by Smith Wigglesworth.

	Originally published in the Pentecostal Evangel, July 14, 1945.

Jacob was on his way to the land of his fathers, but he was very troubled at the thought of meeting his brother Esau. Years before, Jacob and his mother had formed a plan to secure the blessing that Isaac was going to give Esau. How inglorious was the fulfilling of this carnal plan! It resulted in Esau’s hating Jacob and saying in his heart, “(When my father is dead), then will I slay my brother Jacob.” [Ge 27.41] Our own plans lead us frequently into disaster.

Continued…

Labels: 1945, Pentecostal Evangel

Subtitled, “An Easter message by Smith Wigglesworth.”
Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, April 24, 1943.

Paul writes: “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.”

This is what the Lord does for us when we come to Him; He takes out the heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh. The Spirit of God will write in both our hearts and minds the law of Christ. He cleanses us from all iniquity, takes away the old order and brings in the new, and He gives us His blessed Holy Spirit who causes us to walk in a way that is pleasing to Him.

The old life is brought to the cross of Calvary. Our old nature is crucified there and we are brought into the position that Paul speaks of when he says, “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.”

Beloved, God would have us see that no man is perfected on any line only as Christ the living Word abides in him.

In this new life we must have the Word of God dwelling richly in us. This Word is living and powerful and effective. It is the sword of the Spirit that will prove an effective weapon in the hands of the Spirit-filled warrior. By it we get complete victory over all the power of the enemy. But we need the power of the Spirit within to enable us to wield the sword of the Spirit effectively.

When Christ dwells in us, our life will be like that life which is described of Him in the Gospels, a life of constant communion with the Father. Ours will be a life of dependence on the Spirit of God, for we do not know how to pray as we ought. It is only as the Spirit prays through us that things will be accomplished for God. But as we yield ourselves wholly to God and ask for the Spirit, He will graciously give the Spirit so that we can pray in the Holy Ghost. And as we pray in the Holy Ghost we shall see signs and wonders wrought in the name of the holy child Jesus. We can have a ministry of the miraculous even as the early apostles had, if we give ourselves to prayer, for in response to prayer God will send the Pentecostal power as at the beginning. Nothing is so sweet as to have our hearts yearning with compassion, moved with compassion for the poor and needy. As the Lord fills your heart with love and compassion, you will find the inward cry from the depths of your need is met by the depth of God’s love. When God gets into the depths of our hearts He purifies every intention and He fills us with His own joy.

When Moses received the tables of stone and he returned to the people, God made his face to shine. There was a glory in the giving of the law. But there is a more wonderful glory in the giving of the Spirit. Much more wonderful than the shine on Moses’ face is the moving of the Spirit to write His commandments on our hearts, the deep movings of the God of eternity as He writes His law of love and compassion into our inner beings. O beloved, let us let the Holy Spirit have His way in our lives to unfold to us the grandeur of Christ’s glory.

The Lord will bring us into a life of humility where we have no confidence in ourselves, but our whole trust rests upon the authority of the mighty God who has promised to be with us at all times. He has made us able ministers of the New Testament, ministers of the Spirit that giveth life. Rivers of living water will flow from us as our confidence rests in Him. As we constantly partake of the living Christ within, He will give us a message direct from heaven, hot, burning, living. Just as the old prophets said, “Thus saith the Lord,” speaking as the Spirit gave them utterance, so we shall go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit, our whole minds illuminated by the blessed Holy Spirit. He will elevate our minds until we have heavenly minds. We will be able to bring the vision of heavenly things to the people until they will want more of God and more of the Spirit, till they long to be filled with Spirit that they may be fruitful on every line.

I have found that the Baptism in the Holy Ghost infuses into us an intensity of zeal. You will remember it is written of Him, “The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up,” and we too, like our Lord, will be eaten up of holy zeal. He will fill us with a passion for the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The Spirit of God will bring us to the place called Calvary, to the place where we are dead unto sin; but alive unto God, and filled with the resurrection life and power of the living Christ. Oh, beloved, we must live in the Spirit. We must grow into the likeness of our Master. We must be continually changed from glory to glory as we behold His face, until we are changed into the same image by the Spirit of God.

Have you failed God? He has mercy for you. Out of the depth of your sins and failures you can cry to God for all unrighteousness to be cast out and for His righteousness to be revealed within. Christ was made sin for you and took your sin, that you might become the righteousness of God in Him, that you might receive His righteousness. But it means a constant going to the cross of Calvary for the bringing to death of the old natural order, that you may come into the supernatural plan of God which He has for you.

God wants each one of us to be indeed an epistle of Christ, an epistle that recommends Christ to men. We can only be this as the Spirit of God writes into our hearts and minds the Word. He will make the Word of God life within. Now out of the abundance of a heart steeped in the Word of God there will come forth that which will bring blessing to all those with whom you come in contact. Let your heart cry go up to Him, “O God, lead me step by step in this divine life, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.”

Labels: 1943, Pentecostal Evangel

Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, May 27, 1944.

We have a remarkable word in Matthew 3:11, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” This was the word of one who was filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother’s womb, who was so filled with the power of the Spirit of God that they came from east and west and from north and south to the banks of the Jordan to hear him.

You have seen water baptism, and you know what it means. This later baptism taught by this wilderness preacher means that we shall be so immersed, covered and flooded with the blessed Holy Ghost, that He fills our whole body.

Now turn to John 7:37-39: “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)”

Jesus saw that the people who had come to the feast, expecting blessing, were going back dissatisfied. He had come to help the needy, to bring satisfaction to the unsatisfied. He does not want any of us to be thirsty, famished, naked, full of discord, full of disorder, full of evil, full of carnality, full of sensuality. And so He sends out in His own blessed way the old prophetic cry: “Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat.”

The Master can give you that which will satisfy. He has in Himself just what you need at this hour. He knows your greatest need. You need the blessed Holy Ghost, not merely to satisfy your thirst, but to satisfy the needs of thirsty ones everywhere; for as the blessed Holy Spirit flows through you like rivers of living water, these floods will break what needs to be broken, they will bring to death that which should be brought to death, but they will bring life and fruitage where there is none.

What do you have? A well of water? That is good as far at it goes. But Christ wants to see a plentiful supply of the river of the Holy Ghost flowing through you. Here, on this last day of the feast, we find Him preparing them for the Pentecostal fullness that was to come, the fullness that He should shed forth from the glory after His ascension.

Note the condition necessary—“He that believeth on Me” This is the root of the matter. Believe on Him. Believing on Him will bring forth this river of blessedness. Abraham believed God, and we are all blessed through faithful Abraham. As we believe God, many will be blessed through our faith. Abraham was an extraordinary man of faith. He believed God in the face of everything. God wants to bring us to the place of believing, where, despite all contradictions around, we are strong in faith, giving God glory. As we fully believe God, He will be glorified, and we will prove a blessing to the whole world as was our father Abraham.

Turn to John 14. Here we see the promise that ignorant and unlearned fishermen were to be clothed with the Spirit, anointed with power from on high, and endued with the Spirit of wisdom and knowledge. As He imparts divine wisdom, you will not act foolishly. The Spirit of God will give you a sound mind, and He will impart to you the divine nature.

How could these weak and helpless fishermen, poor and needy, ignorant and unlearned, do the works of Christ and greater works than He had done? They were incapable. None of us is able. But our emptiness has to be clothed with divine fullness, and our helplessness has to be filled with the power of His helpfulness. Paul knew this when he gloried in all that brought him down in weakness, for flowing into his weakness came a mighty deluge of divine power.

Christ knew that His going away would leave His disciples like a family of orphans. But He told them it was expedient, it was best, for after His return to the Father He would send the Comforter, and He Himself would come to indwell them. “Ye in Me, and I in you.”

Christ said, “And I will pray the Father, and He shall send you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth.” What a fitting name for the One who was coming to them at the time they were bereft—Comforter. After Christ had left them there was a great need, but that need was met on the day of Pentecost when the Comforter came.

You will always find that in the moment of need the Holy Spirit is a comforter. When my dear wife was lying dead, the doctors could do nothing. They said to me, “She’s gone; we cannot help you.” My heart was so moved that I said, “O God, I cannot spare her!” I went up to her and said, “Oh, come back, come back, and speak to me! Come back, come back!” The Spirit of the Lord moved, and she came back and smiled again. But then the Holy Ghost said to me, “She’s mine. Her work is done. She is mine.”

Oh, that comforting word! No one else could have spoken it. The Comforter came. From that moment my dear wife passed out. And in this day the Comforter has a word for every bereaved one.

Christ further said, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” How true this is. From time to time He takes of the words of Christ and makes them life to us. And, empowered with this blessed Comforter, the words that we spake under the anointing are spirit and life.

There are some who come to our meetings who, when you ask them whether they are seekers, reply, “Oh, I am ready for anything.” I tell them, “You will never get anything.” It’s necessary to have the purpose that the Psalmist had when he said, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after.” When the Lord reveals to you that you must be filled with the Holy Ghost, seek that one thing until God gives you that gift.

