Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, 13 May 1933.

What would happen to us and to the needy world if we should get to the place where we really believed God? May God give us the desire to get to this place. Faith is a tremendous power, an inward mover. I am convinced that we have not yet seen all that God has for us, but if we shall only move on in faith we shall see the greater works.

When I was a little boy I remember asking my father for a pennyworth of something or other. He did not give it to me, so I sat down by his side and every now and again I would just quietly say, "Father!" He would appear to take no notice of me, but now and again I would touch him ever so gently and say, "Father!"

My mother said to him, "Why don't you answer the child?"

My father replied, "I have done so, but he won't accept my answer."

Still I sat on, and occasionally I would touch him and say ever so quietly, "Father!" If he went out into the garden I followed him and occasionally I would touch his sleeve and say, "Father! Father!!" Do you think I ever went away without the accomplishment of my desire? No, not once.

We need the same importunity as we go to God. We have the blessed assurance that if we ask anything according to His will He heareth us, and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. Do you go to Him for heart purity? It is His will that you should receive, and if you ask in faith you can know that you have the petition that you desire of Him. Do you desire that Christ should dwell in your heart by faith? That is in accordance with His will. Ask and ye shall receive. Do you desire that the might of God’s Spirit shall accompany your ministry? That is according to the will of God. Continue in the presence of your heavenly Father, quietly reminding Him that this is what you desire, and He will not fail to give you the exceeding abundantly above all you ask or think. He will fill you with rivers—the blessed rivers of the Spirit—and flowing from the midst of you they will be blessings to all that are around.

In the introduction to his second epistle Peter addresses "them that have obtained like precious faith with us." It is written, "They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion which cannot be removed." Have you this faith of divine origin springing up in your heart? It will make you steadfast and unmovable. This faith, this confidence, this trust in God, will have a transforming power; changing and transforming spirit, soul, and body, sanctifying the entire being.

"Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." It is God coming in by His Word and laying the solid foundation. Faith is like dynamite which bursts up the old life and nature by the power of God, and brings the almighty power of God into the life. This substance will diffuse through the whole being, bringing everything else into insignificance. The Word of God is formed within the temple. Jeremiah spoke of the Word as a "fire within." It is a power stronger than granite that is able to resist the mightiest pressure the devil can bring against it. Faith counts on God's coming forth to confound the enemy. Faith counts on the display of God's might, when it is needful for Him to come forth in power.

In these eventful days we must not be content with a mere theory of faith, but must have this almighty and precious faith within us so that we may move from the ordinary into the extraordinary. We must expect Him to come forth in power through us for the deliverance of others. Peter spoke of it as "like precious faith." It is a like kind to that which Abraham had—the very faith of God. When Peter and John said to the lame man, Such as we have we give thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk, there was a manifestation of the same faith that Abraham had. It is this like precious faith God wants us to have.

In the former days the prophets received the Holy Spirit in a certain measure, but the Holy Spirit was given to the Lord Jesus Christ without measure. Did not He give the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost in this same measureless measure? That is His thought for you and me. Since I received the mighty Baptism in the Holy Spirit God has flooded my life with His power. From time to time there have been wonderful happenings—to Him be all the glory. Faith in God will bring the operation of the Spirit and we’ll have the divine power flooding the human vessel and flowing out in blessing to others.

Faith is made in hard places when we are at wit's-end corner, and there seems no way out of our adversity. David said at one time, "The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about." He tells us, "In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple... he bowed the heavens... and came down." Faith cries to God in the place of testing. It is in these places that God. enlarges us and brings us forth into a large place, to prove Himself the God of deliverances, the One who is indeed our helper.

I remember in the year 1920 after a most distressing voyage I went straight from the ship on which I had been traveling, to a meeting. As I entered the building a man fell down across the doorway in a fit. The Spirit of the Lord was upon me and I commanded the demon to leave. Some years later I visited this same assembly, and I ventured to ask if anyone remembered the incident. A man stood up and I told him to come to the platform. He told me that on that day he had been delivered by the name of Jesus and had not had a fit since.

We read in Acts 10.38 that "God hath anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him." God wants us to have this same anointing and same power. through the indwelling Christ and through a living faith. It was the Lord Himself who told us before He went away, "These signs shall follow them that believe. In my name they shall cast out demons... they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover." God is waiting to manifest His divine power through believers.

I remember a man coming to me suffering with cancer, who said he had been twelve years in pain. The power of the Lord was present to heal, and that night he came back to the meeting with all his sores dried up.

In this second epistle of Peter we further read, <"According to his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature." Believe the record. His divine power has provided this life and godliness and virtue. Believe for the virtue of the Lord to be so manifested through your body that as men touch you they are healed. Believe for the current to go through you to others. It is amazing what can happen when some necessity arises when there is no time to pray, only to act. It is in such times of necessity that the Holy Ghost comes forth to act. We must so live in God that the Spirit of God can operate through us. I remember being in one place where there were 6,000 people outside the building where we were preaching. Many of them were in chairs, waiting for hands to be laid on them and the prayer of faith to be offered. Oh for the virtue that flowed from Christ to touch the needy everywhere!

A woman said to Christ one time, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked." But he answered, "Yea rather, blessed are they hath hear the word of God, and keep it." It is through the hearing of the Word of God that faith comes, and faith brings the omnipotence of God to helpless souls and brings the virtue of Christ to the sick and to the needy. Do you remember how they asked the Lord, "What shall we do that we might work the works of God?" Jesus answered and said unto them, "This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." He further said, "The works that I do shall ye do also: and greater works than these shall ye do; because I go unto my Father." There is nothing impossible to faith.

