Receive Ye The Holy Ghost Instantly!
By Evangelist W. V. Grant
You Tarry To Get Ready
Brother Murl was a dried-up deacon. in a dried-up church. His face was long, lifeless, and cloudy.
“Brother Murl, don’t you find it rather hard to quit cigarettes?” I softly asked, when I got him alone.
“Y-e-yes.” He looked pitifully at me, trying to grin, but with a sober, serious, sincere look, “Yes, I do. I have tried for three weeks at a time to quit. I have walked the floor and almost gone crazy; and I know I can’t live right and use them. I just can’t . . .”
I answered quickly, “I’m not trying to criticize you. You need to be helped and not criticized. You don’t need to be preached at; you really need to be delivered.”
His eyes lifted in hope as I continued, “I am willing to do without my supper and drive six miles out into the country, and pray every night until something happens.”
Now we were both working at our jobs, long and hard each day. It seemed hard, but I continued talking, “Brother Murl, if you become so nervous that you can’t work, I’ll buy your groceries; if you get so sick that you are bedfast, we will come and pray for you; if you are not able to be out of bed, I’ll pay your rent; and if it kills you to quit your cigarettes, we’ll roll you up the aisle in the casket, and I’ll preach your funeral, and– (a silence) where do you want to be buried?”
He looked up at me with a determination, then answered slowly, as only an honest Southerner can speak, “At Lone Hill Cemetery.” We both went to the little church across the river and prayed until midnight that night; but nothing happened. But the next night found both of us back again, without our evening meal. Nothing unusual happened. For ten nights in succession we went, praying and seeking!
On the tenth night, suddenly he threw up his hands and yielded! He fell flat on the floor, with one of his church brethren beside him. They both were filled instantly with the Holy Ghost; as about ten thousand volts of power came direct from the dynamo of heaven!
At that moment Brother Murl was delivered from tobacco and healed of some bunions on his feet. He had plowed and cried with them about thirty-five years! After eight years he is a shouting deacon, filled with the Holy Ghost, faithful to his church.
Every Christian Ready
But Brother Murl had spent that ten nights getting ready for the Holy Ghost. As soon as he was ready he was filled instantly!
Some folk live an up and down life. They really wouldn’t be ready to go if the Lord should call for them. Some professed Christians, or church members, confess their sins each day. They ask God to forgive them just before they go to sleep. They seem to become afraid when it comes dark. They may be afraid that they will die in their sleep. But if a truck should run over them about four o’clock in the afternoon they would be lost! If it does not matter, then why do they ask God to forgive them before they go to bed? Sin matters.
If you lie, you are a liar; if you steal, you are a thief; if you kill, you are a murderer; if you sin, you are a sinner. If you sin every day, from what are you saved?
After You Are Saved
The quicker you receive the Holy Ghost after you are saved the easier it is. The time to get filled is when you are empty. Jesus said ye shall receive the Holy Ghost not many days hence. Some folk have waited many years hence. Immediately after you are saved your house is empty, swept and garnished (Matt. 12 :44). If you wait long the evil spirits will return and bring more with them. If you move out of a house something will come in. It may be spiders and snakes. God never intended for you to wait a long time after you are saved.
Before Pentecost the hundred and twenty waited for a dispensational reason. The Holy Ghost was not yet given (John 7:37-39). After Pentecost people received it (it means the baptism of the Holy Ghost) instantly, immediately after conversion (Acts Chap. 8, 9, 10, 19).
The Main Reason
One time, after we had prayed loud and long for Mrs. Strickland to receive the Holy Ghost, we gave up in despair. A silence followed. Then she threw back her head and began to laugh, as she rejoiced in the spirit. Then she said, “This is the first time I was ever saved.”
The main reason that some people have such a hard time receiving the Holy Ghost is because they are like Mrs. Strickland. She had belonged to a church for years, professing that she was saved, but was not..
Recently I was praying for Miss Burns to receive the Holy Ghost. Suddenly I said through the Spirit, “You need to get saved first.” After she confessed her sins, and received forgiveness, the Spirit came upon her!
Absurd Idea
In Monroe, Louisiana I was praying for a man who was seeking the Baptism (Holy Ghost Baptism) when I noticed that he had no joy. Yet he was lying there saying, “Glory, glory, glory.”
“Brother, rejoice because your name is written in heaven. That is why the disciples rejoiced.” I was trying to help him.
“My name is not written in heaven,” he rather lazily answered.”What do you have to glory about ?” I inquired.
He had been taught that no one is saved until they receive the Holy Ghost.
That is a good group; but they could win more people if they did not preach all our good nominal church friends into hell. Some nominal church folk know they are saved. Many of our grandparents, who died shouting, will rise to meet Jesus in the air. In fact no one can receive the Baptism until his sins are forgiven. It would be absurd indeed to say that the Apostles, or Mary the Mother of Jesus, were not saved until they received the Pentecostal experience. The Samaritans were saved before they received the Holy Ghost.
“. .. after ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also AFTER that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Eph. 1 :13).
Clogged Wells
When the Philistines filled up Isaac’s wells, he cleaned them out.
Many people, who were saved years ago, have had their wells filled up since with spirits of unbelief, rebellion, pride, disobedience, and stubborness. If they w ill clean them out again they can get them filled.
Many people will never receive the Holy Ghost until they are first set free from spirits.
How can you get filled with the lid on?
I walked into the prayer room where Brother Hampton’s daughter was seeking for the Baptism and asked her if she loved everybody. She said, “almost.” There was one person she did not like, but she was many miles away. Distance counts little with God. She finally decided that she would write a letter and ask this lady to forgive her. After she dropped the letter into the mail box she was filled with the Spirit!
Can you honestly believe that she was saved in a state before she asked for forgiveness?