I spoke to two young men in a meeting one day. They were preachers. They had received their degrees. I said to them, “Young men, what about it?”

“Oh,” they said, “we do not believe in receiving the Holy Ghost in the same way as you people do.”

I said to them, “You are dressed up like preachers, and it is a pity having to have the dress without the Presence.”

“Well, we do not believe it the way you do,” they said.

“But look,” I said, “the apostles believed it that way. Wouldn’t you like to be like the apostles? You have read how they received at the beginning, haven’t you?”

Always remember this, that the Baptism will always be as at the beginning. It has not changed. If you want a real Baptism, expect it just the same way as they had it at the beginning.

These preachers asked, “What had they at the beginning?”

I quoted from the tenth chapter of Acts where it says, “On the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.” The Jews knew that these Gentiles had the same kind of experience as they themselves had at the beginning on the day of Pentecost. The experience has not changed, it is stiIl the same as at the beginning.

When these two young men realized that Peter and John and the rest of the disciples had received the mighty enduement at the beginning, and that it was for them, they walked up to the front where folk were tarrying. They were finely dressed, but in about half an hour they looked different. They had been prostrated. I had not caused them to do it. But they had been so lost and so controlled by the power of God, and were so filled with the glory of God, that they just rolled over, and their fine clothes were soiled—but their faces wete radiant. What caused the change? They had received what the hundred and twenty received at the beginning.

These young preachers had been ordained by men. Now they received an ordination that was better. The Lord had ordained them that they should go and bring forth much fruit. The person that receives this ordination goes forth with fresh feet—his feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; he goes forth with a fresh voice—it speaks as the Spirit gives utterance; he goes forth with a fresh mind—a mind illuminated by the power of God; he goes forth with a fresh vision, and sees all things new.

When I was in Switzerland, a woman came to me and said, “Now that I am healed and have been delivered from that terrible carnal oppression that bound and fettered me, I feel that I have a new mind. I should like to receive the Holy Ghost; but when I hear these people at the altar making so much noise, I feel like running away.”

Shortly after this we were in another place in Switzerland where there was a great hotel joined to the building where we were ministering. At the close of one of the morning services, the power of God fell. That is the only way I can describe it—the power of God fell. This poor, timid creature, who could not bear to hear any noise, screamed so loud that all the waiters in this big hotel came out, with their aprons on and their trays, to see what was up. Nothing especially was “up,” something had come down, and it so altered the situation that this woman could stand anythIng after that.

When you receive the Baptism, remember the words in 1 John 2:20, “Ye have an unction from the Holy One.” God grant that we may not forget that. Many people, instead of standing on the rock of faith to believe that they have received this unction, say, “Oh, if I could only feel the unction!”

Brother, your feeling robs you of your greatest unction. Your feelings are often on the line of discouragement. You have to get away from the walk by sense, for God has said, “The just shall live by his faith.” Believe what God says, “Ye have an unction from the Holy One,” an unction from above. All thoughts of holiness, all thoughts of purity, all thoughts of power are from above.

Frequently I see a condition of emergency. Here is a woman, dying; here is a man who has lost all the powers of his faculties; here is a person apparently in death. God does not want me to be filled with anxiety. What does He want me to do? To believe only. After you have received, only believe. Dare to believe the One who has declared, “I will do it.” Christ says, “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.” God declares, “Ye have an unction.” Believe God, and you will see this happen. What you say will come to pass. Speak the word, and the bound shall be free, the sick shall be healed. “He shall have whatsoever he saith.” “Ye have an unction.” The unction has come, the unction abides, the unction is with us.

But what about it, if you have not lived in the place where the unction can be increased? What is the matter? There is something between you and the Holy One—some uncleanness, some impurity, some desire that is not of Him; something that has come in the way? Then the Spirit is grieved. Has the unction left? No. When He comes in, He comes to abide. Make confession of your sin, of your failure, and once more the precious blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse, and the grieved Spirit will once more manifest Himself.

John further says, “The anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you.” We have an anointing, the same anointing which Jesus Christ Himself received. For “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; who went about doing good.” The same anointing is for us.

It means much to have a continuous faith for tho manifestation of the anointing. At the death of Lazarus, when it seemed that Mary and Martha and all around them had lost faith, Jesus turned to the Father and said, “Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me. And I knew that Thou hearest Me always.” Before that supreme faith that counted on God, that counted on His anointing, death had to give up Lazarus.

Through a constant felIowship with the Father, through bold faith in the Son, through a mighty unction of the blessed Holy Spirit, there will come a right of way for God to be enthroned in our hearts, purifying us so thoroughly that there is no room for anything but the divine Presence within. And through the manifestation of this Presence, the works of Christ and greater works shall be accomplished for the glory of our Triune God.

Labels: 1944, Pentecostal Evangel

An excerpt, published in the Pentecostal Evangel, June 5, 1926.

Good results in Switzerland. Miss Nell Ruff writes of a meeting held recently by Brother Smith Wigglesworth in Zurich. “Mr. Wigglesworth was full of the Spirit in declaring the full gospel. After the meetings, people would crowd into a vestry to be prayed for. It was heart breaking to see them throng around us, some halting, others bearing on their pale, weary faces the cruel marks of sin and suffering—all eager to hear how they could approach God and claim deliverance. Oh, the expressions of their eyes! how they changed! Scores of those sick ones went away praising God that He had healed them and saved their souls from destruction. Hallelujah! Zurich has been stirred up during this two weeks. My father is keeping the hall for Sunday afternoons for gospel meetings.” In a later letter she writes, “Our meeting has greatly increased. Thank God the tide is rising. We have not had a meeting since Mr. Wigglesworth’s visit in which there has been no healing nor decision for the Lord. We have also reports from people who have used handkerchiefs that have been prayed over. Prayer is being answered.”

Since writing the above, a long distance call has come from Eureka Springs from Brother E.J. Burton, who tells us that he has received a letter from Brother Wigglesworth, sent from Jerusalem, agreeing to accept the invitation of the brethren to be a speaker at the Interstate Camp Meeting to be held in Eureka Springs, Ark., from August 29 to September 12.

Labels: 1926, Pentecostal Evangel

By Walter H. Clifford, Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, May 29, 1926.

The campaign began March 5th in a hall capable of holding a thousand people. From the first night it was a great success, hundreds being saved. Not a night passed without many standing up and reaching out their hands to heaven, calling out, “Jesus save me! Jesus deliver me!” Each night the evangelist would single out people in the audience who were in pain, and would pray for them. Immediately after prayer was offered the suffering ones would testify that they were free from pain. If it was a case of stiff limbs, they were made to exercise them by walking up and down, running, stamping their feet, or waving their arms about in order to test whether the pain had actually gone.

One night a woman came up the aisle, walking in pain, her body all doubled up, and she finally fell on the floor in front of the platform, the pain was so great. Brother Wigglesworth jumped off the platform and put his hands upon her, and said, “In the name of Jesus I bind this pain and loose this woman.” Immediately she ran up and down the aisle, free from pain, and then went and sat down to listen to the message. She was perfectly whole. This demonstration had a great effect upon the crowd.

Some nights the evangelist prayed for over five hundred people, many of them coming hundreds of miles bringing their sick with them—the blind, deaf, dumb, lame, palsied, consumptive, eaten up with cancer, tumors, epilepsy, weak-minded, deranged, crippled. God worked mighty miracles: blind eyes were opened, deaf ears unstopped. stammering tongues spoke, men on crutches put them over their shoulder and went away, stiff joints were made supple, headaches and fevers vanished, asthma was treated as an evil power and cast out in the name of Jesus.

Handkerchiefs were brought in an ever increasing number and piled high upon the platform. So many were brought (quite 500 some nights) that a fairly large suitcase was neccesary to hold them all. One night, while our attention was diverted, a boy stole six new handkerchiefs that had been brought. Two nights later he came back with them, confessing that he had not been able to sleep since he had taken them. Many wonderful cures were wrought through this means. One was taken to a sanatorium and placed on a consumptive boy. The boy is wonderfully better, is putting on flesh and looking healthy.

Many people were helped by rising from their seats in faith and saying, “Jesus heal me,” without the prayers of the evangelist at all. One woman, who had eruptions on her arms and burning sensations caused by these eruptions, was healed as she sat in her seat. Truly these were wonderful days. God’s Spirit was poured out and Jesus was glorified.

Labels: 1926, Pentecostal Evangel

By Walter H.C. Clifford, Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, May 22, 1926.

Brother Wigglesworth has been with us in Colombo, ministering for two weeks. He came very late in the season and found the heat very trying, and in consequence did not visit India. In Madras we had one meeting as we passed through Bombay to Colombo. I went to Bombay to meet him. The meetings were wonderfully attended here. There were over a thousand listening to the Word nearly every night. It was a joy to see hundreds of people standing up with hands outstretched to heaven, asking Jesus to save them. Hundreds were healed of all kinds of diseases. Owing to the heat and the strenuous night meetings (some nights praying for 500 people), he was unable to have meetings for believers as we should have liked. However, the visit was a great success and has brought blessing to nlany homes. He has left us now for Palestine, where he expects to stay about a month, reaching England in time for the Whitsuntide Convention in London.

