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p. 21 by Smith Wigglesworth
The Latter Rain Evangel, March 1923.
From “‘Thus Saith the Lord’ for Your Life.”

Beloved, I believe that God wants to take us further into his revelation and I beseech you to hear, because there are none so deaf as those who will not hear. We ought to have ears to hear and the hearing of faith because the word profiteth nothing unless it is mixed with faith in them that hear it. If you want the plan of God made real in your hearts you must take it all as “Thus saith the Lord.” Then God will be able to put you on the foundations which cannot be shaken. God has the only plan and that plan is so perfect that it has no flaws in it. You will find that it always comes out right to the place where you can build upon it. “There is no other foundation than that which is laid,” and that foundation is Christ Jesus. He is not only the cornerstone but he is also the head of the corner. We must see that everything is perfectly dovetailed together, and that we are all members in particular of that body in order that it may be fitly joined together in perfection in all its glorious beauties. Just like that wonderful city which will come right down out of heaven and will surpass every city that ever was made in all the world. Billions and trillions of saints, far more than human mind can give expression to, because they will be innumerable as the sands on the seashore, will comprise that wonderful city, the bride of the Lamb, which will come down out of heaven. And so I believe that God has a wonderful place for us.

When I read the Scriptures and see that blessed truth that Jesus said to the sons of Zebedee, “To sit on my right hand and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father,” I believe there will be innumerable seats there for those prepared for that place. And every time I preach I try to get people prepared for that wonderful place at the right hand of God. I do not want to think that anyone will come short of the adornment which only the Holy Ghost can give, the adorning of the beautiful grandeur of our Lord Jesus Christ which is for us all.

Yesterday morning we spoke about the word of wisdom. And truly that word of wisdom is very essential for all to know. This morning we will launch out further and take the next word which is so profitable unto us at this time, “the word of knowledge, by the same Spirit.” So I want you to keep in mind the same Spirit and the word of knowledge.

Jesus was always on a future tense condition, but he was in the present tense of it. It may be a future tense to many in this room this morning, but nevertheless, God intends that you should be so quickened by the Spirit that you should come into a present tense of all the glories of the scriptures. It was right for the Lord to speak to the disciples and show them the future tense, but beloved, he was in it and he manifested it.

As certain as possible am I that the world is ready for all the truth of God and I am satisfied that there is nothing stopping the flow of God except the believer. When the believer is sanctified, then the heathen shall know, but till all the saints come into the fullness of the manifestation of the power of God there will not be the revival for which we are looking. Revivals spring from wholehearted conditions, from inward power moved by the powers of God. God can only work upon the material and if the material is not fully yielded in the hand of the Potter there will always be some marring of the vessel. And the flow of all the powers of God will not get right through us till we are wholly and entirely purged from all dross and made pure gold in his presence.

John 16.8 declares unto us that when the Holy Ghost comes in us, “He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin because they believe not on me,” says Jesus. Then he goes on to say, “The prince of this world is judged,” and we know that as we are filled with the Holy Ghost we judge the world. God would have us so that everything we touch is either destroyed or quickened. Oh there must be something in this blessed way of life that shall surely make manifest his power till the heathen must know that he is God!

[Tongues and interpretation. “The Spirit quickeneth the mortal body and bringeth us into likemindedness with Jesus till the whole heart and mind are transformed and so made pure that God can bring into us all his revelation, all his life, and all his purity; till everything we move amongst is changed. As he was, so are we in the world, to glorify and magnify the Lord of hosts amongst the heathen.”]

Beloved I see that this gift of knowledge by the Spirit always brings joy, which is the second fruit of the Spirit. And knowledge is that which comes from above. We will look into the perfect liberty of God where we have the unfolding of the majesty of heaven where Christ is so revealed in all his divine fullness that we see from the beginning to the end one ideal through the whole canon of the scriptures. God hath set him over all. And God is manifesting in us himself, for in us all this truth has to be, and the truth is that we should know the scriptures which make us wise unto salvation; which open the depths of the kingdom of heaven, and reveal all his divine mind to us; which strengtheneth by the might of his Spirit in the inner man till the whole man is changed. The mysteries are by the Spirit revealed unto us and we know that God is bringing us into this glorious fact of having the mind of Christ and the knowledge of God.

The word of knowledge is, like all the gifts, great. It has been said and written by many people when they wanted to underestimate the baptism of the Spirit, that tongues is among the least of the gifts and the last of the gifts. There is no “last” with the word. The last may be first, and the first last. It takes just the same divine power to manifest tongues and interpretation, as healing and faith, as prophecy and discernment and other gifts. We must never say that anything is small in God’s word. We must always clearly see that there is no such thing as small things. Every gift is by the Spirit, and is worked by the Spirit. And every gift is made manifest, so we must clearly see that unless we have the Holy Ghost, we cannot have this glorious inward revelation of the mightiness of God to us. But, hallelujah, we are by the Spirit brought into likeness that we may have a peep right into the glorious hidden mysteries of the kingdom of his righteousness.