“But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither v. ill your father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6 15).
Too many people are like the woman who testified in Louisiana. She would close her eyes tightly and say, “I love everybody I see.”
If It Were Possible
Several years ago the dentist was trying to fill my tooth. It hurt! I begged and pled! He begged and pled! I held his hand! He held my hand! He said, “The filling will not stay if you don’t let me get all that old stuff out.”
Many people wrestle with the Lord; they hold His hand; they beg; they plead. They want to get filled without getting all that “old stuff” drilled out. The filling would not stay!
You would be just like the cars I used to paint. If I didn’t take some lye and get all the old grit, dirt, and paint off, the new paint would not stay.
Washed White
When I was a little boy we lived by a large forest, near some kind of dirt we called white wash. We would go over in the woods and get enough of white wash to decorate all the picket fences and trees around the house.
It would look pretty good until it rained. Then you should have seen what a nasty, streaked, mess we had. All that hidden dirt came to light and looked worse than ever!
Paul called the high priest a whited wall. That was what he was talking about. Many church members are just white-washed. instead of being washed white.
“. . . ye are like whited sepulehres, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but ale within full of dead men’s bones, and all uncleanness.”
But Jesus and Paul were speaking about hypocrites who had never been saved.
A Question
Why do some get filled with the Holy Ghost when their lives don’t look to us as clean as they should be?
There are two answers. First, some are living in all the light they have. They are cleansed from sin as long as they walk in what light they have (I John 1:7). Every saved person is ready for the Holy Ghost. It is impossible to be ready to go into the presence of God and not be ready to receive something to help you get there.
Second, some break their promises. Sister 0. promised me and God faithfully that she would quit snuff. After God baptized her she yielded to temptation and used more snuff. That was not God’s fault. She said “I have the Holy Ghost, and I use snuff.”
The Holy Ghost did not leave her as soon as she yielded to temptation. He stayed there and condemned, convicted, and reproved her for weeks. When the Holy Ghost completely takes His flight we are “a goner.”
If the Holy Ghost would leave us as soon as we yield to temptation, a lot of people would have already been lost.
Sister O. asked God to forgive her daily, and finally won the battle.
But what if she had died with sin on her life?
Don’t Quit
If you were climbing out of a well and get nearly to the top, and fall back each time, you would have all that climbing to do again. That is time and effort wasted.
If you were on an operating table, and ran off before they got through. with you, you would be in a worse condition than ever.
Suppose you would jump out of the dentist chair before he was through with you. You would yell when someone touched you.
It is the same way with a man who is seeking the Holy Ghost, and runs off before God finishes him.
A quitter never wins, and a winner never quits.
No Short Cuts
Once upon a time a little boy started to make a mud man down on the river side. When the boy: got the mud man all completed except one leg, his mother called him to dinner.
That afternoon, while the little boy was downtown, he saw a man with one leg. He watched him very closely .
After a while the man turned and said, “What in the world are you doing watching me everywhere I go?
“Why did you run off before I got through with you?” asked the boy. And God wants to know why some folk run off before they are finished. People are in a hurry. They want a “presto change” new way.
In a Kress store they have bargains. In a department store they have sales. In a Jew store you can get inferior merchandise, “three for a quarter.”
But – God has no respect to persons. He has no inferior merchandise to put on sale. He has no seconds. What used to be Pentecost is Pentecost now. What used to be victory is victory now! In the day you seek Him with ALL your heart He will be found. Everyone that seeketh findeth. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him (I John 2:15). The world cannot receive the Holy Ghost (John 14 :17). Come out from the world and be separate. Cleanse yourself from all filthiness of the flesh, perfect holiness in the fear of God. Present your body as a living sacrifice. Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.
Get Ready
One time Brother Dillard, a large bald-headed man, went out into the woods to pray. His bald head would turn real red when he got happy.
But he was not very happy that day. He took hold of a bush and went around and round that bush, almost crazy. He had been seeking the Holy Ghost several months, but not with all his heart (Jer. 29:13).
But that day was the turning point one way or the other: As he went round and round that bush he was saying, with a determination, “Lord, if you won’t deliver me from Star-Navy (chewing tobacco) and fill me with the Holy Ghost, someone will find my carcass lying right here.”
Needless to say, as soon as he made that decision, he got it! It didn’t take him long to get it; it just took him a long time to get ready.
Brother Murphy is another bald headed man; but when he gets happy his head becomes white. He preached for the Nazarenes thirty years, believing that he had the Holy Ghost.
One night he and his wife came to our revival in Breckenridge, Texas. They were sitting on the front seat. I went over and prayed for his wife. That respected school teacher was filled with the Holy Ghost and fell under the power.
But Brother Murphy, after being convinced, tried to get this experience, but in a “nice way.” After seeking for a long time, he went off, got a room and locked himself up. There he lay flat on his back on the floor, like a little child, looking up to the Lord. He said, “Lord I will be right here until Christmas, or receive the Baptism.” About that time he noticed, instead of it being up in heaven, it was all over him. It didn’t take him long after he made the decision. He is now one of our leading Pentecostal preachers.
I was told that a colored boy received his questionnaire for the army and did not know how to fill it out. After worrying several days over it, until he was almost sick, he turned it over and wrote in large letters, “I is ready when you is ready.”
You don’t need to wait until God gets ready. He has been ready for nineteen years. He is waiting until you become ready.
Wrong Conception
The other night I asked a nice, Christian Lutheran girl to come forward and be filled with the Holy Ghost. She was a church secretary.
“People may think that I am not saved,” she said.
There are many people who take this attitude, especially after they have been trusted with a position in the church.