The follow-on meetings have been wonderfully blessed. One woman in the Sunday morning meeting, after Brother Wigglesworth had left, was healed of three diseases. She came on the following Wednesday bringing fifteen friends with her, eleven of whom were saved that night as we gave the altar call. I had the joy of immersing eight in water while Brother Wigglesworth was here, the youngest being a Singhalese girl seven years old. She had a wonderful testimony, and on the morning of her baptism, she had a vision of Jesus. It was a joy to my soul to take her in my arms and bury her with Christ in the water.

The Lord has given us another little son, born on Feb. 9. This makes us four children now. All is well, for which we praise the Lord. Brother May from Travancore is here helping me for a little while and I am very grateful for his help. We have had strenuous times since Christmas with two conventions and nine meetings a week in between. Oh, for some men to come and stand in the gap.

Labels: 1926, Pentecostal Evangel

An excerpt, published in the Pentecostal Evangel, January 5, 1924.

Blessing in New Zealand. Brother Smith Wigglesworth writes that he has received a great welcome on his return visit to New Zealand. Writing of his first visit eighteen months ago, Mr. E.E. Pennington, Chairman of the New Zealand Evangelical Mission of Wellington writes, “In June 1922, Brother Smith Wigglesworth came to Wellington little known to any of us. There was no flourishing of trumpets to herald his advent—a few small advertisements in the local press announced his meetings. About one thousand attended his first meeting on a Sunday evening, and the night following this number was increased by about five hundred to six hundred. From then on it was impossible to secure buildings large enough to accommodate the crowds, and the large Town Hall, seating three thousand, was packed every evening. On some occasions the crowd waited for hours about the doors before the commencement of the meetings rather than be denied the opportunity of hearing the man and his message. Never had the writer witnessed such scenes as followed the presentation of the Word of God by this Spirit-filled man, although being associated with such mighty evangelists as Drs. Torrey, Henry, Chapman and others in part of their New Zealand campaigns. On every occasion when an appeal was made for the unconverted to decide for Christ, the response was immediate and great, sometimes as many as four hundred to five hundred responding in a meeting—over two thousand made the great decision during the mission in Wellington—in some cases whole families entered the kingdom of God.”

Many healed. We have received a few testimonies of those healed in this meeting. Mrs. E. Curtis of Christchurch, New Zealand, was suffering with septic poisoning. She had become only a skeleton and the doctors could do nothing for her. She had agonizing pains all day and all night. She was healed immediately [after] prayer was made for her. She states that for the past sixteen years she has been a martyr to pain but is now wonderfully well. Another testified to healing of deafness, goiter, adenoids and bad eyesight. Another testified to healing of double curvature of the spine from infancy, hip disease, weak heart, leg lengthened three inches, which grew normal like the other leg. It was also three inches less in circumference. She wore a large boot but now walks on even feet, the large boot having been discarded. Another was healed from goiter through handkerchief.

Blessing in Melbourne, Australia. Mr. W. Buchanan, a leading Christian worker of Melbourne, writes of the Wigglesworth campaign in that city. “We had three glorious weeks of triumphant victory in the Melbourne meetings. Fully one thousand souls were converted to the Lord Jesus Christ, and many scores were healed: in fact, the testimonies of those healed are still continuing to come in.”

Labels: 1924, Pentecostal Evangel

Subtitled, “The ministry of Bro. Wigglesworth and his future movements.”
Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, September 16, 1922.

A number of letters have come to this office asking if Bro. Smith Wlgglesworth can hold meetings at different assemblies. He is waiting on the Lord about these calls and is praying about his future movements. He writes us that he expects to hold meetings in San Jose and Oakland, Cal., during the latter part of September and the early part of October, and he hopes that he will be able to start a campaign in Springfield, Mo., on October 15th. We hope to insert fuller announcement concerning this last meeting in the next Evangel.

A correspondent. Mrs. F.E. Braithwaite, sends us a large number of testimonies of healing from Australia, where Bro. Wigglesworth has lately been ministering.

Kathleen Gay, 107 Browe St., North Fitzroy, testifies, “I feel I must express my deep gratitude for blessing received. Only those who have been in the furnace of affliction can realize the joy of deliverance. It seems even now too wonderful after 14 years of anguish, sleeplessness, and spiritual depression caused by the bondage of the adversary that these are things of the past. As you say, consumption is of the devil and only the Lion of Judah could have delivered me from this scourge which has made my body a mass of corruption. Now I am free. Hallelujah!”

Mrs. J. Simcock, of Horshom, Victoria, writes, “I was prayed for in Melbourne and the evil spirit commanded to come out. I had a polypous growth in my nose. It had been there 18 years. When I came home from Melbourne the growth all broke up and came away, for which I praise God. I had also a pain under my left breast which had troubled me 12 years. I think it was leakage of the heart, as sorrow had caused it in the first place. At times I used to vomit blood. I have deliverance from that also. All praise to our wonder-working Jesus.”

Catherine Rutherford, of 32 Emerald St., Collingwood, writes, “I have had liver complaint all my life. When quite a young girl I was treated by the best doctors, but it always returned. At times I was unable to turn over in bed without help. The last 12 months my kidneys were bad and my legs swollen with much cramp. I had varicose veins with lumps larger than an egg. Now, glory to God, all has gone—disappeared as soon as hands were laid on me in the name of Jesus.”

L.M. Buchanan writes of the meetings held in Sydney:

“A woman who was to have undergone an operation yesterday went to the doctor, who said that there was neither misplacement nor inflammation. When she told him the reason he said that she would soon be worse. Another who was to have undergone several operations because the work could not be done in one, testifies that she was free, and that the Lord had lengthened her leg two inches and that instead of limping she is now walking perfectly. Another mother brought her little boy who had fits all day long. He was prayed for at the meeting and after the evangelist had gone he had a fit worse than before. The unbelievers’ sarcasm was to be heard all over the building. Two days later the mother returned to say that the child had not had another fit. A little girl aged five years old, who had been stone deaf three years, received her healing at once. The healings have been too numerous to mention and the preaching of the Word was wonderful.”

At the meeting at Geelong, one testified, “I had a withered hand for 14 years. When Mr. Wigglesworth was here a month ago it was cured.”

At Parkes a quarter of the population tried to get into the theater. The preaching was wonderful and also the healings. A little girl, deaf for six years, ear drums burst and bleeding, was instantly healed. Her brother, blind in one eye, received his sight immediately [after] he was prayed for. The daily papers say that no meetings on a religious line equal to these had ever been experienced in Parkes.

A teacher at Bunibank Methodist Sunday School testifies to healing of rheumatoid arthritis. “A doctor examined me in the beginning of December, 1911. and told me I would need new joints to walk. He said he would defy anyone to cure me, and although I improved in health I dld not walk better. On April 4th I went to be prayed with, and believed God would heal me. As hands were placed on my head in the name of Jesus, I felt the power of God go right through me. After the meeting I walked down three flights of stairs without a stick for the first time for sixteen years, and I have no use for a stick since. I have always tried to impress upon the juniors the power of prayer, but I had not realized I would have to demonstrate it in my own life. After testifying in the Sunday School, I asked all who were Christians or who would became so to stand. Every teacher and every scholar stood, and so we sang the Doxology. Men of the world have told me ‘It has set them thinking.’ There is no evidence now that I had ever rheumatoid arthritis. Praise God!”

Bro. Wigglesworth writes of his meeting in Wellington, New Zealand. “The New Zealand visit as been the best I have had on the lines of moving a city toward holiness and godly fear. Thirty of the principal men pleaded with me that I would stay longer. There has been a harvest of souls and over 2,000 were prayed for for healing. About 2,000 came down to the quay, singing and testifying and I spoke to them. A dally paper quotes the following healings, saying that any one can secure the names and addresses at the Dominion offices.”

A dairyman had for 3 years suffered with chronic gastritis and paralysis of both legs from the hips downward and could only drag along with crutches. He testifies, “On June 4th I attended the Town Hall. I was anointed, hands were laid upon me, and Mr. Wigglesworth told me to walk. I handed him my crutches and walked home. For 14 years I have had a cyst on the back of my neck. It increased in size to the size of an egg. The next morning I found it had completely disappeared.”

A lady testifies, “Over 3 years ago varicose veins in my legs broke. I was twice in hospital, but when I used the legs the veins burst open. The last time they were cut and an ulcer formed. I had to walk with a stick and could only limp. I went to the Town Hall. I had faith that Jesus would heal me. The pain ceased and I was able to leave my stick and walk to the car. My leg is sound and the ulcer is daily healing. I am now able to wash and do my housework.”

Another Wellington lady says that her son (age 11) 6 years ago broke his arm. It was badly set and he could not bend it properly. It was massaged for 12 months without any benefit. It is healed. Also her daughter, who suffered from adenoids, was healed.

A lady from Ngaio, aged 20, has suffered from double curvature of the spine from infancy. She could not walk until 4 years of age and could only rise from the floor by pulling herself up with both hands. One leg was 3 inches shorter and less in circumference. She went to many hospitals and was sent home incurable. She states, “As soon as hands were laid upon me I was healed, my spine was straightened; in a few days my leg lengthened, and my hip, which was diseased, was healed.”

