By Kenneth E. Hagin
GOD IS MOVING SUPERNATURALLY By His SPIRIT TODAY JUST AS HE DID IN THE DAYS OF THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. AND WE CAN LEARN TO BE YIELDED VESSELS UNTO HIM, ACCURATELY FOLLOWING THE HOLY GHOST’S LEADING!
In the days that lie ahead of the Church, we’re going to see more and more spectacular things happen as God moves by His Spirit, Therefore, we need to be able to recognize when God’s Spirit is in demonstration
and then flow with the move of the Holy Ghost.
One of the reasons God moves by His Spirit in various ways is that people are at different levels spiritually, and they may not all receive from God in the same way. So at times, God moves by His Spirit in a special way to bless people and meet their needs. For example, one way the Scripture says that He moves for the sake of the unbeliever is by signs and wonders (John 4:48; Acts 5:12-14).
In Part I of this teaching, we looked at the record of Saul’s salvation experience in Acts chapter 9. It’s evident that Saul had a call of God upon his life, because Jesus said in verse 15, “… he is A CHOSEN VES-
SEL UNTO ME, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel.” But God chose to move in a special way – a way out of the ordinary – to reach Saul when he was traveling on the road to
Damascus (Acts 9:3-17).
We mentioned that ordinarily people are saved through the preaching of the Gospel (Mark 16:15,16). Saul, however, was blinded by a light from Heaven, and Jesus Himself spoke to him. Then the Lord supernaturally led Ananias to go to Saul and minister to him through the laying on of hands!
Now Ananias was just a disciple, or a layman as we would call him (Acts 9:10), yet God used him. And I believe God wants to use laymen today.
I’m not saying God wants to use everybody in a spectacular, supernatural way as He did with Ananias. But if God does want to use you, be sensitive to His Spirit. And be open for Him to use you in the way that He chooses so you can be a blessing and a help. –
I remember several years ago, a businessman told me a story of how God used him in a special way. He’d just been filled with the Holy Ghost, so he was still pretty new to the things of the Spirit. But his testimony is a good example of how any believer can be a tremendous blessing just by following the Holy Spirit and doing things God’s way.
I was holding a seminar in Texas in cooperation with the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship at the time. This man was the president of a nearby local chapter, and he was attending the meeting. He told me one night before service, “Brother Hagin, I’m new at all this, but something unusual happened to me on the way home from the office today.”
I asked, “What happened?”
“Well,” he said, “it was pouring down rain when I left work, and traffic was very heavy. I was trying to cross an intersection, but the cars were inching ahead so slowly, the traffic signal changed two or three times before I even got to the corner.
“There was a big church with a parking lot directly to my right. And while I was waiting for the light to change, an inward voice seemed to say to me, ‘Pull into that parking lot.’ “I thought, Now that’s stupid.
If I pull into that lot, Then going to miss my turn to make this light. So I dismissed it. But that inward voice said the same thing to me a second and a third time.
“Well, finally I went ahead and pulled my car into the parking lot. Then I said, ‘All right, I’m here. Now what am I going to do? And just as if someone were in the back seat of my car speaking to me, I heard, ‘I want you to go lay hands on the priest inside the church to be filled with the Holy Ghost’!
“At first I just sat there, thinking, I’ve lost my mind! But then I decided the only way to find out whether or not I’d missed it was to go inside the church. So I did – just to prove it out.”
The man continued: “I wandered inside the building for a little while Finally I saw a door, and I knocked on it. A man’s voice answered, ‘Come in.’ I opened the door and saw a priest sitting at a desk with a Bible and a book open.
“I introduced myself, mentioning that I was the president of the local Full Gospel Business Men’s chapter. As soon as I said that, this priest jumped out of his chair and began shouting, ‘Wooo! Glory to God! Hallelujah!’ He almost scared me right out of my boots!
“He came running up to me, took my hand, and said, ‘I was just reading this book written by a clergyman in our denomination who was filled with the Holy Spirit at a Full Gospel Business Men’s fellowship. It
hasn’t even been ten minutes ago that’, I prayed, ‘Lord, I don’t know if there’s a Full Gospel Business Men’s chapter in this city. But if there is one, send one of their people by to pray for me to be filled with the Spirit!’
“That priest got down on his knees and said, ‘Put your hands on me!’ So I laid hands on him, and he was instantly filled with the Holy Ghost, speaking in tongues!”
Well, that sounds like something right out of the Acts of the Apostles, doesn’t it? But the truth of the matter is, we’re still living in the “acts of the apostles”!
The Book of Acts is called the Acts of the Apostles. But, really, we ought to call it the “Acts of the Holy Ghost Through the Apostles in the Early Church” or the “Acts of the Lord Jesus in the Early Church
Through the Holy Ghost.”
