". Later, Lake himself became older and became weakened so that he was less productive. He even died! I don't feel that the above teaching about being strong in faith can imply that we never need the prayers of others. We can usually trust the Spirit of God in a true brother. (Being a strong man does not mean we never need the help of another strong man.) That would be gratifying, I am sure, but that is not how it works out. We are strong together when we are weak. After all, despite all our best, we are only weak and short-lived little folks in comparison to Him. TP. Triune Salvation. The Healing Ministry of Dr. John G. Lake. http://web.me.com/waynecanderson/Information/JGL_Healing_Ministry.html God's Way 0f Healing by Rev. John G. Lake. God's way of healing is a person, not a thing. Jesus said. "I am the way, the truth, and the life." And He has ever been revealed to His people in all the ages by the Covenant Name, Jehovah Rophi, or, "I am the Lord that healeth thee," (John 14:6 and Exodus 15:26). The Lord Jesus Christ is still the healer. He can not change, for "He is the same yesterday, today, and forever," and He is still with us, for He said, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." (Hebrews 13:8 and Matthew 28:20.) Because He is unchangeable, and because He is present, in Spirit, just as when in the flesh. He is the healer of His people. Divine Healing rests on Christ's Atonement. It was prophesied of Him, "Surely He hath borne our grief, (Hebrew, sicknesses) and carried our sorrows, and with His stripes we are healed," and it is expressly declared that this was fulfilled in His ministry of Healing, which still continues. (Isaiah 53:4,5 Matthew 8:17) Diseases can never be God's will. It is the Devil's work consequent on sin, and it is impossible for the work of the Devil ever to be the will of God. Christ came to destroy the works of the Devil and when He was on earth He, "healed every sickness and every disease," and all these diseases are expressly declared to have been the "oppression of the Devil." (1 John 3:8 Matthew 4:23 and Acts 10:38.). The gifts of Healing are permanent. It is expressly declared that the "gifts and callings of God are without repentance,"' and the Gifts of Healing are amongst the nine Gifts of the Spirit to the Church. (Romans 11:29 and 1 Corinthians 12:8 – 11). There are four modes of Divine Healing. The first is the direct prayer of faith: the second, intercessory prayer of two or more: the third, the anointing of the elders with the prayer of faith; and fourth, the laying on of hands by those who believe, and whom God has prepared and called to that ministry. (Matthew 8:5-13 Matthew 18:19 James 5:14,15 Mark 16:18.). Multitudes have been healed through faith in Jesus. The writer knows of thousands of cases and has personally laid hands on scores of thousands of persons. Full information can be obtained at the meetings and Healing Rooms, 340 Rookery Bldg. Spokane, Washington. Also at the Masonic Temple meetings each Lord's day at 11 A.M. and 3 P.M. and in many pamphlets which give the experience, in their own words, of many who have been healed in this and other countries. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." You are heartily invited to attend and heat for yourself. STRATEGY FOR THE HEALING. (transcribed by Peter – e-mail: lukefour18@juno.com web address: www.stretcherbearers.com) INDEX OF CHAPTERS Chapter. 1. How God sent Me to Africa 2. Dominion of a Christian 3. The value of a Covenant With God 4. Not Try But Trust 5. Specific and Definite Grounds for Healing 6. Hezekiah's Sickness and Healing 7. The tangibility of the Spirit 8. Naaman and the Man of God 9. Consecration, Testing, Power, Victory 10. The Brazen Serpent 11. The Grace of Divine Healing 12. The Law of Life and Law of Death 13. The Integrity of God's People 14. These Signs Shall Follow 15. Lake's Reply to Four Questions Concerning Healing Foreword. The sermons in this volume were preached by Dr. John G. Lake during the height of his ministry. There is a special reason that I have a very personal interest in them. Early in my preaching career, as I lay apparently dying from ptomaine poisoning, a number of these sermons in typewritten form were brought to me. I had just strength enough to read a few pages at a time. The powerful truths contained in these sermons slowly sank into my consciousness. Then they came to me with great force. Suddenly I arose from my bed, and instead of dying I found that I was a well man. Now for the first time, with two or three exceptions, those sermons appear in print, and I trust that they will be an equal blessing to the many who read them. In making these messages available to the public, I trust that in some measure I have discharged an obligation which I have owed Dr. Lake for the rich legacy of faith that his ministry brought to my soul, during my formative years. Also to his dear wife, Florence Lake, who assisted in my care during the above-mentions serious illness. September 20, 1949. CONSECRATION PRAYER. MY GOD AND FATHER, IN JESU'S NAME I COME TO THEE. TAKE ME AS I AM. MAKE ME WHAT I OUGHT TO BE IN SPIRIT, IN SOUL, AND BODY. GIVE ME POWER TO DO RIGHT; IF I HAVE WRONGED ANY, TO REPENT, TO CONFESS, TO RESTORE, NO MATTER WHAT IT COSTS. WASH ME IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS, THAT I MAY BECOME THY CHILD, AND MANIFEST THEE IN A PERFECT SPIRIT, A HOLY MIND, A SICKLESS BODY, TO THE GLORY OF GOD. AMEN. Chapter 1 HOW GOD GAVE ME THE MINISTRY OF HEALING AND SENT ME TO AFRICA Eight years passed after God revealed Jesus the Healer to me. I had been practicing the ministry of healing. During that eight years every answer to prayer, every miraculous touch of God, every response of my own soul to the Spirit had created within me a more intense longing for an intimacy and a consciousness of God, like I felt the disciples of Jesus and the primitive church had possessed. He receives special anointing of the Spirit. Shortly after my entrance into the ministry of healing, while attending a service where the necessity for the Baptism of the Spirit was presented, as I knelt in prayer and reconsecration to God, an anointing of the Spirit came upon me. Waves of Holy Glory passed through my being, and I was lifted into a new realm of God's presence and power. After this, answers to prayer were frequent and miracles of healing occurred from time to time. I felt myself on the borderland of a great spiritual realm, but was unable to enter in fully, so my nature was not satisfied with the attainment. Finally I was led to set aside certain hours of the day that I dedicated to God, as times of meditation and prayer. Thus a number of months passed, until one morning as I knelt praying the Spirit of the Lord spoke within my spirit, and said, "Be patient until autumn." My heart rejoiced in this encouragement and I continued my practice of meditation and prayer as formerly. It became easy for me to detach myself from the course of life, so that while my hands and mind were engaged in the common affairs of every day, my spirit maintained its attitude of communion with God. At this time in addition to my work as minister of the Gospel, I was engaged as a manager of agents for a life insurance company. During the period of which I speak, I preached practically every night. After the services I was in the habit of joining a circle of friends who like myself were determined to pray through into God where we could receive the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, as we believed the early disciples had received it. I said, "God, if you will baptize me in the Holy Spirit, and give me the power of God, nothing shall be permitted to stand between me and a hundred-fold obedience. He receives the baptism of the holy Ghost. One afternoon a brother minister called and invited me to accompany him to visit a lady who was sick. Arriving at the home we found the lady in a wheel chair, All her joints were set with inflammatory rheumatism. She had been in the condition for ten years. While my friend was conversing with her, preparing her to be prayed with, that she might be healed, I set in a deep chair on the opposite side of a large room. My soul was crying out to God in a yearning too deep for words, when suddenly it seemed to me that I had passed under a shower of warm tropical rain, which was not falling upon me but through me. My spirit and soul and body, under this influence, was soothed into such a deep still calm as I had never known. My brain, which had always been so active, became perfectly still. An awe of the presence of God settled over me. I knew it was God. Some moments passed; I do not know how many. The Spirit said, "I have heard your prayers, I have seen your tears. You are now baptized in the Holy Spirit." The currents of power began to rush through my being from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet. The shocks of power increased in rapidity and voltage. As these currents of power would pass through me, they seemed the come upon my head, rush through my body and through my feet into the floor. The power was so great that my body began to vibrate intensely so that I believe if I had not been sitting in such a deep low chair I might have fallen upon the floor. At that moment I observed my friend was motioning me to come and join him in prayer for the woman who was sick. In his absorption he had not noticed that anything had taken place in me. I arose to go to him, but I found my body trembling so violently that I had difficulty in walking across the room, and especially in controlling the trembling of my hands and arms. I knew that it would not be wise to thus lay my hands upon the sick woman as I was likely to jar her. It occurred to me that all that was necessary was to touch the tips of my fingers on the top of the patient's head and then the vibrations would not jar her. This I did. At once the currents of holy power passed through my being, and I knew that it likewise passed through the one that was sick. She did not speak, but apparently was amazed at th effect in her body. My friend who had been talking to her in his great earnestness had been kneeling as he talked to her. He arose saying, "Let us pray that the Lord will now heal you." As he did so he took her by the hand. At the instant their hands touched, a flash of dynamic power went through my person and through the sick woman, and as my friend held her hand the shock of power went through her hand into him. The rush of power into his person was so great that it caused him to fall on the floor. He looked up at me with joy and surprise, and springing to his feet said, "Praise the Lord, John, Jesus has baptized you in the Holy Ghost!" Then he took the crippled hand that had been set for so many years. The clenched hands opened and the joints began to work, first the fingers, then the hand and the wrist, then the elbow and shoulder. These were the outward manifestations, but oh! who could describe the thrills of joy inexpressible that were passing through my spirit? Who could comprehend the peace and presence of God that thrilled my soul? Even at the late date, ten years afterward, the awe of that hour rests upon my soul. My experience has truly been as Jesus said, "He shall be within you a well of water, springing up into everlasting life." That never-ceasing fountain has flowed through my spirit, soul and body day and night, bringing salvation and healing and the Baptism of the Spirit in the power of God to multitudes. The Result of the Holy Spirit Baptism. Shortly after my Baptism in the Holy Spirit, a working of the Spirit commenced in me, that seemed to have for its purpose the revelation of the nature of Jesus Christ to me and in me. Through this tuition and remolding of the Spirit a great tenderness for mankind was to awaken in my soul. I saw mankind through new eyes. They seemed to me as wandering sheep, having strayed far, in the midst of confusion, groping and wandering hither and thither. They had no definite aim and did not seem to understand what the difficulty was, or how to return to God. The desire to proclaim the message of Christ, and to demonstrate His power to save and bless, grew in my soul, until my life was swayed by this overwhelming passion. The Call Versus Business Interests However, my heart was divided. I could not follow successfully the ordinary pursuits of life and business. When a man came into my office, though I knew that twenty or thirty minutes of concentration on the business in hand would possibly net me thousands of dollars, I could not discuss business with him. By a new power of discernment I could see his soul, understand his inner life and motives. I recognized him as one of the wandering sheep, and longed in an overwhelming desire to help him get to God for salvation and find himself. I determined to discuss the matter with the president of my company. I frankly told him the condition of my soul that I found myself in and it cause. He kindly replied: "You have worked hard, Lake. You need a change. Take a vacation for three months, an if you want to preach, preach. But at the end of three months $50,000 a year will look like a lot of money to you, and you will have little desire to sacrifice it for the dreams of religious possibilities." I thanked him, accepted an invitation to join a brother in evangelistic work, and left the office, never to return. During the three months, I preached every day to large congregations, saw a multitude of people saved from their sins and healed of their diseases, and hundreds of them baptized in the Holy Ghost. At the end of three months, I said to God: "I am through forever with everything in life but the proclamation and demonstration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." I disposed of my estate and distributed my funds in a manner I believed to be for the best interests of the Kingdom of God, and made myself wholly dependent upon God for the support of myself and my family, and abandoned myself to the preaching of Jesus. The Call to Africa. While ministering in a city in Northern Illinois, the chore boy at the hotel where we were stopping was inquiring for someone to assist him, and while in the act of sawing down the tree, the Spirit of the Lord spoke within my spirit clear and distinct: "Go to Indianapolis. Prepare for a winter campaign. Get a large hall. In the Spring you will go to Africa." I went to Indianapolis. The Lord directed me in a marvelous way, so that in a few days I had secured a large hall and was conducting services as He directed. About this time the following incident took place, which has had so much to do with the success of my ministry ever since. He Receives Power to Cast Out Demons. One morning when I came down to breakfast I found my appetite had disappeared. I could not eat. I went about my work as usual. At dinner I had no desire to eat, and no more in the evening. This went on till the third day. But toward the evening of the third day an overwhelming desire to pray took possession of me. I only wanted to be alone to pray. Prayer flowed from my soul like a stream. I could not cease praying. As soon as it was possible to get a place of seclusion I would kneel to pour out my heart to God for hours. Whatever I was doing, that stream of prayer continued flowing from my soul. On the night of the sixth day of this fast that the Lord had laid on me, while in the act of washing my hands, the Spirit said to me once again, "Go and pray." I turned around and knelt by my bedside. As I knelt praying, the Spirit said, "How long have you been praying to cast out demons?" and I replied, "Lord, a long time." And the Spirit said, "From henceforth thou shalt cast out demons." I arouse and praised God. The Case of the Demon-Possessed Man. The following night at the close of the service a gentleman came to me, and pointing to a large letter motto on the wall, which read, "In my name they shall cast out devils," he said: "Do you believe that?" I replied, "I do." He said, "Do not answer hastily, for I have gone around the land seeking for a minister who would tell me he believed that. Many said that they did, but when I questioned them I found they wanted to qualify the statement." I said, "Brother, so far as I know my soul, I believe it with all my heart." Then he said, "I will tell you why I asked. Two and one-half years ago my brother who was a manager of a large elevator suddenly became violently insane. He was committed to the asylum, and is there today. Somehow he became possessed of an evil spirit. Physicians who have examined him declare that every function of his body and brain are apparently normal, and they cannot account for his insanity." I replied, "Brother, bring him on." On Sunday in the midst of the service, the man came, attended by the brother, the mother and an attendant of the institution. I stopped preaching, selected a half dozen persons whom I knew were people who had faith in God to join me in prayer for his deliverance. I stepped from the platform, laid my hands on his head, and in the Name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, commanded the devil that possessed him to come out of him. The Spirit of God went through my being like a flash of lightning. I knew in my soul that the evil spirit was cast out, and was not surprised when in a moment the man raised his head and spoke intelligently to me. A few days later he was discharged from the institution, returned home a healed man and resumed his former position as manager of a grain elevator. Thus God verified His word to me, and from that day to this, the power of God has remained upon my soul, and I have seen hundreds of insane people delivered and healed. Money Comes to Provide Passage to Africa. One day during the following February my preaching partner said to me, "John, how much will it cost to take our party to Johannesburg, South Africa?" I replied, "Two thousand dollars." He said, "If we are going to Africa in the Spring, it is time you and I were praying for the money." I said, "I have been praying for the money ever since New Year. I have not heard from the Lord or anyone else concerning it." He said, "Never mind, let's pray again." A few days later he returned from the post-office and threw out upon the table four $500.00 drafts saying, "John, there is the answer. Jesus has sent it. We are going to Africa." We left Indianapolis on the first day of April, 1908, my wife and self and seven children and four others. We had our tickets to Africa but no money for personal expenses en route except $1.50. (At this point in the narrative Dr. Lake relates several remarkable providences of God which supplied their expenses en route.) Through my knowledge of the immigration laws of South Africa, I knew that before we would be permitted to land, I must show the immigration inspector that I was possessor of at least $125.00. We prayed earnestly over this matter, and about the time we reached the equator a rest came into my soul concerning it. I could pray no more. About eight or ten days later we arrived in Cape Town harbor, and our ship anchored. The immigration inspector came on board and the passengers lined up at the purser's office to present their money and receive their tickets to land. My wife said, "What are you going to do?" I said, "I am going to line up with the rest. We have obeyed God thus far. It is now up to the Lord. If they send us back we cannot help it." As I stood in line awaiting my turn, a fellow passenger touched me on the shoulder and indicated to me to step out of the line, and come over to the ship's rail to speak with him. He asked some questions, and then drew from his pocket a traveler's checkbook, and handed me two money orders aggregating $200.00. I stepped back into line, presented my orders to the inspector, and received our tickets to land. God Provides Them a Home in Africa. Johannesburg is one thousand miles inland from Cape Town. Throughout the voyage and on the train we earnestly prayed about the subject of a home. We were faith missionaries. We had neither a Board nor friends behind us to furnish money. We were dependent on God. Many times during the trip to Johannesburg we bowed our heads and reminded God that when we arrived there, we would need a home. God blessed and wondrously answered our prayer. Upon our arrival at Johannesburg I observed a little woman bustling up. She said, "You are an American missionary party?" The reply was, "Yes." Addressing me she said, "How many are there in your family?" I answered, "My wife, myself and seven children." "O," she said, "you are the family. The Lord has sent me to meet you, and I want to give you a home." That same afternoon we were living in a furnished cottage in the suburbs, the property of our beloved benefactor, Mrs. C. L. Goodenough, of Johannesburg, who remains to this day our beloved friend and fellow worker in the Lord. She is now a resident of Florida and has visited us in the West. ********************************** Chapter 2 DOMINION OF A CHRISTIAN. Divine healing is not a new thing; it is as old as the Book. I have chosen today the first chapter of Genesis with emphasis on the 26th verse. "And God said, let us make man in our own likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."—Genesis. 1:26. I want you to notice the 31st verse of the same chapter. "And God saw everything that He made, and; behold, it was very good." I read that as a reminder of the fact that God made everything good, and there was not a man or woman with a cancer or a tumor, or tuberculosis, or Bright's disease, or diabetes, or any one of the ten thousand things that afflict mankind in our day. Now, God said to this man and this woman that He presented to the world, "Let them have dominion." Do you know that the word "dominion" is almost a lost word in the Christian's vocabulary? Dominion Over Sin First. But in the soul of him who truly knows God and has been in touch with the Lord as his Savior and Healer, his first awareness is a sense of dominion. Dominion over his first awareness is a sense of dominion. Dominion over sin is the first thing the Christian soul becomes aware of, and in the truly Godenlightened soul, dominion over sickness likewise. Having been under the rule of sin, and having come into union with God, the dominion of the Spirit of God manifests itself over sin. And freedom, freedom of consciousness from the control and power of sin, is possibly, the first vivid and lasting consciousness in the soul. I cannot imagine that when Adam wanted the cows or the sheep he went out with a dog or a club to get them. Living as he did in the place of God where God had the fullness of access to his nature, he had a better control of the cows and the sheep than that. I believe that when he spoke to the cows they came home; that when he wanted the birds he said "Come," and they came. It is good for man to know and exercise the authority of God. Usually we hear a good deal more about exercising the authority of God over everything else but ourselves. It seems that in these days men have studied about everything outside of themselves to a greater or lesser degree. But it is almost a sadness that men know so little about themselves. It is good to know the qualities that God has put within the mind and nature of men. Indeed the Scriptures enjoin us to exercise control of ourselves. "Takingevery thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." Not a rambling mind, but a mind controlled, a mind directed, a mind fixed on God, a mind with ideals of God's holiness and wholeness of body, soul and spirit established there. A mind whose very structure contains God, and has the capacity to obtain, retain and utilize the greatest degree of the living Spirit of the eternal God. Blessed be His Name! A Sorry Procession. Suppose we could have lined up this whole audience a couple of years ago, and had them pass before this platform. What a sorry procession it would have been. Miss Celia Prentice would have to pass along in steel braces, with one leg two inches shorter than the other, having been that way from birth. When she passes before the platform today, she walks on equal legs, and her feet are the same size and shape. That was not a healing—that was a work of creation, fulfilling the pattern that was in the mind of God, and bringing the structural form of that girl to where God saw "it was good." Mrs. Shields would have had to pass, a poor, dying, suffering wreck, as she was when she first came in contact with the gospel and the power of God. Mrs. Reed would have had to pass a poor, suffering soul, full of internal cancers. A sad procession. You can go on down the line and take one after another, and that is almost the story of each individual in this great audience. But bless God, there was a day when there was not one to pass God's platform with a cancer, nobody had a tumor, or any other form of disease. Our first parents were lovely, sweet and good. Every drop of blood in their body was perfect- 100 per cent pure. That is the thing that we are trying these days to get men to understand. God is trying to get them to separate themselves unto Him, so that that same pure life of God that came from heaven, and took possession of men's lives, will come again. And its same divine sweetness and heavenly purity will be recognized in us making us sweet and pure and lovely, body, and soul and spirit. The Redeemer and the Remedy. God, seeing that men were in difficulty, and that sin, sickness and death prevailed, in order to save the race from extermination, was compelled to manifest the Redeemer and the redemption. Jesus Christ came to this world as God's divine remedy. He has no other remedy, but the Lord Jesus Christ. God's remedy is a person not a thing. When Jesus Christ set up His method of healing in the world it was peculiar and distinct. The devil can manifest some other system, or man can evolve some other system and it may have power in a degree. But God has a particular method. Christ used it because it was divinely superior to every other, and would accomplish a result none other could. No man ever lived in the world who ever caused the eye to grow in a child that had no eyes, or a man that was born blind to see. No man ever created a remedy in the world that would make a girl's leg to grow two inches, after she was seventeen years old, and had been born in that condition. God demonstrates the superiority of His system, and of His power, and His divine remedy, in that it will accomplish in man what nothing else will. Divine Healing Not Something Separate From Salvation. One of the difficulties that God has to remove from the mind of man on the line of healing is this wretched thing that often prevails in the best of Christian circles where healing is taught and practicedthe idea that divine healing is something disassociated or separate from Christ's salvation. It is not. Healing is simply the salvation of Jesus Christ, having its divine action in a man's flesh, the same as it had its divine action in a man's soul, or in the spirit of man. When Christ healed the body, He healed the soul. All man needs to do is to let God come in. His deficient spiritual eyes receive sight, his dormant mind becomes active, and his sick body is healed. I want to fix this thought in your mind. The healing of an individual is God's demonstration to that soul that he has been forgiven of his sins. If he only has sense enough to believe it, he goes forth from the presence of God free in body, free in soul, free in spirit, healed within and healed without. When James was discussing the subject he put it in this form: "Is there any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him. Anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick; and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." Right there, right then, bless God, when the healing power of Jesus Christ comes from heaven, and testifies in that man's soul by healing his body, his sins likewise are forgiven if he will only believe it. Now beloved, that is the service that we are trying to perform. That when we unite and pray the prayer of faith, with the intelligence that the Word of God reveals in that holy Book, there will be a divine result of healing and forgiveness. Through Sin Sickness Came Into the World. I want to get to you two outstanding facts this afternoon. First, in the beginning God had a perfect man, Adam and Eve were perfect people. They were not deficient in a single thing. Then man wandered into sin and degeneracy. There is a vital relationship between sickness and sin. That without sin in the race—not necessarily the individual, but without sin the race, there would be no such thing as sickness now. Does the Word of God stand up to that? "Through sin death entered into the world." What is sickness? It is incipient death. I tell you beloved, that when you come to God for the healing of your body, it ought to be with a contrite repentance—"confessing your sins." Not only sins, transgressions, but SIN. That state of the soul that causes you to transgress. The condition that I have been discussing with you is more than a personal condition. It is a racial one. The whole race is similarly affected. The active principle of Bright's disease, tuberculosis, and all that class of disease is the hellish germ in the system that has no right to be in the blood, and is asking for life and expression. The fact is, the race has been polluted through sin unto death. "Dying we die." The Will of God Is to Save Man From Sin and Its Effects. Jesus spoke some very simple words. When the leper said to Jesus, "Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me whole," he recognized that Jesus had the power but was not clear about His willingness. I have no objection to your praying that prayer, providing that you are as ignorant as he was of what the Will of God was. But you are not. Jesus said, "I will." The Word of God is calculated to give intelligence as to what the Will of God is. And from Genesis to Revelation it emphasizes one thing, that the Will of God is to extricate the body, soul and spirit of man from sin, and the effects of sin which is disease and death. And when the Will of God is fully wrought in the race, sin and sickness and death will have disappeared. The beginning of immortality is when God breathes His Life into you and me, and our spirits become the recipients of eternal life in Jesus Christ forever. How simple it should be for the people who have this confidence and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His salvation, to add faith for the body as well as the spirit. One of the most enjoyable freedoms in the world is the mental and spiritual freedom that comes with the escape from the bondage of fear. The fear of sickness. The fear of this difficulty and the fear of that difficulty. Our God says He is the Almighty One. He invites us to have confidence in Him because of His Almightiness. All things are possible to him that believeth. Isn't that a beautiful relationship? A relationship so vital that the Almightiness of God comes into your soul Why? Because of believing faith. God bless you. ********************************** Chapter 3 THE VALUE OF A COVENANT WITH GOD. I want to bring you some of the facts of Scripture that bear on the value of a covenant with God. I shall use as my subject Exodus 15:26. God calls His people into a special relationship with Himself. God binds Himself by covenants, and a covenant is more than a contract. A contract is an agreement between two parties. A covenant is more. For instance the State of South Carolina grants no divorce upon this ground. Marriage is not a legal contract in the state of South Carolina. It is a covenant. They explain a covenant like this. A man and woman have covenanted with Almighty God to live together as man and wife. At a later time the man and woman may change their minds, but the law holds that God, being a party to that covenant, does not change His mind. Hi is the first party, the man and the woman the second party. One party alone cannot break the agreement. The covenant must be dissolved by both parties. God Is a Party in the Covenant of Healing. Beloved, I want you to see that God is a party in the Covenant of Healing. It is an eternal arrangement, eternally binding. God entered into covenant with man when the Children of Israel were formed into a nation after their escape from the land of Egypt. He mad the arrangements for the acceptance of other people who were not Israelites to be received into the nation under certain conditions. The party thus wanting to be related to Israel and become a part of it, would have to subscribe to the terms of the original covenant God made with Abraham. Exodus 12:48-49. We find instances in which there was a violation of a covenant, and we notice the far-reaching consequences. The sons of Jacob covenanted with the Shechemites to give their sisters to the prince, Shechem, in marriage. The covenant was sealed by the rite of circumcision. But instead of adhering to the covenant, Levi and Simeon in the anger of their soul took their swords and slew all the males in the city of Shechem and robbed them of their possessions. The result of this act was to bring the brothers under the judgment of God. Old Jacob prophesying in the Spirit, spake, "Cursed be their anger for it was fierce: and their wrath,' for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel." Genesis 49:7. The Covenant of Healing. Healing is one of God's covenant. God made a definite and specific Covenant of Healing, known in the Scripture as the covenant of "Jehovah=Rapha" or "The Lord thy Healer." You will find that Covenant in Exodus 15:26. There are four divisions to the Covenant of Healing. First: "If thou wilt diligently hearken unto the voice of the Lord the God." Second: "And wilt do that which is right in his right." Third: "And wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep his statutes." Fourth: "I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee." Beloved, I want you to see that when men take upon themselves faith in the eternal God, as revealed through the Lord Jesus Christ for healing, they enter into a covenant relationship with God. It is a divine union, God has put Himself on record, and given an eternal pledge as to His faithfulness concerning that Covenant. We then as intelligent men and women are invited to come into relationship with Him, and become partakers with Him in that Covenant. Covenant More Than Just Healing, When Sick. This Covenant does not simply mean that when we are sick and dying, the Lord will come and heal us. That is a small portion of the Covenant of Healing. The Covenant has three great principles involved. The first is DIVINE HEALING. The second is a bigger thing than Divine Healing; it is DIVINE HEALTH. If God keeps your family or your city or your nation in Divine Health there is no need for Divine Healing. The third is DIVINE LIFE. Divine Life is greater than Divine Health. Divine Life is that union of the soul with God by which the recipient becomes the partakers of His life. The Unholy Brotherhood. Now are involved the three underlying principles that unfold the whole subject of healing. They are Sin, Sickness and Death, and unholy brotherhood, the representatives of the Kingdom of Darkness. They are the children of the Devil and Disobedience. If you want to look for their parentage, Satan is their father and Disobedience is their mother, and out of this union, Sin, Sickness and Death are born. All three are specifically declared by the Word of God to be the enemies of God. God hates sin, and God equally hates sickness, for sickness is incipient death. The final result of the Redemption of Jesus is the destruction of these three enemies of God, this triumvirate of darkness! All the Christian world is clear on this point, that Jesus Christ came to redeem the world from sin. They may dispute His methods but on general principles they believe that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer from sin. The Christian world is not so well agreed that He is the Redeemer from sickness. The Church was agreed on this question at one time. In the early centuries of the Church's history there was no other method of healing known among Christians, except healing through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. John Wesley says, in his notes on the New Testament, under James 5:514-16: "The only system of physics known in the early church for four hundred years was the prayer of faith for the sick." The early Christians had a Remedy, bless God, but it was an eternal one, the living eternal Spirit of Christ in the world, and in their heart, and in their person, when they needed Him for healing. God's remedy is a person, not a material remedy. It is not an "it" but a "Him." Beloved, receive this Spirit of God into your heart, into your life, into your being. The Omnipresence of God. Someone has given a definition for omni-presence, as we use that word to express an attribute of God, "Equally present everywhere. Consequently there is not place to go from His Presence. David emphasized this truth in splendid form: "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." Psalm 139: 7-10. There was no place of which the mind of the prophet could conceive, where God was not present. Sometimes people get an idea that the only place that God is present is at church or in their home. A man was seeking for salvation and he went out to his horse stable to pray. God came to him, and the consciousness of salvation was born in his soul. Then ever afterward when he was interested in anybody's salvation, he wanted to take them to the horse stable. We ought to get it in our mind that God can meet me anywhere. Blessed be God! There is a great difference between accepting and expecting. You must take Christ as your Healer—not as an experiment. Have you really committed yourself to the Lord as you Healer? Has there been a definite act of committal to the Lord? If there has, it has settled in your mind all questions of relying on other means for healing. Personal Testimony. I was sitting one morning, suffering terribly from a disease with which I had been afflicted for nine years. That morning as I sat in my chair I reviewed all the failures of other remedies that had been used in my family and my father's family. I could not recall a single instance where we had received the least benefit. We had buried four brothers and four sisters. Four other members of the family were dying, chronic invalids. It was a matter of life and death. Faith was beginning to dawn. I suddenly made a decision that from then on I was going to put my trust entirely in the Lord. I did not then fully realize what I had done, but by that decision of my soul, I had cut myself off forever from the help of man. I had separated myself unto God. I had no one else to look to, for I had refused the help of man. I was not aware of having prayed at all. I went about my affairs, and to my surprise I awoke to the fact that I was perfectly well. I had not the least idea when it took place. It may have taken place so gradually that I was not aware of it. That is the value of committal. A. B. Simpson says concerning the committal of the health of our bodies to the Lord: "It ought to be very deliberate and final, and in the nature of things it cannot be repeated." Separated unto Jesus Christ as your only Physician, for time and eternity. If a man commits himself once and for all to the woman he is going to marry, it is done; he cannot repeat it. If you commit yourself once and for all, and forever to Jesus as your Healer, it is done forever. As A. B. Simpson says, "Like the marriage ceremony it is the signalizing and sealing of a great transaction, and depends for its value upon the reality of the union which it seals." Incident of the Boer War. In the Boer War of South Africa, the Boers held a mountain peak that commanded the country all around, and particularly the city of Ladysmith. It was known as Spoin Kop. Tugels River ran along side. One day in the midst of a tremendous charge, the British succeeded in breaking through and crossing the river on pontoon bridges, and taking possession of the mountain. That night the Boers called a Council of War and it was decided that the repossession of Spoin Kop was necessary to the successful progress of the war. Realizing that the retaking of Spoin Kop would result in a remendous slaughter, and the officers not wishing to take responsibility of ordering men to attack, they called for volunteers. The word was passed along, and those who wished to volunteer stepped out and took their place one by one. They were committing themselves to life and death. In the morning when the sun arose, the Boers were in possessions of Spoin Kop, but two out of three of both Boer and British were dead. Men will do that for war's sake. It means something to commit yourself to the things of this world. It ought to mean just as much, and a lot more, to definitely commit yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ. The definite act of receiving and accepting and placing yourself in committal to the Lord, should be very solemn and deliberate. And by the Grace of God I am trying to bring to your hearts this splendid truth. If you have been toying with the subject of healing, and experimenting with God, end it, and commit yourself in faith and love to Jesus Christ as your Healer, forever. Then you have placed yourself on the ground of blessing. You have placed yourself where the Lord meets you, or rather you meet the Lord. =================== Chapter 4 NOT TRY BUT TRUST Scripture reading: Numbers 12. Our Scripture reading begins with the incident of Miriam and Aaron speaking against Moses. A great many people lose the blessing by getting themselves in other people's affairs. The Lord has been trying from the very beginning to get folks to learn this truth. This is one of the most severe lessons in the Word of God on the disadvantage of sticking your nose into other people's affairs. Aaron was the brother and Miriam was the sister of Moses. When Moses was called at the Burning Bush, he began to make excuses because of his slowness of speech, and God gave him his brother aaron, saying, "He shall be thy spokesmanunto the people." Moses was very meek above all the men that were upon the face of the earth. Vs. 3. No man in all history had so many reasons to get puffed up if he had been puffable. The little fellow puffs up – the big fellow puffs down. No man ever listened to such words as the Lord spoke to Moses. No one was ever dignified by the same commission that God gave to Moses. When God called him and sent him into Egypt, He spoke these most startling words to him, "Thou shalt be as God." His word became as God and his actions became the actions of God. As the result of Miriam's words against Moses, she became a leper. "The cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and behold Miriram became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my Lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned. . . ." And so Moses prayed. His prayer is characteristic of many prayers of the Bible. It is brief. It contains only eight words: "Heal her now, O God I beseech thee." With Aaron's whole-hearted confession, the heart of Moses was moved even as was the heart of God. When You Pray Believe I want to talk to you a little about this subject of prayer. It seems to me that this prayer of Moses is a wonderful example of that remarkable teaching of Jesus on the subject of faith, in the eleventh chapter of Mark. After cursing the fig tree, Jesus utilized the instance to give voice to the marvelous teaching on faith in God. He said, "Verily, verily." When an oriental used these words, he raised his hands and gave it with the solemnity of an oath. Then He said that we are to do something, "When ye pray, BELIEVE THAT YE RECEIVE THEM, and ye shall have them." Mark 11:23-24. The Revised Version gives greater force to it, "When ye pray, believe that ye have received." When? Why bless your soul "when you pray." You have it; that is what it means. We used to have a little Englishman in our evangelistic party who would say to the people when they were praying, "Now let us stop praying, "Now let us stop praying for five minutes and BELIEVE GOD, and see what will happen." It is perfectly amazing the things that will happen when people will believe God. The Soul Cry of a Brother There is an attitude of faith, an opening of the soul to God, a Divine laying hold in the Spirit. I can imagine the soul cry of Moses under these circumstances. Miriam, his own sister, was now smitten and leprous, "white as snow." What were the feelings of his heart? I sometimes have thought that there was no other circumstance in my own life that ever called out so much faith in God and determination of soul to see God's Will done, as in the healing of a sister. One of my sisters and I had been chums from our childhood. She was a little older than I. The vision of Christ as the Healer had just been opened to my soul. She was dying of an issue of blood. My mother called me one night and said, "John, if you want to see your sister alive you must come at once." When I arrived, my mother said, "You are too late, she is gone." I stepped to her bedside, and laid my hand on her forehead; it was cold and white. I slipped my hand down over her heart, and the heart had ceased to beat. I picked up a small mirror and held it over her mouth, but there was no discoloration. The breath was gone. I stood there stunned. Her husband knelt at the foot of the bed weeping. Her baby was asleep in the crib at the opposite side of the room. My old father and mother knelt sobbing at the side of the bed. They had seen eight of their children die; she was apparently the ninth. My soul was in a storm. Just a few weeks before, my wife had been healed when almost dead. Prior to that, my brother had been healed, after having been an invalid for twenty-two years. A short time before that, my older sister, with five cancers in the breast, who had been operated on five times and given up to die, was healed. As I looked at this sister I said, "O God, this is not your Will, I cannot accept it! It is the work of the devil and darkness." It is the devil who has the power of death." I discovered this strange fact, that there are times when one's spirit lays hold on the spirit of another. Somehow I just felt my spirit lays hold of the spirit of that sister. And I prayed, "Dear Lord, she just cannot go." I walked up and down the room for some time. My spirit was crying out for somebody with faith in God that I could call upon to help me. That was twenty-five years ago when the individual who trusted God for healing was almost an insane man in the eyes of the church and the world. Bless God it is different now. That is the advantage of having people who trust God, and walk out on God's lines, come together, stay together, and form a nucleus in society which has some force for God. I have no confidence or faith in those little efforts that people run after here and there. Most of them go up in vapor. If you want something doe for god and humanity, put your hearts and hands together and your souls together. Organize your effort. That baby's mother (referring to a baby in the audience) would not have been healed, except that a little nucleus determined to pray until the woman was healed, and they stayed in prayer all day Monday. At five o'clock they had the victory. It took them all day. I wish that we had spirituality and faith enough to look through the mists and see what was taking place all day long, until the powers of darkness were dispelled and the healing came. As I walked up and down my sister's room, I could think of but one man who had faith on this line. That was John Alexander Dowie, six hundred miles away. I went to the phone, called Western Union and told them I wanted to get a telegram through the Doctor Dowie with an answer back as quickly as possible. I sent this wire: "My sister has apparently died but my spirit will not let her go. I believe if you will pray, God will heal her." I received this answer back: "Hold on to God. I am praying. She will live." I have said a thousand times, what would it have meant if instead of that telegram of faith, I had received one from a weakling preacher who might have said: "I am afraid you are on the wrong track," or "Brother, you are excited," or "The days of miracles are past." It was the strength of his faith that came over the wire that caused the lightnings of my soul to begin, to flash, and while I stood at the telephone and listened, the very lightning of God began to flash in my spirit. I prayed, "This thing is of hell, it cannot be, it will not be. In the Name of Jesus Christ I abolish this death and sickness, and she shall live." And as I finished praying, I turned my eyes toward the bed, and I saw her eyelids blink. But I was so wrought up I said, "Maybe I am deceiving myself." So I stood a little while at the telephone, the lightnings of God still flashing through my soul. Presently I observed her husband get up and tiptoe to her head, and I knew that he had seen it. I said, "What is it Peter?" He replied, "I thought I saw her eyelids move." And just then they moved again. Five days later she came to father's home and the Lake family sat down to Christmas dinner, the first time 9in their life when they were all well. Persistent Prayer Sometimes Necessary Beloved, it is not our long prayers but our believing God that gets the answer. However, I want to help somebody who finds persistent prayer a necessity, as we all do sometimes. We have not the least idea of the powers of darkness against which we are praying. Paul says: "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Ephesians 6:12. And sometimes you have to lay hold of God, and stay before God and stay through the blackness and through the darkness, and through the night of it, until the faith of God penetrates, and the work is done. Daniel's Experience Do you remember the experience of Daniel, one of the finest in the Book? He had to hear from heaven. He fasted and prayed twenty one days. On the twenty first day an angel came to him right out of heaven, and the angel said, "Daniel, a man greatly beloved . . . from the first day . . . thy words were heard," No the last time you prayed but the very first. The answer was on the way from the day that the prophet began to chasten himself before God. But the Prince of Persia withstood the angel twenty one days. Finally Michael, the Archangel, was sent to assist and the answer came through to Daniel. (Daniel 10:11-14) Michael is spoken of again and again as the Warrior Angel. He made war against the devil and cast him out of heaven. Get the circumstance. Daniel had prayed and God heard his prayer and answered it by sending an angel messenger. But the angel himself was held up on the way by some power of darkness, until reinforcements, even Michael one of the chief angels, came to his help. I wonder what was necessary to be accomplished in the minds of those interested, before God could answer that prayer? You are praying for somebody, you are praying for your friend, for your brother, or for your son, or for your daughter who needs your loved and faith. Beloved, have faith in God to stay and pray until the Spirit has a chance to work out the problem. That is the issue. Keep right down to it. Do not let go. It is the Will of God; you have a right to the answer. There is a ministry of intercession that comes from heaven. It is prayer by the Spirit of God. It is entering into the prayer spirit of the Holy Ghost. He prays. He prays for you. He prays for me, "with groanings that cannot be uttered." Our spirit in union with His, we enter into the ether of God, into the oneness of faith, the love of His Spirit. A lot of folks stop when they are half through. You hold on to God and pray through. Here are times like the one when my sister was restored, when the faith and the power of God come like the lightning flash; as to Moses when he prayed, "Heal her now, O God I beseech thee," and the healing was instant. There are times when it is only our humanity that prays. You know these times yourself when your soul does not enter into your prayer, much less your spirit. There are times when your soul prays. Then there is a prayer of your spirit – that deep quality of your life, deeper than the soul, O bless God, there is still a prayer where the spirit of man and the Spirit of God unite and become one. Now one can imagine as Moses prayed that day, how his soul must have been stirred. Here is his own sister, that woman who had stood by the river side when he was a babe, had put him in a basket, had hid him in the bulrushes and watched over his welfare. Don't think she wasn't interested in him. She had a sisterly and motherly affection for Moses. She wanted to keep him straight. She was afraid that he had made a great mistake in his marriage. Say beloved, are you a father or a mother and have laid such a tight hold on a loved one that you are afraid to leave them in the Hands of God? That is one of the hardest things that folks have to learn, just to take their hands off the other, and let God have them. Experience of Stephen Merritt Stephen Merritt was a godly undertaker in the city of New York. His dear old wife and he lived godly lives. They raised one son, and if there ever was a boy that strayed away from god it was Charley. Charley would get into some disreputable affair, and the police would come and say, "Charley has done so and so. It will take just so much money to get him out of this difficulty." The next week another would come along with something else, and so it went on an on. And the two old gray heads were praying and pouring out their tears for that boy's salvation. One day as Stephen Merritt was sitting in his office and praying about his son, and the floor was wet with his tears, he heard the Voice of God saying, "How long have you been trying to save Charley?" He replied, "Lord, a long time." The Lord said, "Now if you are through, I will undertake." The old man considered, and it worked out in his soul in this way. The police came and said, "Charley did so and so,." He asked, "Who is Charley?" "Why, he is your son." "No, I have no son, Charley." That day as he had knelt there he said, "Lord, he is not my son any more. I give him over to you until he is saved." So he told the police, "No, I have no son." They looked at him and shook their heads. Then they sent another officer. But it was no use to go to him any more. It looked as if the old man had gone crazy. About nine months passed, and one day an officer came with the report, "Charley has jumped off the Brooklyn bridge and is finished." He wanted the old man to have the river dragged to obtain the body. But the father said, "I have no son Charley. Drag the river if you want to." So they dragged the river but the body found was not Charley's. Three months more passed, and one day one of the clerks said, "there is one of your friends in the office." And when the old man went in, it was Charley. He was well dressed, clean faced, everything indicating the light of God. The son fell at his fee, kissed them asked for forgiveness. He said in explanation, "Three months ago I was saved in a mission, but I did not want to come and see you until I came as a man." The Human Clutch Not only is it so in your prayers for others, but in your prayers for yourself; some of you are holding on to your sickness, or difficulty with such a clutch, and are so everlastingly conscious of it, that God cannot get it out of your hands. You are in the very same place spiritually that Stephen Merritt was. He was so determined to save his boy that he was just doing it himself, and God was not getting a chance. Maybe you are holding on to sin with that same clutch. Maybe you are holding on to disobedience with that same clutch. Maybe it is your sickness. If there is something that is keeping you from getting blessed, let go and let your hands and heart open. When I was a boy I used to visit the Son locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, where my home was. One day a sailor was up in the masts; he lost his balance and shot over the ship into the water. Another sailor stood on the railing of the ship and watched him. He went down and came up, and went down and came up again, and everything was in foam around him. Still the fellow stood there. Then the chap went down the third time, limp, and just as he was disappearing, the second sailor shot down into the water, and came up with him. A couple of gentlemen standing by remarked, "That fellow has taken men out of the water before." He just waited until all the kick was taken out of him. Otherwise both might have been drowned. A lot of us have to thrash and struggle and fight until the kick is all out of us before we are ready to let God take us. As a young fellow I was as proud as Lucifer—every Lake I ever knew was. Robert Burns wrote with his diamond on the window of an highland inn, "There is nothing here but highland pride, highland pride and poverty." It did not make any difference how poor they were. The hardest thing that I had to do was to make my surrender to God. Never touched whiskey in my life, never used tobacco, but that proud heart of mind had to struggle like a drowning man until I was ready to say, "Lord you save me." The final consummation came when I knelt behind an old elm tree and poured out my heart to God, and made my surrender to Him. The light of heaven broke into my soul, and I arose from my knees, a son of God and I knew it. Let God have you. Quit sweating, quit wrestling,. About the most difficult class in the world to get healed is the Christian Scientist. Why? Because they work at it so hard. They have been reading so many lessons, and concentrating their minds on healing until almost exhausted. You have to lead them away from it all to that place where, "It is not TRY but TRUST." That is the secret of Christ's salvation; that is the secret of Christ's healing. It is not trying to get healed. It is trusting Him for it, and believing Him when He says He will do it, and the mind relaxes and the souls comes to rest. Say, dear hearts, let go! Open your clutch! Let God take you. Let God have you, whether it is for your spirit, whether it is for your soul, whether it is for your body,. No mater what, just let go. It is not TRY but TRUST. God be praised. Chapter 5 SPECIFIC AND DEFINITE GROUNDS FOR HEALING The subject of Healing is treated in the Word of God on a scale of graduation from Genesis to Revelation. There is a graduation and development in the promises concerning healing; also in the distinct principles laid down by the Lord by which healing is received. The real climax of the ministry of healing as shown in the Word of God, comes from the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, as received on the day of Pentecost, when believers became infilled, inhabited, indwelt by the Living Spirit of the Living God. The Purpose of Jesus Christ The purpose for which Jesus Christ lived and died on the Cross, descended into the grave, ministered to the dead who died in the hope of His Coming transferring them to His own glory, arose from the dead, and His final ascent to the throne of God, was for one purpose. That one purpose was the He, Jesus Christ the Son of God, night be endowed with the Gift of the Holy Ghost and have the right as the Saviour of men, to minister it to His followers for evermore. Without that final climax at the Throne of God, all the rest would have been valueless. The Promise of the Father was fulfilled to Jesus Christ Himself. And Christ as Saviour and Redeemer of Mankind, exercising the Power of God, proceeded to minister it to His followers from on High. Healing Known in the Patriarch Age Away back in the days of the patriarchs, leading up to the days of Moses, the subject of healing was apparently just as well known as among us. Men have trusted God from time immemorial. It started with the need of mankind. The first record of actual healing is at the time the wives of Abimelech were healed in answer to the prayers of Abraham. The next example is the healing of Sarah from barrenness, when she was ninety years old. It was not just an ordinary healing, but a creative work. The processes of nature that had died and passed in her life, were restored by the action of God Almighty, and she was able to bear children at ninety years. Rachel is another example of healing of barrenness, recorded in the Book of Genesis. Separation By Covenant When you come to the Book of Exodus, a great phase of healing is opened. Israel has left Egypt. They have crossed the Red Sea and are now in the wilderness. They are away from earth's methods, and from oppressive laws. A lot of Christians have not gotten that far yet. Their Christianity is not of the vital, practical order. They have vital faith for the salvation of their soul when they are dying. Lots of people have a salvation that will do a lot of things when they are dead. But Christ's salvation will do a marvelous lot for you while you are alive! The dead end of it will take care of itself. Whatever revelation God has for you and me when we die will be revealed in due order. Our life is here now to perform in us what He has promised. So in the 15th of Exodus we have the remarkable record of a whole nation, two million five hundred thousand of them – old gray-haired men and women, middle-aged men of war, young men, wives, children and unborn babes, accepting this Covenant with God, having no other healer than the Lord. No man or woman over twenty years of age at the time they left Egypt ever entered Canaan, except Joshua and Caleb. The nation that entered in was a new-born nation, born under the Covenant of the eternal God, never having known any other system of healing, except faith in God. That Covenant was given after the peculiar testing of the people at the Waters of Marah. Healing of the Bitter Waters (Exodus 15:23-25) God had brought them through the Red Sea by a Divine miracle. They stepped out a new-born nation. The Pillar of Cloud stopped at the waters of Marah. Marah means "bitter." When they came to examine the springs, the water was bitter. You can imagine the consternation that followed. Think of the mothers wanting drink for their children. Yea, old men who were panting for thirst. And here this strange experience, the Pillar of Cloud stops at these undrinkable springs, Marah! I suppose all the human remedies of mankind were suggested. One thing sure, they commenced to growl. The growlers are always on hand. Moses was a hero; we have a few hundred to growl at us, but here he had two million five hundred thousand to growl all at one time; I presume committees were waiting on him. One said, "Moses, what in the world did you stop here for?" Perhaps they said, "Do you think that we had better manufacture a drilling machine?" Or, "Don't you think that we better send out scouting parties to find a spring somewhere around the neighborhood?" Men have always been human. Moses had a way of getting difficulties settled that I wish we knew more about. While the rest were grouching, he went off to pray, and to get in touch with God. A lot of folks pray but do not get in touch with God. They operate the machinery of prayer at one end, but never get any response from the other end. Real prayer is communion with God, not just praying words, but getting an answer from heaven. "The prayer of faith shall save the sick." God never promised healing through any other prayer than the prayer of faith. Lots of people pray prayers. Our books are full of prayers. We are splendid beggars, magnificent beggars, but poor believers. About the hardest think to get hold of is a good oldfashioned Christian who believes God. I sat by the bedside of an old Methodist lady the other day, a good woman, and I haven't a doubt of her salvation. But when I knelt to pray for her, all she would say was, "O Jesus heal me, O Jesus heal me." And she kept it up until it seemed to me the Lord Himself must be wearied. After a while I tried to get out of it. I said, "Dear sister, you do not have to beg the Lord to heal you. He died to do that. He is waiting to do it." She took a long breath and said, "What will I do?" I said, "Quit begging and believe God for a little while, and see if something will not happen." Beloved, whether you get an answer from heaven or not is dependent on the set of your soul. When your heart is set and fixed in God in believing faith, something will take place. In Chemistry there has to be a union of substances before there is any action. Paul said, "The Words spoken them did not prfit." Why? "Not being mixed with faith." The Spirit of God has a Divine quality. The spirit of faith in the heart of man is the human quality necessary to ignite the Spirit of God, and give it Divine action in your soul. "Without faith it is impossible to please God." God demands faith. According to the degree of faith in your soul, so that action, or interaction, of the Spirit of God in your life for healing will be great or small. Little faith, little healing; much faith, much healing, no faith, no healing. That is the principle. Where Jesus Placed Responsibility Some teachers endeavor to throw the weight of responsibility on the patient. The Word of God does not do so. The Word of God is the finest straight up-and-down exposit6ion of real manliness that I know of anywhere. Christ put the burden of responsibility upon the disciples themselves. When He me faith He commended it in those special cases. But He said to the disciples, "Behold I give you power and authority," and, "I send you to heal the sick and cast out devils." And they went and healed the people. To the Seventy He said, "Go into the cities round about, Heal the sick that are therein: then say to them, the Kingdom of God is come nigh to you." That was to be their explanation. I trust that some day we will have a missionary army equipped by the power of God, that will go and heal the heathen, and discover that their message will have strength and power in the lives of the nations that in now lacks. A God without power to heal a sick heathen's body is a poor recommendation of His ability to save his soul. When you go down among the Portland heathen you can do just the same. Paul Rader was preaching in the slums, and some of the big preachers went down to hear him. They thought the result marvelous, and they invited him to come and preach in one of their big churches. He broke loose and gave them the same kind of preaching he had given in the slums. The Board took him in hand and said, "Rader, over there in the slums it was wonderful, and this message moved the people; but this is a different class of people, and we do not think this is the kind of message for this congregation." One member of the board was a doctor. Rader said, "Doctor when you have a case of diphtheria in the slums and another on Locust Street, do you give a different remedy to the patient in the slums than the one on Locust Street?" "No," he said, "I give the same thing." "All right, I guess if the disease is the same, the same remedy will work," said Rader. God's One and Only Remedy God has only one remedy. He never had any other. God's remedy is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ ministered to your soul by the Spirit is the only redemptive power that can redeem the soul from sin. God never had any other remedy for sickness either. That remedy is the Lord Jesus Christ, ministered to the natures of men by the Spirit. Here is this whole nation of two million five hundred thousand, assembled at the Water of Marah. God performed a miracle and the waters are healed and sweetened. First, as an example of His power. Second, in order to encourage the faith of the people to trust Him anywhere, under any circumstances. Trust Both Spirit and Body to God Did you ever try to deal with a lot of Spiritualists and get them saved? They foul around with spirits until they are candidates for the asylum, obsessed and possessed; then they want deliverance. And they are the most difficult people to keep steady in God and going along in the line of faith. They have been educated to throw their nature open to every dirty thing in the form of spirit, and to admit it. It is natural for them to do it. While the real Christian is taught to keep his nature free from any power that contaminates. Do not let everything that comes to your ears take possession. Put the bars of your soul up and shut out that which is unholy and unclean and untrue. Open your spirit to the Holy Spirit, the truth and love of God, and let God in and keep the rest out. A lot of Christians have a little medicine god behind the door, and every time they have a stomach ache they are open to temptation and are about in the same position as the Spiritualists. They have been so used to letting in their dope god, they can hardly get along without him. You have to line these people up every little while, and bless them, and thresh the life nearly out of them, until they can stand on their feet and keep away from their medicine god, and trust, not try the Living God. You ask what right I have to say that? In the fifteenth Chapter of Exodus we have the Covenant of Healing that God gave to the nation of Israel, after they had crossed the Red Sea and were at the Waters of Marah. The Lord almighty signed that Covenant as Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord Ty Healer, and the people of God lived for many consecutive years under that Covenant. Israel never had any other physician for centuries. The high, the low, the rich and the poor, the kings and the beggars put their trust in the living, eternal God. Down the line there was only one record of a man violating that covenant with God, and that was the case of Asa, king of Judah. His offense was so noticeable that it finds a place in the record of the Chronicles. When diseased in his feet he failed to trust God, but sought the physicians, and he "slept with his fathers." 2 Chronicles 16:13. It is a poor business to mix with unbelievers, unless you keep the spirit of your faith. Solomon got to marrying. He went down in Egypt and married a batch of Egyptian wives, who brought their heathen physicians with them to his court at Jerusalem, and introduced into Israel the practice of medicine. Eventually Asa the king abandoned trust in God, for the heathen method. Drugs have always been the unbeliever's way of healing. God always was and is the real Christian's remedy. David gave the most wonderful health report that was ever written. He says, "There was not one feeble person among their tribes. Psalm 106:37. Some health, glory to God! God gave this Covenant, and He said, "As long as keep it you will be blessed, and when you violate it, the natural consequences will follow." The natural consequences are curse, degradation of life, sickness, disease and all the wretchedness that is associated with it. A Great Demonstration I attended one of the great Dowie demonstrations of healing some years ago at the Chicago Auditorium, when at a certain moment, ten thousand people, standing, testified to their healing. There were five bushel baskets filled with cards containing the names of sixty thousand people healed by God. At the same time, while the audience of then thousand stool testifying to the power of God, Dowie turned over these baskets containing sixty thousand names, making a total of seventy thousand testimonies to healing. I do not know what other people's opinion of the Dowieties is, but you can go to their city (Zion, Illionois) today, 1923, and look at the vital statistics, and you will find that their death rate is lower than in any other city of the land with the same population. It testifies that the individual who puts his trust in God and god alone, is a sane individual and is exercising good common sense. Why do you come to God in repentance and honesty of heart? That you may become free from sin. Why do you through prayer and spiritual labor and tear endeavor to keep your life purged from all contamination of sin, but for the reason that by the Grace of God you may command a greater degree of His heavenly presence and power? Christians have seen the subject of healing as the Grace of God, but have not realized that it is a science as well as a grace. I tell people that there is not only a grace of healing but an ART of healing. It is grace because it belongs to God and the quality of healing virtue is the Spirit of the Living God Himself. But if you are going to discuss it from the side of art, then the individual who understands how to open his nature to God, so as to let that lifestream pass through from himself to others, is associated with it, is in order that our hearts may be opened to Him in the greatest possible fullness. Restitution Brings Healing On one occasion a gentleman suffering from diabetes came to me. He explained his condition and showed me a chart by the State Board of Health showing his condition for months past. He said, "I do not want to die. I have come for help." I said, "Dear Brother, the Lord has help for you." So we knelt down by my office chair and began to pray. As we prayed, all I could see was $5000.00. I asked, "Broth, what is this $5,000, that is always coming up before my soul? Have you stolen $5,000?" He broke down and said, "Yes, that is my difficulty. I stole 5,000.00 from my widowed sister-in-law when my brother died." I said, "Have you that amount in the bank?" He replied, "Yes." I asked, "How long ago did this take place?" He answered, "Eight years and three months." I told him, "If you want healing, you sit down here and write a check for that amount, including the interest." He wrote the check and I saw that it was mailed. I said, "Now brother, come back." He was going away in tears. "You will find you have some faith in God now." He knelt by the desk chair again and it was not like it was in the beginning. His heart was right and repentance and restitution had been made; his heart had been opened up and he prayed like a good old Methodist. That man is one of my fast friends and he is well. Bless God, if you want some of the lovely things from Him, you go home and straighten up with the grocery man and everyone else. And if you want to be honest and haven't the money, call them up and talk to them like a man. Keep yourself square with God and with man, and He will bless you. Healing is not always obtained by saying prayer. It is obtained by obeying god. God wants the Christian to set up a standard of righteousness according to the standard of the Word of God, and then to live it, bless God. The church, not recognizing this truth has almost disregarded the teachings and lessons of the Old Testament and does not understand to this day what the difficulty is. One day the British government got to wondering what was the cause of their troubles. Some of the members of parliament got to reading the Old Testament and the national laws of health. They said, " We have inherited the curses but missed the blessings." They wanted to know what they could do to inherit the blessings and get rid of the curses. They had labor trouble, land legislation; the courts were full of disputes about personal right. They had disease. They went as far as to appoint a committee to look into the matter and bring back a report. The came the World War and the matter was shelved. Beloved, if we wish Divine health in our bodies and lives, we need to get back to old-fashioned obedience to the Word of God. Immunity from Disease When we began to trust the Lord for healing, and God alone, twenty five or more years ago, my wife and I had faith that when we were sick the Lord would heal us. The result was that when the measles broke out, our children would come home with the measles. The Lord would heal them. That went on for several years, and one evening when I came home, I discovered that two of the children had smallpox. That was the limit. If there is anything my soul hates it is the smallpox. Discovering the children had smallpox, we claimed God's promises in Psalms 91 which says, "Neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling," and thus banished sickness from our home. Very few Christians are aware that the blessed Word of God gives such an amazing example of healthfulness as is told in the history of Israel. There is only one example that superseded it, and that is in the Christian Church during the first three centuries. The millions of Christians who lived during that time all trusted the Lord for healing. Scientific Application of God's Spirit If we could make the world understand the pregnant vitality of the Spirit of God, men would discover that healing is not only a matter of faith, and a matter of the Grace of God, but a perfectly scientific application of God's Spirit to man's needs. The Spirit of God is just as tangible as electricity is. You handle it, you minister it to another, you receive it from God through faith and prayer, your person becomes supercharge with it. The old apostle took handkerchiefs or aprons, held them in his hands until the handkerchiefs or aprons were supercharged with the Spirit of God. Then they were sent to the sick, the sick were healed and the demons were cast out of the. Acts 19:12. Chapter 6 HEZEKIAH'S SICKNESS AND HEALING Our lesson today is the story of Hezekiah's sickness and healing. The story is told in three different places in the Scriptures. In Second Kings 20, we read one of the accounts. In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, "Thus saith the Lord,' Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die and not live.'" Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, saying, "I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have walked before thee in truth and in ta perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight." And Hezekiah wept sore… And afore Isaiah had gone out into the middle court the word of the Lord came to him saying, "Turn again and tell Hezekiah … Thus saith the Lord … 'I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tear: behold I will heal the'" Verses 1-5. How quickly his cry reached heaven! How speedily god sent the answer! God has His eye on us hasn't He? We are inclined to feel some times that by some spiritual telephonic communication the Lord hears our prayer, but we forget that He sees our tears also. What a wonderful lesson is contained in that last verse. After he was healed he was to go up to the house of the Lord and give thanks. God was instructing him. A whole lot of folks have taken their healing like a dog or an animal and have run off with it. They have never even taken pains to give thanks in "The house of the Lord." It betokens a low state of mind and an ungrateful state of soul. Lack of gratitude is more repellent. It bespeaks a brutish person. Beloved, we need in these sodden days, when it seem as though the light of the Spirit has almost gone out, to be careful and by the Grace of God keep in harmony with the Spirit of faith in God, and show our gratitude to Him. It was just like our Father to give more than we asked for. We read later that the Assyrians came with a vast army, and of the marvelous deliverance by the Lord through His power. God kept His Word. Hezekiah's Prayer I want to call your attention to Hezekiah's prayer as recorded in Isaiah 38. He is recounting the things that went on in his soul while that battle for his life rages. "The writings of Hezekiah king of Juday, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness: I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years. I said, I shall not see the Lord .. in the land of the living. I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness." Isaiah 38:9-12. There are tremendous lessons associated with these simple statements. You go back in his life and you will see that through disobedience to God, sickness had come upon him, and he was now confessing his sin. He is not blaming God for it, but himself. That is the spirit of confession. "I have cut off like a weaver my life … O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me." Coming to the End of Ourselves Sometimes we sing, "when we get to the end of the way." There is a "getting to the end of the way" with ourselves, or an end to ourselves and our self-effort, where in the fullness of our hearts we cry, "LORD UNDERTAKE FOR ME." Sometimes in our strength and the inspiration of faith that is in our soul, we put up a great battle. Again and again I have faced death, and I have won by sheer persistence of tenacious faith. But there came an occasion when I had no strength to pray. That was when I had the flu. I went down into very death until my toenails turned black, and death proceeded up my body until it reached my abdomen. My fingers died, my arms, my shoulders died. Death struck the top of my head and came down through me to my heart. My brain was so weak I could scarcely think, let alone pray. My wife was worn out, and had been persuaded to sleep downstairs. Everybody was worn out caring for the sick through the epidemic. My nurse, Mrs. Mero, sat down in a rocking chair and went sound asleep. I wanted to be alone with God, so I was glad she was asleep. After awhile it got to the place where I could scarcely think. I could not speak a prayer, but I just thought, "Lord I am too weak to pray. I am just going to cuddle down in your arms. It is all right with me Lord, but I it really time to go home I am ready, but Lord, I do not believe it is. I heave not begun to do the things that my heart has been asking to do in life." And as I lay there perfectly still, after about thirty minutes, I heard the Voice of God speak to my soul. The Voice was rebuking the disease. "Thus far shalt thou go and no farther." And I rose to health from that minute. Death Bed Resolutions You know there are death bed resolutions as well as death bed repentances. Hezekiah, in his prayer for healing had promised the Lord, "I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul." Verse 15. I wonder how many like Hezekiah, have sworn to "walk softly" before God and then have forgotten? It reminds me of the lines "The devil was sick, the devil a saint would be. The devil was well, the devil a saint was he." The sad record is that Hezekiah did not keep his vow. We read in 2 Chronicles 32:24-26: "But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him: for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah, and Jerusalem. Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah." After wrath threatened, then he proceeded to humble himself. Lots of folks do that. It is better to learn to walk at the feet of the Lord, so that wrath does not come at all. What a call there is in this lesson to that humbleness of walk before the Eternal God, through whom we receive blessing. The Lesson of the Sign of the Sun Dial There is another lesson, the importance of a healing in God's sight, which seems to me the deepest and most powerful in all this story. When Isaiah came to the bedside to tell him what the Lord had said, that he would not die but live, and that the Lord would add fifteen years to his life, Hezekiah said, "What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day?" The answer was given that the shadow should return backward on the sun-dial ten degrees. Verse 8-11. Think of the magnitude of the thin that Isaiah the prophet was proposing—the fact that the shadow should return backward ten degrees. There is only one other incident of this order in all the Word of God. It was when Joshua prayed, and the sun stood still, and the moon was stayed during the progress of one of their battles, until they had won that battle. See Joshua 10-12,13. This incident of the sign given to Hezekiah struck me with new force today. Mrs. Lake read this story as we rode along the highway between Eugene and Portland. She said, "Is it not strange that there should be such a tremendous sign given for a healing?" It would naturally seem as if the healing were an insignificant matter compared to the sign that the prophet gave as an assurance of the healing. Beloved, does it not prove that in the sight of God, the king's healing, or the healing of anyone else, is as great and wonderful in the mind of God as the moving of the sun backward ten degrees, or the staying of the sun and the moon in the Valley of Ajalon? It required the same action of the mind of God to bless Hezekiah and heal him as it did to turn the sun back and record it on the sun dial. Dear ones, I wonder if we are not in the habit of just accepting the wonderful healing of God, and running off with them as though we had a toy of some kind, and as though the Eternal God of the universe had not taken time and pains to heal us? Oh how we forget that these are matters of life and death. So important is our healing in the mind of God that He would stop the revolution of a world if necessary to accomplish it. Yesterday afternoon I went out with a group of ministers to pray for some sick folks around the city. In one home we ministered to a whole household. Some members of the family had recently died, several others were confirmed invalids. It made my soul sick. I said to one of the ministers, "Such a sight as this reveals our present-day Christianity as a helpless, wretched force. What would happen if Jesus Christ came into this house? He would show us what Christianity is by healing this family. Is it not time that we came out of our wretched theological debates, and get hold of the Eternal God, and called the power of Christ down upon a house like this.?" The house was afflicted with a spirit of infirmity. The whole family was in the same condition. It is only the Eternal God and His eternal power that will blast the curse of sickness from the homes of people, cast it out and set mankind free. Think of five or six splendid ministers sitting around in a town debating all kinds of little quibblings, such as WILL He heal this way, or will He heal that way, or will He heal at all?" Beloved, for the sake of a dying suffering world, pay the price, get God's power, and set prisoners free! Think of Jesus Christ coming to the world after these hundreds of years and finding the church asleep and the people dying in the toils of suffering! I wonder if we appreciate the light of God that has come to us? I wonder if we appreciate what it means to have homes where there is health, and where there is holiness? The Law of Death Hezekiah's sickness was "UNTO DEATH." And so God in His love sent the prophet to him saying, "Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live." You may have brought upon yourself a tremendous curse just like Hezekiah did. For his own sin, according to his own confession, was the cause of his calamity. What is your sin? Is it carelessness and inactivity of the sou, that peculiar lethargic condition that steals over the heart of the Christian, until something drastic comes along to wake him up. So God said, "Thou shalt die and not live." This is the law of sin. That is the law of circumstance. According to every know law, he would die. God knew it, God wanted him to be ready. It was not a decree of God. He was not killing him or giving him a sickness. That was the development that came from sin. God has a care for those we leave behind. Hezekiah had a kingdom to be continued when he was gone. Cause of Sickness I want to tell you, when you begin to analyze the subject of sickness, you will discover that usually the difficulty is that there is sin behind it. Not necessarily that there is an act of sin or some personal sin, but more likely the laziness of our soul, or the inactivity of our spirit, or neglect of God's Word, or neglect of faith and love and prayer. These are th things that usually underlie and generate difficulties in men's lives. The Healing Power of Tears Next, God will heal you when you repent and confess your sin, and your need of Him. Now God loves to answer prayer. How God loves an honest repentance. How God loves that soul that is big enough to pour out his heart in prayer, and pour out his tears with it! We do not see enough of tears these days. I was talking to a brother about the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, and I said, "One of the things we need is a baptism of tears." A baptism of tears for the lethargic state of our life, and the curse our souls have tolerated. My how the church needs to confess! Have you been weeping over your sins lately, or over your sicknesses? Bless God if you have, the Lord has heard your prayers, He has seen your tears. When we get sick, the trouble is we do not get to the place of tears. Usually before Christians get halfway there, they are ready to run to the hospital and get something cut out. Let the operation take place in the head and the heart, and the disease will disappear. Bless God. Add a few tears to your prayers and see if it will not bring the desire results from heaven. I cannot remember a circumstance when I prayed for a soul that was broken in spirit and bathed in tears, that was not healed. It is beautiful to see the harness of men's nature dissolve in tears, when they are the tears of true repentance unto God. Incident of Woman's Healing I was preaching in Chicago on one occasion when a dear woman came to the altar. She told me she had been seeking healing for seven years. She had been everywhere. She had been prayed for dozens of times. I watched her for awhile but I did not offer to pray for her. Brother Fockler and I strolled off after the meeting. He said, "Lake, you did not pray for that woman." I said, "I felt in my soul it would be a good thing to leave her alone for awhile." After an hour or so we came back, and that poor soul was still kneeling there. But the tears were flowing until there was a puddle upon the floor. The next meeting was about to begin, but as I took up my hymn book I saw that poor should and I said, "Brother Fockler come on, we are going to pray for her now." We laid hands upon her head, and as we did, the fire of God struck her; that was the end of her trouble forever. She was instantly healed. Beloved, mix your tears with your prayers when you come to God. If your prayers are deep enough in your spirit, so that they bring forth tears, bless God, it means God is finding a way down into your life. God has a difficult time getting the rubbish cleared out of our mind, out of our heart, and getting us down into the solid of our life. How many of you have confessed your sin to God who have come for healing? How many of you have really asked God to save you out of your sins and meant it? How many of you have really put yourself on God's altar? That is what get the pathway clear. God's chariot will come down the road when the stones are taken aw3ay. Blessed be God. CHAPTER 7 THE TANGIBILITY OF THE SPIRIT It is one of the most difficult things in all the world for people who are not familiar with the ministry of healing to comprehend that the Spirit of God is tangible, actual, a living quantity, just as real as electricity., just as real as any other native force. Yes, and a great deal more so. The life principle that stands behind all manifestations of life everywhere. Your spirit is the life quality of you, the life principle that gives you action. Not just your mind, but the in-breathed Spirit of God, the breath that God breathed into man. That is eternal. Take this outward man and bury him in the ground, and the worms will eat him. But they will not eat the real man—the one that lives within. So few have any conception of giving that inner man his proper place, or recognize his divine right to rule and govern the whole being. Now the secret of becoming a Christian is simply that you give God the right to come into your life and indwell your entire being. You have a spirit before God comes in to save you. It is a God-breathed spirit. The eternal, that God breathed into you in the beginning. It took that to make a man of you. That is not salvation. But when Jesus Christ comes into a soul to save a man, His Spirit is born into your nature in saving Grace. He takes possession of your spirit, your soul, and you body, and salvation is the most real thing under heaven. Bless God! Incident of the Man Who Fell In the River On one occasion I was crossing one of the bridges in Chicago, when a man fell into the river. That was when all the sewage of Chicago went into the river. A man with more presence of mind than I had, grabbed a rope from a dray and succeeded in getting him out, but he was unconscious. A doctor had been called and he put the fellow across a barrel and began to churn him. A gentleman said, "Well thank God, he is saved." But the doctor said, "Not so fast. We have gotten him out of the river; now we must get the river out of him." And he proceeded to get some of that black, inky river out of the man, and get the air into his lungs. A lot of people in that sense are saved. They have taken hold of God by faith that when they die they will go to heaven, and live with the Lord. But there is a bigger thing than that. The salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ is in "getting the river out of you." Getting the frog pond out of your spirit, so it is pure and sweet like the Spirit of God. Out of your mind so that it is healed, and you have thoughts of God and consciousness of God. All the dirty rotten filths cleansed out of you by the power of God. That is salvation. Jesus never taught any other kind. He taught a salvation for the spirit, for the soul, and for the body, all one glorious manifestation of the redeemed man, Bless God! My heart just rings and my soul just chimes with heaven on that conception of real salvation. That is where the world fell down. That is where the church fell down, when the conception of real salvation deteriorated from that high standard and came down the scale until it was just a squeezing into heaven, and the pungent force of His Redeeming Grace was lost sight of. It has been coming back very gradually. We who have been following the lessons of the past few weeks in the Old Testament have been getting the foundation truths upon which the whole structure of faith for healing is based—on the experiences of the Patriarchs, on the Covenant that God made with the Children of Israel. "If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God." That is the first principle of healing—obedience to the Will of God. My, when people get the living in harmony with God and God's Word, they have eliminated nearly one half the causes of diseases already! A man came into my office on Tuesday and said, "O, I am going crazy," I remarked, "Well you look like it." He added, "I feel like going out and drowning myself." I answered, "Sit up like a man and tell me what is the matter with you." He told me, "My wife is trying to leave me." I replied, "Well, the remarkable thing is that she is just trying to leave; it is a wonder that she doesn't just go." "Now," I said, "I will tell you what you need. You need to get down before God and repent of your sin and get right with God. When you do you will be right with your wife and everybody else. Until then you will have hell in your home. It is you that is making it and taking it there." Well, bless God, he did, and he is a saved man and has a saved home, and the family has not gone to wreck. Yes friends, obedience to the Word of God is the first principle upon which relationship is established. Normal Way to Be Healed A lady here had a brother who was dying of dropsy. He came here and began to recover for a week or two, until conviction for sin came, and this absorbed his mind and soul. Then his body began to grow worse. He went clear down to death. Then he threw up his hands and yielded to God. His soul was satisfied. Then the virtue of the Lord came and healed him. We are glad God undertakes to save people by any method, but the natural and normal way is to come and confess your sin, and get right with God. You are then on believer's ground, your heart is at rest, your soul is at peace, and you have a consciousness of God's salvation in your spirit. Then faith for healing is natural. We were ministering to a dear man who was dying of a chronic disease. He kept on dying. After awhile he began to get anxious about his salvation. That anxiety developed until it was absorbing his sou. I said, "There is no use praying for his healing. He will never be healed until his hear comes into rest with God." I told the brother who went out to see him to pray the power of God upon him to save him from sin. When he came back he reported that the sick man's face was aglow. The Lord had come and saved him from his sins and then healed him. "For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." In such a Scripture as the above you have one of those wonderfully condensed statements which in a few words reveal the greatest spiritual principles. Another one is, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Still another is found in 1 Corinthian 8:6, "But tu us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." God the original, from Whose life and nature and character and subs5tance Jesus Christ the Creator made all thins. So he who prays takes of the Spirit and Substance of Christ and by his faith forms or creates his soul's desires, whether for holiness or for health. Men, by the action of the will, take themselves out of the control of the power of the law of sin and death, and by the action of their will place themselves consciously in union and in touch with the law of the Spirit of Life. The Law of Levitation We read of an individual about the Sixteenth Century who was know as the Flying Monk. The peculiarity was that in certain spiritual states, the man would rise from his chair and float around the room. On one occasion when some royalty was visiting, it is said that he ascended into the air and went out the window. It has been reasoned that this man got himself in contact with some law of levitation, and it lifted him out of his chair and carried him out of the window. Suppose he could have remained in touch with that law. I wonder where he would have gone? Back in the Old Testament the prophets went out to look for Elijah. They said, "Peradventure the Spirit of the Lord hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain." They were more intelligent about spiritual laws than this generation. But Elisha said, "He is not in the mountains, for when I was down by the river the glory of God came down from heaven, and he stepped into the chariot and has gone on to glory." Are You Tied to Something? We walk through the life with our minds closed, our hearts centered in this old world. How men's hearts and lives are tied to this world. The manager of a theater sent for me, and I prayed for three people in his office. He said, "I have sixteen theaters and every morning I get a report from each institution by telegraph or long distance telephone giving me all the details of the conditions of business. I am just weighted down with it." I said, "Dear Lord, here is a man with his whole nature absorbed in this one thing, the management of a group theaters. He has no vision of God or life or any thing. Here is a man living in that wretched little circle, and all he knows is to keep his theater machine going." What are you tied to, Brothers or Sisters? A little home along the highway, or on one of those streets? You cannot take it to glory with you. One of these days you are going to die, and there you will leave it and where will you be? Most of us have more consideration for th old house and lot, or a few other trifles than we have for ourselves. Jesus tried to bring that lesson to us by saying, "The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment." The Christian stands out as the revelation of the divine power of Jesus Christ to come into the spirit of man, and change it and make it sweet and lovely like God Himself. To come into the mind of man, and take possession of all its faculties. To come into the nature of man and change it by the power of God until his thoughts are pure, holy, and lovely. To come into his old diseased body until God's action revolutionizes every cell of the blood. I believe that when the Blood of Jesus Christ is applied to a man's nature, spirit, soul and body, that when his sin is forgiven, the effects of that sin should be eliminated from his life. This may not be true in all Christian lives because we have not been educated in our Christian faith to believe with the same force and power for physical cleansing, as we have for the cleansing of our soul. But the Word of God says, "I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the Lord dwelleth in Zion." Joel 3;21. It is a small matter for God to perform that operation. The whole purpose of salvation is to stop the sin and disease process in man. Men live like animals. I do not mean coarsely or vulgarly. They eat, sleep, entertain themselves, labor, but they are not in touch with God at all. Finally man awakens. Like the old colored preacher who was telling of the prodigal son. He said, "He took off his coat and spent that. Then he took of his west and spent that. Then he took of his shirt, and when he took of his shirt, he came to his self." We come to ourselves in various ways. Benjamin Franklin believed he could bottle electricity. He had a conception that it was real and tangible and could be handled. He believed that the lightning was the same as electricity, so he made a kite and attached a key to the string. With his hand he drew a spark from the key. The result of this experiment revolutionized the world. Men began to study the laws of electricity and to apply them. Jesus Christ Revealed and Applied the Laws of the Spirit Jesus Christ came to reveal the laws of the Spirit and to apply them. In the heart of God there is a dynamic, a power which is great enough to save every man in the world, to heal every sick person in the world—to heal them of anything, of any degree of sin or any degree of sickness, to raise the dead, bless God. This is my conception of what went on in the mind of the Son of God: "To the extent that I can uncover the minds of men, so that they can see this and appropriate it for their benefits, I can save the world." Anyway, that is what He proceeded to work out. So through His life, through His death, through His resurrection from the dead, step by step, He went to the throne of God and presented Himself and received from the Father the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Then He said, "Here it is," and proceeded to bless the world with it. Acts 2. And ever since He has been pouring it out upon the world, upon whosoever would receive it. Bless God! The Power of God's Spirit will do for you what it has done for any one else in the world. But, beloved, you must come to God with earnestness and sincerity and faith and lay hold of it. Do you suppose that Benjamin Franklin would have discovered electricity if he had not believed there was electricity? You will not get any healing from heaven if you do not believe that there is any for you. You will never get it applied to your body, or your soul or spirit so it will do you any good, until you lay hold of it intelligently and receive it. That is why we have people testify to what God has done, and try to tell one another of God's action in their lives, until your soul comes into the intelligence of the faith, and you see that the redemption of Jesus Christ was not a mythical matter, but an actual scientific fact. So Christ was not an sentimental dreamer. He had His finger on the keys of the universe. He knew the treasure stored in the soul of the eternal God. He said, "I must bring this to mankind. They must see, feel, experience it. It must take hold of them and change them and revolutionize them." Bless God! Sitting before me is a man who was healed of rupture. The hernia would leave him in an agony of hell, and he sometimes worked all night to get the organs back in place. He suffered torture for seventeen years. Then one night some friends took him to a cottage meeting. A few saints gathered around and put their hands on him, and the fire of God, that blessing Jesus died for, that Jesus received from the soul of the Father, came down on his soul and body and he got up with his rupture healed. It's a wonderful salvation isn't it? CHAPTER 8 NAAMAN AND THE MAN OF GOD (At the beginning of the service Dr. Lake called a young lady to the platform by the name of Celia Prentice. She had been healed of a short leg.) Mr. Lake then spoke: This girl is seventeen years old now. She was born paralyzed from the waist down. When nine years old, a surgeon made a lot of steel braces, by which she was able to brace herself and stand and walk with crutches. The left leg was two inches shorter from birth. She came for prayer and in ten days from the time she was first ministered to, the leg had grown to normal length. She wore a shoe with qa two inch sole and a peculiar upper. In this case there was a creative action. The leg two inches short becomes normal by the touch of God. How marvelously this illustrates the power of God in the souls of men. People say, "I was born with this weakness, or that weakness." Or "I have this mental tendency, or that mental tendency," just as if they should remain that way forever; as if there were no God; as if His business were not to restore their personality, body, soul, and spirit, and bring them into the likeness of Jesus Christ the Perfect man. You see instant healings and gradual healings, just as you see instant conversion and those who have to be gradually enlightened. How many of you knew all about the fullness of Christ's salvation when you were converted. How many have lived without making any progress since the Lord forgave you? If I were going to quarrel with the church at large, it would be because they perpetuate infancy. People are born of God, and then remain babes. That is not God's ideal. I have preached the Gospel about thirty-four years, and about nine of those years without knowing Christ as the Healer. Consequently, life has had some experiences and particularly along the line of Divine healing and the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, which have characterized my ministry. Hence, I speak from experience. The Scripture Lesson "Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man of valour, but he was a leper." 2 Kings 5. Naaman was your General Pershing, your General Haig, your Foch or Hindenburg. He was a conqueror and had delivered Syria from the bondage of the nations about them. He was a mighty man of valour but he was a leper. This tells us a sad story. Then through the testimony of a brave little maid, his master learned about the fact of the power of God to heal in the land of Israel." I want to touch a phase of Divine healing that I feel is neglected. I feel that the Lord is misrepresented. I feel that many Divine healing teachers have not grown up into the stature in Christ where they take the position that the Lord ascribes to them in the Word of God. There is a continual effort to shift all the responsibility on the other party. And when they cannot do this successfully, they try to throw it back on God. Don't you know that this is the attitude to which unbelief and lack of faith have brought the church? In the early church the normal method was to call for the elders of the church. They would anoint with oil and the prayer of faith would save the sick. The person would be healed, and if hed committed sin, it would be forgiven him. When the early Christians anointed, they prayed the prayer of faith. It was figurative that right there and then the benefits and powers of the Cross of Jesus Christ were made available to the soul, and by the actual touch of the oil, represent the living Spirit of God as thus present to perform the healing. After awhile the church backslid, then traded away the gifts of god, sold the gift of the Holy Ghost, drifted into formality, came up through a thousand years of the Dark Ages, getting darker and darker, until when Martin Luther came, the Christian world had lost consciousness of the truth of salvation by faith. The church had substituted a human creation called "penance." That was the only conception of salvation left. Martin Luther's whole message was, "The just shall live by faith." It was a revelation of God. Salvation not by penances, but by faith in the living Son of God. One cannot imagine how it was possible for the church to have drifted away into such a condition. It shows how far the church has drifted from the pure ideal of the Lord Jesus Christ and apostolic times. We have a long road to come back. We are only infants. The greatest of spiritual men are but infants prattling around on the shores of the great sea of eternal light, life and power, compared to what the early church actually possessed and revealed. Well, when they lost faith they had to substitute something else. The elders and the priests continued to pray for the sick, but they had no faith in their souls and the individual died. They prayed for another and he died. Imagine the condition of the church and the elders after once having been anointed with the glory and the power of God. Now the power had departed, but still the elder goes through the ceremony. He anoints with oil, and he prays but nothing happens. So the church came to the relief os such, and they took that beautiful ceremony of the anointing with oil and the prayer of faith, and they changed it into what is known as "the sacrament of extreme unction." They took away the conception of healing and made it a ceremony of consolation for the dying. Beloved, the Protestant Church was born in no greater faith than that. The Protestant Church under Martin Luther was born with a faith for the salvation of men's souls, but there they put up the bars. Philip Melanchton is a lonely example of healing, more through Luther's despair than his faith. In the life of Wesley, advance was made. Wesley records two hundred and forty cases of healing in his writings, of every class of disease. He regarded these deliverances apparently as a triumph of human faith, emphasizing the thought that man's extremity was God's opportunity, That is not the true basis of healing. It is not because a man is in need. It is because it is the Divine purpose of Jesus Christ to redeem mankind from all sin and the consequences of sin. Sickness being the consequence of sin, and death being the consequence of sin, are ascribed by the Lord to the devil. Death was not the servant of God, but an enemy, and Jesus Christ is going to destroy death. "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." Bless God, that is the Divine consummation. Then sinlessness, sicklessness and deathlessness shall be abolished in the world. "No man shall say, know the Lord, for they all shall know him from the least to the greatest." And when sickness is gone, there will be no more drugs and operations. No more rattling of clods on coffin lids, for, "Death is swallowed up in victory." That is why Jesus Christ died. There was never any other standard for the church of Jesus Christ than that of dominion over sickness. Let us keep the standard high, where Jesus placed it. I want you to keep that fact forever clear, that the purpose of Christ's redemption is sinlessness, sicklessness and ultimately deathlessness. Bless God, that is His ideal for man. A man to be as perfect as Jesus Christ was perfect. Matthew 5:48. We may never get one half or one quarter of the way toward the ideal. But never try ot degrade God's purpose and bring it down to your level. But by the Grace of God put the standard up there where Jesus put it, and then get as near it as you can. After the church lost faith in God, they began to lie about God. They came to a man's bedside and said, "Your sickness is the Will of God." Well, it is the work of the devil, and in the ultimate sense every death that ever took place was the work of the devil. Even at the crucifixion Jesus said, "This is your hours, and the power of darkness." Christ died in substitutionary consequence of the law of sin, and not in consequence of the law of life. When Jesus Christy finally puts His mighty power into action, and brings the abolition of death into manifestation, sin, sickness, and death are done forever. Old Job started an error about the Will of God. A cyclone came from the wilderness and took the lives of his sons. He then said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." Only in the permissive sense is such a statement true. The Scriptures distinctly show that it was Satan who went forth from the presence of the Lord and caused these things to happen. But the world has perpetuated that lie, and many a preacher uses it in the burial service, and tries to stamp it on the impressionable mind of man. My surprise is not that there are so few healed, but that anybody, under the circumstances, is healed. For 1400 years men have erred about the Will of God, until the world is almost infidel as the result of it. Occasions When God Demands Action Instead of Prayer Moses came down to the Red Sea. The mountains were impassable on the right hand and on the left. Pharaoh's armies were following him down the Pass. He had two million men, women, and children on his hands. The Red Sea was in front of him. When he got to the Red Sea he stopped and did just what you do, and everyone else tries to do when they get into a hard place—back up and begin to pray. So instead of walking into the water and stretching out his rod, he backed up and began to pray. And the Lord went after him. That is one occasion when the Lord rebuked a man for praying. So many try to crawl out by praying. And the Lord said to Moses: "Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: But lift up they rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it." Exodus. 14:15, 16. In other words, "Moses you divide it." Our prayer is, "Now Lord, you come and heal this man." Don't you see the mistake? It was not the way that Peter healed. Peter met the lame man and said, "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." Acts 3:6. Bless God, Peter had something to give. It was God's power. The Christian's Responsibility God Almighty laid the responsibility on the individual who knows God, not on the other fellow. A young man came to me with tuberculosis. He said, "Mr. Lake, I am a tubercular man. I have been passed up by the doctors. I have heard that people were healed here but I have no faith." I answered, "Well dear boy, if you haven't I have. I know God. I am a child of God." The Christian is the one who ought to have faith. This was the attitude of the early church. "Go and heal them," said Jesus. And they went and healed them. This young man is now one of our preachers. Do not throw the responsibility entirely on the other person. Ifd he has no faith, give him some. Instruct him, give him the Word of God. Jesus ministered the faith of God in His teaching services so that people were able to receive healing. The Spirit of God ministered by Jesus was effective to produce faith in the souls of men and heal them too. Healing for the body, soul, and spirit. Queen Wilhelmina of Holland entered the state of motherhood six times, but was never able to carry the child to maturity. All the science of Europe could not bring the child to birth. There was a dear lady in our congregation in South Africa who had formerly been a nurse of Queen Wilhelmina. Her son was marvelously healed when dying of African fever, when he had been unconscious for six weeks. Being a friend of the queen, she wrote the story of her son's healing, and after some correspondence we received a written request that we pray God that she might be a real mother. I brought her letter before the congregation one Sunday night, and the congregation went down to prayer. And before I arose from my knees, I turned around and said, "All right mother, you write and tell the queen, God has heard our prayer; she will bear a child." Less than a year later the child was born, the present Princess Julianna of Holland. Kings and queens are only men and women. They need the redemption of Jesus and are a mighty poor article without it. "And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent unto the king, saying . . . let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel." Don't you know that more and more I feel that we preachers have too apologetic an attitude. We sort of apologize to the world. We have so many niceties that we are afraid to state that we are men of God. We have all sorts of cunning little ways, and we call them niceties. There is not the realization of the dignity and responsibility that should be evident in the man of God. Actually we are sidestepping. There is a better place of Christian boldness than that, and before we can take the world for Jesus Christ, we will assume a different attitude toward sin, and darkness, and hell. "So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth, and went away and said, . . . Are not the Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the rivers of Israel? May I not wash in them, and be clean?" 2 Kings 5:9-12. It was not the waters of Jordan that would make him clean. It was obedience to Almighty God. People have not learned that lesson very well. A man came in not long ago, and as I prayed I said, "You come in every day for the next thirty days, and if you do you will be well." So he came for a week and then got lazy and did not come again. In about two months he returned again, and I said, "When you get ready to obey God, I will pray for you again. I told you to come every day for thirty days." He said, "I came for eight days." Well, God let that fellow come for twenty-nine days. His healing was complete on the twenty[ninth day. But a lot of other things happened before that. He got under conviction for sin and found that there was a God in heaven, and there was something else in life beside getting a well body. God needs some time to get things worked out in our souls. The most unsatisfactory character of healings are our instant healings. In most cases you have a healed baby on your hands, and you have to run around with a nursing bottle for a year or two to get them straightened out and going on with God strong and clear. Faith is not a spasmodic impulse. It is the attitude of the soul. It is the set of your spirit. There is a verse that I like very much: "One ship goes east another west, By the self same gale that blows. "Tis not the gale, but the set of the sail That determines which way it goes." You set your soul toward God, knowing that the Blood of Jesus Christ hath made provision for your redemption from sin and sickness, and pursue it until you find it. In our African work we have a native man by the name of Edward Lion. When he first came to us he was a raw Zulu heathen, and wore a goat skin apron eight inches square, as his sole raiment. He was converted, and about a year and a half afterward was baptized in the Holy Ghost. On Christmas Eve of 1912 in Basutoland, South Africa, we served the Lord's supper to seventy-five lepers healed under that man's ministry. "And his servants came near . . . and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean? Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." I was conducting a Divine healing meeting in Wakerstrom, South Africa, when they brought in sixty-five sick people. We stood them in line and prayed for them one by one as they went by. Sixty out of the sixty-five were healed. Five were not healed. I wanted to interview these five, so we took them one at a time. I asked, "What is the difficulty? Is there any reason that you know of that you were not healed?" One man confessed to adultery, and when he repented to God we prayed again, and he was instantly healed. A woman confessed to being a persistent thief. We charged her and accepted her pledge to God that she would go and confess and make restitution as far as was possible. She was healed the moment that she made that confession and agreement with God. "If our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God." You do not have to pump faith into a man when his sin is taken away and his disobedience is gone, bless God. Then the pathway is made clear. We took four hours to deal with those five people, but I had the gratification of writing in my diary: "We prayed for sixty-five people and every one was healed." We do not know much about the Gifts of the Spirit yet. During the life of my late wife, she had the Gift of Discernment in a greater degree than I did. As I prayed for people, if they were not healed, I passed them on into another room; and when the crowd was off my hands, I would call my wife in. She would lay her hands on an individual and say, "At such and such a time you committed a sin." Probably to another she would say, "The Lord shows me that the particular difficulty is so and so." And when they got the matter settled with God, we would pray again, and the lord healed them. Beloved, the mere fact of the presence of the Gifts of Healing and the Baptism of the Holy Ghost is not evidence of God's full purposes. The ministry of the Holy Ghost is set forth in the nine gifts of the Holy Ghost. And we have been looking for a church that has it entirely. I am glad that we can see that since the coming of the blessed Baptism of the Holy Ghost all these things are becoming real to the Christian church. For the first fifteen years of my ministry I was considered as an insane man, a fanatic, because of the fact that God had revealed the ministry of healing and used me in that ministry. Now a whole lot of you are like a dear woman who has been coming here. She came the other day and said, "Mr. Lake, I have been prayed for three times and I do not think that I am any better." I answered, "I do not think that you will ever be any better until something happens in your life. You came with the thought of experimenting with God, and if you are not healed you could go and be operated on. Now if your consecration to God does not mean any more to you than that, you are only playing with God. God wants you to cut clear." Consecration means something. Jesus Christ went down to the Jordan and gave His Body, Soul and Spirit forever to God. Jesus gave the one and perfect pattern for Christian consecration for all time. He gave His Body, Soul and Spirit to God once and forever and then lived it. That is the reason that the day I invited Jesus Christ to come into my heart and become my physicians, I have trusted no other since. We represent the kingdom of heaven and the living God, and to reveal them to mankind is what we live for and stand for and are ready to die for. Bless God. Chapter 9 CONSECRATION, TESTING, POWER, VICTORY I wish we could follow the Lord Jesus today in the steps of His life, and the anticipation of His victory. You know we have our eyes so fixed on the fact that Jesus was the Son of God, therefore of course Divine, that we lose sight of the fact that He was also a Man just like other men. That all the soul battles that any man has to meet, Jesus had to meet. It is the realization of this fact that creates such fellowship. It seems to me that the sin of modern Christianity has been the isolation of Jesus into a class by Himself. Then Christians proceed to excuse themselves all along the line on the ground that Jesus was God. Jesus did this because He was God. Jesus had victory because He was God. Jesus healed because He was God. No, beloved, Jesus was just as much a Man as you and I. Jesus met every challenge of the soul, just as you and I have to meet it. But Jesus willed to do God's Will and to know God's Will. How to Enter the Will of God – Two Phases There are two phases of entering into the Will of God. The first is the surrender of our Will to the Will of God. Most people's conception of doing the Will of God is to become a non-entity. Now it is not God's ideal for you to have to be pushed around like a machine, or moved like a mechanism. The other is recognizing yourself as God's son and man's servant. I think the most wonderful exhibition of this truth that God can give us, is in the fact that He gives us the Holy Ghost to use for God. For instance the Lord says, "They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover." But if you do not lay your hands upon anyone they will not be healed. However, if you have faith to believe you have the Holy Spirit to be used by Him and for Him, your hands and heart will be ready. It is a sad thing to me that God had to go out on a special mission and hunt a soul up and wrestle with him in order to get him to do something for God. There used to be a Bible school in Ohio where they waited in continuous prayer meeting for nine months for the Gifts of the Holy Ghost. I said to them, "It seems to me if you stay around for ten years and nine months you will miss the Gifts of the Holy Ghost. But if you take off your coat and go out and use what God has given you to bless others, He will give you more." Jesus First Dedicates Himself Jesus first dedicated Himself. That is the secret of His life. He dedicated Himself not to do His will, but to do the Will of God. That is what His baptism at Jordan meant. Jesus dedicated Himself to God, Body, Soul and Spirit. How many of you have dedicated body, soul and spirit to God? (Many hands raised.) Now all those who took a dose of pills during the last two or three months, put your hands up. (No response.) Pill swallowers do not like to put their hands up. I want you to see the dedication of your body, soul and spirit means something. It means you have taken yourself out of the hands of man and out of the hands of the devil, and are over in God's way and God's will forever. Suppose you have a difficulty in your spirit. Where do you go for relief? You might go over and hang around those Spiritualists, but that would not be God's way. That is a way a lot of poor folks do. We have a neighbor who has been a very ardent Spiritualist. One day he rode to town with me, and he told me how fascinated he was. Last week he ran off with another fellow's wife. I have this much to say on the line. I have watched the progress and process of Spiritualism for years, and it usually ends that way. The tendency is downward, not upward, into selfishness and sensuality. No, when we have a difficulty in our spirit, we go to the Father of spirits. When we have a difficulty in our soul, we do not go to the spirit of the world, flesh and the devil. The trouble is in our consecration. We have not a real vision of the Christian's consecration and what constitutes it. The Lord provided a salvation for the spirit, a salvation for the soul, and a salvation for the body. The violator is not just a weak Christian, but he is a sinner. He is a sinner against the Will of God and against the spirit of Christian consecration, for the Christian's consecration demands a separation unto Jesus Christ of all that Christ separated unto God the Father. That was the consecration of the early Christians. The primitive church regarded the individual who took the world's way of pills and medicine as having departed from the way of Jesus, and they were dealt with in love and disciplined just the same as if they had stolen a horse or committed some other sin. They were treated as having sinned and needing restoration to God. You say, "That is very drastic." It may be, but it is very true. That is the law of God. It is not only the law of God, but is "the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus." Do you suppose if you go up to heaven you will find a lot of folks who are full of pills, headache tablets, or nux vomica? One of the prescriptions for healing in the Talmud is to repeat the Ninety-first Psalm seven times a day. Well, if a man repeated the Ninety-first Psalm seven times a day, he would not keep it up long before the spirit of faith in the Almighty God got into his soul. That was good medicine for the soul, and good medicine for the body also. The Extent of Jesus' Dedication If you are questioning the extent to which Jesus dedicated Himself, you can see the fullness of it in the story of His temptation in the wilderness. Satan tempted Him in the three departments of His life. First in the physical. Second in the psychological. Third in the spiritual. First he tempted Him to turn the stones into bread for the satisfaction of His physical needs. Then he tempted Him to get the acclaim of the multitude. A lot of preachers are doing that still. Satan set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, told Him to cast Himself down.. A psychological temptation in the realm of the soul. The third was a spiritual temptation. Satan took Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and said, "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." By a spiritual flash, one of the marvels of the spirit, Jesus is permitted to view all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them in a moment of time. He did not just let His imagination travel out, but He saw them in their magnificence, and wonder and glory. And Satan said, "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." You see His body had been dedicated, and His soul likewise to God, not to anybody else. He was utterly given up to God. I was talking with Mrs. Lake yesterday while we were out driving. I said, "Florence, the greatest sense of freedom that I ever experienced and the happiest days that I ever lived were after I had given away all I had." The night I preached my first sermon in the fullness of this gospel, I purposely gave away the last five dollars I had, to a widow. I just wanted to get rid of it. It was a wonderful thing to get the weights all off your soul. Beloved, what are the difficulties that you are struggling over? What is it that is keeping your soul down? Why bless you, in most cases it is a mere trifle. So when I did not have a cent, then the Lord took me to Africa. I do not believe that He would have ever told me to go if I had not obeyed Him. God said, "You are going to Africa," and I was totally broke. Most of you know the story of how I got there. We had a beautiful home in Africa. It was unusual in that it was built of wood. It was not as nice as our former woodshed in this country, but we were never so happy as we were there. The roof was of galvanized iron. I slept in the attic. Under that African sun in the summer time, it was seven times hotter than the Babylonian furnace, and just as soon as the sun set it was cooler than a refrigerator. But I slept in that attic and got some of the most beautiful things from God, and it was there that many of the truths I preach to you today were revealed to me. First dedicate yourself to God. I wonder if you have done it? You old church people who have been taking pills and every other old thing, have you dedicated yourself to God? Get through with it all and give your body to the Lord. Make Jesus Christ your Physician forever; take Him as your only remedy. The Result of Dedication The result of that dedication was that you could not have kept Jesus from the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. God has been waiting for a long time for folks to do that. My, the heart of God responds to that sort of consecration. When Jesus stood by the waters of the Jordan and made that consecration, something took place in the soul of the Father and the flood-tide of heaven's glory came down – appearing as a Dove resting upon Christ. At least it looked to John as if a Dove rested upon Him. The Spirit did not come in little dribbles. "He giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him." It came down from heaven in fullness, out of the heart of God. First, Jesus dedicated His all to the Father. The result was that the Holy Ghost descended upon Him and Jesus was filled with the Spirit. When you get filled with the Spirit, you will have something coming to you that is not all shouts and glory and happiness. Right away Satan got on the track of Jesus. He will get on yours too, if you make that sort of consecration. Somebody is filled with the Spirit and Satan knows there is going to be trouble for him. He must get on the job and side track that individual if he can. So Jesus was led into the wilderness; not by the devil but by the Holy Ghost. Isn't that a strange thing that the Holy Ghost led Him into the wilderness? What for? To meet the devil. Why? To try Him whether He was going to be an overcomer or not; to see whether He meant what He said at the Jordan. The devil said, "Did You mean the consecration that you made? Did You mean when you gave Your Body and Soul to the Lord at the Jordan, that it was forever?" Most folks mean their consecration on the day they are baptized, and then forget it the first time that the devil appears, or they get a pain in the stomach. It was a forever business with the Lord Jesus. Get that forever thing into your soul and spirit. There never was a time in history, when the world needed a demonstration that the Lord could keep people forever, under every condition, as much as it does today. Jesus had thus dedicated His Body, Soul and Spirit to God forever, and Satan tried Him to the finish on each point. A woman recently saved was afterward in despair. Everything had gone wrong from the time that she was converted. She was married to a wretch of a man. He told her if she were going to be a Christian he was through, and away he went. The next thing she knew her best friend went insane. Then her mother gave her heart to God, and she had not been a Christian for a week before her husband came home and said, "What has happened to you?" She told him that she had found God. He said, "Goodbye!" and that was the last they saw of him. Then she had her mother and the insane friend to care for. She was distracted and driven. One day in the agony of her despair, she was ready to throw up her hands. She said, "O God, after all I have experienced there is nothing else for me to do. I am going back into the world." About that time the Spirit said to me, "Go over to Salmon Street right away." I drove over and met her. As she came down the steps I reached out my hand and asked, as I saw the cloud on her face, "Well, how is it?" She replied, "Don't mention it. It is hell! Is this what folks get for being Christians?" I said, "I do not know dear sister, but one thing is dead sure, when you get through this you will know whether you are a Christian or not." Then I urged, "Dear little woman, this is not the time to throw up your hands in the midst of the battle. Any fool can do that. You win this battle, and then go and backslide." She answered, "All right, I will stick to this battle for two weeks." I said, "That is a bargain." At the end of two weeks I said, "Now dear sister, you go and backslide." She smiled and said, "I don't think so." The little insane friend was healed. The dear old mother was healed. Some friends discovered what was going on and filled their house with the sick, and they were healed. It pays to go through. First Jesus dedicated all His Being, Body, Soul and Spirit to God the Father. Next, the Holy Ghost from heaven came upon Him. He entered the temptation filled with the Spirit. He returned from the battle in the power of the Spirit. I prayed for the Baptism of the Holy Ghost for nine months, and if a man ever prayed honestly and sincerely in the faith, I did. Finally one day I was ready to throw up my hands and quit. I said, "Lord, it may be for others, but it is not for me. You just cannot give it to me." I did not blame God. One night a gentleman by the name of Pierce said, "Mr. Lake, I have been wishing for a long time you would come over and we would spend a night in prayer together. We have been praying for the Baptism for a whole year and there is not one of us baptized yet. Brother, I do not believe that you are either, so we can pray for one another." I was so hungry to pray, so I went with all the intentions of praying for the rest, but I had not been praying five minutes until the light of God began to shine around me. I found myself in a center of an arc of light ten feet in diameter – the whitest light in all the universe. So white! O how it spoke of purity. The remembrance of that whiteness, that wonderful whiteness, has been the ideal that stood before my soul, of the purity of the nature of God ever since. A Voice Spoke Out of the Vision of Light Then a Voice began to talk to me out of that light. There was no form. And the Voice began to remind me of this incident and that incident of disobedience to my parents, from a child; of my obstinacy, and dozens of instances when God brought me up to the line of absolutely putting my body, soul and spirit upon the altar forever. I had my body upon the altar for ten years, and I had been a minister of the Gospel. But when the Lord comes, He opens to the soul the depths that have never been touched in your life. Do you know that after I was baptized in the Holy Ghost, things opened up in the depths of my nature that had remained untouched all my life, and that which was shadowy, distant, and hazy became real. God got up close and let His light shine into me. A short time after, I received the Holy Ghost. You have been sticking away off in the background. You have been following Him a week or two, and then back off. Beloved, you will never get anywhere that way. God has a hard time jarring us loose, and getting us out where we will step out on God and stand. Jesus went through that awful testing. Supposing He had weakened? Supposing He had gone off and bought a box of pills? He would have been a blemished Lamb. Just once would have rendered His consecration valueless. When He went into the Wilderness He HAD THE SPIRIT, but after He went through the testing, the SPIRIT HAD HIM. Do you get it? A lot of folks have the Spirit of God. Every child of God has the Spirit in a degree, but after they have gone through with God the Spirit has them. The Result of the Wilderness Testing When He came out of the wilderness in the Power of the Spirit, when the Holy Ghost had Him, Body, Soul and Spirit, every fibre of Him, He was ready to go out and demonstrate what Christianity is. We read: "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness . . . among the people." Matthew 4:23 Everybody wants to jump in and preach, but bless God, when we are willing to go through with Jesus in that "getting ready" process, then it will be with effectiveness, it will be with power, it will be with the love of God. Charles Parham was preaching in the state of Kansas. An old farmer was very interested, and was all the time saying, "O, I wish the Lord would take all my farms and my cattle and all my possessions and let me preach the Gospel." So one night Parham got down to pray and he prayed, "Lord God in heaven, send a pestilence and kill all the cattle; let the lightnings come and burn up the sheep." And the man got up with a start, and said, "What are you praying that way for?" Parham said, "Well, didn't you mean what you said?" God bless you, we do not mean half of what we pray. But it finally dawned on that fellow's soul what a real consecration was, and one day he went and used the finances in the Gospel of Jesus Christ to get men's souls saved. He backed a dozen missionary boards. Years afterward I was walking down the street of Johannesburg, South Africa, when a street car came along and something said to jump on. The first fellow I saw was this chap. He told me he had just taken a missionary party up to the Congo and settled them, and he remarked, "The work we planted there is going on until Jesus comes and never stop." Wouldn't you like to plant something that would go on until Jesus comes, that would bless mankind? One night in 1909 I was preaching in Los Angeles, and in the course of my address I made the statement that I was located where conditions were such that I would guarantee a soul for every cent invested. I came on to Portland. I had gathered a party of eight that I wanted to take back to Africa. I had money enough for my own personal expenses but not enough for them. One night I knelt by my bed and prayed, "Lord, I have labored these six months and these eight people are ready to go back with me, and I believe every one of them is truly called of God. I haven't a cent to take them. Now it's up to You." I got into bed feeling that I had been heard. Four or five nights afterward, the night before my meeting closed, I came in about 2 a.m. and found a letter from George B. Studd. I read, "Lake, there has been a windfall in your favor today. A friend of yours came in and asked that her identity be not revealed, and she said, 'This is for Lake, of South Africa.' She left a draft for $3,000.00. I have five dollars of my own I am putting with it." I took my party back to Africa. I felt that money was a challenge to the thing that I had said, that I would present a saved soul for every cent invested. That would mean 300,000 saved. I want to tell you that there are 50,000 now. How many souls will that $3,000.00 produce if the Lord tarries for 50 years more? God showed me the value of souls. I was manager of agents for a life insurance company. I received 80% flat on the first premiums. Twenty or thirty minutes with a man might mean a commission of many hundreds of dollars. But God baptized me in the Holy Ghost, and I went back to my office at the end of thirty days, and I never had such a time to talk insurance to a man. The Holy Ghost kept saying, "How about his soul?" After a little bit I had to stop and say, "Brother, are you a Christian? If not kneel down." I would kneel down and start to pray, and I saw them come to God every day for six months. But O, I forgot about the insurance and the company was paying me to get insurance. I said, "This has gotten to be such a battle, it is either God and souls now or it is business." I fought that for six months. At the end, the Lord won. First give yourself to God, body, soul and spirit. That will take your money and everything else with it. Bless God! It did for Jesus and it did for me. "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath not where to lay his head," said Jesus. When on the African mission fields, my wife, seven children, and I sat down an hundred times when we did not have a thing but corn meal mush, and sometimes did not have salt to put on it, yet I preached three or four times a day, and ministered to the sick continuously. My heart is hungry for it now. I would say, "Goodbye to your pumpkin pie and everything else," and go back to mush, if I could have the same victory for Jesus Christ. Chapter 10 THE BRAZEN SERPENT The healing of the Israelites in the Wilderness at the time that Moses lifted up the Brazen Serpent, is one of the familiar lessons to most Bible students. Israel had a marvelous experience of deliverance and great conquest over Arad, king of the Canaanites, at which time God had utterly delivered them into her hands. "And Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites." Numbers 21:2, 3. But Israel soon forgot her vow. Some folks forget all about God so soon. Jesus said, concerning the lepers which were healed and only one returned to give God the glory, "Were there not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?" So we read in the fifth verse that "the people spake against God, and against Moses." Moses had asked to pass through the land of the Edomites, promising that they would touch nothing in their vineyards nor drink the water of their wells. But Edom said, "Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword." Numbers 20:18. So the people were compelled to compass the land of Edom. This was the reason that the people complained against God and against Moses. You can almost hear the Children of Israel as they groaned. "Wherefore have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?" It sounds like some Christians. Unless they are whooping it up on top of the house, they are away down in the valley, where it is terribly dark and sad. Israel had had a great triumph, but now she had been led through a hard way and she began complaining: "For there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread." The light bread was the Manna. Well, something happened. "And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died." Verse 6. Dr. Young's translation makes that read in the permissive sense. "And the Lord PERMITTED fiery serpents to come among the people." The lord had been protecting them and keeping the fiery serpents off all of the time, but they did not know it. So the Lord just let the serpents come among them. When did you have your last growl, or an awful spell of the blue devils? There is a place where the Christian soul gets through with all that kind of stuff. Confession Then a Remedy Provided "Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he will take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people." Verse 7. Real confession should always precede your prayer for healing. CONFESS your sin, then pray. It was a good thing Moses had grown up a little in God. Think of a man with over two million to growl at him. There is a place where the soul grows up. Moses prayed for the Children of Israel, and God gave him a remedy: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live." Verse 8. God was directing their minds back to the original Covenant. How many of you know what the first Covenant was that God made with man? God said to the serpent, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Genesis 3:15. That first Covenant promised a Serpent Bruiser. He made that Covenant with the whole race. It is one of our universal Covenants, and we have the right to look back there and expect the fulfillment of the Promise. The Power of God's Promises One of our ministers was limited in words and ability to express his thoughts, but he had a wonderful ministry of healing. One day I went with him to make his calls. After the first call I said, "I have not come to pray, you just go ahead and pray yourself. I am going to keep still." And when he began to pray I saw what the secret of that man's prayer was. It was the power of the promise. "God, You said it," and he would quote another Promise. The result was that he not only inspired faith in his own soul, but also the faith of God in the individual that needed the blessing. So in this instance God took the eye of the whole nation, and turned it back to the Promise of the Eternal God. Do you remember when Jesus wanted a precedent on which to establish His teaching on the subject of marriage and divorce? He did not go back to Moses but clear back to Eden. "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Taking the Sting Out of the Serpent There is another lesson I want you to see. That is, Jesus taking the sting out of the serpent. God promised that Christ would bruise the serpent's head, but in the process of bruising, "he shall bruise thy heel." That is, in the bruising of the serpent's head, Jesus Christ would be bruised in the effort. The bruising of the heel took place when Jesus Christ died on the Cross. But in the bruising of the heel, the head of the serpent was to be crushed forever. The serpent and all he stands for is to be blotted from the world. The serpent represented the thing cursed of God. Sin will curse anything. The sin of the world made Jesus Himself the cursed thing, and as the accursed and the criminal, He was nailed to the Cross, having taken on Himself our curse and criminality. "Being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree." That was the manner in which Jesus took the sting out of the serpent. And Paul goes on to elucidate this matter, and breaks out with great joy: "O death where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" 1 Corinthians 15:55. The sting of death is sin, but Christ having come, sin was abolished and the sting taken away. I think among all the wonderful symbols of the Word of God none stands out emphasizing more powerfully the conquest of Jesus Christ than this symbol of the serpent, which had bitten and cursed Israel, and then God held up before the people, saying, "Now look upon it, and you will live." Why? Because of the power of the PROMISE, because of the Covenant, because of the bruising, and because He became a curse for us. Blessed be God forever and ever! Utter Defeat of the Devil The New Testament reveals to us the utterness of the serpent's defeat. The Word says, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." He has become to the anointed soul, the symbol of defeat. "He (Jesus) came to destroy the devil." That is His purpose, "forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same: that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." Hebrews 2:14. My, how the Word of God reveals, not only Jesus Christ's own triumph over the devil and darkness, but the triumph of the Christian who enters into oneness with Christ. Bless God, the final consummation is revealed to us by the Apostle John in Revelation 1:18, when Jesus in exaltation of His glory stood forth declaring, "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." Yes sir, the keys of darkness were delivered into the hands of the Son of God; He has them. He paid for them at the Cross. That is the principle Jesus laid down when He said to His disciples: "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Matthew 16:19. Last night a dear sister of the church called to tell us that her husband had just returned from the railway office a short time before, violently ill, in an agony of suffering. She was weeping and said, "Mr. Lake, something must be done." How the mind wanders after that something. I said, "Dear Sister, something will be done if you and I believe God." I told the other members of the family and we bowed our heads. Nobody spoke a word, but we believed God. About half an hour later the telephone bell rang, and she said, "Brother it is wonderful, the agony is absolutely gone. The Lord has abolished it." One of the scientific discussions that I have been interested in lately, is regarding the power of the eyes to attract to themselves that upon which they look. Get the principle that is behind that. The power of the eyes to attract to themselves that which they behold. One can readily see that behind the eye there is an action; something within our nature that reaches out and takes possession of the thing which the soul admires, and the soul desires. We draw or attract to ourselves that which we behold. "Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image." Bless God, are you sinful? Look on Jesus and be saved. Are you sick? Look on Jesus and be healed. Let me carry your thought back and connect it with the serpent. The serpent was their peculiar enemy. He has been the symbol of the enemy of the race from the very beginning. "That old serpent, the devil, and Satan," is the Scriptural phrase describing him. But the utterness of his defeat, the wonder of the triumph of redemption, is set forth and portrayed in the fact that he, the symbol of darkness, is erected and nailed to the pole. God said, "Come and look at him. Do not be afraid of him." And bless God, whoever looked, lived. They saw the overcome serpent, and the overcoming Christ. My how the Lord God taught mankind by this wonderful symbolic lesson not to be afraid of the devil. He wrote it down in every soul of the nation that day, that the Almightiness of God brought their enemy into captivity, and no power of darkness should stand before Almighty God. Our difficulty is in the fact that we have become conscious of our sin and sickness, that we are not looking to the Lord with faith and expectation. It seems to me in this matter of health, the Children of Israel learned a profound lesson. God was preparing to take them across Jordan. The lesson of the utterness of the defeat of the prince of darkness must have been very clear in their consciousness. After they crossed Jordan they trusted God continuously for many hundreds of years, and they had already trusted God for forty years in the wilderness. A lesson to older Christians. We have been in the way quite a while. God has taught us varied lessons along the way. God had been their Healer through the forty years in the wilderness, but now here at the end of that time, God is confirming their education in faith in order that when they go across the River Jordan into the land of Canaan, they will remain settled in their faith forever. In the process of assisting them to realize the utterness of Satan's defeat, just a few days before they asked Arad for the privilege of going through Edom, and he refused them, then Israel, "Vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people in my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities." An utter and total defeat of the enemy. Israel blotted the nation out, took possession of her territory, dwelt in her houses and cultivated her lands. There was no further to go in demonstration of the utterness of defeat of the enemy, and triumph and victory of God's people. Then right on top of it God brought this symbol of the serpent and put it up before them, to demonstrate in the spiritual the utterness of God's victory over the enemy of man. I do not now how these truths work out in other souls, but when I saw for the first time by the Word of God that sickness was not the Will of God, but the work of darkness and that it belonged to the kingdom of darkness, and that Jesus Christ said Satan was its author, everything in my nature rose up to defeat the will of the devil. Now it may be beloved, that you have been tolerating something in your soul that is out of harmony with God. It may not be that you are sick, but you are tolerating something that is out of harmony with God. The other day I sat by the bedside of a poor fellow who was being utterly consumed of disease. I talked with him a few minutes along the line that Christ came to destroy the works of the devil. As I sat analyzing the brother, I asked, "Brother, where did this difficulty originate?" He replied, "It originated in my disobedience of the laws of God and man." "All right, who is its author? To what kingdom does it belong?" He answered, "It does not take much reasoning to classify it." I said, "If that is true, God has promised its utter annihilation." He plead, "Oh pray for me that the pain will leave." I replied, "No, never! I cannot do it. But I will pray that the living God will utterly blot it out." Yes, brother, when you came to God with the sin of your burdened heart, the first thing He did was to blot it out, bless God. And He filled your soul with the consciousness and presence of His glory, and ever since He has been endeavoring to reproduce the likeness of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in you. ******************************* Chapter 11 THE GRACE OF DIVINE HEALING An address given at a Convention in Chicago, Illinois, July 26, 1920 I want to use a familiar text, "The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." Titus 2:11. There never was a bigger word than the word of "Grace." If we undertake to define and analyze its operations, that beautiful term brings the many-sided gospel of Jesus Christ to the heart with a wonderful clearness. The Grace of Jesus Christ is not His demeanor, neither His beautiful gratuitous giving. It is the DIVINE OUTFLOWING OF THE NATURE OF GOD, heavenly, healing loveliness, and holy balm, it comes to the needy world; not only as a sin-saving action of God, but as a healing virtue, pains, changing the very chemicalization of their being, healing and abiding rest in God. Divine healing is no mystery. It is the definite action of the Spirit of God in the souls and the bodies of men. Grace of God on an Individual There is a Grace of God that rests on a community. There is a Grace of God that rests upon a church; the Grace of God that rests upon an individual. In South Africa, there used to be an old lady who visited our home once in a while. She was one of the sweetest, most blessed creatures I ever met. My, when she came into my office and sat down for five minutes, she brought the consciousness of God, a restfulness and a peace of mind. From her whole person there seemed to radiate that blessedness that can be described only as the grace of God, and the very atmosphere would become pregnant with it. I would make excuses to take her through the house. I wanted her to leave that beautiful communion all over the place. Because when she was gone, it seemed the house settled down, the noisy children ceased to influence, and all invisible unrest disappeared. It was the Grace of God. Tuesday of this week, at Portland, we had an experience with a young woman who was on the way to the river to take her life. Somehow she felt impelled to come up to our healing rooms. She sat for a little while and we talked to her, soothed her heart, and tried to get her to God. I said to those present, "I wish someone could take her and love her for a little while." Soon a lady of our church came in and I introduced her to the poor girl. I said, "Just take her home with you. Put your arms around her and let her feel your love. Let her know what the Grace of God is, not by preaching, but by contact." She took her home and four days later the young woman came back, after having given her heart to God. In the meantime things worked out in her family; she w4ent back home to be a blessing to her brother, her sister and dear old parents and the kingdom of God. This is the same Grace of healing that flowed from the loving Hands and heavenly Spirit of Jesus. I wonder when the Lord Jesus Christ passed down the highway as He walked from Bethany to Jerusalem, if the atmosphere was not alive, pregnant with the beautiful light of His Divine presence and blessing. And I haven't a bit of doubt that when someone walked down that way after Jesus passed, and they breathed the air that Jesus breathed, that they felt the life of God that was shed from His person, and were healed by the virtue of the fact that Christ had been there. That same healing Grace permeated the atmosphere around dear old Peter, so that the sick were healed as far from him as his eventide shadow reached. That is my ideal of a Christian heart, a Christian life, a Christian church or a Christian ministry. My soul desires, by the Grace of God, that out through these old brick walls, there will flow that beautiful emanation of Christ throughout old Chicago, that will discover disease in every part of the city, and heal both soul and body. That this Grace may bring to the heart of man made free from sin's power, a life joined to God, a consciousness of holy oneness with our Father God, through Jesus Christ. Atonement makes at-one-ment, in body, souls and spirit with Christ, both in salvation through Him and in ministry for Him. How blessed it is when once in a while we walk suddenly into the presence of one rich with the light and life of God. As we emerge from the storms of life, as we come out of the turmoil, passing into the presence of the heart that balm and sweetness indicating the presence of God, and leaving upon our life a divine influence that gives us restfulness of mind, restfulness of heart, and sunlit soul, the God-lit life, instantly there comes to the quiet in God. There is the Grace of God that goes underneath the soul of man, that by the blessed gift of the Spirit, lifts from the life forever the shadows and darkness that sin has brought, and takes away the corrosion that has come upon the soul of man, and by the Grace of God lets the heart of man understand the blessed touch of the Son of God that imparts eternal life. Blessed be His name. "Down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter, Feelings lie buried that Grace can restore. Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness, Chords that were broken will vibrate once more." O yes beloved, there is a Grace of God that goes underneath the life and lifts the nature of maninto beautiful holiness and heavenly contact, into the consciousness of purity, the realization of power, blessed be His name forever. Curse Removed from a Drunkard One morning a distress call came from a woman on behalf of her husband. Some other ministers and I responded. We found the man in delirium tremens, begging his wife for just a little more whiskey, and making the usual promises an insane man will make. We knelt by his bed, laid hand upon him, lifted our hearts in love and faith to God. "The grace that bringeth salvation" appeared, stole into that man's soul, and in five minutes his pains were gone, the curse had departed, and he never wanted whiskey again. Later he called on me in Portland, Oregon, took my hands and poured out his tears and love for God, told of his success in life, and all the rest of the beautiful story. The Lord was not in the cyclone, or in the fire, or in the earthquake. He is now as then in the still small voice and the healing touch of Divine gentleness. Every soul should have its own contact with God. If that touch has not been real to your own heart yet, it may become real. Bless God! Mrs. Graham was dying of pneumonia. As I entered into her home I was met by Brother Fogwill, coming out. He said, "John, you are too late. She is gone." The flames of God came over my heart and though she had not breathed for twenty-three minutes, the breath and the power of Christ came upon her and she is continuing her ministry for God and man. Beloved, the Christian life is a glorious doorway into God, through Jesus Christ, into the divinest secrets that the soul of man ever desired to attain. And bless His Name, you and I tonight are privileged to enter that doorway, and to know Him "whom to know is life eternal." The Woman in the Coma of Death Some days past, Dr. McInturff and I were called to the bedside of a woman that was dying. She had gone out of her mind. Had Become unconscious, and was then in the coma of death. Her nurse told us that she had not been able to speak, hear, or see for a number of days. We knelt, prayed, and left, with a feeling that God was there, though we could detect no action in the woman's body so far as we could tell. We went away with the consciousness that our prayer was heard, and the work was done. Weeks passed and there was no report of the woman's condition. Until finally one day the motherin- law of the woman walked into the office to tell how wonderfully God had healed and delivered the woman. Later the lady herself, walked in, and for an half hour told of the wonderful inner action of the Spirit that went into her life even as we prayed. She said, "Brother, as you knelt by my bedside, I became conscious that someone was there. All I knew was that the sound of the voices was different from others. Then you proceeded to put your hands on my head, and something began to steal down through my brain; the awful torture gradually subsided. After awhile I became still and quiet in my soul. Then a voice began to speak to me about my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It bade me have faith in God, an said that I should come out of this condition, and be a blessing to my home and husband. I have now come to tell you that your prayer was heard." We never spoke of the Grace of salvation, but the living presence of the Spirit came to her and made her to know of "the grace of God that bringeth salvation." The world is in need of a knowledge of Christ's way of salvation and healing. The whole subject of its actuality has become greatly dimmed in the hearts of men. There is a dire need of a wondrous clarifying of the spiritual atmosphere, in order that His power may be made effective to those who turn their hearts thither-ward. This then is a part of the mission of Pentecost. Not only to declare Christ as a Savior and a Healer, but to manifest Him by God's Grace in daily life, through God-anointed lives and hands to carry that blessed Grace of God, and transmit it to whosoever will. Put your hands on the sick, believer; Jesus Christ commanded it, and "they shall recover." I am praying that upon your souls there will come the presence of God, through Christ, that will make you realize yourself as a minister of the Lord and Savior, with a mission from God, and that in His Name you too, my brother and sister, will go forth to carry this light and power to whosoever will. A young man dying of consumption came to our healing rooms and said, "I am no Christian. I have not been interested in religion. I have heard that people are healed here. I am dying and have no hope. Tell me what you have to say in the shortest words you can." I answered, "Young man, God is able to deliver you. He is able to heal you. He is ready to do it right now." He replied, "I haven't any faith." I said, "But I am a child of God, I am a son of God, and I have faith." And without more ado I proceeded to pray. That man was healed. His sister was converted and healed, and other members of the family were saved. I received word telling of a movement of God in the community, where a dozen people are now seeking God unto salvation. CHAPTER 12 THE LAW OF LIFE AND LAW OF DEATH There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Romans 8: 1-2. There are three laws here. First, there is the law of the flesh,. Second, there is the law of death. Third, "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, (which) hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Man is compelled to recognize that there exists a law of death in his own members. The hair turns gray, the eyes grow dim, not because you are sick, but because the law of death is operating in you. Wrinkles come in your face, the body gets old. All these common evidences are noticeable every day, and teach us the operation of the law of death that exists in our members, permeating our being and established in our nature. The natural consequence is that in spite of all you can do, you will die. You may live as sanitary as you know how, but eventually you will die, for there is a law of death that claims every man in the world. Until this hour, that one unconquerable foe of the race is death. I heard this amusing incident which illustrates that truth. A lawyer, Gilluly had secured the names of the doctor's prominent patients who had died. So he appeared in court an among other questions, he asked, "Doctor, you had a patient once by the name of so-and-so. Where is he?" The doctor answered, "He is dead." "Now then you had another patient by the name of so-and-so. Where is he?" He is dead." Well you can imagine the effect of an attorney keeping that up for half an hour. It looked as though all the patients the doctor had treated had died. And of course if the doctor lived long enough to sign death certificates, he would have to sign them for all the people, as there is a law of death that claims every man. The Soul and the Law of Death We see that in the natural order, man will die. But I want to call you attention to this law on the spiritual side. Just exactly as there is a law that claims your body in death, there is a law of death that claims your soul too, unless you do something to counteract it. The law of death will claim your soul as well as you body, in the natural, in spite of everything you can do. People seem to think that they must be terrible sinners in order to lose their soul. That is not true. All you have to do is to be naturally careless. Just live like cows do. Just like the dogs do. Just live like the horses do. Just be an animal. Dogs are honest, the cows are honest, horses are honest. They do not steal, or lie, or swear, or get drunk. Suppose you put yourself on the same level with the animals, as men are doing every day. What will be the end of this? Well, your body will die, and you will lose your soul too. Not because you have been a highwayman. That is not the reason. Just because you have been so careless that you have not taken pains to come to the Lord Jesus Christ, and secure from Him the only element that will stop that process of death in the soul. Man Who Lived 152 Years I saw a slab in Westminster Abbey for a man who had died at the age of 152 years, by the name of Parr. On account of his great age some of the royalty got a hold of him and brought him to London, away from plain diet and rural life. They wined him and dined him and in a few days it proved too much for and he died. It does not make any difference if a man lives fifty years, or seventy-five years, or one hundred and fifty two years, like Fred Parr did; he will die. They die because there is a law of death, and this body is doomed to die by that law of death, and this body is doomed to die by that law of death. That law of death came into being through sin, through disobedience to God. Before man sinned there was no death. There were no heavy eyes, no heart breaks, no soul wrenches, no clods rattling on coffin lids. But sin came and "through sin death entered into the world." Through sin! That is the cause of it. That is the reason death came. Sin generated decay which is sickness, and death which is dissolution. Antidotes In nature we have antidotes. I knew of a farmer out in the country, James Sawyer, who came into the house during his wife's absence, and took what he supposed was the medicine that he had been in the habit of using. It sat up on the clock shelf. His wife had carbolic acid on the clock shelf too, and he grabbed the first bottle he saw, and instead of getting the medicine bottle he got the carbolic acid. But before he lost all power of control he crawled down into the cellar, and got a big pail of lard and proceeded to eat it. Every once in a while his stomach would become overloaded and he would vomit. It was a fine case of presence of mind for a farmer in the country, who probably had nothing else available that would have helped him in such a circumstance. It saved his life. The Divine Antidote There is an antidote for sin, the deadliest poison, something that will counteract sin and nullify its power. Jesus Christ knew that this condition of sin rested upon the world. He came by the grace of God to provide something that would stop its progress, nullify its power, and give man deliverance from death. Your soul is dying, dying, dying because of disobedience to God. Because you live in conformity with that law of death, you are going on dying and dying, and you will die, unless you put yourself in harmony and contact with another law. Nobody can put you in harmony with that other law. You must do it yourself. No man can put you in harmony with that law of life, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." He is its source. It is from His Soul that it is ministered unto you. It is His Spirit that does it. So the Apostle rejoiced that he was made "free from the law of sin and death." Operation of Fear In the Physical That law operates in the physical as well as the spiritual. A man is in a state of fear. Someone has typhoid fever. They are placarding the houses to keep other from getting in contact with that dread disease. Now fear causes your mind to become subjective. When you are full of fear, your pores will absorb everything around you. You are drawing into yourself what is around you. That is the way people absorb disease. I was ministering one time where the bubonic plague was raging. You could not hire people for a thousand dollars to bury the dead. At such times the government has to take hold of the situation. But I never took the disease. Operation of the Law of Life Now watch the action of the law of life. Faith belongs to the law of life. Faith is the very opposite of fear. Faith has the opposite effect in spirit, and soul, and body. Faith causes the spirit of man to become confident. It causes the mind of man to become restful, and positive. A positive mind repels disease. Consequently, the emanation of the Spirit destroys disease germs. And because we were in contact with the Spirit of life, I and a little Dutch fellow with me went out and buried many of the people who had died from the bubonic plague. We went into the homes and carried them out, dug the graves and put them in. Sometimes we would put three or four in one grave. We never took the disease. Why? Because of the knowledge that the law of life in Christ Jesus protects us. That law was working. Because of the fact that a man by the action of his will, puts himself purposely in contact with God, faith takes possession of his heart, and the condition of his nature is changed. Instead of being fearful, he is full of faith. Instead of being absorbent and drawing everything to himself, his spirit repels sickness an disease. The Spirit of Christ Jesus flows through the whole being, and emanates through the hands, the heart, and from every pore of the body. You observe that we lay hands upon the sick for healing. What for? Simply that the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus that dwells in the Christian may flow through our hands into their body. We were praying for a sick woman last night, when I saw the Spirit of God strike. It flashed through her soul just as consciously as a stroke of lightning. I felt it in my spirit and I know the one we were praying for was conscious of it too. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." If a man were traveling down the road in a certain direction, and were aware that at the end of that pathway he is going to drop over into the grave, and that not only his body is going into that grave, but he is going to lose his soul, we would naturally think that a sane man would stop. I wonder what keeps a man from exercising good old-fashioned horse sense? Some power somewhere is exercising itself to keep him in that state of mind, so that he acts like a man that is drugged. The soul is asleep. It is in a dormant state. The soul of man is drugged by the devil's power. No sane man would come to the end of his journey, losing both soul and body, if he realized it. He is not aware,. He is not awake. His soul is in a stupor. That is the reason that we preach with all our energy, to arouse men out of that lethargy. The Word of God says, "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead." Don't you see that when men turn their faces heavenward and look to the Lord Jesus for salvation, instantly by faith they contact the law of life, and the result is the consciousness of salvation. In the natural world there is a great law called gravitation. This causes everything to move toward the center of the earth. That is the reason that when you throw anything into the air, it will come down again. There is another law called levitation. It is the powerful operation of the law by which we will rise to meet the Lord in the air. In Christ Jesus there is a law that lifts you up, just as in the natural there is a law of death that pulls you down. Christianity and salvation are the conscious taking of yourself out of the law of death and putting yourself out of that law of death into the conscious control of the law of life. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death." I want to leave this written upon your soul by the grace of God. Religion is not a matter of sentiment. It is not the matter ho how you feel, or how I feel. It is the matter of the inevitable law, the conscious law, established eternally. In the path of darkness, you will keep going on downward, and death will be the result. Let your heart turn upward, embrace the Lord Jesus Christ, let His living Spirit get a hold of your soul, and you will be lifted heavenward, just as naturally as can be. You are in sickness and you are down. It is terrible to look into the faces of some of these woebegone people. I visited with a dear man today and his soul was in the gloom of darkness. He said, "I can sight something and see further than my eyes can see, and after a while it concentrates into a narrow sphere ten inches in diameter, and it is total blackness. Tell me what is that?" I replied, "Dear Brother, that is due to the fact that there is no life of God and light of heaven your heart." That poor man was under the law of death. A man came to me one day and said, "Mr. Lake, I am haunted." I asked, "What do you mean?" He answered, "I have been associated with bad people who I believe were demon-possessed, and it seems when I walk up the street there are a horde of demons around me and I can see them. They grin at me and laugh and taunt me." I replied, "Brother, I will pray for you." I called on God to cast those demons out of his life, to bind them, and send them back to hell, or whoever else they came from. After we prayed he sat up with a sigh of relief, and said, "Brother, I am free." I added, "Brother, you have come out of the regions of darkness and sin and hell, and Christ and the Spirit of God have put you over on His side, under the law of the Spirit of life. You ought to see the angels of God, with as much readiness as you did the demons." The next day he returned very joyfully, and said, "Before I got to the bank I saw an angel, and there have been angels around me all day. As I walked up the street there was an angel that walked beside me." Divine Protection During that great plague that I mentioned, they sent government ship with supplies and a corps of doctors. One of the doctors sent for me, and said, "What have you been using to protect yourself? Our corps has this preventative and that, which we use as protection, but we concluded that if a man could stay on the ground as you have and keep ministering to the sick and burying the dead, you must have a secret. What is it?" I answered, "Brother that is the 'law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.' I believe that just as long as I keep my soul in contact with the living god so that His Spirit is flowing into my soul and body, that no germ will ever attach itself to me, for the Spirit of God will kill it." He asked, "Don't you think that you had better use our preventative?" I replied, "No, but doctor I think that you would like to experiment with me. If you will go over to one of these dead people and take the foam that comes out of their lungs after death, then put it under the microscope you will see masses of living germs. You will find they are alive until a reasonable time after a man is dead. You can fill my hand with them and I will keep it under the microscope, and instead of these germs remaining alive, they will die instantly." They tried it and found it was true. They questioned, "What is that?" I replied, "That is 'the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.' When a man's spirit and a man's body are filled with the blessed presence of God, it oozes out of the pores of your flesh and kills the germs." Suppose on the other hand, my soul had been under the law of death, and I were in fear and darkness? The very opposite would have been the result. The result would have been that my body would have absorbed the germs, these would have generated disease and I would have died. You who are sick, put yourself in contact with God's law of life. Read His Word with the view of enlightening your heart so that you will be able to look up with more confidence and believe Him. Pray that the Spirit of God will come into your soul, take possession of your body, and its power will make you well. That is the exercise of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. A man came to me about a month ago and said, "Mr. Lake, I am in an awful darkness and dread. If there is a hell, I am in it now." I inquired, "Brother, what put you there?" He shrugged his shoulders. I said, "There is some place where you departed from the law of righteousness, from the place of truth, from the law of life in Christ Jesus, and let the law of death get hold of you." Then I told him the story of Christian in Pilgrim's Progress. How that Christian lay down, and while he slept, his roll, which was the witness of God, fell out of his pocket. He awoke and went on without noticing. But as he went down the road he began to have doubts. He wondered if he had been saved. After a while everything grew blacker, and finally he discovered he had lost his roll. What did he do? "Well," he said, "I will go back." He turned back, went to the tree where he had been asleep, and found his roll. He got back his witness. "His Spirit beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." Jesus is the Law of life. Life comes from His soul. He breathes it into your heart. He pulses it into your nature. He transmits it into your body. That is what makes people whole. CHAPTER 13 THE INTEGRITY OF GOD'S PEOPLE "Back to Christ" is a slogan that is being adopted by real Christians everywhere these days. The result of unbelief being taught in our educational institutions was discussed by W.J. Bryan in a recent sermon. The expression behind Bryan's sermon was "I sent my boy to college a Christian; a returned an atheist." That experience has become s common that it is not a matter of surprise any more. Consequently the world has drifted into the attitude of mind that the individual who believes the truth of God as expressed in His Word is intellectually a back number. He is not an u-to-dater. The Science of the Gospel I have taken this ground for many years in debate and otherwise that there is a science of the Gospel of Jesus Christ so profound that no man with a simple knowledge of material science, discovers it or knows anything about it. It is beyond his ken. But through simple faith the souls of men enter into a relationship with God, where God makes known to them in consciousness His Presence, His love, His power, His salvation which is indisputable, for the evidence from heaven is not to be disputed. When a Christian is truly born of God, and has really received from God witness to that salvation, you cannot cause that individual to doubt or question, if he is living in the light of God. You can bring all the scientific disputation to bear jupon him, but they have no weight. That is the reason that the Christian who does not even know the meaning of the word "psychology," or "science" goes through life with a song in his soul and a triumph in his spirit, because he has something in his heart that the other man does not know anything about. Janitor Healed in the University I love to tell this incident because it illustrates that splendid truth. I was lecturing at the Medical Department of the University of Dublin, by arrangement of W. T. Stead, and was going down the line of action of the power of God in men's lives in salvation, in healing, in bringing the consciousness of God in clearness to their lives. The janitor and his wife were doing some work in the back of the hall. The old man was a rheumatic cripple. As I went along I said, "Old man come down this way." Then I inquired, "What is the matter with you?" He answered, "It is rheumatism." He told me he had had it for ten years. I prayed for him, asking that the Lord might heal him; as I did so, his dear simple soul went up to God, and the faith of God in my soul went up to God for him, and the old man was healed. I had the consciousness before I ceased praying, that he was healed. ` The chairman addressing one of the professors, said "Explain this occurrence." And he proceeded to give a long technical psychological statement. The janitor's wife, in her delight, broke in with" Ach, it's just Jesus." Night before last I prayed for a man at Carlton, Oregon. He had a slipped vertebra, the result of an accident. He suffered agony. I laid hands on him and prayed, and before I ceased praying I was conscious that he was healed. But he did not know it. By the Spirit of God one is aware of what God has accomplished. So when I finished praying, I put my hand upon his stomach and I said, "Bend down, and do it quickly." The poor fellow was so startled; perspiration came upon his brow, because he expected the usual thing to take place. But God had healed him. Now get the scientists of earth to define that power that instantly heals, and tell you what and how it is applied. There are some things that the Christian soul learns that nobody else knows anything about. Once I was talking with Professor James, psychologist of Harvard, a splendid man. We were discussing Harold Bixbee's books, "Twice Born Men," and "Broken Earthenware. He said this pungent thing, "Lake, it is a rather sad thing that when we want to get a good example of what you Christians term real conversion, we are compelled to go over to the slums of London, to the work of the Salvation Army fo find it." I replied, "James, my judgment is that it such fellows as you and all the other big lights, who brought that condition to pass." There was a time when every godly Methodist had the testimony from heaven that he was a son of God, and if he did not have it he was not a Methodist. That was what distinguished Methodism. The Overcomer I want to talk to you a little about the overcomers. Job is the best Old Testament example of the real overcomer in the Bible. As I study the Word of God, I see great outstanding types in the Old Testament. Enoch, a type of the translation. Enoch was not aware of what time he was going away. He just traveled so far out in God that he could not get back again. There became a detachment; the earth's environment let go, and the heavenly drew him; Enoch never returned. "And Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him." Genesis 5:24 Elisha is another type of translation. But Elijah knew he was going. The whole school of the prophets knew it. He went over to Jericho, and when he got to Jericho the prophets there said to Elisha, "Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today"? (II Kings 2:5). Where did they get it? They got it from heaven. Elisha's Persistence Oh, there are some fine lessons; here is one of them. Elisha persisted in being with Elijah. Elijah tried to dismiss him several times, but without avail. He answered, "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave the." Elijah could not get rid of him, and after they crossed the Jordan on dry ground, Elijah replied, "Thou has asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so." Verse 10. So they went on, and as they talked–oh, you dear folk that get your eyes off the Lord and on the phenomena, get this lesson. You hear folk say, "Did you see how the power of God came on that fellow" My, didn't the power of God come on him wonderfully when I prayed." And they were so entertained with the power of God that the eyes were taken off the Lord, and they wondered why nothing was accomplished. "And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." Verse 11. A flaming chariot and horses rush between them, and they ar parted, but Elisha had the good sense to keep his eyes on the prophet. The chariot and horses from heaven, rushing between them, did not have power enough to take Elisha's eyes of Elijah. He was watching and expecting something, and there was nothing going to attract his attention from the object of his desire, not even if it came from heaven. And that test was applied by God Himself. If a chariot and horses broke through the window today, would we forget about the Lord in our interest in the phenomena? One Cause of Failure I had a young preacher on whom a marvelous power of the Spirit rested. I was in a meeting once when he prayed for about 150 people, and I think one hundred or more were prostrated as he prayed. I observed that the first twenty five were really healed, and after that they just fell on the floor. I took him home with me, and I inquired, "Tell me why were there only twenty five healed?" He answered, "Well, I do not know. Why do you think that they were not all healed? But weren't those first twenty five wonderful?" I replied, "I examined them; they were not all healed. Now I will tell you what was the matter. When you started to pray for those people, your soul was lost in the Son of God and you were hardly conscious anybody had fallen. But when you saw them strewed all around you, then you forgot the face of Jesus, and became absorbed in the phenomena. That is why they did not get anything. You forgot to connect faith with the power." Beloved, faith is more important than power. Faith commands power and vitalizes it. Job a Type of the Overcomer To me Job stands for another class. That is the class of overcomers that has endured the most dreadful testing. Job is the outstanding Old Testament type of the overcomer. He overcame the most dreadful tribulation. It gives one of the finest, behind the scene views that there is in all the Word of God. Somewhere where God was, the sons of God gathered before the Lord, apparently to make report, or council and among them appeared Satan also. (Se Job 1.) "And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth , and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that here is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?" Job 1:7-8. Here is a fine distinction between God and Satanic character. The only thing that Satan could understand was his own selfishness. He said, "Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and his house, and about all that he hath on every side?" Verses 9-10. That old skunk no doubt had been around the hedge a thousand times, and had looked through every crack. He could not even get at a single she-ass. But the Lord answered, "Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand." Verse 12. God knew His servant Job. He knew he could stand the testing. So Job's testing began. The asses were gone, the camels were gone, and to climax it all a servant came with a report that a cyclone had struck the house where his sons and daughters were drinking wine, and all had perished "and I only am escaped alone to tell thee." But the final climax came when: "So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown." Job 2:7. The news spread of his awful calamity. His friends gathered to help him. He was an upright man. One of the richest men of the East, a prince. He was not just a good man, and a just, but he was a great, influential, wealthy, godly man. There are friends and friends. Job's comforters were of the negative kind. Let us not be a gloom pot or a tar brush. If you are my friend, and you come to me, you are going to say something with faith in God in it. When I had my large healing work in Spokane, Washington, where I used to minister to from 100 to 150 people each day, the Lord would let me see everything in man's soul dozens of times a day. What did He do it for? For me to run and tell somebody else, or to tell the patient? What would be the good of telling him? If you want to get rid of the difficulty, get him to the Lord and get the blood applied. I think the individual who tells any body else or the person himself, unless God signifies it, is a traitor to Almighty God. I never read a single instance in the New Testament where somebody came along and said, "Broth Paul, tell me what is the matter with me," or "Brother Peter, tell me what is the matter with me." That is the business of the Holy Spirit. Job's Friends Job's friends came, and they were wonderful men. You read the addresses of these four men, as they were given to Job, and you will see that they were unsurpassed in Biblical history. But they reasoned from the point of view that calamity cannot come upon the righteous, that it does not belong to the righteous. The burden of their words was, "Job you have sinned. There is not question about it, you have sinned." Job's friends tried to convince him of sin, that some secret sin had come into his life, but they failed. He said it was not so. He got terribly discouraged and awfully confused; he could not understand why this calamity had come upon him, but he held fast his integrity before God. Beloved, that is one of the strongest weapons that the devil has. I sought God for the Holy Ghost for nine months. I crawled on my face, and watered my way with tears, and the devil almost whipped me out on this proposition. Every time I got close to God where I ought to have been baptized, I would see every miserable old sin I ever committed in all my life, until my soul would become discouraged, and I said to myself, "Why, God can never baptize me in the Holy Ghost. I am too sinful." In that, I disregarded the Blood of Jesus Christ, that had covered my sin and blotted out my transgressions long before. These men loved Job. They came to him when he was lying on the ash heap, scraping himself with a piece of potter; they sat there seven days and nights and never said a word. They were waiting for a solution. Their soul was seeking a reason. Eventually they spoke when they believed they had found a reason. But they were mistaken. One of the beautiful points in the record of Job, was at the time he was just pouring out his soul, even cursing the day in which he was born. God gave him a beautiful revelation. (Notice that he never cursed God. No, not a word, not an utterance that would indicate lack of faith in God. Oh, God was helping him there to overcome. Job says, "For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me." Job 19:25-27. He would know Him; they were familiar friends. God Answers Job Eventually God Himself comes. The whirlwind announces His appearing, and the Lord begins to talk to Job, and down through four chapters God Almighty talks to Job. He says: "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand thee, and answer thou me …" Job 38:2-7. And the Lord goes down the line on poor old Job for four chapters. O my, after he had listened to the Lord for a while, Job comes through with a confession. He said, "Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Job 42:2-6. God was too big for him. He had not comprehended Him; His way and His purpose were too large for Job's understanding. Beloved, isn't that our difficulty? When you go around the world and see some Christians, you find they are trying to bring God down to their own measure. I knew about a dozen and a half saints who just corralled the Kingdom of God, and nobody would ever get into the kingdom excepting those associated with that dozen and a half. One night as I was visiting them, I thought, "If the Lord had you on His Hands, He would have trouble forevermore." They had become so contracted in their spirit, it was no bigger than a chicken's. That is not the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The peculiar charm of the Son of God was that He was absolutely universal. Broad as the sunlight, blessing every man, Saviour for the whole world. Come with your sins of ignorance as Job, come with your sickness. Let the whole world come with its sins, and the Blood of Jesus will blot them out. I visited an old German lady on one occasion. She was wonderfully anointed of God some years past. God gave her a great ministry of healing. The governor of the state had a dying sister; they brought the dying sister to the dear old lady and she was instantly healed. Then Mayor B…. took his dying sisterin- law to her, and she was healed. Others were instantly healed. After awhile she got so jealous for the glory of God, she refused to pray for anybody for fear they would not give the glory to God. Beloved, you let the Lord look out for His own glory. If you have His love and Spirit in your heart, flood it out on somebody and take a chance on the Lord getting the glory. He will get the glory all right when the soul is redeemed and healed. So the Lord encouraged Job to forget himself, and pray for his friends, and as he did so, the Lord turned his captivity into a blessing. The Lord restored his body, and gave him twice as many possessions as he had in the beginning. CHAPTER 14 THESE SIGNS SHALL FOLLOW Jesus said, "These signs shall follow them that believe." Not the doubter, but them that believe in the Name, the Name of Jesus. "They shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover." Some asks: "What does it mean to cast out devils?" It means that the man with the Holy Ghost dwelling in him is the master, and has dominion over every devilish force and counterfeit. At Johannesburg, some said: "Your power is hypnotism." One night God demonstrated through us the falsity of that accusation. The power that is within the true Christian is the power of the Living Christ, and "Greater is he that is within you, than he that is in the world." I John 4:4. I can best illustrate by introducing an incident in my own personal ministry. The Power of God Against Hypnotism In Johannesburg Tabernacle, at a Sunday service about a year ago, God instantly healed a lame gir. She came from Germiston. She had been suffering for three and a half years from what doctors said was either an extreme case of rheumatism, or the first stage of hip disease. She as not able to get up the steps without assistance, when she came to the platform to be prayed for. They asked her: "How long have you been sick?" She said, "For three and a half years." Have the doctors treated you?" "Yes; for two and a half years, and then they gave me up." "Who has been treating you for the last years?" "A hypnotist." Just then a well-known hypnotist arose in the audience, moved forward and took a front seat. The Leader said, "Never mind the hypnotist, Jesus I going to heal you right now. In two minutes you will be well." They laid hands on her and prayed, and instantly the Lord delivered her, and she walked up and down the platform several time to demonstrate to herself and the audience that she was well. I stepped back and looked at her, my heart going out in praise to God for His mercy, when suddenly the Spirit of the Lord descended upon me in power, not in any gentle influence, but with a mighty intense power, a spirit of revulsion against the spirit of the hypnotist. I stepped on the platform directly in front of him and said, "Are you the man who has been hypnotizing this woman?" He replied, "Yes, I am." He rose to his feet and looked toward me in a challenging attitude. I said to him, "In the Name of Jesus Christ, you will never hypnotize anybody again." And before I realized what I was doing, I reached over the front of the platform, grasped his collar with my left hand, while with my right I slapped him on the back, saying "In the Name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, you come out of him." He laughed at me and said, "Do you mean to tell me that I cannot hypnotize anybody?" I said, "Yes, sir, that is the end of that thing. The devil that caused you to hypnotize people is out." He worked all night in an endeavor to hypnotize some subject, and in the morning at six came to my house saying, "This is a mighty serious business, mister, this is my bread and butter." He wanted me to give him back the power to hypnotize. I explained to him that it was not I but Jesus who cast out the devil. I added, "Brother, it looks to me as if the Lord wanted you to earn an honest living." He cancelled his engagement at the theater where he was billed to give exhibitions, and the last hear of he was working in a mine and earning an honest living. That demonstrated that there is a mighty manifestation of the Spirit of God that has dominion over every other power. It is still true that in His Name we shall cast out devils. They Shall Take Up Serpents This afternoon I heard a brother ask, "What about 'they shall take up serpents'?" Let me tell you a story. Brother Fisher of Los Angeles, California, told me this incident in his own life. He was a Baptist minister at Glendale, a suburb of Los Angeles. He is now associated with Brother George B. Studd in "The Upper Room Mission." Brother Fisher said, "One morning my wife called up on the telephone and said the water pipe beneath the house was broken. I went home about ten in the morning. I opened the little door in the basement of the house and on putting my hand in to feel for the pipe, I was bitten by a serpent. At once I commenced to swell. The poison worked into my body fast. What was I to do? I said, "God, your Word says, "They shall take up serpents." I trust you for this and you must heal me or I'll die." That afternoon my blood was so congealed I was well nigh insensible. Oh, I shall never forget that sense of death creeping over me, steadily, surely until three in the morning. I could pray no more. I ceased to struggle, I fell to the floor; and that instant God healed me. The life of God thrilled through my body, and I was healed." It is true, "They shall take up serpents." If They Drink Any Deadly Thing It Shall Not Hurt Them You ask, what about, "If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them?" History abounds in instances where the early Christians were compelled to drink the juice of the deadly hemlock; but through faith in Jesus one of the deadliest of poisons became harmless as water. According to your faith be it unto you. My own sister's son, Fred Foffat, when a child, entered his father's workshop, and ate some paris green. . My sister and brother-in-law sent for me. I quoted the words of our Savior, "And if they drink any deadly thin, it shall not hurt them." Upon this precious promise of God we rested and Jesus healed the child. In spite of the clear, convincing testimony of the Scriptures, and the ever accumulating cloud of witnesses, who testify of healing received through faith in Jesus, many preachers and teachers are still blindly rejecting the truth to their own final discomfiture and undoing. Divine healing is the seal of God's acknowledgment, the proof to the world that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. John the Baptist was in prison. He was troubled with doubt, as to whether Jesus was the Christ. He sent two of his disciples to Jesus to put the question, "Art thou he that should come,, or look we for another?" His answer was to appeal to the signs of his ministry. These were and still are God's answer to doubt and unbelief: "God and show John again these things which ye do hear and see, The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, and the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them. And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me." Matthew 11:3-6. These are still god's seal and endorsement of the preaching of the true Gospel. The preaching that lacks the signs which Jesus promised lacks Divine att4estation, by which God confirms the preaching of His own true Gospel. The result now as then should be, "And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with the signs following." Mark 16:20. CHAPTER 15 LAKE'S REPLY TO FOUR QUESTIONS CONCERNING HEALING The Southern Association of Evangelists, who recently met at Hot Springs, Arkansas, in a convention, wrote as follows: "Rev. John G. Lake Spokane, Wash. Dear Sir: We are submitting the following questions to about twenty-five leading professors, preachers, and evangelists, for reply, and recognizing your extensive experience in the ministry of healing, trust that you will favor us with an early reply. The questions are as follows: FIRST: IS GOD ABLE TO HEAL? SECOND: DOES GOD EVER HEAL? THIRD: DOES GOD ALWAYS HEAL? FOURTH: DOES GOD USE MEANS IN HEALING?" MY REPLY Question 1. Is God Able to Heal? Coming as an inquiry from the Church of Christ in her varied branches, as represented by your association, which includes ministers and evangelists of almost every know sect, is a confession of how far the Modern Church has drifted in her faith from that of the Primitive Church of the first four centuries. That this apostasy is true, may readily be seen by a study of the New Testament, together with the writings of the Christian fathers of the first centuries. That Jesus Himself healed All who came to Him; that the apostles after His resurrection and after the outpouring of the Spirit upon the Church on the day of Pentecost, continued to do the same, is a New Testament fact. It is well known that the Church fathers testified to the vast extent of the miracle-working power of Christ through His followers, until the day of Constantine. With the establishment of Christianity as the state religion under Constantine, a flood of heathenism poured into the Church, and the vitality of the faith in Christ as Saviour and Healer disappeared. Hordes of unbelievers came into the Church with very slight knowledge of Christ, bringing with them many heathen customs and practices, some of which quickly predominated in the Church. Among these was trust in MAN rather than Christ, as healer of the body. That isolated saints of God and groups of Christians have trusted God exclusively, and proved Him the healer, is found in the experience of the Church in every century. Among those in modern times were the Hugenots of France, who excelled in their faith in God. Many of them were consciously baptized in the Holy Ghost, and history records that many of them spoke in tongues by the power of the Holy Spirit. The sick were healed through faith in Jesus Christ and the laying on of hands. Many prophesied in the Spirit. The Coming of the Reformation With the coming of Protestantism, and the establishment of the great churches of the present day, little knowledge of Christ as the Healer existed. Protestantism was established on one great principle, the revelation of Martin Luther, his watchword and slogan "The just shall live by faith." Not by works of penance, but through faith in the living, risen, glorified Son of God. Isolated cases of healing are recorded by Luther, John Knox, Calvin, and Zewengle, and others of the reformers. With the birth of Methodism, under John Wesley, a fresh impetus was given to the teaching of healing through faith in Jesus. Wesley recorded in his journal, many instances of wonderful healings of the sick, of casting out of demos, and remarkable answers to prayer. Healing In Modern Times The modern teaching of healing received a new impetus through Doroth Trudell, a factory worker in one of the German provinces. Under her ministry many were healed, so that eventually the German Government was compelled to recognize her healing institution at Mennendorf and license it. During the present century a great number of men definitely taught and practiced the ministry of Divine Healing. Among the writer on the subject of healing who are well know to the Christian Church, are A. J. Gordon. Dr. A. B. Simpson, and Rev. Andrew Murray of South Africa. Andrew Murrays Experience The Rev. Andrew Murray's Experience in healing was as follows: He was pronounced incurable of a throat disease, known as "Preacher's Throat," by many London specialists. In despair he visited the Bethsan Divine Healing Mission in London, conducted by Dr. Bagster. He knelt at the altar, was prayed for by the elders, and was healed. He returned to South Africa, wrote and published a book on Divine Healing, which was extensively circulated in the Dutch Reform Church of South Africa, of which he was the recognized leading pastor. The effect of the book was to call the people's attention to the fact that Jesus in the Healer still. Great celebrations took place in the various churches of South Africa when Andrew Murray returned a living example of Christ's power and willingness to heal. In a short time persons who read of his ministry of healing made request of their pastors to be prayed for, that they might be healed. In some instances the pastors confessed that they had no faith, and could not honestly pray with them for healing. Others made one excuse after another. Eventually the people began to inquire what was the trouble with their pastors. Andrew Murray, the chief pastor had been healed. He had written a book on healing. Members of the Church throughout the land were praying through to God, and finding Him their Healer still. But the preachers in general were confessing lack of faith. So the circulation of the book became an embarrassment to them. Instead of humbly confessing their need to God, and calling upon Him for that measure of the Spirit's presence and power that would make prayer for the sick answerable, they decided to demand the withdrawal of Andrew Murray's book from circulation in the Church, and this was done. Although the truth of the teaching of Divine Healing, and the personal experience in the healing of Andrew Murray, and hundreds of others through his ministry and the ministry of believers in the Church remained unchallenged, Rev. Andrew Murray was requested not to practice the teaching of Divine Healing in the Dutch Reform Church of South Africa. This experience illustrates with clearness, the difficulties surrounding the introduction of a more vital faith in the living God in the Modern Church. Every Church has had, in a greater or lesser degree, a somewhat similar experience. The usual custom in the Modern Church is that when a preacher breaks out in a living faith and begins to get extraordinary answers to prayer, he is cautioned by the worldly wise, and if persistent, is eventually made to feel that he is regarded as strange. If he still persists, he is ostracized and actually dismissed by some churches and conferences. Experiences like the above are entirely due to the failure of the Modern Church to recognize the varied ministries of the Spirit se forth in the New Testament. The Word in the 12th of Corinthians says concerning the order of ministers in the Church that: "God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, and after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, government, diversities of tongues." Thus a ministry for every man called of God is provided. No one conflicting with the other. All recognized as equally necessary to the well-rounded body of Christ. The Modern Church must come to a realization of other ministries in the Church beside preaching. In the Modern Church the preacher is the soul and center and circumference of his church. The Primitive Church was a structure of faith composed of men and women, each qualifying in his or her particular ministry. One ministered in the healing of the sick, another a worker of miracles, another a teacher of the ways and the will of God, another an evangelist, another a pastor, another an overseer. It should be an easy matter for any modern Church to adopt itself to adapt itself to the gifts of the Spirit and so remove forever the difficulty that befell the Dutch Reform Church in South Africa, and has befallen our own churches. Instead of discouraging a ministry of the Spirit through the practice of varied gifts in the Church, these ministries and powers may be conserve and utilized for the building of the kingdom. The Church at Spokane A little over five years ago, we established in Spokane, Divine Healing Rooms with a competent staff of ministers. They believed in the Lord as the present, perfect Healer, and ministered the Spirit of God to the sick through prayer and the laying on of hands. The records show that we ministered up to 200 persons a day: that of these, 176 were non-church members. The knowledge of and faith in Jesus Christ as the Healer, has griped the world outside of the present Church society, and the numbers of those who believe are increasing with such rapidity that in a short time they may become a majority in many communities. Question II. Does God Every Heal? The New Testament records forty-one cases of healing by Jesus, Himself. In nine of these instances not only were the individuals healed, but multitudes, and in three instances it especially say "great multitudes." With the growth of His life's work, the demand for extension was imperative, and in Luke 9, we read: "Jesus called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases, and he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick." When they in turn were overwhelmed with work we read in Luke 10, that Jesus appointed Seventy others also, and sent them into the cities round about, saying, "Heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of god is come night unto you. If there were any foundation whatever for the foolish belief that only Jesus and the apostles healed, the appointment of these Seventy should settle it. When the Seventy returned from their evangelistic tour, they rejoiced saying, "Master, even the demons were subject to thy name." In addition to the Seventy we read that the disciples complained to Jesus, saying: W saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us." And Jesus replied, "Forbid him not: for no man shall do a miracle in my name that can lightly speak evil of me. He that is not against us is for us." This then makes a New Testament record of eighty-for persons who healed during the life-time of Jesus. Jesus, the twelve apostles, seventy others, and the man who "followeth not with us." Paul and Barnabas were not apostles during the lifetime of Jesus, but we read in the Acts, of their healing many. Paul himself was healed through the ministry of Ananias, an aged disciple, who was sent to him through a vision from the Lord. Philip was one of the evangelists who preached at Samaria, and under his ministry there were remarkable signs and wonders. Under the ministry of the Apostle Paul, the sick were not only healed, and the dead raised, but handkerchiefs were brought to the apostle, that they might contact his person. When laid upon the sick, the disease disappeared and the "demon' departed from them. The Book of James gives final and positive instructions of what to do in case of sickness. Commanding that if sick, one shall send for the elders of the Church. Concerning their prayer of faith the Word says: "The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him." The great number of medieval miracles, deserve respectful treatment and the cumulative evidence of so much concurrent testimony by distinguished and upright men makes it impossible to think that they were all deluded and mistaken. Ministry of Dr. John Alexander Dowie During the life of John Alexander Dowie, and before his mentality was affected through overwork, he established a city in the state of Illinois, forty miles north of Chicago, on the lake shore, known as Zion City. The city was established in 1901. In twelve months it had a population of 4000. In three years the population was estimated at ten thousand. The city Council passed by-laws banishing drugs, medicine, and the use of swine's flesh. None of these are used by his followers if they wish to remain in good standing. Their vital statistics reveal their death rate is lower than that of other cities of the same population. Insurance companies were afraid to insure the Zion people because of the well-known fact that they would not employ physicians or medicine. But at present, insurance companies are seeking their business. They are recognized to be among the healthiest people in the United States. On an occasion at the Chicago Auditorium, persons from all parts of the world who had been healed through his ministry, were invited to send testimonies on a card 2&1/2 by 4&1/2 inches. It required five bushel baskets to hold these cards. They numbered sixty thousand. Ten thousand in the audience rose to their feet testifying to their own personal healing by the power of God, making grand total of Seventy thousand testimonies. In South Africa, Divine Healing holds such sway among both black and white, that army officers estimated that in the recent war, twenty out of every hundred refused medical aid, and trusted God only. This necessitated in the army the establishment of a Diving Healing Corps, which ministered healing by the Spirit of God. Among prominent physicians who have not only been healed of god, but have adopted the ministry of healing through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are: Phneas D. Yoakum of Los Angels, head of the Pisgah Institution, whose blessed ministry of healing is recognized by Christians everywhere. Dr. William To. Gentry of Chicago, who was not only prominent in his profession as physician, but as the author of Materia Medica in twenty volumes, to be found in every first-class medical library. His publisher sold over 100,000 copies of this work. To this I add my personal testimony, after twenty-five years in the ministry of healing, that hundreds of thousands of sick have been healed of the Lord, during this period, through churches and missionary societies founded on the pattern of the Primitive Church, finding God's equipment of power from on high. With this weight of testimony before us, it seems childish to continue debating the ability or willingness of God to heal the sick. Let us rather with open minds and heart receive the Lord Jesus Christ, as Saviour and Healer, and trust Him with our bodies as we trust Him with our souls. Question III. Does God always Heal? In considering the subject of Divine Healing and its applicability to present day needs, the question, "Does God Always Heal?" is uppermost. The Church at large has taught that healing is dependent on the exercise of the Will of God, and that the proper attitude of the Christian to assume is, "If it be thy will." Continuously we hear men say, "No doubt God can heal; He has the power, and He can heal if He will." We believe that this attitude of mind and this character of reasoning is due to the ignorance of the plain Word and Will of God, as revealed through Jesus Christ. We contend that God is always the Healer. We contend further that it is not necessary for God to will the healing or non-healing of any individual. In His desire to bless mankind, He willed once and for all and forever that man should be blessed and healed. He gave Jesus Christ as a Gift to the world, that this blessing might be demonstrated and His willingness and desire to heal forever made clear. Christians readily admit that Jesus is the entire expression of the Law and the Life and the Will of God. As such, He demonstrated forever by His words and acts, what the mind of God toward the world is. He healed all who came to Him, never refusing a single individual, but ever bestowed the desired blessing. In healing all and never refusing one, He demonstrated forever the willingness of God to heal all. He healed because it was the nature of God to heal, not because it was a caprice of the mind of God, or because the mind of god was changed toward the individual through some special supplication. Whosoever was ready and willing to receive healing received it from the Lord. His grief in one instance is expressed in the Gospel narrative in that, "He could do there (in Nazareth) no mighty works because of their unbelief, save that he healed a few sick folk." Men have assumed that it is necessary to persuade God to heal them. This we deny with all emphasis. God has manifested through Christ, His desire to bless mankind. His method of saving the world, and what constitutes His salvation, is shown in Matthew 4:23: "Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, (revealing the Will of God) and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people." The Parallel of the Dynamo The method by which men receive the healing power is parallel to the method by which we light our homes through the use of electricity. A dynamo is set up. Through its motion, it attracts to itself the quality know as electricity. Having attracted electricity, it is then distributed through the wires wherever man will and our homes are lighted thereby. The dynamo did not make the electricity. It existed from time immemorial. It was the discovery of the ability to control electricity that made lighting of our homes a possibility. Without it, we would still be living by the light of a tallow candle or a kerosene lamp. In the spiritual world, the spirit of man is the dynamo. It is set in motion by prayer, the desire of the heart. Prayer is a veritable Holy Spirit controlling dynamo, attracting to itself the Spirit of God. The spirit of God being received into the spirit of man through prayer, is distributed by the action of the will wherever desire. The Spirit of God flowed through the hands of Jesus to the ones who were sick, and healed them. It flowed from His soul, wirelessly, to the suffering ones and healed them also. The Holy Spirit is this shown to be the universal presence of god, God omnipresent. The Spirit of God is given to man for his blessing, and is to be utilized by him to fulfill the Will of God. The Will of god to save a man is undisputed by intelligent Christians. The Will of God to heal every man is equally God's purpose. God has not only made provisions that through the Spirit of God received into our lives, our souls may be blessed and our bodies healed, but further, we in turn are expected and commanded by Jesus to distribute the Spirit's power to others, that they likewise may be healed and blessed. The Spirit of god is ours to embrace. It is ours to apply to the need of either soul or body. Through Christ's crucifixion and through His victory over the grave, Jesus secured from the Father the privilege of shedding the Holy Spirit abroad over the world. This was the crowning climax of the redemptive power of God ministered through Jesus Christ to the world. And from this day to this, every soul is entitled to embrace to himself this blessed Spirit of God, which Jesus regarded so valuable to mankind, so necessary to their health and salvation, that He gave His life to obtain it. Consequently it is not a question, "Does God always heal?" That is childish. It is rather a question, "Are we willing to embrace His healing?" If so, it is for us to receive. More than this it is for all the world to receive, for every man to receive, who will put his nature in contact with God through opening his heart to the Lord. Jesus knowing the world's need of healing, provided definitely for physicians (disciples, ministers, elders, those with the Gifts of Healing) who would minister, not pills and potions, but the power of God. The Gifts of Healing is one of the nine Gifts of the Spirit provided for and perpetuated forever in the Church. I Corinthians 12:8-11. The Word says: "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever." Consequently there is healing from every disease, for every man who will in faith embrace the Spirit of God, promised by the Father, and ministered through Jesus Christ, to the souls and bodies of all who desire the blessing. Peter in his exposition of this fact, says, "By whose stripes ye were healed." The use of "were" in this text indicates that the healing was accomplished in the mind of God when Jesus Christ gave Himself as the eternal Sacrifice, and has never had to be done over again for the healing of any individual. He willed it once; it is done forever. It is yours to have, yours to enjoy, and yours to impart to others. Question IV. Does God Use Means in Healing? By the term "means" is understood the varied remedies, medicines and potions commonly use by the world at large and prescribe for the sick—in short, Materia Medica. This should be an extremely easy question for anyone to decide. The world has always had her systems of healing. There were one thousand and one systems of healing evolved in all the centuries. They were mankind's endeavor to alleviate suffering. They existed in the days of Jesus, just as they exist today. The ancient Egyptians used them and were as proficient in the practice as our modern physicians. Indeed their knowledge of chemistry in some respects seem to have superseded ours, as they were able to produce an embalming substance that preserved the human body and kept it from dissolution. The public commonly believes that medicine is a great science, and that its practice is entirely scientific. Whereas, so great a man as Professor Douglas McGlaggen, who occupied the chair of Medical Jurisprudence in the University of Edinborough, Scotland, declared: "There is no such thing as the science of medicine. From the days of Hippocrates and Galen until now we have been stumbling in the dark, from diagnosis to diagnosis, from treatment to treatment." Dr. John B. Murphy, the greatest surgeon our country has ever produced, has spoken his mind concerning surgery as follows: "Surgery is a confession of helplessness. Being unable to assist the diseased organ, we remove it. If I had my life to live over again, I would endeavor to discover preventative medicine, in hope of saving the organ instead of destroying it." Just prior to his death he wrote an article entitled "The Slaughter of the Innocents," condemning cutting out of tonsils and adenoids, demonstrating that the presence of inflammation and pus and the consequent enlargement was due to a secretion in the system that found lodgment in the tonsils and that the removal of the tonsils in no way remedied the difficulty, the poison being generated in the system. He purposed to give his knowledge to the public for its protection from useless operations that he regarded criminal. God's Contrast to Man's Way What then, did Jesus have in mind as better than the world's system of healing, which He never used or countenanced? God's remedy is a Person and not a thing. The remedy that Jesus ministered to the sick was a spiritual one. It was the Holy Spirit of God. The tangible, living quality and nature of the living God, ministered through the Soul and Hands of Jesus Christ to the sick one. So conscious was the woman who was healed of the issue of blood, that she had received the remedy, and of its effect and power in her, upon only touching the hem of His garment, that she "felt in her body that she was made whole of that plague." Jesus likewise was aware of the transmission of the healing power, for He said, "Someone hath touched me, for I perceive virtue has gone out of me." That same virtue was ministered through the hands of the apostles and of the Seventy. It was also ministered by the early Christians, when they received from God, through the Holy Ghost, the ability to minister the Spirit of God to others. Of the twelve apostles it is said: "He gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And He sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick." Luke 9:1-2. Of the Seventy it is written, "He sent them two and two, before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come, and said unto them, . . "HEAL THE SICK THAT ARE THEREIN, and say unto them, the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.'" So vital was this living Spirit of God and its healing virtue in the lives of the early Christians, that it is recorded of Paul that they brought handkerchiefs and aprons to him, that they might touch his body, and when these were laid upon the sick they were healed and the demons went out of them. Acts 19. In this instance even inanimate objects, handkerchiefs and aprons, were receptacles for the Spirit of God, imparted to them from the person of the Apostle Paul. This was not an experience for the early Christian alone, but is the common experience of men and women everywhere who have dared to disbelieve the devil's lie, so carefully fostered and proclaimed by the church at large, that the days of miracles are past. Every advanced Christian, who has gone out into God, who has felt the thrill of His Spirit, who has dared to believe that the Son of God lives by the Spirit in his life today, just as He lived in the lives of the early Christians, has found the same pregnant power of God in himself. Upon laying his hands in faith upon others who are sick, take place, and realized the transmission of Divine Virtue. Today millions of men and women trust God only, for the healing of their body from every character and forms of disease. What, then, is this means of healing that Jesus gave as a divine gift to Christianity, forever? It is the living Holy Spirit, ministered by Jesus Christ to the Christian soul, transmitted by the Christian because of this faith in the Word of Jesus, through his soul and his hands to the one who is sick. This reveals the law of contract in the mind of Jesus when He gave the commandment: "They shall lay hands on the sick, and they, SHALL recover." Mark 16:18. With praise to God we record to His glory, that through twenty-five years in this ministry we have seen hundreds of thousands of persons in many parts of the world, healed by the power of God. Throughout these twenty-five years, in different lands, we have establish4ed churches and societies composed of Christian men and women who know no remedy but the one Divine Remedy, the Lord Jesus Christ. They have faith in is redemption and in the presence and power of the Spirit of Christ to destroy sin and sickness in the lives of men forever. In our own city, for five years, no day has passed in which we have not seen the healing of many. For five years we have ministered, with our associate pastors, in The Church oat Spokane alone, to an average of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred sick per day, who come from all quarters of the land, and even from foreign countries, to receive the healing [power of God. These healings have included almost every known form of disease. The majority of these healings have been of persons pronounced hopeless by their physicians. Many of them had spent their all, some tens of thousands of dollars, for doctors, medicine, and operations. They found the Lord Jesus Christ, and the ministry of healing by the power of God, just as efficacious today as it ever was, thereby demonstrating the truth of the Word of God. Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 1 of 27 Day 1 Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Isaiah 58:6 Begin these forty days with a period of fasting and cleansing. Decide what kind of fast you are going to do during this prayer season. Take time to seek the Lord or anyone you need to forgive, or receive forgiveness from. You might want to journal during this time to keep a record of all God does in you and through you. Personal Study God's Chosen Fast by Arthur Wallis Read or re-read Cindy Jacobs' book Possessing the Gates of the Enemy; and focus on the section on fasting located on pages 232-233 Personal Application Ask yourself this question, "Do I really believe that healing is for today?" Do I need healing in my own body? What would I like to see Jesus do for me personally during this time as far as my own health? Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Focus on the four diseases that we are praying for medical cures for during the forty days: Alzheimer's disease Autism Cancer Diabetes Worship Application What songs inspire faith for healing? Sing songs of deliverance over those who need healing. Personal Worship Begin to develop a library of songs that inspire faith for healing Spend time worshipping the Lord as Jehovah Rapha—Our Lord the Healer Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 2 of 27 Day 2 …If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you. Exodus 15:26 Today begin to pray for revelation of God as the healer Personal Study Read Christ the Healer by F.F. Bosworth Personal Application Who would you like to see healed during this 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting? Make your own personal prayer board with pictures of those you want to focus on for healing. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Begin to speak Voices of Healing (pray scripture out loud) from scripture over these diseases: Alzheimer's disease Autism Cancer Diabetes Worship Application Sing songs of deliverance Day 3 Surely He has born our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:4-5 Ask God to give you a new measure of faith to intercede for miracles. Personal Study Read The Blood Still Speaks by Larry Huggins Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 3 of 27 Read The John G. Lake Sermons on Dominion over Demons, Disease, and Death. Edited by Gordon Lindsay Personal Application Study about the blood and the power of the blood that Jesus shed for us in order to grasp your authority to pray for the sick. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Begin to ask God to heal all diseases of the blood. Focus on diseases such as: Aids Hemophilia Hepatitis Leukemia Worship Application Sing songs of deliverance with songs about the blood of Jesus. Day 4 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Psalm 103:2-3 Personal Study Read the chapter on Breaking Curses in Deliver Us from Evil by Cindy Jacobs and do a scriptural study on generational sin and iniquity. Personal Application There is a connection between healing and the breaking of generational iniquities. Believe God for healing of all sicknesses due to generational or inherited diseases. Make a list of all the diseases that your forbearers suffered; for instance, cancer, heart diseases, etc. Ask God to begin to break the power of inherited weaknesses to disease in your blood line. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Begin to ask God to heal all these diseases: Alcoholic diseases of the liver (such as cirrhosis) Blood diseases Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 4 of 27 Hepatitis (A, B, C, D) Liver cancer Liver failure Pray through Psalm 103. Read it out loud. Worship Application Sing and make music to the Lord through a new song. Use Psalm 103 and make up a tune to its words. If you are not a singer, ask a friend to join you or play a worship tape that speaks to you about healing. Day 5 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercies, Psalm 103:4 Personal Study Do you know people with terminal illnesses? Add them to your prayer board and believe God to redeem their life from destruction. Read The Supernatural Life by Cindy Jacobs Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. There are diseases that are particularly debilitating. Particularly focus today on Alzheimer's disease. Ask God to begin to heal loved ones with this disease that has caused so much grief among families. Believe for both God's healing power in this area as well as breakthroughs in medical research. Worship Application Sing songs that inspire faith such as "How Great is our God," and the hymn, "Great is Thy Faithfulness." Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 5 of 27 Day 6 He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Psalm 107:20 Personal Application Prayer has no boundaries by distance. We can pray the scripture and ask God to heal people even who are not present with us. Today extend your faith for all the pictures on the prayer boards at the prayer room in Christ for the Nations' library chapel. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Today we are focusing on all kinds of neurological disorders. Here is a list of those diseases we are crying out to the Lord for a release of His healing power: Alzheimer's Autism and every related disease Dementia-senile dementia Organic brain syndrome Paralysis Seizure disorders such as epilepsy—petit mal and gran mal Stroke Others such as asperger's syndrome, tremors, Parkinson's, and benign essential Tremors Worship Application Sing songs of healing. Mingle those of today with those from former moves of God such as "He Touched Me" and "I am the Lord Your Healer." Day 7 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses." Matthew 8:17 Personal Application Read The Voice of God by Cindy Jacobs. God wants you to heal the sick. Press into God to pray more for the sick and see them healed. Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 6 of 27 Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Today we are focusing on Endocrine disorders. These include: Diabetes Graves' disease Hashimoto's thyroiditis Hormone imbalance Hypothyroidism Worship Application Worship the Lord for His faithfulness as the healer. Day 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8 Personal Application Have you had any personal disappointments that might hinder your faith in believing God as the healer? Study the passages in scripture that promise that Jesus is the healer today. Are you journaling? Go back over what you have written and see the kinds of things God is doing in and through you and thank Him for them. Read The Voice of Healing by Randy Bozarth. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Pray and believe God for a massive, world-wide outpouring of God's healing power. Focus on God's healing power in the area of cardiac diseases: Arrhythmias Atherosclerotic disease Aortic disease Congestive heart failure Heart valve malfunctions High blood pressure Infection of the heart muscle Myocardial infarction Syphilitic heart disease Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 7 of 27 Day 9 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works and that my soul knows very well. Psalm 139:14 Personal Application God who created your body has formed it to function in divine healing and health. You are "fearfully and wonderfully" made. Begin to thank the Lord and believe Him to heal any sickness or disease that you are suffering. Read the book, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Today God wants us to come up to a new level of believing God for miracles. There are certain diseases that seem to be more and more common in society but are easy for God to heal. Let's believe God for miracles in the areas of psychiatric diseases like Attention deficit disorder Bi-polar disorder Depression Hyper disorder Panic disorder Schizophrenia Worship Application By this session, as you have been worshipping each day, there will be a particular song that God will have placed in your heart as a theme for healing. Play this and worship the Lord for the release of miracles in your life. Day 10 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Isaiah 58:7-8 Personal Application There is a scriptural correlation between giving to the poor and healing. Ask God what needy person you are to help in some way; perhaps with money or service. Read God's General about the life of William Booth. Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 8 of 27 Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. This is a special day for remembering the poor and praying with those with both physical needs concerning healing as well as healing of their finances. In addition, let us pray asking God to give solutions to break the spirit of poverty. Pray for organizations that deal with the poor such as: Christ for the Nations Institute Compassion International Feed the Children The Salvation Army World Vision Pray for these four diseases for medical cures: Alzheimer's Autism Cancer Worship Application Spend time worshipping the Lord with a "new song" out of the different healing scriptures. Day 11 And as you go, preach saying, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Heal the sick, cleanse the leper, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Matthew 10:7-8 Personal Application Healing is part of the Kingdom of God. As a believer you have the power to heal the sick in the Name of Jesus. Offer to pray for the sick whenever the opportunity arises; whether in a restaurant, shopping place, or any other place where people are hurting. Study Christ the Healer by F.F. Bosworth. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Let's believe today that God will pour out His Spirit and anoint the Body of Christ to raise the dead. God wants His resurrection power to be in evidence across the world. Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 9 of 27 Pray for the healing of these pulmonary diseases: Cancer of lungs Clear cell Klebsiella Large cell Mesothelioma cancer Oat cell (small cell) Pancoat's tumor Pseudomonas Streptococcal pneumonia Tuberculosis Day 12 And Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed." Then he arose immediately. Acts 9:34 Personal Application Today pray for any you might know that have weaknesses in their legs or paralysis. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Pray for those who are in some way paralyzed or have weaknesses in their limbs. Pray for those with crippling diseases and injuries and believe for miracle healings: Car and sports accidents - including all spinal injuries Rheumatoid arthritis Worship Application Spend time worshipping God with songs that inspire your faith to believe. Day 13 Then the seventy returned with joy, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your Name." Luke 10:17 Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 10 of 27 Personal Application Do you know anyone bound in any kind of addiction? Ask the Lord to set them free today. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Today we are especially praying over the wall of deliverance. Pray for those bound to addictions to drugs, cigarettes, alcohol and other substances to be free. Pray for all those bound in obsessive/compulsive disorders to be completely healed and set free. Pray for ministries that deal with street people and those in substance abuse. Continue to pray for the medial cures for: Alzheimer's Autism Cancer Diabetes Worship Application Spend time praising God for His goodness, love, and mercy towards His people and the lost. Day 14 And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother's womb, who had never walked. This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, "Stand up straight on your feet!" And he leaped and walked. Acts 14:8-10 Personal Application Today, God wants to release a greater measure of faith to believe in miracles. Read Hebrews 11, the faith chapter, and ask God to give you an increased measure of faith. Read Ever Increasing Faith by Smith Wigglesworth. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Read aloud the Hebrews 11 chapter and cry out to God for a move of believing God for miracles to break out in nations around the world. Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 11 of 27 Let us believe God for the healing power of God to manifest in these diseases: Atrophic (wasting) Down's syndrome Fibromyalgia Fibromyositis Lupus Multiple Sclerosis Strains and Sprains Worship Application Worship the Lord today with scripture that recounts His strength and tells of His exploits. Day 15 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus answered and said, "Permit even this." And He touched his ear and healed him." Luke 22:50-51. Personal Application God has promised through many prophetic words that He is coming with creative miracles in this new moving of the Holy Spirit. Ask God to see these kinds of miracles as you pray for the sick. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Creative miracles where God has grown new toes or limbs have taken place around the world. Believe God to begin to see them in the release of the miraculous across the earth. Pray for miracles in these areas: Arms and legs Ears Feet Fingers New limbs to grow Toes Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 12 of 27 Day 16 Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. Matthew 12:13 Personal Application Press into God today for those crippled by strokes to be restored. God is the creator God. Remember that you are praying in agreement with hundreds of people around the world to see a new wave of creative miracles. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. There are many people who have sent in pictures (located in the prayer room at Christ for the Nations) of those who are hopeless in the eyes of the medical world. Maybe there are some in your own church in this condition. Let us believe God together to pour our mighty healings across the face of the earth: Healing for stroke victims Livers recreated New kidneys to be formed Day 17 Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything. And he looked up and said, "I see men like trees, walking." Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly. Mark 8:22-25 Personal Application Today you are standing in the gap, literally a friend in intercession, to those who are crying out to see across the world. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. This scripture passage is an excellent example of persistence in faith for a miracle. There is a place in the spirit realm where we must "contend" for miracles. Let's contend for those who need healings for all kinds of eye diseases. Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 13 of 27 All deteriorating eye diseases Blind eyes to be healed Cataracts Eyeballs to be replaced Far-sightedness Glaucoma Near-sightedness Worship Application Worship songs such as "Open my Eyes, Lord." Day 18 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, "Lord have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. "So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him." Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me." And Jesus rebuked the demon, and he came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Matthew 17:14-17 Personal Application There have been various times during the Forty Days of Prayer that we have focused on faith for miracles. Believe God today as you fast and pray to release a new measure of faith in your life for miracles. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Let us pray today for God to release a new measure of faith for believers to pray for the sick. If we do not pray, then how will they get healed? Epilepsy Closed head injuries Worship Application Worship songs such as, "I Believe in Miracles". If you don't know that one, ask God to give you a new song Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 14 of 27 Day 19 And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, "Woman you are loosed from your infirmity." And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. Luke 13:11-13 Personal Application There are many people who have been affected with diseases such as osteoporosis. Believe God to heal those with diseases of the back and for creative miracles for those who are elderly and whose spines have minute fractures. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Believe God to heal those with longstanding injuries or diseases such as this woman who was crippled with a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years: All congenital bone structures Osteoporosis Worship Application Worship songs such as Jason Upton's Freedom Day 20 Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him, And He took him aside from the multitude. And put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him, Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. Mark 7:32-35 Personal Application Do you know anyone who cannot speak; perhaps a person with some sort of speech impediment? Pray for them today for healing. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 15 of 27 God is able to heal the deaf and dumb today (the same as He did yesterday). Believe God for His power to sweep the world in a new release of miracles in this area. Believe God to heal all kinds of hearing problems Cleft palate Diseases of the vocal cords, such as ringing in the ears, nerve damage, etc. All the way to total from hearing loss to deafness Worship Application Go through the list of songs we have used thus far. Is there one that particularly inspires faith in you or in your prayer watch? Use these under the Holy Spirit's inspiration. Day 21 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off, And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" So when He saw them He said to them, "Go show yourselves to the priests." And so it was that as then went, they were cleansed. Luke 17: 12-14 Personal Application Do you or anyone that you know have any sort of skin disease? While leprosy is largely under control there are people who suffer skin diseases today that are very painful. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. The God who created us is well able to heal us. There are many different skin conditions that cause a great deal of suffering. Some of them cause loss of pigment and others are quite painful. People suffer from some of these such as melanomas. Let us pray today that God will be glorified through miraculous healings of all sorts of skin diseases: Cancers that affect the skin Eczema Any and other rashes and dermatological problems Severe acne that scars the skin Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 16 of 27 Day 22 Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, He saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever. And he touched her hand and the fever left her. Then she arose and served them. Matthew 8:14-15 Personal Application Have you ever known those who chronically fought infections and fevers in their body? This is often something that parents of young children have to fight against. Let us pray for all those suffering with chronic infections to be healed today. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Many people suffer from allergies, sinus problems, as well as breathing related disorders such as asthma. Let's pray and believe for God's power to heal chronic conditions such as: Allergies Asthma Bronchitis Pneumonia Sinusitis Worship Application Sing songs about God such as "I'm Desperate for you". Day 23 And suddenly a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment; for she said to herself, "If only I can touch Him I shall be made well." But Jesus when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter, your faith has made you well." And the woman was made well from that hour. Matthew 9:20-22 Personal Application Many men and women have spent thousands of dollars going to doctors only to still be terribly ill. While the doctors are doing their best, there are some things only the great physician can heal. Perhaps you know a person who has a problem like this woman or even someone the doctors have given up on. Call their names out to the Lord today. Read John G. Lake's sermons on healing. Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 17 of 27 Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Let's speak scriptures over those on our prayer boards that God will do mighty miracles in such diseases as HIV and Aids. Pray especially for those who are terminal with diseases such as liver cancer, lung cancer, etc. Aids HIV Liver cancer Lung cancer Worship Application Worship the Lord with songs about the blood of Jesus. Day 24 Now when he said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him and let him go. John 11:43-44 Personal Application Lazarus had to not only be freed from a spirit of death, but healed of whatever condition that caused the death. Pray for God to give a new release into the Body of Christ for the gift of working of miracles. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. This is a day to believe for the "hard cases" to be healed. Think of the people either on the prayer board or that you know are the toughest cases and believe God for the working of miracles to operate for them so they can be totally healed. Worship Application Sing "Rise and Be Healed in the Name of Jesus". Day 25 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them." But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for the Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 18 of 27 just shall live by faith. Yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them." Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse or us (for it is written, "cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"). Galatians 3:10-13 Personal Application If you go to a doctor they will ask you question about whether or not your family had certain diseases. Some of these show chromosome defects that may eventually cause certain diseases to manifest. Pray together for healing from these diseases. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Therefore we can ask Him to heal us of any genetic damages that might have come down to us in our genetics. Let's believe for healing of chromosomes problems such as still born children and many other conditions. Ask God to do miracles in the lives of those already affected by these diseases: Autism Lou Gehrig's disease (amythropic lateral sclerosis) Sickle cell disease Other genetic diseases Worship Application Sing a new song from Psalm 103 concerning lives being redeemed from destruction. Day 26 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. John 8:36 Personal Application Do you or anyone that you know have compulsive habits that need to be broken? Jesus can set us free miraculously from all forms of addictions. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. On this date we are believing God for massive deliverances from all kinds of addictions: Alcohol Compulsive debtor Drugs Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 19 of 27 Gambling Sex Tobacco Worship Application Sing songs of deliverance and surround those on the prayer board with the freeing power of the Holy Spirit. Day 27 Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him., saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented." And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him." The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. ….Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way; and as you have believed so let I be done for you." And his servant was healed that same hour. Matthew 8:5-8, 13 Personal Application Many people are afflicted with back injuries and diseases of all kinds. Do you need healing in your own back or does someone you know? Make a list and believe God for a great miracle for them. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. One of the most common causes of pain in the human body is due to pain in the back and neck. Let's believe God for all manner of miracles related to back problems: Herniated discs Ruptured discs Slipped discs Sciatica and radiating pain from the back Spinal bifida Day 28 And He (Jesus) said to him, "Go wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing. John 9:11 Personal Application Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 20 of 27 Jesus is very serious about our obedience. Is there anyone that you know that is not actually born again? Ask the Lord to give you a divine opening to pray for them and tell them how to become a Christian. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. God is calling us to pray and go. Intercede for a glorious outpouring of God's grace upon the Body of Christ to use the laying on of hands as a tool for evangelism. Birth defects of kidneys Kidney diseases Kidney stones Kidney cancer Rental infarction Let's pray today for the salvation of many whose hearts have been hard against Christ. Intercede for those whose pictures are on the wall of salvation. Day 29 And behold, there came a man named Jairus and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus' feet and begged Him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him. …someone came and told the ruler of the synagogue…your daughter is dead….Now all wept and mourned…But He put them all out, took her by the hand and called, saying, "Little girl, arise." …then her spirit returned. Luke 8:41-42, 49, 52, 54 Personal Application Many people are praying together around the world at this moment. Let's focus on the hardest cases where little children are involved. Pray for a day of great healing for children. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Let's pray together for little children around the world who have suffered from the affects of having no medical care. Ask God to heal those little ones who are suffering from no one to feed, clothe or pray for them. Let's be a Jairus to a generation of little children. Diseases of the intestines Malabsorption syndromes Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 21 of 27 Day 30 And suddenly a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment; for she said to herself, "If only I may touched His garment, I shall be made well." But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter, your faith has made you well," And the woman was made well from that hour. Mathew 9:20-22 Personal Application Do you have a personal need of healing? Believe God to touch you today. Is there some family member that has been sick in a long-standing way? Ask God to heal them today. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Let's believe God once again to heal all kinds of diseases related to blood diseases. God wants to release His healing power to those who have sought for healing in hospitals and doctor's offices around the world and there is no cure except in Jesus. HIV/Aids Infertility Reproductive tract disease Day 31 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. Mark 16:17-18 Personal Application Join with the world-wide emphasis on miracles as we ask God to pour out a new move of the Holy Spirit where ordinary believers lay hands on the sick and see them recover. Seek the Lord for a new personal release and pray for the meetings in churches around the world as they begin ten nights of healing meetings. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Believe God for notable miracles at the meeting in Dallas, Texas at Christ for the Nations' Bible Institute. Ask God to do unprecedented healings that will be told Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 22 of 27 throughout the whole world. Ask God to heal conditions that confines people to wheel chairs: Systemic candidacies Yeast disease Day 32 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen. Mark 16:20 Personal Application You might feel isolated and not really part of this new move of the Holy Spirit. Ask God today for courage to believe God that all those in your community will be touched by the power and anointing of God. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Make a list of hospitals in your area. Ask God to begin to release the anointing of God to heal the sick in them. Pray for those with diseases who live tragic lives in nursing homes. Believe God to heal these diseases: Amebic Parasite diseases Tapeworms Day 33 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming another steps down before me." Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk." And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath. John 5:5-9 Personal Application There are many who are sick who long to be well. Focus again today on asking God to touch the bodies of those you know who have been sick for many years. Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 23 of 27 Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. We are asking God to glorify Himself in ways that whole cities will hear of the goodness of God. Ask God for notable miracles to break out that will release a whole new move of revival. Believe God to heal these diseases: Amoebic dysentery Bacterial viral Cholera Dengue fever Infectious diseases Malaria Plague (bubonic) Yellow fever Day 34 Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. 1 Peter 2:24 Personal Application God wants us not only to receive a miracle when we need it in a crisis, but to walk in health and healing. Believe God to strengthen you that you may walk in divine health. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Pray that God will release a new understanding into the Body of Christ, not only for miracles, but health on a daily basis. Pray for miracles to be poured out across the face of the earth. Allergy related diseases Hives Day 35 "Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant, Jesus." Acts 4:29-30 Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 24 of 27 Personal Application Make a list of people that you would like to pray for through the laying on of hands. Be bold to go and pray for them. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Pray for the churches in your area for an outpouring of signs and wonders. Osteomyelitis Paget's diseases Skeletal diseases Day 36 …What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. Acts 4:16 Personal Application The power to perform notable miracles is not just for televangelist. Intercede and ask God to do them through you. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. What is a notable miracle? A notable miracle is one that cannot be explained away as due to any other extraneous treatment. There are some things that doctors, while we praise God for them, cannot do. Pray for miracles today that will be written up in scientific journals around the world. Believe God to heal these diseases: Carpal tunnel syndrome On the job related injuries Rotator cuff injuries Sports injuries Day 37 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. Acts 4:13-14 Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 25 of 27 Personal Application Pray and believe God for the great saints movement of signs and wonders that will go out across the world. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Intercede for signs and wonders and miracles will break out in public places such as Wal-Marts and McDonalds. Birth disorders Birth injury Genetic disorders Day 38 And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. Acts 2:17 Personal Application Believe God today to pour out His Spirit upon all your family members. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. One of the greatest miracles is salvation. Pray for household salvations. Ask God to pour out His Spirit and bring prodigals home to Himself. Believe God to heal these diseases: Cancer Diverticulitis Gastric diseases Gastritis Day 39 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Acts 2:42-43 Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 26 of 27 Personal Application Pray that a revival will begin in your church and city that cannot be quenched through disunity. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Perhaps you want to have a day of prayer and thanksgiving at your local churches for all that God has done during these 40 Days of Prayer. Give testimonies of the lives that have been changed and healed. Believe God to heal: Cancer Emphysema Healing of lungs of those who had previously been smokers or affected by second-hand Smoke Lung diseases Pulmonary effusion (fluid outside the lungs in the chest cavity) Day 40 And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple. Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them--- walking, leaping, and praising God. Acts 3:2, 6-8 Personal Application This is the last day of the 40 Days. Assess all that God has done through you during this time. Are you flowing in signs and wonders? Believe God that this will not end, but that your life will be filled with His wonders. Corporate Intercession Pray that abortion will be overthrown. Today, let us believe for the great flood tide of the miraculous that has been prophesied. That it will be poured out upon every continent of the earth and that there will be complete breakthroughs on this day for all those who were listed on the walls of salvation, healing, and deliverance. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save Forty Days of Prayer and Fasting Prayer Guide to Releasing the Miraculous 2005 Page 27 of 27 the sick and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. James 5:14-15 Personal Application There are many ways to pray for the sick. Anointing with oil is one manner of praying for the sick. Make sure that you have anointing oil and are ready to pray or the sick whenever the occasion arises. ================= The Promise Keeper John 10:7-18 A month ago, I received a very exciting e-mail from an Englishman named Jonathan Archer. A man whom I have never met. He wrote to me about some potentially very important information. Something that, if true, could change my life. The letter began: "We wish to notify you again that you were listed as a beneficiary to the total sum of £4,600,000.00 GBP (Four million Six hundred thousand British Pounds Sterling). We contacted you because you bear the surname identity and therefore we can present you as the beneficiary to the inheritance since there is no written will…." And the letter ended… Yours faithfully, Jonathan Archer. Wow! That is a lot of money 4.6 million British Pounds Sterling – I'm not even from England and – I've never met Jonathan Archer –yet…was kind enough to seek me out, via my personal e-mail address, to let me know that I am a beneficiary…maybe… Now, you will have to agree that, if true, that promise could change me life. I could become wildly wealthy! And buy us a new church building! I know it sounds to good to be true, but what if it is true? I can see that you are skeptical. Maybe you are just jealous that Jonathan Archer e-mailed me and not you. Oh, he did e-mail you also? LAKE CITIES COMMUNITY CHURCH Pastor Craig Schill Easter Sunday – Public Launch April 8, 2007 Our passage this morning deals with a tremendous promise. Not a promise from your e-mail, but from your Bibles. But in a way, like my e-mail example… it may seems too good to be true. And there are those who would reject it as quickly as they would dismiss my e-mail. This Easter morning we are going to first look at three bold promises that Jesus makes, and then together evaluate them. Are there compelling reasons to believe? If so, they will –they must - change our life. If you have your Bibles, I would ask you to turn to the gospel of John chapter 10, verses 7-18. John 10:7-18. Bold Promises (7-10) Before we get to the text, let me give a little setting. The gospel of John was written by the Apostle John – one of Jesus' 12 disciples. The purpose of the gospel is to persuade skeptical people to believe in Jesus Christ and not to dismiss Him. To help people understand Jesus, John picks up on several wonderful images of Christ – For example, Jesus as the Vine. Jesus as Light. In chapter 10, the chapter we are in - it is Jesus presented as - The Good Shepherd. Look first, at verses 7-10. It is here we are introduced to the promises. Verse 7: Jesus therefore said to them again, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep." Stop here – We just said that the image John is using is that of the Good Shepherd, with his sheep. But what does Jesus mean – "I am the door of the sheep." No doubt the first century audience knew exactly what he was talking about. To us, we need more background. One commentator put it this way: When the sheep returned to the sheep fold at night after a day of grazing, the shepherd stood in the doorway of the pen and inspected each one as it entered If a sheep were scratched or wounded by thorns, the shepherd anointed it with oil to facilitate healing; if the sheep were thirsty, he gave them water… After all the sheep had been counted and brought into the pen, the shepherd lay down across the doorway so that no intruder—man or beast—could enter without his knowledge. The shepherd became the door. (Gospel of John, Expositor's Bible Commentary The image is one of care and protection for the sheep. Now with that in mind – look at verse 8. Jesus days, "All who came before me were thieves and robbers…" and verse 10 "The thief comes only to kill and destroy." And so, what is Jesus promising? Jesus is saying that as THE door – the one who protects the sheep - and in contrast to all other religious leaders – He is authentic. Jesus is saying that He is the ONLY genuine article – the One sent from God. The Messiah. The Savior. Jesus is speaking during the Hannakah celebration. A time when the exploits of Judas Maccadbeus was celebrated – A leader who for a time shook off the Roman oppression. It as a time when many people claimed to be the Messiah – • "Follow Me as the Messiah" they cried. • "Follow Me into battle" they encouraged. • "Follow me to Freedom" they promised. But their promises only lead to disappointment and damage. Jesus said – because They are not the REAL Messiah. Madonna, in reflecting on her life, said, "It's all a fiction, you know that, don't you, Tommy? I'm just a character in a novel. None of this is real. And so as I think about my e-mail last month, I wonder if Jonathan Archer is real? Is he a fiction? That is a critical question that has weighty bearing on whether I am going to believe him or anyone else. Jesus is saying all others who set themselves up as an alternative from Christ are fiction. Our text tells us that in contrast to them - Jesus is THE door – the only Messiah – the Shepherd – the Door. The second promise is just as bold - "I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved" (9a). After all, this is what the Messiah was suppose to do – an anointed one. A savior. The key question, though is, "Salvation from what?" The false Messiah's said – salvation from the Roman Empire. Salvation from Israel's enemies. Jesus offers a very different salvation. The apostle Paul tells us in Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Salvation from the punishment of sin – salvation from death – that is what Jesus promises. Salvation resulting in Eternal Life… Billy Graham tells the story of a time early in his career when he arrived in a small town and asked a boy where the post office was. When the boy told him, Billy invited him to come to the meeting that evening. "You can hear me telling everyone how to get to heaven." The boy looked concerned as said, " I don't think so. You don't even know your way to the post office." What is Christ inviting us here to believe? First – that He is the authentic savior. There are many voices saying – Follow-me. But Jesus says He is the one to listen to. And the Authentic Savior – Provides salvation – Eternal life. Now let's find our third promise. Last part of verse nine "He shall be saved, and shall come in and out and find pasture. And in verse 10 Jesus says, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." Jesus promises abundant life here – on earth! Freedom – as seen in the sheep going in and out of the pen – finding pasture to graze. It is the promise that Jesus will take care of his own. Jesus came that we might have life – and have it abundantly! Now the fulfillment of this is not in Jonathan Archer's e-mail promise of untold riches. That is not the abundant life Jesus promises. For example, the famous businessman Lee Iacocca said, "Here I am in the twilight years of my life, still wondering what it's all about. I can tell you this: fame and fortune is for the birds." Lee Iacocca. Contrast that to a quote to a man who gave up a promising career in business and entered the ministry D.L. Moody. This quote has hung over my desk for the past 5 years. "Life is very sweet to me, and I can conceive of no sweeter work than what I am engaged in." That is the abundant life. Being the presence of the Good Shepherd. Following Him, Trusting Him. Living Life under His care. The authentic Savior – who offers Salvation -Eternal Life and Abundant Life. Those are bold promises. Which leads us to a natural question. Why Should we Believe Jesus? After all, Jesus is not the only religious leader who has promises true "life" – or even salvation. Just as there were competing Messiah's 2000 years ago. There are competing religions today. Aren't they all authentic, in their own way? Don't they all teach about the same things? In His book – Jesus and Muhamad – Parallel Sayings, Dr. Kenneth Atkinson argues: "Once Christians and muslins open the Bible and the Koran, they will discover that these texts contain the same message…these two great religions possess a common moral and spiritual foundation." Is that true? Does any religious leader have the same credibility when it comes to the promises they have made? Is it the same message? Why should we believe in Jesus' promises that He is unique, that he alone offers eternal life and abundant living? Look at verse 11-15 John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. John 10:12 "He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. John 10:13 "He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. John 10:14 "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, John 10:15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. FIRST REASON - Jesus LOVES you: Why believe Jesus? The first reason is that "Jesus Died for You." As the good shepherd he Sacrificed His life for yours. Why? Because a price had to be paid for your salvation – the wages of sin, we saw, was death. Why did he go to this extreme level of commitment? Because He is the owner, not a hired worker. The hired worker would flee at the approach of danger, but the owner would die for the sheep. And this is not out of a sense of duty, but because of His love for you. We see that in that the shepherd knows you. He know His sheep and they know His voice. This is very personal. Do you know how my letter from Jonathan Archer began? "Dear Friend." 4.6 million pounds, and "dear friend." Jesus does not promise us with "dear friend," but with Dear Malcolm, Dear Tammy, Dear Monica, Dear Ian, Dear Rhonda… Because in His death he shoes loves the sheep. Paul said in Romans 5:8, God demonstrates His own love toward us , in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. One commentator added, "This is not merely about obedience to God nor is it his personal honor. Rather, Jesus is willing to die because of his profound commitment to the ones he loves." That Jesus died is a compelling reason to believe in Him. He paid the price for our salvation! You can trust Him to carry through on His promise. You know, though… Jesus is not the only great religious leader to die. Shortly before the death of Buddha, it is reported that he SAID, "Have I not often told you that it is in the very nature of things that we must eventually be parted from all that is near and dear to us? Behold, O monks, this is my last advice to you. All component things in the world are changeable. They are not lasting. Work hard to gain your own salvation." It is in the nature of all things to die. And I suspect that Buddha loved his monks. And while I would argue that Jesus' death by design accomplished more than any other religious leader's death, if we stopped here, we stopped at verse 16 – we would stop with a dead Jesus. There is another compelling reason to believe. SECOND REASON - Jesus is Alive! But - Look now at verses 17-18 John 10:17 "For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. John 10:18 "No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father." Why should we believe Jesus' promises? Because of the most compelling reason in the universe! That JESUS IS ALIVE! By His own authority, the Bible said he laid his life down and has taken it back from the grave and He stands here in front of us. This is the turning point of History and the high point of the Christian Faith. You are aware, of course, that claims of resurrection from the dead are fairly rare, because they are easy to disprove. The only exception to that is in fiction. Spider-Man's Aunt May died, but it turned out she was being held hostage and the dead woman was an impostor. A guy named the Vision died, but his operating system was downloaded into a new body. The Thing died, but his partners in the Fantastic Four stormed heaven to retrieve his soul. Journalist Leonard Pitts said, "In comic books, casket lids have handles on the inside." Not so in real life. Buddha died and was cremated. Tammy's grandfather Harold died two weeks ago and the casket was open at the funeral. He was gone. And by verse 16 in our text Jesus, too is dead – sacrificing His life for the sheep. Verses 17-18 separate Jesus from every other religious leader and give him the compelling credibility to fulfill His promises to us is that He is now alive! Even non-Christian scholars have to admit that something happened 2,000 years ago. In ABC's special last year, "the resurrection: Searching for Answers." Daniel Schwartz, a professor of history at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, said: I don't know how they convinced themselves. But the historical fact is, you've got people who are convinced he was resurrected," The special noted that, as we have seen from our text today, there were many leaders who claimed to be the messiah around Jerusalem in the first century. But their movements all died when the Romans crucified them. When they were killed their movements would collapse. This was the intent of those who killed Jesus. They thought it would lead to the collapse of the movement. Jewish scholar Albert Baumgarten of Jerusalem's Bar Ilan University. Says But what makes the Jesus story so interesting, is that this movement did not collapse. Instead, the disciples who had abandoned Jesus changed -- dramatically. The men who had fled after his crucifixion were now in the streets proclaiming Jesus as the messiah." Why. Because He is alive! He is alive. He is Alive! And that separates Him from all others. His death paid the penalty for our sin and the resurrection offers us new life in Christ, in eternity in heaven and in abundance of life here on earth. If you are looking for a compelling reason to believe in the Christian faith, the Resurrection makes all the difference. CONCLUSION: Stand now please in the presence of our Risen Lord. In awe of Him. In prayer – close your eyes. If you know Him – worship Him. He is alive. He loves you. He knows you. Jesus Christ is alive and can therefore fulfill his promises to you. Worship Him and love Him. Follow Him as your good shepherd. Listen to His voice only. If you do not know him – will you put your faith in Him today? Be compelled by His love. Be compelled by His resurrection. Some see the evidence, but don't believe. Let me urge you to believe – put your faith in Jesus Christ – by telling Him that is what you want to do. Perhaps a prayer like this. "Jesus I know I am a sinner – and that my sins deserve to be punished. I believe Jesus died for me and rose from the dead. As best as I can, right now, I put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone as my authentic Savior. Thank you for the forgiveness and everlasting life that I now have. In Jesus Name. Amen. ====================== The Laws of Health Foundational Truth Volume 4 By Peter Tan © Copyright 2008 by Peter Tan Evangelism. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The pdf copy of this book is A$10. It has been provided free for those who can't afford it in order that they may be blessed and grow spiritually. Please feel free to donate whatever amounts you can afford towards the upkeep of our ministry. © Copyright 2008 Peter Tan Evangelism. All rights reserved. Donations can be made via paypal to elshaddai1@bigpond.com. Please contact us for any other form of donations: Peter Tan Evangelism PO Box 27 Belconnen ACT 2616, Australia. Tel: +614 17755613 Email: elshaddai1@bigpond.com We are still in the process of paper publishing of this book. If you are interested in the translation and publishing of this book, please write to Ps Peter Tan at the above PO address. © Copyright 2008 Peter Tan Evangelism. All rights reserved. PREFACE Many people, who have received their healing, loose it later because they have not understood the laws of health. Others have been prayed for but have never been healed nor ever experience sound health. Even ministers with healing ministries fall sick. Falling sick occasionally has been accepted as a norm. The great need in the body of Christ is not only to discover the laws of healing but also to discover the laws of health. It is far better to remain healthy than to fall sick and then be healed. Jesus was never sick at all during His ministry on earth. He is our example. In this book we seek to bring to light some basic laws of health that is found in the Bible. May it bring forth a greater measure of health as you practice them. I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, as your soul prospers (3 John 2). Pastor Peter Tan © Copyright 2008 Peter Tan Evangelism. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 1. THE WILL OF GOD. It is God's perfect Will that all His children enjoy perfect health. It is wonderful to be healed. But it is even more wonderful to be in health and never sick. Health was a part of the Old Covenant that God promised to the Israelites. God said that He would take sickness from the midst of them (Exodus. 23:25). The Israelites were to experience freedom from sickness - divine health was their privilege. This covenant was further expounded in Deuteronomy chapter twenty-eight. The Apostle John expresses the Will of God when he wrote to Gaius saying that he prayed for Gaius to be in health (3 John 2). Being in health is not an accident. Nor is it to be taken for granted and only appreciated when one falls sick. Health is produced, maintained and a consequence of keeping in harmony the laws that governs the spirit, the soul and the body. Neglect in one realm can upset the equilibrium. The Balance of Spirit, Soul and Body. It is a common experience that what goes on in either the spirit, the soul or the body will affect the other two parts. Physical tiredness affects our mental ability to concentrate. Thoughts of anger or depression can affect our appetite for food. The lack of spiritual tranquillity stirs unrest in our souls. The spirit realm is the predominant influence of all three. However, the influence of the soul and body must not be neglected. The physical hunger of Esau caused him to be blind to the value of his birthright (Gen 25:29-34). Many Christians have made blind hasty decisions based upon their natural appetites. Jesus was tempted by Satan to satisfy His physical hunger by a misuse of the power of God (Matthew 4:2, 3). The strength of the temptation was amplified by the physical hunger that Jesus felt. Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, spoke about how husbands and wives can refrain from sexual relationships, with consent from both sides, for the sake of fasting and prayer (1 Corinthians 7:4, 5). However, he advises them to come together again after that so that Satan does not take opportunity to tempt them. We can see here how spiritual desires can overrule and control sexual desires. The spirit man can take ascendancy over the body. But yet we need to know the balance of spirit and body - the need for the husband and wife to come together again - lest Satan tempt them. Epaphroditus did not understand the need of his body for proper rest and he fell sick (Phil. 2:27, 30). He broke natural laws of sleep. His body was weakened and fell sick. Many men of God, whose zeal has overtaken them, have wrecked their physical bodies through overwork. They forget that they have not received new resurrected bodies yet. On the other hand, we recognize that God does allow us from time to time to live above natural limitations. Moses lived forty days and night without food and water (Deuteronomy 9:9). He probably went without sleep, too. The secret is to understand the balance of spirit, soul and body. We need to develop a close relationship with God such that we can discern when He allows us to break physical laws through the Spirit's endowment and when He wants us to abide by them. It is not a clear-cut formula. It is a relationship. In regard to this, ministers of God should know how to discern the amountof time they should spend with their family. To sacrifice the family on the altar of blind zeal to the point where you neglect them is not martyrdom. It is foolishness. Contrarily, to spend all your time with them and neglect the call and ministry of God is to put them first before God. It would have been idolatry. The key then is to neither neglect the spiritual nor the natural but to have a balance between them. The Benefits of Proper Balance. Most people who work in office-related jobs do not get sufficient physical exercise. As such, most of them develop backaches at some point in their lives. Some Christians forget that they still live in a physical body that was not designed to be cramped in an office environment day and night. A simple half an hour walk everyday would have brought greater relief then all their cries to God for healing. I am not advocating spending all our time anxious over the physical realm. But I do want to make Christians aware of the fact that they do not possess their resurrected bodies yet. Therefore, they need to spend at least some time, several days a week, keeping their physical bodies trim and fit for God to use for His glory. There have been times when I have undertaken projects that demand my full mental and spiritual concentration. After many hours of intense concentration, I would take a break from the project and take a walk. When I come back again to continue the project, I find myself physically, mentally and spiritually refreshed and rejuvenated. Sometimes I have wrestled with theological concepts that stretched my imagination to its limits. At such times I would take a long walk and then come back to seek to understand the meditations of my heart. It is only when our physical bodies are in health that our souls and spirits can reach its fullest capacities. The reverse is also true. No one can deny that there is an intricate link between the spirit, the soul and the body. The Balanced Life of Jesus. A study of the life of Jesus would show us that Jesus spent a lot of His time walking. The distances of the towns and villages He walked through range from a few miles to 60 miles. Added to that, He very frequently climbed the Mount of Olives to pray - a height of two thousand seven hundred and twenty-three feet. Many of His teachings were given to His disciples as they walked from town to town. Jesus recognized the need to go aside and rest. At a time when the disciples were too busy in the ministry, Jesus told them to come aside to a deserted place and rest a while (Mark 6:31). The crowds followed them but the Bible tells us they did have some time to themselves before the crowds gathered (Mark 6:32). After feeding them, Jesus dismissed the crowds and departed to the mountain to pray (Mark 6:46). Jesus knew how to be alone to pray. He also had His favourite prayer place in Gethsemane where He used to pray (John 18:1, 2). Jesus knew how to seek the refreshment of praying in the garden when many houses would have been opened for Him to use at any time He requested. Jesus in following the leading of the Holy Spirit lived a balanced life. His spiritual life was predominant but He never neglected the physical. It is amazing that Jesus Christ, in the midst of a cosmic salvation plan, while dying on the cross, could concern Himself with the needs of Mary (John. 19:26,27). From that day forward, John took Mary to his own home. Health Springs from Harmony Paul states that physical exercise profits a little but godliness profits unto all things (1 Timothy 4:8). He is not undermining physical exercise here. Rather, he is pointing to the temporal nature of all things physical. The purpose of maintaining good physical trimness is that we may be in health to serve God better. It is not merely to build good looks or physical endowments for physical rewards. Our Christian goals and purposes in this life are all eternity orientated. Godliness profits unto all things. True godliness should teach us balance in all three realms of spirit, soul and body. After all, it was God who created man with a physical body. Godliness does not just bring profit in the spiritual realm but also in the natural realm. Only the Spirit-filled man would know how to balance the harmony of spirit, soul and body. The natural man would place too much emphasis on either the mental realm or the natural realm with disastrous results. Receiving and maintaining divine health is based upon understanding the various laws that operate in the spirit, soul and body realm. The greatest testimony a Christian can give is not that of healing. It is the testimony of divine health - total freedom from sickness - through the power of the Holy Spirit. CHAPTER 2. THE LAWS OF THE SPIRIT REALM. The spirit of man was created to be the ruler over man's soul and body. In fact without the spirit of man, the body would have no life. The body without the spirit is dead (Jam. 2:26). When God first created man, the body of man - although perfect - was without life until God breathed His spirit into man and man became a living soul (Genesis. 2:7). The spirit of man was to rule as king, the soul as the prime minister and the body as the servant. This delicate arrangement was upset when Adam and Eve sinned. Today fallen men are ruled by the flesh and mental realm. Some who try to move into the spirit realm without the protection of the blood of Jesus have yielded to the demonic spiritual realm. When a person is born again, the Holy Spirit puts a new spirit within him and restores him to be spiritdominated as God has intended men to be. The Fall of Man. God told Adam that in the day that he eats of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, he will die (Genesis 2:17). The original Hebrew language of the Old Testament brings a more detail picture of this verse. The Young's Literal Translation of the Bible translates Genesis chapter two verse seventeen as follows: "And of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou dost not eat of it, for in the day of thine eating of it - dying thou dost die." ^ There are two Hebrew words for 'die.' One is in the present tense and the other is in the future tense. God was saying that in the day that Adam eats of the fruit, he will die spiritually (present tense), and in dying spiritually, he will die physically (future tense). Adam died spiritually the day he sinned but he lived on physically for nine hundred and thirty years (Genesis. 5:5). It was spiritual death that leads to physical death. The moment Adam's spirit was cut off from God, something happened to his soul and understanding. It was darkened. The condition of a darkened understanding continues throughout all generations because of alienation from the life of God (Ephesians 4:18). Since Adam's sin, the law of sin and death has dwelt in our physical bodies (Romans. 5:14; 7:17, 18). The Spirit of Man. The spirit of man is the strength of his soul and body. Everything physical is first imaged and created in the spirit realm (Hebrews 11:3). The visible world is an image of the spiritual world (Romans 1:20). A weak spirit produces a weak mind and subsequently a weak body. The laws of health in the spirit realm all relate to laws that feed, train and strengthened the spirit man. The purpose of all the laws is to produce a healthy and strong spirit man. A strong, vibrant spirit produces health in the soul and in the body. A broken spirit dries the bones (Proverbs 17:22). The spirit of a man will sustain him in his sickness (Proverbs. 18:14). One of the keys to divine health is to learn the secret of keeping our spirits healthy. The Law of Meditation. The law of meditation is the law of feeding the spirit man. The food of the spirit man is the Word of God. Meditation in the Word of God brings life and health to our flesh. The Word of God is life and health to our flesh (Proverbs 4:22). It is possible for the Word of God to be made flesh (Proverbs 4:22; John 1:14). All flesh and all matter is made up of God's Word anyway (Hebrews 11:3). The Bible declares that the life of the flesh is in the blood (Genesis 9:14, 5; Leviticus 17:14). The life in the blood affects every tissue, organ and cell in the physical body. Blood is manufactured in the bone marrow. The Word of God can enter into the bone marrow and impart life and health to the blood (Hebrews 4:12; Proverbs 16:24). It works directly upon the source of our physical lives. Meditation involves the constant confession of God's Word. As stated in Volume one of this series, meditation involves saying the same thing God says (homologos - confession). We have a choice to say what we feel or think but when we aligned ourselves to say as God says, we release God's power into our lives. The Power of the Tongue. In this regard, we have to be careful of what we say if we want to live in divine health. This is one of the cardinal laws to live in divine health - keep thy tongue from speaking guile. (Psalms. 34:12, 13). No doubt, there will be many things which are true and negative. Yet we are to refrain ourselves in such conversation if we want to live in divine health. Keep your conversation pleasant if you want to live in health. Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones (Proverbs 16:24). We seldom see grouchy and negative people live in divine health. Most people who live long healthy lives have a pleasant disposition and have a positive outlook to life. Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruit (Proverbs 18:21). Moreover Jesus tells us not to judge and be critical of others (Matthew 7:1, 2). Much of criticism is out of the critic's insecurity or jealousy. It is also sometimes out of an air of superiority and pride. The excuse of a critic is that their motive is to help and improve. Even psychologists today agree that right behaviour is enhanced in others by encouragement when the right thing is done rather than verbal abuse when the wrong thing is done. The difference between criticism and counsel is that criticism is unsolicited while counsel is solicited. The greatest danger a critic does is more to himself rather than others. Jesus said that you will receive the same measure of judgment you judged others with (Matthew 7:1). You criticize at the expense of your health. Therefore, in order to live in divine health, keep thy tongue from evil! Or better still, speak only what is in line with the Word of God. Love thinks no evil, speaks no evil and lives no evil. The Law of Praying in Tongues. One of the most powerful spiritual weapons that God has given to the church is prayer in tongues. Paul says that when we pray in tongues, it is our spirit man who prays (1 Corinthians 14:14). Praying in tongues is another important key to building immunity to sicknesses and diseases. It keeps our spirit strong and healthy. When we pray in tongues, we are edifying ourselves (1 Corinthians 14:4). We are building ourselves up in the strength and power of the Lord. Praying in the spirit builds us upon the rock of faith (Jude 20). It helps tune all of our souls and bodies to be pliable and yielded to the Word of God. Faith does not come by praying in tongues. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Praying in tongues builds us upon the most holy faith - it increases in our lives the ability to absorb the Word of faith. The Clothing of Power. Jesus in speaking about the baptism in the Holy Spirit said that the disciples are to be clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49). When the baptism in the Holy Spirit was received, all the disciples spoke in tongues (Acts 2:4). Therefore, speaking in tongues is related to the clothing of power from on high. It is the testimony of many Christians who pray long hours in tongues that it feels as if they were physically clothed with power. Personally, I have found that a minimum spiritual diet of meditation in the Word of God for an hour and prayer in tongues for another hour has been the best immunity shot against sicknesses. This is of course only minimal. Divine health does not just come by accident. We must be prepared to invest our time in all this spiritual endeavours of maintaining a healthy spirit man. Physical health is the fringe benefit. There are many great blessings in the spiritual realm for those who spend that much time in spiritual pursuits. On the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up and in his preaching quoted Psalms sixteen in reference to their baptism in the Holy Spirit. He quotes David as saying 'my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad' (Acts 2:26). However, a close look at Psalms sixteen shows that in actually says, 'my heart is glad and my glory rejoices' (Ps. 16:9). The word 'tongue' has been substituted for 'glory.' The Holy Spirit through the lips of Peter was showing that there is a relationship between 'tongue' and 'glory.' The glory of God is the tangible manifested presence of His being. The glory of God is related to speaking in tongues in the same manner in which the power of God is related to the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Worship in the spirit has always increased the manifestation of God's glory. Prayer in tongues builds a covering of glory about us. The fringe benefit of this is immunity to sicknesses and diseases present in the world. John G. Lake speaks of this clothing of the Holy Spirit as the law of the Spirit of Life. In an experiment with scientists, live germs placed in his hands died instantly (The John G. Lake Sermons on Dominion over Demons, Diseases and Death, pg. 108). John G. Lake says that tongues have been to him the making of his ministry (The New John G. Lake Sermons, pg. 17). It should not be unreasonable for believers to believe that germs or viruses will die instantly at the moment of contact with their bodies. Jesus gave to the disciples power and authority over ALL sicknesses and diseases (Matthew 10:1). This authority and power is still operational today through the commission of Jesus (Mark 16:18). The Holy Spirit helps us in our infirmities (Romans 8:26). The word 'infirmities' (Greek - astheneia) has been translated as sicknesses in various parts of the Bible (Matthew 8:17;Luke 5:15;8:2;13:11;John 5:4). The Holy Spirit helps us in our infirmities by helping us to pray with groanings which cannot be uttered - praying in tongues. Praying in tongues builds a spiritual clothing of healing and health about us. Of course, the context of Romans eight speaks about many areas that the Holy Spirit helps us. But we are pointing to another facet of truth that can be added to the normal understanding of Romans chapter eight. It is as we see all the facets of truths that our lives can be richly blessed by God. The two laws of meditation in the Word of God and praying in tongues are essential laws to abide by to receive and maintain divine health. ---------------------- CHAPTER 3 THE LAWS OF THE SOUL REALM. There are sicknesses of the soul just as there are sicknesses of the body. Sicknesses of the soul have not really been classified because there are no measurements to define what the optimum healthy soul should be like. Everybody knows what a healthy physical body should be like. Thus, when their bodies fall sick and are incapable of functioning properly, they classify it as sickness. However, the Bible does have some classifications of what a healthy soul should be like. We can set our minds on the things of the spirit and receive life and peace rather that death (Romans 8:6). Those who learn to live by the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus will be free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2). Freedom from the law of sin and death means freedom from sicknesses which, of course, means divine health. The Law of Being Fear-Free and Faith-Filled. One of the major forces that have ruled mankind since Adam fell is the force of fear. Fear comes in every form and media. The basic reaction of the subconscious mind is fear. If one of our loved ones is delayed in coming home, the first thought that arises is that some evil has befell them. The news media places fearful happenings in the headlines. It takes training to remove the natural inclination to fear. Fear is the controlling force of the devil (Hebrews 2:14, 15). The spirit of fear produces bondages (Romans 8:15). Fear is faith perverted. Fear is belief in the devil's lies. Fear is the reverse gear of faith. Fear brings torments (1 John 4:18). Fear weakens the physical body and makes it more subjectable to sicknesses. Emotional stress has been scientifically proven to have an influence upon nearly every human ailment. This has even led to a new field of medical study called pyschoneuroimmunology. This convincing research has been done by a team at the University of Rochester led by psychologist Robert Ader and immunologist Nicholas Cohen (Brody, J.E. "Emotions Found to Influence Nearly Every Human Ailment," New York Times, May 24, 1983, Page 17+). All negative emotions must be eradicated if one is to enjoy divine health and life. We should set our minds on things which are noble, just, pure, lovely and of good report (Phil. 4:8). A positive mental attitude is vital to a health-filled life. Being Faith-Filled. The opposite of fear is faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Faith is hope-filled and positive. Faith is the substance of things hope for (Hebrews 11:1). People who lose their hopes are tempted to commit suicide. Without hope, there is no faith. Since hope is the positive outlook of the future, then faith is confidence in the positive outlook of the future. Some Christians have reacted to the deluge of positive thinking books and philosophy by becoming negative cynics. Any preacher who preaches positive thinking is quickly branded by them as heretics. We forget that the Bible message is a message of hope and faith in our living God. A true Christian should be an optimist. The difference between positive thinkers and us is that they say, "I can do it," while we say, "I can do all things in Christ." Please note that we are still positive thinkers. They are positive thinkers. We are positive thinkers plus. The strength and power of our positiveness is our faith in God and not in ourselves. The positive force of faith makes people whole. It was through faith in the Name of the Lord Jesus that Peter and John brought healing to the lame man. (Acts 3:16). And His Name, through faith in His Name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all (Acts 3:16). Jesus, in ministering healing to many, has often attributed the miracle to the faith of the people concerned. He told the woman healed of the issue of blood that her faith has made her whole (Mark 5:34). To the blind man, Jesus said that his faith has made him well (Mark 10:52). The force of faith brings wholeness. The force of faith brings health. The law of sin and death is activated by fear. The law of the spirit of life is activated by faith. A positive mental attitude produces life (Romans 8:6). The Law of Joy. One of the first things that happened after the fall of man was the loss of joy (Genesis 3:10, 16). When we lose our joy we lose our health. A merry heart does good like a medicine (Proverbs 17:22). Laughter eases the stress and the strains of life. Scientists studying the effects of laughter on people have reported a measurable effect, not just on the lungs, but on other important organs. Laughter, even when forced, results in a beneficial effect on us, both mentally and physically. One psychologist has said that laughter is good for both body and mind. It eliminates nervous tensions which upset body unctions and it clears the mind of annoyances and resentments. Laughter leaves a feeling of well-being, of personal satisfaction, and of contentment (Cross, F. & W. "Laughter: A Way to Better Health," Science Digest, November 1977, pages 15-18+). In the medical line, the notion that laughter was healthy was popularized by Norman Cousins's Anatomy of an Illness, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1976 and expanded into a best-selling book in 1979. Cousins, then editor of the Saturday Review, described his bout with ankylosing spondylitis, a chronic, progressive disease inflaming the joints of the spine; and he attributed his rather remarkable recovery to self treatment with vitamin C and laughter. One medical wag has said that he who laughs, lasts. The Bible has long noted that the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). The prophet Habakkuk, in the face of fig trees that don't blossom, fruitless vines, failing olives, empty harvest fields, and empty stalls, said that he will rejoice in the Lord (Hab. 3:17,18). Paul, while in prison facing trials, speaks of praying with joy (Phil. 1:4). He even went as far as urging the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord with him (Phil. 2:17, 18; 4:4). This was the same Paul who sang hymns together with Silas after being beaten and placed in stocks (Acts 16:23-25). The apostles had learnt the secret of not letting the circumstances of life to steal their joy. They exemplified what joy-filled Christians can accomplish. In Paul's time the gospel was successfully brought to the entire known world. Some Christians are of the opinion that the Spirit-filled Christian life is filled with religious sombreness. They forget that Jesus said that His joy is to remain in us and our joy is to be made full (John 15:11). Jesus even said that no one can take away our joy (John 16:22). Undaunted Joy. The joy that Jesus has enabled us to have in Him is not affected by the circumstances of life. It is not a happiness which is a fruit of the circumstances of life. It is a fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22). Even in great persecutions and difficulties, Jesus commands us to rejoice and leap for joy. (Luke 6:23). The joy He speaks about is not a natural joy but a supernatural God-given joy. The Israelites were told to rejoice in the abundance of God's provisions. (Deuteronomy 16:11; 26:11). God told them that if they did not serve Him with gladness and with joy for the abundance of his blessings, the curses will come upon them (Deuteronomy 28:45). If the devil can't steal our joy, he can't steal our goods. The force of joy that God imparts into us is supernatural. We must learn to rejoice in the Lord always. The results of being filled with the Holy Spirit are the speaking of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:18,19). That means that the Spirit-filled Christian is a joy-filled Christian and not a glumfaced Christian. If the devil can't steal our joy, he can't steal our health. The two laws of being faith-filled and being joy-filled are essential to maintain a healthy soul. Learn to have a positive mind and a positive attitude in life. Learn to laugh in the Holy Spirit. As our souls prosper and are in health, our bodies will also be in health (3 John 2). ------------------------ CHAPTER 4. THE LAWS OF THE PHYSICAL REALM. God has created man to live in both the spiritual and the physical world. Man has always swayed to extremes. Fallen man sways to the extreme of indulging in all the pleasures of the flesh. They become sensual and bodycontrolled. During the Dark Ages, Christianity became extremely ascetic to the level where even the most basic functions and requirements of the human body were regarded as sinful. The body was regarded as sinful and an object to be tortured and mistreated in order to achieve spirituality. The biblical view is that God has created both the spiritual and the physical world for our enjoyment. Full enjoyment would depend on us following the laws that govern both realms. The human body is to be regarded as a holy dwelling place of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20). Therefore, it is important to flow and harmonize with laws that keep the body - the temple of the Holy Spirit - healthy. The Law of Fasting. Eating and fasting are part of the regular rhythm of our physical lives. The first meal of the morning is often called 'breakfast.' It is literally a break in the night of fasting. If you happen to eat later than usual in the evening, you may notice that you may not be hungry in the morning. When a person is ill, they naturally do not eat and sometimes just ask for liquids. Sick animals sometimes do not eat for days. The instinctive fasting during sicknesses is just one of the ways our bodies fight sicknesses. Many people have found relief from coughs and colds during a fast. Fasting is one of the most natural ways in which the body cleanses itself internally. Fasting removes excess weight and toxic matter from the body. It is one of the few successful natural purifiers in the polluted world. Fasting is a beauty treatment from within. It is the testimony of many that their skin has cleared up after a fast. Fasting is also one of the most powerful preventative forces against disease. Many people eat out of habit and social custom then out of hunger. Eating has not only been for the purpose of satisfying hunger and our bodily needs. People end up gorging themselves out of purely social and sensual reasons. Overeating always has been accompanied by a hangover. Whether it is a queasy stomach or just a loss of appetite, we should pay attention to the 'squeaks' of our natural bodies. The most natural thing to do after overeating is to begin a fast and let the body go back to normal. We should stop eating altogether and eat only when we feel hungry again, which can be from a few hours to a few days or more. Some people find that their body signals are erratic - they do not feel hungry when they need to replenish the food supply in their bodies. Scientists have found out that a human body that has insufficient exercise does not give correct natural signals of the need for food, sleep and wake. The Health Fast. Fasting has many spiritual benefits but we will only focus on the physical benefits in this chapter. Based on the reasons given above, we should endeavour to fast regularly as a physical discipline. A weekly twenty-four hour fast would be a good way of maintaining sound physical health. Every week, the body will be given the chance to eliminate all the poisons present in foods that have been eaten. The fasting can be in the form of a total fast (abstaining from food and water), a water fast (drinking only plain water), a liquid fast (drinking only fruit juices), or a fruit fast (eating only plain fruits). It may be more beneficial to have it as a sunrise to sunrise fast rather than from sunset to sunset. A fast that begins from the evening of the day to the evening of the following day is more like a partial one-meal fast as food is eaten on both days. During a fast it is important to avoid cold drinks, tea and coffee. The body temperature drops during a fast as metabolism slows down. Therefore, it is important to keep warm during the fast. Tea and coffee contains caffeine which upsets the normal functions of the body by given it an artificial boost. In fact many tea and coffee drinkers experienced dizziness and sometimes headaches during a fast as the body seeks to eliminate all the poisons in their system. Generally, this also happens to people who have never fasted before as there is a great accumulation of toxins in their body. After the first few fasts, these side effects will disappear. A good fast would cause our healing to spring forth speedily. (Isaiah 58:8). Daniel and his companions lived on vegetables and water for ten days and the chief of the eunuch found that their countenance appeared better and fatter than all the other young men (Daniel 1:12,15). They could have won the beauty contest if there was one. The Diet Law. In the Old Testament, God set some diet laws for His people. He told the Israelites not to consume any animals that were unclean. (Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14). The purpose of His law was that it may be well with them. (Deuteronomy 4:40; 5:16, 29; 6:3, 18; 12:25, 28; 22:7). God was concerned for the spiritual, social and physical well-being of the Israelites. The spiritual and moral laws are still applicable today. The ceremonial laws which point to the coming of Christ were all abolished (or rather fulfilled) in Christ. The question is what about the diet laws? Scientists have agreed that the clean and unclean animals were not just ceremonial divisions but were actual physical differentials of the animals that were either physically clean or unclean. The clean animals have physical habitats and diets that were clean. The unclean animals were mostly scavengers. In the New Testament, as in the Old, moral laws as a code of conduct are still applicable. The unclean animals have not changed their unclean habits in the New Covenant. Their flesh is still in a true sense an 'unclean scavenger's meat.' The question is whether God's recommended diet could still be beneficial for New Testament believers? God also forbade the Israelites from eating fat. (Leviticus 7:23-25). Modern men have finally come to the conclusion that fat is not good for our bodies because of their high cholesterol content. New Testament believers can try to claim freedom from the law and eat fat the rest of their lives if they want to. But fat in the New Covenant has the same effect on the bodies as it has in the Old Covenant. We would be better off physically if we refrain from eating fat. Misunderstood Scriptures. Many Christians claim that God has sanctified all animals for our consumption based on First Timothy chapter four verse three. They say that every creature can be eaten. Taken literally, these would include cockroaches and maggots. Or how about a delicacy of flies? The key word here is verse five where Paul says the sanctification is by prayer and the Word of God. (1 Timothy 4:5). The only Bible Paul had was the Old Testament. When he refers to the Word of God, he is referring to the Old Testament. Sanctified by the Word of God means that it is in line with the Word of God. That would have to mean that the animals referred to were clean animals that the Old Covenant sanctioned for consumption. The controversy that Paul was correcting was not in regard to the consumption of clean and unclean animals but it was regarding the false belief that one is to consume only vegetables to be spiritual. Moreover, the phrase 'every creature of God' is different from the phrase 'every creature.' When we say that every man of God is to be welcomed into the home, we do not mean every man. There are some men that the Bible tells us not to welcome into the house (2 John 10). Paul even clarified that he was referring to meat which God has created to be received (1 Timothy 4:3). There are some meats that God has not created to be received. They are the scavengers whom God has created to clean up the earth. Some say that Peter's vision of the clean and unclean animals were God's sanction for eating unclean animals. A close study shows us that the vision was repeated three times to symbolize the three Gentiles who were coming to meet him (Acts 10:16, 19). This was a symbolic vision which Peter understood as God sanctioning him to minister to the Gentiles (Acts 10:28). In Romans chapter fourteen verse fourteen, the word 'unclean' has no reference to a sanction for eating unclean animals. The word used is 'koinos' which means 'ceremonial uncleanness.' The word used for unclean scavenger animals is 'akathartos' which means 'filth or impure uncleanness'. (Acts 10:14, 28; Rev. 16:13;18:2). Even Jesus' confrontation with the Pharisees in regard to 'kosher' food was in reference to ceremonial uncleanness (Mark 7:15-19). The question at stake was not whether it was right or wrong to eat scavenger animals but rather whether it was right or wrong to keep the Jewish laws and customs of washing hands (Mark 7:4,5). It would be a grave contextual mistake to jump to the conclusion from this passage and say that Jesus was saying it was alright to eat unclean scavenger animals including cockroaches, flies, worms, etc. Those who claim Mark chapter sixteen and say that they can eat all they like are pulling the Scriptures to the extreme (Mark 16:18). They might as well go around picking up snakes, too (Mark 16:18). The promise here is in the context of preaching the gospel. It is a promise for protection in an accidental situation of being poisoned or being bitten by snakes rather than a purposeful act. A Balanced View. On the other hand, it would be a serious mistake to say that the eating of unclean animals is sinful. In the New Covenant, the eating or non-eating of unclean animals has nothing to do with our spirituality. We are all saved and brought into relationship with God through the blood of Jesus Christ. There are some groups that take this to the extreme and practice this for religious reasons rather than for health reasons. In regard to the Gentiles the early church ruled that the only requirements that they recommended were that the Gentiles abstain from things offered to idols, from blood from things strangled, and from sexual immorality (Acts 15:29). The diet law of clean and unclean animals stands in the New Testament asa health law rather than a religious law. We would do well to bridle our eating habits and go by God's recommended diet. One fine day, scientists will find that God was right in the first place just as they have found in regard to the eating of fat. Even at this time of writing, there is much research surfacing that the unclean animals carry a greater risk factor; being carriers of many, many kinds of worms, germs and viruses. Personally, it has been difficult in the initial stages to adjust to the dietary laws because it has been the tendency of fallen men to make unclean animals a delicacy. But the blessings of health have been worth the discipline of a healthy diet. The testimony of being free from all kinds of sicknesses and diseases is far more precious. No one is healthy by accident. Health is received and maintained by observing all laws that pertain to the spirit, soul and body. These two laws of fasting and dieting are essential to maintaining good health. Some modern preachers, on their death beds, have come to grasp the fact that a life of spirituality does not exempt us from discipline in our physical life. Bridling their food consumption and maintaining a healthy diet, they have rebounded to new levels of health. ------------------------ CHAPTER 5. THE BENEFITS OF FASTING. Fasting has many benefits in the spiritual realm as well as in the physical realm as covered in the previous chapter. In order to encourage believers to fast, we will make a study of the spiritual benefits of fasting in this chapter. Fasting does not change God but it sure changes us. It has an effect on the spirit, soul and body. Fasting Disciplines the Body The spirit of man was created to dominate the soul and the body. Our body has the elements of sin nature in it. Paul, in writing to the Romans, speaks about sin which dwells in him. (Romans 7:17). Our spirits were born again when we accepted Jesus into our lives (Jn 1:12, 13; 3:5,6). We are new creatures and old things have passed away (2 Corinthians 5:17). However, our minds still need renewal and our body still have the elements of sin nature. Paul tells us very clearly in Romans that sin dwells in the flesh (Romans 7:18). He speaks about a law in his members warring against the law of his mind (Romans 7:23). He calls it 'the law of sin which is in his members' (Romans 7:23). The word 'members' in Romans chapter six and seven refers to the physical body (Romans 6:13; 7:5). The passions and desires of the body are still awakened by the law of sin. As long as we are on this earth, and until we receive our new resurrected bodies, we must discipline our body and bring it under subjection (1 Corinthians 9:27). We must keep presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice unto the Lord (Romans 12:1). One of the most important keys to bring our bodies under subjection is by prayer and fasting. Did you noticed how spiritually dull we become when our stomachs are filled and our bodies are lazy? The lust and passions of the flesh seem stronger when we eat, drink and are merry. However, it is well noted that the sexual appetites diminishes when a person is without food for long periods. Too much food produces a carnal and sensual society. The Sexual Fast. When a person is married, it does not mean that they no longer restrain their sexual passions. Marriage is not a licence to have sexual orgies with one's life partner. Please understand that I do not say that sex is wrong or sinful. Sex in a marriage relationship is beautiful and the marriage bed undefiled (Hebrews 13:4). Both marriage partners must learn to satisfy each other sexually. However, a marriage is not just for the purpose of having sex. It is the knitting and binding of two people - spirits, souls and bodies - to fulfil the will of God on this earth. From time to time, as one or both partners have times of prayer and waiting upon the Lord, there need to be self-control exercised over sexual desires (1 Corinthians 7:5). Of course, this must be with consent from both partners. Note how this is accompanied by fasting (1 Corinthians 7:5). After the period of prayer and fasting, they may resume normal sexual relationships. One of the fruit of the Spirit is self-control (Galatians 5:23). Prayer and Fasting. In the Bible, fasting has always been accompanied by prayer. Fasting without prayer is merely dieting or just plain starvation. The twin forces of fasting and prayer have unleashed great demonstrations of God's power. It has brought deliverances in times of great need (2 Chronicles 20:3; Est. 4:16). We should always combine fasting with prayer. If we are fasting while involved in some work or activity, we should take whatever time we have, during lunch breaks or dinner times, to pray and seek the Lord. It would also be useful to write down on a piece of paper the objectives for the fast. This helps us to focus our prayers to bring breakthroughs on specific areas. Although we may not see all the objectives answered, we can be assured that we have committed them to the Lord. Some of the objectives I have listed during my fasts have been answered about two years after the fast. Some others took ten years or longer. But God has always reminded me, each time He brought the manifestation of my prayers, that it was an item I had fasted for long ago. Fasting and Revelation. Christianity is built upon revelation. Unless God reveals, all our intellectual effort to understand and know Him and His laws are in vain. We need to humble ourselves before God and ask Him to show and reveal to us areas which we seek understanding. Revelation does not come by schooling and education. It comes by prayer. When Daniel did not understand the prophecies of Jeremiah, he prayed and fasted for revelation. God sent the angel Gabriel to give Daniel an understanding of the prophecies. (Daniel 9:2, 3, 22, 23). Later Daniel again humbled himself in fasting and prayer to seek revelation of some of the visions he had seen. Once again, God sent the angel Gabriel to bring Daniel the revelation he sought. (Daniel 10:12). Anna the prophetess prophesied concerning Jesus when she saw baby Jesus. She had received much revelation because she had spent much time in fasting and prayer (Luke 2:36-38). I believe that Simeon was also a man of prayer and fasting for he received revelation from the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:25- 27). It was while the leaders in Antioch church were praising and fasting that they received revelation concerning the ministries of Paul and Barnabas(Acts 13:1-3). Paul prayed for the Ephesian church to receive wisdom and revelation (Ephesians 1:17). Kenneth E. Hagin took this same prayer and prayed for himself for hundreds of times. One day the Lord spoke to him and told him that He would bring him into visions and revelations (Praying to Get Results, pages 31 & 32 ). He said that he learnt in a few days what fifteen years of study could not bring. We need to learn to pray and fast for revelation. Furthermore, many have found that fasting helps their minds to be more alert. I have also found that I need less sleep when I am on a fast. Fasting has also strengthened the goals and desires of my life. If we are willing to give up food to pray over the goals and desires of our lives, we will be willing to put our blood, sweat and tears to accomplish them. Fasting and the Anointing. Jesus Christ imparted the anointing to His disciples to heal all sicknesses and cast out all devils (Matthew 10:1; Luke 9:1). When they could not cast out a devil, it was not because they did not have the authority or the anointing (Matthew 17:16, 19). Jesus said that it was because of their unbelief (Matthew 17:20). Jesus then recommends fasting and prayer (Matthew 17:21). Fasting and prayer would have helped to release the authority and power that Jesus had already delegated to them. If they had really believed while faced with an impossible situation, they would have fasted until the manifestation came. Their lack of perseverance through fasting was an indication of their unbelief. Fasting helps to release the authority and power of God through our lives. The objective promises of God can become our subjective experience through prayer and fasting. Fasting actualizes the promises. Learn the art of fasting. Jesus was a man of prayer and fasting. It is a lost art among modern Christianity. Fasting has both spiritual and physical benefits. Isaiah 61 Ministries Bibliography and Reading List updated April 20, 2011 Bibliography and Reading List NOTE: Beginning in early 2005 I began a program of self study in the area of spiritual warfare under the direction of Pastor Bernard Chan of Singapore and guided by the Holy Spirit. I was interested in learning from the lessons and experiences of others who had devoted substantial effort ministering in the areas of healing and deliverance. I tried to read as broadly as possible, including both Protestant and Catholic perspectives, historical and contemporary ministries, and proponents as well as critics of the deliverance ministry. Below is a list of the books I studied to prepare for the founding of Isaiah 61 Ministries, as well as books discovered later and reviewed as part of on-going study. The list is intended to aid in the personal research of others, and does not constitute either a personal or ministry endorsement of any of the books, authors, or specific teachings found in these resources. I found, however, that most of the books were very useful and I learned something from every book I consulted, even if only how "not" to minister in this area. Many of the items listed below are out of print, but most can still be located by second hand book sellers and on-line searches. The list is updated from time to time as we discover additional resources that we believe would useful to others. Comments and recommendations for additional references to be reviewed and included in future editions of this bibliography are welcome. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Roger H. Ford, Ph. D., Teaching Elder, Isaiah 61 Ministries. (Updated 20 April 2011). Isaiah 61 Ministries Bibliography and Reading List updated March 2009. Spiritual Warfare Bibliography. Alexander, Ben. Out From Darkness: One Man's Extraordinary Escape From Satanic Power. (Miranda Press). 1993. Anderson, Neil T. and Dave Park. The Bondage Breaker. (Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon). 1993. Anderson, Neil T. and Dave Park. The Bondage Breaker Youth Edition. (Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon). 2001. Anderson, Neil T. and Timothy M. Warner. The Beginner's Guide to Spiritual Warfare. (Regal, Ventura, California). 2000. Ankerberg, John, and John Weldon. The Facts on The Occult. (Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon). 1991. Banks, Bill. Power for Deliverance: Songs of Deliverance. (Impact Books, Kirkwood, Missouri). 1987. Banks, Bill. Deliverance for Children and Teens. (Impact Books, Kirkwood, Missouri). 1989. Basham, Don. Can A Christian Have A Demon? (Impact Books, Kirkwood, Missouri). 1991.Basham, Don. Deliver Us From Evil. (Chosen Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan). 