The following testimonies appeared in the “Good News” of Melbourne:

For many years I suffered from bronchitis and asthma. I had pains in my chest and was very short of breath. I went to the meetings at the Olympia and Mr. Wigglesworth laid hands on me, and rebuked the evil spirit. I felt the power of God go right through me. I was immediately healed, and have not had a pain since. I was on Feb. 4th, 1922, dressing my little girls when Thelma, aged 4, fell. I picked her up and found her bleeding at the mouth. The scissors were in her hand, and she ran the point through her lips. Her mouth began to swell, and I said. “Dear Jesus, don’t let her go any further.” I hurried to the Good News Hall and the secretary carried her to Mr. Wigglesworth, who was at breakfast. In a few minutes the lady brought her hack, with her mouth closed, and perfectly healed. The child told me that the gentleman had laid his hands on her lips and prayed, and that Jesus had made her better —J.M. Henderson.

 

I was born with a weak, crooked ankle. I was anointed at the Olympia and it was immediately straightened and made strong. I had to wear a specially formed boot and straps, these are no use to me now, I have bought ordinary boots. Medical men had attended me and could do nothing. —Lily Ward.

Labels: 1922, Pentecostal Evangel

Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, April 26, 1941.

Read 1 John 3:1-10.

God does not dwell in temples made by hands but in poor and contrite hearts. God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. The Church is the body of Christ, its worship is a heart worship, a longing to come into the Presence of God. He wants us to come to a place of undisturbed rest and peace; only simplicity will bring us there. Jesus said, when He uplifted the baby, “Except you become as little children, you shall in no wise enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” It is not to have the child’s mind, but the child’s spirit—meekness, gentleness; it is the only place to meet God. He will give us that place of worship.

How my heart cries out for a deep vision of God. The world cannot produce it. A place where we see the Lord—that when we pray, we know God hears. Asking God and believing for the answer, having no fear but a living faith to come into the Presence of God. “In His Presence is fullness of joy, and at His right hand are pleasures for evermore.” God is looking for a people in whom He can reveal Himself.

I used to have a tremendous temper, going white with passion. My whole nature was outside God that way. God knew His child could never be of service to the world unless he was wholly sanctified. I was difficult to please at the table. My wife was a good cook, but there was always something wrong. After God sanctified me, however, I heard her testify in a meeting that from that time I was pleased with everything. I had men working for me. I wanted to be a good testimony to them. One day they waited after work was over and said, “We would like that spirit you have.” It is our human spirit that has to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. There is a place where Christ reigns in the body, then all is well.

This word is full of stimulation—brought by faith into a place of grace where all may see us made anew. If you believe, you can be sons of God—in likeness, character, spirit, longings, acts, until all will know you are a son of God. The Spirit of God can change our nature. God is Creator. His Word is creative, and as you believe, a creative power is changing your whole nature. You can reach this altitude only by faith. No man can keep himself. The God of almightiness spreads His covering over you, saying, “I am able to do all things; and all things are possible to him that believeth.”

The old nature is so difficult to manage. You have been ashamed of it many a time, but the Lord Himself will come. He says, “Come unto Me, and I will give thee rest, peace, strength. I will change you, I will operate upon you by My power making you a new creation, if you will believe.”

Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. “Learn of Me for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” The world has no rest, it is full of trouble; but in Him is peace which passeth understanding, with an inward flow of divine power changing your nature until you can live, move and act in the power of God.

“Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew Him not.” What does it mean? I have lived in one house over fifty years. I have preached from my own doorstep, and all around know me. They know. me when they need someone to pray, when there is trouble, when they need help. But at Christmas time, when they call their friends, would they call me? No! Why? They would say, “He is sure to want a prayer meeting, but we want to finish up with a dance.”

Wherever Jesus came sin was revealed and men don’t like sin revealed. Sin, separates from God for ever. You are in a good place when you weep before God, repenting over the least thing. If you have spoken unkindly, you realize it was not like the Lord. Your keen conscience has taken you to prayer. It is a wonderful thing to have a keen conscience. It is when we are close to God that our hearts are revealed. God intends us to live in purity—seeing Him all the time.

“Beloved, 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; and everyone that hath this hope purifieth himself even as He is pure.” It is the hope of the Church, the Bridegroom coming for the bride. He has suffered for us, been buried for us, risen for us, is jealous for us. How we should love Him! He is coming again and He wants us to be ready.

When I am leaving anywhere by train or ship, people come to see me off, and I preach to them. The Captain hears, the stewards hear. “Oh,” they said, “another on board!” The world thinks there is something wrong with you if you are full of zeal for God.

A young man came and asked me to take part in a sweepstake. I said, “I am preaching on Sunday—would you come if I did?” He said, “No.” Later, there was an entertainment. I said I would take a part. It was the strangest thing for me. I said I would sing. I saw men dressed as clergy entertaining the people with foolishness. I was troubled. I cried to God. Then came my turn just before the dance. A young woman came to take my book—she was half dressed. She said, “I cannot play that.” I said, “Never worry.” I sang, “Oh, if I could only tell you how I love Him, I am sure that you would make Him yours today.” There was no dance! They began weeping, and six young men gave their hearts to God in my cabin.

The world does not know us, but we are sons of God with power. No man that sins has power. Sin makes a man weak. Remember this—sin dethrones, but purity strengthens. Temptation is not sin; but the devil is a liar and tries to take away our peace. You must live in the Word of God. There is now no condemnation. Who is he that can condemn you? Christ has died. He won’t condemn you. He died to save you. Don’t condemn yourself. If there is anything wrong, come to the Blood. “If we walk in the light as He is in the Light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” Jesus was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. You can come into a new experience of God where God creates in our hearts such a love for Jesus that we are living in a new realm—Sons of God with power, filled with all the fullness of God.

Before leaving home I received a wire—would I go to Liverpool. There was a woman with cancer and gall stones. If I know God is sending me, my faith rises. The woman said, “I have no hope.” God said to me, “Establish her in the fact of the New Birth.” When she had the assurance that her sin was gone and she was born again, she said, “That is everything to me. Cancer is nothing now I have Jesus.” The battle was won. God delivered her and she was free and soon up and dressed, and happy in Jesus. Life and immortality are ours in the Gospel. This is our inheritance through the blood of Jesus—life for evermore. Believe and the Lord will transmit life through you, that you may be waiting for His coming and witnessing unto Him.

Labels: 1941, Pentecostal Evangel

Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, June 15, 1935.

In Romans 4:16 we read, “It is of faith, that it might be by grace,” meaning that we can open the door and God will come in. What will happen if we really open the door by faith? God is greater than our thoughts. He puts it to us, “Exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” When we ask a lot, God says “more.” Are we ready for the “more”? And then the “much more”? We may be, or we may miss it. We may be so endued by the Spirit of the Lord in the morning that it shall be a tonic for the whole day. God can so thrill us with new life that nothing ordinary or small will satisfy us after that. There is a great place for us in God where we won’t be satisfied with small things. We won’t have any satisfaction unless the fire falls, and whenever we pray we will have the assurance that what we have prayed for is going to follow the moment we open our mouth. Oh this praying in the Spirit! This great plan of God for us! In a moment we can go right in. In where? Into His will. Then all things will be well.

You can’t get anything asleep these days. The world is always awake, and we should always be awake to what God has for us. Awake to take! Awake to hold it after we get it! How much can you take? We know that God is more willing to give than we are to receive. How shall we dare to be asleep when the Spirit commands us to take everything on the table. It is the greatest banquet that ever was and ever will be—the table where all you take only leaves more behind. A fullness that cannot be exhausted! How many are prepared for a lot?

“And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve. And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: and seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.” Mark 11:11-14.

Jesus was sent from God to meet the world’s need. Jesus lived to minister life by the words He spoke. He said to Philip, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father… the words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me.” I am persuaded that if we are filled with His words of life and the Holy Ghost, and Christ is made manifest in our mortal flesh, then the Holy Ghost can really move us with His life, His words, till as He was, so are we in the world. We are receiving our life from God, and it is always kept in tremendous activity, working in our whole nature as we live in perfect contact with God.

Jesus spoke, and everything He said must come to pass. That is the great plan. When we are filled only with the Holy Spirit, and we won’t allow the Word of God to be detracted by what we hear or by what we read, then comes the inspiration, then the life, then the activity, then the glory! Oh to live in it! To live in it is to be moved by it. To live in it is to be moved so that we will have God’s life, God’s personality in the human body.

By the grace of God I want to impart the Word, and bring you into a place where you will dare to act upon the plan of the Word, to so breathe life by the power of the Word that it is impossible for you to go on under any circumstances without His provision. The most difficult things that come to us are to our advantage from God’s side. When we come to the place of impossibilities it is the grandest place for us to see the possibilities of God. Put this right in your mind and never forget it. You will never be of any importance to God till you venture in the impossible. God wants people on the daring line. I do not mean foolish daring. “Be filled with the Spirit,” and when we are filled with the Spirit we are not so much concerned about the secondary thing. It is the first with God.