Beloved, you cannot say that all the truth is contained in the gospels, nor in the Acts, nor in the law of Moses, nor in any one part of the bible. It takes the whole of the scriptures, to contain the truth of God. The more you know of the scriptures the more you know of the mysteries of redemption. There are thousands of people who know the word of God, but it isn’t quickened to them. There is little life, though there may be any amount of go because the church bells ring. And there may be any amount of seeming religious order, but beloved, the word is a dead letter except by the Spirit, and you can only be quickened by the Spirit. So we must see that this “word of knowledge” of the word of God can never be vital and powerful in us without it is by the Spirit. As surely as anything, when the Holy Ghost gets right hold of any man, his conversation is in heaven, for our citizenship is there, our Head is there. We are not like the Romans; their head is in Rome, our Head is in heaven. When we are quickened by the Spirit we pray and sing in heavenly places.

And we must clearly see that God is all the time loosing us by the Spirit. When God gets us loose we are ready for any association. No matter what ship I travel on people are always saved on that ship. And if I go on a railroad journey I am sure there is someone saved before I get through. It isn’t possible for me to live without getting people ready for dying. I believe we have to live in a new spiritual realm of grace where all our mind, our walk, and everything is in the Holy Ghost. Beloved, the Spirit alone can do this. You can never reach these attainments under any circumstances in the flesh: “Ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit.” May God help us to see our destined position.

I say, and I will never draw it back till God shows me differently, that the child of God ought to thirst for the word. The child of God should know nothing else but the word and he should know nothing amongst men save Jesus. He can never know God through a newspaper and very little through books. You will find that books will disturb your mind and cause all kinds of ruptures in your ordinary communion. God has shown me that I dare not trust any book but the word of God. In fact I have never read a book but the bible and I am as satisfied as possible. It is the only book, and it is the only food for the believer. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” And we are of his substance. We are his life. There is something in humanity that God has made for all his divine attributes, that man can receive of God and walk up and down insulated through and through by this God-indwelling presence. Ah, it is lovely! And it is all because of the word of knowledge, by the same Spirit that gave the word of wisdom.

The next word also is a great word, especially among Pentecostal people who seem to be hungry for it more than anything else now, the “word of faith by the same Spirit.” You will find that coupled right along with this, is peace. And it could not be otherwise. You cannot find any man who has a living faith who is in trouble. You will never accomplish anything on any line except when you are in peace. It may be a blessing for you to know that if ever I have trouble and my peace is destroyed on any line, I always know it is satanic; it is never God under any circumstances. If I am not at peace there is something wrong somewhere, and I must get to know what it is, because they that keep their minds stayed upon God shall be kept in continual peace. When I find where the leakage is I shall be able to put my hand upon it and say, “That is healed.” Beloved, God wants to take us into that solid peace. It will make a difference in our prayers; it will make a difference in our reading and in our conversation when we are at peace with God and with one another. All the blasts of hell’s furnace whenever they come, cannot touch you. For those who pass from death unto life there is perfect peace, and yet we cannot have peace unless we have faith. God wants all his people so built on this groundwork of faith that everybody that sees you will be impressed; they will be moved. You will never move the world if you are in trouble, but show the world that there is a peace that brings a joy; that there is a joy that brings a song; that lifts you up, and it will lift all that gather round you.

The children of God must see clearly that they do not belong to this world. “Ye are not of the world.” “If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you.” Therefore you must be delivered from the world, be strengthened by the power of God, and be new creatures every day. Let us get down to this solid place of faith because there is something in it for us all. Faith can so rest in God’s plan and thought that whatever is going on in the world will make no difference. If your house was on fire and you were really at peace with God and resting in faith, you could laugh.

One of our workers said to me at Christmastime, “Wigglesworth, I never was so near the end of my purse in all my life.”To which I replied, “Thank God, you are just at the opening of God’s treasures.” If you get hold of the true principles of God there is no person in this place can ever be poor. Even in his deepest poverty he is made rich. When he has nothing at all he has more to give than he ever had before, making many rich because he has reached a place of poverty. When you possess nothing, it is just the time when you possess all things. That is a seeming contradiction but there are many apparent contradictions in the word of God to the mind who has not looked into the perfect law of liberty. But the child of God who goes in the perfect law of liberty sees that there is no binding; it is all liberty. You will never have liberty unless you have peace and you will never have peace unless you have faith. There are three things which always work correctly and they are on those lines. You can never have feeling make a fact but you can have faith make a fact that will bring feeling.

Beloved, God has a plan for these days, and when he comes in, no flesh can stand against him. Faith always works a faith. It always brings a peace; it is always in the clear light of God perfecting and being perfected. There are two things we must know; every principle of this 12th chapter of Corinthians is based upon gifts. When I speak about “gifts” I speak about the gifts which are brought into the human heart and abide there, for “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” Just like the Holy Ghost, when he comes in he never leaves. He may be grieved and he may be quenched to such an extent that it may seem all was dormant, but it will always be because the life is not in submission. When the life is submissive to God’s power, taking hold of that body, that body never loses its unction but goes on further and further to know more of the mind and will of God.