1972. Bloomer, George. The Battle Plan. (Legacy Publishers International). 2003. Brown, Rebecca. He Came To Set The Captives Free. (Whitaker House, New Kensington, PA.). 1986. Brown, Rebecca, and Daniel Yoder. Unbroken Curses: Hidden Source of Trouble in the Christian Life. (Whitaker House, New Kensington, PA). 1995. Bubeck, Mark I. The Adversary: The Christian Versus Demon Activity. (Moody Bible Institute, Chicago). 1975. Bubeck, Mark I. The Adversary at Home: Protecting Your Child From The Evil One. (Liife Journey, Cook Communications Ministries, Colorado Springs, CO). 1997. Bubeck, Mark I. The Satanic Revival: How to Identify and Conquer the Invasion of Evil. (Here's Life Publishers, Inc., San Bernardino, CA). 1991. Cambell, Ron G. Free from Freemasonry. (Regal Books, Ventura CA). 1999. Dickerman, Don. When Pigs Move In. (Charisma House, Lake Mary, Florida). 2009. Isaiah 61 Ministries Bibliography and Reading List updated March 2009 Greenwald, Gary L. Seductions Exposed: The Spiritual Dynamics of Relationships. (Whitaker House, New Kensington, PA). 1989. Hagin, Kenneth E. The Origin and Operation of Demons, Vol. 1. (Rhema Bible Church, Tulsa, OK). 1989. Hammond, Frank and Ida Mae Hammond. A Manual for Children's Deliverance. (Impact Christian Books, Kirkwood, MO). 1996. Hammond, Frank. Confronting Familiar Spirits: Counterfeits to the Holy Spirit. (The Children's Bread Ministry, Plainview, TX). 1988, revised 1995. Hammond, Frank. Demons & Deliverance in the Ministry of Jesus. (Impact Christian Books, Kirkwood, MO). 1991. Hammond, Frank. Pigs in the Parlor: A Practical Guide to Deliverance. (Impact Christian Books, Kirkwood, MO). 1973. Hammond, Frank. Overcoming Rejection: Spiritual Warfare Series Volume II. (Impact Christian Books, Kirkwood, MO). 1987. Hammond, Frank and Ida Mae. Kingdom Living for the Family. (Impact Christian Books, Kirkwood, MO). 1985. Horrobin, Peter. Healing Through Deliverance (Two Volume Set) 1 – The Foundation of Deliverance Ministry; 2 – The Practice of Deliverance Ministry. (Sovereign World, Ltd., Kent, UK). 1991. Ing, Richard. Spiritual Warfare. (Whitaker House, New Kensington, PA). 1996. Koch, Kurt E. The Devil's Alphabet. (Evangelical Publishers, West Germany). 1971 (English) (first German edition published in 1969.) Koch, Kurt E. Christian Counseling and Occultism. (Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI). 1965 (English) (first German edition published in 1959.) Koh, Douglas. Healing Sexual Addiction. (Singapore). 2010. Kraft, Charles H. Confronting Powerless Christianity: Evangelicals and the Missing Dimension. (Chosen Books, Grand Rapids MI). 2002. Kraft, Charles H. Deep Wounds, Deep Healing. (Regal Books, Ventura CA). 1993. Kraft, Charles H. Defeating Dark Angels: Breaking Demonic Oppression in the Believer's Life. (Servant Publications, later, Regal Books, Ventura, CA). 1992 Kraft, Charles H. I Give You Authority. (Chosen Books, Grand Rapids, MI). 1997. Kraft, Charles H. Two Hours to Freedom: A Simple and Effective Model for Healing and Deliverence. (Chosen Books, Grand Rapids, MI). 2010 Isaiah 61 Ministries Bibliography and Reading List updated March 2009 4 Kylstra, Chester and Betsy. Biblical Healing and Deliverance. (Chosen, Grand Rapids, Michigan). 2003 & 2005. Kylstra, Chester and Betsy. Restoring the Foundations: An Integrated Approach to Healing Ministry (2nd Edition). (Proclaiming His Word Publications). 2001. Larson, Bob. Larson's Book of Spiritual Warfare. (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN). 1999. Leahy, Fredrick S. Satan Cast Out: A Study in Biblical Demonology. (Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh and Carlisle, PA). 1975. Lim, Leslie and Douglas Koh. Mental Illness or Demonisation: Similarities and Differences. (Genesis Books, Singapore). 2007. MacNutt, Francis. Deliverance from Evil Spirits: A Practical Manual. (Chosen Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan). 1995. MacNutt, Francis. Healing. (Hodder and Stoughton, London NW1 3BH). 1988. Malone, Henry. Shadow Boxing. (Vision Life Publications, Irving Texax). 1999. Miller, Paul M. The Devil Did Not Make Me Do It. (Herald Press, Scottdale, PA). 1977. Miller, Roger. Curses, Unforgiveness, Evil Spirits, Deliverance. (Trumpet of Gideon Ministries, Germantown, TN). 1994. Morey, Robert. Satan's Devises: Breaking Free From The Schemes Of The Enemy. (Christian Scholars Press, Las Vegas, NV). 1993. Murphy, Ed. The Handbook of Spiritual Warfare. (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee). 2003. (Revised and updated version) Pentecost, J. Dwight. Your Adversary The Devil. (Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, Michigan). 1969. Pierce, Chuck D., and Rebecca Wagner Sytsema. Ridding Your Home of Spiritual Darkness. (Wagner Publications, Colorado Springs, CO). 2000. Poon, Abraham. Kingdom Power in Chinese Culture. (Amazing Grace Books, Limited, Hong Kong, China). 2008, 2009. Prince, Derek. Blessing or Curse: You Can Choose. (Chosen Books). 1990. Prince, Derek. God's Remedy for Rejection. (Whitaker House, New Kensington, PA). 1993. Prince, Derek. Rules of Engagement: Preparing for Your Role in the Spiritual Battle. (Chosen Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan). 2006. Isaiah 61 Ministries Bibliography and Reading List updated March 2009 5 Prince, Derek. They Shall Expel Demons: What You Need To Know About Demons – Your Invisible Enemies. (Derek Prince Ministries, Christchurch, NZ). 1998. Reese, Andy. Freedom Tools for Overcoming Life's Tough Problems. (Chosen Books, Grand Rapids, MI). 2008. Sandford, John & Mark Sandford. Deliverance and Inner Healing. (Chosen Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan). 1992. Sandford, John & Paula Sandford. Healing the Wounded Spirit. (Victory House, Tulsa, OK). 1985. Sandford, Paula. Healing Victims of Sexual Abuse. (Charisma House, Lake Mary, FL). 2009. Schnoebelen, William. Masonry Beyond The Light. (Chick Publications, Ontario, California). 1991. Seamands, David. Healing of Memories. (Scripture Press Foundation (UK) LTD. Amersham-on-the-Hill, Bucks HP6 6JQ, England). 1985. Sherman, Dean. Spiritual Warfare for Every Christian. (WYAM Publishing, Seattle, WA). 1995. Smith, Eddie and Alice. Spiritual House Cleaning: Protect Your Home and Family from Spiritual Pollution. (Regal Books). 2003. Wagner, C. Peter. Confronting The Powers. (Regal Books, Ventura, California). 1996. White, Thomas B. The Believer's Guide to Spiritual Warfare. (Regal Books, Ventura, California). 1990. Whyte, H. A. Maxwell. A Manual on Exorcism. (Whitaker House, Springdale, PA). 1974. Whyte, H. A. Maxwell. Casting Out Demons. (Whitaker House, New Kensington, PA). 1973. Whyte, H. A. Maxwell. Demons & Deliverance. (Whitaker House, Springdale, PA). 1989. Whyte, H. A. Maxwell. Dominion Over Demons. (Whitaker House, Springdale, PA). 1973. Kingdom Living Bibliography Copeland, Kenneth & Gloria. From Faith to Faith: A Daily Guide to Victory. (Harrison House, Tulsa, OK). 1992. Grubb, Norman. Rees Howells, Intercessor. CLC Publications, Fort Washington, PA). 1952/2002. Isaiah 61 Ministries Bibliography and Reading List updated March 2009 6 Hammond, Frank and Ida Mae. Kingdom Living for the Family. (Impact Christian Books, Kirkwood, MO). 1985. Johnson, Bill. The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind: Access to a Life of Miracles. (Destiny Image Publishers, Shippensburg, PA). 2005. Johnson, Bill. When Heaven Invades Earth. (Treasure House, Destiny Image, Shippensburg, PA). 2003. Kendall, R. T. The Sensitivity of the Spirit: Learning to Stay in the Flow of God's Direction. (Charisma House, Lake Mary, FL). 2002. Lake, John. G. John G. Lake: His Life, His Sermons, His Boldness of Faith. (Kenneth Copeland Publications, Fort Worth, TX.) 1994. Pawson, David. The Normal Christian Birth: How to Give New Believers a Proper Start in Life. (Hodder & Stoughton, London). 1989. Wigglesworth, Smith. Greater Works. (Whitaker House, New Kensington, PA). 2000. ================== More Than A Fish Story Sermon, April 14, 2013 Text: John 21:1-19 Jesus and seven other men were sitting around a charcoal fire at the edge of the Sea of Galilee. It was dawn, probably quiet and cool, perhaps with the morning fog hanging low. The men were wet, tired and cold, having been out on the fishing boat all night. The warm fire crackled; the aroma of freshly toasted bread and smoked fish filled the air. There was probably small talk and a few laughs as they ate. I'm sure there was some good natured ribbing about Peter's restlessness (in v.2, it seems that Peter was sick and tired of just sitting around, he probably wanted the therapy of the familiar, he wanted to go back to his fishing, and they all joined him), perhaps talk about how it felt to once again have the familiar feeling of the ropes in their hands, hoisting the sails and hauling the nets, how good it felt to be back at the familiar, comfortable, long deserted tasks of fishing; after all, it had been three years since they last fished. More than likely they reminisced about the first time the fish-catching miracle occurred, which initially prompted three of them to leave everything and follow Jesus; we find that story in Luke 5, when Peter, James and John had again been out all night fishing and had caught nothing, and Jesus met them on the shore, told them to cast their nets yet again and they hauled in so many fish their nets began to break. Luke doesn't tell us how many fish they caught back then, but John does … he tells us the exact number of fish they hauled in this time there were 153 large fish. Over the centuries many have speculated as to the significance of this number. In the fifth century, Jerome claimed there were 153 different known species of fish in the water of that large lake, and the nets miraculously had one of each thus representing that people from every nation will be gathered together to Jesus Christ. Also in the fifth century Cyril of Alexandria wrote the number 153 is made up of three elements: 100 represented the fullness of the Gentiles, 50 symbolized the remnant of Israel and the three represented the Trinity. I'm also told Cyril of Alexandria was something of a mathematician. He also speculated the number was obviously a Trinitarian reference/symbol, because 153 is what mathematicians tell us is a "three narcissistic number" -- a number that is the sum of its own digits each raised to the power of the number of digits, or a three digit number that is the sum of the cubes of its digits. (Stick with me here.) 153 -- One to the Third power (1x1x1 = 1) plus Five to the Third power (5x5x5 = 125), plus 3 to the Third power (3x3x3 = 27) gives us 1+125+27 and that equals …153! Yes, obviously a Trinitarian symbol … threes all over! Augustine of Hippo, something of a mathematician as well, wrote that 10 is the number of the Law (there are Ten Commandments), and 7 is the number of grace (e.g., the seven fold gifts of the Spirit). So, put together Law PLUS Grace, 10 plus 7, and you get 17. Now, if you add up the numbers one through seventeen (1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12+13+14+15+16+17) you get you guessed it … 153! So, according to Augustine of Hippo, 153 fish represents all those who by either law or grace (or both) will be gathered into the grand "net" of salvation by Christ. Stephen of Warwick thinks it is a prophetic number about a "messianic" figure to come centuries later and sure enough, NFL quarterback great Roger Staubach went on to throw 153 touchdowns in his career from 1956–1971. Seriously, though, Stephen of Warwick thinks John told us the exact number of fish for the same reason every fisherman tells you how many fish he caught … because he was on the boat! Don't get sidetracked by the incidental things, here there is a much grander miracle on display here than this miraculous haul of fish, but I'm getting ahead of myself a bit. I'm sure, too, there was an air of heaviness hanging over the fireside that was more pervasive than the morning fog. So much has transpired. They had been through an emotionally wrenching time the One they had left all to follow had been crucified, they had all in one way or another deserted Him, one of their very close friends and colleagues had committed betrayal and then suicide, and then all the astonishing, bewildering, roller-coaster events of the resurrection and His subsequent appearance to them in that locked room and again later showing Himself to Thomas all this and more preceded this morning's gathering. These are emotionally exhausted men! And certainly all were aware Peter had denied being Jesus' disciple three times. At their Last Supper together Jesus had predicted Peter would do just that, and then Peter vehemently protested, in front of them all, he would never do such a thing. But yet, he did. Three times. Just as Jesus had predicted. Jesus asks Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" Now, what are the "these?" The neuter Greek term translated "these" implies Jesus is saying these things more than likely referring to the trappings of the fisherman's trade, the ropes and nets and the pile of now-suffocated 153 fish all near at hand. "These things" are all what Peter had left behind to follow Jesus in the first place, as recorded in Luke 5. Imagine Jesus asking: "Once there was a day, Peter, when I called you the first time I caused you to catch a net full of fish and you responded! You rose up at once, left all these things, and came with Me. Peter, I know it has been rough, but what are you going to do now? Are you going to abandon Me? Do these things, these old ties, these old ways of life, tug at your heart? OR, do you still love Me more than these?" Jesus goes on to give Peter two more opportunities to answer basically the same question, "Do you love Me?" Peter, who the night of Jesus' arrest was warming himself by a fire in the high priest's courtyard when he denied Jesus three times, was now warming himself by a fire Jesus had prepared, and Jesus asks Peter three times, "Do you love me?" Just a bit of a side note: Notice that Jesus does not upbraid Peter! There is never any hint of, "I told you so!" from Jesus. No, He takes no delight in shaming Peter. That is not the nature of Jesus. Jesus gently gives Peter, who had made a three fold denial, an opportunity to make a three-fold affirmation and confession. Note that each time Peter answers, Jesus responds with a directive. He tells Peter to do something. Just as another aside, I think Jesus knows His forgiven followers need something to Do. They need to be working, creating, producing, and engaging in service. After all, we are created in the image of an active, productive, loving and engaged Creator. Imagine Jesus saying, "Yes, Peter, I know your past. I know what you have done. You have denied me. However, let's not dwell on your past. Don't let your past have a future! It is past, it is forgiven now, let's go do something! Do what I am calling you to do. Feed My lambs, take care of My sheep, feed My sheep." Jesus often referred to His people as sheep and Himself as the Shepherd, as in John 10:27, "My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me." When Jesus said to Peter, "Feed my sheep," He meant, "Take care of My people." (By the way, on this day that we have as our guests missionaries from the ministry of Young Life, I'd also like to note Jesus apparently gives first preference to the lambs who would be the young "sheep.") We now know from the perspective of history that Peter would go on to do just that; he went on to become the leader of the church at Rome, the most influential congregation in the early church and arguably of all time. Peter was its first pastor and its indisputable leader. As the conversation goes on, Jesus makes it clear it won't exactly be all smooth sailing and full nets. Peter will one day be taken where he doesn't want to go. And tradition tells us Peter was eventually taken to a place he didn't want to go; he was taken to a hill in Rome where he died a martyr's death crucified upside down. After intimating how Peter would go on to die a martyr's death, Jesus concludes by reiterating the command: "Follow Me!" Peter's response here is classic. The command is given to Peter, then Peter looks over at the other disciple there, points to him and asks, "Well, what about him?" In so many words, he seems to be saying, "You're telling me I will have to do all this, well, what about John, Lord?" Note Jesus response in verse 22. Basically, Jesus replies, "That's none of your business, Peter. I'm speaking to you, not John." At root, following Jesus Christ is an individual matter. I want to say that carefully, because Jesus never calls us to an individualistic, lone-ranger faith; He calls us to live in fellowship and community with His body of believers, the church. In fact, more often than not, we discern His voice speaking and directing through the collective encouragement and guidance and affirmation of His people. However, He does call and direct each of us, individually, personally. Peter momentarily forgets this, and becomes overtly interested in the will of God for John's life, rather than his own. How often we are like Peter! We are often more interested in the will of God for our neighbor's life, or our spouse's life, or our children's lives … instead of being primarily concerned with following the will of God in our own lives. It may very well be that you believe Jesus may be demanding a lot from you, and you may be looking across the pew, or across the street, or across your kitchen table wondering about his way of life, or her shortcomings, or their hypocrisy, and may be thinking, "Well, what about him/her/them, Lord?" Jesus answers you lovingly but firmly, as He answered Peter: "What is that to you?" Jesus is calling you; He is dealing with you. Don't overly concern yourself with what others may or may not be called to do; don't concern yourself someone else may or may not be called to endure what you have to endure. And while on the subject, let me add don't use other's shortcomings and foibles and flaws as an excuse for your inactivity. John is Jesus' responsibility, not yours. You follow Jesus, and forget about John. Besides, the most effective way to encourage others to follow Jesus Christ is to make darn sure you are following Him yourself! As alluded earlier, the real miracle here is not the catch of 153 fish. The real miracle is the whole Gospel itself as so artfully presented by John. John's Gospel begins with the extraordinary claim that from the beginning Jesus was the Word of God, He was with God, in fact, He was God, and that "through Him all things came into being, and without Him nothing was made that has been made." John begins his account with this majestic cosmic description of the divinity and person and work of Christ, but he ends it at a small lakeside campfire where this same majestic, eternal, omnipotent Jesus Christ personally comes alongside a few needy individuals, taking one on one time to be with them, to enter their world, to care for them individually, granting them grace, and forgiveness, and direction (which, by the way, is the ministry model followed so well by Young Life). That's the grand miracle of the gospel, according to John. This majestic God of the universe is found in this very personal Savior who cares for you, for me and Who invites us to love and follow Him in return. "Do you love me?" Do we love him? Then let us, too, follow Him, and use all our abilities, all our resources, all our talents to "Feed His lambs; take care of His sheep; feed His sheep." 16 HIGH CALL R O B E R T S L I A R D O N M I N I S T R I E S George Jeffreys from the crest of the Welsh Revival. I Saw Heaven The Anniversary Edition. As he celebrates his 45th Birthday God's Generals: The Healing Evangelists. Foreword by Dr. R.T. Kendall, Minister at Westminster Chapel, London. In his fourth God's Generals volume, Roberts Liardon chronicles God's great healing evangelists of the twentieth century. Journey with such paragons of faith as Oral Roberts, Lester Sumrall, Charles and Frances Hunter, George Jeffreys, and F. F. Bosworth. As you read about the lives of these ministry pioneers, your faith for signs and miracles will grow as you anticipate seeing God's mighty hand move in the church today. Order your hardcover copy today for just $25! The God's Generals Collection by Roberts Liardon is a must-have for your Christian reference library! Special US Price: $25 per volume or $100 for the entire collection. Prices include shipping—Credit cards accepted. Make Checks Payable to: Roberts Liardon Ministries Visit us on the web! www.robertsliardon.com In the US: Roberts Liardon Ministries • P.O. Box 2989 • Sarasota, Florida 34230 USA Phone: U.S. offices 941-373-3883 Email: info1@robertsliardon.org In the UK/Europe: Roberts Liardon Ministries. 22 Notting Hill Gate, Suite 125 • United Kingdom W11 3JE. Office Telephone: +44 (0) 845-519-7516. UK Email Address: info.rlm.uk@gmail.com. You can gain the victory in your life and ministry. Let God's Generals show you how! Collect all four. Stay in touch with Roberts by connecting with him on /Roberts Liardon Official and /RobertsLiardon or by visiting. www.robertsliardon.com. P.O. Box 2989 • Sarasota, FL 34230-2989. Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage. PAID Tulsa, OK Permit No. 2146. ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED 2 High Call Roberts L Sliardon Ministries For those of you who have followed my ministry for some time, you know I have had challenges and made mistakes. Thankfully God has always given me wisdom and strength to overcome the challenges and forgiveness for my mistakes. Thank God my mistakes do not determine my future, but my God does! I thank Him as well that I have learned from them and can make better decisions as He continues to guide me and lead me every day. Thank you as well for your support and prayers as I continue working to see God's Word change communities and nations. As you will learn from reading this newsletter, our greatest challenges are still ahead of us. Because of them, for the next forty-five years I dedicate myself to: Keep Jesus Christ as my Savior I am so glad I know Him personally! Fight the devil wherever I may meet him with the power that Christ has given me. Treat people with love, respect, and kindness. Live right before God and man! To follow my favorite world leader, Sir Winston Churchill, NEVER,NEVER GIVE UP! I am working on a new TV show called God's Generals with Roberts Liardon. It will be a show with a focus on what we can learn from the revivals and revival leaders of the past to help us be bolder, wiser, and stronger in today's move of God. Please keep praying and partnering with me as we raise a new generation of Christians who will invade the nations with revival and societal reformation. Roberts Liardon. Finish the twelve volumes of God's Generals that I set out to write during my life, as well as continue publishing out-of-print books and sermons currently lost to this generation. Now I am compiling all of Evan Roberts sermons, which will also include newspaper reports from the Welsh Revival. Next I will focus on compiling the sermons of William and Catherine Booth, Founders of the Salvation Army. They still have incredibly relevant and powerful things to say in this era, even more than a hundred years later. Cooperate with the Holy Spirit as I live and conduct my ministry here on earth. Keep traveling the world preaching and encouraging people to live strong and believe God for victory in every area of their life. Never stop praying for the healing and deliverance of those who want it. Encourage people to live in their high call and not to be afraid of anyone or any event that may come toward them. Continue building strong churches that understand the apostolic anointing and the Great Commission. Make time to mentor & coach those in ministry. My first forty-five years of life have been an adventure. I chose to accept Christ as my Savior as a child, but at twelve-and-a-half it became clear that God had called me to work for Him. As I have submitted to His leading in this, my life has been anything but boring. I gave my first sermon at thirteen and have never stopped preaching since then. Since that first sermon I have traveled to every state in the US and over a 112 nations, preaching and praying for the needs of the people I meet. In that time I have also helped build and oversee the establishing of forty churches and five Bible colleges worldwide. One of the things I have enjoyed doing the most has been sending close to 500 Bible college graduates from my Spirit Life Bible College out into the mission field with the support of my friends and partners. When I travel the nations today, I constantly meet people who were saved, filled with the Spirit, and healed through the ministries of these graduates and in the churches they planted. Many of these graduates have returned to their home countries to help their churches, plant new churches, or start Bible schools, and through these we have seen a multiplication of not only their efforts, but ours as well. Others have stayed on the mission field where they continue to expand the kingdom of God. Friends and partners, you need to know that the money you have sown into my ministry, no matter how small or how long ago, is still bearing fruit today, especially those who have given to the Operation 500 mission project. Thank you so much for obeying God in giving so generously. In all of this, though, I still believe the greatest miracle is seeing lives change as people give their hearts to Jesus and are born again. I have seen healing miracles time and again, but being healed from sin is still the greatest miracle of all. A person passes from death to life in the matter of a moment. They become a new person. I pray God uses all we do to bring this about in every life we touch. USA: P.O. Box 2989, Sarasota, FL 34240. Phone: 941-373-3883. Fax: 941-373-3884. UK/EUROPE: 22 Notting Hill Gate, Suite 125. London, United Kingdom W11 3JE. Office Mobile: +44 757-206-7999. www.robertsliardon.com. info1@robertsliardon.org. © Roberts Liardon Ministries. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, or transmitted in form or by any means without the prior permission of the publisher. For over 30 years, Roberts Liardon Ministries has been faithfully, training the next generation of Christian leaders around the world. Through crusades, schools, books, radio, and television, we have been able to reach the masses and the future is pregnant with possiblity! Running Faster with Greater Dedication being exposed to the message of Jesus Christ. Because of this, in more and more unreasonable ways, they have insisted the Gospel message be silenced. In the last few years, I have seen a growing number of Christians arrested for sharing their faith with Muslims or even lose their jobs for such minor expressions of Christianity as saying, "God bless you" or wearing a cross. Freedom of speech is disappearing and government is increasingly controlling the discussion of ideas. Meanwhile, the presence of terrorism grows as bombings continue to remind us that extremists will not rest until Islam dominates the world. Appeasing these protests, however, is doing Europe no more good then when it attempted to appease Hitler in the mid 1930s. The only answer I see is another Great Awakening and political renewal of the nations. How do you see such a revival coming about? While we have a great deal to learn from the revivalists and reformers of the past, I think the way the anointing is being spread has changed. It used to be, even up until a decade or two ago, that anointed individuals could come into a community, preach the Word with power, and then see masses of people come to Christ as well as powerful signs and wonders attesting to the truth of the message. Today it is different. It is no longer about individuals being anointed, now it has to be bodies of people a corporate anointing realized as entire congregations come together to seek God and His Kingdom. This starts in prayer, but then it also has to mobilize into communities. Once again, as in the days of William and Catherine Booth as well as John Wesley, we have to get outside of our church walls to see revival. We have to take Jesus to the modern marketplace. We can no longer make quick trips in, give a few sermons, and pull in a harvest. It has to be more of a prolonged campaign now. We have to settle in, break up the fallow ground, and then sow the Word season after season. Do you feel there is still hope to turn this around? Right now I feel there are more stable and growing churches in the United Kingdom than there are on the mainland. Europe is far from lost at the moment. However, I am extremely excited to see there is a resurgence of prayer all over Europe starting from the UK, and that is an important first step. As Charles Finney used to say, revival is inspired through two things done without compromise: 1) Intercession, and 2) the preaching of the Word. Therefore, we can't neglect preaching the Word. One component without the other will not turn the tide in Europe as it is being turned in Africa and elsewhere. We certainly need to pray, but we also need to stay in prayer On the occasion of your 45th birthday and beginning your fourth decade in ministry, what are you seeing now that you didn't in the years previous? The biggest thing I am seeing at the present is that our idea of what the mission field is really needs to change. Missions are no more about reaching the poorest countries in the world with the Gospel, economic aid, and agricultural and entrepreneurial programs. Today the most spiritually impoverished nations of the world are not in the developing nations, but in the developed countries, particularly those in the European Union. Because of the acquiescence of political secularism for the sake of "getting along with everyone" and the increased influences of unflinching Islamification, Europe needs a revival like it never has before. This is why I feel it is so important to be teaching in the United Kingdom right now. England still has a strong sense of its Christian roots, but the countries of the continent of Europe have all but lost theirs. Political correctness and complacency have removed their ability to stand for what is really right and true. Their only hope is a resurgence of the Gospel messages and a reintroduction of following Jesus as the only means to real peace let alone the only hope of salvation. While the post-Christian culture has been welcoming and attempted to make immigrating Muslims feel at home in the West, Muslims are holding more tightly to Koranic (or Sharia) Law and expressing violent opposition to their children. Stay in touch with Roberts by connecting with him on /Roberts Liardon Official and /RobertsLiardon or by visiting www.roberts liardon.com. An Interview with Roberts Liardon On the Occasion of His 45th Birthday Q: RL: Q: RL: Q: RL: The books are as popular as ever, and my new seminar, "The Leadership Secrets of God's Generals," is taking me to teach in places all over the world. The excitement over these teachings is more than I have seen in many years. What's next for Roberts Liardon Ministries? I am going to finish my season here as director at the International Bible Institute of London (IBIOL) training up ministers. Meanwhile, I continue to travel, teach, and preach around the world as much as my schedule allows. We are developing a new TV show to be launched in Europe and the US later this year entitled God's Generals with Roberts Liardon. I will also have a radio show starting up. We hope to use my research of the important Christian figures of the past to plant new seeds of revival, renewal, and reformation. At the same time I continue to write. This year I will be releasing God's Generals IV: The Healing Revivalists; Evan Roberts, The Welsh Revivalist: The Complete Collection of His Life Teachings; and Good God vs. Bad God that deals with the goodness of God for us versus the message of condemnation that too many churches still cling to today. long enough to get our marching orders from God, and then we need to get out and do what He has told us to do. Prayer is working though. In a recent article in Sunday Telegraph entitled "Onward Christian Soldiers: Church's Resurgence," it states that all of the churches in England have been growing, and that the Pentecostal church has grown by fifty percent. I see a new Scriptural emphasis arising on the empowerment of grace. Even though persecution is at a height in some parts of the world, as are the modern social ills such as slavery and child sex trafficking, God always has a people who will carry forth a message of salvation to wherever it is needed, and I believe we are those people. How is your role changing as you are no longer the young preacher, but more of a father of the faith? While I still preach a good deal, I find I am mentoring and advising more than I ever have. It is no longer about me preaching to a congregation, but about me strengthening, empowering, and equipping leaders to answer their callings. More and more often I am being introduced by my own students or people that first heard me speak when they were preteens. Those who heard me as a child are now coming into their own ministries and I am getting to know them at a completely different level. I am also seeing a resurgence in the appreciation of the message of the God's Generals books and DVDs. We have a rising generation that hasn't seen much of the miraculous for themselves, nor have they heard the stories of God's power being shown in the revivals of recent centuries. We have a generation who is not familiar with the healing revivals of the 1950s or known the power with which God has moved in past decades as opposed to what happened in the Book of Acts. They are inspired to trust God when they learn God has been working miracles in recent centuries just as He did when Jesus walked the earth. They are also surprised to learn how fallible these people were they weren't gods walking the earth, but people like us meaning if they could do this, so can we. It has been twenty-five years since I Saw Heaven first hit bookstore shelves, and in that time it has done much more than just sell 1.5 million copies in English (in addition to many more in its over forty different translations), it has also changed countless lives. To this day we still receive calls and letters telling us that people have come to the Lord, rededicated their lives, or found comfort for loved ones who have passed away. Its message is proving to be as timeless and significant today as it was when it was first released. For the twenty-fifth anniversary, I have updated the book to include: • What the Bible has to say about heaven. • Answers to the most commonly asked questions about heaven. • The complete text of the original version as I recorded it in the first edition. • Additional chapters, including visions and dreams I have had more recently You need to know that heaven is not only a real place, but also a more wonderful, beautiful, and marvelous place than you ever dreamed possible. Not a day goes by that some image of my vision does not encourage me and strengthen my resolve in fulfilling my calling. I urge you to order a copy today and get a better understanding of the place Jesus has been preparing for us since the day He left the earth. Announcing the 25th Anniversary Edition of I Saw Heaven The books are as popular as ever, and my new seminar, 'The Leadership Secrets of God's Generals,' is taking me to teach in places all over the world. Order your copy today! God always has a people who will carry forth a message of salvation to wherever it is needed, and I believe we are those people Lord can heal you?" Florence didn't hesitate. "Yes." "Then come back to the meeting tomorrow afternoon and He will." When she did, Jeffreys prayed over her, "Oh, Lord, turn back the disease, and unlock these joints." Though her leg was in a splint, she felt it begin to bend, the power of God surged through her body, and her carriage began to shake. The pain left, and when she tried to sit up, she found that she could. Then she rose to her feet and began to walk! That night, she went home and slept through the night for the first time in years. When she arose the next morning, she took off her bandages to find that her skin disease had also been completely healed. The following Good Friday in 1928, Florence would be the first of nearly one thousand to be baptized by George Jeffreys in the Royal Albert Hall of London. For the next eleven years, George Jeffreys would fill the Albert Hall that seated 10,000 people for Easter services as God used him as a healing evangelist and apostle to transform the British Isles with the power of God. FROM THE CREST OF THE WELSH REVIVAL. George Jeffreys was the sixth of nine children born to Thomas and Kezia Jeffreys on February 28, 1889 and was named after an older brother who had died in early childhood. Thomas was a coal miner who would die of lung disease at the age of 47 when George was only six. George was a frail child who had a speech impediment and developed a facial paralysis that slowly spread down the left side of his body as he grew through his teenage years. When George was just fifteen, he attended one of the meetings that sprung out from the Welsh Revival led by Evan Roberts (1878-1951) with his brother Stephen who was thirteen years his senior. The date was November 20, 1904. The speaker was Reverend Glassnant Jones. As Reverend Jones spoke, the Holy Spirit poured himself out on the congregation and both George and Stephen were so touched that they pledged themselves to serving the church in whatever way they could. Unfortunately the outpouring that was the Welsh Revival would end abruptly when Evan Roberts went into retirement due to exhaustion in 1906, but the Jeffreys brothers never gave up their convictions to serve God. After being urged by her sister to attend one of George Jeffreys' meetings, Florence Mundy reluctantly went on May 4, 1927. Florence traveled there in a wheel chair which she had been in for much of the last fourteen years. Tuberculosis had settled into a knee injured in a fall and kept it from ever growing strong enough to support her again. Her skin was bandaged because of a disease that left it brittle rendering it vulnerable to painful, bloody cracks. She was in constant discomfort, and doctors had tried everything to cure her ailing body. Now all they could think to do was amputate the entire leg at the hip. Florence had all but given up hope. Florence was struck by the message and felt God's presence as she never had before while the congregation sang. As she pondered this, the wild-haired Jeffreys left the podium and made his way through the crowd directly to where she sat. "How long have you been in this old carriage?" he asked. "Fourteen years. I have not walked in fourteen years. The trouble is my knee. It has a wasting disease." Jeffreys looked into her eyes with compassion. "Do you believe the Robert Sliard Ministries. For the next eleven years, George Jeffreys would fill the Albert Hall that seated 10,000 people for Easter services as God used him as a healing evangelist and apostle to transform the British Isles with the power of God. 1925 photo of Stephen and George Jeffreys in the pulpit of Elim London Convention Surrey Tabernacle. George Jeffreys performs a baptism. George Jeffreys A British Apostle (1889-1962) 8 HIGH CALL circa: 1928 George Jeffries car advertising meetings. Despite being saved in a move of the Holy Spirit, Stephen and George did not receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit until early 1910. This only redoubled George's desire to preach, although his speech impediment and paralysis, having grown even more pronounced, prevented him from doing so. However, he could pray, so he gave himself to intercession, and one morning that same year he was healed as he prayed. As he described it: It was exactly nine o'clock when the power of God came upon me, and I received such an inflow of Divine life that I can only liken the experience to being charged with electricity. It seemed as if my head were connected to a most powerful electric battery. My whole body from head to foot was quickened by the Spirit of God, and I was healed. From that day I have never had the least symptoms of the old trouble. As things would progress, Cecil Polhill, one of the "Cambridge Seven," recognized George's calling and offered to pay for George's entire schooling at the Pentecostal Missionary's Preston Bible School, which he entered in 1912. There he met many of the men who would join with him in what would become the Elim Pentecostal Alliance and eventually its own denomination called the Elim Foursquare Gospel Church. It was a movement that would grow slowly and then explode between 1927 and 1938 as several miracles such as the one experienced by Florence Mundy rocked England and put George into the national spotlight. George began to travel the countryside, and like an apostolic Johnny Appleseed, wherever he preached, a church would soon be planted. His meetings would see those who came to Christ wanting a place where they could follow the dictates of the Holy Spirit without tradition or religious structures getting in the way. This naturally meant a new church had to be established, so George and the Elim Alliance would appoint a pastor, rent or buy a building, and then an administration team would follow up on the church plant over the following months. By 1930 there were one hundred new churches planted in this way, 153 by the end of 1933 and 280 by 1939 even as the shadow of the German Blitzkrieg fell over Europe and England starting the Second World War. Stephen Jeffreys A typical audience listening to George Jeffreys in Great Britain Ministry Resources that are changing lives all over the world Read more about George Jeffreys' life and miracle ministry, by ordering God's Generals: The Healing Evangelists today! ! ! WIGGLESWORTH ON SCRIPTURE (Q & A) Smith Wigglesworth; Roberts Liardon $13.99 This powerful collection of never-before- published Bible school teachings by the great Pentecostal teacher Smith Wigglesworth was transcribed from lectures given to Bible students at Aimee Semple McPherson's celebrated Angelus Temple. 12 LITTLE BOOKS (32 Pages Each / $15 for Entire Series) by Roberts Liardon $15.00 The following 12 books are designed to help boost your spiritual development, and intensify your sensitivity to spiritual things. With a special price of only $15, you will receive all of the 12 titles listed below from Robert Liardon's trusted library: 1. Accessing Your Hidden Greatness 2. Don't Let The Devil Destroy Your Purpose 3. Extremists, Radicals, And Non-Conformists 4. Greater, Wiser, Stronger 5. How to Stay In Your High Call 6. How To Get Your Spirit In Shape 7. Knowing People By The Spirit 8. The Most Dangerous Place To Be 9. 3rd Degree Burn 10. Three Heavens And You 11. Three Outs And You're In 12. The Spirit Of Reformation SPIRIT LIFE CD SERIES THREE VOLUMES by Roberts Liardon $80.00 VOLUME 1: HOW TO WALK IN THE SPIRIT AND NOT COME OUT (8 CD's) $40.00 In this exciting and practical teaching you will learn how to keep your walk in the spirit no matter what you are facing. (no pic) VOLUME 2: HOW TO BUILD A STRONG SPIRIT (8 CD's) $40.00 Robert teaches how to train and mature your spirit. He boldly states, that most people are weak in their spirit because they are waiting for an anointing to come instead of making the right daily choices. VOLUME 3: HOW TO BECOME SELFGOVERNING (4 CD's) $20.00 Using biblical examples, Roberts builds the case for why selfgovernment is a key component of reaching the life God is calling you to. BREAKING CONTROLLING POWERS by Roberts Liardon $13.99 Breaking Controlling Powers combines the revelation of three best-selling books into one volume. You will gain the spiritual strength to discern and survive a demonic attack, escape controlling powers over your mind, and create healthy boundaries free from guilt, fear, or shame. SHARPENING YOUR DISCERNMENT by Roberts Liardon $12.99 In this timeless treasure, Roberts Liardon removes the veil of mystery associated with hearing from God and clearly explains the keys to developing keen wisdom and discernment. Build your confidence and accuracy while operating in the spirit by drawing from your life's experiences to sharpen your discernment. YOUR POWER IN THE HOLY SPIRIT by John G. Lake $12.99 John G. Lake was anointed by God to reach the sick and the lost in miraculous ways. Here is a glimpse of unparalleled outpouring of Holy Spirit power when operating through a completely yielded life. Drawing upon his vast ministry experiences, Lake presents an enlightening look at how God desires to use His people to minister to a dying world. ON HER KNEES by Gladoylene Moore $14.99 On Her Knees Is a biography of Roberts' grandmother and how she became a mighty prayer warrior. Her life and example of prayer dramatically impacted the life and ministry of Roberts as a young evangelist, who followed in her praying footsteps even as a young boy. "She taught me about strongholds and praying through (the art of intercession)," states Roberts. This book will instruct you in the way of prayer and inspire you to never give up. JOHN G. LAKE ON HEALING by Roberts Liardon $12.99 As one of the most powerful healing evangelists of the twentieth century, John G. Lake's ministry included countless conversions, healings, and apostolic ventures. This rich history has been condensed into one book giving you access to this dynamic legacy and offering you a divine encounter with raw faith. (941) 373-3883 (US) • (44) 757-206-7999 (UK) www.robertsliardon.com UK Headquarters The Roberts Liardon Ministries Headquarters is expanding! With an enduring commitment to strengthening churches and believers throughout the United Kingdom and Europe, this new location will be the epicenter for outreach to these critical regions. Please call the London office for all booking requests, ministry opportunities, product orders, prayer requests, or partner relation inquiries. Priscilla Liardon Mike and Priscilla Liardon- Guthrie (Roberts' sister) have been happily married now for five years. Mike works as an engineer for an aerospace company and Priscilla is a powerful minister and motivational speaker. Both enjoy cooking and entertaining their friends and family. Mike and Priscilla currently reside in Southern California. For questions, prayer requests, or partner inquiries, please call (44) 757-206-7999 (UK), UK email: info.rlm.uk@ gmail.com or visit us online at www.robertsliardon. com The Mission Field "Go Ye Into All The World" is the Great Commission not the Great Suggestion. Since the beginning of the ministry I have enjoyed obeying this scriptural mandate with the honour of visiting over 112 nations. This year I will be ministering in Nigeria, Kenya, Ukraine, Siberia, Russia, Norway and Jamaica. Thank you for your love and support! RLM News US Headquarters The RLM American office has relocated to a new building. If you are ever in the area, you are welcome to stop by and visit us at the River View Center in Bradenton, Florida. Physical Address: River View Ctr., 1111 3rd Ave. West, Suite 130 • Bradenton, Florida 34205 USA 941-373-3883 • email: info1@robertsliardon.org or visit us online at www.robertsliardon.com ! Roberts Liardon with interpreter at God's Generals Leadership Secrets Conference in Kiev, Urkraine. R O B E R T S L I A R D O N M I N I S T R I E S HIGH CALL 15 Itinerary JULY 14 – 7:00pm Joan Hunter Ministries Healing and Conference Cntre. 32360 State Highway 249 Pinehurst, Texas 77362 Host: Pastor Joan Hunter Tel: 281-789-7500 JULY 17 – 10:30am Naples Church of God 1074 10th st, North Naples, FL 32102 Host: Pastor Michael McKellar Tel: 239-262-2144 JULY 23 – 7:00pm Triumphant Life Church 10 Foote Ave, Jamestown, New York, 14701 Host: Pastor Greg Buzzanco Tel: 716-708-5021 JULY 24 – 11:00am Triumphant Life Church 5651 Perry Highway Erie, PA 16509 Host: Pastor Greg Buzzance Tel: 814-864-3984 JULY 26 – 27 Embassy Christian Center San Francisco • 925 Linden Ave, #B, San Francisco, CA 94080 Host: Pastor Joshua Krishna Tel: 650-873-0209 JULY 30 – 6:30pm Reach the Nation Global Ministries Good Shepherd Christian Church, 725 Hancock Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06605 Host: Richard Furlow Tel: 866-786-3430 ext 5 JULY 31 – 11:00am Bible Gospel Center 143 Leeder Hill DR, Hamden, CT 06517-2731 Host: Pastor Gwen Good Tel: 203-230-9260 AUGUST 6 (6:00pm) AUGUST 7 (9:30am) Bethel Christian Church 240 Newington Ave, New Britain, CT 06051 Host: Pastor Bruce Fletcher Tel: 860-770-6465 AUGUST 8 – 12:30pm Grace TV Encounter with Peter Youngren St Catherines, Ontario, Canada Tel: 905-346-4828 AUGUST 14 – 10:30am – 7:00pm The Harvest Tabernacle 209 North Lime Ave, Sarasota, Florida 34237 Host: Pastor Jim and Peggy Minor Tel: 941-953-3559 AUGUST 17 First Assembly of God 1820 53rd. Ave W, Bradenton, FL. 34205 Tel: 941-756-7331 AUGUST 18 – 21 Power and Glory Conference Hilton Garden Inn, Southfield, Michigan 48304 Host: Reverend Barbara Williams Tel: 1-248-357-1100 AUGUST 26-28 Abundant Grace Assemblies of God, 3516 McCulloch Blvd, North Lake Havasu City, AZ 86406 Host: Pastor Lan Blair Tel: 928-855-3689 SEPTEMBER 24 – 5:00pm – 7:30pm LCC Central Zone Celebration Westbourne Grove Church, Corner of Ledbury Road, Notting Hill, London, W11 2RW Host: Pastor Samson Essien Tel: +44 (0) 207 242 4995 or +44 (0) 798 952 9346 SEPTEMBER 25 – 10:30am Ruach Ministries, Brixton 122 Brixton Hill, London SW2 1RS Host: Bishop John Francis Tel: +44 (0) 208 678 6888 or www.ruachministries.org.uk SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 2 The Way Church Søndre Falkumveg 10, 3725 Skien, Norway Host: Pastor Anita Nystrand www.theway.no OCTOBER 21 – 23 The city of light church DK Korolevo, 15 Vasilenko str., Kiev, Ukraine Host: Pastor Dmitry Mason Tel: +38 044 221-221-0 info@gorodsveta.com NOVEMBER 4-6 Fire In The Snow Conference Life Church – D.K. Russ, Krasniy Presnaya, Tynda, Amur Region, 67682 (Siberia) Host: Pastor Chris Horwood Tel: (7) 924-141-3836 missionsiberia@hotmail.com NOVEMBER 11-13 Glory Encounter Seminar History Maker Int. Church Host: Richard and Debbie William 200 Turf Club Road, #04-200 Turf City, Singapore 287994 Tel: (+65) 64655071 FEBRUARY 23-25, 2012 Frontline Generals Conference The Torbay Suite, Barcelo Imperial Hotel, Park Hill Road, Torquay, Devon, UK, TQ1 2DG Host: Sue Davies- Christian Services Association Other guest: Patricia King Tel: +44 (0)788-284-9446 Dates are subject to change without notice. To avoid any inconvenience, please confirm before traveling long distances. Our Ministry Partners enable this kingdom message to travel to the furthest reaches of the world. If you feel connected to me or this ministry, please consider a monthly contribution of $20 (dollars or pounds). For more information, contact either the British or U.S. offices. Thank you for your partnership. ! ! ! 1 "'Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For [it is] time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.'" (Hosea 10:12) In 715 BC Hosea instructed God's people with these words, he primarily addressed the northern kingdom of Israel who, toward the end of King Jeroboam's reign and despite economic blessing, had fallen spiritually. A similar pattern of moral and spiritual fall has taken place in the church today. In times of great spiritual and material blessing believers often spiritually lay back and stop seeking God with their whole heart. When God's people cease actively seeking God, moral and spiritual failure often follows, causing problems in all segments of the church. Rather than seeking God, we become seekers of everything else but Him; the things of this world, material goods and ambition, grow more attractive to us. We renounce true power and When God's people cease actively seeking God, moral and spiritual failure often follows. Pulpit Series Mario Ducic, January 2009. SEEKERS OF GOD T+385 1 4920 726 F +385 1 4813 871 www.cce.hr Kneza Branimira 11 10000 Zagreb, Croatia ceo@cce.hr Croatian Evangelistic Outreach become satisfied with crumbs. We put on a mask of godliness that leaves us all in a state of emptiness and barrenness without God's true life in us and in our churches. Now is the time like never before to become seekers of God! The moral and spiritual failure of God's people has become evident to all; believers live immoral lives and divorce is on the rise; we are becoming just like the world as the line of separation continues to disappear. The church has become apathetic and spiritually barren; people are satisfied with a religious form and do not want change. Some even do not want to see new people in their churches for fear that someone might sit in their favorite seat. We have grown hard and cold toward God and one another. Just like in the day of Hosea – without a desire for true change – our hearts have turned to fallow ground that no longer brings forth the true fruit of Christ. The only way out is to seek God together for His presence to return among us again. This is why we ought to examine the requirements the prophet Hosea laid out for God's people in order to become morally and spiritually renewed. 1. SEEKERS OF GOD ACTIVELY WORK ON PREPARATION AS A PRECURSOR TO GOD'S BLESSING. "'Sow for yourselves righteousness… break up your fallow ground, For [it is] time to seek the LORD, Till He comes....'" (Hosea 10:12) If we truly want to become seekers of God we cannot just pray once in a while, listen to sermons as if they are bedtime stories without really doing anything. Hosea sought of the people to actively do what it took to come to the place of God's blessing. They had to prepare themselves – sow righteousness, plow up the fallow ground (Hebrew: niyr), and seek God. All of these are active verbs that indicate an action of some kind. What kind of preparations are we doing to in order to be blessed by God? We often think that a short prayer and seeking God for a couple of days is enough. We want to see the work of God, yet we do not want renounce our disobedience and sin; we do not want to turn from our worldly lifestyle and seek Him in fasting and prayer. It is impossible to have God's blessing without preparation – it would be against His very character (please note that I am not speaking in terms of grace necessary for salvation). 2 If we truly want to become seekers of God we cannot just pray once in a while, listen to sermons as if they are bedtime stories without really doing anything. CEO Obedient preparation always precedes blessing. When the three kings allied against the army of Moab they had a problem – they wandered seven days without water. The Israeli king feared the worst but Jehosophat called for the counsel of the prophet Elisha. While the music played he gave a very practical prophesy – God promised water, but they had to be obedient and prepare the ground for God's blessings; they had to dig ditches in the valley in preparation for God's miracle. "And he said, 'Thus says the LORD: "Make this valley full of ditches." For thus says the LORD: "You shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you, your cattle, and your animals may drink."'" (2 Kings 3:16-17) This was similar Elisha's second miracle. When the believers came to pay their debts, the widow, whose husband was also a prophet, sought for help from Elisha. However, for the miracle to take place she had to make some necessary preparations – she had to borrow jars from her neighbors in order to experience God's blessings and, with the sale of a great amount of oil, pay back her debt while living on what was leftover. "Then he said, 'Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors – empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your suns; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones." (2 Kings 4:3-4) A similar occurrence took place with Naaman, who would not have been cured had he not obeyed the prophet and actively done what was needed to become healed. He had to dip seven times in the river Jordan. Naaman was a man, just as many believers, who did not want to make the necessary preparations that pave the way for blessings. He wanted to take care of things in the Pentecostal style – in faith and in a hurry. "And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, 'Go and wash in the Jordan seven times and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean." But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, 'Indeed, I said to myself, "He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy…"' So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, 'My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it… 'So he went down and dipped seven time in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." (2 Kings 5:10-14) So we see that preparation is necessary. Without the preparation of repentance there can be no 3 It is impossible to be a seeker of God and experience God's moral and spiritual renewal without leaving behind our old ways of thinking and living. Pulpit Series SEEKERS OF GOD peace with the Lord. Joel called the people to repentance and peace with God. "'Now, therefore,' says the Lord, "Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.: So rend your heart, and not your garments.'" (Joel 2:12-13) There would not have even been the resurrection of Lazarus had the disciples not first removed the stone. "Jesus said, 'Take away the stone. 'Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, 'Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.' Jesus said to her, 'Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?' Then they took away the stone…" (John 11:39-41) In the end, we cannot even get into heaven unless we prepare and cleanse ourselves. "Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, 'Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?' And I said to him, 'Sir, you know.' So he said to me, 'These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'" (Revelation 7:13-14) Therefore, without active and willful obedience and without preparation we cannot see God's renewal among us at all. If we continue to just passively listen nothing will happen in our life, in the life of the church or in the town where we serve. Unless we do our part God cannot do His – this is very clear. On these principles many theological arrows are broken, because many claim that God will continue to work among us with grace regardless of the lifestyle of the believer. Some theologians say that we do not really have to actively seek Him because in his sovereignty He will bless and reward us anyway. I would like to be so bold as to say that this is one of the most proficient lies of the devil that has infiltrated the church today. In the end it is one of the reasons why we have spiritually dead and religious churches holding on to their phony status without true life and the presence of God. It is as if Hosea is reminding us of the principles of sowing and reaping, which gives us a simple truth: what we sow is what we reap; if we sow passivity and our flesh, we reap failure; but if we perhaps sow obedience and preparation, we reap life and spiritual awakening. "For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." (Galatians 6:8-9) "'Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap in mercy'", says Hosea; if we sow in preparation of righteousness we will reap God's eternal mercy (Hebrew word "checed"). "'If you have plowed wickedness; you have reaped iniquity'" (Hosea 4 CEO We all desire for God to work in our lives and in our churches, yet we fail to turn from that which hurts Him. 10:13). Active preparation for blessing though the principle of sowing brings God's blessing! 2. SEEKERS OF GOD CHANGE THEIR LIFESTYLE. "…break up your fallow ground." It is impossible to be a seeker of God and experience God's moral and spiritual renewal without leaving behind our old ways of thinking and living. We all desire for God to work in our lives and in our churches, yet we fail to turn from that which hurts Him: our sin, iniquity, lust, immorality, selfish desires, lust for riches and recognition, disobedience, grumbling, lying, stealing, anger and resentment, unforgivness and all other works of the flesh. It is easier to raise our hands every Sunday, despite the fact that we hate one another, living in sin and darkness, than to forgive from the heart. It is easier to clap our hands than to turn from sin. We want to live according to our old, undisciplined way of life yet wonder why we do not have God's presence and power operating in our lives. The time has never been more urgent for us to awaken from our life of sin and seek the Lord like never before, yet this time with a desire to change. We cannot seek Him as we ought if we are not willing to change our old way of thinking and living (those things that are not pleasing to Him) and begin to live righteous lives. If righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne, who are we to live unrighteous and ungodly lives while expecting for God to work through us? Without repentance and righteousness we are only playing church. One thing is certain: regardless of our music and preaching; regardless of our evangelistic efforts and Bible reading, God will not be with us if we do not repent and change. We may create an atmosphere that feels like His presence but it will quickly fall, leading us to simply maintaining an outer image void of His righteousness. Christ said, "…unless your righteousness exceeds [the] [righteousness] of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.'" (Matthew 5:20) The Corinthian church thought that they were spiritual because they spoke "with the tongue of angels" and prophesied while at the same time openly living impure lives and fighting with one another. Paul wrote to them and told them to become sober minded because it is impossible to live in sin void of remorse and desire for change while at the same time be spiritual and in good standing with Almighty God. "Awake to righteousness (literally: "Come to your 5 Without repentance and righteousness we are only playing church. Pulpit Series SEEKERS OF GOD senses!), and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak [this] to your shame." (1 Corinthians 15:34) We find that he spoke similarly to the Philippians when he told them to be: "… filled with the fruits of righteousness which [are] by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God." (Philippians 1:11) Until we experience change in our churches from the very roots religiosity will rein, relationships will grow cold, and the flame of our ministry will die out. We will become an unfruitful branch that the Lord will have to cut off. For that reason Peter implored us to "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord…" (Acts 3:19) Without repentance there can be no refreshing. Let us cleanse our hearts of sin, eliminate from our lives that which is not pleasing to the Lord, and become true seekers of God! 3. PERSISTENT SEEKERS OF GOD WILL NOT BE LEFT UNREWARDED! "'For [it is] time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.'" (Hosea 10:12b) If we are persistent with God He will reward us. Hosea showed that moral and spiritual decline (Hebrew word for "time": eth –right time; season) is the right moment for seeking God. He told them that they needed to seek Him until they saw renewal. Originally this meant until He pours (Hebrew yarah), raises or restores justice. Persistent seekers of God always obtain positive results. For example, when the prophet Amos, "who was among the sheep breeders of Tekoa" (Amos 1:1) pronounced judgment on Israel – that is on the northern kingdom – because of their grumbling, idolatry, and persecution of the poor; God gave them through him (other than the messages of the coming judgment) a way of escape when He said, "For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: "Seek Me and live; But do not seek Bethel, Nor enter Gilgal, Nor pass over to Beersheba…Seek the LORD and live, Lest He break out like fire [in] the house of Joseph, And devour [it], With no one to quench [it]…" (Amos 5:4-6) The Psalmist said "Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face evermore!" (Psalm 105:4) Isaiah also said, "Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near." (Isaiah 55:6) Ezekiel, in his prophesy, said that God would make a covenant of peace with His people and renew them; He said that if they would seek Him, "I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing." 6 Let us cleanse our hearts of sin, eliminate from our lives that which is not pleasing to the Lord, and become true seekers of God! CEO Pulpit Series 7 (Ezekiel 34:26) Today we are witnesses to the blessing on the Israelis and the state of Israel; we are witnesses of the many good things which they have done in the field of medicine, technology and agriculture. Every revival; every spiritual renewal and refreshing comes as a reward as people turn to God and seek Him with their whole heart. Before the historic revivals people intensely sought the Lord until He "rained down righteousness." Hosea also said, "Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter [and] former rain to the earth." (Hosea 6:3) God always rewards those who seek Him. If we seek Him with our whole heart He will return to us once again, refresh us, and fill us with new strength; He will give us renewed victory over the enemy and command the powers of darkness to flee from us and our city. We will once again bring forth the fruit of the spirit, our church will be filled with new people, our relationships will be bound by love, and we will be united and refreshed. God came and visited the believers in central Los Angeles, in an old Methodist church that, possibly due to a loss of members, had been turned into a barn located on Azusa Street. We read accounts of those who were true seekers of God. I quote from "2000 Years of Charismatic Christianity", by Eddie L. Hyatt, "Prayer was the greatest activity in the Azusa mission. One man declared, 'The entire place was used in prayer'" John G. Lake thus described the preacher William Seymor, "God placed such a great hunger in the heart of that man so that when the fire of God came on him God was glorified. I do not believe that there exists anyone in these modern times whose life is so filled with God. The power and might of Pentecost spread like wildfire around the world….that black preacher preached to my congregation of 10,000 people when all at once feel this power and might. People began to shake and cry out to the Lord. God was with him..." This happened because they were active seekers of God! There were also two women who sought the Lord for their pastor, D.L. Moody, to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I quote, "while they sought God and prayed God rewarded them because in 1871 D.L. Moody experienced God in a way that radically changed his life." This is how he described his experience, "I was crying all the time that God would fill me with His Spirit. Well, one day, in the city of New York — oh, what a SEEKERS OF GOD Every revival; every spiritual renewal and refreshing comes as a reward as people turn to God and seek Him with their whole heart. 8 CEO day! — I cannot describe it, I seldom refer to it; it is almost too sacred an experience to name. Paul had an experience of which he never spoke for fourteen years. I can only say that God revealed Himself to me, and I had such an experience of His love that I had to ask Him to stay His hand. I went to preaching again. The sermons were not different; I did not present any new truths; and yet hundreds were converted." This kind of blessing and refreshing for the whole world came as God's reward because William Seymour and others like him were true seekers of God, they knew if they sought Him that God would bless them. One thing is certain; they were not passive observers, but active seekers of God. And what about us? Will we continue being passive observers or will we decide to become active seekers of God; will we prepare the ground, free our hearts from the blockage of sin, and change our thinking patterns, attitudes, and lifestyle so that we can finally experience the rewards of refreshing and power given to all that seek His face? Today let us decide to be true seekers of God and in 2009 seek God as never before! "Who [is] wise? Let him understand these things. [Who is] prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of the LORD [are] right; The righteous walk in them, But transgressors stumble in them." (Hosea 14:9) If we seek Him with our whole heart He will return to us once again, refresh us, and fill us with new strength; He will give us renewed victory. Gifts within the United States of America designated for this ministry are received by Spirit Life Ministries International P.O. Box 363 Hermiston, OR 97838. For further information visit www.slminternational. org or call (541) 567-4486. For tax-deductible receipts, please make checks payable to Spirit Life Ministries International and write Croatian Evangelistic Outreach (CEO) in the memo of your check. Online payments can be made by Paypal to: slmi@eotnet. net Gifts outside the United States of America can be sent to: Crkva cjelovitog evandelja, Kneza Branimira 11, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia. Bank Name: Raiffeisen Bank Austria D.D. Zagreb. Swift Number: RZBHH2XXXX. Account Number 2484008-2100013054. IBAN Number: HRO224840081102460506. Thank You. All material in this issue is subject to International copyright laws and may not be reproduced without prior written approval. Permission to reproduce may be obtained by writing to Croatian Evangelistic Outreach. Copyright © 2009 CEO. All Rights reserved. Private duplication of this message for friends and neighbors is authorized. A n Open Letter to America By JEAN C. WOOD Dear America: How long has it been since you sang: "God Bless America, land that I love; stand beside her, and guide her, through the night with a Light from above. From the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans white with foam - God bless America, my home sweet home."? Did you mean it when you sang it? The words of songs speak to me and this song "God Bless America" has spoken to me recently and set me to thinking some serious thoughts. I'd like for you, America, to think about these truths which have emerged from my search for answers. If you are one of those people who claim to believe that "God's in His heaven and all's well with the world" you are either living in a fools' paradise or you are like the ostrich with his head in the sand who said he didn't believe there was such a thing as fire and all the while his tail was burning off! To pick up a newspaper or turn on the news will readily reveal the fact that all is not well with the world - there is turmoil, strife, tension, perplexity and distress as never before in history. It seems that almost every day someone discovers a new problem that we didn't know existed the day before! The increasing pressures of the times are sending men to many places in search of relief - to alcohol, to tranquilizers, to other narcotics, to pleasure, to the psychiatrist's couch - to so many other places except the one place they can find help, relief, the answer. The place where the answer is found is in God's Word - the Bible! This lovely nation of ours (and don't ever think for a minute that America is not a lovely place - I've been to enough other places and seen how other people live to know what I'm talking about; America is still a lovely nation). was founded on Godly principles by God-fearing people. That is why this nation has been more 2 abundantly blessed and enjoyed more prosperity than any nation ever has before. But the trend today is away froin God's Word and His principles. rather than toward them. And so many of you, Americans, seem to want to hide your head in the sand like the ostrich and make believe it'll all be alright after awhile! Listen to what God says about it: "Besides this, you know what a critical hour this is, how it is high time now for you to wake up out of your sleep - rouse to reality." Romans 13: II, Amplified. You say: "What is reality? I can't even tell what reality is anymore because everything seems to be so mixed up - someone says this and someone else says something else, so what is reality? What can I know for sure is truth?" I'll tell what is truth - God's Word is Truth! It is time for America to take a new look at the Book! Hear what the Book says: "Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." Proverbs 14:34. Well, "any people" includes America, doesn't it? Did you notice it did not say "sins" it said "sin" is a reproach? What does that mean? It means that all the problems and distresses and perplexity we are seeing and feeling in America today, and indeed throughout the whole world, are not social problems, not political problems, not even religious problems; they are spiritual problems! Certainly they are manifested as social and political and religious problems, but basically and at the root of them all is the greatest problem of all - the spiritual problem, because man's inhumanity to man results from his ungodliness toward God. You see, man is a spirit, he has a mind and he lives in a body. God made Adam in His image, a spirit, but He gave him a mind and wrapped it all up in a body of flesh. When Adam decided he didn't need God and disobeyed Him, he sold the whole human race from then 'til now and on 'til God stops it, all "down the river" - he sold us all into that state of separation from God called sin. Adam died (Continued on page 18) Psalm 145:1-14: "I will extol thee, my God, 0 king; Second Class Mail privileges authorized at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. New Subscribers are added by request. Please advise the publisher if an address correction or removal is desired. Material submitted to the editors for publication should be typewritten double spaced on one side of the paper. AN OPEN LETTER TO AMERiCA 2 Jean C. Wood NEIL FRANK TERRY SHARKEY NOVEMBER, 1971 NEW WINE and all of the ministries of the Holy Spirit Teaching Mission are dependent upon your prayers and gifts. The Teaching Mission is a non-profit Corporation chartered in the State of Florida and has IRS approval to receive tax deductable contributions under section 501 (c) (3). NEW WINE MAGAZINE is published monthly by the Holy Spirit Teaching Mission, Inc. at 2310 S.W. 40th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33314. A TIME OF SHAKING 14 Dr. F.B. Meyer REEDELY AWAKENED BY REViVAL ...... 12 Rev. Mel. Harrel TONGUES AND THE "CHRONIC SEEKER" .10 Don Basham COPYRIGHT 1971 HOLY SPIRIT TEACHING MISSION,INC. 2310S.W. 40th AVENUE FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA 33314 GOD ISBUILDING A HOUSE 26 Drexel L. Pope WHEN STEVE WAS AFRAID 16 Anna Lee Carlton DR. JOHN G. LAKE'S MESSAGE ON THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPiRIT 4 Dr. John G. Lake WHAT IS THE BAPTISM IN THE H0 LY SPIRIT 8 Wayne Conrad VOL. 3, NO. 11 CONTENTS .. MANAGING EDITOR EDITOR NEWWINE@ CriiioM, Some things come only by prayer! It is not accurate to say, "It will happen whether we pray or not." In many specifics, God waits to be asked. Naturally there are many blessings of God which are given without respect to the one who receives them Rain falls upon the just and the ,unjust the sun shines upon a man's fields whether he is good or wicked. But in many of the specific blessings of life, the Heavenly Father waits to be asked before He bestows. them. Having made man a free moral agent, with a sovereign will of his own, God will not violate man's freedom by imposing upon him that which the man does not want. Therefore, in many of the personal blessings of life, God gives as man requests. And He will not give if man does not ask! Prayer, rightly understood, is an intergral part of man's relationship to God. By prayer man exposes himself to God's will - opens his heart to the wisdom of the Heavenly Father - submits himself to the Divine purpose. Prayer is not just getting things from God - though there is that aspect to it ... it is consenting to God - yielding to God - once God's will has been made known through prayer. Blessings falling upon a man whether he wants them or not may turn out to be a curse. Getting accustomed to the good things, he is inclined to treat them with contempt taking them for granted, he grows indifferent to the Giver. "The goodness of God leads to repentance. " Therefore, blessings of God - received whether he asks for them or not coming with commonplace regularity - may be the very things which condemn a man. Indifferent to the . Giver - he does not repent - and piles up judgment against himself. In the economy of God the richest benefits of Heaven are reserved for those who want them - who ask for them. "You have not because you ask not!" - James 4:2. "Ask and you shall receive'" And I will bless thy name for ever and ever. The outpouring of the Holy Ghost is the greatest event in Christian history - greater than the crucifixion, of greater import than the resurrection, greater than the ascension, greater than the glorification. It was the end and finality which the crucifixion, resurrection and glorification sought to accomplish. If Jesus Christ had been crucified and there had been no resurrection, His death on the cross would have been withou t avail, insofar as the salvation of mankind is concerned. Or if He had risen from the grave in resurrection, bu t had failed to reach the throne of God and receive from the Father the gift of the Holy Ghost, the purpose for which He died and for which He arose would have been missed. There was no failure! Jesus wen t to the ultimate, the very throne and heart of God. and secured right out of the heavenly treasury the Almighty Spirit and poured Him forth upon the world in divine baptism; that is why we are here! THE BIRTH OF CHRISTIANITY. The day of Pentecost was the birthday of Christianity. Christianity never existed until the Holy Ghost came from heaven. The ministry of Jesus in this world was His own divine preparation of the world for His ultimate and final ministry; The ministry of Jesus during His earth life was localized by His humanity. Localized again in that His message was only given to Israel. But the descent of the Holy Ghost brought to the souls of men a universal ministry of Jesus right from the heart of God. Heavenly contact with the eternal God in power set their nature all aflame for God, exalted their natures unto God, and made the recipient God-like. Supposing that Jesus were on the cross, and we were privileged today to look into His face at this hour, I wonder what the feeling of our souls would be? Suppose we were to follow today behind the weeping company that bore His dead body and laid it in the tomb, what would our feelings be? Supposing we were to meet Him as many met Him in the garden in the glory of His resurrection? Or supposing God in His goodness would let us look into that scene of scenes at the throne of God when the heavens lifted up their gates, and the Lord of glory came in? Oh, if we could beloved, we would have a better comprehension of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. I believe that the first essential in a real Holy Ghost church and a real Holy Ghost work is Every day will I bless thee; Taken from the book "The NEW John G. Lake Sermons" to begin to surround the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the reverence due an experience so sacred and so terribly costly. I have been reading the remarkable story of Sadhu Sundar Singh, an Indian holy man, who renounced the world absolu tely, never married, never took any part in the affairs of the world, separated himself to religious life, practiced meditation on God and the spiritual life. When Sundar Singh found the Lord Jesus he conceived the idea of becoming a Christian Sadhu. They walk from place to place. They wear no shoes? they sleep on the ground, and their lives are utterly abandoned to God. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is peculiar to the Lord Jesus: "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." Jesus Christ, the glorified, must lay His hands on you and me and bestow upon us all His own nature, the outflow of God, the substance of His soul, the quality of His mind, the very being of God Himself. "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?" A temple of God, a house of God in which God lives! BECOMING THE TEMPLE OF GOD. Sometimes I have tried to get it clear before my soul that God was in me. I have tried to note the incoming influence and power of that pure, sweet, living Spirit, of the eternal God. I have tried to realize His presence in my spirit, in my soul, in my hands, in my feet, in my person, and in my being - the habitation of God, God equipping the soul to minister to the world, equipping the soul that he may live forever in harmony with the mind of God. For all the God-like qualities of your heart are due to the fact that God by the Spirit dwells in you. The baptism of the Holy Ghost was the incoming of God in personality in order that the man, through this force, might be moved by God. God lives in him, speaks through him in the impulse of the soul. God has His dwelling place in him. And I w'iIJ praise thy name for ever and ever. You may have God! That is the wonder of the baptism of the Spirit! It is not a work of grace: it is God possessing you. Oh, your heart may have been as sinful as the heart of man was ever sinful. But Christ comes to your soul. That spirit of darkness that possessed you goes and in its stead, a new spirit comes to your soul. That spirit of darkness that possessed you goes, and in its stead a new spirit comes in, the Spirit of Christ. When God baptizes you in the Holy Ghost, He gives you the biggest gift that heaven or earth ever possessed. He gives you Himself. He joins you by one Spirit to Himself forever. THE SURRENDERED LIFE. The requirement is a surrendered heart, a surrendered mind, a surrendered life. From the day that a man becomes a child of God, baptized in the Holy Ghost, it was God's intention through Jesus Christ that man should be a revelation of Jesus, not of himself any more. What do you look for in a man baptized in the Holy Ghost? You would look for a revelation of the personality of God, God moving in him, God speaking in him, through him, using his hands, his feet, a mind in harmony with God, a soul in touch with Him, a spirit united in Jesus Christ. It is not for my heart to discourage any man, nor to make you disbelieve for one moment in the trueness of your own baptism in the Holy Ghost. I believe God by His Spirit has baptized many in the Holy Ghost. But beloved, we have not comprehended the greatness of God's intent. Not that we have not received the Spirit, but our lives have not been sufficiently surrendered to God. We must keep on ascending right to the throne, right to the heart of God, right into the soul of the glorified. THE HOLY GHOST NOT A GIFT OF POWER, BUT OF GOD HIMSELF. The common teaching that my heart these days is endeavoring to combat is that God comes to present the individual with a gift of power, and the individual is then supposed to go out and manifest some certain characteristic of power. No! God comes to present you with Himself. "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." I' Jesus went to heaven in order that the very treasury of the heart of the eternal God might be unlocked for your benefit and that out of the very soul of the eternal God, the streams of His life and nature would possess you from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet. He went, that there would be just as much of the eternal God in your hands, feet, and in your brain as each is capable of containing. MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. Dear ones, I want to repeat a little of my own personal history on the subject of the baptism of the Spirit. I knelt under a tree when about sixteen years of age in repentance and prayer, and God came into my soul. I was saved from my sins, and from that day I knew Jesus Christ as a living Saviour. There never was a single moment of question about the reality of His coming into my life as a Saviour, for He saved me from my sins. My friends said, "Y ou are baptized in the Holy Ghost. " Some time later, I think when I was yet under twenty, I met a Christian farmer, Melvin Pratt, who sat down on his plow handles and taught me the subject of sanctification, and God let me enter into that experience. My friends said, "N ow, you surely are baptized in the Holy Ghost." Then the ministry of healing was opened to me, and I ministered for ten years in the power of God. Hundreds and hundreds of people were healed by the power of God during this ten years, and I could feel the conscious flow of the Holy Spirit through my soul and my hands. But at the end of that ten years I believe I was the hungriest man for God that ever lived. There was such a hunger for God that as I left my offices in Chicago and walked down the street, my soul would break out and I would cry, "Oh God!" I have had people stop and look at me and wonder. It was the yearning passion of my soul, asking for God in a greater measure than I knew. But my friends would say, "Mr. Lake, you have a beautiful baptism in the Holy Ghost." Yes, it was nice as far as it went, but it was not answering the cry of my heart. I was growing up into a larger understanding of God and my own soul's need. My soul was demanding a greater entrance into God, His love, presence, and power. MY BAPTISM IN THE HOLY GHOST. And then one day an old man strolled into my office, sat down, and in the next half hour he revealed more of the knowledge of God to my soul than I had ever known before. When he left I said, "God bless that old grey head. That man knows more of God than any man I ever met. By the grace of God, if that is what the baptism of the Holy Ghost with tongues does, I am going to possess it." Oh, the wonder of God that was then revealed to my heart! I went into fasting and prayer and waiting on God for nine months. And one day the glory of God in a new manifestation and a new incoming came to my life. When the phenomena had passed and the glory of it remained in my soul, I found that my life began to manifest in the varied range of the gifts of the Spirit. I spoke in tongues by the power of God, and God flowed through me with a new force. Healings were of a more powerful order. Oh, God lived in me; God manifested in me; God spoke through me. My spirit was deified; I had a new comprehension of God's will, a new discernment of spirit, a new revelation of God in me. THE MANIFESTATION OF THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT Then a new wonder manifested. My nature became so sensitized that I could lay hands on any man or woman and tell what organ was diseased, and to what extent, and all about it. I tested it. I went into hospitals where physicians could not diagnose a case, touched a patient and instantly I knew the organ that was diseased, its extent, condition, and location. Don't you remember when you first were baptized in the Holy Ghost and you first spoke in tongues, how you bubbled and babbled it was so wonderful, so amazing? We just wanted to be babies and go on bubbling and exhilarating. And now we are wondering what is the matter. The effervescence seems to have passed away. My! It is a good thing for you that it did. God is letting your soul down, beloved, into the bedrock, right down where your mind is not occupied any more with the manifestation of God. God is trying to get your mind occupied with Himself. God has come into you and He is drawing you into Himself. Yes, you will (if you received that standard of baptism), Great is the Lord, but you will do an awful lot more than that, bless God. You will speak with the soul of Jesus Christ. You will feel with the heart of the Son of God. Your pulse will beat with a heavenly desire to bless the world, because it is the pulse of Jesus that is throbbing in your soul. And I do not believe that there will be a bit of inclination in your heart to turn around to another child of God and say, "You are not in my class. I am baptized in the Holy Ghost. " That is as foreign to the Spirit of the Son of God as night is from day. Beloved, if you are baptized in the Holy Ghost there will be a tenderness in your soul so deep that you will never crush the aspiration of another heart by a single suggestion, but your soul will throb and beat and pulse in love, and your heart will be under that one to lift it up to God and push it out as far into the glory as your faith can send it. I want to talk with the utmost frankness and say to you that tongues have been to me the making of my ministry. It is that peculiar communication with God when God reveals to my soul the truth I utter to you day by day in my ministry. But that time of communication with me is mostly in the night. Many a time I climb out of bed, take my pencil and pad and jot down the beautiful things of God, the wonderful things of God that He talks out in my spirit, reveals to my heart. INTERNAL REVELATION MADE INTELLIGENT BY INTERPRETATION. But if you want to make that medium of internal revelation of God intelligent to other folks, then it must be translated into the language that they know. That is the reason the apostle said, "Let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret," that the church may receive edifying. Paul says, "In the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue." Your revelation from God is given you in tongues, but you give it forth in the language the people understand. Beloved, settle it. It is one of the d'ivine mediums and methods of communication between your spirit and God's. And as long as you live, when you talk about tongues, speak with reverence, for it is God. When you talk about healing, speak with reverence, for it is God. When And gre,.t1y to be praised; you talk about prophecy, remember it is God. THE FINAL OUTPOURING. The marvelous wave of God came over the country from 1900 to 1906 when hundreds of thousands of people were baptized in the Holy Ghost and spoke in tongues! But listen! John Alexander Dowie, riding on the wave of that wonderful manifestation of healing power, wanted to build a church and stamp it with healing only, and his church practically did that, and died. Other churches branded theirs with holiness only and died. Others advocated an anointing of the Holy Ghost called "baptism," and they died in power also. Later on we wanted to build a great structure and stamp it with tongues. And after a while the tongues got dry. Somehow the glory and glow had gone out of them. They became rattly and did not sound right. What was the matter? Nothing was wrong with the experience. God had not departed from the life, but was hidden from our view. We were absorbed in the phenomena of God, not in God Himself. Now we must go on! I can see as my spirit discerns the future and reaches ou t to touch the heart of mankind and the desire of God, that there is coming from heaven a new manifestation of the Holy Ghost in power, and that new manifestations will be in sweetness, in love, in tenderness, in the power of the Spirit, beyond anything your heart or mine ever saw. The very lightning of God will flash through men's souls. The sons of God will meet the sons of darkness and prevail. Jesus Christ will destroy the antichrist. A DELUGE OF THE SPIRIT IN AFRICA. In 1908 I preached at Pretoria, South Africa, when one night God came over my life in such power, in such streams of liquid glory and power that it flowed consciously off my hands like streams of electricity. I could point my finger at a man, and that stream would strike him. When a man interrupted the meeting, I pointed my finger at him and said, "Sit down!" He fell as if struck, and lay for three hours. When he became normal, they asked him what had happened, and he said, "Something struck me that went straight through me. I thought I was shot." At two o'clock in the morning I ministered. There is a universal desire among believers to be a more effective witness unto Jesus and to live a more satisfying Christian life. The past two decades have been marked by a renewal of spiritual power and gifts within the Church of Jesus Christ. Thousands have testified of a Baptism in the Holy Spirit with supernatural evidences. Others seeing the wonderful results of this spiritual encounter are asking: What is this Baptism in the Spirit? Before one can come to experience the power of God, he must have the authority of being a son by the grace of our Lord Jesus (John I: 12). The gift of the Holy Spirit as power is for believers only. If you have not had your sins forgiven and your life made anew by turning from your self-centered life and responding to Jesus as Lord, then this is an absolute necessity. You cannot go on with God unless you first start with Him. Jesus has promised "All who come to me I will never, no never cast away." John 6:37. One great evidence that you are a child of God is that you desire to please Him in all that you do, and you desire to share the life you've discovered in Jesus with others. However, within ourselves we do not possess this kind of power. With the new birth has come an awakening desire to accomplish the will of God in this world. His will is that all should hear of the provision of forgiveness through the shed blood and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from the dead. The greatest thing that has ever happened in the life of a believer is the life transforming encounter he has had with Jesus. He is the greatest! We can now share Him. Jesus has said we are to be witnesses unto Him. Witnessing to Him is not a program rather it is the sharing of a historical and personal event. Thus the necessity of the word of witness. Only the spoken word can tell men that Jesus is God in human flesh and that on the cross He bore the guilt of men and that on the third day He arose again from the dead and lives today as the Supreme Lord of all. Only a word of witness quickened by the power of the Spirit can tell of the living Jesus. In the early church the baptism in the Holy Spirit was a part of normal Christian initiation (Acts 2:38). After men repented from sin and turned in faith to Jesus, it was expected that they be baptized in water and then receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Often this was accompanied by the laying on of hands by other spirit-filled believers (Acts8: 17). In this experience the Holy Spirit empowers those who are already members of the Body of Christ. The baptism, like salvation, is a free gift of God promised to all who will believe and accept. Naturally one wants to know exactly what this baptism in the Holy Spirit is. It is a second encounter with God (the first is conversion) in which the believer begins to receive the supernatural power of the Spirit into his life. It is the divine equipment given by Jesus to empower believers for service (Luke 24:49). Jesus refers to it as "The Promise of the Father." Thus it is a spiritual baptism (immersion) by Jesus Himself into the personality of the Spirit in which the Lord begins to exercise His sovereign possession, control and use of the disciple in a supernatural way through the Holy Spirit. It brings us into a closer relationship with Jesus and thus we become an instrument of redemption. The baptizer in the Holy Spirit is the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 3: 11 ; Mark 1:8). Jesus as the ascended Lord does this work in the life of His asking child. It furnishes us with a personal evidence of the resurrection of Jesus. HOW THEN CAN YOU RECEIVE THIS SCRIPTURAL EXPERIENCE First, you must believe the promise is unto you (Acts 2:39) and come to the Lord Jesus in prayer desiring Him to fill you with His Spirit. Luke 11: 13. This is the promise of the Father and it is His personal desire for you to experience His fullness. Believe in God's promise. Second, ask Jesus to baptize you in the Holy Spirit. We do not have to beg Him nor become "holy enough" to receive. Remember the Holy Spirit is a gift. You cannot earn Him. He is the equipment we need for holy living and a bold witness (Acts 4:31). Jesus paid for this gift with His own precious blood and He is anxious to clothe you with His power. Third, have a clean heart. Confess all the things you are conscious of that displease the Lord . in your life. Jesus' blood cleanses us and this One generation shall praise thy works to another, removes all blocks to His power (I John 1:7,9). Fourth, you must yield yourself to the Lord Jesus the Baptizer. The Spirit fills our vessels as they are yielded to Him. Remember the Lord will not force Himself on you. He comes to those who long for Him. Fifth, praise the Lord. Give Him the glory and thank Him for the gift of salvation and Himself. The disciples on Pentecost were worshiping Jesus (Luke 24:53) when the Spirit came. Whenever Jesus is glorified the Spirit can be received in power (John 7:39). The Spirit glorifies Jesus and He longs to do it through our lips. Magnify the Lord! Six th, by faith receive the Spirit. "Whatsoever things you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them." Mark 11: 24. God will honor His promise as we meet His conditions and by an act of faith accept and receive the Holy Spirit in His baptismal fullness (Galatians 3: 14). By a definite act of faith commit yourself to Jesus and receive His gift. Seventh, expect the Spirit to manifest His presence. Praise flowing from within is the key mark that the Spirit has been received. The normal Scriptural evidence of the Holy Spirit baptism is that one speaks the praise of God in the language the Spirit gives. (Acts 2:4; Acts 10:46; Acts 19:6) This speaking in the power of the Spirit consummates one's experience and gives you an objective evidence of the Spirit's presence. The Lord declares "open thy mouth wide and I will fill it." Psalm 81: 1O. Begin to speak and the Spirit will give the words. Speak on until the joy of the Lord becomes your portion. Jesus longs to fill each of His disciples with the Spirit. It brings glory to Him and power to the believer. Ask today and be filled with the Spirit. Wayne Conrad is a young man currently engaged in a teaching and writing ministry. He is a native Louisianan and has been affiliated with Southern Baptists since his teenage conversion. He attended Louisiana College where he received a degree in Sociology. It was here that he fust became interested in the Charismatic Renewal, after receiving the Baptism in the Spirit in the summer of 1967 while engaged in a Baptist youth meeting. He enrolled at New Orleans Seminary. For the past year he has prepared Bible study materials for the Bay View Heights Baptist Church in Mobile, Alabama. He currently makes his home in Mobile and is a Bible teacher at Liberty Bible College, Pensacola, Florida and Director at Lott Road Christian School near Mobile. AND THE CHRONIC SEEKER". By DON BASHAM. If I were asked to name the greatest barrier to receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, I would be obliged to say it is a lack of understanding about the way the miraculous power of God is released in the Christian's life. The principle involved is one which, when understood and applied, puts a person in the proper position to receive what God has promised. The principle is simply this:The power of God is released by an act of faith on man's part. Before we apply this principle to receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues, let us examine it in Scripture. One example is the story of the healing of the woman with the issue of blood. (Matthew 9: 19-22, Luke 8:43-49) As Jesus made his way toward her, surrounded by a crowd of people, the woman said to herself, "If I touch even his garment I shall be made well." When she managed to touch him, immediately Jesus stopped and said, "Who touched me?" Peter chided him, saying, "Master, the multitudes surround you and press upon you." But Jesus was insistent about a particular touch. "Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone forth from me," he said. And when they identified the woman, Jesus commended her saying, "Daughter, your faith has made you well, go in peace." Now obviously, there were other needy people pressing against Jesus? the sick, the lame, the troubled. But the one who received the miracle was the woman who touched him in faith. There was no miracle in her reaching out, and there was no power in Jesus' garment. But her seemingly irrational act, the foolish act of reaching out in faith, was the key to her healing. The power was there in Jesus all the time, but something was required of the woman before that power was released in her behalf. And it was the combination of what the woman did and what God did that gave her her healing. Her simple act of faith triggered the flow of God's power. This same principle holds true when it comes to receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. I've seen the principle demonstrated repeatedly all over the United States and overseas as well. Once a person understands that he has a vital part to play receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit, it is a simple matter for him to receive. But without this understanding, and unless he is willing to act in faith, he may have grea t difficulty. Many of those we've come to call "chronic seekers" receive the baptism and begin to speak in And shall declare thy mighty acts. tongues in a matter of minutes after hearing the simple teaching which makes this principle clear. Essentially, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is comprised of two parts; first, receiving the Holy Spirit by faith, and second, manifesting the Spirit's presence through speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues is not the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but is the verbal expression or overflow of it. We can put it this way: If I ask any of you, "Are you a Christian? Are you saved?" You would respond saying, "Yes, I have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior." But your words are not your salvation, they are the vocal expression of your salvation. So it is with speaking in tongues. Tongues are not the baptism but they are the vocal expression of that baptism. The principle that man must play an essential part in releasing the miraculous power of God in his life applies to the baptism in the Holy Spirit especially in reference to receiving the evidence of speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues is supernatural, it is miraculous. But like other miracles, it too is comprised of two parts; man's part and God's part. But many people have not understood this and have waited for God to do it all. They've never done their part, they've never reached out in faith, and hence, have never spoken in tongues. Suppose the woman with the issue of blood had just stood wistfully to one side as Jesus passed and said, "Well, I sure wish the Lord Jesus would come over here and heal me." You can bet she wouldn't have received her healing. She had to reach out and press through to touch the Lord. And when she did all she could do, God did what He could do, and she was healed. From repeated experience I find this is the problem with most "chronic seekers," and most "trunkless lephants." When it comes to speaking in tongues they have failed to reach out in faith. They have been waiting for God to do what God was waiting for them to do. A few years ago I was speaking in a Pentecostal church in an Eastern city. My subject was the baptism in the Holy Spirit. At the close of the service, the minister gave an altar call for people wanting the baptism. To my surprise over twenty people responded. In those days I had assumed that most members of Pentecostal churches had long since received the baptism in the Holy Spiri t. I've since learned this isn't necessarily true. Many Pentecostal or Full-Gospel churches offer little or no teaching on the baptism in the I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, Holy Spirit and many of their members have not had the experience. Anyway, the minister poin ted to an elderly man kneeling by the front pew. "See that man?" he said to me. "He's seeking the baptism. Would you go over and pray with him?" So I went over and sat down on the pew where the man was kneeling and gave him just a few words of instruction about how we receive the Holy Spirit by faith and then speak in tongues in faith. Then I said, "Now we'll pray that God will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and enable you to praise Him in other tongues. After I pray I want you to open your mouth in faith and begin to praise God in tongues." We prayed and immediately the brother opened his mou th and began to speak in tongues, tears of joy streaming down his face. I returned to the minister and said, "Well, the brother received." To my surprise the pastor began to jump up and down with excitement. "He did? Are you sure?" And then he ran over to the brother and knelt down and listened to bim praising God in tongues. Then the minister, began to weep for joy. I thought to myself, "This is an emotional bunch of Pentecostals I got mixed up with tonight." Then the pastor came back to me wiping the tears from his face with his handkerchief and explained. "This brother's been seeking the baptism in the Holy Spirit for twenty-seven years!" Do you see the point? For over a quarter of a century that devoted Christian man had been waiting for God to do what God had been waiting for him to do. Earnest, sincere man that he was, he didn't want to "fake anything." So he had never taken that step of faith. "I don't want to open my mouth and speak - I want the Holy Spirit to speak through me!" I've heard many a chronic seeker wall himself off from the baptism in the Holy Spirit with that complaint. Let me say it again. The miracles of God are comprised of two parts; man's part and God's part. Speaking in tongues is that kind of miracle. And the miraculous part isn't the act of speaking; it's the language. You speak; the Holy Spirit provides "the utterance," the words, the syllables. You must speak the words the Holy Spirit provides. And if you don't open your mouth (Continued on page 23) Jme has allowed us to look backward to events that happened be fore t he awa ke n ing began in Reedley, California. SOME SOW, SOME WATER, BUT GOD GIVES THE INCREASE Within the Full Gospel Tabernacle congregation, prayer groups were organized not by the Pastor or the Church Board, but by earnest people within the congregation who felt desperately that God must touch us, especially our young people or the church would die. A prayer group met on Saturday evening, another on Tuesday, another on Thursday and many of these had been in progress for two years, others for four years. The Saturday prayer meeting had been meeting much longer. The young people, under the guidance of Joe Peacock and his wife, Ly n da, had begun cottage prayer meetings with the youth. One of the prayer captains was Melody Johnson, who would express her desires to Joe and Lynda in such a way as, "Let's have a prayer meeting party." The tragic drug problems that involved families of our church and families of our community gave me deep concern. Prayer alone could not lift my burden. I was impressed to conduct a special youth rally. Unless youth could hear what was a real answer to their problems, we would surely collapse as a church as far as fulfilling our purpose in our community. With the help of friends and businessmen of the city, we leased the auditorium in Dinuba and engaged the youthful band called the Solid Rocks, a Youth for Christ group from Fresno. Together with local groups and Teen Challenge of Fresno, we launched our first rally. Over 250 attended, paying to get in. The impact of the witness of Teen Challenge was effective. A second rally was held the next month and over forty came forward making decisions for Christ. From these rallys we opened a coffee house called the Carpenter's Shop in Reedley. A Youth 12 Employment Center and a Teen Camp was conducted through the summer mon ths. In September, a weekly schedule was directed by Joe and Lynda Peacock. Faithfu:ly, the doors were kept open and many found Christ. The town of Reedley came to accept the ministry of the "Youth Rescue Mission." In January of 1971, we were asked to promote a Gospel Rock Festival in the foothills for the Sugar Pine Camp out of Fresno. Coming to help us at this time was Pastor Jim Slentz. Together, we sought for a man to help in this one-day rally who would take not only the responsibility of master of ceremonies but who would be led of God in bringing young people to Christ. The date was set for Saturday before Easter. We called Youth With a Mission offices in Burbank and Winkie Pratney suggested to us a Brother Tony Salerno. Brother Salerno agreed to come to us if he could bring a group of young people called the Agape Force to do a special invasion for that Easter week. Brother Pratney and Brother Salerno with some of their young people, came to visit us prior to this meeting, and they felt led to stay in our town for the week's invasion. Now, that invasion is spiritual history. About twenty young people came. By the end of the week 150 were dealt with for salvation. Of these, many stepped out for Christ counting the total cost. Among these youths were leading athelets. Many of the Agape Force had to return to school. The final number left behind to pick up the heavy load of ministry was about seven. Others would" come in and join on the weekends. Brother Salerno was able to return sometimes three days during the week, making countless long drives fro m the L.A. area to Reedley, sleepless nights, as he had other obligations of ministry he had to keep. He'd return to rally forces, give directions under the direction of the Holy Spirit. The revival kept cresting higher and higher week after week. There is no way to calculate just how many were dealt with in the prayer rooms, but sometimes as many as 500 tracts a week were used as a means of spreading the Word. Youth groups came in from the mountain towns, coastal areas and even from the Los Angeles area. Many of these found Christ. Night after night the youth mission room was packed. Many times the doors were locked after it was filled to capacity then second services were held. And of thy wondrous works. Invitations came from churches in the area for youths, from the Carpenter's Shop to give their testimonies. The Mennonite Brethren Church of Reedley, The Colony Covenant Church near Kingsburg, the American Baptist Chruch, Southern Baptist Church, First Mennonite, and the Spanish Mennonite Church are some that the youth ministered to. Civic clubs, such as the Kiwanis of Reedley and Kingsburg, the Full Gospel Businessmen of Fresno, Christian Businessmen of Kingsburg and the Assemblies of God Men's Fellowship of Kingsburg. At the latter is where Barry McGuire, former Broadway singer and actor accepted Christ. CAMPUSES CHANGED The impact on the campuses in the Reedley area was reported by the teachers. Bible carrying students, formerly apathetic, now alive in Christ, were studying. Bible clubs were formed at Grant junior High School, Reedley High School, Dinuba High School and Parlier High School. Teachers report of students lives so drastically changed that whole class rooms were feeling the impact of the revival. Plans by outside groups to make trouble in two high schools were revealed; one, the plan for bombings Full Gospel Tabernacle, Reedley, California and the other was a threat to cause trouble as to disrupt school completely. Trouble subsided on these campuses and school finished without difficulty. Many have expressed this was possible because of the spiritual awakening among the youth of Reedley. "WE WRESTLE NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD" The revival sweeping the area did not keep back attacks from the enemy, Satan himself. In the second week, financially it looked as if not enough money would come in to keep the doors open. In prayer, the Agape Force, the Pastors and evangelists claimed victory. in Jesus' name. By the weekend, over $900.00 had come in to meet the needs. Threats came from a neighboring town. Young people armed with a gun were coming in to break up the meetings. Before they arrived, plans were intercepted by the local police and it was stopped. Fire bombings were threatened on the day of the big youth rally scheduled for a weekend outside the Carpenter's Shop. The bombings did not take place. One of the young people on the original Agape. team was totally brainwashed by an anti-government group. Youth were gathered together with adult friends to battle demon forces. At 5:00 A.M. the young man was delivered from mental possession of Satan. THE CONSECRATION CAMP June 14th opened our Consecration Camp which was held in the Full Gospel Tabernacle of Reedley. Our teachers were: Winkie Pratney, Tony Salerno and Dr. Phil Opperman. The daily classes averaged about fifty with the evening classes swelling to perhaps over a hundred or more. What a beautiful sight to see youth scattered over the building each with their Bibles, notebooks and textbooks eagerly drinking in the Word of God. The messages were heart-searching and God was bringing them to a place of walking holy before Him. From junior high through college and some young professional people joining in, the Word of God was honored and the Holy Spirit flowed through the camp. Dr. Opperman's assignment was to teach about the Holy Spirit with the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit being the main theme. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday the youth we re carefully instructed. On Th u rsday, Dr. Opperman gathered them in the prayer room of the Full Gospel Tabernacle, which was in the basement, but is now our "Upper Room." The young people waited on the Lord. From one of the youth who was there, he described the meeting as such, "It was silent, then there was a gentle sobbing from one, then another, then suddenly almost at once like a great breath, all began speaking in other languages ... like on the day of the first Pentecost when like a mighty rushing wind the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit." So it happened that night. No record was kept of how many received, but it is believed that perhaps over fifty received the Holy Spirit that evening. One of the young people expressed himself, "Wow, now I can pray to God and the devil can't hear me." (Continued on page 24) And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: 13 ""Iihis means that in this final 'shaking' all that is impermanent will be removed, that is, everything that is merely 'made,' and only th.e unshakable things will remain."- Hebrews 12:27, J.B.P. Everything is being shaken and tested. But there is a Divine purpose in it all, that His eternal truth may stand out more clearly, and unmistakably, when all human traditions and accretions have fallen away, unable to resist the energy of the shock. And who will bewail this too bitterly? Shall we weep because the winds strip the trees of their old dead leaves, if only the new spring verdure may be able to show itself? Who shall lament that the heavy blow shatters the mould, if only the perfect image shall stand ou t in complete symmetry? Who shall mourn over the passing away of the leaves and the earth, if, as they break up, they reveal beneath them the imperishable beauty of the new leaves and the new earth in which dwells Righteousness? THEOLOGICAL SYSTEMS ARE BEING SHAKEN There was a time when men received their theological beliefs from their teachers, their parents, or their Church, without a word of question or controversy. There was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or chirped. It is not so now; the air is filled with questionings. Men are pu tting in to the crucible every doctrine which our forefathers held dear. There is no veneration shown for time-honoured creeds, or theological distinctions, or doctrinal formularies. The highest themes, such as the Nature of the Atonement, the Necessity of Regeneration, the Duration of Future Punishment, are being criticised in the public press. Many children of God are very distressed about this, and fear for the truth of the Gospel. They speak as if there were no other agents in the conflict but those of moral birth. They lose sight of the eternal issues at stake, and the unseen forces which are implicated in the conflict. Is it likely that God, will allow this precious Gospel to be overshadowed or robbed of all essential elements? Has He maintained it in its integrity for these ages; and is He now suddenly become a mighty man who cannot save? When it seemed as if evangelical doctrine had died out of the world in the sixteenth century, because it lingered only amid some By DR. F. B. MEYER 14 And I will declare thy greatness. obscure and humble saints, He raised up one man, who rolled back the tides of error, and reared once more the standard of Gospel truth; and can He not do it again? In these terrible shakings, not one jot or tittle of God's Word shall perish; not one grain of truth shall fall to the ground; not one stone in the fortress shall be dislodged. But they are permitted to come, partly to test the chaff and wheat as a winnowing fan; but chiefly that all which is temporal and transient may pass away, whilest the simple truth of God becomes more apparent, and shines forth unhidden by the scaffolding and rubbish with which the builders have obscured its symmetry and beauty. "The things which cannot be shaken shall remain." ECCLESIASTICAL SYSTEMS ARE BEING SHAKEN It is not enough that any religious system should exist; it is asked somewhat rudely to show cause why it should continue to exist. The spirit of the age is utilitarian, and is reluctant to consider any plea for mercy which is not based on a clear evidence of service to its pressing necessities. Teachers of religion are challenged to show reason for assuming their office, or of claiming special prerogatives. Methods of work are being weighed in the balances; missionary plans trench an tly criticized; religious services metamorphosed. Change is threatening the most time-honoured customs; and all this is very distressing to those who have confused the essence with the form, the jewel with the casket, the spirit with the temple in which it dwells. But let us not fear. All this is being permitted for the wisest ends. There is a great deal of wood, hay, and stubble, in all our structures which needs to be burnt up; but not an ounce of gold or silver will ever be destroyed. The waves may wash off the weed which has attached itself to the harbour wall; but they will fail to start one constituent stone. The simplici ty of early Church life has been undoubtedly covered over with many accretions which hinder the progress of the Church and impede her work; and we may hail any visitation, however drastic, which shall set her free. But the Church herself is founded on a rock, and the gates of hell shall never prevail against her. Well was it for the Church of Christ, when the days of persecution lay surely on her. Never was she so pure, so spiritually powerful, as then. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, And if such days should ever be allowed to return, and God were to shake her fabric with the fierce whirlwinds of martyrdom, there would be no need for anxiety. The time-servers, the mere professors, the creatures of fashion would stand revealed; but those should had experienced the work of God in their souls would endure to the end, and their true character would be manifested. "The things that cannot be shaken will remain." OUR CHARACTERS AND LIVES ARE CONST ANTL Y BEING SHAKEN What a shake that sermon gave us, which showed that all our righteousness, on which we counted so fondly, were but withered leaves! What a shake was that commercial disaster, which swept away in one blow the savings and credit of years, that were engrossing the heart, and left us only what we had of spiritual worth! What a shake was that temptation, which showed that our fancied sinlessness was an empty dream; and that we were as sensitive to temptation as those over whom we had been vaunting ourselves. What has been the net result of all these shakings? Has a hair of our heads perished? The old man has perished; but the inward man has been daily renewed. The more the marble has wasted, the more the statue has grown. As the wooden centres have been knocked down, the solid masonry has stood out with growing completeness. "The things which could not be shaken have remained. " "Go on, Great Spirit of God: shake with thine earthquakes even more violently, these characters of ours, that all which is not of Thee, but of us, and therefore false and selfish, may be revealed and overthrown, so that we may learn our true possessions. And as we see them saved to us from the general wreck; we shall know that, having been given us by Thyself, they must partake of thine own permanence and eternity. Let us learn the worst of ourselves, that we may learn to prize Thy best." THERE ARE A FEW THINGS WHICH CANNOT BE SHAKEN GOD'S WORD Heaven and earth may pass away; but God's Word - never! All flesh is grass, and all the (Continued on page 25) 15 Steve walked along the street humming a merry tune to himself. He was on his way to his weekly Scout meeting, but his mind was on the beauties of nature that were beginning to show forth the coming of spring. He was enjoying the feel of the spring breeze that tossed the gray moss, hanging from the trees, up in a playful gesture. He stepped around a mud puddle as he headed into a wooded section that separated his subdivision from the area where his scout master lived. The trail through the woods was only two blocks long, but this was the place to really enjoy the beauties of spring. ," 16 Steve's excitement over the beauties of the woods was dashed to pieces as he looked up to see Percy Wallerman approaching him on the trail. Percy was the school bully and had taken a strong dislike to Steve when Steve had told the truth about an incident that caused Percy to get punished by the school principal. Percy had told Steve he was going to mess him up good when he got a chance. Fear gripped Steve's heart as he saw the evil grin spread over Percy's face. "Well, what a nice thing to happen to me! I've waited a long time for this opportunity." Percy gloated as he rubbed his And shall sing of thy righteousness. I I hands together in a threatening way. Steve knew that Percy was able to do what he had promised as far as size and strength was concerned. Instantly into Steve's mind popped a Bible verse that he had recently memorized, "When I am afraid I will trust in Thee. " Then he remembered Daniel in the lion's den and another verse that said angels would stay around those that feared the Lord. As the distance between the boys lessened Steve silently said, "Lord, I am terribly afraid, but I trust you to send me help." Percy stopped and surveyed Steve with The Lord is gracious, such bravado and assurance. "Man, I can hardly wait to mess you up." Steve stood up straight and looked Percy in the eye. "I'm afraid you'll have a pretty hard time of it. You will have to fight angels, too." Percy threw back his head and roared with laughter. "Now that is the best joke I've heard yet. Maybe you think you are an angel, huh?" He stepped forward quickly and grabbed Steve by his wrist but Steve was able to get free and side stepped the big boy's lunge at him. All of a sudden Steve felt a new strength and fear left him. Percy whirled around to grab Steve once more, and as he did, he fell flat on his face with a a loud thud. This was all Steve needed to get away. His feet flew down the trail until he came out at the houses near the scout master's home. Steve didn't say a word to anyone about his encounter while at the scout meeting and he took the longer way home which was on busy streets. At home he told his Dad about the incident. Dad asked, "What do you think made Percy fall like that? Is he that clumsy?" Steve said, "Dad, 1 think the Lord sent an angel to push him down so I could get away." Dad nodded, "I t could be. Whether an angel or not God certainly answered your prayers." The next day Steve noticed that Percy avoided him and he saw a big bruise mark on his face. Herbie, a guy in Percy's class, told Steve he overheard Percy telling some of his friends to 'stay clear of Steve because he knows magic'. Herbie quizzed Steve. "What does he mean? Do you really know magic?" Steve shook his head. "No! But 1 know God." • 17 AN OPEN LETTER TO AMERICA (Continued from page 2) spiritually and consequently all are dead spiritually until they are "born again" by the re-generation of God's Spirit in Christ Jesus. Now the cause of everything evil in the world - sins of all kinds, sickness, disease, sorrow, pain, hatred, injustices, cruelties, prejudices - the whole "evil bit" is a result of that unregenerated, Satan-owned, spiritually dead and separated-from-God state that every person is born in and stays in until he is "born again" by receiving God's provision, His own Son, Jesus, and believing on Him. Romans 5 and 6 J.s such a beautiful exposition of this great and ':.basic truth. The evil nature, the Satan owned spirit of man results in all of the evil of the world - even good moral people rave this evil nature within them unless they are "born agian" and sooner or later it will assert itself in one way or another. We can institute social reforms, we can get on our soap box and preach what "you ought not to do" and "what you ought to do" - we knock ourselves out doing and going and telling and marching and protesting and this is all like lopping branches off a tree - the tree is still there and some more branches will grow back. (This is like preachers preaching that you shouldn't smoke, drink, commit adultery, etc, etc. - it's true that we shouldn't do these things but it has to go deeper than this.) Well, maybe we do go a bit further and say, "you shouldn't wan t to do these bad things" - we jump on our soap box and we preach "you've got to love - you just must make yourself not be prejudiced" or "you know you should be more concerned about man's inhumanity to man" etc, etc. - this is going a little further down and chopping at the trunk of the tree. (This is like preachers preaching that you shouldn't even want to smoke, drink, commit adultery, etc, etc. - this is true, too, but it still has not gotten to the crux of the matter). NOW - when we introduce people to the Gospel and tell them that Jesus not only died to take away their sins, but He arose to take away the SIN (separation from God) and to give us a new nature which is the very nature of Jesus and God Himself - this nature is LOVE - it is Jesus living in and through us, then we are getting at the root of the tree. When John the Baptist preached the Advent of Jesus he said: "The axe is laid at the root of the trees" Matthew 3: 10. Jesus has come to change the nature of men. "Therefore if any 18 person is ingrafted in Christ, the Messiah, he is a new creature altogether, a new creation; the old previous moral and spiritual condition has passed away! Behold, the fresh and new has come!!" 2 Corinthians 5: 17, Amplified. After all, when a man's heart is full of Jesus and His love, there is no room in it for hatred or prejudice or cruelty or anything but LOVE, for Jesus is God and God is love! I John 4:8. America's number one problem is heart trouble, medically speaking. I want to say that America's number one problem is "heart trouble", period! God's Word says: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9. You say, "Not me - my heart is not deceitful and wicked," but God says yes, it is - as a descendent of Adam the first man, the heart is wicked because sin came into the world through that one man, Adam, and spread to all men (Romans 5: 12) and God says "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Romans 3: 23. Oh, yes, whoever you are and wherever you may be, your heart, out of which originates all the issues of life, is wicked and sinful unless and until you have accepted God's remedy for your "heart trouble." What is God's remedy? He tells us in His Word: "A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36:26. A very learned man among the Jews came to Jesus once with questions in his mind regarding this matter and this was Jesus' reply to him: "I assure you, most s91emnly I tell you, that unless a person is born again (anew, from above), he cannot ever see-know, be acquainted with and experience the Kingdom of God. I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, except a man be born of water and even the Spirit, he cannot ever enter the Kingdom of God." John 3:3,5, Amplified. Jesus was telling this man and us that we all need a new heart and it can only come from God above - "Marvel not - .do not be surprised, astonished at My telling you, you must all be born anew from above." John 3:7, Amplified. To get back to America's problems now remember Proverbs 14:34: "Righteousness - uprightness and right standing with God, moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation, these elevate a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." Amplified. And out of the deceitful and wicked hearts of men comes sin And full of compassion; HE'S TALKING TO• manifesting itself in various ways about which Jesus said: "For out of the heart come evil thoughts (reasonings and disputings and designs) such as murder, adultery, sexual vice, theft, false witnessing, slander and irreverent speech." Matthew 15: 19, Amplified. A very wise man named Solomon said out of the heart come the issues of life (Proverbs 4: 23) and the wisest man who ever lived, Jesus Christ, said: "Out of the abundance (overflow) of the heart the mouth speaks." Luke 6:45. So it should be very clear to all by now that all the problems, perplexities, distresses and reproaches America is experiencing today are due to SIN and originate in the hearts of men. Many well-meaning people, realizing America has problems which are dragging her down in every way, are today doing what they feel will help to alleviate this perplexity. The political attack on the problem is to legislate, pass laws and make people be good. The social attack on the problem is to appeal to the "better side of man" and make him want to be good. The "religious" attack (and by "religious" I mean those who claim to be doing God's work but not doing it according to God's Word, nor do they have God's power with and behind them. "For although they hold a form of piety, true religion, they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it - their conduct belies the genuiness of their profession." 2 Timothy 3:5, Amplified, and by the way the rest of that verse says "Avoid all such people - turn away from them!") is a combination of the political and the social attack with some pious platitudes thrown in which make it sound like God is too good to bring judgment on anyone. The only answer, and it is the basic answer because all of the issues of life, good or bad, spring originally from this source, is the regeneration and change in the hearts of men. This is the spiritual solution, the real solution, and when the hearts of men are right with God, the issues or problems of life will be taken care of by God Himself. Jesus promised this when He said: "But seek for, aim at and strive after first of all His Kingdom, and His righteousness, His way of doing and being right, and then all these things (answers to life's problems) will be given you besides." Matthew 6:33, Amplified. Remember, Jesus also said: "Except a man be born again (get a new heart from God) he cannot see the Kingdom of God." John 3:3. Oh, America! Won't you quit trying to pull Slow to anger, yourself up out of the quicksand of turmoil by your own boot-straps and get in a position for God to bless you with the answers and solutions to your problems? Here is the position from the mouth of God Himself: "If My people who are called by My Name shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave and require of necessity My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7: 14, Amplified. The Bible says: "All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits - the thoughts and intents of the heart." Proverbs 16: 2, Amplified. America is called by God's Name, we are known as a Christian nation, but America has "heart trouble" and must humble herself before Almighty God, seek His face and His ways and accept His Son, Jesus Christ if this lovely land is ever to be healed of the sicknesses she is suffering from today. Someone has said: "Yes, but what's the use - civilization is a goner anyway." It is true that Jesus said that before He comes to earth again we will hear of wars and rumors of wars, nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, famines and earthquakes (Matthew 24:6,7) and perilous times are foretold (2 Timothy 3) but this should be all the more reason for those of us who know this to find safety in God - "The Name of the Lord is a strong tower: the consistently righteous man - upright and in right standing with God - runs into it and is safe, high above evil, and strong." Proverbs 18:10, Amplified. Yes, civilization may be a "goner" - the boat may sink - bu t thank God the passengers can be rescued if they won't reject the Rescuer! Yes, God will bless America again when America humbles herself before Him. Jesus said: "Sky and earth will pass away, but My words will 110t pass away. Matthew 24:35, Amplified .... "the Word of the Lord (divine instruction, the Gospel) endures forever." I Peter 1:25, Amplified. Hear His Word today: "If My people who are called by My Name shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave and require of necessity My face, and turn f,om their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land." II Chronicles 7: 14, Amplified. HEAR, AMERICA YOU!!! Jean C. Wood February 27, 1970 19 REDEEM THE TIME~ Plan no¥! to attend FALL CHRIST.A THE ONFERENCE OCTOBER 31- NOVEMBER 7, 1971 SHERATON BEACH HOTEl - MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA SCHEDULE SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY \ WED. THURS. FRIDAY SAT. SUNDAY Oct.31 Nov. 1 Nov. 2 Nov. 3 Nov. 4 Nov. 5 Nov. 6 Nov. 7 8:00 to PRAYER GROUPS 9:00 9:00 to ARTHUR WALLIS DEREK 10:30 PRINCE 10:45 to E. JUDSON CORNWALL LORD'S 12:15 ~ SUPPER ~ 2:00 Ci to - r.n WENDELL WALLACE DEREK PRINCE BAPTISM 3:30 >-3 3:45 ~ to > COUNSELING AND RECREATION 5:15 >-3 - 7:30 0 to 2 SINGING AND WORSHIP 8:15 8:15 BOB WENDELL E.JUDSON DEREK DEREK to MUMFORD WALLACE CORNWALL PRINCE PRINCE ll:oo - 20 And of great mercy. • • ERENCE AKERS . DEREK PRINCE was educated in Britain as a scholar of Greek and Latin at Eton College and at King's College, Cambridge. From 1940 to 1949, he had a Fellowship (equivalent to a resident professorship) in Ancient and Modern Philosophy a't Cambridge University. He has also studied Hebrew and Aramaic, both at Cambridge University and at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In addition, he speaks a number of other modern languages. Converted from philosophy to Christianity while serving as a soldier in World War II, Derek Prince has since devoted his life to the study and exposition of the Bible. He has served at various times as a minister, educator and missionary in five continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and Australia. E. JUDSON CORNWALL is actively engaged as pastor, teacher, conference and camp meeting speaker, missionary teacher and teaching evangelist. For the past five years he has averaged preaching once a day. The Santa Clara Assembly in Eugene, Oregon where he has pastored since 1959 has developed into a well rounded "body ministry" among the saints. The congregation has 20 or more denominations worshiping together giving it a most distinctive hue. Perhaps because of this unusual "ecumenical" congregation, God has opened many doors of ministry among the "historic churches" to Pastor Cornwall. He has also ministered widely among believers of many faiths who are just experiencing the glorious ou tpouring of the Spirit. Pastor Cornwall is an enthusiastic teacher whose main theme is "Relationship to Christ." ARTHUR WALLIS is the younger son of the late Captain Reginald Wallis, who was well known as a speaker and writer on both sides of the Atlantic, prior to the second World War. Arthur was born in Dublin in 1922, where his father was at that time General Secretary of the Y.M.C.A. After the family returned to England, he was educated at Monkton Coombe School near Bath. His father's sudden death in 1940 precipitated a spiritual crisis, and he heard the call of God to full time service, though this was not to be fulfilled until after the war. Since then, he has devoted himself to a Bible teaching ministry and to writing. His books currently available in the States are "IN THE DAY OF THY POWER", "GOD'S CHOSEN FAST" and "PRAY IN THE SPIRIT". Of recent years he has visited New Zealand, India, Pakistan, South America and was in the States during the summer of 1970. His main burden of ministry is along the line of Revival, Int~rcession, Discipleship, the Baptism and Gifts of the Holy Spirit and a general restoration of New Testament Christianity and Church life. --- - ___1_- MAlL TO: HOLY SPIRIT TEACHING MISSION, 2310 S. W. 40th Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33314 Please register me for the "Fall Christian Growth Conference," October 31 - November 7, 1971. Mr., Mrs., Mis,"-s Age; _ Street, _ City State Zip _ Date Arrivine No. of Nights'- _ Registration Fee of $15.00 (per person) for the week payable to the Holy Spirit Teaqhing Mission. --- - ------ MAIL TO: SHERATON BEACH HOTEL, 19400 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, Florida 33160 Please reserve accomodations at the S~eraton Beach Hotel for the Christian Growth Conference, October 31 - November 7, 1971 sponsored by the Holy Spirit Teaching Mission. Mr., Mrs., Mis~ Age _ Streetl.. _ City State Zip _ Single Room $11.00 ( ) Double Room $13.00 ( ) Deposit checks to: Sheraton Beach Hotel (Equivalent to one night's room revenue). Arrival Date Departure Date Wish to room with _ The Lord is good to all: 21 DR. LAKE'S MESSAGE (Continued from page 7) to sixty-five sick who were present, and the streams of God that were pouring through my hands were so powerful, the people would fall as if they were hit. I was troubled when they fell with such violence. And the Spirit said, "You do not need to put your hands on them. Keep your hands a distance away." And when I held my hands a foot from their heads, they would crumple and fall in a heap on the floor. They were healed almost everyone. That was the outward manifestation. That was what the people saw. But beloved, something transpired in my heart that made my soul like the soul of Jesus Christ. Oh, there was a tenderness, a newborn tenderness of God that was so wonderful that my heart reached out and cried and wept over men in sin. I would gather them in my arms and love them, and Jesus Christ flowed out of me and delivered them. During that period men would walk down the aisle, and when they came within ten feet of me, I have seen them fall prostrate, one on top of another. A preacher who had sinned, as he looked at me fell prostrate, was saved, baptized in the Holy Ghost, and stirred the nation with his message of love. In eighteen months God raised up one hundred churches in the land. Those hundred churches were born in my tabernacle at Johannesburg. The multitude of those who composed these hundred churches were healed or baptized in the Holy Ghost under my own eyes as I preached or prayed. I continued in the minis~ry of healing until I saw hundreds of thousands healed. All the time my heart kept saying, "Oh God, let me know you better. I want you; my heart wants you too, God." There was a cry in my soul for a greater consciousness of God, a yearning for Christ's own life and love. THE GREATER MANIFEST AnON So beloved, you pray through. Pray through for your church, pray through for your work. Oh, God will come! God will come with power greater than your eyes ever beheld. God will come with waves of heavenly love and sweetness and blessed be God, your heart will be satisfied with Him. How are you going to get Him? Oh, I 22 would abandon my soul. I would abandon my soul to God. Oh, I would discard the selfishness of the world. When a man enters into Jesus Christ, he enters into life anew. The greatest manifestation of the Holy Ghost baptized life ever given to the world was not in the preaching of the apostles; it was not in the wonderful manifestations of God that took place at their hands. It was in the unselfishness manifested by the church. Think of it! Three thousand Holy Ghost baptized Christians in Jerusalem from the day of Pentecost onward who loved their neighbors' children as much as their own, who were so anxious for fear their brethren did not have enough to eat, that they sold their estates, brought the money, laid it at the apostles' feet and said, "Distribute it. Carry the glow and the fire and the wonder of this divine salvation to the whole world." That showed what God had wrought in their hearts. Oh, I wish we could arrive at that place, where this church were baptized to that degree of unselfishness. That would be a greater manifestation than healing, greater than conversion, greater than baptism in the Holy Ghost, greater than tongues. It would be a manifestation of the love of I Corinthians 13 that so many preach about and do not possess. When a man sells his all for God and distributes it for the kingdom's good, it will speak louder of love than the evangelists who harp about love and oppose tongues and the other gifts of the Spirit. T hat was the same Holy Ghost that came upon the disciples and caused them to speak in tongues. No more grabbing .for themselves. No more bantering for the biggest possible salary, no more juggling to pu t themselves and their friends in the most influential positions. All the old characteristics were gone. They were truly saved. Why their hearts were like the heart of Jesus; their soul was like the soul of God. They loved as God loved; they loved the world; they loved sinners so that they gave their all to save them. Do you want Him? You can have Him. Oh, He will come and fill your soul. Oh, the Holy Ghost will take possession of your life. He will reveal the wonder of heaven, the glory of God, the richness and purity of His holiness and make you sweet and God-like forever. • This article is taken by permISSIOn from "Christ For The Nations," August, 1971, Vol. XXIV, No.5, P.O. Box 24910, Dallas, Texas 75224. And his tender mercies are over all his works. TONGUES AND THE "CHRONIC SEEKER" (Continued from page 11) and begin to speak, there will be no speaking in tongues. Let me give you one more illustration and then we'll be ready for the actual instructions for those seeking the baptism. A minister friend of mine was present when this incident took place and related it to me. The pastor of a small denominational church had been seeking the baptism in the Holy Spirit for several years without success. He was one of those "chronic seekers" we've been talking about, an earnest Christian brother who didn't want to "fake anything." Although he had been prayed over by many people many times, he still had not received. Nationally-known evangelists had prayed for him, every charismatic speaker and evangelist who came to town had laid hands on him and prayed but with no results. Yet the man was determined; he kept seeking. One night in a small church, following a revival service, ministry was offered for those seeking the baptism in the Holy Spirit. My friend was present and saw this earnest pastor make his way to the front of the church. Reaching the altar he flung himself down on the floor and began to pray. No one went to minister to him personally because it never did any good. All his friends had worn themselves out praying with him. But after a few minutes everyone was amazed to hear him begin to pray aloud in tongues; in a beautiful clear language. All the people around began to rejoice that the brother had finally received his heart's desire, and listened gra tefully as he continued to speak in tongues. Then, to their surprise, the minister pushed himself up from the floor and said, "I don't want you people to get the wrong impression; I still don't have the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I'm not speaking in tongues, I'm just making up funny noises. I finally got so tired of waiting for the Holy Spirit to speak through me that I just decided to open my mouth and begin to babble out sounds. But that's not the Holy Spirit, that's me! I hate to disappoint all of you, but I still don't have the baptism in the Holy Spirit." Then it was the minister's turn to be surprised, for there were three young Chinese college students sitting on the front pew of the church. They had been viewing the whole of the proceedings. One of them answered the minister. "Brother, we hate to disappoint you, but All thy works shall praise thee, 0 Lord; you've been praising God in perfect Chinese for the last three minutes and we have understood every word you said!" See the point? Because of a lack of understanding about his part in the miracle of speaking in tongues, the minister had not only robbed himself of the experience for years, but when it finally happened, refused to accept it. All God had been wanting was for the man to step out in faith; to open his mouth and begin to praise God with the sound of his voice so the Holy Spirit could furnish him a new language of praise. This is exactly what happened on the day of Pentecost. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. -Acts 2:4 Time and again I've had people read that scripture aloud. Then I would ask them, "Who began to speak in tongues?" And they usually reply, "The Holy Spirit began to speak." But they are wrong. The Holy Spirit did not speak. The 120 spoke. "They were filled ... and began to speak ... as the Spirit gave them utterance" (furnished the words.) The Holy Spirit doesn't speak in tongues, you speak. And it is the combination of your speaking the words and syllables furnished by the Holy Spirit that makes up the miracle of speaking in tongues. And that is exactly what finally happened to our "chronic seeker," the earnest devoted minister we've been talking about. When he finally became desperate enough to open his mouth and begin to praise God with what he thought were meaningless sounds, that's all the help the Holy Spirit needed. He began to pour the Chinese language through the man's lips .• Don Basham was born and brought up in Wichita Falls, Texas. In 195 I he left a pro mising career in commercial art, to enter the Christian ministry. He holds the B.A. and B.D. degrees from Phillips University and its graduate seminary in Enid, Oklahoma. He is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Following a five-year pastorate in suburban Washington, D.C., he became pastor of Hillcrest Christian Church in Toronto, Canada. He then moved to Sharon, Pennsylvania, where he served as minister of the East Side Church (Baptist-Disciples of Christ). Now, with his wife Alice and children, Mr. Basham lives in Florida, and has a ministry in many lands. Apart from articles in various religious periodicals, including Christian Life Magazine, he is best known for his two books, FACE UP WITH A MIRACLE, which has over 150,000 copies in circulation and A HANDBOOK ON HOLY SPIRIT BAPTISM. Both books have great success in America and Europe. This article was taken by permission from Whitaker Books, 607 Laurel Drive, Monroeville, Pennsylvania 15146. 23 CAMPS RESTITUTION was the fifty-fourth. the end of the it is only the• The Reedley Youth Ranch conducted a Junior camp at Huntington Lake. (The Reedley Youth Ranch is an outreach for youth launched as a preventive program). About twenty of the teens from the Carpenter Shop, came to counsel. Eighty-four were in camp and quite a large number of these junior children were not Christians. By Wednesday all had accepted Christ but one and many received the infilling of the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Lord moved continually on the mountain top. Campers from North Shore joined in the evening services which were conducted by the McCRARY FIVE and several of the guests accepted Christ. This is not AWAKENING, beginning. The Holy Spirit began to speak to many about making restitution. Several youths went to the local Police and apologized for pushing and using drugs. Athletes, Doug and Morris Buller and John Blanchard, confessed publicly, before their coaches in a Kiwanis meeting to drinking and using marijuana during the season they were on the school's athletic teams. They asked these men and the people of the town to forgive them and told how Christ had come into their lives. Other young people went to businesses in town and asked forgiveness for taking clothes, shoes and records. The people of the town were deeply moved at the courage and conviction of these youths whose lives had been totally changed. Rev. Mel Harrel is the pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Reedley, California. As a special note of interest, a diary was kept up to the third week. At this writing, we are now in the twelfth week. Any correspondence should be addressed to the Agape Force, P.O. Box 10137, Fresno, California 93745. Reedley to watch a baptismal service. Fifty-three candidates for water baptism gathered for instruction prior to the main service of the afternoon. What a beautiful sight to see the faces of so many youths beaming with happiness. Just a few weeks before many were trapped in drugs, some hopelessly entwined in rebellion against everything and everyone. Others were haunted with restlessness, being driven endlessly with a search to find the answers to problems in their lives and problems about them. Now, they were at peace with themselves, with the peace of God reigning within. Barry McGuire, former Broadway performer and recording artist, sang at the opening of the afternoon service. He began with such meaningful words, "You know, this is Father's Day," and he looked up to the blue sky overhead, then looked over to the quietly flowing waters of the river, "And this," he said, "Is the Kings River, how fitting." Barry then sang: "Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full in His wonderful face And the things of the world Will go strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace." Many hearts were touched and tears streamed down the cheeks of many. This burly, large young man, fully bearded with a full shock of hair to his shoulders, once trapped in the quagmire of sin just a few weeks ago, now was totally free of the past and clean from sin by "His precious blood," and singing of the beautiful Saviour. After sharing with them the Word of God, Pastor Slentz, my associate minister, and I waded into a very cold Kings River and called for our first candidate. Each giving their testimony of praise for his salvation; fifty-three were baptized. The crowd dispersed and alm,ost all had gone home when a young lady, Vicki, as we know her, came dashing across the park and stood breathlessly before me and tears in her eyes said, "I'm too late." "It took me all this time to talk my folks into letting me be baptized." I said, "Surely, it is not too late." We walked into the water and baptized this precious girl and this Friday, the last night of camp, the young people at the climax of the service were called forward. The very presence of God rested heavily upon the evening service. The youth were called to stand where the hands of the ministers could be laid upon them as each life was dedicated to His service. Some were to leave for full time service for the summer, others were to ')tay at home, support and press the home front forward for Christ. The Spirit of God, through His gifts, was made manifest confirming His Word that had been planted in the hearts of the youth. The congregation itself was moved deeply by the presence of the Lord. The entire body of youth then moved to the Chapel where a communion service was held. Two large loaves of bread and one large common cup was used. The story of the first communion was told, the bread was broken and passed from one to the other, then the cup was passed. Through the gift of prophecy, God spoke again to the entire body. God Himself, through His Word and the wonderful Holy Spirit, touched, anointed and commissioned the youth to go into all the world preaching the Gospel. First at home, then our beloved land and then the whole world. Sunday afternoon, June 20, 1971, around two hundred people gathered at the Kings River near HOMES ARE CHANGED THE WATER BAPTISMAL SERVICE REEDLEY REVIVAL (Continued from page 13) COMMISSIONED OF GOD Parents, whose homes were battle grounds, now express how the love of God, through the lives of these youth, have brought not only harmony in the home, but the communication gap has been bridged. The trend of our times is children to hate parents and rebel against any adult authority. What a wonderful answer Christ becomes to these nation-destroying problems. 24 And thy saints shall bless thee. A TIME OF SHAKING (Continued from page 15) glory, of man, his OpinIOnS, his pretensions, his pomp, and pride, as the flower of grass, beautiful, but evanescent; but the Word of the Lord shall stand for ever, and this is the Word which by the Gospel is being preached. Let us not fear modern criticism, it cannot rob us of one jot or tittle of God's truth. Scripture will shake it off - as the Apostle did the viper which fastened on his hand, and felt no hurt. GOD'S LOVE Our friends' love may be shaken by a rum our, a. moment's neglect, a change in our estate; but God's love is, like Himself, immutable. No storm can reach high enough to touch the empyrean of his love. He never began to love us for anything in ourselves, nor will He cease to love us because of what He discovers us to be. The love of God,' which is. in Jesus Christ our Lord, is unassailable by change or shock. GOD'S ETERNAL KINGDOM "We receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken." Amid all our revolutions and political changes that Kingdom is coming. It is assuming body, and shape, and power. It is now in mystery, but it shall soon be revealed. And it cannot be touched by any sudden attack or revolt of human passion. "The God of heaven shall set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed." Let us count up our inalienable and imperishable treasures; and though around us there is the terror of the darkness, or the pestilence of the noontide, we shall be kept in perfect peace. This world of change and earthquake is not our rest or home. These await us where God lives, in the city which hath foundations, and in the land where the storm rages not, but the sea of glass lies peacefully at the foot of the throne of God. We may well brace ourselves to fortitude and patience, to reverence and godly fear; since we have that in ourselves and yonder which partakes of the nature of God, and neither thieving time can steal it, nor moth corrupt, nor change affect .• This article was taken by permission from "The Overcomer," 3 Munster Road, Poole, Dorset, BH14 9PS, England. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, .G1~~n[;~. tiJtk~~~ My Pontifex Maximus, Holy Ghost, Shore yet my bridge across this Tiber, time. Eternal Rome's a lie, its wasting clime Has seven-hilled the least esteemed as most. Of many earthy strangers can she boast; Arch me to them, prevent the selfish crime of isolation, then, by love, sublime or jarring parts: Make them and me your host. Then show that unseen City here and there; Make clear her twelve foundation stones, for all In Rome is cracked and sinks; her endless days, By Him who is her light, shine everywhere Against this night. Then in salvation's wall Make us her gates of everlasting praise. , -Eugene W. Etheridge, Ph.D. English Department Indiana State University Terre Haute, Indiana 25 DREXEL POPE studied at Lee College, Tennessee, Indiana State University (tor his secondary teaching degree) and Arizona State University (for graduate work). He is presently teaching Mathematics at a-Junior High School in Phoenix, and doing ministerial work at The Word Chapel, Glendale, Arizona. By DREXEL L. POPE God Is Building a House In God's Word we see how God has built in the past. This will help us to know how He is building at the present. In the Old Testament, Noah built an Ark according to God's plan for the deliverance of the "preacher of righteousness" and his family. Moses b u i It the Tabernacle according to God's specifications so that Jehovah could dwell in the midst of His people. Later, in Canaan Land, Solomon built the Temple to manifest the glory of God. These buildings of God were temporal, "a shadow of things to come." Only through Jesus do "we have a building of God, and house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 2 Corinthians 5: I. THE PLAN To build for God, we must first receive the revel a tion of God's specifications for His Building. The masterbuilders for God in the Old Testament did not begin to build until the Word of the Lord came unto them. Noah and Moses waited upon the Lord. Moving to build without guidance from the Holy Spirit would have been presumptuous. The results would have been devastating. The ambitions and imaginations of Noah and Moses had to be laid aside. They must build according to God's Blueprint. They were to obey it in every design, dimension, and detail. 26 In building Solomon's Temple, no workman knew the total plan or design, but he did his part to the smallest detail. The details in family roles may seem insignificant and of a small matter in the overall building program of the Church. The man must be a good husband and father; the woman must be a good wife and mother; and the children must be obedient to their parents "in all things." These are important and essential details in God's Royal Blueprint. The building of a Christian home and church is not complete until we are obedient to every detail of instruction as given in God's Word. "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it." Psalm 127: I. We must find out the area which the Builder has called and qualified each one of us to do and do our best to please Him Who has called. THE FOUNDA nON The support of every building is the foundation. Here is where the building begins. The foundation of the order of church life begins in the home. Christ is Lord of the home. If it doesn't work at home, it won't work in the Church. For years now we have been a nation of builders, but today few have been successful in building a home. Most American homes have every material convenience that money can buy, bu t the LO ROSHIP of Christ is being left out. The house whose members manifest the Word of God in their lives is a home where the very presence of Christ can be felt. Its foundation rests on loyal husbands, submissive wives, and obedient children. Teaching in this area is challenging and sometimes perplexing but very rewarding in building for God. From Ephesians 5: 17 through 6:4, the center scripture is 5: 27. "That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." To use this text for a sermon and not mention family order as the divine will of God for the restoration of His Church would be taking the scripture completely out of context. What difference is there in the life of a Christian home and those about us? Peace and joy in our own homes can bring peace and joy to those who live about us. Only Christ can replace the crisis that now exists in the American home. The foundation of the ministries of the Christian Church begins with the apostles and prophets. Notice Ephesians 2:20. "And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone." In another epistle, Paul writes that the foundation of God's Building is Jesus Christ, I Corin thians 3: 9-11. Now we must harmonize both scriptures. Ephesians 2:20-22 tells that every ministry in the building "fitly framed together" And talk of thy power; proceeds from the "Chief Cornerstone. " When Christ "ascended upon high, he led captivity captive, and gave (ministerial) gifts unto men ... And he (Christ) gave (to the Church) come apostles, some prophets ... " Ephesians 4:8-11. These ministers "are not their own." They have been given unto the church "for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry ... " Ephesians 4: 12. The local church does not belong to these foundational ministries. The ministries belong to the Church, I Corinthians 3:21-23. It is Christ, the Apostle, and Christ, the Prophet working in them and through them. "Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily" Colossians 1:29. Praise the Lord for the TREASURE of these ministries as we see there distribution in earthen vessels 2 Corinthians 4:7. THE MATERIAL Through church tradition all great ministries and saints of God are in the past and all the great blessings and rewards are somewhere in the heavenly future. This would not give God any material to build His Church at the present. Today's Church needs the material for building that the prophet of God has to deliver. "He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward." Matthew 10:41. Receiving a prophet means receiving his message. In receiving God's prophet, you are rewarded with the same truth that God has given directly to His prophet. It is the revealing truth of God that is needed to set men free. "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32. The building assignments undertaken for God were never easy. Perhaps Noah was 120 years in building the Ark with gopher wood. Moses and Solomon had hundreds of men working on the selection and preparation of materials for building the House of God. In building the Temple, costly hewed stones were joined together with other hewed stones "within and without" in silence. 