Everything of evil, everything unclean, everything Satanic in any way is an objectionable thing to God, and we are to live above it, destroy it, not to allow it to have any place. Jesus didn’t let the devil answer back. We must reach the place where we will not allow anything to interfere with the plan of God.

Jesus and His disciples came to the tree. It looked beautiful. It had the appearance of fruit, but when He came to it He found nothing but leaves. He was very disappointed. Looking at the tree, He spoke to it: Here is shown forth His destructive power, “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever.” The next day they were passing by the same way and the disciples saw the tree “dried up from the roots.” They said to Jesus, “Behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.” And Jesus said, “Have faith in God.”

There isn’t a person that has ever seen a tree dried from the root. Trees always show the first signs of death right at the top. But the Master had spoken. The Master dealt with a natural thing to reveal to these disciples a supernatural plan. If He spoke it would have to obey. And, God, the Holy Ghost, wants us to understand clearly that we are the mouthpiece of God and are here for His divine plan. We may allow the natural mind to dethrone that, but in the measure we do, we won’t come into the treasure which God has for us. The Word of God must have first place. It must not have a second place. In any measure that we doubt the Word of God, from that moment we have ceased to thrive spiritually and actively. The Word of God is not only to be looked at and read, but received as the Word of God to become life right within our life. “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.”

“I give unto you power… over all the power of the enemy.” Luke 10:19. There it is. We can accept or reject it. I accept and believe it. It is a word beyond all human calculation: “Have faith in God.” These disciples were in the Master’s schooL They were the men who were to turn the world upside down. As we receive the Word we will never be the same; if we dare to act as the Word goes forth and not be afraid, then God will honor us. “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” Jacob was the weakest of all, in any way you like to take it. He is the God of Jacob, and He is our God. So we may likewise have our names changed to Israel.

As the Lord Jesus injected this wonderful word, “Have faith in God,” into the disciples, He began to show how it was to be. Looking around about Him He saw the mountains, and He began to bring a practical application. A truth means nothing unless it moves us. We can have our minds filled a thousand times, but it must get into our hearts if there are to be any results. All inspiration is in the heart. All compassion is in the heart.

Looking at the mountains He said, “Shall not doubt in his heart.” That is the barometer. You know exactly where you are. The man knows when he prays. If his heart is right how it leaps. No man is any good for God and never makes progress in God who does not hate sin. You are never safe. But there is a place in God where you can love righteousness and where you can hate iniquity till the Word of God is a light in your bosom, quickening every fiber of your body, thrilling your whole nature. The pure in heart see God. Believe in the heart! What a word! If I believe in my heart God says I can begin to speak, and “whatsoever” I say shall come to pass.

Here is an act of believing in the heart. I was called to Halifax, England, to pray for a lady missionary. I found it an urgent call. I could see there was an absence of faith, and I could see there was death: Death is a terrible thing, and God wants to keep us alive. I know it is appointed unto man once to die, but I believe in a rapturous death. I said to the woman, “How are you?” She said, “I have faith,” in a very weak tone of voice. “Faith? Why you are dying? Brother Walshaw, is she dying?” “Yes.” “Nurse, is she dying?” “Yes.” To a friend standing by, “Is she dying?” “Yes.”

Now I believe there is something in a heart that is against defeat, and this is the faith which God hath given to us. I said to her, “In the name of Jesus, now believe and you’ll live.” She said, “I believe,” and God sent life from her head to her feet. They dressed her and she lived.

“Have faith.” It isn’t saying you have faith. It is he that believeth in his heart. It is a grasping of the eternal God. Faith is God in the human vessel. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” 1 John 5:4. He that believeth overcomes the world. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” He that believeth in his heart! Can you imagine anything easier than that? He that believeth in his heart! What is the process? Death! No one can live who believes in his heart. He dies to everything worldly. He that loves the world is not of God. You can measure the whole thing up, and examine yourself to see if you have faith. Faith is a life. Faith enables you to lay hold of that which is and get it out of the way for God to bring in something that is not.

Just before I left home I was in Norway. A woman wrote to me from England saying she had been operated on for cancer three years before, but that it was now coming back. She was living in constant dread of the whole thing as the operation was so painful. Would it be possible to see me when I returned to England? I wrote that I would be passing through London on the 20th of June last year. If she would like to meet me at the hotel I would pray for her. She replied that she would be going to London to be there to meet me. When I met this woman I saw she was in great pain, and I have great sympathy for people who have tried to get relief and have failed. If you preachers lose your compassion you can stop preaching, fof it won’t be any good. You will only be successful as a preacher as you let your heart become filled with the compassion of Jesus. As soon as I saw her I entered into the state of her mind. I saw how distressed she was. She came to me in a mournful spirit, and her whole face was downcast. I said to her, “There are two things going to happen today. One is that you are to know that you are sayed.” “Oh, if I could only know I was saved,” she said. “There is another thing. You have to go out of this hotel without a pain, without a trace of the cancer.”

Then I began with the Word. Oh this wonderful Word! We do not have to go up to bring Him down; neither do we have to go down to bring Him up. “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach.” Romans 10:8. I said, “Believe that He took your sins when He died at the cross. Believe that when He was buried, it was for you. Believe that when He arose, it was for you. And now at God’s right hand He is sitting for you. If you can believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, you shall be saved.” She looked at me saying, “Oh, it is going all through my body. I know I am saved now. If He comes today, I’ll go. How I have dreaded, the thought of His coming all my life! But if He comes today, I know I shall be ready.”

The first thing was finished. Now for the second. I laid my hands upon her in the name of Jesus, believing in my heart that I could say what I wanted and it should be done. I said, “In the name of Jesus, I cast this out.” She jumped up. “Two things have happened,” she said. “I am saved and now the cancer is gone.”

Faith will stand amid the wrecks of time,

Faith unto eternal glories climb;

Only count the promise true,

And the Lord will stand by you—

Faith will win the victory every time!

So many people have nervous trouble. I’ll tell you how to get rid of your nervous trouble. I have something in my bag, one dose of which will cure you. “I am the Lord that healeth thee.” How this wonderful Word of God changes the situation. “Perfect love casteth out fear.” “There is no fear in love.” I have tested that so often, casting out the whole condition of fear and the whole situation has been changed. We have a big God, only He has to be absolutely and only trusted. The people who really do believe God are strong, and “he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.”

At the close of a certain meeting a man said to me, “You have helped everybody but me. I wish you would help me.” “What’s the trouble with you?” “I cannot sleep because of nervous trouble. My wife says she has not known me to have a full night’s sleep for three years. I am just shattered.” Anybody could tell he was. I put my hands upon him and said, “Brother I believe in my heart. Go home and sleep in the name of Jesus.” “I can’t sleep.” “Go home and sleep in the name of Jesus.” “I can’t sleep.” The lights were being put out, and I took the man by the coat collar and said, “Don’t talk to me any more.” That was sufficient. He went after that, When he got home his mother and wife said to him, “What has happened?” “Nothing. He helped everybody but me.” “Surely he said something to you.” “He told me to come home and sleep in the name of Jesus, but you know I can’t sleep in anything.”

His wife urged him to do what I had said, and he had scarcely got his head on the pillow before the Lord put him to sleep. The next morning he was still asleep. The next morning he was still asleep. She began to make a noise in the bedroom to awaken him, but he did not waken. Sunday morning he was still asleep. She did what every good wife would do. She decided to make a good Sunday dinner, and then awaken him. After the dinner was prepared she went up to him and put her hand on his shoulder and shook him, saying, “Are you never going to wake up?” From that night that man never had any more nervousness.

A man came to me for whom I prayed. Then I asked, “Are you sure you are perfectly healed?” “Well,” he said, “there is just a little pain in my shoulder.” “Do you know what that is?” I asked him. “That is unbelief. Were you saved before you believed or after?” “After.” “You will be healed after.” “It is all right now,” he said, It was all right before, but he hadn’t believed.

The Word of God is for us. It is by faith that it might be by grace.

Labels: 1935, Pentecostal Evangel

Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, November 10, 1934.

“That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death… I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:10-14.

What a wonderful word! This surely means to press on to be filled with all the fullness of God. If we leak out here we shall surely miss God, and shall fail in fulfilling the ministry He would give us.

The Lord would have us preach by life, and by deed, always abounding in service; living epistles, bringing forth to men the knowledge of God. If we went all the way with God, what would happen? What should we see if we would only seek to bring honor to the name of our God? Here we see Paul pressing in for this. There is no standing still. We must move on to a fuller power of the Spirit, never satisfied that we have apprehended all, but filled with the assurance that God will take us on to the goal we desire to reach, as we press on for the prize ahead.

Abraham came out from Ur of the Chaldees. We never get into a new place until we come out from the old one. There is a place where we leave the old life behind, and where the life in Christ fills us and we are filled with His glorious personality.