But no one doubted that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was saved when she obeyed the command, and went back to the upper room to receive this glorious experience. Jesus said that Peter, James and John had their names already in heaven. The rest of them had been preaching. The Samaritans were already saved and baptized when Peter and John came to pray for them to be baptized with the Holy Ghost (Acts 8). Who would say that the Ephesians were not already saved when Paul prayed for them and they were filled? (Acts 19)
People would think you were not saved if you rebelled against the plain commandment of the Lord.
Get Willing
In Athens, Arkansas about twenty one years ago we were having an old time revival. The people threatened to come in and take us out of the tabernacle, for making so much noise. The Baptist preacher that fought the hardest is now filled with the Holy Ghost.
Clay Tipton and Dee Faulkner were two nice, respected, citizens and good church members to whom everyone looked as examples. They said, “If these two men ever get the Holy Ghost we will believe it.”
While praying for them in the woods one night they were both filled. They were not so formal then. When we got back to the camp the service was in a big way. Clay Tipton was shouting and jumping. People were bulging their eyes out at the one time dried up man. He even lost his false teeth speaking in tongues! Dee Faulkner spoke with tongues for about three hours. After several years I saw him, and he was still speaking each time he prayed.
I heard that a colored boy went to the pig pen every day to pray. His boss said, I would never do that; I don’t have to go there to pray.”
The colored boy said, You’ll never get the Holy Ghost ’til you do.”
One morning the boss became so hungry for God that he called the colored boy and said, “I’m ready to go to the pig pen today.”
“You can get it anywhere now,” answered the boy, “You just had to become willing.”
There are lots of things you don’t have to do; but you must be willing to do anything God wants you to do. The only reason God tells us to do some simple things is to break our stubborn natures down and get us to be subject to Him.
The boss just spent that time getting willing; as soon as he became willing he was filled instantly.
Don’t Leave
Two women in Bauxite, Arkansas left the service one night. I called them back and told them to go to the front of the church and sit on the front seat and they would have the Holy Ghost in five minutes. They were both filled in about two minutes.
Just because about a dozen or two had already been filled it seemed that the people thought that was enough in one night, and let these women out of the house. God can fill forty just as easily as he can fill one. Many people leave just before they are filled.
Jesus told his disciples not to leave until they received the Holy Ghost. Had they left they would have broken a commandment (Acts 1:4). But He commanded them to teach everyone, even to the end of the world, to observe what He commanded them to do (Matt. 28:20).
“If you love me, keep my commandments, And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another comforter…” (John 15-16).
If I take my watch to the jewelry shop, and go back for it in ten minutes, it is not adjusted. If I take my car to be washed, and go back in five minutes, it is not ready.
Become Humble
We prayed until three o’clock in the morning with a Nazarene lady to receive the Holy Ghost. She walked on her knees around and around the altar, hugging her Bible, praying, “Lord help me to love Acts 2:4; you know I have always despised that verse.”
She spent some time to become ready; but after she was ready, that wealthy lady was filled just like Mary the mother of Jesus!
I went to Brother Tillery and told him that I would go to the church and pray with him every night until he was filled But it took more than ten nights!
We did without our evening meal, went six miles and prayed until about midnight every night. We went eighty-four nights in succession!
Then he said, “Brother Grant, every time, for the last eight years, that I prayed up
to this place I feel like I should do a certain thing.”
“Do it, Brother, for God’s sake, do it!” I said.
He did it, and received a beautiful experience! Brother Tillery had worked eight years on an eight minute job!
Get Ready Without Tarrying
One night in Russellville, Arkansas, as dozens of people were being filled with the Holy Ghost, I walked by a redheaded girl and noticed that she was under conviction. I touched her, and immediately she was saved and filled with the Holy Ghost.
Many cases as the above made me to know two things: The quicker one receives the Holy Ghost, after he is saved, the easier it is. God wants to fill everyone instantly.
Cast Out Devils
Many will never be filled with the Spirit until they are delivered from spirits, such as rebellion, stubbornness, disobedience, or timidity.
Laying on of hands by a Spirit-filled man, will deliver the candidate instantly, so he can be filled immediately. This will save many months of praying, tarrying, pleading, and trying.
A Misunderstanding
In one meeting after hundreds of people were filled instantly, some of the old saints, who had tarried for years before they received, marveled! They reasoned, “Surely that is not genuine because the people did not tarry.” The wise old pastor listened and watched for a few nights, and then said, “I don’t understand it, but it works! We have worked with them for years, and now they receive instantly the first night.”
In the last few years, God has anointed me to lay hands on them and set them free instantly. Then they may be filled on the spot!
Missionaries, who worked for twenty years, and only saw a dozen saved, have seen thousands saved instantly as God’s servants have gone over there and set the people free.
Many full gospel members, who have prayed for weeks for healing, have been healed instantly, just as the lame man at the Beautiful Gate.
Most ministers acknowledge that it is power from God; others say, “They got it too quickly; it won’t last.”
If they are right, then all the Samaritans, who received the Holy Ghost as soon as Peter and John laid hands on them, backslid (Acts 8). If these ministers are right then St. Paul did not receive a genuine experience; for he was filled as soon as Ananias brought the Pentecostal message to him (Acts 9). The disciples had not heard whether there was a Holy Ghost (Acts 19). But as soon as Paul brought the message to them, and laid hands on them, they were filled on the spot! In the Ephesian letter we are impressed with the fact that their experience is as genuine as those of any other church As soon as the Centurion, Cornelius at Caesarea heard about the Holy Ghost he was filled on the spot, without tarrying. Although if some people had been there they would have told him it would not last because he got it too quickly.
The Bible Way
In one place we saw over four hundred filled with the Holy Ghost. Later on about one hundred of them lost out with God.
People usually see what they look for. So a few professors got their eyes on the one hundred who grew cold, and said, “They received it too quickly; they didn’t stick.”