When I was in Orebro 12 years ago I ministered to a girl who was twelve years old, and blind. When I last went to Orebro they told me that she had had perfect sight from that day. The Lord Himself challenges us to believe Him when He says, "Have faith in God. Verily, I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith." Did you get that? "He shall have whatsoever he saith." When you speak in faith your desire is an accomplished thing. Our Lord further said, "Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."

In one place a man said to me, "You helped a good many today, but you have not helped me."

I said, "What is the trouble?"

He said, "I cannot sleep, and I am losing my reason."

I said to him, "Believe." And then I told him to go home and sleep, and I told him I would believe God.

He went home and his wife said to him, "Well, did you see the preacher?"

And he said, "He helped everyone but me."

However, he fell asleep. His wife said, "I wonder if it is all right." Morning, noon, and night he was still asleep, but he woke bright and happy, rested and restored. What had brought about this restoration? Faith in God"He shall have whatsoever he saith."

Have you received this "like precious faith"? If so, deal bountifully with the oppressed. God has called us to loose the bands of wickedness, undo the heavy burden, let the oppressed go free, and break the yokes that the devil has put upon them. Pray in faith. Remember he that asketh receiveth. Ask and it shall be given you. Live for God. Keep clean and holy. Live under the unction of the Holy Spirit. Let the mind of Christ be yours so that you live in God's desires and plans. Glorify Him in the establishment of His blessing upon the people, and in seeing God's glory manifested in the midst. Amen.

Labels: 1933, Pentecostal Evangel

Ever Increasing Faith, chapter 5. (Published 1924.)

"Is 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 the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him."

We have in this precious word a real basis for the truth of healing. In this scripture God gives very definite instructions to the sick. If you are sick, your part is to call for the elders of the church; it is their part to anoint and pray for you in faith, and then the whole situation rests with the Lord. When you have been anointed and prayed for, you can rest assured that the Lord will raise you up. It is the word of God.

I believe that we all can see that the church cannot play with this business. If any turn away from these clear instructions they are in a place of tremendous danger. Those who refuse to obey, do so to their unspeakable loss.

James tells us in connection with this, "If any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death." Many turn away from the Lord, as did King Asa, who sought the physicians in his sickness and consequently died; and I take it that this passage means that if one induces another to turn back to the Lord, he will save such from death and God will forgive a multitude of sins that they have committed. This scripture can also have a large application on the line of salvation. If you turn away from any part of God's truth, the enemy will certainly get an advantage over you.

Does the Lord meet those who look to Him for healing and obey the instructions set forth in James? Most assuredly. Let me tell you a story to show how He will undertake for the most extreme case.

One day I had been visiting the sick, and was with a friend of mine, an architect, when I saw a young man from his office coming down the road in a car, and holding in his hand a telegram. It contained a very urgent request that we go immediately to pray for a man who was dying. We went off in an auto as fast as possible and in about an hour and a half reached a large house in the country where the man who was dying resided. There were two staircases in that house, and it was extremely convenient, for the doctors could go up and down one, and my friend and I could go up and down the other, and so we had no occasion to meet.

I found on arrival that it was a case of this sort. The man's body had been broken, he was ruptured, and his bowels had been punctured in two places. The discharge from the bowels had formed abscesses, and blood poisoning had set in. The man's face had turned green. Two doctors were in attendance, but they saw that the case was beyond their power. They had telegraphed to London for a great specialist, and, when we arrived, they were at the railway station awaiting his arrival.

The man was very near death and could not speak. I said to his wife, "If you desire, we will anoint and pray for him." She said, "That is why I sent for you." I anointed him in the name of the Lord and asked the Lord to raise him up. Apparently there was no change. God often hides what He does. From day to day we find that God is doing wonderful things, and we receive reports of healings that have taken place that we heard nothing about at the time of our meetings. Only last night a woman came into the meeting suffering terribly. Her whole arm was filled with poison, and her blood was so poisoned that it was certain to bring her to her death. We rebuked the thing, and she was here this morning and told us that she was without pain and had slept all night, a thing she had not done for two months. To God be all the praise. You will find He will do this kind of thing all along.

As soon as we anointed and prayed for this brother we went down the back staircase and the three doctors came up the front staircase. As we arrived downstairs, I said to my friend who had come with me, "Friend, let me have hold of your hands." We held each other's hands, and I said to him, "Look into my face and let us agree together, according to Matthew 18:19, that this man shall be brought out of this death." We laid the whole matter before God, and said, "Father, we believe."

Then the conflict began. The wife came down to us and said, "The doctors have got all their instruments out and they are about to operate." I cried, "What? Look here, he's your husband, and I tell you this, if those men operate on him, he will die. Go back and tell them you cannot allow it." She went back to the doctors and said, "Give me ten minutes." They said, "We can't afford to, the man is dying and it is your husband's only chance." She said, "I want ten minutes, and you don't touch his body until I have had them."

They went downstairs by one staircase and we went up by the other. I said to the woman, "This man is your husband, and he cannot speak for himself. It is now the time for you to put your whole trust in God and prove Him wholly true. You can save him from a thousand doctors. You must stand with God and for God in this critical hour." After that, we came down and the doctors went up. The wife faced those three doctors and said, "You shan't touch this man's body. He is my husband. I am sure that if you operate on him he will die, but he will live if you don't touch him."