On the road to Damascus, Saul of Tarsus was apprehended by Christ. From the first he sent up a cry, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” He desired always to do the will of God, but here he realized a place of closer intimacy, a place of fuller power, of deeper crucifixion. He sees a prize ahead and every fiber of his being is intent on securing that prize. Jesus Christ came to be the firstfruits; the firstfruits of a great harvest of like fruit, like unto Himself. How zealous is the farmer as he watches his crops and sees the first shoots and blades. They are the earnest of the great harvest that is coming. Paul here is longing that the Father’s heart shall be satisfied, for in that first resurrection the Heavenly Husbandman will see a firstfruits harvest, firstfruits like unto Christ, sons of God made conformable to the only begotten Son of God

You say, “I am in a needy place.” It is in needy places that God delights to work. For three days the people that were with Christ were without food, and He asked Philip, “From whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?” That was a hard place for Philip, but not for Jesus, for He knew perfectly what He would do. The hard place is where He delights to show forth His miraculous power. And haw fully was the need provided for. Bread enough and to spare!

Two troubled, baffled travelers are on the road to Emmaus. As they communed together and reasoned, Jesus Himself drew near, and He opened up the Word to them in such a way that they saw light in His light. Their eyes were holden that they could not recognize who it was talking with them. But, o how their hearts burned within as He opened up the Scripture to them. And at the breaking of bread He was made known to them. Always seek to be found in the place where He manifests His presence and power.

The resurrected Christ appeared to Peter and a few more of them early one morning on the shore of the lake. He prepared a meal for the tired, tried disciples. That is just like Him. Count on His presence. Count on His power. Count on His provision. He is always there just where you need Him.

Have you received Him? Are you to be found “in Him”? Have you received His righteousness, which is by faith? Abraham got to this place, for God gave this righteousness to him because he believed, and as you believe God He puts HIs righteousness to your account. He will put His righteousness right within you. He will keep you in perfect peace as you stay your mind upon Him and trust in Him. He will bring you to a rest of faith, to a place of blessed assurance that all that happens is working for your eternal good.

Here is the widow’s son on the road to burial. Jesus meets that unhappy procession. He has compassion on that poor woman who is taking her only son to the cemetery. His great heart had such compassion that death had no power—it could no longer hold its prey. Compassion is greater than suffering. Compassion is greater than death. O God, give us this compassion! In His infinite compassion Jesus stopped that funeral procession and cried to that widow’s son, “Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.” And he who was dead sat up, and Jesus delivered him to his mother.

Paul got a vision and revelation of the resurrection power of Christ, and so he was saying, “I will not stop until I have laid hold of what God has laid hold of me for.” For what purpose has God laid hold of us? To be channels for His power. He wants to manifest the power of the Son of God through you and me. God help us to manifest the faith of Christ, the compassion of Christ, the resurrection power of Christ.

One morning about eleven o’clock I saw a woman who was suffering with tumor. She could not live through the day. A little blind girl led me to the bedside. Compassion broke me up and I wanted that woman to live for the child’s sake. I said to the woman, “Do you want to live?” She could not speak. She just moved her finger. I anointed her with oil and said, “In the name of Jesus.” There was a stillness of death that followed; and the pastor, looking at the woman, said to me, “She is gone.”

When God pours in His compassion it has resurrection power in it. I carried that woman across the room, put her against a wardrobe and held her there. I said, “In the name of Jesus, death come out.” And soon her body began to tremble like a leaf. “In Jesus’ name, walk,” I said. She did and went back to bed.

I told this story in the assembly. There was a doctor there and he said, “I’ll prove that.” He went to the woman and she told him it was perfectly true. She said, “I was in heaven, and I saw countless numbers all like Jesus. Then I heard a voice saying, ‘Walk, in the name of Jesus.’ ”

There is power in the name of Jesus. Let us apprehend it, the power of His resurrection, the power of His compassion, the power of His love. Love will break the hardest thing—there is nothing it will not break.

Labels: 1934, Pentecostal Evangel

Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, March 1, 1941.

In Acts 1.8 we read: “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.”

Oh, the power of the Holy Ghost! the power that quickens, that reveals, and prevails! I love to think that Jesus wanted all His people to have power, that He wanted all men to be overcomers. Nothing but this power will do it. Power over sin, power over sickness, power over the devil, power over all the powers of the devil!

In order to understand what it means to have power there are two things necessary; one is to have ears to hear and the other is to have hearts to receive. Every born-again saint of God, filled with the Spirit has a real revelation of that truth, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” I say this with as much audacity as I please. I know evil spirits are in abundance and in multitudes; Jesus cast them out as legion. The believer because of the Spirit that is in him has the power to cast out the evil spirit. It must be so; God wants us to have this power in us; we must be able to destroy Satan’s power wherever we go.

One day as I came into the house my wife said, “Which way did you come?” I answered that I had come in by the back way. “Oh,” she said, “if you had come in by the front you would have seen a man there in a terrible state. There is a crowd of people around him and he is in terrible straits.” Then the door bell rang and she said, “There he is again. What shall we do?” I said, “Just be still.” I rushed to the door and just as I was opening it the Spirit said, “This is what I baptized you for.” I was very careful then in opening the door, and then I heard the man crying outside, “Oh I have committed the unpardonable sin, I am lost, I am lost.” I asked him to come in and when he got inside he said again in awful distress, “I am lost, I am lost.” Then the Spirit came upon me and I commanded the lying spirit to come out of the man in the name of Jesus. Suddenly he lifted up his arms and said, “I never did it.” The moment the lying spirit was out he was able to speak the truth. I then realized the power in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. It was the Spirit that said, “This is what I baptized you for,” and I believe we ought to be in the place where we shall always be able to understand the mind of the Spirit amid all the other voices in the world.

After the Holy Ghost has come upon you, you have power. I believe a great mistake is made in these days by people tarrying and tarrying after they have received. After you have received it is, “Go ye.” Not “sit still,” but “go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel.” We shall make serious havoc of the whole thing if we turn back again and crawl into a corner seeking something we already have. I want you to see that God depends on us in these last days. There is no room for anyone to boast and the man who goes about saying, “Look at me for I am somebody,” is of no value whatever. God is done with that man altogether, He will have a people to glorify Him. He is doing what He can with what He has, but we are so unwilling to move in the plan of God that He has to grind us many times to get us where He can use us.

Jesus was so filled with the Holy Ghost that He stood in the place where He was always ready. He was always in the attitude where He brought victory out of every opportunity. The power of the Holy Spirit is within us but it can be manifested only as we go in obedience to the opportunity before us. I believe if you wait until you think you have power after you have received the Holy Ghost you will never know you have it. Don’t you know that the child of God who has the Baptism is inhabited by the Spirit? You will remember one time when they tried to throw Jesus from the brow of the hill, that He pressed through the midst of them and as soon as He got through He healed the man with the blind eyes. Pressing through the crowd which was trying to kill Him, He showed forth His power. Some people might think that Jesus should have run away altogether but He stopped to heal. This thought has comforted me over and over again.

One day as I was waiting for a car I stepped into a shoemaker’s shop. I had not been there long when I saw a man with a green shade over his eyes, crying pitifully and in great agony. It was heart-rending and the shoemaker told me that the inflammation was burning out his eyes. I jumped up and went to the man and said, “You devil, come out of this man in the name of Jesus.” Instantly the man said, “It is all gone, I can see now.” That is the only Scriptural way, to begin to work at once, and preach afterwards. You will find as the days go by that the miracles and healings will be manifested. Because the Master was touched with the feeling of the infirmities of the multitudes they instantly gathered around Him to hear what He had to say concerning the Word of God. However, I would rather see one man saved than ten thousand people healed. If you ask me why, I call to your attention the Word which says, “There was a rich man and he fared sumptuously every day.” Now we don’t hear of this man having any diseases but it says, “In hell he lifted up his eyes.” We also read that there was a poor man, full of sores and “he lifted up his eyes in heaven,” so we see that a man can die practically in good health but be lost, and a man can die in disease and be saved; so it is more important to be saved than anything else.

But Jesus was sent to bear the infirmities and the afflictions of the people and to destroy the works of the devil. He said that the thief (which is the devil) cometh to steal and to kill and to destroy, “but I am come that ye might have life and have it more abundantly.” I maintain that God wishes all His people to have the life more abundant. We have the remedy for all sickness in the Word of God! Jesus paid the full price and the full redemption for every need and where sin abounds, grace can come in and much more abound, and dispel all the sickness.

When I was traveling from England to Australia I witnessed for Jesus, and it was not long before I had plenty of room to myself. If you want a whole seat to yourself just begin to preach Jesus. However, some people listened and began to be much affected. One of the young men said to me, “I have never heard these truths before. You have so moved me that I must have a good conversation with you.” The young man told me that his wife was a great believer in Christian Science but was very sick now and although she had tried everything she had been unable to get relief, so was having a doctor. But the doctor gave her no hope whatever and in her dilemma and facing the realities of death she asked that she might have an appointment with me.