But in their next revival, four people received the Holy Ghost, and one backslid. One did not look so bad to them as the one hundred. But in each case twenty five percent fell away. That is what Jesus tells us in the parable of the sower.
If you order one hundred baby chicks, and twenty five die after you receive them, that would be no proof that they were not hatched out in the first place; rather it would prove they were not cared for.
Some say they did not jump and shout enough. But in many places we have checked them. Later on we have found that some of them who shouted the loudest, were the ones who yielded to temptation first. Some who received it in a calm way, made the best deacons.
Peter did not say that he knew they received the Holy Ghost because they jumped four benches, or went backwards over the pulpit, he did not say he would have to watch them six months, and see if they joined hi, church, before he pronounced them with the Holy Ghost. He did not say he would first see if they “held out.” Rather he said he knew they received the Holy Ghost “for they heard them speak with tongues ….” (Acts 10 :46).
II that evidence is good enough for Peter, it is good enough for me. If you speak with tongues any, the Holy Ghost is in there, or you would not be speaking. No one speaks with tongues without having the Holy Ghost. I would rather believe Peter than all the “faith killers” and “doubt builders.” Faith comes by hearing the word; faith leaves by hearing some critics. The Holy Ghost comes through faith, just as healing.
The care-taker, in the church in Fresno, California saw hundreds of people receive the Holy Ghost. Then she came to be filled. She said, “The reason I stood back ten years, and refused to seek, I thought I would have to work at it for years.”
There are thousands like her. Please go tell them that the Baptism is already purchased and paid for. They don’t have to do penance! This is not penance but Pentecost. The Holy Ghost is already given (John 7 :38-39) . This is not only a promised gift, but an offered gift!
The Pattern
The Holy Ghost always came SUDDENLY in Bible days. As soon as the day of Pentecost had fully come, the Holy Ghost came suddenly, Ananias went up to Paul and asked, “Why tarriest thou?” That is what I am asking you.
We see only two places in the Bible record that people received the Holy Ghost without hands being laid on them. One place was where the Jews first were filled; there was no one there to lay hands on them. The other place was where the Gentiles first were filled. No Jew would lay hands on them, neither did they know God wanted to fill the Gentiles.
Ye Are Clean
I was at a meeting where several men were sitting around the altar, like buzzards on the roost. I asked them why they were waiting. They said they were tarrying for the Holy Ghost. They believed one had to first become perfect to receive the Holy Ghost.
Now as long as these honest men believed God wanted them to become some kind of supermen before they were filled, they had no faith to be filled until that “something” happened along.
If we happen to get one of those people off somewhere, and pray him through to the Holy Ghost, just after he is saved, the rest of them would say that we did it the wrong way, because he got it before he was ready. They would say that it was not the “genuine.” They would take him back and have him to do it all over, the “right way.”
When these poor people receive the Holy Ghost they think they have “paid the price,” and reached their perfection. They don’t think they can be taught by anyone then, because they are “perfect.” But the Holy Ghost comes to teach, guide, and lead us into perfection (Eph. 4). The Holy Ghost has set teachers in the Church. After we reach perfection we will need no more teachers.
The Apostles were not exactly right in all their theology when they received the Pentecostal experience. They thought no one could be right unless he belonged to their group. They thought we were dogs (Acts chap. 10-15). There are Pentecostals today who have been taught to believe that everyone is wrong but their group.
New Creatures
If you are saved you are a new creature in Christ Jesus; old things have passed away and all things have become new. Your soul will never be any purer or cleaner than it is at the new birth. There is nothing purer than a new born babe.
Of course your body and spirit become pure as you walk in the light; but as long as you walk in the light your soul is clean. If you are ready to go to heaven, into the presence of a holy God, you are ready to be filled with the Holy Ghost.
A Mighty Anointing
I looked back in the back of the house one night in the revival in Hodge, Louisiana and saw a lady. I went back and said, “You used to have the Holy Ghost; come to the front seat and sit down, and you will be refilled in five minutes.” She came to the front seat and was filled in about two minutes.
“How could it happen that quickly, when we have been seeking for years ?” some old member asked. “She was the worst of sinners, with a fob singing at a night club at that time.”
But the second she was forgiven she was ready to be filled, and could be filled easier than a self righteous, “faithful” member.
Through the anointing, when I opened the prison door, she was willing, and walked out! We have helped tens of thousands to receive instantly, through the good grace of God !
Most Seekers Believe
When this anointing is there we can tell when one is set free. It happens as easily as one being healed. It depends largely on the way people have been instructed. In some sections they have not been instructed right. As long as one believes he must beg and plead for hours to be healed, he does not believe he can receive healing instantly.
After some are set free, and I know it, they are afraid to accept the Holy Ghost, for fear they will receive it the wrong way. If they will study the book of Acts they will learn the Biblical way.
“Making the Word of God of none effect through your tradition…” (Mark 7:13). “. . . teaching far doctrine the commandments of men” (v. 7).
Too Easy
People make it hard to receive the Holy Ghost by their way of thinking. It is just as easy as falling off a log backwards. You can put your baby on a rock wall and tell him to jump into your arms. If he has perfect confidence in you he will jump. First be convinced! Make the decision that you will trust the Lord. Have confidence! Then JUMP!
One time there was a man looking through a telescope for a worm. He was straining his eyes, looking way off in space. Then someone said, “You silly thing; it is right by your eyes.”
Some people make me think of our old hens we used to carry to town. After the merchant weighed them, took the strings off their feet, and laid them down, they kept lying there. They thought they were still tied.
Neighbor, where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. Whom the Son has made free he is free indeed!
When I say, “There it is” obey God, for you are loose!
After some are saved they will not confess it. After you open the prison doors, some prisoners refuse to walk out. It sounds too good to be true!
If I offer you a dollar I can’t give it to you unless you take it.