Suddenly the man in bed spoke. "God has done it," he said. They rolled back the bedclothes and the doctors examined him, and the abscesses were cut clear away. The nurse cleaned the place where they had been. The doctors could see the bowels still open and they said to the wife, "We know that you have great faith, and we can see that a miracle has taken place. But you must let us unite these broken parts and put in silver tubes, and we know that your husband will be all right after that, and it need not interfere with your faith at all." She said to them, "God has done the first thing and He can do the rest. No man shall touch him now." And God healed the whole thing. And that man is well and strong today. I can give his name and address to any who want it.

Do you ask by what power this was done? I would answer in the words of Peter, "His name, through faith in His name, made this man strong." The anointing was done in the name of the Lord. And it is written, "The LORD shall raise him up." And He provides the double cure; even if sin has been the cause of the sickness, His Word declares, "If he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven."

You ask, "What is faith?" Faith is the principle of the Word of God. The Holy Spirit, who inspired the Word, is called the Spirit of Truth, and, as we receive with meekness the engrafted Word, faith springs in our heart—faith in the sacrifice of Calvary; faith in the shed blood of Jesus; faith in the fact that He took our weakness upon Himself, has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains, and that He is our life today.

God has chosen us to help one another. We dare not be independent. He brings us to a place where we submit ourselves to one another. If we refuse to do this, we get away from the Word of God and out of the place of faith. I have been in this place once and I trust I shall never be there again. I went one time to a meeting. I was very, very sick, and I got worse and worse. I knew the perfect will of God was for me to humble myself and ask the elders to pray for me. I put it off and the meeting finished. I went home without being anointed and prayed with, and everyone in the house caught the thing I was suffering with.

My boys did not know anything else but to trust the Lord as the family Physician, and my youngest boy, George, cried out from the attic, "Dadda, come." I cried, "I cannot come. The whole thing is from me. I shall have to repent and ask the Lord to forgive me." I made up my mind to humble myself before the whole church. Then I rushed to the attic and laid my hands on my boy in the name of Jesus. I placed my hands on his head and the pain left and went lower down; he cried again, "Put your hands still lower." At last the pain went right down to the feet and as I placed my hand on the feet he was completely delivered. Some evil power had evidently gotten hold and as I laid my hands on the different parts of the body it left. (We have to see the difference between anointing the sick and casting out demons.) God will always be gracious when we humble ourselves before Him and come to a place of brokenness of spirit.

I was at a place one time ministering to a sick woman, and she said, "I'm very sick. I become all right for an hour, and then I have another attack." I saw that it was an evil power that was attacking her, and I learned something in that hour that I had never learned before. As I moved my hand down her body in the name of the Lord that evil power seemed to move just ahead of my hands and as I moved them down further and further the evil power went right out of her body and never returned.

I was in Havre in France and the power of God was being mightily manifested. A Greek named Felix attended the meeting and became very zealous for God. He was very anxious to get all the Catholics he could to the meeting in order that they should see that God was graciously visiting France. He found a certain bed-ridden woman who was fixed in a certain position and could not move, and he told her about the Lord healing at the meetings and that he would get me to come if she wished. She said, "My husband is a Catholic and he would never allow anyone who was not a Catholic to see me."

She asked her husband to allow me to come and told him what Felix had told her about the power of God working in our midst. He said, "I will have no Protestant enter my house." She said, "You know the doctors cannot help me, and the priests cannot help, won't you let this man of God pray for me?" He finally consented and I went to the house. The simplicity of this woman and her child-like faith were beautiful to see.

I showed her my oil bottle and said to her, "Here is oil. It is a symbol of the Holy Ghost. When that comes upon you, the Holy Ghost will begin to work, and the Lord will raise you up." And God did something the moment the oil fell upon her. I looked toward the window and I saw Jesus. (I have seen Him often. There is no painting that is a bit like Him: no artist can ever depict the beauty of my lovely Lord.) The woman felt the power of God in her body and cried, "I'm free, my hands are free, my shoulders are free, and oh, I see Jesus! I'm free! I'm free!"

The vision vanished and the woman sat up in bed. Her legs were still bound, and I said to her, "I'll put my hands over your legs and you will be free entirely." And as I put my hands on those legs covered with bedclothes, I looked and saw the Lord again. She saw Him too and cried, "He's there again. I'm free! I'm free!" She rose from her bed and walked round the room praising God, and we were all in tears as we saw His wonderful works. The Lord shall raise them up when conditions are met.

When I was a young man I always loved the fellowship of old men, and was always careful to hear what they had to say. I had a friend, an old Baptist minister who was a wonderful preacher. I spent much of my time with him. One day he came to me and said, "My wife is dying." I said, "Brother Clark, why don't you believe God? God can raise her up if you will only believe Him." He asked me to come to his house, and I looked for someone to go with me. I went to a certain rich man who was very zealous for God, and spent much money in opening up rescue missions, and I asked him to go with me. He said, "Never you mind me. You go yourself, but I don't take to this kind of business." Then I thought of a man who could pray by the hour. When he was on his knees he could go round the world three times and come out at the same place. I asked him to go with me and said to him, "You'll have a real chance this time. Keep at it, and quit when you're through." (Some go on after they are through.)

Brother Nichols, for that was his name, went with me and started praying. He asked the Lord to comfort the husband in his great bereavement and prayed for the orphans and a lot more on this line. I cried, "O my God, stop this man." But there was no stopping him and he went on praying and there was not a particle of faith in anything he uttered. He did stop at last, and I said, "Brother Clark, it's now your turn to pray. He started, "Lord, answer the prayer of my brother and comfort me in this great bereavement and sorrow. Prepare me to face this great trial." I cried out, "My God, stop this man." The whole atmosphere was being charged with unbelief.