The difference between a gift within you and a gift administered through you because of the Holy Ghost unction, is that one always takes you into a place beyond where you were before you received the gift. For instance, all men have faith who are saved; saving faith. But the “gift of faith” is much different. That faith always abides. That is the reason why we may take for granted the security of the believer because we are not saved by works; we are saved by faith. And your position in Christ is according to where you are on the lines of faith. As I said the other day, no man in the place is any better than his faith. If his faith is perfected he is being perfected in every way. If he sees Jesus even though his faith is imperfect, the same perfection in Jesus will be perfected in him. If he sees Jesus in all his divine glories, attributes, and gifts, he will find that he will come into the divine position where Jesus exchanges his robe for his. If he can believe it it is true. If you have no limitations God has a plan to lift you into all his divine plan.

God has no place for anybody who is not thirsty. You are unusable. The Holy Ghost has no movement in you. But the word of God which we receive when we are born again by the incorruptible word: As that word abides, and you don’t interfere with it but nurture it, you will find it has the power to make a perfect Christ in you because it is the seed of God.

There is a great fullness in being a child of God. As God was in the heavens, seeing Jesus in the water, having come down there with John—just as he came to the place where they were, there was perfect surrender, then God burst through the heavens, saying: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” What was it that pleased him? That which will please him in every one of us: Meekness, submission, a full condition of surrender. When he, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, submitted to water baptism by John, that perfect yieldedness brought him to a place where God said, “This is my beloved Son.” If you follow Jesus you will see that from that time he claims his eternal destiny, his authority. From that time on, he lives and proves himself to be the Son of God. You will find there is the same position in destiny for us; our destiny is always pre-position. We must see that God begins with us by the word and finishes us by perfecting us as sons. “Unto as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God.” They were not sons, but they have power to become sons. And every person in this place has a perfect right to rise up to perfect sonship, where God indwells, flows, works through him, and manifests him in the world as a son. It is a big subject and seems to get bigger as we talk about it. It is one of those things to which there is no end because God has no end.

Let us turn to this line of faith, the difference between our faith and the faith which the Holy Ghost gives. I might go into the epistles, but I think if we keep on the lines where Paul was at first brought into these things, that will help us more. Let us come to the Acts of the Apostles and see the difference of that growth in the Spirit. Paul had a revelation just as he entered into the new life with Jesus. If you read the 26th chapter you will see that his revelation had to be increased on conditions. The increase of the revelation was this, that Jesus was showing himself unto him and said he would yet show further things unto him just as he was developed. If you want to know the great climax and finish of that condition, read the 15th chapter of Romans, and see there how he never preached on another man’s ground and yet signs and wonders followed. Just as Joshua closed up his ministry saying, “That not one thing that God hath promised hath failed,” so this man of God in the latter times came to us like a refined fire out of the mint of God’s order. When Paul was speaking to Agrippa he said, “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.” Every touch of that vision was made more real every day till God could take him through. The baptism of the Spirit took him into the place that was impossible to be shaken.

There are many things that describe this double faith. One night I got home about 11 o’clock from an open-air meeting. And when I got home I wanted to see my wife, I loved her so much; she was everything to me. Men, love your wives as Christ loved the church. There is something in a wife that is brought to you by the gift of God that you will never know her equal. I stand on this platform because of a holy woman, a woman who lived righteousness, poured her righteousness into my life, so transforming my life from wayward indifferences of all kinds, and so shaping my life that she was practically the means of purging me through and through. A holy wife is worth more than gold. And I say, wives love your husbands. Let nothing come between. It is the stimulus of your lives; it is the hope of your home; it is the destined eternity which is fixed in the homes.

“Where is she?” I asked. And straightway I was told that she was down at Mitchell’s. Mr. Mitchell was very ill. I had seen him that day and knew without a tremendous change he would not last the day out. He and I had been brought up together and I loved him very much. When I was nearing his house I heard a great cry so I felt that something had happened. I passed his wife on the staircase and asked, “What is up?"

“Mitchell has gone,” she said.

My wife was inside and I went in. As soon as I saw Mitchell I saw he had passed away. I couldn’t understand it and began praying. “Oh,” my wife exclaimed, “Don’t, Dad! Don’t, Dad!” But the faith I had, seemed to be a faith God helped me with, and I find that this faith God gives us in a place where God can undertake. I continued praying, and my wife laid hold of me saying, “Don’t, Dad. Don’t you see he is dead?” My wife was always afraid that I should have a dead person on my hands some day and there I should be, but I was never afraid of that. When I got as far as I could with my faith, then God laid hold of me. Oh it was such a laying hold, I could believe for anything! I came down from that place shouting victory. But my wife said, “Don’t, Dad. You see he is dead.”

“He is alive,” I replied. “Glory to God!”

My wife laid hold of me, weeping, “Oh Dad, don’t.”

“He is alive!” I said. And he is living today.

Ah yes, our faith and God’s faith ! We must see that God has a plan for us, and the plan is that the end of you is the beginning with God. But we must go in to possess all the glories of the attitude of the Spirit till we live and move in God. And nothing, by any means, shall ever discourage us. We shall always have a face like flint. We shall not be afraid of their faces, neither in any way shall we be dismayed. And as God was with Joshua and Moses, he is with us today.

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