You see, Jesus Christ is still Lord. He is still the Head of the Church. He’s the same Jesus today as He was in the Early Church. And He’s still moving by His Spirit through the Church in many different ways sometimes in ways we think are spectacular or unusual – to accomplish God’s purposes in the earth today! Glory to God!
Now suppose that businessman hadn’t yielded to the Holy Spirit because God was moving in an unusual way – a way that he wasn’t familiar with? Well, you can readily see he would have missed it. But thank God, he did yield. And because he did it God’s way instead of following his own natural understanding he was able to be a great blessing.
You see, we often miss God because we’re not sensitive enough to the leading of the Holy Spirit and to what He’s saying to us. But we’re learning!
I thank God for what He had already done. But there is more We’ve walked in the light of the Word in many areas, and we’ve been blessed in a measure. But I want more than measure. I want the fullness of
all that God has for us. And I believe God is endeavoring to teach us some things about flowing with the Holy Spirit so He can do what He wants to do through us in these last days.
You see, whether you believe it or not, we’re coming to the end of the age. You can tell that’s so just by reading the Bible, because the Word gives a very clear picture of how things will be in the last days.
I’m not referring to the biblical symbols that some might misinterpret. I’m talking about foolproof signs that Jesus gave, such as: wars and rumors of wars, pestilence, famine, and earthquakes in diverse places.
(For further study, see Luke chapter 21. Also, see Brother Hagin’s minibook Signs of the Times.)
In Luke 21:28 Jesus said, “… when these things begin to come to pass, then LOOK UP, and LIFT UP YOUR HEADS; for YOUR REDEMPTION DRAWETH NIGH.” Well, we’re at least in the beginning of the end because the signs Jesus talked about in Luke 21 are happening today!
So friends, it’s time to lift up our heads! It’s time to rejoice, for our redemption – that is our full redemption – draweth nigh! Yes, the inward man is redeemed and born again, but the outward man is going to
be redeemed too. We’re going to have new bodies! Hallelujah! – But what I started to say is, thank God for what He has done and for what He is doing. But in order for God to fully accomplish His
purposes in these last days before Jesus returns, we must learn to be more sensitive to the Holy Spirit and learn how to do things God’s way! However, learning how to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit is not
something that happens automatically; it’s something in which you have to develop. But you can learn to recognize when the Spirit of God is in operation and know what He wants to do. Then you can cooperate with the moving and leading of the Spirit and let him have His way.
For instance, the Lord instructed me to start holding Holy Ghost Meetings, saying, “There is a move of the Spirit that this generation will I miss – it will be lost to them unless you teach them.” So for more than two years now, we’ve been having Holy Ghost Meetings.
Someone referred to these Holy Ghost Meetings as preparatory meetings because people are learning how to “hook up” and flow with the move of the Holy Ghost in the services. Actually, people are being taught by
precept through the Word and by example through the Holy Spirit. And that’s good preparation for learning how to yield to what God wants to do in these last days!
I believe we’re in for a great time ahead because these last days are going to be the best ones for the Church! And thank God, we’re all learning. We’re going on with God. We’re going on with the Word. And
we’re going on with the Holy Ghost, learning to do things God’s way and not according to our own plans.
Most folks won’t argue with you when you say you’re going on with God or you’re going on with the Word. But when you say you’re going on with the Holy Ghost, sometimes people misunderstand. They think you’re teaching that anything goes.
But we’re not talking about just yielding to a bunch of foolishness. We’re talking about yielding to the Spirit of God in line with the Word because the Holy Spirit never moves or leads folks to do anything contrary to the Word!
Now although we have a scriptural basis for the manifestations of God’s Spirit in ministering to people, there may be some demonstrations of the Holy Ghost that occur during ministry that we don’t necessarily
have direct scriptures for. But we can still know how to judge them in line with the Word. For example, did you ever stop to think about some of the different ways God healed and restored people under the ministry
of Jesus?
For instance, when Jesus ministered to one deaf man who had an impediment in his speech, He took him aside from the multitude (some-times you have to take people aside from an unbelieving crowd before
they can receive their healing). Jesus put His fingers in the man’s ears; then He spit and touched the man’s tongue.
Well, did Jesus have any scripture for using s it on that fellow? No, no one had ever done that anywhere in the Old Testament. But the man’s ears were opened, and his tongue was loosed (Mark 7:32-35)!
Another time a blind man was brought to Jesus when Jesus came to Bethsaida. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the city. Then the Bible says that He spit on the blind man’s eyes. Spit
on his eyes? Yes, that what it says! Next Jesus laid hands on the man and asked him what he saw. The man said, “I see men as trees, walking.” So Jesus laid His hands on the man’s eyes again and made him look up. This time the man saw “every man clearly” (Mark 8:22-25).
Then in chapter 9 of John’s Gospel, Jesus healed another blind man in an unusual way. He spit on the ground, made clay of the spittle, and then anointed the blind man’s eyes with the clay. He told the man,
“Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” The man obeyed Jesus and came forth seeing (vv. 1-7)!