I had a glass bottle full of oil and I went up to the woman and poured the whole lot on her in the name of Jesus. Suddenly Jesus appeared, standing at the foot of the bed. He smiled and vanished. The woman stood up, perfectly healed, and she is a strong woman today.

We have a big God. We have a wonderful Jesus. We have a glorious Comforter. God's canopy is over you and will cover you at all times, preserving you from evil. Under His wings shalt thou trust. The Word of God is living and powerful and in its treasures you will find eternal life. If you dare trust this wonderful Lord, this Lord of life, you will find in Him everything you need.

So many are tampering with drugs, quacks, pills and plasters. Clear them all out and believe God. It is sufficient to believe God. You will find that if you dare trust Him, He will never fail. "The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the LORD shall raise him up." Do you trust Him? He is worthy to be trusted.

I was one time asked to go to Weston-super-mare, a seaside resort in the West of England. I learned from a telegram that a man has lost his reason and had become a raving maniac, and they wanted me to go to pray for him. I arrived at the place, and the wife said to me, "Will you sleep with my husband?" I agreed, and in the middle of the night an evil power laid hold of him. It was awful. I put my hand on his head and his hair was like a lot of sticks. God gave deliverance—a temporary deliverance. At 6 o'clock the next morning, I felt that is was necessary that I should get out of the house for a short time.

The man saw me going and cried out, "If you leave me, there is no hope." But I felt that I had to go. As I went out I saw a woman with a Salvation Army bonnet on and I knew that she was going to their 7 o'clock prayer meeting. I said to the Captain who was in charge of the meeting, when I saw he was about to give a hymn, "Captain, don't sing. Let's get to prayer." He agreed, and I prayed my heart out, and then I grabbed my hat and rushed out of the hall. They all thought they had a madman in their prayer meeting that morning. I saw the man I had spent the night with, rushing down toward the sea, without a particle of clothing on, about to drown himself. I cried, "In the name of Jesus, come out of him!" The man fell full length on the ground and that evil power went out of him never to return. His wife came rushing after him, and the husband was restored to her in a perfect mental condition.

There are evil powers, but Jesus is greater than all evil powers. There are tremendous diseases, but Jesus is healer. There is no case too hard for Him. The Lion of Judah shall break every chain. He came to relieve the oppressed and to set the captive free. He came to bring redemption, to make us as perfect as man was before the fall. People want to know how to be kept by the power of God. Every position of grace into which you are led—forgiveness, healing, deliverance of any kind—will be contested by Satan. He will contend for your body. When you are saved, Satan will come round and say, "See, you are not saved." The devil is a liar. If he says you are not saved, it is a sure sign that you are.

You will remember the story of the man who was swept and garnished. The evil power had been swept out of him. But the man remained in a stationary position. If the Lord heals you, you dare not remain in a stationary position. The evil spirit came back to that man and found the house swept, and took seven others worse than himself, and the last state of that man was worse than the first. Be sure to get filled with God. Get the Occupier. Be filled with the Spirit. God has a million ways of undertaking for those who go to Him for help. He has deliverance for every captive. He loves you so much that He even says, "Before they call, I will answer." Don't turn Him away.

Labels: 1924, Ever Increasing Faith

Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, October 17, 1942.

Christ said to His disciples just before He ascended, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me.” On the day of Pentecost He sent the power, and the remainder of the Acts of the Apostles tells of the witnessing of these Spirit-filled disciples, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.

The Lord Jesus is just the same today. The anointing is just the same. The Pentecostal experience is just the same, and we are to look for like results as set forth in Luke’s record of what happened in the days of the early church.

John the Baptist said concerning Jesus, “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” God’s ministers are to be a flame of fire—a perpetual flame, a constant fire, a continual burning, burning and shining lights. God has nothing less for us than to be flames. We must have a living faith in God, a faith that God’s great might and power may flame through us until our whole life is energized by the power of God.

I realize that when the Holy Ghost comes, He comes to enable us to show forth Jesus Christ in all His glory, to make Him known as the One who heals today as in the days of old. The Baptism in the Spirit is to enable us to preach as they did at the beginning, through the power of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven and with the manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit. Oh, if we would only let the Lord work in us, melting us until a new order arises, moved with His compassion!

I was traveling from Egypt to Italy. God was wonderfully on that ship with me, and every hour I was conscious of His blessed presence. A man on the ship suddenly collapsed and his wife was terribly alarmed, and everybody else seenied to be. Some said that he was about to expire. But I saw it was just a glorious opportunity for the power of God to be manifested. Oh, what it means to be a flame of fire, to be indwelt by the living Christ! We are a back number if we have to pray for power when an occasion like that comes, or if we have to wait until we feel a sense of His presence. The Lord’s promise was, “Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you,” and if we will believe, the power of God will be always manifested when there is a definite need. When you exercise your faith, you will find that there is a greater power than there is in the world. Oh, to be awakened out of unbelief into a place of daring for God on the authority of His blessed Book!

So right there on board that ship, in the name of Jesus I rebuked the devil, and to the astonishment of the man’s wife and the man himself, he was able to stand. He said, “What is this? It is going all over me. I have never felt anything like this before.” From the top of his head to the soles of his feet the power of God shook him. God has given us authority over all the power of the devil. Oh, that we may live in the place where we realize this always!