Upon All Flesh
Once upon a time while I was holding a revival in Texarkana, four old men, about eighty years old, received the Holy Ghost, all about the same time, and had a quartet in heavenly language.
My five year old boy was filled. I touched a Catholic lady and she was filled and began to speak with tongues and prophesy. In the rear of that city auditorium a Baptist lady fell under the power and gave her heart to God, because the secret of her heart was made manifest through that prophecy. As she fell her son was saved at another part in the house.
One night in our tent meeting seventeen “Church of Christ” people came to our meeting and they were all filled. A doctor in Seattle was filled with the Holy Ghost. He had been an infidel for thirty years. A policeman who had not been to church for years was saved and filled in a few minutes. A school teacher in Ardmore, Oklahoma, who was a Methodist, was filled with the Holy Ghost and started a healing line in her school each day. A Baptist Sunday School teacher in Little Rock received the Holy Ghost and has a Holy Ghost Baptist Church now. A Methodist preacher brought his girl, who had never walked, to our meeting. After she was healed he received the Holy Ghost and now has a Methodist Holy Ghost Church. A Baptist deacon in Hawaii flew to Fort Worth for our meeting and received the Holy Ghost. Now he has a Baptist Holy Ghost Church. In Detroit a Jewish lady looked up and said, “Oh blessed Messiah,” and was filled with the Holy Ghost, just like Mary, the mother of Jesus. We saw people from fourteen different denominations filled in one room; merchants, salesmen, radio announcers, and people of all walks of life!
A wealthy United Brethren plantation owner, with nine cancers on his face, came to our meeting in Russellville, Arkansas, to he healed. He sat on the front seat, was filled with the Holy Ghost; then the nine cancers vanished. We see many people, whom God trusts with millions of dollars filled with the Holy Ghost.
Chronic seekers, who have been seeking 30 years, now are filled in 30 seconds.
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, SAITH GOD I will pour out of my Spirit upon ALL flesh . . . the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come” (Acts 2:17-20).
WHY TARRIEST THOU?
Once upon a time an obscure saint, by the name of Ananias, was in his secret place of prayer, v. hen God spoke to him and told him that a man, by the name of Saul, was praying over at a certain place on Straight Street. No, Ananias was not an apostle, or even a deacon.
Saul knew nothing about how to seek the Holy Ghost. He had not been bound by any traditions as many people have today. He simply believed God’s servant and received instantly.
We have seen thousands of people, from many different denominations, as well as rank sinners, who have never been taught to tarry and beg, receive the Holy Ghost instantly, while some of our people think God has given them something, but has put it on a shelf, where it takes ten years of climbing to reach.
What makes the difference ? Tradition of the elders!
Thousands of Catholics come to our meetings and are filled instantly, while our people have been taught to do penance by toiling, wishing, wondering, instructing, sweating, and tarrying until they are out of breath, hoarse with a sore throat, near a nervous breakdown!
Instead of Ananias going up to Saul and telling him to tarry, he went to him and said, “Why tarriest thou?” (Acts 22:16). And that is what I am asking you. No one was instructed to tarry after Pentecost.
It Is Raining
God is not only raining, but pouring out His Spirit upon all flesh! If it were not raining, then you would need to wait until it rained. But since it is raining, all you need to do is to pull off your rain coat of disobedience, your rubber shoes of pride, take down your umbrella of rebellion, and get soaked!
If the fallow ground of your soul is broken up, the rain will soak in, instead of running off like pouring water on a duck’s back (Jer. 4:3).
When the way is prepared then “the Lord whom you seek will SUDDENLY COME TO HIS TEMPLE.” Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.
“And they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain” (Job 29:23).
Praise God
It is not “Oh, God;” but it is “Praise God.” It its not putting your head under a bench, looking down and saying. “Lord save Grandpa.” It is putting up your hands, looking up, and saying, “Glory to God.”
If you put your lightning rods up, the power will hit you. When one surrenders, he throws up hits hands. God says to lift up holy hands without doubting.
After hands are laid on you; after you are free, then / all you need to do is to “delight thyself also in the l Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of shine heart” (Ps. 37:4).
In the upper room they ALL had great joy (Luke 24 :46). All of them at once were continually “praising and blessing God.” Just before the Holy Ghost power came upon the Samaritans they had great joy (Acts 8).
Praising God over and over is not vain repetition. The Bible-says nothing of vain repetition in praising God. Jesus complimented the people for saying “hosanna, hosanna.” John saw into heaven. All the angels at once were saying “Alleluiah, Alleluiah.” The creatures around the throne were saying, “Holy,-holy, holy.” They ceased not, night and day, praising Jesus. We are no better than they.
No Burden
The other night as we had a great Holy Ghost rally, hundreds of people were almost swept off their feet, as great joy swept the audience. Just then I noticed a Lutheran girl standing unconcerned. I asked her why she didn’t come and be filled with the Spirit.
“I feel no burden to pray,” she answered. And she spoke the mind of so many thousands of sincere Christians; they no burden to pray.
That is a good sign that they are ready; that they are empty. That is when they can be filled so easily! If one has a burden he is not ready until he prays that burden off, whether it is for himself or for others. If you are convicted about something, that is a sign that you need to seek forgiveness. If you are ready for the Baptism you are not convicted of any kind of sin.
You don’t need to pray; just worship and magnify God, and you will be filled instantly. When you feel empty it is just before you are filled. I see that God’s servants prayed for the candidates to receive the Holy Ghost; but I don’t read that the candidates prayed. Rather they received (Acts 8).
“. . . the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that OBEY him” (Acts 5:32).
Please God
The story goes that a boy in the army was thought to be crazy by the officials. Every day he would pick up a piece of paper and look at it. Then he would shake his head and say, “That’s not it.” Continuously he was picking up some piece of paper and saying, “That’s not it.”