1 Kings 6:7; 7:9-12. This indicates that much of the work done in shaping the stones was produced in the quarry with painstaking precision. The work in the erection of God's Holy Temple will be silent to the ears of this religious w?rld. From within and without God is changing each individual, family, and congregation from "glory to glory." From within, we can feel the upsurging of His resurrection power. From without, our spiritual eyes can behold "the working of His mi~hty power" in others. Our bodies are "the temple of the Holy Ghost," and to each individual "lively stone," God says: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, fot it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do his good pleasure." Philippians 2: 12b, 13. The Lord also has a message for each home builder and their individual role. "And whatsoever (this especially includes the five preceeding verses on family order) ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men." Colossians 3: 23. Each individual also has a role in the building of the local congregation of believers. Each of us is a functional part of the Body of saints that assemble themselves together to exhort one another. Hebrews 10:25. We must remind ourselves that it is God who hath "set the members everyone of them in the body as it hath pleased Him." I Corinthians 12: 18. As in building Solomon's Temple, God's spiritual house will rise from the foundation with His planned accuracy with the hewed stones from His quarries "jointly framed together" with His cedar beams shaped from His forest of Lebanon. A fter God confused their language, the builders at Babel could not communicate with one another. This broke down the unity that was needed to continue the work. In building for God we are dependent upon one another. We must recognize and welcome the diversity of gifts. Let us not despise our own "one talent," and at the same time, envy the workman with five. It is God who gives "to every man according to his several ability." Matthew 25:15. Remember, it is the Lord that assembles His material together. "And God has set some in the church." I Corinthians 12:28. First, one kind of ministry, then another, until the variety. of functions blend and harmonize into the one Body lifting the HEAD in so many different ways for the glory of God. MONUMENTAL VISION The task is tremendous and the opposition is great, but "where there is no vision, the people perish." Proverbs 29: 18. Faith, wisdom, courage, and perserverance will be needed to fulfill the vision. All th,e work done by the builders and workmen of the Old Testament was diligently pursued unto an appointed end. We are in the endtime. The endtime is a short time. The same generation that sees the restoration of God's natural people, the Jews, also will see the restoration of God's spiritual people, the Church. Luke 21 :28-32; Acts 3:21. Notice Romans 9:27,28. "Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth." After the material is ready, it doesn't take the Lord of the Building long to put it together. "Be not deceived, God is not mocked." When God builds, He is able to finish. Luke 14:29,30. Jesus said: "I (Jesus) will ouild MY church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Matthew 16: 18. God is building a House and the glory of the Lord will be manifested through it. There is a world order unfolding. It is the anti-thesis to God's divine order for the restoration of His Church. We will either be drawn into one fold or the other. May we pay the price of accepting God's choice this day .• To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, 27 ORDER YOUR EXTRA COPIES NOWI who are newly "Born of the Spirit." Reserve several copies now for those you are encouraging to grow in faith. A meaningful holiday gift for only $1.00 per copy plus 20c for postage. Delivery is planned for early November. Extra copies may be ordered in advance for $1.00 each plus 20c postage and handling. WILL BE THE DECEMBER ISSUE 104 Pages With Full Color Cover ,..--------, I Please send me copies of "BEST OF NEW WINE" (December I issue.) I ;1 NAME II ADDRESS I CITY, STATE, ZIP I ,11- --- EACH PERSON ON OUR MAILING LIST WILL RECEIVE ONE (1) COpy ~~BESTOF NEW WINE~~ The Editors and Publishers of New Wine have selected the best articles from each New Wine Magazine and will publish this in a Special Gift Issue late in 1971. With approximately 20 articles printed in several colors and a special cover, this issue is designed as an inexpensive gift to those 28 And the glorious majesty of his kingdom. 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Tribute to the Holy Spirit By GEORGE KATZ Time itself is said eternal without an end or start, Yet you came from beyond its limits; Before the universe, you were a part. You were one of them, a part of all, A third member of the heavenly Godhead, The Father, the Son and Thee Holy Ghost. Throughout the ages you have been known In great deeds of wonder and majesty and power, From the time of Adam to the Roman Empire. Moses, Elijah, the prophets of old; as all Men of God were led by your hand, To tell of the Son and his Promised Land. For this purpose, oh Holy dove, doest thou fly, From pole to pole ever ringing clear, "J esus is Saviour," for all to hear. Timeless teacher, telling men of all ages Of the truth, the knowledge of God's precious Son, Fulfilling the words, "It is done." Thou, oh convictor of man's mortal soul, Hast told the multitudes, hast brought their hearts To saving grace, to be members of the Holy Race. Blessed Spirit, the winged sweeper of time's vastness, Come to us from the heavens above, To give us the power of God's holy love. Sweep upon us the winds of righteousness, Never ending, always going on and growing, Plan ting seeds and then sowing. Reap a harvest from the earth, Rich and full with the ripeness of the Son, And make us all brothers, in the Spirit just one. Trier, Reprover, Purger, Remaker, Everlasting Worker of the molds of Men's souls, Changing and building, from a weed to a rose. Try my heart, its thoughts ideas and emotions, Bring into the Father's light the intents of within, My deepest secrets, my chambers of sin. Reprove me, dear spirit, from the words of the Lord, Impress on my being thy truths and ways, That I might be more than saved. Purge me, Spirit, burn with the seering heat of holiness The Lord upholdeth all that fall." The ugliness and filthiness of my lif~, Destroying the wrong and bringing the right. Remaker, Redoer, take the old man away, Replace him with the loving Son, with Thee, Let your precious fruits be seen in me. Oh winged Spirit of endless time, Give to us in our final hour, As at Pentecost, your holy powt:r. Fly through all of earth's kindgom, Proclaiming the hidden truth of the past, Give us the strength to work to the last. Rekindle the fire which time has put out, And melt the hardness of men's hearts, That all in you may become a part. Build us into a wall, brick upon brick, Held together with mortar of love, from God sown, With Jesus Christ as the corner stone. Teach each Christian his part and place, And empower him with weapons from on high, To fulfill his work and then humbly die. Oh Holy Spirit, my cry is to thee, Destroy the weak, the useless, the evil of our day, And reveal to us, a more perfect way. Let the mask of hypocrisy flee from the Church, Changing the luke warm into boiling hot, And let it start here, in this very spot. Let me be filled with your holy love, Power and knowledge and fruits from above; Give me the wisdom to do the Father's will, Teach me and guide me into realms of high, Working for God until I die. My cry is for this, oh,winged dove, That all Christians might receive the love, The love of Jesus which breaks all walls and fears, Give it to us all, quickly, for the end is near. Oh winged Spirit, oh holy dove, Give us your power, give us your love. -George Katz 18 years old 31 The Quest Bookstore BOOK Clearance Items Call or Email to Order Items on List Title Author Retail Clearance Price 101 Wisdom Keys Mike Murdock $7.00 $1.75 31 Facts about Wisdom Mike Murdock $5.00 $1.25 31 Facts to a New Beginning Mike Murdock $7.00 $1.75 4 Keys to Power Buddy Harrison $5.99 $1.50 70 Milagros (Spanish) Richard H. Harvey $3.95 $0.99 A Christian Woman's Answer to Aging Margaret Hicks $0.75 $0.19 A Divine Revelation of Hell Mary K. 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Schaumbach $7.99 $2.00 Your Word in Me Beverly Tucker $0.75 $0.19 orders@thequestbookstore.com 847-669-9800 x114 6 of 6 1 2 This book is a collec on of ar cles I have wrien over the years and revela ons from the Word of God on healing and the help of the Holy Spirit. If you read this book as you would a normal book, then what you get out of it will be limited.. The things of God are not gained by sense / head knowledge or by reading something once.. The things of God are ONLY known by the Spirit of God, and God, Who is a Spirit, reveals them to the HEART (spirit) of man! Jesus said: "God is a Spirit.." John 4:24 and we are made "in His image and in His likeness" We are a threefold being.. The apostle Paul said "I pray God, that your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless.." "The things of God are revealed to the heart of man by the Holy Spirit" This is the main reasons behind so much confusion about the will of God. You cannot reason Him out. He can only be revealed to your heart. He is a Spirit (Jn4:24) and we are made in His image and likeness.. spirit, soul and body. His greatest desire is to teach our hearts, not our minds.. Scripture: All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Ma:11-17 3 Subjects covered.. Revelaon verses Informaon. It when 'head knowledge become heart revela on' that things really begin to work for us! The Prayer of faith. James 5:14 Just this alone should be more than enough to get us all healed .. of anything.. Why some are not healed. Just because some are not healed doesn't mean it's not God will to heal them. Bible Authority. 'Prayer is good and necessary but it will NOT take the place of authority. I give you authority over all of the ability of the enemy and I expect you to use it" The God Who cannot lie and does not change. Knowing these give us a sure foo ng. If He healed one, He will heal all, If He saved one, he will save all. Looking unto Jesus, not anybody else. People say .. "but what about so and so?" The Bible says Jesus is our example,. Just become someone fails to receive, doesn't change His desire to give. Mark Chapter 4. The Primary Parable, Jesus said this was VERY important. "If you do not understand this parable, how shall you understand all parables?' Jesus made things simply.. Religion makes it complicated.. Jesus said "Come learn of Me, for My yoke is EASY, My burden is LIGHT" Paul said "I would not have you moved from the SIMPLICITY that is in Christ' 3 words.. Easy, simple and Light.. "Lest you become as a lile child…' Jesus said.. A child simply believes what their parents say and acts upon it.. What are you yoked to? "You don't have to be perfect to receive from God son, just righteous" Jesus is our righteousness.. 4 Healing belongs to us Healing for the body is a part of the 'wonderful grace of God that brings salva on to the world' Jesus paid the price for our healing as the Scriptures plainly teach. Just because some fail to receive what the Lord did, doesn't change God's mind on it. Healing is based on what Jesus did for us, not on a 'will I, won't I, aDtude. He has healed me numerous mes and even delivered me from death! ~ His willingness to heal is based upon what Jesus did and His great love for us.. not on our efforts or works. He is 'no respecter of persons' ~ What He does for one, He will do for all. To demonstrate how the forgiveness of sin is so closely related to healing. Jesus said to the paralysed man who was lowered down by his friends through the ceiling.. "Son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you" but He didn't come for the 'forgiveness of sins' but healing for his body! The Scribes started to argue about this and Jesus said to them. "Why do you reason in your hearts? What is easier to say?.. Your sins are forgiven, or to say rise up and walk" In the eyes of the Lord, forgiveness of sin brought healing to the body.. Jesus also told a man who he had just healed to "Go and sin no more, less a worse thing come upon thee" King David saw this too. "Bless the Lord.. Who forgives all your sins, Who heals all your diseases" and James reiterates it is the "Prayer of faith that will heal the sick and.. if he has commied sins they shall be forgiven him" - James5:14 There are 3 'shalls' listed here... no maybes.. The apostles Paul and Barnabus were in Lycaonia where "they preached the gospel" Whilst preaching the gospel, a lame man who had ever walked, received faith to be healed (verse9) Where did he get faith to be healed from? Romans10:17 states that "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God" so this gospel that Paul preached, which hasn't changed, must have included healing as part of salva on. 5 What to do to receive your healing. "My words are LIFE to those who find (grasp) them and health (medicine) to all your flesh.. Proverbs 4 Jesus said: "The words I speak to you, they are spirit and Life.." "In Him was Life.." . "Being born again, not of corrup ble seed.. but of incorrup ble seed, by the Word of God" Jesus likened the Kingdom of God to a seed that a man would plant into the ground.. God said in Genesis.. "..for as long as the Earth remains, it shall be seed me and harvest.." (This is God's spiritual principle, not just plan ng corn..) Jesus said that His Words were, "spirit and life" That is, they go to the spirit, or heart of man, where they will begin to grow. He then listed some things that would stop the word (the incorrup ble seed) from growing and producing fruit. The cares and worries of this present life" - They will choke the seed, much the same way as weeds do. The lusts of other things The deceiOulness of riches" Read Mark chapter 4 in conjunc on with this teaching. I am only a man and can only give you informaon. If you will study the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit will give you revelaon! The Word of God has the power within itself to produce the Life of God. "My words are spirit and life" The word 'life' here, is the Greek word 'Zoe' - or the God kind of life, or Eternal life.. If I needed healing or wanted to stay strong in healing. I would con nually plant 'healing' seed. God says.. "whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap" This is not just talking about bad things.. He said 6 "whatsoever' So if you plant 'healing' seed from the Word of God, He said you would reap a harvest of healing. The Word of God, planted inside your spirit, will produce the life of God. ..Mark4 .."for the earth (your spirit) brings forth fruit of herself (that is the Greek word for 'automa cally') First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.. Then you reap the harvest.. "so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.." Romans10:17. You ONLY get faith by 'hearing and hearing' If you will 'aend to my words, incline your ears to my sayings' as described in Proverbs4.. The Word of God will start to produce its harvest in your heart. That's what I did.. for 3 whole days, morning, noon and night. I would write the scriptures down on bits of paper and start to meditate, muer, think on over and over I combined this with praying in the Spirit and worshipping the Lord.. The result? AQer around 3 days of this, the healing power of God was all over me! If i can do it in 3 days, not weeks or months! then anybody can.. :for God is no respecter of persons. he has no favourites.. "Whosoever will.." Jesus said. I reckoned myself to be a 'whosoever' so I just did it! Healing, plus a revela on of healing was the result. So, I would download a copy of the healing scriptures to start with and play then over and over again. You may well get fed up hearing my voice but the Word of God is going into you. There are lots of sites, apart from this one, where you can get free healing scriptures from on the Internet. Print them out and s ck them all over your house. On the fridge, in the toilet, by your bed.. anywhere you can. Read them over and over, listen to them over and over.. mix them with faith, prayer and praise and God says you WILL reap a harvest! 7 Things that will STOP this: Jesus specifically men oned some things that would stop the Word of God from working in your life: The two main ones are: UNFORGIVENESS: - "and when you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anybody" Mark 11-25 "if you do not forgive people their sins, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive yours" UNBELIEF: "and He (Jesus) could do no mighty work because of their unbelief. It doesn't say He 'wouldn't'.. it says He 'couldn't' - "and the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.." SIN: You cannot live in sin and be healed. "If we confess our sins, He is Faithful and Just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" 1Jn1:9 The Life of God, that is in the Word of God, has the power not only to bring you eternal life but also to heal your mortal body! "My words are life (Zoe) to those who grasp them and health (medicine) to ALL your flesh" Proverbs: 4-20 Remember.. Healing is a giQ based upon what Jesus did for us, so don't 'try' and earn it.. Just believe and freely receive from His grace. 8 More on what to do to receive your healing I want to offer you today, an account of my experiences in healing over the past 25 years with Jesus.. and also the ministry of John G Lake. John Lake had one the most miraculous ministries ever seen on this earth.. His ministry to Africa in the early 1900's, was marked by outstanding manifesta ons of the Spirit of God and upon his return to Spokane in America, he opened what he termed 'his healing rooms' During 5 years of ministry there, over 100,000 recorded miracles and healing's took place for the glory of God.. Spokane was declared one of the healthiest ci es in America, mostly due to Lakes ministry. About 25 years ago, at the start of my ministry, a copy of his original sermons came into my hands in Western Australia. How they got from America to me, God only knows. They were photocopied loose leaf typing's, correc ons and all. I believe Lakes wife (Jenny) was an excellent typist and it's due to her efforts that we have some of his sermons today. Some years ago, Kenneth Copeland Ministries (www.kcm.org) got a hold of them also and published them in a book. That book is available from their website and I would highly recommend anyone who is interested in the deep things of God to get a copy! As I received these notes many years before this book, I don't have any problem quo ng from them.. There was one thing about his ministry that seems to have been, to a large degree, lost today.. and that is what I call 'staying in there' or persistence.. John Lake and the people in the 'Healing rooms' would minister to people every day un l they were well, or in a posi on to get well. There is a tendency these days to pray once and if doesn't happen instantly.. oh well.. "Why is this?" you ask? Why is it people get healed instantly and others not? Lake said (and I have found this to be so as well) that the healing seems to be dependant on a couple of factors. One is the amount of faith present and the other is how much of the Spirit of God is also 9 present.. He believed that the Lord Jesus had such absolute faith and the 'Spirit without measure' that when Jesus ministered to people, the power of God simply overwhelmed sickness and disease and people were made whole. But even the Lord Jesus ministered to a man twice before he was made whole (blind man example) and the 10 lepers were 'healed as they went' The healing manifested as they were obeying the voice of Jesus and on their way to see the priests. We do not have the 'Spirit without measure' as Jesus had. We do have 'a measure of the Spirit' that can be increased as our faith and love in Him grows.. Lake would say to people.. 'Today, you have received a measure of the Spirit of God, so come back tomorrow and receive some more..' They would pray and minister to people un l they got well. Some mes it was instant, other mes it was progressive.. This seems to confirm what the Lord also taught me about a 'New Day' (see here) We tend to see a day as a con nua on of our lives.. and so it is but the Lord see every day as a new day.. He says a lot about it too! "His mercies are new every morning" (not week) "This is the day that the Lord has made" (again.. not a week or month) "Give us this day our daily bread" It's amazing how much power, yesterday and tomorrow have upon our lives. One has gone and the other hasn't yet arrived. Yet they seem to hold tremendous power over us. That's why Jesus said "Take no thought for tomorrow.." The apostle Paul said "This one thing I have learned, forgeDng those things that are behind" We carry yesterdays baggage with us and then add tomorrows worries and wonder why we struggle through the day!! Have a read.. "His mercies (not mercy) are new every morning" So partake of them everyday! 10 I would oQen minister to people un l they were well. If they didn't get it today. I would pray again tomorrow and so on.. Whether I got this a result of Lakes wri ngs or direct from the Lord.. God only knows.. but it works! I knew Jesus wanted to heal people so I kept at it un l I got them well.. or they gave up! No-one, not even God can violate your free will. Jesus said to me once.. "If you don't give up son, neither will I" If you are not well, then I would suggest you go and receive minister un l you are.. One case in ques on was Michael. I first met him at church. I walked in and immediately my eyes fell upon him and I seemed to be drawn to him.. I also knew by the Spirit of God that he had 'Aids' We got to know each other and aQer a while i said to him that I would minister to him for 30 days if that was ok.. He said it was (You got to get peoples willing permission!) One of his problems was that he couldn't eat very well. So aQer work, I would go around and see Michael, have a chat, talk about the Word of God and pray for him. At first it seemed to make lile difference. Some mes I would only stay for a few minutes, other mes for an hour or so.. I would use my faith and thank God Michael was delivered, even though there was lile evidence of this. This went on for some 10-15 days (I think) and then this happened.. I started to pray for him.. he was lying down, not feeling to good, when I looked at his stomach.. he leant up and saw it too. There was something moving about in his stomach! "There it is!" he said! I said "in the name of Jesus Christ. come out of him!" It immediately leQ and things seled down.. I prayed for him again and leQ.. The next day Michael was ecsta c! He had been to a fast food place and eaten a hamburger! (he had been struggling ea ng just bread before, let alone greasy foods!) His appe te had returned and he was feeling much beer! What if I had given up? What if I had said "Well you never know what God will do" or some other religious stuff? Jesus knew exactly what God would do and went about 'destroying the works of the devil' Acts10:38 and 1John I con nued to minister to him every day and he con nued to improve.. it was around the 25th day (not sure now) that another remarkable 11 thing happened.. I didn't know it but Michael had another disease.. I went to pray and I heard a single word in my spirit.. 'Amourisis' I didn't even know what it meant! I thought about it for a minute and then asked Michael if he had it. (it's a disease of the eyes caused by nico ne use,) He said 'Yes' and seemed surprised that I knew. I told him how I knew and we prayed. I place my hands upon him and he was instantly healed of it!! Awesome Jesus!! So at the end of the 30 days, Michael was a LOT beer!! If you are not well, keeping BELIEVING and go and get help from your brothers and sisters in Christ. "The body is help together by that which every joint supplies" ~ " When one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers" or supposed too! Here's what Jesus said. "They shall lay hands on the sick and shall recover.." The Amplified version says.. "and they shall get well" Recovering is a process.. If you have been prayed for and hands laid upon you, Jesus said "you are recovering!" What do you believe? we see in James 5:14.. "Are there any sick amongst you? (this is wrien to the church) Then it tell the sick what to do.. 'Let them call for the elders of the church and let them pray over them anoin ng them with oil in the name of the lord.. (Now it tells you what will happen) and the prayer of faith (not unbelief) SHALL heal (that is, restore) the sick and lord SHALL raise them up and if they have commied sins, it SHALL be forgiven them" There are 3 'Shall's' here.. NO maybes.. If you have been prayed for as above, then the Bible says the Lord SHALL.. heal and restore you.. Raise you up and forgive any sins.. All you have to do is believe what He said.. and give thanks.. "Thankyou Lord for healing me, Thankyou Lord you are raising me up and I am recovering.. I believe you Lord.." The 4 main things that will stop this from working for you is: 1) Unbelief (no faith) The Bible says: "Jesus could do no mighty work because of their 12 unbelief" It doesn't say He 'wouldn't' ~ It says He 'couldn't'.. "Without faith, it is impossible to please God.." Heb11:3 "All things are possible to him that believes" (has faith). Faith ONLY comes from the Word of God. Just do what God told Joshua to do.. meditate upon the Word of God night and day.. It is just like a seed. It will go down into your heart and start to grow and bring for fruit (Faith is a part of that fruit!) Go and read Mark Chapter 4 and see what Jesus said about 'sowing the Word of God' 2) Unforgiveness: (not forgiving others) . This will stop the power of God in a persons life faster than anything I have ever come across. Jesus said if you don't forgive others, your Father in Heaven won't forgive you!! Everybody loves Mark11:23 and 24.. but it also comes with verse 25.. "and when you stand praying, forgive.. if you have anything against anyone.." I was ministering one day and the power of God was present to heal. As I came to the end of my talk, the giQs of the Holy Spirit came into opera on and I 'knew' that there was someone in the audience that was in need of healing. I then knew who it was and pointed to her. The lady hobbled forward.. She was full of arthri s. I prayed for her and the power of God came stronger. I then asked to do something she couldn't do before, like knee down. (Faith is an act!.. "When Jesus SAW their faith..") She tried but was unable to bend. I thought 'strange' so I encouraged her to believe and prayed again. Yet again, the power of God came and s ll she couldn't bend down. Suddenly, I looked at her and said "Are you on unforgiveness?" She said "Yes! ~ I was only asking God to forgive me this morning because I couldn't forgive what some people had done to me!" She went on.. "You don't know what those people did!" I said it didn't maer, only that Jesus taught a LOT about unforgiveness! You see, the love and power of God came to her but her unforgiveness stopped it from making her well. I told her to go home and forgive those people and when she awoke in the morning, she would be well.. 13 Being completely out of the will of God: . A lady friend of mine I had known for many years, told me one day that she had just had a hysterectomy. As I listened to her story, I started to think about why this thing had come upon her. As I did, the Lord spoke clearly to me and said. "When she was 13 years old, I called her to the mission field but she didn't go" I said to her. "When you were a young girl, did the Lord call you to the mission field?" She went a white as a sheet, her mouth dropped open and she said "How on earth did you know that!!" (She was in her 50's now) I told her that the Lord had just told me. She confirmed this was the case but things happened and she didn't get around to it.. Will she get to Heaven? Absolutely! but she just didn't enjoy God's best for her life here. "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land" "I come to do thy will Oh God" Not walking in love: . Jesus said " A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another AS I have loved you" It wasn't a request! The Apostle Paul wrote "Make love your great quest..." Another Scripture says "Walk in love as dear children (of God).." Not walking in love towards people, (or at least not making any aempt to) will stop the blessing of God from opera ng fully in your life. WE are commanded to do so. As you purpose in your heart to do this, grace will be released to enable you to do it. You may (probably will, like me!) miss it now and again but as long as the decision is there, grace will enable you. If you miss it, then repent and move on.. None of this means God doesn't love you, or that you won't get to Heaven. He loves you because you accepted Jesus as your Lord and saviour. Jesus said.. "The Father Himself (tenderly) loves you because you believe on Me and that I came out from God" 14 The help of the Holy Spirit: . The Lord said to me a few weeks ago.. "The Holy Spirit is as passionate (willing) to help you, as Jesus is to save you" Few of us would doubt the Lords willingness and sacrifice to save us from sin, yet very few of us seem to recognise that this same passion abides in the Holy Spirit, in regards to helping us. That is one of the reasons He came.. "I will send you another (just like me) helper" John14 ~ Ask Him for His help everyday. I lean upon Him greatly. I spend a lot of me in the Spirit, allowing His grace to pray the perfect will for my life and ministry. I treat Him just like Jesus. If the Lord Jesus Christ was walking the Earth now, we could go to Him and receive help for whatever we needed. The Holy Spirit is just like Jesus and He was sent to help us. He helped me receive my healing from diabetes and He is no respecter of persons (has no favourites) The Lord also said to me once. "The Holy Spirit will help you receive from the Lord son" So ask Him to help you.. Ask Him to help you walk in love. Ask Him to help you find God's perfect will for your life. Ask Him to help you receive your healing from the Lord.. "Ask and it shall be given you..." Jesus said. 15 THE AUTHORITY Part 1 The Lord said one morning: "Prayer is good and necessary but it will not take the place of authority. I give you authority over all of the ability of the enemy and I expect you to use it" - Luke 10v19 states: "Behold, take heed and no ce, I give you authority, the capacity, power, and strength over all the ability of the enemy.. You shall trample over serpents and scorpions (demons and devils) and nothing shall by any means harm you.." This is how it came to pass.. It was around 6-20am. I had risen earlier and had been extremely upset the night before by a tragic event that I had just learned had just happened to a dear Brother in the Lord. I was s ll troubled about what happened and was making a cup of tea and some toast for my wife and self. As I stood there wai ng for the kele to boil, my eyes were drawn to a beau ful mul -coloured sunrise. Suddenly, the rays of the sun broke through the clouds on the horizon and hit a pure white cloud in the sky above my window. The effect was dazzling, to say the least. Then literally out of the blue, the Lord spoke the following words: "Prayer is good and necessary but it will not take the place of authority. I give you authority over all the works of the enemy and I expect you to use it!" and with the words came a clear understanding of what He had just revealed. The basics were: - "Stop asking Me to do something I have already given 16 you the power to do. "Why criest thou unto Me Moses?" Jesus didn't keep asking Me to do it. He did it by the Holy Ghost. I backed up His words because He did always those things that pleased Me" - Jesus authorised you to act in His stead. He said.. In My name you shall cast out devils, - Look, I give you authority over all of the ability of the evil one.. If you ask anything in My name I will do it.. Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven.." You,.. not Me!.. You = the Church, the Body of Christ. People who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and accepted Him as Lord and saviour.. Authority = The legal right to act against the powers of darkness, using the name of Jesus. "In My name you shall trample on demons and devils.." The Holy Ghost = The power behind the authority. When Jesus was tempted by the devil, He answered with the Word of God.. It is wrien.. He said. And again, It is wrien.. What a revela on! The devil is subject to the Word of God! The Word is on your lips now! - Speak it out! - The devil is also subject to the Name of Jesus!- Philippians: "God has highly exalted our Lord and given Him a name above every name that is named, that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, of things and beings in Heaven, things and beings on Earth and things and beings under the Earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" - The Scripture also says ..'that Jesus has sat down at the right hand of Majesty on High, expec ng ll His enemies be made His footstool! - Who's going to do this? We are, in Jesus name! The disciples returned one day rejoicing and said.. "Lord, even the devils are subject to us through your name!" Jesus gave "them (that's us!) power over unclean spirits to cast them out" Praying.. 'Lord, do something about the devil!' is no good! - Why you ask?.. because He has already given us the power and authority to act in 17 His place and He expects us to use it.. There is a great site on 'How to' use your God given authority and see situa ons change for the glory of God. here.. God wants to STOP bad things from happening to us! Yes, He is there to help, deliver and heal but it's His will that we don't get in the mess in the first place! How many of you want your children hurt? Don't we as parents try to stop bad things from happening to our kids? 'How much more does our Heavenly Father!' Use your authority EVERY DAY.. In the Old Testament, Almighty God put a hedge around Job to protect him.. Job let it down through fear.. "The thing I have greatly feared has come upon me.. that which I was afraid of has come to me" Fear is BAD.. It brings to us the things we DON'T want.. It is the opposite of faith.. Speak the Word of God out loud daily.. "Thy Word Oh Lord is a shield.." "and take unto you the shield of faith whereby you are able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked.. and take Read Mark 16v15-21. - Luke 10v19 - John 14v12.- Mahew 18v19 - un l they get into your spirit. . HOW TO USE YOUR AUTHORITY: There is something in mankind that wants to exert his authority. Deep down, he knows that he is something special but outside of Christ, lacks the power to become so. THREE THINGS TO KNOW: I) God is on your side! "If God be for us, who can be against us" 2) Your Heavenly Father loves you.. "For the Father Himself (tenderly) loves you because you believe on Me and believe that I came out from God" 3) "Behold, Look and take no ce! I give you authority over all of the ability of the enemy. You shall trample on demons and devils and nothing shall by any means harm you" Luke 10:19 18 Firstly: Recognise that we have already been given authority through the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ… and He is wai ng for us to use it! Authority for self.. and Authority for others.. Self: Do you feel heavy and 'down? Is every day a struggle? Are dark thoughts clouding your mind? Do you feel that you are being 'harassed' - Even though you can't see anything? Do you want to punch the lights out of something but you are not sure what? (Hey! I'm being honest here.. ok?) Then the chances are you are dealing with a spirit being… You can use your authority to get rid of it! Jesus gave us the right to do so. "Behold, I give you authority over all of the ability of the enemy. YOU shall trample on demons and devils and nothing shall by any means harm you" Luke10:19 – - "If you shall ask anything in My name, I will do it" John14:12-14 – YOU is the subject here.. The devil is terrified of you finding out who you are in Christ and that you have power of him! SPEAK!: You have to say something. Jesus said "Whosoever (that's us) shall say to this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea and shall not doubt in his heart but shall believe that those things that he says shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he says" Mark 11:23-25 (Don't forget the 'forgive' bit in here.. ok. It won't work with unforgiveness in your heart..) Remember, Jesus told the disciples that THEY should have used their faith and spoke to the storm.. So start by exercising your authority. Say "devil, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I demand that you hassling and harassing devils leave me. You have no rights over me. I am bought with the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ. I command peace into my body in the name of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ the Righteous One" THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT! I awoke very early one morning deeply troubled over a tragic event that had happened to a dear brother in the Lord.. You know when things 'really' bother you? I was wai ng for the kele to boil and watching the start of a glorious sunrise. The sun was hidden behind some cloud.. 19 When suddenly the suns rays broke through the cloud and hit a fluffy white cloud in the sky above my window. The result was blinding! Then, out of the cloud, the Word of the Lord came to me and said: "Prayer is good and necessary but it will NOT take the place of authority. I give you authority over all of the ability of the enemy and I expect you to use it" A lot of things happen, because we allow then to happen! Jesus said "I give you the keys to the Kingdom (realm) of Heaven and whatsoever you shall bind (prohibit) on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever you loose (allow) on Earth shall be allowed in Heaven" - Who did Jesus say was going to 'Bind and loose'? - US! I say this with all reverence for God and love for you. "If YOU don't do it, it probably won't get done" The parable of the Dog in the Garden: Let's look at the natural here for a bit. There was a lady who went outside one day to find a dog digging up her beau ful garden. "Dear Lord" the lady prayed, "There's a dog messing up all my hard work, will you do something please?" The heavens were like brass.. Again the lady prayed "Lord, the dog is making a huge mess of my garden, do something please!' The heavens were s ll like brass. In pure despera on, the woman grabbed a broom and launched towards the dog yelling and brandishing her broom.. "Get out of my garden in Jesus name!!" She yelled.. The dog fled as fast as it could.. What's making a mess in your life? Get rid of it in Jesus name! So why don't we do that in the spiritual realm? - where we "wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principali es and powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, against wicked spirits in the heavenlies" Ephesians6 .. 20 Jesus said "If you shall ask anything in My name, I will do it" Jn14:14 Philippians says that "God has highly exalted our Lord and given Him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, of things and beings in Heaven, of things and beings on Earth and things and beings under the earth and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father" - The Bible says Jesus has "sat down at the right hand of Majesty on High expec ng that His enemies be made His footstool" - Guess who is going to do that? - Us.. armed with the righteousness of Christ and the wonderful name of Jesus! Get rid of the devil from around your children! Don't wait for something tragic to happen! Stop it before it starts. DEPRESSION: In 24 years of ministry, I have found that depression, or the spirit of heaviness, is just that. It's a spirit. Sent to 'kill, steal and destroy' as Jesus said in John10:10. Is can become so heavy, that it literally feels like you are carrying around a great weight. You can't seem to think straight and thoughts of despair and hopelessness fill your mind. You feel (and may well get these thoughts) as if God has leQ you, or is mad at you.. You try and try but it's all too much. You pray but it's like "the heavens are of brass" as the Bible says.. You are dealing with an evil spirit that seeks to rob you of every blessing the Lord has for you and even your life if it can.. GOOD NEWS!: Jesus didn't leave us helpless! He gave us power and authority over ALL of the ability of the enemy.. whatsoever we bind in His name, He will back up! - He is our champion! He destroyed the power of the devil at Calvary and then gave us the right, power and ability over all his works.. MAKE A DECISION: My days of oppression are over! Either get someone, or more, with you (One can put a 1000 to flight, two can put 10,000 to flight) and start to use your God given authority. Say "devil, in the name of Jesus Christ, get of my mind and of my body! You have no rights over me! I am a blood covenant person for I have been bought by the 21 precious Blood of Jesus Christ, my Lord and saviour! You have no rights over me! ~ I demand that you bow your knee to the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth and leave me NOW!" - Now start to thank God it HAS gone, regardless of how you feel! Believe that the mountain of depression has leQ.. just because Jesus said so. You may not feel like it has and the only evidence that you have is the Word of God.. and that's all you need, for that's what faith is.. "If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it" - Thank Jesus for doing it! KEEP GOING: Do this for a hour and then see how things are!! This is not a 'try it' - It's a 'do it, believe and give thanks.. 'The bible says "NOW faith is.. it's now! - Let's get you free NOW! - Let's get the victory NOW! Goodness, If I could do it for you, I would! and Jesus loves you a GREAT deal more that I do! The devil is dethroned and defeated, although he may try to spend a lot of me telling you he isn't! "It won't work, you're no good, God's mad at you, He's given up on you, it won't happen and so on' Jesus said "The devil is a liar, the father of lies, there is no truth in him" but on the other hand, Jesus said "God's Word is truth" Truth has the power to change facts! - It may be a fact that you are depressed but the Word of God says "Whom the Son has set free, is free indeed!" Now start to thank God it IS done.. You may not feel like it is done but Jesus said 'If you shall ask anything in My name, I WILL do it" - The Scripture says "..that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow.." Philippians.. If YOU don't use it, they won't bow! MINISTRY EXAMPLE: I was ministering in a prison one evening and at the end of the service, I gave a call for anyone that had needs to come forward for prayer. A young man came up and said he had a really bad headache. I prayed with him and asked the Father to heal him. AQer the prayer, I asked him how he was. He said he was no beer! I said not to 22 give up because Jesus said 'Whatsoever you ask the Father in My name, He will give it you" (John 16:23) So we stayed there, just thanking the Lord for his healing. Then the amazing started to happen (It always will, if you believe and refuse to give up) Jesus spoke and said.., "It's a devil!" - I said.. "Oh!" and then said: "devil, I demand that you leave this young man now in Jesus name!" - Then, it spoke back to me!! and said "I'm not leaving!" I said.. "Yes you are" It said.. "No I'm not"- I was about to say the same again when the Lord stopped me.. I then felt my hand liQ to Heaven and heard myself say "Thank God it HAS gone!" - I heard the thing say.. "no, I haven't" - but it was weaker.. I thanked God again that it HAD leQ. The thing said again.. "no I haven't" but it was very weak now and a third me I thanked the Lord it had gone.. then.. silence - Victory! AQerwards, the young man said to me. Do you know that nothing happened un l you started to thank God it HAD gone. When you did that, it felt like metal band was breaking around my head and the more your praised the Lord, the easier it became and now I'm completely well! — Faith is ac ng on the Word of God. I chose to believe what the Word of God said, as opposed to what the situa on was. I used the authority of the name of Jesus. RESULT? The devil leQ, John was set free and God the Father was glorified! Rejoice in the goodness of God (you probably won't feel like doing that much either!) Get someone, or 2, to help you. Don't stand alone if you are not strong enough. It's no shame to ask your brother/sister in Christ to help you. That's what the Body is for. "If one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers" 1Cor "Thanks be unto God Who always causes us to triumph in Christ Jesus" - "Out of it all, the Lord delivered me and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work" If you are Spirit filled, then praise God in the Spirit (in tongues) If not, then praise Him out loud anyway. "The Lord inhabits the praises of His people" Keep this up for a while. 23 It's by faith we overcome. ("This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith") not magic. People want a 'poof' and a bunny to jump out of the hat! Every me you say it and praise the Lord, your faith is giving substance to that which you hope for. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" RECAP: 1) Be assured that the Lord loves you, is for you, hasn't given up on you and never will. 2) Use your authority in Jesus Name. 3) Get the Scriptures into your heart by medita ng the Word of God and by praise. Read Luke10:19 over and over and ask the Holy Spirit to help you and give you a revela on of it. 4) Speak the Word of God to the situa on and Use your authority.. 'In the Name of Jesus Christ.. It is wrien..' 5) Praise God for the victory that Jesus purchased for you at Calvary.. God Bless You John He told me once:~ 'The Lord is always merciful, the Lord is always gracious, the Lord as always willing to lend a hand' 24 HOW TO USE YOUR AUTHORITY: Part 2. by John Reynolds. I was strongly impressed the other day to talk again about authority and what Jesus has given us: As Chris ans, we seem to suffer many things.. and then we pray and get God involved and He picks up the pieces and puts us back together again.. BUT.. and it's a BIG BUT.. I don't believe this is God's best for us.. He's what Jesus said.. "In the world you shall have tribula on (tests and trials).." We seem to stop there and say.."ok, we are going to suffer some things.." BUT Jesus went on to say.. "but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world!" Another transla on reads .. "I have overcome the world and deprived it of its power to harm you" I believe God's best for us it NOT to go into those things in the first place.. Look at the Apostle Paul. He suffered a lot, yet on many occasions, he didn't have to.. One me, he was on his way to Jerusalem when a Prophet of God came to him, picked up his belt and basically said "the man who owns this will be bound by it" He didn't say whether the person should stay, or go. He just said what would happen if he went.. Paul chose to go to Jerusalem.. The brethren tried to stop him but he loved his people (the Jews) so much, he chose to go to them, despite knowing what was to come to pass. God warned Paul by sending the prophet to him.. but the decision was leQ to Paul.. Many mes, Paul got in trouble because of the Jews.. He wasn't even sent to them.. Peter was! God told Paul.. "I will send you to the Gen les" (non Jews) Peter was sent to the Jewish na on.. Paul kept 25 going to the Synagogues and talking to his people.. and this was one of the main cause of his persecu ons.. Paul deeply loved his na on (even to the point of saying he wished himself accursed from Christ!) and despite it all, went to them and even won a lot of them to the Lord! There is no record of God ever telling him off and Jesus s ll managed to get Paul to where He wanted to get him.. "love is the greatest of all.. and love never fails" So whilst it wasn't God's perfect will for Paul to go to the Jewish people, Because of Paul's great love for them, He constantly delivered him.. and saved them through him.. 'out of it all the Lord delivered me..' Paul said.. and God got him home in the end.. Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit.. "He will show you things to come" (John14) I want to talk to you about this.. You must remember, Jesus never wasted words! It seems one small statement, yet the power of it is awesome. "He will show you things to come" ~ Why? ~ What's the purpose of that? Well, one of them is so you won't have to suffer some things, like the devils traps he has laid for us.. In my 25 years with the Lord, the Holy Spirit has shown me many 'things to come' These are future events.. The language of the Spirit is in, Dreams, Visions and Revela ons. "I will pour out My Spirit and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams" ~ "What will it profit you brethren if I come speaking in tongues, except I speak by revela on" 1Cor14. Things to come concerning the world: . In 2001, I was 'in the Spirit' when I had a visita on from th angel of the Lord and was shown a tragic event that was soon to come upon the earth. (Read The Visita on) I saw a huge city, devastated by a massive.. and I mean massive earthquake.. as far as the human eye could see was huge mountains of grey rubble.. The Apostle John was 'in the Spirit on the Lords day and was shown things that were shortly to come to pass upon the earth by an angel as well" (Rev1:3) These are not that common at all and serve as warnings and encouragement! . 26 Another example was when we were very recently ministering in a church. It was during praise and worship, when the word of the Lord came as clear as day! He said. "There is coming an event that will shake the worlds financial systems" I don't know when it was to be but the fact that He said it, usually means it's not far off. (I am not a doom and gloom preacher by the way) and I ONLY say these sort of things when I really KNOW.. (not believe or think) This type of vision doesn't happen very oQen to me.. The reason for it? To tell people to prepare for it.. This was not a 'pray that it won't happen' one. ~ The apostle John was shown some things in Revela on, that 'were shortly to come to pass upon the Earth" These were events that were going to happen. He was told to write them down.. for us, the Church.. to warn us.. 2) Things to come in your personal life: . Most mes, these have come whilst praying in the Spirit.. (HE is the One Who will show you, Jesus said) One me, I was at my desk, when suddenly I had a vision (It's like watching a small TV.. my eyes were open and I could see the natural world, yet there was like a mini movie that was playing off to the right hand side of me) When you 'see' something.. it's like it's SO real. There is never any doubt.. It's like the 'movie' is alive and it get's your aen on! You are drawn to it.. I saw 'me' in a car crash.. I was being violently tossed around as you would be in a serious crash. I was wearing a seat belt and I recognised my car. This lasted some 10-20 seconds, then disappeared. This is the Holy Spirit showing me what was to come.. Why? So I could do something about it! (This is ALWAYS the reason you are shown something from God!.. ALWAYS.. ALWAYS..) So I immediately started to pray in the Spirit (Romans8:26) to obtain the help I needed to avoid this.. and kept going un l I got the victory, and overcame the poten al disaster by His grace.. Jesus said many mes in the Book of Revela on to the Church.. "To him who overcomes.." (That also means.. 'gets the victory') When the 'JOY' came, I knew I had the victory! I rejoiced and gave thanks to the Lord.. then He spoke clearly and said "It's ok son, it has passed you by!" 27 Wonderful Jesus! What grace! Now I could have done nothing and maybe I wouldn't be wri ng this leer to you! The Holy Spirit showed me what was to come.. and then enabled me in prayer to avoid the tragic event! What He does for one, He will do for all. He is NO respecter of persons. And "God is NOT the author of tragedy" Jesus told me a few weeks ago: "The Holy Spirit is as passionate (willing) to help you, as Jesus is to save you" None of us would doubt for a moment about the Lords passion to save us from sin, yet we wonder about His help aQer He has saved us.. Jesus said "I will send you another Helper" (John14) The word 'another' is the Greek word 'alos' It means 'another of the same kind, or the figure stamped'.. Like 2 iden cal coins. He is JUST like Jesus and will do everything Jesus purchased for us. Jesus said "If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father" How come? Because they are exactly alike.. They have different personali es (much like iden cal twins) but are united in deed and purpose.. So is the Holy Spirit.. The Lord said: "The Holy Spirit has no greater joy than to help you through the trials of this life son" Selah ~ (or Pause and think about this for a bit) 3) Things to come in the lives of others: . God won't even think about star ng to show you things about others, un l He can trust you! (and He will 'try you' as well to see if He can..) He is NOT a gossip! and the ONLY.. I repeat.. ONLY, reason, He will show you, is because He wants you to do something about it. Either to pray, or to go and see them. I was praying about a maer in the Spirit one me, when I 'saw' a woman commiDng adultery. I watched (again, like a mini movie) as I saw her do this. I knew her too! She was a friend of mine and went to the same church I did. I wanted to get rid of this one and tried 28 to talk myself out of it! but it was as real as if I was there. So, aQer I had finished praying (don't go anywhere unto you do!) I went to see her. We talked for a while and I (very) slowly got around to the subject. I told her that the woman I saw in the vision was her. She sat quietly and then she said.. "Yes, it is me.. I wonder why God showed you?" The reason He showed me, was that He trusted me.. first.. NOT to tell anyone.. and secondly, to do something about it. He's in the restoring business remember. The woman repented of it and years later, is now going on strongly in the Lord.. The Lord said: "The Holy Spirit will help you receive from the Lord son" We need His help if we are accomplish much for God! and it comes through the Spirit.. "God is a Spirit.." (jn4:24) He is not a mind, or a body,.. He is a Spirit being and His primary way of communica on to us is to our spirits.. either by a 'Rhema' or 'spoken Word' or by revela on of the 'Logos' or the wrien Word.... Even the Lord Jesus Christ never did anything un l He was bap sed in the river and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him.. He then commanded His disciples 'not to go anywhere un l they too had received Him" (Acts 1:8) Why on Earth do we think we don't need Him?? ~ "You shall be empowered from on High, aQer that the Holy Spirit is fallen upon you" ~ "The fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you" Look at the transforma on in Peters life!.. As the apostle Paul wrote to the church.. "I would that you all spoke in tongues" and again.. "I thank my God I speak in tongues more than you all!' (1Cor14:21) He has guided me, preserved me and enabled me to do the will of God.. I would be dead if not for His help.. No wonder Jesus said "It is be/er for you if I go away, for if I do, I will send the Comforter (Helper, Councellor, Standby, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener) to you" I pray that you would get to know and co-operate with Him Whom the 29 Lord sent to us.. God Bless Prayer is asking the Father for something in Jesus name (Jn16:23) Authority is telling the devil to do something in Jesus name (Jn14:12) 30 The Healing Scriptures. How to receive your healing and Frequently asked Ques ons. "God's word is unlike the word of man. The scripture states that "the Word of God is alive and ac ve" It has the power to produce faith in the heart of a person. The angel said to John that "No Word of God is without power" The only thing the Word needs, is for a person to believe! "Fear not, only believe" Jesus told Jairus when He was going to raise his daughter from the dead. My Son, aend to My Words, incline your ears to My sayings, keep them in the midst of your heart, for they are life to those that find them and health and medicine to all your flesh" Proverbs4v24 Sermons encourage us but only the Word of God can bring faith to our hearts. Q: What do you do with the scriptures? A: I would play the scriptures over and over. I s ll do aQer 20 years! Jesus said 'Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God' - God's Word is to your inner man, as bread is to your body. It may not be very exci ng to listen to.. BUT the Word of God has the power to get you healed if you will mix faith (believe) with it. The Scripture says. "He (Jesus) couldn't do any mighty work because of their unbelief" (no faith) It does says 'He wouldn't.. it says 'He couldn't'.. You had to change what you believed to get saved and you are going to have to change what you believe to get healed. The Bible says, "Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is that good, acceptable and perfect will of God" Q; How do you get the word into your heart? A: God told Joshua to 'meditate His word night and day' That's how I started. I would write down the scriptures on healing on bits of paper and put them in my top pocket. Every so oQen, I would pull them out 31 and read/say them over and over. Muer' them to myself.. spend me praising God for them and then aQer a couple of weeks, the 'seed' (or Word) started to grow on the inside of me and became alive. Read Mark Chapter4.. 'The sower sows the Word' ~ Jesus said if you don't understand this parable, how will you understand any of them! Q: So why are Chrisans sick? A: There are a number of scriptural reasons for this. I will try to cover them for you. 1) Lack of knowledge of what Christ has done for them. 'My people are destroyed through lack of knowledge' Hos4:6 Not knowing what the Lord has done. Ignorance of the Word of God won't protect you. When the devil came to Jesus. The Lord said: "It is wrien... 'It is wrien'.. If you don't know what is wrien, then you won't be very successful in resis ng the devil with the Word of God. .. The Bible states "Be subject to God, RESIST the devil and he will flee (in terror) from you" 1Peter Put up some resistance. The devil is like the school bully, stand up to him in Jesus name and he backs off! 2) Not believing in what the Lord has done. Jesus Himself 'could not (not would not) do any mighty work because of their unbelief' - Their unbelief stopped the Lord Himself from healing them, save He laid His hands on a few sick folk and healed them. Jesus asked a blind man "Believe I am able to do this?" The blind man said he believed and Jesus healed him. 3) Unforgiveness in your heart. Jesus talked a LOT about unforgiveness. It will stop the healing power and blessings of God faster than anything I have come across in 24 years of ministry. Forgiveness is a decision, not a feeling. "The love of God is shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost" Romans 8. You have the power to forgive, 'even as God has forgiven you for Christ's sake' You just need to make the decision. The moment you make that decision, grace will be released to enable you to do it. 32 4) Ge>ng someone to pray for you who has faith. "Are there any sick amongst you? Let him call upon the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anoin ng him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith SHALL save the sick and the Lord SHALL raise them up and if they have commied sins, it SHALL be forgiven him" James 5:15 - Three shalls.. no maybes! Don't go and find someone who has no faith.. It's the 'The prayer of faith' NOT the prayer of unbelief (no faith) that shall heal the sick.. 5) Sin. You cannot live in sin and receive the blessings of the Lord. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" 1John1:9 It's not when you confess it, that God finds out about it! There are a number of references in the bible to sin and sickness. "Bless the Lord and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases" Psalm 103. Jesus told a man Who he had just healed to "go sin no more, less a worse thing come upon thee" 'James 5:14 "The prayer of faith shall heal the sick and if he has commied sins, it shall be forgiven him" Forgiveness of sin = healing of sickness and disease in the mind of God. Q: How do I know if I have sinned? A: You WILL know in your heart. What does your heart say? "If our heart condemns us not, then have we confidence towards God and whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the pe ons we desire of Him..." Does your heart condemn you? If not, then don't go around looking for something! 6) Not doing what you know to be right. 'To him that knows to do good and does it not, to him it is sin' - If you know to do right and don't do it, or the Lord has told you to do something and you are not doing it... you can open the door to sickness, disease and other things! Just repent and go and do what you know in your heart to be right. 33 7) Feeling unworthy. You may not think you are worthy to receive healing. The fact is, if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and saviour, you are righteous in the sight of God. "He who knew no sin, was made sin for us, that we might be MADE the righteousness of God in Him" 2Cor5:17. "They that have received the abundance of grace and the giQ of righteousness, shall reign (as kings) in life by one, Jesus Christ" Roman 5. Righteousness is a free giQ based on what Jesus did for us at Calvary. Jesus MADE you worthy! He took your sin away and gave you His righteousness! If the devil can keep you feeling unworthy, he will rob you of God's best! 8) Not Forgiving Self. 'Self' can be a very hard person to forgive! ~ OK.. You missed it.. Confess what you did and He will forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness..(1John1:9) Now, forgive yourself. Get rid of the condemna on (guilt) that will crush you if you let it. The Lord has forgiven you, so you must too. "Lord, I will do beer next me with your help" and move on. Guilt will keep you chained to the event and you will be unable to move on.. Let it go.. Say, "I let this go in Jesus name" 9) Thinking God is the One Who is making you sick to teach you something. Sickness and disease doesn't not come from God. It comes for a number of reasons, some are listed here. The devil is the one who made Job sick. Jesus 'carried our sicknesses and bore our pain' Jesus came to do the will of his Father and went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. Acts 10:38 Never did He say that it was the will of God that anyone was sick. He healed ALL that came to Him. He is the same, yesterday, today and forever. 10) Not doing the will of God. Refusing to do what the Lord has planned and prepared for you, will open the door to things in your life. Jesus said "I come not to do My will but the will of Him that sent me" ~ He also said in what we call The Lord's prayer.. "Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.." A lot of us thought that said 'My will be done on Earth, Your will be done in Heaven!' Jesus also said. "Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not the 34 things I tell you?" I was talking to a lady one me who had just had a female opera on. She was saying about it and I was wondering in my heart why this had come upon her. The Lord spoke to me and said "When she was 13 years old, I called her to the mission fields but she didn't go" I was stunned. I said to her.. "When you were 13, the Lord called you to the mission fields but you didn't go" Her face dropped and she almost turned white! ~ "How on Earth did you know that?" she exclaimed? ~ I said the Lord just told me. She then told me all about it. (She was in her 50's at this me) Disobedience had opened the door and opened my eyes to the importance of doing the will of God in your life. Did the Lord s ll love her? Absolutely! It's just that she got out of God's perfect will for her life. Will she go to Heaven? Certainly! 11) Unwillingness "If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land" There are 2 factors here.. willingness and obedience.. You can have one without the other. You can be obedient but not very willing! The apostle Paul says.. "If I do this thing (Doing what the Lord wanted him to do) willingly, I have a reward" Note also, "I have a reward" bit. God has rewards planned for them that love and serve Him! About the last recorded words of the Lord Jesus Christ are "Lo, I come quickly and My reward is with Me to give to everyman according as his work shall be" Rev22. The Lord told me this recently. "A lot of the body of Christ are just content to go to church and don't want to do much about the Gospel" ~ We forget about 'In that day' ~ Then, we shall all have to give account to Him Who commanded us to preach the gospel.. One of the finest scriptural books on healing I have ever come across, is by FF Bosworth, a minister in early 1900's. It's called, 'Christ the Healer' and published by Fleming H. Revell. You cannot read this book and have any doubt that it is God's will that you be healed. 35 The scriptural evidence is overwhelming. If you are interested in ministering God's grace to people, then I strongly advise geDng a copy. I quote: "Before anyone can have a steadfast faith for the healing of their body, they must be rid of all uncertainty concerning God's will in the maer. Appropria ng faith cannot go beyond the knowledge of the revealed will of God. Before aemp ng to exercise faith for healing, one needs to know what the scriptures plainly teach, that it is just as much God's will to heal the body, as it is to heal the soul" Remember, above all, is His Fathers heart and His great love and mercy towards us. His mercies are new every morning, not every year. If you missed it yesterday, repent, He is faithful to forgive you, get rid of the guilt and move on with His help today. The Healing Scriptures The message is around 30 minutes long. The first part of the message is a straight narra on of the scriptures, just as if God was talking directly to you. (His Word IS Him talking directly to you!) It then moves on the quote scriptures and references. It covers the curse of the Law in the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy and the things you have been redeemed from by the power of the Blood of Jesus. Over 20 years ago, the Lord led me to do a search of the scriptures and write down all the ones that pertained to His promises concerning healing. He then told me to record them as a narra on. The result is known simply as The Healing Scriptures. "Faith comes from hearing and hearing and hearing by the Word of God" Romans 10v17 God told Joshua to 'meditate His Word day and night' For a free healing scripture cd.. www.thehealingministry.com 36 How satan steals the Word: Jesus said a REALLY important statement about this and its vital we give aen on to what He said.. I consider it one of the MAIN reason we fail to receive or understand the things of God.. Mark 4: "And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?" So we can see the VITAL importance of understanding this.. Mistakes we make: OK John, "I'll give that a try!" Don't bother.. It doesn't work by trying, it works by believing. You will 'try' it for a few days or weeks and then give up and get discouraged. Why? Because what are you are trying to achieve is based upon your efforts to produce something, instead of leDng Gods grace do the work. 2) Doing it because 'John' or somebody else said it would work. Wrong.. It works because JESUS said so.. I can help you but your faith MUST be in Jesus. "All this are possible to those who BELIEVE" "When you pray, BELIEVE you have received it and you shall have it" I was reading this scripture one me when the Lord spoke to me.. "and this is the confidence we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us and if we know He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we receive from Him" I focused on the words '.. if we know.." The Lord spoke and said. "Do you know God hears you, or do you wonder?" I thought and said.. "mmm.. some mes, I wonder Lord" That's one aspect of faith.. It KNOWS God hears us.. Jesus said "Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, He WILL give it you" so faith believes and acts upon that scripture and gives thanks. 37 Faith is not 'what' you believe.. It's ACTING upon what you believe. Look at the Bible examples. The woman with the issue of blood.. She SAID "If I so much as touch the hem of His garment, I SHALL be healed" Then she went (acted on what she believed) and did it! Jesus said.. "Daughter... your faith (ac ng on what she believed) has made you whole" Jesus said.. "The sower sows the Word" This is the primary parable that Jesus said it was VERY important for us to understand. "so is the Kingdom of God as if a man should cast seed into the ground" The 'seed' is the Word of God. The 'ground' is the soil of your heart. Mark4:24 "And He said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given" In others words, the measure of thought and study you give to the truth you hear, will determine how much comes back to you. The amount of seed you sow and the aen on you give to it, will determine your harvest. We measure to ourselves the blessings and things of God. "For he that hath, (to him/her that sows the seed and pays aen on to looking aQer it) to him shall be given: (the seed starts to grow and produce) and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath. (Don't do anything with it and you will lose it) And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. (it's growing, just believe and give thanks) For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; (This Greek word is the word we get our word 'automa cally' from. You heart will produce whatsoever you sow into it) first the blade, then the ear, aQer that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he pueth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. (The harvest is 'faith' and will enable you to freely receive from His grace by believing) FIRSTLY: 1) We have to 'sow' the Word into our hearts. We do this by 'hearing and hearing by the Word of God' and by medita ng upon it. 38 This agrees with Proverbs 4:24. "My son, aend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. (Why?) For they are life (Zoe.. the God kind of life) unto those that find them, and health (medicine) to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; (Why?) for out of it are the issues (the forces) of life. MY EXPERIENCE: This is what I did with healing. I wrote the scriptures down concerning healing on a small card and kept it in my pocket. I went to work as normal but for the next 3 DAYS (not 3 minutes) I would pull the card out and read the scriptures over and over and then meditate upon them. That's what God told Joshua to do. "..but you shall meditate upon them day and night.. " Jos1:8 I would then spend some me praising God quietly (I was at work) and then back to thinking about the healing scriptures. I would speak them out quietly over and over again.. "By Whose stripes we were healed" When I got home, I con nued to do this.. Jesus said "IF (our choice) in your con nue in my word, you are my disciples indeed and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" So I went to bed, looking at the dozen or so scriptures I had wrote down and went to sleep thinking about them and praising God. If you are Spirit filled as in Acts2:4, then spend a lot of me praying in the Spirit (1Cor14:2) If not, then just keeping thinking about and medita ng the Word of God. 'Meditate' means to muer' - to chew over' (Much like a cow chewing grass) I did this for 3 days.. For the first 2 or so days, I felt nothing. I was just ac ng on the Word of God.. Jesus said: "He that hears my Word and doeth it.. Him I will liken to a man who built his house upon a rock.." So I was building mt 'healing house' through faith (believing) in His grace and just allowing the Word to be planted and grow in my heart. By the end of the 3rd day, the power of God was so strong upon me! The tangible healing power of God was present! 39 The 'harvest' had come PLUS I KNEW' that I KNEW' that healing was for me.. and everybody else! THIS IS HOW WE GET ROBBED! NOW.. PLEASE NOTICE THIS! ~ Jesus said.." But he that received seed into the good ground, is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Here is the key.. 'understands it'.. IE: He that sets his heart and spends the me, by pondering, medita ng and sowing the Word into his heart, will 'understand' (get a revela on of) it.. Jesus also said "And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts' Why is this? It was because they didn't spend the me sowing the word into their heart! We can 'hear' and yet not hear! That's what Jesus meant when He said "He that has ears to ear, let him hear" satan, our enemy, steals the word from us! How many of us can remember what our Pastor preached on last week? If we had taken what was preached and spent some me each day medita ng upon what was said and studying the Scriptures he spoke about, the devil wouldn't be able to steal it!! People 'receive the Word with joy' IE: we get all excited about it but fail to do anything with it. Faith is a product of the Word of God.. "so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God" The word 'Word' there, is the Greek word 'Rhema' and it means the 'spoken word' as opposed to the 'Logos' or wrien Word. Faith comes when the 'Logos or 'seed' of God becomes the 'Rhema' of God. The harvest has come and faith rises in our hearts. Don't allow the devil to steal the Word from you! All you have to do to allow him to do this is... nothing. 40 Jesus said "He that follows me shall have the light of life" (King James version) This is not a salva on scripture. You get saved by repen ng of your sin and accep ng Jesus Christ as your Lord and saviour. This is a 'LIFE' statement! I'll put it to you as the Lord showed me one day.. "He that prac ces what I preach shall have entrance into the God kind of life, here and now" As you become a 'doer of the Word and not a hearer only" and put into prac ce what Jesus and James said, the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to the God kind of life (Zoe) that is available here on this Earth. The life of God that Jesus walked in is available to us by the grace of God. RECAP: 1) Believe the Word of God to be true, despite what things look like. 2) Plant the seed in your heart by hearing and medita ng up on the Word of God. 3) Act upon the Word of God. (Do what it says) 4) Forgive, if you have anything against anybody. (and pray for them) 5) Give thanks. Do the 3 day seeding like I did! God is no respecter of persons.. What do you need a harvest of? Sow some seed into your heart! God has said: "As long as the Earth remains, it shall be seed,me and harvest" This is not just talking about growing corn, this is God's spiritual principle! Jesus said, "So is the Kingdom of God as if a man should cast seed into the ground" God Bless 41 Arcle on Seeding for YOUR Healing The following is an excerpt from a book wrien around 33 years ago by the late Oral Roberts, one of the great ministers of our me. The book is called 'The Miracle Book' by Pinoak Publica ons in Tulsa. Sadly, it seems to be out of print now. You can go to their website and see if you can find it. It's about how a lady received her healing from the Lord and follows the theme of 'seed me and harvest' that God put into mo on in the Book of Genesis.. "for as long as the Earth remains, it shall be seed me and harvest.." The lady (Mrs Marie Fischer) was in the advanced stages of cancer and had survived major surgery but the fear of it coming back daunted her. "It tormented me day and night I was so sick and nothing seemingly could be done" - She thought "I'll try praying for my healing!" ~ I began.. "Lord, I love you. You know that I've given my life to you, that's it's my hearts desire to serve you, for I have served you these many years. I take care of my health. I eat the foods that are healthful to me. I do everything I'm supposed to do..." On and on I went.. Finally I stopped and then the Lord spoke to my heart. "If you would be quiet long enough, we could have a conversa on" I thought.. "that's makes sense!" The Lord seemed to say "Sure Marie, you've given your life to Me. You've been saved a long me but you haven't learned as much as I hoped you would." "What should I do?" I asked. The Lord said. "What is it you want?" "I want my healing" He said "How about plan ng a seed of healing for someone else who is need of healing" 42 "OF COURSE!!!" It was just as though a light came on. (That's the 'revela on' knowledge I talk about) The 3 keys of Seed-Faith living, had worked for me in other areas of my life. Why not use the 3 keys to bring about my healing" Immediately I set about obtaining the names of people who had need of healing. A man who was going to have brain surgery, another who was to have heart surgery, a child who was seriously ill. I got out of bed and began to walk back and forth across the room with the list in my hand. I asked myself "How would I feel if you were facing brain surgery? Get in there! Feel compassion. Put yourself in their shoes. Be with that person" I did. I went down the list calling the name of every person and praying with real hearOelt compassion. When I knew I had reached this point, I said.. 'Now Lord, be with this person. Let him live and move and have his being in you.. as you did for me' For 3 days, I prayed like this. It wasn't easy. For the first 2 days, I was weak, dizzy and nauseated. I had to hold on to the furniture to keep my balance but I tried to ignore the symptoms. The more I concentrated on these people, the less I thought about myself. Eventually, I became relaxed in my praying. I really enjoyed these mes of intercession... and... by the end of 3 days of praying for others, I found that I was perfectly healed. When school opened, I was refreshed, rejuvenated and ready and I have felt great ever since.. John's comments: "For whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap" "Give and it shall be given you.." The 3 keys of Faith that Oral Roberts found out are: Key No. 1 ~ God is the source of your total supply Key No. 2 ~ Seeding for your miracle Key No. 3 ~ Expect a miracle! 43 Understanding Grace; God's grace is what saves us.. 'By grace are you saved (healed, delivered) through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the giQ of God" God gives us His Word and when that Word comes alive in our hearts, faith rises and believes God for His promises.. the first one being the promise of our salva on.. "You can ONLY receive from Him based upon His grace and His willingness to help you" "Therefore it is by grace, that it might be faith" So many are trying to 'get' something from Him. You cannot receive from Him like that.. Why? Because it is by GRACE.. Faith in His grace.. We acknowledge that there is nothing we can do or add to what Jesus did for us.. We accept that and freely receive salva on by believing (having faith) in His Word.. yet aQer that, we think we have to do more to get anything else from Him.. "He that spared not His only Son but delivered Him up for us all, shall we not with Him also FREELY GIVE us ALL things together with Him?" Do you see it Brethren? He wants to 'Freely give' us things! Jesus said "freely as you have received, freely give" We got from Him by 'Freely receiving' through believing.. not believing in what we can do, but by having faith in His grace.. Jesus said "fear not lile flock, it is the Fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdom" Put it this way.. 'It gives the Father great joy to give you things!' We can't earn it and we don't deserve it.. we can 'FREELY receive it based upon what Jesus did, based upon faith in His grace, or His good pleasure to give it to us.. Faith in His healing grace, faith in His delivering grace, faith in 'whatever we need' wonderful grace!! 44 CHRISTMAS PRESENTS: It was heading towards December when a young son came to his father and said "Father, what must I do to earn my Christmas presents this year?" The father stood there stunned.. "My son" said the father, "You don't have to earn anything, you are my son and it gives me great pleasure to give you presents!" How do you think the father felt when his son asked him that ques on? It didn't maer how much the father had do to earn the money, how many extra hours and going without, so he could give his son presents.. all that maered was that on that morning, when the son ripped the carefully wrapped presents open, was the joy on his sons face! All the extra hours, the going without, faded away as he saw the joy on his sons face! Don't rob our Heavenly Father of His joy in giving you things! All we have to do is 'freely receive' what it is His good pleasure to give us! LOOK AT THIS! ".. and they came to Jesus and said, 'what must we do that we might work the works of God?" Jesus said to them, "This is the work of God that you might believe on Him Who He has sent" They didn't ask Him what to do to get saved, they asked about doing the works of God. Jesus said "believe on Me" Jesus has done all that is necessary for us to receive from God.. "Father, I have finished the works you gavest me to do" How many of us are trying to 'work the works of God?' Jesus overcame every tempta on.. "He was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin, let us therefore come boldly before the throne of grace that we receive mercy and find grace to help" The throne of what? The throne of GRACE.. Stop trying to 'work the works' Stop trying to 'work' for your healing, your present.. Stop confessing the Scriptures with the aDtude of trying to 'make' something happen. "For it is the Fathers GOOD pleasure to give it to 45 you!.. The price has been paid by Jesus.. Go and freely receive from Him based upon His grace.. Yes, it is important to know and quote the scriptures but don't do it from the 'I'm going to make this happen' aDtude but rather from a heart aDtude of "Father, I thankyou for what Jesus did for me at Calvary when he bore my sickness and carried my pain. Father, I ask you to heal my body based on your grace and I thankyou for it now in Jesus name" Then just give thanks that your prayers have been heard and answered and act your faith.. and the Lord said to me: "Gods a>tude towards you is one of grace" Tradi on says "How sweet" What it really means, is God is looking at you with a heart aDtude of 'what can I do to bless and help you today!" Don't believe me? Look at these scriptures.. "and the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and said "Ask what I shall give thee" "and Jesus said to them "What would you that I should do for you?" "and the blind man cas ng way his garment came to Jesus and Jesus said "What will you that I should do for you?" The God who cannot lie and does not change and Who delivered up His only Son for our salva on, says to you today.. 