Christ, who is the express image of God, has come to our human weaknesses, to change them and us into divine likeness, to be partakers of the divine nature, so that by the power of His might we may not only overcome, but rejoice in the fact that we are more than conquerors. God wants you to know by experience what it means to be more than a conqueror. The Baptism in the Holy Spirit has come for nothing less than to empower us, to give the very power that Christ Himself had, so that you, a yielded vessel, may continue the same type of ministry that He had when He walked this earth in the days of His flesh. He purposes that we should come behind in no gift. There are gifts of healing and the working of miracles, but we must apprehend these. There is the gift of faith by the same Spirit which we are to receive.

The need in the world today is that we should be burning and shining lights to reflect the glory of Christ. We cannot do it with a cold indifferent experience, and we never shall. His servants are to be flames of fire. Christ came that we might have life, and life more abundantly. And we are to give that life to others, to be ministers of the life and power and healing virtue of Jesus Christ wherever we go.

Some years ago I was in Ceylon. In one place the folk complained, “Four days is not much to give us.” “No,” I said, “but it is a good share.” They said to me, “We are not touching the people here at all.” I said, “Can you have a meeting early in the morning, at eight o’clock?” They said they would. So I said, “Tell all the mothers who want their babies to be healed to come, and all the people over seventy to come, and after that we hope to give an address to the people to make them ready for the Baptism in the Spirit.”

It would have done you good to see the four hundred mothers coming at eight o’clock with their babies, and then to see the hundred and fifty old people, with their white hair, coming to be healed. We need to have something more than smoke to touch the people; we need to be a burning fire for God. His ministers must be flames of fire. In those days there were thousands out to hear the Word of God. I believe there were about three thousand persons crying for mercy at once. It was a great sight.

From that first morning on the meetings grew to such an extent that I would estimate every time some 5,000 to 6,000 gathered; and I had to preach in a temperature of 110 degrees. Then I had to pray for these people who were sick. But I can tell you, a flame of fire can do anything. Things change in the fire. This was Pentecost. But what moved me more than anything else was this: there were hundreds who tried to touch me, they were so impressed with the power of God that was present. And many testified that with the touch they were healed, It was not that there was any virtue in me—the people’s faith was exercised as it was at Jerusalem when they said Peter’s shadow would heal them.

You can receive something in three minutes that you can carry with you into glory. What do you want? Is anything too hard for God? God can meet you now. God sees inwardly, He knows all about you. Nothing is hidden from Him, and He can satisfy the soul and give you a spring of eternal blessing that will carry you right through.

Labels: 1942, Pentecostal Evangel

Preached at Springfield Assembly, Springfield, Mo.
Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, March 17, 1923
Ever Increasing Faith, chapter 4. (Published 1924.)

Read John 5:1-24.

I believe the word of God is so powerful that it can transform any and every life. There is power in God’s word to make that which does not appear to appear. There is executive power in the word that proceeds from His lips. The psalmist tells us, "He sent His word and healed them"; and do you think that word has diminished in its power? I tell you nay, but God’s word can bring things to pass today as of old.

The psalmist said, "Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept Thy word." And again, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes." And if our afflictions will bring us to the place where we see that we cannot live by bread alone, but must partake of every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, they will have served a blessed purpose. But I want you to realize that there is a life of purity, a life made clean through the word He has spoken, in which, through faith, you can glorify God with a body that is free from sickness, as well as with a spirit set free from the bondage of Satan.

Here they lay, a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, around the pool, waiting for the moving of the water. Did Jesus heal everybody? He left many around that pool unhealed. There were doubtless many who had their eyes on the pool and who had no eyes for Jesus. There are many today who have their confidence all the time in things seen. If they would only get their eyes on God instead of on natural things, how quickly they would be helped.

The question arises, is salvation and healing for all? It is for all who will press right in and get their portion. You remember the case of that Syrophenician woman who wanted the devil cast out of her daughter. Jesus said to her, "Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs." Note, healing, and deliverance are here spoken of by the Master as “the children's bread"; so, if you are a child of God, you can surely press in for your portion.

The Syrophenician woman purposed to get from the Lord what she was after, and she said, "Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs." Jesus was stirred as He saw the faith of this woman, and He told her, "For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter." Today there are many children of God refusing their blood-purchased portion of health in Christ and are throwing it away, while sinners are pressing through and picking it up from under the table, as it were, and are finding the cure not only for their bodies, but for their spirits and souls as well. The Syrophenician woman went home and found that the devil had indeed gone out of her daughter. Today there is bread, there is life, and there is health for every child of God through his all-powerful Word.

The Word can drive every disease away from your body. It is your portion in Christ, Him who is our bread, our life, our health, our all in all. And though you may be deep in sin, you can come to Him in repentance, and he will forgive and cleanse and will receive them. There is a promise in the last verse in Joel, "I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed." This is as much as to say He will provide new life within. The life of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, can so purify men's hearts and minds that they become entirely transformed, spirit, soul and body.

There they are round the pool; and this man had been there a long time. His infirmity was of thirty-eight years standing. Now and again an opportunity would come, as the angel stirred the waters, but his heart would be made sick as he saw another step in and be healed before him. But one day Jesus was passing that way, and seeing him lying there in that sad condition, enquired, "Wilt thou be made whole?" Jesus said it, and His word is from everlasting to everlasting. This is His word to you, poor, tried and tested one today. You may say, like this poor impotent man, “I have missed every opportunity up till now.” Never mind about that—Wilt thou be made whole?