One day they decided that he was crazy, and wrote him out a discharge. He picked it up, and studied it awhile-then calmly said, “That’s it!” He was not as crazy as they thought he was.
The natural mind may not understand some things we do as we obey the Lord. But keep praising and obeying God. They may think you are crazy or drunk but some day you can say, “We are not drunken as ye suppose, but this is that–that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.
Have Confidence
One time in Detroit, Michigan, I started to pray for a lady to receive the Holy Ghost. I noticed doubt in her face, and questioned her.
“I have fear that I may do some obscene act, or get my clothes out of place if I yield to God,” she said.
I told her that the Holy Ghost was a perfect gentleman, and would not have her to expose her body. Then she yielded to God and received a most beautiful experience, sitting in a chair. It came so easily!
She had worked about ten years on a ten second job.
A business man in a recent revival, as he praised Jesus, began to say “The blood, the blood, the blood.” Perhaps he had been taught modernism, and God wanted to exalt the blood. While he was saying these v. words the Holy Ghost came upon his tongue and he began speaking with tongues, a beautiful language.
When one glorifies Jesus the Holy Spirit comes all over him, if the channel its not stopped up.
“He shall glorify me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you” (John 16:14).
This man went home and went to bed well satisfied with a bright new experience. Everyone knew he had a good experience.The next morning, before he got out of bed, the devil attacked him, and told him that his tongue became tangled up as he was saying “The blood, the blood.” Didn’t the devil tempt Jesus after he received this experience?
This brother lay there in the bed and said, “Maybe I did get my tongue tangled up and thought I spoke with tongues. Maybe I could have said, ‘butter beans’ over and over and done the same thing.” He lay there and said, “Butter beans, butter beans” over and over. He felt as dry as a shuck. Then he began to glorify Jesus again, and got a refilling, and began speaking a heavenly language again. He has been a flame of fire since!
The Holy Ghost comes to glorify Jesus. Jesus is the one who baptizes us with the Holy Ghost (Luke 3:16). Seek the Baptizer instead of the Baptism.
I was praying for a soldier boy in Downsville, Louisiana, to be filled when he said, “Oh Brother Grant, you are the grandest man I ever saw.”
“Jesus is wonderful! Look up and praise Him,” I said. As he did he yelled out, “I see Jesus now, coming right to me. See Him! There He is! HE IS IN ME!” Then he began speaking with tongues!
It’s Simple
Many people are looking away off, as if the Holy Ghost is up in heaven somewhere, when He is all over them. He is nigh unto thy mouth. You make it hard by your way of thinking.
Do you try to pull your own tooth while you are in the dentist chair? If you were on an operating table, would you get up and try to operate on yourself? Do you try to baptize yourself in water ? No, the more you try to help, the more you hinder. Just relax! Yield to Jesus as you would the minister who baptizes you in water. Jesus baptizes you.
You can’t help a drowning man until he quits. The second he gives up, you begin. When you surrender your strength, you walk out into God’s strength. When your pride and resistance are laid aside, you can praise God.
With Your Body
Your body is the temple. The Bible speaks of praising God in a dance. God says “Clap your hands for joy.” You may groan, stammer, open your mouth wide, praise God with a loud noise, run, leap, walk, fall under the power, cry, laugh, or most anyway to praise God with our body.. . . therefore, glorify God in your body. . .” (I Cor. 6 :20).If the flesh does not like to praise God, Make it do
You may not act like you have it figured out in your mind. You may want it in a quiet way, and make a lot of noise. You may want it with noise, and get it in a calm way. Be satisfied to receive it the way God wants to give it to you.
Bible Pattern
Some receive GREAT JOY and think they have the Holy Ghost; but in the Bible days, they received GREAT JOY before they were filled (Acts, Chs. 2-8).
Peter did not say, ”We know they received the Holy Ghost for they received GREAT JOY;” or because they saw a vision, a ball of’ fire c or a light.” Rather he said, “For they heard them speak with tongues” (Acts 10:16).
I have never read in the Bible that people received the Holy Ghost without speaking with tongues. Did you? I have never read in the Bible that all the people but one. spoke with tongue.). But I have read in every place, where it mentions tongues, as the! received that they ALL spoke with tongue.).
“… I would that ye ALL spake with tongues;…” (1 (or. 5).
If you want to be sure, you should receive it the Bible way, the way Mary the mother of Jesus received. If she needed this experience, I am .sure you are no better than she.
RECEIVE WITHOUT TARRYING
Not long ago a young man received the Holy Ghost and spake with tongues without recognizing it. He was looking off in the distance for something altogether different.
You ask, “How can this be?”
If you will listen to the instructions around the ones who are seeking, you might understand how it can be.
Some will say, “Bless God, when I got it, I went out and didn’t know anything.” Of course, when these good people were carried away with the things of the Spirit, they did not know what people were doing in the audience; but they knew that they were lying, or sitting under the power. They could hear themselves speaking with tongues. Or how would they know they spoke?
God does not take our senses away from us when He gives us the Holy Ghost; He give us more sense.
Others w ill say, “Bless God, when you get the Holy Ghost, you will know it; no one will have to tell you.”
How will you know it?
Jesus says,”. . . he shall testify of me: and ye also shall bear witness . . .” (John 15 :26-27). Peter knew it “for they heard them speak with tongues.”
If you want to know that you have the Holy Ghost. then don’t quit until you speak with tongues. Then you know you have it; for no one ever spoke with tongues without having it. When one speaks with tongues the Holy Ghost is there, or he would not be talking (Acts 10:46).