'what do you want me to do for YOU?' Jesus said "Ask and you SHALL receive.. (Why?) That your joy might be made full" God wants you full of joy, not full of sickness! 20 odd years ago, I had a strange experience. One morning, I felt rather odd.. not ill, just strange.. I felt like I was 'under the Law' which is strange indeed as I am a gen le! The feeling would not go away. I phoned a friend of mine and asked him to come over and pray with me. 46 Whilst we were praying about this, I suddenly saw what I had done. There was a situa on that I was facing and I had said in my heart "I know what I will do about this!' What was wrong with that you ask? It was wrong because it was based upon what "I' could do about something. It was centered upon what "I, me and myself" could do.. not on what the Lord had already done.. and that lile decision moved me from 'grace' to 'the Law' I subs tuted God's grace for my works. I apologised to the Lord and immediately the feeling leQ! I should have said 'Lord, I ask you for grace to help me overcome this situa on and I thankyou for it in Jesus name" How easy it is to move from grace to works (our efforts) Paul says "You have begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?" Make some adjustments in your heart and then go to Him in Jesus name, based upon His grace and willingness to help and heal you. Go and freely receive what gives Him great pleasure to give us. A leper came to Jesus and said "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean" Jesus said "Of course I am willing!" (New Jerusalem transla on) Jesus seled the ques on about Gods willingness to heal for the leper and everybody else who will come to Him. For God is NO respecter of persons.. 'Whosoever will' can freely receive from His grace! "But I didn't feel any beer aQer I prayed!' What have our feelings got to do with it? I had this problem a while back and the Lord spoke to me and said "Faith has nothing to do with feelings, absolutely nothing!" The Word of God says 'and the Lord SHALL raise him up.." Lay hands on the sick and they SHALL recover" Just start to thank God that He is raising you up and you are recovering.. Some mes the healing is instant, some mes it is by process.. 47 Faith is an act. Faith is not what you believe, it's ACTING upon what you believe! "and when Jesus SAW their faith…" How did Jesus 'see' their faith? By their ac ons! "Do you not know brethren that faith without works (corresponding ac ons) is dead!" James. There is a mighty Sister in Christ who is confined to a wheelchair who doesn't believe (anymore) that it is God's will to heal her. She believed for a while, then reconciled herself to the fact God wants her that way.. She is migh ly used on the Lord, yet is s ll in a wheelchair.. Why is this? Because she doesn't know that faith is not just what you believe, its ACTING upon what you believe. You will never receive from God by standing s ll. Even when Moses was trapped at the Red Sea with the Egyp ans coming for them, he stopped and prayed.. (I would have thought that would be the thing to do but God didn't) God rebuked him! God said "Tell the children of Israel to GO FORWARD.." I was watching a video of a ministry preaching on healing and the front row was people in wheelchairs. At the end of the service, the minister went down and laid hands on the people and told them to walk in Jesus name.. Many sat there and liQed their hands and praised the Lord but one sweet lile lady picked up her handbag and started to push herself out of the wheelchair (she couldn't walk) and stood up and then started to walk.. a bit unsteady to start with but con nued anyway un l she was completely well! The crowd went wild but I was looking at all the others. Why were they not healed I asked? Answer: Because they didn't do what the minister of God told them to do… and that was to 'rise and walk' ~ Jesus told people to go and DO things (act their faith) "Go wash in the pool of Siloam" (But Jesus, the guy is blind! he doesn't even know which way the pool is!!) Yet he 'went and washed' and came again seeing! 48 "He told a group of lepers.. "Go show yourselves to the priests (but Jesus, they are not allowed to do this, they are unclean!) but 'as they went' (acted their faith in Jesus words) they were healed. Jesus said to a paralysed man "Rise take up your bed and walk" (but Jesus, he is paralysed, his legs don't work!) But the man obeyed what Jesus said and was made whole. I remember many years ago, a friend on mine, a lady minister was feeling very ill with the flu or something. She had prayed but didn't feel any beer and decided to go to bed.. As she lay there, the Lord spoke to her and said "only sick people lay in bed!" ~ "Oh Lord" she said (she told me she felt really ill and didn't want to hear that!) but she pushed herself back out of bed and started to praise God for her healing… within a short space of me (about half an hour I think) she was completely well.. Faith is an act.. The Prayer of Faith: So what is 'The Prayer of Faith?' that saves (heals, delivers) the sick? It's simply the prayer of believing it receives when it prayers. 1) It knows and is confident in God's will about the maer. 2) It believes its prayers are heard AND answered WHEN it prays. 3) It give thanks to God for the answer it believes has already come. Let look at the Scriptures Mark 11:24. "Therefore I say unto you, what things soever you desire, when you pray (not aQer) believe that you have received it and you shall have it" Mathew 18. "What things soever you shall ask in prayer believing, you shall receive" "This is the confidence (faith, belief) that we have in Him that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us 49 I was about to go and pray one day, when suddenly had a vision. It was a conversa on between 'me' & the Lord. I heard these words: The Lord: "What are you going to do? Me: "I am going to pray." Lord: "What are you going to do whilst you pray?" Me: "I am going to believe" Lord: "What are you going to believe?" Me: "I am going to believe that which I am praying about has been heard and answered" "Well, ok' you may say.. I'm going to get something from God!' Well how about just receiving something from Him instead? He's already in the giving business because that is His very nature.. "For God SO loved the world He gave His only Son.." Instead of 'geDng' Try 'receiving'. "as many as received Him, them He gave the right to become the sons of God" ~ "Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?" Why not just believe and 'receive' your healing from His grace? (His good pleasure to make us well) "Heavenly Father, I thankyou for my healing. I freely receive what Jesus did for me at Calvary when surely He carried my sickness and bore my pain. I believe is done and I receive it now and thankyou for it in Jesus name, Amen" We don't have to beg and carry on, just receive what gives Him great pleasure to give us. EASY, SIMPLE and LIGHT. Three BIG words in the Bible. Jesus said "Come learn of Me for My yoke is easy, My burden is light" Paul said "I would not have you moved from the simplicity that is in Christ" Easy, Simple and Light. Religion makes it difficult. Tradi ons of men makes God complicated.. but Jesus said 'My yoke is easy' What are you yoked up to? 'My burden is light' What are you carrying around? "Lest you become as a lile child, you will not enter the Kingdom of God" Have a look at a lile child.. They are just 'whoo hoo' everywhere! 50 They don't have a care and just believe what their parents say and generally go around having a ball. SO what happened? My Story.. for His Glory. The different ways Jesus has healed me over the past 28 years! Over the past 28 years, I have been healed of lots of things, including terminal diabetes. I am wri ng my experiences and what I did to receive what it is ALWAYS His good pleasure to give. I am nobody special, like the apostle Paul says.. "I am the less than the least of all saints.." Yet I have been healed many mes and am acutely aware that there are many, many beloved brethren who are in need of healing. This is wrien to help you receive from His grace and for His glory.. I will start at over 26 years ago, with a crea ve miracle in my neck and work forward to the past few months.. Going back to the very beginning of my walk with Him... I can remember receiving the revela on of divine healing shortly aQer I was saved in November 1981.. I had spent many hours previously, over a couple of weeks praying in the Spirit and reading the Bible.. Prior to this, I had fallen off a roof and damaged my neck upon impact.. "Nothing too serious I thought" Just hurt a bit. Well, you get used to living with things aQer a while and I lived in a small town with no chiropractors, so I just put up with the pain in the back of my neck. AQer a year or so, I started to get headaches, which was unusual for me.. First, one a week, then 2 and so on.. The pain got so bad, It felt like I wanted to pull my eyes out to get at it!.. and I used to bathe them with a hot flannel to help ease the pain. Eventually, I went down to the next town to get some treatment but it didn't seem to help for very long. Eventually, they sent me to the 'Big city' to get some expert advice. The prognosis was not good. The fall had damaged the spine and the cushioning between the spine had been damaged and had been slowly grinding itself away! They said this would only get worse as I got older and there was nothing they could 51 do (Remember, this was 25 years ago and surgery was s ll very limited) So they sent me back home.. The Prayer of Faith: One day, I got to the Book of James... Chapter 5, verse 14.. "Are there any sick amongst you?" it asked.. I put my hand up to Heaven and said.. "Yes, one over here!" I con nued reading.. "Let them call upon the elders of the church and let them pray over them, anoin ng them with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith shall heal the sick and the Lord shall raise them up and if they have commied sins, it shall be forgiven them" The words 'shall' leapt from the page.. No 'maybes'.. just 3 shall's'.. so off I went down to the lile local church.. I called upon the Pastor and a friend of mine and showed them James5:14 from my bible! I told them what was wrong and asked if they believed what the Bible said! Thank God they did! So I said, "Well I need a miracle in my neck and according to the Bible, Jesus hasn't changed, so let's pray now!" Well they anointed me with oil in the name of Jesus and started to pray.. It felt like someone was pouring warm honey down my spine. This beau ful presence seemed to envelope me.. me stood s ll. All I knew was, when I moved my neck around, it didn't go 'clunk' anymore!! All the pain had gone and my head rotated freely.. That was 25 years ago and I am s ll well today! Thank you Jesus! The next me was when sickness struck my body. I had been geDng the revela on on how to use faith for your self to receive from the Lord - and one morning, I awoke and felt awful! I can remember going down the driveway (we lived in a lile farmlet at the me) and star ng to pray about my healing. I believed what the Word of God said and started to praise God for my healing. I felt terrible! I con nued in prayer and thanksgiving for about half an hour or so.. Then, it was like I seemed to 'know' what was the cause of this and 'where' it was. I turned and pointed to space in the air and said something like.. devil, I command you to leave me in Jesus name" I started to praise God for my healing... within a few minutes, the pain and sickness was replaced 52 by joy and praise.. I was well.. very well! I found out that indeed, as the Scriptures says.. "God inhabits the praises of His people" ~ God turned up and everything that wasn't of Him... leQ! His Mercy: This is how I learnt about His mercy.. I had been out driving in my car and no ced that exhaust was leaking. So when I got back home. I got some spanners to ghten it up. As I lay by the side on the car, I heard the lord say.. "Careful, it's very hot" I can remember turning around and saying, "it's ok, I will be careful" Well, you guessed it. As I put my hand near the exhaust to ghten the clamp, I misjudged and my wrist hit the boom of a very hot exhaust pipe! I pulled my arm out and looked at a painful, red burn.. I immediately said something like.. "Lord, forgive me for not listening to you. Have mercy on me Lord and heal me please" Immediately, all the pain leQ my wrist and I was instantly healed! I can remember siDng there in awe, looking at my wrist that was healed.. giving thanks and learning about his great mercy.. "His mercies are new every morning" The Prayer of Agreement and my broken foot: "Again, I say to you, that if any two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father Who is in Heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them" Ma18:19 For some strange reason, I decided to climb a tree outside our house. (I wanted to see what the view was like from up there!) I got up a ways.. about 20 foot and was standing on a branch that, looking back, wouldn't have supported a squirrel! The next thing I knew, I was on the ground. I was a bit dazed and stood s ll for a bit to get by breath and take stock of things. I wandered back across the road to my house. I no ced that as I walked, my foot hurt.. Not too bad at first, 53 so I ignored it. AQer a while at home, my foot started to 'really' hurt! There was this pain across the top of it! I reached down and felt it. It was then that I felt the break. You could feel the break in the top plate of my right foot. I thought about what to do. I could s ll walk but it was now 'very' painful.. Now no ce this! ~ I 'knew' that I didn't have faith for a broken foot and was searching in my heart as to what to do.. It was then that my Pastors tes mony came back to me. Many years before, he was jogging and fell and landed badly on his foot. He put his hands on his damaged foot and said "In the name of Jesus Christ, be healed" he then acted his faith, believed it was done and stated to carry on running. To start with, he said, it was agony and he literally dragged his damaged foot down the road.. thanking the Lord for his healing (faiths an act!) He said he had gone about 20 metres dragging his foot, when the power of God hit him and he sprinted off down the road.. completely healed... Well, His tes mony came back to me (see the importance of telling what the Lord has done for you!) and I knew 'He' had that sort of faith, so I rang him. He answered the phone and I told him.. "Jim, I've fallen out of a tree and broken my foot and I want you to agree with me about my healing" ~ He said.. "I've just finished my prayer me with the Lord!" and he prayed and I agreed with his prayer. That was the about the only me in my life that I 'felt' faith! ~ Something came down that telephone and lodged in my heart! Nothing outwardly seem to changed but I believed and gave thanks.. I walked around thanking the Lord for my healing.. (My head was saying 'you had beer get to the hospital!') Only You can decide what needs to be done. I chose to believe it was done.. If you can't, then go to the hospital!! For three days I walked on that foot, praising God for my healing.. It was so painful at night, I used to put 2 pillows either side of it, to keep the weight of the blanket off it.. In the morning I had to fight all the fear that would come.. "now you are going to have to walk on it and you'll make it worse" and so on.. Well on the third day (I think) I said something like.. "NO! Jesus said He would heal me and I believe it's 54 done!" and I put my foot out of the bed and onto the floor and stood up! I was completely healed.. No pain and I could walk perfectly! (You could s ll run your hand across the top of my foot and feel where the break had been!! Note: Only You can decide where your faith is at.. Jesus said "As YOU have believed, so be it done to you" If you can't believe, then get someone to pray for you who can! (It's the prayer of faith that heals the sick.. James5:14 not the prayer of unbelief) Go to the hospital, believing and giving thanks.. Don't get condemned about where you at in the Lord.. "There is therefore NO condemna on to them that are in Christ Jesus" Get someone in the Body of Christ to help you with their faith.. Healing of an internal organ I was at work one day and I started to have this pain on the inside of me. I never thought a lot about and rebuked it in Jesus name but it con nued and became very bad and sharp. I spent the next week praying and speaking the Word of God over it. (You know when something serious is wrong on the inside!) I would stop and do this several mes during the week but lile changed. I got home one day and it was s ll hur ng.. I sat down on the couch and my lile kids climbed up on me.. The TV was on and I was s ll hur ng! Then, whilst the kids were siDng on my lap, the room seem to fill with a thousand voices! All I could hear was "Believe! believe! believe!.. over and over the voices went. There was literally thousands of different voices all saying the same thing.. over and over. Then they stopped.. I then shut my mouth and did what the voices said.. I believed! On the inside, in my heart, I said "I believe I received my healing, I believe it is done" I never said another word from my mouth, just my heart.. I believed. AQer about 10 minutes of 'believing, I started to feel a warm glow, somewhere in my stomach region.. The warmth grew and grew and the pain got less and less.. I con nued to 'believe it was done' AQer about another 20 minutes or so, I was completely well! 55 You see, I was speaking the Word of God but not really believing! It's the believing that brings the power of God to you! Jesus said: "All things are possible to those who believe" "Believe I am able to do this?" "As thou has believed, so be it done unto you" "Fear not, only believe" Have you prayed to the Father in Jesus name? Then 'believe' He has heard you! and give thanks! Have you told the sickness to leave in Jesus name? Then 'believe' it is done and give thanks! About 21 years ago: The last headache / migraine I ever had: It was a hard day at work with a migraine hanging around. It felt like someone was crushing my head! I remember leaving work and locking up. I then placed my hands upon my head and saying "In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, I command this thing to leave my body and the pain to leave" ( well something very similar) I was ac ng on what Jesus said in John14:12-14 "If you shall ask anything in My name, I WILL do it" This is not a prayer scripture (John16:23 deals with that) but the right to use His name against anything that troubles you Q: Did you feel any different? A: None whatsoever! Now tradi on and sense/head knowledge/reasoning says 'well it didn't work' but the God Who cannot lie, said "If you shall ask ANYTHING in my name I WILL do it" Jesus also said "Whosoever (that included me!) shall say unto this mountain, 'be removed and cast into the sea and shall not doubt in his heart but shall believe that the things which he says shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he says" So I acted upon those words.. Faith is not 'what you believe but ac ng upon what you believe.. Faith is an act! "Do you not, that faith without works (corresponding ac ons) is dead" James. 56 I now had a 20+ minute drive home.. All the way home it hurt and my head kept telling me nothing had happened but I CHOSE TO BELIEVE WHAT JESUS SAID. I thanked God it WAS done (Jesus said "He WOULD do it" so I believed and thanked God is was done.. For 20 minutes, I fought the ONLY fight we are told to fight in the Bible, the fight of faith ("Fight the good fight of faith") and for 20+ minutes, I felt no beer. Tears were streaming down my face with the pain and I fought to drive and also fought to hold onto the Word of God. I turned the last corned home when suddenly I looked up at the sky and said "Father, I thank you that you love me so much and that you sent Jesus to die for us" Then suddenly out of the clouds came a giant hand and arm. It came straight towards me. It reached into the car and grabbed something that was gripping onto me (the source of the pain) and then flung it off.. The air was filled with righteous indigna on.. I could hear "How dare you.. how dare touch my son!" The 'thing' that was troubling me was flung away.. a LONG way away! The pain suddenly leQ and peace came! Then more tears came.. this me, tears of joy! and I rejoiced and gave thanks the rest of the way home. THIS is God's aDtude to anything that troubles YOU! Give Him some faith to work with.. Q: Why did it take so long? A: My faith (believing what Jesus said above how I felt and speaking the Word of God) was giving substance to that which I hoped for "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence (proof) of things not seen" Hebrews 11:1 ~ I HAD to believe what the Word of God said and act upon it (The only way I could act in this case was to believe it was done like Jesus said and give thanks) Every me I gave thanks, my faith gave a bit more substance to what I was believing for.. That was the last headache/migraine I can remember having.. God has no favourites.. The Bible says at least 4 mes that God is no respecter of persons (no favourites) YOU can do this too! Just believe and act upon what the Word of God says. Jesus won't let you down! 57 The Healing of my back: About 18-20 years ago. My lower back was giving me a lot of trouble and I was in a lot of pain. We had a minister coming to the church who I knew and was looking forward to hearing him preach. Now.. Listen to this. I said in my heart.. "When Col gives the alter call, I will go up and when he lays his hands on me and prays for me, I SHALL be healed!) So at the end of the service, I joined the healing line and when Col got to me, he said, Hi John, what's up?" I told him about my back, He prayed for me and then moved on to the next person.. I felt NO beer! (so what do you believe?) I was s ll standing there believing when Col stopped and came back to me. He said "John, what do you believe?" I said " I believe I have received my healing!" He said "Good lad" and moved on.. Now, the fight of faith con nued.. all evening! I went to bed praising God that I had received my healing when Col prayed and fell asleep praising God. I awoke in the morning, jumped out of bed.. perfectly healed! "What things soever you desire, when you pray BELIEVE that you have received them and you SHALL have them" The woman with the issue of blood in the Bible said the same thing Mark chapter 5 .. (That's where I got it from!) She said "If I so much as touch the hem of His garment, I SHALL be healed.. She acted her faith and received from the Lord) "Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers" 1John My healing from terminal diabetes: 2006 Diabetes; If you wonder about the benefits of praying in the Holy Spirit. Here's a REALLY good reason!! I had diabetes and the Lord healed me. Go and listen to my healing tes mony on our website (8 minutes) at www.thehealingministry.com 58 The Healing Scriptures in the Bible 'My son (and daughter), aend to My words, incline your ears to My sayings, keep them in the midst of your heart, for they are life to those who find them and health (medicine) to all your flesh' - Proverbs 4:24. ..so then faith comes by hearing and hearing, by the Word of God' - Romans 10:17 The following are commonly known as the 'healing scriptures' The Bible declares.. 'no Word of God is void and without power' Print out these scriptures and meditate upon them. Put them on your fridge or by your bed. Get God's Word into your heart and it will produce faith in your mouth. 'Who His own self bear our sins in His own body on the cross, that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness, by Whose stripes you were healed' -1Peter 2:24 'Surely He has carried our sickness and bore our pain, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smien of God and afflicted but He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniqui es, the chas sement necessary to obtain peace was upon Him and with His stripes, we are healed' - Is53v 4-5 'Bless the Lord oh my soul and forget not all His benefits.. Who forgives all your sins, Who heals all your diseases' - Ps103:v2-5 'Are there any sick amongst you? Let them call for the elders of the church and let them pray over them anoin ng them with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith shall heal the sick and the Lord shall raise them up and if they have commied sins, they shall be forgiven him' - James 5v14 'When the evening was come they brought unto Him many that was 59 possessed with devils and He cast out the spirits with His word and healed all that were sick, that it might be fulfilled that was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying 'Himself took our weaknesses and carried our sicknesses' - Ma8:16-17 'Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever' - Heb 13v8 'I am the Lord, I change not' - Hos4:6 'and you shall serve the Lord your God and He will bless your bread and water and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee' - Ex23v25 'what is easier to say. Your sins are forgiven or to say 'be healed' but that you may know that the Son of Man has power to forgive sins, I say to you, rise take up your bed and walk!' 'I have heard your prayer and seen your tears.. behold I will heal you' - 11Kings 20:5 'Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Jesus said 'Of course I am willing' 'I have seen his ways and will heal him' - Isaiah 57v18/19 'For I will restore health unto you and I will heal you of your wounds, says the Lord' - Jer30v17 'and great mul tudes followed Jesus and He healed them' - Ma19v2 'To you that fear my name, shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings' 'The blind and the lame came to Him in the temple and He healed them' - Ma21v14 60 'and the disciples cast our many devils and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them' - Mark6v13 'Now when the sun was seDng, all that had any sick brought them to Jesus and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them' - Luke4v40 'and he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick' - Luke9v2 'and the people followed Him and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God and healed them that had need of healing' - Luke9v11. 'I have heard your prayer and seen your tears.. behold I will heal you' -11Kings 20:5 'Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean' Jesus said 'Of course I am willing' 'I have seen his ways and will heal him' - Isaiah 57v18/19 'For I will restore health unto you and I will heal you of your wounds, says the Lord' - Jer30v17 61 The Prayer of Faith "Are there any sick amongst you? Let them call for the elders of the church and let them pray over them anoinng them with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith shall save (heal) the sick and the Lord shall raise them up and if they have commiHed sins it shall be forgiven him" James5:14 There are 3 'shalls' here... no maybe's This is a promise from the Almighty, the God Who cannot lie and does not change, to us, His Church.. the Body of Christ. It is also a message from our 'Heavenly Father' Who loved us so much, He gave His Son for us.. Noce: its says 'let them call' This is really important. It has to start with us, not the elders or anybody else. Many came to Jesus with obvious difficul es (one man was blind) yet Jesus asked him what he wanted Him to do for him (err.. it's rather obvious Jesus, he's blind!) He could have asked the Lord to heal his toenail and Jesus would have and he would have gone away s ll blind. It has to come from you, that's why Jesus asked them what they wanted. Jesus didn't heal everybody (even though He wanted to) He healed all .. "that came to Him" It had to start with 'them' You cannot prayer the prayer of faith for others unless they come to you and ask. It's only for you. 'Whatsoever things YOU desire..' IE: They are desires for you, not anybody else. You may desire someone you know to be healed but there may be things in their life that is stopping them from receiving from His grace. If you know someone who is ill, then you need to pray & intercede for them and allow the Lord to work things out in their life. 62 This is how to do it.. Praying for others: This is what Jesus said about it: Jesus was teaching the disciples to pray one day. AQer teaching them what we call 'The Lord's Prayer' He went on to say: And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Jesus is s ll teaching about prayer and receiving from God. 63 Now no ce the subject here. 'Which of you having a friend' (so this is not about 'self' This is about a friend who comes to you in need but you have nothing to set before him) So what do you do? You go to 'your friend' and seek supplies! At first your 'friend' doesn't respond but because of your 'importunity' He rises and gives him whatever he needs (for his friend who came to him at midnight.. or his darkest hour) 1) The first 'friend' came to his friend. ('Let them call'.. that's what the first friend did) 2) The second friend didn't have what was needed so he went to someone who he knew did. (We can't heal people but we (should) know where to go to get it!) God is our sufficiency.. 3) Now he started to pray his friend to give what was needed for his friend who was in need.. (This is what 'intercession' is.. standing in the gap for another) 4) The second friend gave him what was needed because of his 'importunity' or 's ck with it ness' for want of a beer word. The moral of the story? If you are going to pray for others (who come to you.. Remember 'let them call..') I know I'm keeping on but this is really important.. God cannot violate a persons free will. Jesus said "Let him who is thirsty come and drink of the water of life" The invita on is there but we have to respond. You need to stay in there un l they are healed. It takes me and persistence (You are not trying to 'talk' God into doing something, rather crea ng the power (more about this in a minute) to get the will of God done in another's life. Remember 'Michael?' It took around 30 days to get him well. Some days I would just go to him (He asked, or at least agreed, gave his consent to what I proposed) and pray for 10 minutes. Other mes, I would be there an hour or so ministering God's grace. Over that period of me, things started to happen. I am going to include some of John G lakes wri ngs from the early 64 1900's (We need to find out what these great men of God knew!) He and his team would pray for people un l they got well. Some mes it was instant, other mes it took me.. This is from his early original manuscripts (around 1910) that I was given a copy of 27 years ago; "For the Kingdom (realm) of God is not in word but in power and in the Holy Spirit" "but you shall receive power (Gr: 'Dumanis' - miracle working ability) aQer that the Holy Spirit is come upon you" Sadly, for the most part, a lot of the Church has lost her power.. To get the will of God done in the life of another, especially if they are in trouble and need healing, you need to get the power of God involved. Why does this take so long some mes John? Good ques on and here's the answer. Peter had been taken prisoner.. "Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him" No ce: It was the Church, a group of people who 'prayed without ceasing' They had importunity.. 65 You ask.. 'Is God deaf? or does He need to be talked into something? No.. neither, for "The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and His ears are open to their prayers" So what is happening? The power of God is being created on this earth to get the will of God done! Look at the result of this persistent prayer.. "And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands" The power of God created through persistent prayer by many individuals was so great, that an angel manifested into the Earth and set Peter free! You can see now why 'Dear Lord, heal so and so' doesn't work too well. The Lord wants to heal them but we have to provide the faith and love for Him to do this some mes. Before the Holy Spirit fell on the 120 in the upper room, they had been locked away praying & discussing the things of God many days.. "These all con,nued with one accord in prayer and supplica,on, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, & with his brethren" They were all in prayer for many days un l suddenly.. "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were si?ng. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them uerance" Again, we see the manifesta on of the awesome power of God to 66 persistent prayer. Jesus said "Men aught always to pray and not lose heart" Here's another example from Lakes ministry to demonstrate this. When the Holy Spirit undertook for my healing from diabetes, it took 3 days of me praying.. (I'm s ll healed and well by the way!) Thankyou Jesus! He's no respecter of persons. What He does for one, He will do for all. Every day is a new day! We tend to look at a day as a con nua on of our lives but God deals with mankind on a day to day basis.. "His mercies are new every morning" "This is the day (not month) that the Lord has made" "Take no thought for tomorrow" Get rid of yesterdays baggage and the devils lies and don't worry about tomorrow.. NOW you can have a great day! Believe you have received when you, or someone else prayed and 67 just keep believing and giving thanks everyday un l the thing you desire has manifested in your body. If you need assistance with your faith, then ask your brothers / sisters in Christ to believe and stand with you every day.. That's what we are here for! "The body is held together by that which every joint supplies" Oddly enough, it was Daniel in the Old Testament that gives us insight as what is happening behind the scenes so to speak.. We have a enemy. Jesus said "Your enemy is the devil" not people. Paul says "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principali es, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6. Here's what the angel sent from God had to say to Daniel: "said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia" 1) God heard Daniels prayer the first day! 2) The answer was sent from God immediately 3) Evil forces tried to stop the answer coming to Daniel for 21 days un l the angel went back and got help from Michael. We have very lile idea what is happening behind the scenes as Paul says in Eph 6. 68 Daniel didn't have the authority as we do in Christ or the name of Jesus.. God hears our prayers in Jesus name but there may be things hindering us from receiving.. Let's give Him some faith to work with and love one another, to enable Him to work things out for our good.. I trust this has been a blessing to you and brought glory to God Who has pa ently taught me about how to apply my faith in His Word and freely receive from His grace, these past 29 years.. This book is a work in progress.. I constantly update it as we progress in His grace.. feel free to give it away God Bless John This book is a work in progress. I will keep upda,ng it on the website and you can download it… to be con,nued.. PS: I am not a Pastor but if you 'really' need to talk. I am on Skype. john.reynolds.ministries in Western Australia. Send me an email and we'll set up a me and I'll talk and pray for you. 1 Archives and Special Collections Fuller Theological Seminary COLLECTION 67: Bethel Church (Redding, Calif.) Table of Contents Brief Description of the Collection ..................................................................................................2 Organization ....................................................................................................................................3 Box Inventory .................................................................................................................................4 Series 1: Books ............................................................................................................................4 Box 1 ...........................................................................................................................................4 Box 2 ...........................................................................................................................................4 Box 3 ...........................................................................................................................................5 Box 4 ...........................................................................................................................................5 Box 5 ...........................................................................................................................................5 Box 6 ...........................................................................................................................................6 Series 2: CDs and DVDs..............................................................................................................6 Box 7 ...........................................................................................................................................6 Box 8 ...........................................................................................................................................6 Box 9 ...........................................................................................................................................7 Box 10 .........................................................................................................................................7 Box 11 .........................................................................................................................................8 Box 12 .........................................................................................................................................8 Box 13 .........................................................................................................................................9 Box 14 .........................................................................................................................................9 Box 15 .......................................................................................................................................10 Box 16 .......................................................................................................................................10 Box 17 .......................................................................................................................................11 Series 3: Manuals .......................................................................................................................11 Box 18 .......................................................................................................................................11 Box 19 .......................................................................................................................................12 Series 4: Miscellaneous handouts, flyers, and bulletins ............................................................12 Box 20 .......................................................................................................................................12 2 Brief Description of the Collection The collection consists of 80 books, 11 manuals, and 553 CDs/DVDs collected from Bethel Church in Redding, California. The church, pastored by Bill Johnson, originally belonged to the Assemblies of God but is currently a center for the New Apostolic Movement. Many of the materials were published by Bethel pastors or staff, and the collection includes other books and materials used by the Bethel School of Ministry. Training manuals and workbooks for students and lay ministers are also included, in addition to informational handouts, conference flyers, and bulletins from the church. Size: 20 Boxes Provenance: The gift of David and Anna du Plessis Restrictions: None Processing: Kelly Muhonen 3 Organization The collection is organized into four series as follows: 1. Books—Boxes 1-6 2. CDs and DVDs—Boxes 7-17 3. Manuals—Boxes 18-19 4. Miscellaneous handouts, flyers, and bulletins—Box 20 4 Box Inventory Series 1: Books Box 1 Austin, Jill. Dancing with Destiny. Austin, Jill. Master Potter and the Mountain of Fire. Backlund, Steve. Cracks in the Foundation. Backlund, Steve. Possessing Joy. Backlund, Steve. Victorious Mindsets. Backlund, Steve. You're Crazy if You Don't Talk to Yourself.* Backlund, Steve and Wendy. Igniting Faith. Bentley, Todd. The Reality of the Supernatural World. Bolz, Shawn. Keys to Heaven's Economy. Bolz, Shawn. The Throne Room Company. Borlase, Craig. William Seymour. Buckingham, Jamie. Daughter of Destiny: The Biography of Kathryn Kuhlman. Campbell, Stacey. Ecstatic Prophecy. Chapman, Diana. Searching the Source of the River: Forgotten Women of the British Pentecostal Revival 1907-1914. Conner, Bobby. God's Supernatural Power. Cooke, Graham. Approaching the Heart of Prophecy. Cooke, Graham. Prophecy and Responsibility. Crawford, Mary. The Shantung Revival. Box 2 Crowder, John. The Ecstasy of Loving God. Crowder, John. The New Mystics. Dedmon, Kevin. The Ultimate Treasure Hunt. Dedmon, Kevin. Unlocking Heaven. DeCenso, Frank, ed. Amazed by the Power of God. Eberle, Harold and Martin Trench. Victorious Eschatology. Eckhardt, John. Moving in the Apostolic. Epstein, Daniel Mark. Sister Aimee: The Life of Aimee Semple McPherson. Frangipane, Francis. The Three Battlegrounds. Griffin, Bob. Firestorms of Revival. Hinn, Benny. Good Morning, Holy Spirit. Hyatt, Eddie. 2000 Years of Charismatic Christianity. John G. Lake: His Life, His Sermons, His Boldness, His Faith. Johnson, Beni. The Happy Intercessor. 5 Box 3 Johnson, Bill. Cara a Cara con Dios. Johnson, Bill. Cuando el Cielo Invade la Tierra. Johnson, Bill. Dreaming with God. Johnson, Bill. Face to Face with God. Johnson, Bill. A Life of Miracles. Johnson, Bill. El Poder Sobrenatural de una Mente Transformada. Johnson, Bill. Release the Power of Jesus. Johnson, Bill. Strengthen Yourself in the Lord. Johnson, Bill. The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind. Johnson, Bill. The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind. Daily Devotional. Johnson, Bill. When Heaven Invades Earth. Johnson, Bill. When Heaven Invades Earth. A 40-Day Personal Journey. Johnson, Bill and Mike Seth. Here Comes Heaven! Jorgensen, Owen. Supernatural: The Life of William Branham. Book One. Jorgensen, Owen. Supernatural: The Life of William Branham. Book Two. Box 4 Jorgensen, Owen. Supernatural: The Life of William Branham. Book Three. Jorgensen, Owen. Supernatural: The Life of William Branham. Book Four. Kalvestrand, Anne and Deborah Reed. Manners to Sit Before Kings: Mentoring Royalty. King, Patricia. Dream Big. King, Patricia. Light Belongs in the Darkness. King, Patricia. Spiritual Revolution. Kuhlman, Katherine. I Believe in Miracles. Liardon, Roberts. The Azusa Street Revival. Liardon, Roberts. God's Generals: The Revivalists. Liardon, Roberts. God's Generals: The Roaring Reformers. Liardon, Roberts. God's Generals: Why They Succeeded and Why Some Failed. Box 5 Loren, Julia. True Stories of Heaven Invading Earth. Loren, Julia; Bill Johnson; and Mahesh Chavda. Shifting Shadows of Supernatural Power. Price, Paula. The Prophet's Dictionary. Pullinger, Jackie. Chasing the Dragon. Reed, Deborah. When God Touched My Best. Rumph, Jane. Signs and Wonders in America Today. Sandford, R. Loren. Understanding Prophetic People. Schwartz, Gary. The G.O.D. Experiments. Silk, Danny. Culture of Honor. Silk, Danny. Loving Our Kids on Purpose. The Smith Wigglesworth Prophecy and the Greatest Revival of All Time. Taylor, Steve. The Skye Revivals. 6 Vallotton, Kris. Developing a Supernatural Lifestyle. Vallotton, Kris. Purity: The New Moral Revolution. Vallotton, Kris, and Bill Johnson. De Mendigo a Principe. Box 6 Vallotton, Kris, and Bill Johnson. The Supernatural Ways of Royalty. Welchel, Tommy. They Told Me Their Stories: The Youth and Children of Azusa Street Tell Their Stories. Wigglesworth, Smith. The Complete Collection of His Life and Teaching. Wigglesworth, Smith. Greater Works. Wigglesworth, Smith. The Power of Faith. Wigglesworth, Smith. Smith Wigglesworth on Spiritual Gifts. Wright, Fred and Sharon. The World's Greatest Revivals (2) Series 2: CDs and DVDs Box 7 Backlund, Steve. Division One Christianity: The Road to Success is Paved by a Willingness to Fail. Children's Leadership Workshop Series. Transforming a Generation: Volume 1. (4 discs) Children's Leadership Workshop Series. Transforming a Generation: Volume 2. (4 discs) Dedmon, Kevin. Anointed Beyond Our Ability. Dedmon, Kevin. Encountering Our Father: A Prerequisite in Releasing the Kingdom. Dedmon, Kevin. Recognizing Jesus in Revival. Dedmon, Kevin. The Supernatural Power of Overflowing Joy. Dedmon, Kevin. Yada Encounters. DeSilva, Dawna. Atmospheres for Healing (Prosperous Soul Stewardship Series). DeSilva, Dawna. Dream Inhibitors. DeSilva, Dawna. Entitled to Grace. DeSilva, Dawna. Who's Your Daddy? DeSilva, Dawna, and Faith Blatchford. On the Road to Destiny. (5 discs) DeSilva, Dawna and Teresa Liebscher. Sozo: Basic. (7 discs) DeSilva, Dawna and Teresa Liebscher. Sozo: Advanced. (11 discs) DeSilva, Stephen. Black Swan Living: Positioned for the Unexpected. DeSilva, Stephen. East of Eden. Box 8 DeSilva, Stephen. Foundations. (Prosperous Soul Stewardship Series; 5 discs) DeSilva, Stephen. Key for New Couples (Prosperous Soul Stewardship Series). DeSilva, Stephen. Prosperous Soul Stewardship Series Foundations: E-Book Manual DeSilva, Stephen. The Wealth Factor. Evans, Joaquin. Carrying the Anointing: Three Ways We Carry God's Presence. Evans, Joaquin. Cultivating the Fire: How to Sustain the Passion. Evans, Joaquin. Enjoying the Process. 7 Evans, Joaquin. Maturing into Childlikeness. Evans, Joaquin. For the Healing of the Nations: Bethel Church Healing Rooms Training. (7 discs) Evans, Joaquin. Operating from God's Supernatural Peace. Evans, Joaquin. Supernatural Breakthrough. Farrelly, Dann. Empowering Skills that Transform Relationships. (4 discs) Franklin, Judy. Heaven Can't Wait. (2 discs) Franklin, Judy. His Love: Healing Body, Soul, and Spirit. Jacobs, Lance. Going. Jacobs, Lance. Living as an Overcomer. Johnson, Beni. Eyes of Prayer. (2 discs) Johnson, Beni. Praying from His Heart. Johnson, Beni. Prayer Servant Training. Johnson, Bill. 3 Leavens of the Mind: Learning to Live from the Mind of Christ. Box 9 Johnson, Bill. The Advancing Kingdom. (4 discs) Johnson, Bill. Breaking the Spirit of Poverty. (4 discs) Johnson, Bill. The Call to Revival: A Baptism of Fire. Johnson, Bill. Changing Your World: The Effects of Praise on Our Surroundings (2 discs) Johnson, Bill. The Church: A House Built for Worship (6 discs) Johnson, Bill. The Church of Power (6 discs) Johnson, Bill. The Coming Pentecost: Position Yourself. (2 discs) Johnson, Bill. Creating a Kingdom Culture. (2 discs) Johnson, Bill. Dreaming with God: Unveiling the Mystery of Co-Laboring with Christ. (4 discs) Johnson, Bill. Enduring Faith. (2 discs) Johnson, Bill. Erasing the Line Between the Secular and Sacred:Revolution Johnson, Bill. Extreme Living (2 discs). Johnson, Bill. Faith Anchored in the Unseen (4 discs). Johnson, Bill. Filled with the Fullness of God. (2 discs) Johnson, Bill. Friendship with God. (2 discs) Johnson, Bill. Generosity: A Military Move (2 discs) Johnson, Bill. The Glorious Church (4 discs) Box 10 Johnson, Bill. Healing: Our Neglected Birthright (6 discs) Johnson, Bill. Healing: The Children's Bread (2 discs) Johnson, Bill. Hearing from God: How God Speaks to His People Johnson, Bill. Heaven: Our Model for Life and Ministry Here on Earth (4 discs) Johnson, Bill. How to Receive from God: How to Get into the River (2 discs) Johnson, Bill. The Invasion: Coming Soon to a City Near You (4 discs) Johnson, Bill. It is Finished. 8 Johnson, Bill. A Key to Revival. Johnson, Bill. Leading from the Heart. (8 discs) Johnson, Bill. Mission Possible. Johnson, Bill. Not on My Shift: Praying in the New Day. Johnson, Bill. Overcoming Disappointment with God (2 discs). Johnson, Bill. The Perfect Storm: The Subduing Power of Peace. Johnson, Bill. Personal Restoration and the Priorities for Strength. (4 discs) Johnson, Bill. The Power for Increase. Johnson, Bill. The Power of the Testimony (2 discs). Johnson, Bill. Prayer: The Kind that Changes the World. (4 discs) Box 11 Johnson, Bill. The Quest for the Face of God. (4 discs) Johnson, Bill. Recovering our Spiritual Inheritance. (2 discs) Johnson, Bill. Releasing the Kingdom. (2 discs) Johnson, Bill. Revival Outside the Camp. (2 discs) Johnson, Bill. Revival: The Cost. (2 discs) Johnson, Bill. Revival: Revival Truths Discovered in the Life of Gideon (6 discs) Johnson, Bill. Roadblocks to Revival. (4 discs) Johnson, Bill. Seven Habits of Highly Effective Believers. Johnson, Bill. Stewards of the Heavenly. Johnson, Bill. Strategies for Taking Back the Planet. (2 discs) Johnson, Bill. Strengthen Yourself in the Lord. Johnson, Bill. The Supernatural Power of a Renewed Mind. (8 discs) Johnson, Bill. There Are No Poopless Cows. Johnson, Bill. What It Means to Be Forgiven. (2 discs) Johnson, Bill and Kris Vallotton. Here Come the Prophets. (2 discs) Johnson, Bonnie. Union with God: A Study of Mystics, Meditation, and Miracles. (6 discs) Box 12 Johnson, Eric B. Salvation is Bigger than You Think. Johnson, Eric B. Viewing the Wall. Johnson, Eric B. Voice of the Church. (2 discs) Johnson, Eric B. What To Do Now Until Then. Liebscher, Banning. The Abundant Life. (3 discs) Liebscher, Banning. City-Taking Prayer. (4 discs) Liebscher, Banning. A House That Contends. (2 discs) Liebscher, Banning. It's Time to Go Public. Liebscher, Banning. The Journey of a World-Changer. Liebscher, Banning. The New Breed of Revivalist: Emerging for the Healing of the Nations. (2 discs) Liebscher, Banning. Releasing Healing Revivalists. Liebscher, Banning. Revival Generations. 9 Liebscher, Banning. The Revolution Is In You. Liebscher, Banning. Sanctified and Sent. (2 discs) Liebscher, Teresa. Shabar. (4 discs) Manwaring, Paul. Beauty and Glory. Manwaring, Paul. Born to be Happy. Manwaring, Paul. Glorious Sons Box 13 Manwaring, Paul. Heaven's Relational Government. Manwaring, Paul. Hope. Manwaring, Paul. How Big Is Your Grace? Manwaring, Paul. Justice: The Restoration of Relationships. Manwaring, Paul. Kisses from a Good God. Manwaring, Paul. Looking for a City. Manwaring, Paul. Moses: Three Trips Down the Mountain. Manwaring, Paul. The Power of Hope. Manwaring, Paul. The Supernatural Pastor. Manwaring, Paul. Strategies for Coming into Your Destiny. Manwaring, Paul. There is No Redeemer in the New Testament. Manwaring, Paul. The Three Princesses. Meisinger, Janie. Trees of Life: Inner Healing Ministries. A Jesus Journey. (2 discs) Meisinger, Janie. Trees of Life: Inner Healing Ministries. Advanced Tools. (2 discs) Overstreet, Chris. Feeding the Fire. Overstreet, Chris. The Finish Line. Overstreet, Chris. Journey of Love and Grace. Overstreet, Chris. Moving from Inheritance to Responsibility. Overstreet, Chris. Kingdom Now (2 discs) Reed, Deborah. Loving Your Children. (2 discs) Reed, Deborah. Pursue Love Through Worship. Reed, Deborah. Speaking God's Heart Over Children: A Guideline for Giving Prophetic Words to Children. Reed, Deborah. Who's Living in Your House? Box 14 Reed, Deborah. Releasing and Training Children Workshops (DVD) Reed, Deborah. Children's Supernatural Curriculum: 1st Quarter. (DVD) Reed, Deborah. Children's Supernatural Curriculum: 2nd Quarter. (DVD) Reed, Deborah. Children's Supernatural Curriculum. 3rd Quarter. (DVD) Reed, Deborah. God Has Nice Things to Say. Reed, Deborah. Leading Children in True Worship. Silk, Danny. The 7 Pillars: Creating Healthy Relationships (Loving on Purpose Relationship Skills). Silk, Danny. The 90/10 Factor: Where Love and Life Flow (Loving on Purpose Relationship Skills). 10 Silk, Danny. Becoming a Man. Silk, Danny. The Communication Dance (Loving on Purpose Relationship Skills). Silk, Danny. The Community of Believers. Silk, Danny. Creating a Culture of Life. Silk, Danny. A Culture of Honor (Loving on Purpose Leadership Series). Silk, Danny. Defining the Relationship: A Premarital Course for Those Considering Marriage (Loving on Purpose: Relationship Skills) (9 discs). Silk, Danny. First Class Calling. Silk, Danny. Freedom to the Earth (Loving on Purpose Leadership Series). Silk, Danny. Helping People (8 discs). Silk, Danny. Keys to Confrontation (Loving on Purpose: Relationship Skills). Silk, Danny. Little by Little. Silk, Danny. Love Languages. Loving on Purpose: Relationship Skills. Silk, Danny. Loving Our Kids on Purpose: Preparing Our Kids for the Kingdom of God (Loving on Purpose: Biblical Parenting) (6 discs). Box 15 Silk, Danny. Men and Women (Loving on Purpose Relationship Skills). Silk, Danny. Mistake Management. Silk, Danny. Powerful and Free: Women in the Church. (Loving on Purpose: Leadership Series). Silk, Danny. Revolution to Transformation. Loving on Purpose: Leadership Series. Silk, Danny. The Top Priority of Leadership. Silk, Danny. True and False Anointings. Silk, Danny. What is Your Name? Silk, Danny. Unpunishable: The Fruit of the Cross. (Loving on Purpose: Leadership Series) Silk, Danny. Look Into My Eyes. Silk, Sheri. What Lies Beneath: Greatness Revealed. Silk, Sheri. Women of Influence. Vallotton, Kris. 7 Pillars of Society. (6 discs) Vallotton, Kris. All the King's Men (6 discs) Vallotton, Kris. Attributes of Royalty: Training for Reigning (6 discs) Vallotton, Kris. Back to the Future. Vallotton, Kris. Bethel School of the Prophets: Volume 1 (8 discs) Box 16 Vallotton, Kris. Bethel School of the Prophets: Volume 2 (15 discs) Vallotton, Kris. The Conquest of Your Promised Land: A Prophetic Journey. (4 discs) Vallotton, Kris. Context for Justice. Vallotton, Kris. Developing a Legacy. (4 discs) Vallotton, Kris. Developing a Prophetic Culture. (4 discs) Vallotton, Kris. Dreamers and the Ministry of Encouragement. (2 discs) Vallotton, Kris. The Father's Blessing. 11 Vallotton, Kris. Fear is Not Your Friend. (2 discs) Vallotton, Kris. Fighting for Your Place in History. (2 discs) Vallotton, Kris. For the Love of God. Vallotton, Kris. From Glory to Glory: Biblical Patterns for Sustaining Revival. (4 discs) Vallotton, Kris. Going Down to the Top. Vallotton, Kris. Holy Affection. Vallotton, Kris. Imitators of God. (2 discs) Vallotton, Kris. Kingdom Transitions. Vallotton, Kris. Leadership for a New Millenium. (2 discs) Vallotton, Kris. Leadership for the New Epoch Transition: Part One. (4 discs) Vallotton, Kris. Leadership for the New Epoch Transition: Part Two. (4 discs) Box 17 Vallotton, Kris. Life Is Messy. Vallotton, Kris. Living From Eternity. Vallotton, Kris. Living from the Secret Place. Vallotton, Kris. Living in Graceland. (4 discs) Vallotton, Kris. Love Never Fails. Vallotton, Kris. Ministering in the Spirit of Elijah. (5 discs) Vallotton, Kris. Mission: Apostle. (4 discs) Vallotton, Kris. The New Wineskin. Vallotton, Kris. From Paupers to Princes. (2 discs) Vallotton, Kris. Purity: From the Battlefield to the Bedroom. Vallotton, Kris. Ravaging the Gates of Hell: A Personal Journey (2 discs) Vallotton, Kris. Rebuilding the Altar. Vallotton, Kris. Rebuilding the Tabernacle of David. (2 discs) Vallotton, Kris. Seasons of Your Life. (2 discs) Vallotton, Kris. Spirit Wars. (2 discs) Vallotton, Kris. The Tipping Point. Vallotton, Kris. All Truth is Not Created Equal. Vallotton, Kris. Unity of the Spirit. Vallotton, Kris.What Is That On Your Lens? Vallotton, Kris. What's On Your Mind? Van Mol, Andre. Bioethics and Christian World View. (8 discs) Series 3: Manuals Box 18 Clark, Randy. Global Awakening School of Healing and Impartation Anthology Workbook. Desilva, Dawna and Teresa Liebscher. Sozo: Saved, Healed, Delivered. Advanced. Desilva, Dawna and Teresa Liebscher. Sozo: Saved, Healed, Delivered. Basic. Johnson, Bonnie. Kingdom Keys. Johnson, Eric and Anne Kalvestrand. Bethel Missions: Strategies for Transforming 12 Nations. Liebscher, Teresa. Shabar DVD Training Manual. Box 19 Prayer Servant Handbook. Silk, Danny. Defining the Relationship: A Premarital Course for Those Considering Marriage. Vallotton, Kris. Basic Training for the Prophetic Ministry. Vallotton, Kris. Basic Training for the Supernatural Ways of Royalty. Vallotton, Kris. Bethel School of the Prophets. Series 4: Miscellaneous handouts, flyers, and bulletins Box 20 The Christmas Angel The Healing of a Leper — A True Story by John G. Lake It was Christmas season in the mountains of Basotoland, South Africa. Everything seemed extremely unchristmaslike to an American. Instead of snow and skating, green Christmas trees with their brilliant lightings, the thousand gifts of love, the splendid turkeys and Christmas puddings, and all that goes to make an American Christmas, the boiling sun and the hot winds from the desert search every nook and corner. Santa Claus himself, instead of appearing with bells and reindeer, fur coat and whiskers, comes with a loose red robe, and rides a camel. On the Southern hemisphere, the seasons are reversed. Instead of Christmas coming in winter, it comes in the midst of the summer season. Indeed, everything is different. Even the skies, which have always seemed to us to be a fixture, have changed. The great bear has disappeared, the North Star, which to every Westerner, is the travelers guide, cannot be seen here. On the opposite side of the earth new stars appear. Instead of the North Star is the Southern Cross, possibly the most loved of the starry groups. A native hut, in general form like a round beehive, is seen in the distance. The framework is made of poles stood on end about three feet apart. Between these poles native women weave the small branches of trees, inside and out, as you would weave a basket. It is then plastered with mud, and made smooth. The roof is of thatch, composed of long grasses, found in marshes a hundred miles away. They are cut by women and carried in bundles on the heads of the children to the site of the hut. The floors of these huts are made of ant heaps, beaten until they are almost like cement. Then as top dressing for the floors soft cow manure is spread about an inch thick. When dry it is like a brown paper. Every week the native girls give the floors a light dressing of fresh manure to fill the cracks and indentations, which keeps the floor perfectly smooth. For brooms a bunch of long grass is tied with strings. In place of a soft mattress a mat of rushes lies on the floor, and for a pillow a stick of wood two inches thick stands on legs about six inches from the floor. No windows of any kind in these huts. Inside it is semi-darkness. The only light admitted it through the low door, when it is permitted to be open. There is no chimney or exit for the smoke. A fire of dry cow manure is made in the middle of the floor and the place is densely filled with smoke. When inside the hut one stands on their feet until the upper part of the hut is so filled with smoke that you breathe it in such quantities that you feel the need of relief. You try sitting down, and gradually the smoke comes down to you. Eventually you lie on the floor, and when you have learned the ways of the natives thoroughly and want to sleep, you turn your face toward the floor, as the smoke is lighter at the bottom. In one corner of the hut a young man lies suffering. We tell him of the glad Christmas season, of the Christ Who was born. As the Babe of Bethlehem, of the host of angels who sang at His birth, of the shepherds and the wise men. We tell him that He is the Redeemer of the world, that He came to take away the sorrows and sickness of man. And suddenly rising on his elbow he inquires, "Will He take away Basuto sickness?" (Leprosy) We tell him that our Christ is a Savior from both sin and sickness and is able to heal all disease. A year has flown. It is Christmas again. This time we are traveling in a Boer wagon, almost as large as an American freight car. Sixteen oxen draw the wagon over the mountains. The wagon is fitted with great brakes to keep it from running on top of the oxen as they descend the mountains. It is evening time. A great shouting of the native drivers and a mighty cracking of their long whips indicates that they are endeavoring to stop the team. Then the Boer farmer (a Dutchman), who is the owner of the wagon, shouts "Outspan," meaning unhitch, and the native men proceed to loose the oxen and turn them out for pasture. The other natives prepare supper on a fire built on the ground under the wagon. We are just preparing to spread our blankets and lie down for the night when across the veld, a mile away, another wagon is seen approaching. When it come close, one of the natives accompanying the wagon, salutes us, and asks if he may talk with the white man. We all sit together on the ground while he tells us at great length that his brother, a sick man, is in the wagon, also his aged mother. That many moons ago a white man had come to their hut and talked to the sick brother of One, Jesus, Who loved men, Who died for them, Who saves them from their sin and heals them of sicknesses. He said pathetically, "We are seeking for Him, that my brother may be healed." The native told us that four days before, in the nighttime, an angel came to his brother in the hut as he slept. And taking him by the shoulder awoke him, saying to him, "Come with me" The sick man replied that he was too weak, that he could not walk. Then the angel took him by the arm and permitted him to lean upon him, led him out of the hut and down the road a short distance to where the two roads divide. Pointing down the road leading to the right the angel said, "Take your oxen and wagon and go three days on this road; cross the great river into the Orange Free State, and on the third evening, when the sun is set, you will find some white men camping by a wagon. They are missionaries. They will pray for you and you will be healed of your sickness." In the morning, the young man, believing it to be a dream, told his aged mother, who related it to the brother. The old mother was not inclined to pay much attention, saying simply, "My son has dreamed." But the younger brother said: "The white people are having a Christmas, and I have heard that Christmas angels come to the earth to help the poor and the sick. Perhaps it is the Christmas angel that has come to my brother. We had better obey the words of the angel." So the oxen were found and hitched to the wagon; a pile of grasses was put in the bottom and the sick man laid upon them and for three days they laboriously traveled over the mountains, looking for the fulfillment of the angel's words. We were greatly impressed by the simplicity and sincerity of the native's statement, and at 11 o'clock at night, when he had finished relating to us in true native fashion his story, we accompanied him to the wagon where the sick man lay. Looking into the beautiful heavens and realizing that possibly at that very hour, under the same beautiful skies of Palestine the Christ had been born, and the shepherds had listened to the joy notes of the angel host. When "Peace on earth, good will to men," had come as the message of God to the sorrowing world. We reverently obeyed the word of Christ, laid our hands upon the sick man, praying that the power of God should come upon him and heal him of this terrible disease and enlighten his spirit with a knowledge of God and His love. His face changed; a glory light began to appear in his soul, the peace of God was in him, the virtue of Jesus flowed through him and his pains were gone. He fell asleep. Christmas morning he bid us goodbye, saying, "I am going home again to tell all my people of your Jesus and of how he healed me, and of your Christmas angel, and of the power of your wonderful God, Who has made me well." While we proceeded on our journey rejoicing that the Christmas angel ever leads the way to the healing of Christ. Source: John G. Lake: His Life, His Sermons, His Boldness of Faith Kenneth Copeland Publications The Disciples Go Fishing John 21:1-14 INTRO: The first and final miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ, while on earth, were performed in Galilee. The first miracle was turning water into wine at the marriage supper at Cana of Galilee; and the final miracle is the great catch of fish as recorded in verse 6 of this chapter. The Sea of Galilee, also known as the Lake of Gennesaret and here called the Sea of Tiberias, the Roman name for the lake, was a place of blessed memories for the disciples. It is this sea over which the disciples rowed hard in the storm as Jesus slept. Jesus walked across this sea, and Peter left the little ship to meet Him. This lake is often stormy, but the Master of the sea stilled the waves by saying: "Peace be still." In this lake, Peter caught the fish which supplies the coin to pay the tax. Two thousand demon possessed pigs committed hogicide in this lake. On its shore, thousands were fed by the blessed Lord. And here once again, we find ourselves at the Sea of Galilee. I. VSS 1-3, SEVEN ON THE SEA A. Vs 1, "After these things," points to the six earlier post resurrection appearances of the Lord. 1. "Jesus showed Himself." The word for "showed" is phaneroo meaning "to manifest." a. He displayed His glory. b. He proved His love, power, and majesty. 2. "At the Sea of Tiberias." a. The disciples were in Galilee because the Lord had left word for them to meet Him there (Mt 28:10). b. Matt 28:16 tells us that the disciples did as they were instructed. 3. "On this wise showed He Himself." This is added because of the rather lengthy appearance recorded here. B. Vs 2, Here we see seven disciples gathered together. 1. Peter, who denied the Lord three times, heads the list; and Thomas, the doubter, is second. This surely speaks of grace and mercy of the Lord. 2. We see Thomas right next to Peter. It seems as if he is staying closer to the assembly of the disciples than ever before. a. Matthew Henry said: "It is well if losses by our neglect make us more careful afterwards not to let opportunities slip" (Vol 5:1225). b. Every time we miss assembly of the saints, we miss the presence of the Lord revealed in a special way (Mt 18:20). C. Vs 3, Peter, as usual, takes the lead and says to the others: "I go a fishing." 1. Years before the Lord had specifically called Peter to turn from fishing for fish to fish for men (Lk 5:11). Now it looks as though Peter is trying to break back into commercial fishing. 2. Peter and the others are acting on the prompting of the flesh. a. It is night time. This suggest that they are walking as children of night, not children of light. b. The Lord did not appear to them that night. They were left to themselves. c. They "caught nothing." This suggests that God's servants cannot expect blessings of the Lord when they choose the when and where of their work. d. Every servant of God must learn that the words of the Lord are true when He says: "Without me, ye can do nothing" (15:5). 3. They "entered into a ship immediately." a. They didn't pray. b. They didn't stop to weigh Peter's words. They acted upon the prompting of the flesh. 4. The most unhappy men that I've ever known are men who left the ministry completely to go into the world of business; and men who have refused to forsake all and answer the call to the ministry. II. VSS 4-8, SEVEN SUCCESSFUL FISHERMAN A. Vs 4, The disciples, having returned to their worldly business, occupied with their bodily needs fail to recognize the Lord. 1. It is evident that the disciples were not expecting the Lord. He was near, and they didn't know Him. How often is it that He draws near to us, and we know Him not because of our worldliness? 2. The Greek word here for "know" and the Greek words in 20:44 are the same. Mary "knew not it was Jesus," because of her preoccupation with death and sorrow. The disciples "knew not that it was Jesus," because they had gone back to their worldly roots. B. Vs 5, Jesus calls out to the disciples as they row toward shore: "Children, have ye any meat?" "Did you catch anything?" Why did Jesus ask this? 1. First, we know that He knew the answer already, so the asking of the question was for their instruction and good. 2. The question would draw a confession of their failure. a. Before God supplies our need, we must be conscious of our emptiness. We need to pray, "give us this day our daily bread." b. Before God gives strength, we must see and feel our weakness. 3. Just as the Lord on the shore was concerned about the disciples, The Lord on the shore of heaven, the place where we who believe are bound, speaks to us in concern for us. C. Vs 6, The Lord, in omniscience, knew where the fish were. He is Sovereign of the sea. 1. The disciples had confessed their failure; now the Lord could bless. 2. When we lay aside our humanistic thoughts of self sufficiency and see how we need Jesus, He will fill our spiritual nets. D. Vs 7, This is just like Peter. John is the first to recognize the Lord, but it is Peter who is the first to jump into action. The boat was too slow for Peter. 1. Peter had been stripped down to the loin clothe. 2. He and the others had been working alone, men only; but now, he was about to meet the Lord and his dress was not appropriate. E. Vs 8, Can anyone doubt that John loved Jesus any less than Peter. Yet, John comes in with the boat instead of jumping overboard while still some way out from shore. 1. Don't criticize those who may not react just like you in spiritual matters. 2. Thank God for the Peter's, and thank Him for the John's. III. VSS 9-14, SEVEN JOYFUL FISHERMEN DINING WITH JESUS A. Vs 9, Jesus cares for the physical needs of these disciples, and He still cares for us. Jesus knows these men are tired and hungry, and He provides for them (Psa 103:14). 1. The fire of coals are the same type as those in the courtyard where Peter denied the Lord. 2. The bread and fish would remind all those present that Jesus had fed the multitude. B. Vs 10, The emphasis is on the word "now." 1. The Lord wanted the disciples to see that the secret of their success was in the obeying His command. 2. The fish in this catch symbolize the spiritual catch we can have if we obey the Lord. C. Vs 11, Peter was no wimp; he drew the net. 1. When Peter denied the Lord, he was weak. 2. When Peter obeyed the Lord, he was strong. D. Vs 12, "Come and dine." What a wonderful invitation, an invitation to come near and partake of His provision. 1. "Come," a wonderful word of invitation to sinners. a. John 7:37: "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." b. Mt 11:28: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." c. Rev 22:17: "The spirit and the bride say come...." 2. The disciples are awed by the Lord, and their mouths stay shut. E. Vs 13, To share ones bread, in the culture of the time, showed the bond of friendship. What a friend we have in Jesus. F. Vs 14, This speaks of our Lord's appearance to the disciples as a group. Christ is the risen Lord! CONCLUSION: You are invited to "come and dine" with Jesus. Dr. Cecil A. Fayard, Jr. 9/2/07 The Rev. Michael C. Fedewa May 22, 2011 Acts 7:55-60 Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16 1 Peter 2:2-10 John 14:1-14 I have to confess, it has been a bit difficult this week to prepare a sermon. There have been the usual distractions of home and church happenings and responsibilities, the usual distractions of the news of the world. And added to these distractions is the prediction that yesterday was judgment day. The news of this prediction has been building for months. Bus caravans, planes with signs, billboards, and TV headlines—even in the Wall Street Journal, comedy skits, full page ads in newspapers all remind us of that May 21 is the day. One comment was that yesterday was not the day to buy green bananas. Likewise, this might not be the week to spend many hours writing a sermon. In my distracted state, I recall the advice given by Doctor Stanley Walters, a New Testament professor I had at Central Michigan University my freshman year of college. This was the year of the comet Kohoutek. Many at the time were caught up in the frenzy that Kohoutek would bring about the end of the world. Dr. Walters told our class. "People have been predicting the end of the world for thousands of years. They have always been wrong. I suspect they are wrong this time as well." With Dr. Walters' words in mind, I decided it was ok to buy some green bananas and to write my sermon. I knew that the odds were pretty good that I would have the chance to eat the bananas and preach my sermon. But, even as I sat to prepare my sermon, my distractions remained. What if it's true? Would it be that bad, really? If and when the end comes, won't it be wonderful to be reunited with those we love; won't it be wonderful to live in the eternal presence of God? If God were to return and creation to its fulfillment, if God did return to destroy the evil that plague creation is that really all that awful? When creation is fulfilled, we will no longer be plagued by worries of war, violence and terrorism, by fear and despair. We will no longer have to worry about global warming, rising oceans, water and food shortages, and the price of gas. We will no longer have to worry about family members who are sick, or dying, those imprisoned by addiction, children who struggle, with families in crisis, with all of the worries that make us anxious and trouble our hearts. Jesus tells his followers to not let their hearts be troubled. Instead, "believe in God, and believe in me," Jesus says. Believe because even as I go, I remain, even in my leaving I will dwell with you. You can't tell if Jesus is coming or going. You can't tell because really both are true. Jesus is going and coming. He is absent and he is present. Jesus dwells with the Father in heaven and dwells with us on earth. Every year in the weeks after Easter, the Gospel stories change in focus. In the Sundays immediately following Easter, the Gospels recounted for us the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus. Jesus appears in locked rooms, he appears on the lake shore, or on the road. The resurrected Jesus teaches his disciples, forgives them, and eats with them. Now later in the Easter season, today and on the Sundays to come, Jesus begins to prepare his followers for his departure. The time will come when Jesus will no longer be bodily present to his followers. But even as he goes, he will come. Even as he is absent, he will be present. Do not let your hearts be troubled because even as Jesus returns to the Father, he will remain with the disciples. Even as he dwells with the Father, he will continue to dwell on earth. Jesus did not return yesterday, because even in his absence, he remained among us. This is the most amazing truth of our faith. Jesus continues to abide and dwell on this earth. Do you believe in the Holy Spirit? Yes we do. We believe in the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus who continues to live in this world. The Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus lives in us. And in the power of that Spirit we do the works of Jesus, indeed we do even greater works than Jesus. In the power of the Spirit of Jesus, he continues to accomplish his work through us. And our work, like the work of Jesus is to reveal the Father. Philip says to Jesus, show us the Father. The world pleads to us, the followers of Jesus, show us the Father. In the power of the spirit of Jesus that is the greatest work that we can do, we can reveal the Father; we can reveal God to the world. We do this work by living as Jesus did. By feeding the hungry, by giving clean water to the thirsty, by sheltering the homeless, by welcoming the stranger. We do this work by forgiving. In the story from the Acts of the Apostles, Stephen is put to death, and even as he is dying he forgives those who are killing him. He is filled with the Holy Spirit so the forgiving work of Jesus who forgave those who put him to death on the cross is continuing in Stephen. I Peter calls his readers to come to Jesus, the Living Stone. A Living Stone? As we come to Jesus, we are changed, we become Living Stones. We become stones, alive with the Spirit, alive with the Spirit of Jesus. We are living stones that the spirit uses in building the dwelling place of God, the kingdom of God on earth. Living Stones, Coming and Going. Heaven on earth. Living Stones. Coming and Going. Heaven on earth. It is easy to be a bit smug today. Easy to poke fun at those who were certain that yesterday was judgment. But, instead of being smug, perhaps it best to feel sad. Many of them lost their life savings because of their belief. How truly sad! Perhaps we should also be a bit humbled. Perhaps if we truly revealed the face of our loving merciful God, if we truly did the work of Jesus, if we truly lived as if Jesus was indeed dwelling among us, they would not be circling a date on the calendar for his return. May we live in a way that proclaims the truth of his abiding presence. Jesus did not come back yesterday. He did not come back, because truly, he never left. In the Spirit he dwells in the Father. In the Spirit he dwells in this world today. God, the Spirit of Jesus, was here yesterday. God, the Spirit of Jesus, is here today. God, the Spirit of Jesus, will be here forever. May we live in a way that proves this to be true. GENE'S RECOMMENDED READING LIST Title Author 1 Bible Doctrines P.C. Nelson 2 Unlimited Partnership: God and the Businessman Bob Yandian 3 Pulling Down Strongholds John Osteen 4 Keys to Better Preaching John Garlock 5 Evangelism for the Rest of Us Mike Bechtle 6 Entering the Spiritual House Rev. & Mrs. J.R. Goodwin 7 The Holy Spirit's Three Gifts of Utterance Rev. & Mrs. J.R. Goodwin 8 The Holy Spirit's Three Gifts of Revelation Rev. & Mrs. J.R. Goodwin 9 The Holy Spirit's Three Gifts of Power Rev. & Mrs. J.R. Goodwin 10 Plans, Puposes, and Pursuits Kenneth E. Hagin 11 The Miracle of the Scarlet Thread Richard Booker 12 The Vocal Gifts of the Spirit Howard P. Courtney 13 Gifts of the Holy Spirit Kenneth E. Hagin 14 Understanding the Anointing Kenneth E. Hagin 15 Biblical Keys to Financial Prosperity Kenneth E. Hagin 16 Old Testament Survey Kevin Connor & Ken Malmin 17 God's Amorbearer Terry Nance 18 Healing the Sick T.L. Osborn 19 101 Ways to Help People in Need Steve & Janie Sjogren 20 He Gave Gifts Unto Men Kenneth E. Hagin 21 Seven Things You Should Know About Divine Healing Kenneth E. Hagin 22 In Search of Timothy Tony Cooke 23 Jesus-Name Above all Names Kenneth Hagin Jr. 24 Healing Treasury Lilian B. Yeomans, M.D. 25 Twelve Ordinary Men John MacArthur 26 Foundations of Pentecostal Theology Guy P. Duffield & Nathaniel M. Van Cleave 27 Sparkling Gems from the Greek Rick Renner 28 How You Can Be Lead By the Spirit of God Kenneth E. Hagin 29 The Complete Evangelism Guidebook Scott Dawson 30 The Blood and the Glory Billye Brim 31 His Life, His Sermons, His Boldness of Faith John G. Lake 32 New Testament Survey Merrill C. Tenney 33 New Thresholds of Faith Kenneth E. Hagin 34 In the Footsteps of a Prophet Jerry Savelle 35 The New Analytical Greek Lexicon Wesley J. Perschbacher 36 The Believers Guide to Spiritual Warfare Thomas B. White 37 God's Will for You Gloria Copeland 38 It's Not What You Say, It's How You Say It Joan Dets 39 Two Part Giving of the Holy Ghost Robert Snyder 40 The Book of Virtues William Bennet 41 Merchandising the Anointing Rick Renner 42 Whats Amazing About Grace Phillip Yancey 43 Our Spiritual Gifts Smith Wissleworth 44 The Laws of Prosperity Kenneth Copeland 45 In His Presence E.W. Kenyon 46 Spiritual Leadership Joswald Sanders 47 The Dynamic Duo Rick Renner 48 Becoming A Millionaire God's Way C. Thomas Anderson 49 What Happened From the Cross to the Throne E.W. Kenyon 50 Ministering to Your Family Kenneth E. Hagin 51 Zoe The God Kind of Life Kenneth E. Hagin 52 Don't Quit Your Faith Will See You Through Kenneth E. Hagin 53 Spirit Within Spirit Upon Kenneth E. Hagin 54 Triumph Church Kenneth E. Hagin 55 What To Do When Your Faith Seems Weak Kenneth E. Hagin 56 The Present Day Ministry of Jesus Kenneth E. Hagin 57 The Holy Spirit and the Gifts Kenneth E. Hagin 58 Believers Authority Kenneth E. Hagin 59 Growing Up Spiritually Kenneth E. Hagin 60 I Believe In Visions Kenneth E. Hagin 61 Exceetingly Growing Faith Kenneth E. Hagin 62 The Name of Jesus Kenneth E. Hagin 63 How to Fight the Good Fight of Faith Kenneth E. Hagin 64 The Father and His Family E.W. Kenyon 65 The Purpose and Power of Praise and Worship Dr. Myles Munroe 66 Tongues: Beyond the Upper Room Kenneth E. Hagin 67 Theological Dictionary of the New Testament Geoffrey W. Bromiley