When I got to her I felt it would be unwise to say anything about Christian Science so I said, “You are in bad shape.” She said, “Yes, they give me no hope.” I said, “I will not speak to you about anything but will just lay my hands upon you in the Name of Jesus and when I do you will be healed.” That woke her up and she began to think seriously. For three days she was lamenting over the things she might have to give up. “Will I have to give up the cigarettes?” “No,” I said. “Will I have to give up the dance?” and again I replied “No.” “Well, we have a little drinking sometimes and then we play cards also. Will I have to give—?” “No,” I said, “you will not have to give up anything. Only let us see Jesus.” And right then she got such a vision of her crucified Saviour and Jesus was made so real to her that she at once told her friends that she could not play cards any more, could not drink or dance any more, and she said she would have to go back to England to preach against this awful thing, Christian Science. Oh, what a revelation Jesus gave her! Now if I had refused to go when called for, saying that I first had to go to my cabin and pray about it, the Lord might have let that opportunity slip by. After you have received the Holy Ghost you have power; you don’t have to wait.

The other day we were going through a very thickly populated part of San Francisco when we noticed a large crowd gathered. I saw it from the window of the car and said I had to get out, which I did. There in the midst was a boy in the agonies of death. As I threw my arms around the boy I asked what the trouble was and he answered that he had cramps. In the name of Jesus I commanded the devils to come out of him and at once he jumped up and not even taking time to thank me, ran off perfectly healed. We are God’s own children, quickened by His Spirit and He has given us power over all the powers of darkness; Christ in us the open evidence of eternal glory, Christ in us the Life, the Truth, and the Way.

We have a wonderful salvation that fits everybody. I believe that a baptized person has no conception of the power God has given him until he uses what he has. I maintain that Peter and John had no idea of the greatness of the power they had but they began to speculate. They said, “Well, as far as money goes, we have none of that, but we do have something; we don’t exactly know what it is, but we shall try it on you, In the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk,” and it worked. In order to make yourself realize what you have in your possession you will have to try it and I can assure you it will work all right.

I said one time to a man that the Acts of the Apostles would never have been written if the Apostles had not acted, and the Holy Spirit is still continuing His acts through us. May God help us to have some acts.

There is nothing like Pentecost, and if you have never been baptized you are making a big mistake by waiting. Don’t you know that the only purpose for which God saved you was that you might be a saviour of others? and for you to think that you have to remain stationary and just get to heaven is a great mistake. The Baptism is to make you a witness for Jesus. The hardest way is the best way; you never hear anything about the person who is always having an easy time. The preachers always tell of how Moses crossed the Red Sea when he was at wits’ end. I cannot find the record of anyone in the Scriptures whom God used who was not first tried. So if you never have any trials it is because you are not worth them.

God wants us to have power. When I was traveling in Sweden at a certain station early in the morning a little lady and her daughter got into the train. I saw at once that the lady was in dreadful agony and asked my interpreter to inquire as to the trouble. With tears running down her face she told how her daughter was taking her to the hospital to have her leg amputated. Everything that was possible had been done for her. I told her Jesus could heal. Just then the train stopped and a crowd of people entered until there was hardly standing room, but friends, we never get into a place that is too awkward for God, though it seemed to me that the devil had sent these people in at that time to hinder. However, when the train began to move along I got down, although it was terribly crowded, and putting my hands upon the woman’s leg I prayed for her in the name of Jesus. At once she said to her daughter, “I am healed. It is all different now; I felt the power go down my leg,” and she began to walk about. Then the train stopped at the next station and this woman got out and walked up and down the platform, saying, “I am healed. I am healed.”

Jesus was the first fruits and God has chosen us in Christ and has revealed His Son in us that we might manifest Him in power. God gives us power over the devil and when we say the devil we mean everything that is not of God. Some people say we can afford to do without the Baptism with the Spirit but I say we cannot. I believe any person who thinks there is a stop between Calvary and the glory has made a big mistake.

Labels: 1941, Pentecostal Evangel

Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, October 28, 1922.

Recently the office of the Missionary Treasurer was visited by an evangelist of international note, a man who has been especially honored of God in praying for the sick. Real miracles of healing have followed him wherever he has gone. We had not talked with him long until we discovered the secret of his power.

This man of God is not reaching out after things for himself, but he has put God first in everything. The work of the Lord is the chief concern of his life. He is tremendouslv concerned that the Gospel be given to as many as possible before the Lord comes. He stated to us, “I am not concerned about myself, for the Lord will take care of me. But I will not consent to hold a campaign unless I am given the privilege of taking a missionary offering. God has given me a ministry of faith and I must use it for the glory of God.”

Some evangelists seem to think that missions and evangelism do not go well together. They seem to feel that unless every effort is made to raise money for the expenses of the meeting that they will not be met and the campaign will be a financial failure. But here is an evangelist who has proven that when Missions are put to the front, God takes care of the running expenses of the campaign and his own needs as well. It has been a real inspiration to meet such a man.

The evangelist referred to is Smith Wigglesworth, who is just now opening a campaign in the Convention Hall, in cooperation with the Assembly of God at Springfield, Mo.

Labels: 1922, Pentecostal Evangel

From the Pentecostal Evangel, March 23, 1946.

In the second chapter of Mark we have the wonderful story of the healing of the one sick of the palsy who was laid at the feet of the Lord Jesus. Christ spoke a word, “and immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.”

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever, and wants to manifest Himself in our midst in a similar way. It is His purpose that signs and wonders shall be seen in our midst, and men shall go away and declare, “We never saw it on this fashion.”

God wants the gifts of healings and the working of miracles to be seen in our midst. In the book of Acts we read, “There came also a multitude out of the cities round about Jerusalem bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits and they were healed every one.” God wants us to move on into a Pentecostal experience where we shall see this happen in every meeting.

I believe that if there is anything that God is dissatisfied with, it is our settling down into a stationary condition. We stop on the threshold, when God in His great plan is inviting us into His treasury. Oh, this treasury of the Most High, the unsearchable riches of Christ, this divine position which God wants to move us into, so that we are altogether a new creation, the old self-life having passed away, where we are dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

There is one thing that hinders, and that is the carnal mind, which is enmity against God. But there is a glorious victory over carnality through the cross of Christ. My Bible tells me that my old man with all his carnality was crucified with Christ. At the cross of Christ there is victory complete and full over all the old self-life. God wants us to know the resurrection power of the Lord, and to bring us into a place of rest, of faith, of joy and peace and blessing and of fulness of life; the very same Spirit which raised up Christ from the dead quickening our mortal bodies so that we are full and overflowing with the life of Christ Himself.

May the Lord give us a new vision of Himself, and such a fulness of His divine life that we will shake off all that remains of the old life. Let us pray that He may bring us fully into all the newness of life. May He reveal to us the greatness of His will concerning us for there is no one who loves us as Jesus, there is no love like His, no compassion like His. He is filled with love and never fails to take those who fully obey Him into the promised land.

Beloved, in God’s Word there is always more to follow, always more than we can know, and if we will allow the Spirit of God to take us into all that is in the mind of God for us, what wonderful things will happen. Do not merely take a part of the Bible, take it all. When we get such a thirst upon us that nothing can satisfy us but God, we have a royal time.

If you are a child of God do not be satisfied with anything less than reality all the time. God has His hidden treasures for those who seek Him. Are you dry? There is no dry place in God, but all the good things come out of hard times. The harder the place you are in, the more blessedness can come out of it, as you yield to His plan. God is so abundant, so full of love and mercy; there is no lack to them that trust in Him.

It is an ideal thing to get people to believe, when they ask, that they shall receive, for Christ has said, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” It must be so, when God says it.

In the case of this man with the palsy, we see a helpless man, so infirm that he could not help himself to get to the place where Jesus was. Four men, whose hearts were full of compassion, carried the man to the house, but the house was full. I can see that house today as it was filled, jammed and crammed, just as I have seen houses in Mexico, in Switzerland, in Sweden, in Norway, and in Denmark. The places have been packed to hear the word of our Savior. There was no room even by the door. It was crowded inside and crowded outside.

The men who were carrying the palsied man said, “What shall we do?” But there is always a way. I have never found faith to fail, never once. Do not accept opposition. Believe through. There is always a way. May God the Holy Ghost give us a new touch of faith in God’s unlimited power to remove every obstacle, and bring us to the place where we have such a living faith that we dare to trust Him and say, “Lord, I do believe.”

There was no room, not so much as by the door. But these men said, “Let’s go up on the housetop.” Unbelievers would say, “Oh, that’s ridiculous!” But the men of faith declared, “We must get this poor fellow in at all costs. It is nothing to remove the roof. Let’s go up and go through.” That is the spirit that we must have. These men said in their hearts, “Let’s drop him right into the arms of Jesus, and He will fix him up.”

O beloved, that is a lovely thing to do, to drop right out of your self-righteous unbelief, right into the arms of Christ, who will meet every need of yours for spirit, soul, and body. I find some people who have been in a strange place of deadness for years; but press through to our lovely Christ and He will shake you out of it. He can make perfection out of imperfection by His wondrous loving touch.