Mother’s Experience
My mother had never heard the Holy Ghost preached in her life. As she was praying, about mid night, in an old log house, at the end of a mountain road, she yielded to God. She jumped out of that shuck bed, and danced all over that plank floor, saying words she did not know (so they must have been unknown). Papa did not know what all that meant. So he got some Raleigh’s Liniment anti rubbed it all over her, trying to get her to stop! But she would riot be stopped!
She had been praying for hours; she knew she had a blessing from God; she knew the power of God was all over her; but she did not know what other people called it!
Years ago people from all churches met together in a union meeting and had a camp meeting. The old Methodist mothers shouted up and down the aisles. until they shouted their hair down. They would fall out in a trance and lie there for hours. People would haul them home in a wagon. When they came through speaking with tongues,, the. people would say, “They are coming to, trying to talk.” They called it trances; but they did not know to call it the Holy Ghost.
Had someone asked my mother the next morning if she had the Holy Ghost, she would not have known what to tell them.
It depends on your conception of the Holy Ghost. Some receive GREAT JOY and call it the Holy Ghost. Some see a ball of fire, a light, or a vision and think they have it. One woman said she knew she had the Holy Ghost, for she saw a vision of King David.
After some candidates hear all the people talk, they will not think they have it until they feel a hot flash, a cold chill, or see a ball of fire.
But I would rather have it the Bible way. As soon as Peter heard them speak with tongues he knew they had it!
Believe It
If you were to receive a telegram that your rich uncle had left you an oil well, would you believe the telegram? If you did not believe it, you would throw it down.
You may receive a deed to a black land farm, which someone left to you. If you do not believe the deed, you will throw it down.
Neither would you be happy. Some say that they do not have enough joy to suit them. But you will not be happy until you first believe the deed, or the telegram. The Bible is the deed!
Even when you are saved, you are not happy until you first believe you are saved. That second You are happy, if you appreciate it.
If you appreciated the telegram you would be happy. Your joy depends on how much you appreciate the Holy Ghost.
When I am under the anointing I know when one is filled with the Holy Ghost. When I say, “There it is!” Believe it! Receive it! Speak it!
You Are Safe
The other day I started to pray for a Baptist Sunday School Superintendent to be filled with the Holy Ghost. He received it so easily in about one minute. He believed w hat I told him.
About that time his wife sat in the chair for me to pray that she would be filled. She looked up at me and said. “Now I want the genuine.” You know about what she had been taught.
I said, “Sister, you may as well go home. There is no use in my praying for you until you first read your Bible and learn that God does not give anything that is not genuine. He is not in that business.” Some folk have to unlearn before they can learn. As long as a sinner believes he may receive a snake, he does not believe he will be saved.
“If you being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him” (Luke 11:13).
Jesus says in these verses that it is impossible for you to receive a serpent or a scorpion while you are seeking the Holy Ghost; say what Jesus says!
Peter did not say that they may have a wrong spirit, or a false Holy Ghost; he said, “They have it; for we heard them speak.”
A man put a half dollar in some water and asked some boys to pick it up. They put their hands close to it, but could not pick it up, because the water was electrified.
When you are under the blood Satan may get his hands near you, and scare you, but he cannot shut his hand up and get you, because you are protected.
“He (Jesus) keepeth him and that wicked one toucheth him not.”
“Behold, I give you power . . . over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19)
I’ll be responsible for you. Go ahead and obey God!
Already Given
If I promise you a dollar, it is up to you to take it; I’ve done all I can do. The Holy Ghost is an offered gift; since Pentecost it has been given; TAKE WHAT GOD HAS GIVEN YOU!
God told Joshua, “I have given you the city.” Joshua did not wait until the walls fell to shout; he shouted the walls down! He had a title deed to that city.
If I give you a deed to a farm it is so much yours that you could sell it before you saw it.
The Holy Ghost has been given to them that obey the Lord (Acts 5:32). That is past tense. It is your inheritance! You are the heir. Take what God has given you! It is so much yours that you can take it or reject it.
Body Baptized
At conversion your heart is washed by the Holy Spirit and left empty, swept, and garnished ( Matt. 12:44). When you are baptized with the Holy Spirit, He starts at the outside and comes into dwell–to dwell in your body!
Remember this: the power hits you first on the outside, likely in your hands, feet, or head. Right that second, begin to glorify God in your body.
What ‘ know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost . . . and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body, and your spirit, which are God’s” (I Cor 6:19-20).
Get that body in a position so you can relax. Don’t get in an uncomfortable position! Paul fell to the earth Peter la! on the house top; Daniel fell under t he power the one hundred arid twenty at Pentecost were sitting when the Holy Ghost first set upon each of them. But they soon were acting like drunk people.
Many people want to get the Holy Ghost on their tongue first. But the tongue is the last member which can kit, tamed (James 3). It its an unruly member. If you get the power all over your body first, it is easy to gut it in your tongue.
As you yield to God the power will creep all over ! our body. W hen it takes possession of your tongue you are baptized. If you go under the water all except your hands, feet, or tongue, you are not baptized.
You Speak
There is no use in trying to speak with tongues until the power comes into your mouth. Put when you feel the power come into your mouth, don’t be afraid to speak! I’ll be responsible.
Since you cannot speak two languages at once, then stop trying to speak in your language. Speak God’s language! This you can easily do, if you are perfectly ! yielded alla have perfect confidence.
A little child can yield easier than a grown man. He converted alla become as a little child. He is not bound by tradition.
You are already stammering! He is in your mouth ! He is not away up in heaven; He is all over you!
Don’t be afraid that you will say something wrong! I’ll be responsible if I’m there. Speak!
At Pentecost they spoke with tongues. At the house of Cornelius, the people spoke. At Ephesus they spoke. They spoke at Corinth. Paul spoke with tongues. I speak with tongues. Paul said for all of us to speak! (Acts, Chap. 2, 10, 19) (I Cor. 14). Since the Bible says for you to speak with tongues, then SPEAK!