I visited a woman who had been suffering for many years. She was all twisted up with rheumatism and had been two years in bed. I said to her, “What makes you lie here?” She said, “I've come to the conclusion that I have a thorn in the flesh.” I said, “To what wonderful degree of righteousness have you attained that you have to have a thorn in the flesh? Have you had such an abundance of divine revelations that there is danger of your being exalted above measure?" She said, “I believe it is the Lord who is causing me to suffer.” I said, “You believe it is the Lord's will for you to suffer, and you are trying to get out of it as quickly as you can. There are doctor's bottles all over the place. Get out of your hiding place and confess that you are a sinner. If you'll get rid of your self- righteousness, God will do something for you. Drop the idea that you are so holy that God has got to afflict you. Sin is the cause of your sickness and not righteousness. Disease is not caused by righteousness, but by sin.”

There is healing through the blood of Christ and deliverance for every captive. God never intended His children to live in misery because of some affliction that comes directly from the devil. A perfect atonement was made at Calvary. I believe that Jesus bore my sins, and I am free from them all. I am justified from all things if I dare believe. He Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses; and if I dare believe, I can be healed.

See this poor, helpless man at the pool. "Wilt thou be made whole?" But there is a difficulty in the way. The man has one eye on the pool and one eye on Jesus. There are many people getting cross-eyed this way these days; they have one eye on the doctor and one on Jesus. If you will only look to Christ and put both your eyes on Him you can be made every whit whole, spirit, soul and body. It is the word of the living God that they that believe should be justified, made free from all things. And whom the Son sets free is free indeed.

You say, “Oh, if I only could believe!” He understands. Jesus knew he had been a long time in that case. He is full of compassion. He knows that kidney trouble, He knows those corns, and He knows that neuralgia. There is nothing he does not know. He only wants a chance to show Himself merciful and gracious to you. But He wants to encourage you to believe Him. If thou canst only believe, thou canst be saved and healed. Dare to believe that Jesus was wounded for your transgressions, was bruised for your iniquities, was chastised that you might have peace, and that by His stripes there is healing for you right here and now. You have failed because you have not believed Him. Cry out to Him even now, "Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief."

I was in Long Beach, California one day, and with a friend, was passing a hotel. He told me of a doctor there who had a diseased leg; that he had been suffering from it for six years, and could not get out. We went up to his room and found four doctors there. I said, “Well, doctor, I see you have plenty on, I'll call again another day.” I was passing at another time, and the Holy Spirit said, “Go join thyself to him.” Poor doctor! He surely was in a bad condition. He said, “I have been like this for six years, and nothing human can help me.” I said, “You need God Almighty.” People are trying to patch up their lives; but you cannot do anything without God. I talked to him for a while about the Lord, and then prayed for him. I cried, “Come out of him, in the name of Jesus.” The doctor cried, “It's all gone!”

Oh, if we only knew Jesus! One touch of His mightiness meets the need of every crooked thing. The trouble is to get people to believe Him. The simplicity of this salvation is so wonderful. One touch of living faith in Him is all that is required, and wholeness is your portion.

I was in Long Beach about six weeks later, and the sick were coming for prayer. Among those filling up the aisle was the doctor. I said, “What is the trouble?” He said, “Diabetes, but it will be all right tonight. I know it will be all right.” There is no such thing as the Lord not meeting your need. There are no ifs or may’s; His promises are all shall’s. All things are possible to him that believeth. Oh, the name of Jesus! There is power in that name to meet every condition of human need.

At that meeting there was an old man helping his son to the altar. He said, “He has fits—many every day.” Then there was a woman with a cancer. Oh, what sin has done! We read that, when God brought forth His people from Egypt, "there was not one feeble person among their tribes." No disease! All healed by the power of God! I believe that God wants a people like that today.

I prayed for the sister who had the cancer and she said, “I know I'm free and that God has delivered me.” Then they brought the boy with the fits, and I commanded the evil spirits to leave, in the name of Jesus. Then I prayed for the doctor. At the next night's meeting the house was full. I called out, “Now, doctor, what about the diabetes?” He said, “It has gone.” Then I said to the old man, “What about your son?” He said, “He hasn't had any fits since.” We have a God who answers prayer.

Jesus meant this man at the pool to be a testimony forever. When he had both eyes on Jesus, He said to him, “Do the impossible thing. Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." Jesus called on the man with the withered hand to do the impossible—to stretch forth his hand. The man did the impossible thing—he stretched out his hand, and it was made every whit whole. And so with this impotent man—he began to rise, and he found the power of God moving within. He wrapped up his bed and began to walk off. It was the Sabbath day, and there were some of those folks around who think much more of a day than they do of the Lord; and they began to make a fuss. When the power of God is in manifestation, a protest will always come from some hypocrites. Jesus knew all about what the man was going through, and met him again; and this time He said to him, "Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee."

There is a close relationship between sin and sickness. How many know that their sickness is a direct result of sin? I hope that no one will come to be prayed for who is living in sin. But if you will obey God and repent of your sin and quit it, God will meet you, and neither your sickness nor your sin will remain. "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."

Faith is just the open door through which the Lord comes. Do not say, “I was healed by faith.” Faith does not save. God saves through that open door. Healing comes the same way. You believe, and the healing comes the same way. You believe, and the virtue of Christ comes. Healing is for the glory of God. I am here because God healed me when I was dying; and I have been all around the world preaching this full redemption, doing all I can to bring the glory to the wonderful name of Jesus, through whom I was healed.

"Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee." The Lord told us in one place about an evil spirit going out from a man. The house that he left got all swept and garnished, but it received no new occupant. And that evil spirit, with seven other spirits more wicked than himself, went back to that unoccupied house, and the last stage of the man was worse than the first. The Lord does not heal you to go to a baseball game or to a race meet. He heals you for His glory and that from henceforth your life shall glorify Him. But this man remained stationary. He did not magnify God. He did not seek to be filled with the Spirit. And his last state became worse than the first.