I tell you, my sister, my brother, that when Christ’s blood was shed, He paid the full price and met all the world’s needs. Truly our Lord Jesus has met the need of the broken hearts and the sorrowful spirits, and also the withered limbs and the broken bodies. God’s dear Son paid the debt for all, for He took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. In all points He was tempted like as we are, in order that He might be able to succor them that are tempted.

I want to make Him real to you so that you will say, “He is my only salvation, He is my only life, He is my only help.” Oh, thank God! He has triumphed over all the power of hell. He came to seek and to save that which was lost, and He heals all that come to Him. Even though your faith may be tested, believe, and continue to believe. He never fails. In Him there is full redemption. He is still the same blessed Jesus, under the same mighty anointing filled with the Holy Ghost and with power, just as He was when He went about doing good in the days of His flesh, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.

As the palsied man is let down through the roof there is a great commotion, and all the people are gazing up at this strange sight. We read, “When Jesus saw their faith, He said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.” What did the forgiveness of sins have to do with the healing of this man? It had everything to do with it. Sin is at the root of disease. May the Lord cleanse us from outward sin and from inbred sin, and take away from us all that hinders the power of God from working through us.

The scribes reasoned in their hearts, “Who can forgive sins but God only?” Christ answered the thoughts of their hearts by saying, “Whether it is easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (He saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.”

Christ had seen the weakness of that man and his helplessness. He saw also the faith of these four men. There is something in it for us today. Many people will not be saved unless some of you are used to stir them up. Do not say with Cain, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” We have a responsibility towards our brethren, we must take them to Jesus. When these men carried the palsied man, they pressed through until he could hear the voice of the Son of God, and liberty came to the captive. The man became strong by the power of God, arose, took up his bed, and went forth before them all.

Beloved, I have seen wonderful things like this wrought by the power of God. We must never think about our God on small lines. He spoke one day and made the world from things which did not appear. That is the kind of God we have, and He is just the same today. There is no change in Him. Oh, He is lovely and precious above all thought of comparison. There is none like Him. Let us remember this. He has declared, “The just shall live by faith,” and nothing will profit you but that which you take by faith. God wants you to come into a close and intimate place with Himself, where you will believe and claim the promises, for they are Yea and Amen to all that believe.

Let us thank God for this full gospel which is not hidden under a bushel today. Let us thank Him that He is bringing out the gospel to us as in the days of His flesh. God is all the time working right in the very midst of us. Beloved, there is greater blessing for you than you ever received in your life. Do you believe it? Will you receive it?

Labels: 1946, Pentecostal Evangel

Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, October 19, 1946.

“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.” 1 John 3:1.

God does not dwell in temples made with hands; but our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost. We read in Isaiah 57:15, “Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”

The place in which we worship does not matter much, but the manner in which we worship is of utmost importance. Christ told us, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” How much we need the Holy Spirit to bring us into the kind of spiritual worship that will bring joy to the heart of our heavenly Father, who delights to receive the worship of His blood-bought children.

He wants us to come to a place of undisturbed rest and peace. Only simple faith will bring us there. Christ said, “Except ye... become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Not that we should have a child’s mind, but a child’s spirit of meekness and gentleness. It is the only plane upon which we can meet God.

How my heart cries out for a living faith, for a deep vision of God. The world cannot produce it. There is a place of vision where we see the Lord, where we have Him set always before us. And when we pray, we know that He hears us. We make our requests to God and believe for the answer, knowing no fear, and having a living faith as we come into the presence of God. In His wonderful presence we find fulness of joy, and at His right hand there are eternal pleasures.

God is looking for a people to whom He can reveal Himself. I used to have a tremendous temper, getting white with passion. I was difficult to please at the table. My wife was a good cook, but according to my judgment there was always something wrong with the food. God knew that I could never be of any service to the world until I become wholly sanctified. But after God sanctified me, I heard my wife testify in meeting that from that time on I was pleased with everything. I had men working for me, and I wanted to be a good testimony to them. One day they waited after work was over and said to me, “We would like to have the spirit that you have.”

We read in 1 John 2:6, “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.” Abiding in Christ and Christ abiding in us, our actions, all controlled by the blessed Holy Spirit, must be just like those of our Lord Jesus when He was upon the earth. There is a place of death and life where we become dead indeed unto sin in our daily reckoning, but we reckon ourselves alive unto God, and we let Christ reign in our body. Then all is well.

The Word of God is a stimulant to our faith. The Lord would have us all come into a new place of grace, that all may see us as new creatures in Christ Jesus, all the old things of the flesh done away and all things become new and all things of God.

Note the word “behold” at the beginning of our text. What does it mean? It means that the Holy Spirit is arousing our attention. He has something special to say. He wants us to pay attention to the fact that our loving Father in heaven has bestowed such grace upon us that believe, that He calls us sons. He wants us, in likeness, in character, in spirit, in longings, in acts, to be made like unto His own beloved Son in whom He was well pleased. He purposes that we should be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

You can reach this altitude only by faith. No man can keep himself. The old nature is too difficult to manage. You have been ashamed of it many times. However, God can change you. He will operate upon you by His power and will make you an entirely new creation, if you will only believe. Then you can have this testimony: “I am kept by the power of God.” The Almighty will stretch His covering over you, and you will know what it is to be able to do all things through Christ who strengtheneth you. For all things are possible to him that believeth.

Christ says to us, “Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” The world has no rest. It is full of trouble. But in Christ there is a peace that passeth understanding, and from Him there is an inward flow of divine power that changes your own nature until you live, move, and act in the power of God. The Scripture says, “Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.”

I will give you an illustration of this. I have lived in one house for sixty years. I have preached from my own doorstep, and all the people in our neighborhood know me. They know me when they need someone to pray for them, when they are in trouble, or when they are in any special need. But when they call their friends, do they call me? No! Why? They would say, “He is sure to want a prayer meeting, but we want to finish up with a dance.” Wherever Jesus came, sin was revealed, and men did not like sin revealed. But it is sin that separates from God forever.

You are in a good place when you become sensitive to the least sin and weep before God, repenting over the least thing in which you have grieved Him. You may have spoken unkindly; you realize that it was not like the Lord, and your conscience has taken you to prayer. It is a wonderful thing to have a keen conscience. It is when we are close to God that our hearts are revealed to us; it is then we learn to loathe ourselves, and the Holy Spirit turns us to Christ. We take Him to be our righteousness and our holiness. God intends us to live in purity. He has said, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” And the pure in heart can see Him all the time in everything.

“Beloved, 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. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.” That is God’s standard. Don’t accept a lower one. Our Lord, who died for us, became poor that we might be made rich, that we might be made pure, that we may be made holy. What an offering! He suffered for us, He died for us. He was buried, but rose again, and is now living for us. How we should love Him! What a privilege to know that you may be a son of God now! How simple it is. It is written, “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” When we believe, we receive Him. When we receive Him, anything may take place, for all power is given unto Him.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “In everything ye are enriched by Him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge.... Come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” God wants us to be enriched with utterance for Him, so that everywhere we go we are joyous witnesses of the goodness of the Lord. Wherever I am, whether traveling by train or ship, I preach to the people. It is God’s plan for me. On board ship, the captain hears, the sailors hear, and the stewards hear. “Oh,” they say, “we have another on board!” The world thinks there is something wrong with you if you are full of zeal for God.

One time, on board ship, a young man came to me and asked me to take part in a sweepstake. I said to him, “I am preaching on Sunday. Will you come if I do?” He said, “No!” Later there was an entertainment. I said I would take part. It was the strangest thing for me. I said I would sing. I saw men dressed as clergymen entertaining the people with foolishness. I was troubled. I cried out to God. Then came my turn, just before the dance. A young woman came to take my book and accompany me. She was only half dressed. She said, “I can’t play that!” I said, “Never worry.” Then I sang, “If I could only tell you how I love Him, I am sure that you would make Him yours today!” There was no dance. A number began to weep, and six young men gave their hearts to God in my cabin.

No man that sins has power. Sin makes a man weak. Sin dethrones, but purity strengthens. Temptation is not sin. The devil is a liar, and he will try to take away your peace. But we must always live in the Word of God and on that scripture which tells us, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” If Christ condemns you not, who is he that can condemn you? Do not condemn yourself. If there is anything wrong, confess it out and then come to the blood of Jesus Christ. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

You can come into a new experience in God, with all fear gone. You can live in a new realm—among the sons of God with power. “If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things which are pleasing in His sight.”

Not long ago I received a wire asking me if I would go to Liverpool. There was a woman with cancer and gallstones, and she was very much discouraged. If I know God is sending me, my faith rises. The woman said, “I have no hope.” I said, “Well, I have not come from Bradford to go home with a bad report.” God said to me, “Establish her in the fact of the new birth.” When she had the assurance that her sin was gone and she was born again, she said, “That’s everything to me. The cancer is nothing now. I have got Jesus.” The battle was won. God delivered her from her sin, from her sickness, and she was free, up and dressed, and happy in Jesus. When God speaks, it is as a nail in a sure place.

Will you believe, and will you receive Him? Life and immortality is ours in the gospel. This is our inheritance through the blood of Jesus—life for evermore!

Labels: 1946, Pentecostal Evangel