You can’t talk with your mouth shut! Since you must open your mouth to speak, then open and close your mouth. Since you can’t talk without moving your tongue, then move your tongue! Since you must move your lips to form words, then let your lips meet together! Relax your body, your tongue, your mouth, your jaws, in perfect confidence.
When I was a boy my sister would put me on a stage to say a piece. She would stand there behind the curtain and put the words in my mouth, and I would say them. She did not push me off the stage and say them for me. Although I did not know the meaning of some of the words. I had enough confidence in my sister that I opened my mouth and spoke the words. I spoke. Thank my God I speak with tongues (I Cor. 14:18). Since Paul was not ashamed, then I am not ashamed.
If you are not the one to speak, then Paul would not have told you when to speak and when not to speak, or for one to speak at a time.
Have Faith
Suppose my little boy would ask me for some bread. I know that he its hungry, even if he makes a mistake, and fails to ask for it just as I think he should. I will not let him starve. A mistake is not a sin. If you are sincere; if you are hungry; if you are thirsty; if you are God’s child; then He is a kind, compassionate, merciful, understanding, Father. He will fill us even if we make an honest mistake in asking.
A nurse can listen to the babes in a nursery and know when they are sincere. She says. “This one is suffering; this one needs attention; this one is hungry; this one is stubborn and just wants his way.”
God knows when you are sincere and hungry.
The other day a lady who had been seeking the Holy Ghost for years came to our apartment. As I read Luke 11:9-13 she looked up and began speaking with tongues. It happened just as it did in Acts 10.
Read those verses; then say, “God, I will receive when I seek with all my heart. You will not give me a scorpion, a snake, or a rock. I don’t know how, but you know how to give the Holy Spirit to your children.”
Had you known how you would have already received it. Confess it! Open your mouth wide and He will fill it! The Holy Ghost is the children’s bread.
A Surprise
It will be so easy that you can hardly forgive yourself for not being filled sooner! You will not receive it like anyone else. But keep on! You won’t speak like anyone else; but keep on! There are so many hundreds of different languages. Some of them sound like one word, up and down the scale. I’ve heard messages interpreted that did not sound like a language.
I heard an old hen say, “Cluck, cluck, cluck.” It sounded like the same word over and over. The baby chicks came to their feed. The next day the hen said, “Cluck, cluck, cluck.” The baby chicks ran under her wing and hid. It sounded like what she had said the day before. But she and the little ones knew.
Once God put a supernatural language on the wall. It was few words; but after the man of God interpreted it, it was several words. No man could understand it (Daniel 5). And no man can understand unknown tongues (I Cor. 14:2).
Do not have it figured out in advance how you want it.
Some will say. “You don’t have a plain language.” If you speak with other tongues it may be plain to Germans; if it is an unknown tongue, it may be plain to angels.
Some will say, “Oh, I saw a ball of fire when I got it.” Well, I did not.
Others will say they felt a hot flash, or a cold chill. None of these things are the evidence. But if you sneak, even one word, in tongues, the Holy Ghost is there!
Keep On
Confess what you have; don’t deny it. I’ve seen people deny it and become as dry as a shuck! They listen to some old sister who says she received it in a different way, and dry up. You see a doubt hit their faces, and it takes them months to overcome.
Don’t be content until you keep speaking every day. But be sure and do not deny what you already have. Confess it and get more. Speak as long as the power is on you! Be bold! Speak loud and freely!
I was a deacon and spoke in tongues for years, but I was not satisfied until I obeyed God, established a prayer meeting, and won souls..
And you will not be satisfied until you put that Holy Ghost you have to work. Everyone who has the Holy Ghost is in the ministry of winning souls.
I was praying with a woman the other night who had the Holy Ghost and spoke with tongues for five years; but she was not satisfied. I told her to go the altar and put her to work helping others. The next night she came back satisfied. She had a deep peace.
I know a girl who was not satisfied. I inquired and found that she quenched the spirit. One night she threw up her hands and shouted; she has been satisfied since.
You will be satisfied after you find God’s will for you. Pray some one through–speak with tongues every day-then keep on !
TARRY AFTER YOU RECEIVE
Paul did the most speaking with tongues at home. That is the reason he had the victory when he got to church. He taught his people to do the same thing. They then knew how to use tongues when they came to church. (If you have a doubt about tongues write me.)
Peter received the Holy Ghost instantly, and tarried on top of the house after he was filled. Then he did not have to pray after he arrived at prayer meeting. He said, “Rise and walk.” The man walked!
Ananias tarried before the Lord after he received the Holy Ghost. He simply carried the answer over on Straight Street, laid his hands on Paul, and Paul was filled with the Holy Ghost (Acts 9).
Too many people think they will have to tarry to receive the Holy Ghost. Afterwards they think they can retire. They need to refire! Receive the Holy Ghost and do your tarrying afterwards! Signs will follow.
Tongues edify yourself. Prophecy edifies the church. Healing edifies the church. But how can you edify the Church unless you first are edified ? (I Cor. 14.)
If it takes obeying God to receive the Holy Ghost it takes the same to keep it. Speak with tongues every day. God has given you a language; so speak! It builds up your faith. Speak with tongues on your job, in your car, in the plane, on the train, in the bed; praise God in tongues; sing in tongues; pray in tongues!
A deacon was turned out of the church for getting drunk.
“Why don’t you turn the other two out?” asked a sister.
“Oh, they did not get drunk,” answered the preacher.
“But were they filled with the Spirit? The same verse that commands us not to get drunk, says BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT (Eph. 5:18).
The Above Material Was Published By W. V. Grant, Pages 1-32. This Material Is Copyrighted And May Be Used For Study & Research Purposes
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