The Lord would so cleanse the motive and desires of our hearts that we will seek but one thing only, and that is, His glory. I went to a certain place one day and the Lord said, “This is for My glory.” A young man had been sick for a long time confined to his bed in an utterly hopeless condition. He was fed only with a spoon, and was never dressed. The weather was damp, and so I said to the people of the house, “I wish you would put the young man's clothes by the fire to air.” At first they would not take any notice of my request, but because I was persistent, they at last got out his clothes, and, when they were aired, I took them into his room.

The Lord said to me, “You will have nothing to do with this;” and I just lay out prostrate on the floor. The Lord showed me that He was going to shake the place with His glory. The very bed shook. I laid my hands on the young man in the name of Jesus, and the power fell in such a way that I fell on my face to the floor. In about a quarter of an hour the young man got up and walked up and down praising God. He dressed himself and then went out to the room where his father and mother were. He said, “God has healed me.” Both the father and mother fell prostate to the floor as the power of God surged through that room. There was a woman in that house who had been in an asylum for lunacy, and her condition was so bad that they were about to take her back. But the power of God healed her, too. The power of God is just the same today as of old. Men need to be taken back to the old paths, to the old-time faith, to believe God’s Word and every “Thus saith the Lord” therein. The Spirit of the Lord is moving in these days. God is coming forth. If you want to be in the rising tide, you must accept all God has said.

"Wilt thou be made whole?" It is Jesus who asks it. Give Him your answer. He will hear and He will answer.

Labels: 1923, Ever Increasing Faith, Pentecostal Evangel

Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, 21 April 1945.

We read in the Word that by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain; by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; by faith Noah prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed. There is only one way to all the treasures of God, and that is the way of faith. All things are possible, the fulfilling or all promises, to him that believeth. And it is all by grace. “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not or yourselves: it is the gift of God.”

There will be failure in our lives if we do not build on the base, the Rock Christ Jesus. He is the only way. He is the truth. He is the life. And the Word He gives us is life-giving. As we receive the Word of life, it quickens, it opens, it fills us, it moves us, it changes us; and it brings us into a place where we dare to say Amen to all that God has said. Beloved, there is a lot in an “Amen.” You never get any place until you have the Amen inside of you. That was the difference between Zacharias and Mary. When the word came to Zacharias he was filled with unbelief until the angel said, “Thou shalt be dumb... because thou believest not my words.” Mary said, “Be it unto me according to thy word.” And the Lord was pleased that she believed that there would be a performance. When we believe what God has said, there shall be a performance.

Read the 12th chapter of Acts, and you will find that there were people waiting all night and praying that Peter might come out of prison. But there seemed to be one thing missing despite all their praying, and that was faith. Rhoda had more faith than all the rest of them. When the knock came at the door, she ran to it for she was expecting an answer to her prayers; and the moment she heard Peter’s voice, she ran back and announced to them that Peter was standing at the door. And all the people said, “You are mad. It isn’t so.” That was not faith. When she insisted that he was there, they said, “Well, perhaps God has sent his angel.” But Rhoda insisted, “It is Peter.” And Peter continued knocking. And they went out and found it so. What Rhoda had believed for had become a glorious fact.

Beloved, we may do much praying and groaning, but we do not receive from God because of that; we receive because we believe. And yet sometimes it takes God a long time to bring us through the groaning and the crying before we can believe.

I know this, that no man by his praying can change God—for you cannot change Him. Finney said, “Can a man who is full of sin and all kinds of ruin in his life, change God when he starts to pray?” No, it is impossible. But when a man labors in prayer, he groans and travails because his tremendous sin is weighing him down, and he becomes broken in the presence of God; and when properly melted he comes into perfect harmony with the divine plan of God, and then God can work in that clay. He could not before. Prayer changes hearts, but it never changes God. He is the same yesterday, and today, and for ever—full of love, full of compassion, full of mercy, full of grace, and ready to bestow this and communicate that to us as we come in faith to Him.

Believe that when you come into the presence of God you can have all you came for. You can take it away, and you can use it, for all the power of God is at your disposal in response to your faith. The price for all was paid by the blood of Jesus Christ at Calvary. Oh, He is the living God, the One who has power to change us! “It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves.” And He purposes to transform us so that the greatness of His power may work through us. Oh, beloved! God delights in us, and when a man’s ways please the Lord, then He makes all things to move according to His own blessed purpose.

We read in Hebrews 11.5, “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death.... Before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” I believe it is in the mind of God to prepare us for translation. But remember this, translation comes only on the lines of holy obedience and a walk according to the good pleasure of God. We are called to walk together with God through the Spirit. It is delightful to know that we can talk with God and hold communion with Him. Through this wonderful Baptism in the Spirit which the Lord gives us, He enables us to talk to Himself in a language that the Spirit has given, a language which no man understands but which He understands, a language of love. Oh, how wonderful it is to speak to Him in the Spirit, to let the Spirit lift, and lift and lift us until He takes us into the very presence of God! I pray that God by His Spirit may move all of us so that we walk with God, even as Enoch walked with Him. But beloved, it is a walk by faith and not by sight, a walk of believing the Word of God.

I believe there are two kinds of faith. All people are born with a natural faith, but God calls us to a supernatural faith which is a gift from Himself. In the 26th chapter of Acts Paul tells us of his call, how God spoke to him and told him to go to the Gentiles, “to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me.” The faith which was in Christ was by the Holy Spirit to be given to those who believed. Henceforth, as Paul yielded his life to God, he could say, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me”—the faith of the Son of God communicated by the Spirit to the one who puts his trust in God and in His Son.