Now in all three of these New Testament examples, Jesus didn’t have any specific scripture or precedent for the demonstration that occurred as He ministered to each man. But here’s how to judge those
demonstrations in line with the Word: Did they bring results? Did they bring glory to God?
You see, sometimes God will move in a supernatural way that doesn’t make sense to the natural mind. But if you don’t have any particular scripture or precedent to go by, simply ask yourself, “Did that manifestation or demonstration of the Spirit work did it bring healing or blessing? Did it bring glory to God?” Or when you examine what happened, do you see that it exalts man and that folks weren’t really
delivered anyway?
My first experience along this line was back in 1950 when the Spirit of the Lord led me to do something that I had no chapter and verse for, so to speak. I was ministering in a healing line, and there was a 72-
year-old woman with a stomach tumor who looked as if she were nine months pregnant.
Doctors had operated on this woman twice to remove her tumor. But when the tumor came back the third time, they decided she’d live longer if they didn’t touch it anymore. The doctors had given her two years to
live.
The woman said to me, “Brother Hagin, eighteen months have since come and gone, and you see this huge tumor.”
I said, “Jesus will heal you.”
She said, “I know it.”
I said, “Thank God, isn’t it wonderful that we have inside information?” (By that I meant knowledge from inside the Word.)
“Yes,” she said. “Himself took my infirmity and bare my sickness.”
Well, I laid my hand on her forehead, and the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, “Hit her in the stomach with your fist.”
I had never punched anyone in a healing line before – and certainly not a woman! In fact, I don’t know if I’d ever seen anyone do something like that. I thought, I’ll just ignore that, and it’ll go away.
I put my hand on the woman again, and once more the Word- of the Lord came unto me, saying, “Hit her in the stomach with your fist.”
I said, “Lord, You’re going to get me in trouble if I start going around hitting women in the stomach.”
Now remember, I didn’t have any scripture for what the Spirit of -the Lord was leading me to do. But the Lord said the same thing to me about four times. Therefore, I had a choice to make.
You see, I could have followed my own understanding. I could have ignored the Holy Spirit’s prompting and just laid hands on the woman as I normally would have done. But I would have grieved the Holy Spirit,
and the anointing would have lifted.
No, I’d learned that it’s just a whole lot better to do things God’s way and to obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit. So I stopped and explained to the congregation what the Lord had told me to do. There
were only about four hundred people present, but they all saw what happened next.
I jabbed the woman in her stomach (not hard) with my fist. And instantly the tumor went down as if I’d stuck a pin in a balloon! The woman gathered up her dress around her flat stomach and said, “Why,
it’s gone!”
I said, “It sure has.”
The tumor had disintegrated. It just left! Praise God! Since then, the Lord has told me a number of times to “hit” certain people in the healing line. And every time, they’re always instantly healed.
Well, do I have any scripture for ministering to people in that way? No, not one. Do you have any against it? No, there’s not one. But did that particular demonstration of the Holy Spirit bring blessing to
mankind? Did it lift up Jesus? Well, thank God, every time it did.
You see, that’s the way you can judge whether something is in line with the Word of God.
I believe that will help some folks who don’t understand some things that have begun to happen by the Spirit of God in the Church. So just stay open. Ask yourself the questions, “Is the result bringing blessing to the people? Is it magnifying the Lord?” Then you’ll know whether or not it’s all right.
We’re still talking about the Holy Ghost – about being led by God’s Spirit and doing things God’s way. You see, all of this is connected, because the Holy Spirit is in manifestation and demonstration today.
Some people ask-, “Yes, but does the Holy Ghost move today like He did in the days of the Acts of the Apostles? Should we, expect spectacular, supernatural things to happen now as they happened then?”
Emphatically, yes! And I believe we’ll see even more supernatural demonstrations of the Holy Ghost in the days to come because the Holy Ghost is still the same today as He was back then!
Now you don’t have to work up or think up something spectacular, trying to make it happen. Just be yielded to the Holy Spirit and recognize that He doesn’t necessarily move the same way all the time. But
whatever way He does want to move, let’s be open to Him.
Yes, we’re living in the days of the Acts today – the acts of the Holy Ghost! So let’s get ready for what God wants to do in and through the Church.
Someone may ask, “How do we get ready?”
Live right. talk right. Act, right. Pray and seek the face of the Lord. Stay in the Word, and be open to the Holy Ghost and His direction because the Holy Spirit is your Teacher. He will lead and guide you into all truth, and He’ll teach you how to do things Gods way!
THE ABOVE ARTICLE HAS BEEN PUBLISHED BY THE WORD OF FAITH MAGAZINE, PP 2-7 IN JUNE 1996. THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN COPYRIGHTED AND MAY BE USED FOR STUDY AND RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY.