I want to show you the difference between our faith and the faith of Jesus. Our faith is limited and comes to an end. Most people have experienced coming to the place where they have said, “Lord, I can go no further. I have gone so far, and I cannot go on.” But God can help us and take us beyond this. I remember one night, being in the north of England and going around to see some sick people, I was taken into a house where there was a young woman lying on her bed, a very helpless case. Her reason was gone and many things were manifested that were absolutely Satanic, and I knew it.

She was a beautiful young woman. Her husband was quite a young man. He came in with a baby in his arms, leaned over and kissed his wife. The moment he did so she threw herself over on the other side of the bed, just as a lunatic would do, with no consciousness of the presence of her husband. It was heart-breaking, The husband took the baby and pressed the baby’s lips to the mother. Again there was a wild frenzy. I said, to the sister who was attending her, “Have you anybody to help?” She answered, “We have done everything we could.” I said, “Have you no spiritual help?” Her husband stormed and said, “Spiritual help? Do you think we believe in God after we have had seven weeks of no sleep and this maniac condition? If you think we believe in God, you are mistaken. You have come to the wrong house.”

There was a young woman about eighteen who grinned at me as she passed out of the door, as much as to say, “You cannot do anything.” But this brought me to a place of compassion for this poor young woman. And then with what faith I had I began to penetrate the heavens. I was soon out on the heights, and I tell you I never saw a man get anything from God who prayed on the earth level. If you get anything from God you will have to pray right into heaven, for all you want is there. If you are living an earthly life, all taken up with sensual things, and expect things from heaven, they will never come. God wants us to be a heavenly people, seated with Him in the heavenlies, and laying hold of all the things in heaven that are at our disposal.

I saw there, in the presence of that demented girl, limitations to my faith; but as I prayed there came another faith into my heart that could not be denied, a faith that grasped the promises, a faith that believed God’s Word. I came from the presence of the glory back to earth. I was not the same man. I confronted the same conditions I had seen before, but in the name of Jesus. With a faith that could shake hell and move anything else, I cried to the demon power that was making this young woman a maniac, “Come out of her, in the name of Jesus!” She rolled over and fell asleep, and awakened in fourteen hours, perfectly sane and perfectly whole.

Enoch walked with God. During those many years of his life he was penetrating the heavens, laying hold of and believing God, living with such co-operation and such a touch of God upon him, that things moved on, earth and things moved in heaven. He became such a heavenly being that it was not possible for him to stay here any longer. Oh, hallelujah! I believe God wants to bring all of us into line with His will, so that we shall penetrate into the heavenlies and become so empowered that we shall see signs and wonders and divers gifts of the Holy Spirit in our midst. These are wonderful days—these days of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. You ask me, “When would you have liked to come to earth?” My answer is, “Just now. It suits me beautifully to know that I can be filled with the Holy Spirit, that I can be a temple in which He dwells, and that through this temple there shall be a manifestation of the power of God that will bring glory to His name.”

Enoch conversed with God. I want to live in constant conversation with God. I am so grateful that from my youth up, God has given me a relish for the Bible. I find the Bible food for my soul. It is strength to the believer. It builds up our character in God. And as we receive with meekness the Word of God, we are being changed by the Spirit from glory to glory. And by this Book comes faith, for faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And we know that “without faith it is impossible to please Him.”

I believe that all our failures come because of an imperfect understanding of God’s Word. I see that it is impossible to please God on any other line but by faith, and everything that is not of faith is sin. You say, “How can I obtain this faith?” You see the secret in Hebrews 12.2, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” He is the author of faith. Oh, the might of our Christ who created the universe and upholds it all by the might of His power! God has chosen Him and ordained Him and clothed Him, and He who made this vast universe will make us a new creation. He spoke the word and the stars came into being, can He not speak the word that will produce a mighty faith in us? Ah, this One who is the author and finisher of our faith comes and dwells within us, quickens us by His Spirit, and molds us by His will. He comes to live His life of faith within us and to be to us all that we need. And He who has begun a good work within us will complete it and perfect it; for He not only is the author but the finisher and perfecter of our faith.

“The Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” How the Word of God severs the soul and the spirit—the soul which has a lot of carnality, a lot of selfishness in it, a lot of evil in it! Thank God, the Lord can sever from us all that is earthly and sensual, and make us a spiritual people. He can bring all our selfishness to the place of death, and bring the life of Jesus into our being to take the place of that earthly and sensual thing that is destroyed by the living Word.

The living Word pierces right to the very marrow. When I was in Australia, so many people came to me with double curvature of the spine; but the word of the Lord came right down to the very marrow of their spines, and instantly they were healed and made straight, as I laid hands on them in the name of Jesus. The divine Son of God, the living Word, through His power, moved upon those curvatures of the spine and straightened them out. Oh, thank God for the mighty power of the Word!

The Word of God comes in to separate us from everything that is not of God. It destroys. It also gives life. He must bring to death all that is carnal in us. It was after the death of Christ that God raised Him up on high, and as we are dead with Him we are raised up and made to sit in heavenly places in the new life that the Spirit gives.

God has come to lead us out of ourselves into Himself, and to take us from the ordinary into the extraordinary, from the human into the divine, and make us after the image of His Son. Oh, what a Savior! What an ideal Savior! It is written, “Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” But even now, the Lord wants to transform us from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the living God. Have faith in God, have faith in the Son, have faith in the Holy Spirit; and the Triune God will work in you, working in you to will and to do all the good pleasure of His will.

Labels: 1945, Pentecostal Evangel