Friday, February 09, 2007

The ABCs of Faith

Transcript of Message by Kenneth E. Hagin


Let us look again into the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews:


HEBREWS 11:1

1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen…


So for some time we taught on what faith is. We certainly did not exhaust the subject.


Then in the sixth verse of this same opening:


6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him…


Or as one translation reads: “Without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto God”.


…for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.


So without faith it’s impossible to please Him. In other words, God demands that we have faith.


Well if He demands that we have faith when it’s impossible for us to have faith – becaue you cannot and I cannot believe beyond actual knowledge – then we have a right to challenge His justice. He would be unjust.


But He not only in His Holy Word tells us that without faith it’s impossible to please Him – but

He tells us how to get faith.


Romans 10:17 said:

17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God


So you see, if God places in my hands – and thank God He has given us the written Word of God – if God places in my hands the means whereby faith can be produced, then the responsibility rests with me, not with God, whether or not I have faith.

And so thank God for His Word!

This Word of God is called the word of faith. Scriptural faith is based upon evidence set forth in the Word. Faith cometh by hearing the Word of God. Unbelief comes by hearing the theories of men. Faith is based upon facts – the facts of God’s Word.

I wrote on the fly-leaf of my bible, fifty-one years ago, on the bed of sickness, in red ink: the bible says it, I believe it, and that settles it.

No use going any further, looking any further. Thank God for the Word of God.

1. Faith for Salvation

Now, how does faith come for salvation? Well we’ve covered that, given Scriptural reference and illustration.

2. Faith for the Baptism of the Holy Ghost

How does faith come for the baptism of the Holy Ghost?

Same way it comes for salvation – by hearing what the Word of God said.

You know, all I’d heard all my life was salvation – and thank God for salvation, thank God for the new birth. That’s of first and foremost importance.

But uh so I never, I never, the thought never, the thought never occurred to me to doubt that the Lord would save me when I came to Him.

“He that cometh to…” He said in His Word – that’s a fact “…I will in no wise cast him out”.

So I knew He wouldn’t turn me away.

Romans 10:13 “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”. That’s a fact. Hallelujah.

I, I remember a, a friend of mine who was an Associate Pastor of a church here in the State of Oklahoma a number of years ago.

Now later on he was Pastor of a church here, and I was holding him a meeting here in the State of Oklahoma.

And so he told me this incident when I was teaching and preaching in his church when he was Pastoring (I’d been there before he came, and I’d gone back for meetings and he had heard this particular emphasis on faith, and he began to get a hold of it).

And he said – one day as we were eating, he said:

“Let me tell you a little story you know on myself.

I used to be Associate Pastor such-and-such a church – we supported a home missionary – a missionary to the Navajo Indians, on the Navajo Reservation you know in Arizona.

And so we made up you know a clothing – good clothing, not just junk – food stuff and so on, to carry out there to the missionary and to the Indians.”

And he said uh, “You know I had a trailer full – pulled it behind the car – and then my wife and I went out to uh also preach a week at the mission.

And so we not only had the trailer full, we had the trunk full, we had the you know the back seat full, and so we got out there to Arizona and I began to preach and teach.”

Well he said, “There was a great big Indian. Oh he was a big fella. Actually all of them’s not that large, but he was exceptionally large, you know like a giant almost. And he was a great witness for God.”

And so he said uh, the missionary said, “He’s won more souls than all the rest of the group put together, and especially good – or has done much you know in winning alcoholics – because he was an alcoholic himself when he got born again.

Now before he was born again he would go on a rampage. He would get drunk, that’s the only time he would come to church is when he – his wife now had come to church and had gotten saved, but he’s not – and the only time he’d ever come was when he was drinking.”

And then the missionary said, “We were all just shaking, because he’d get mad and go on a rampage and break the pews, come up and get the pulpit and just rip it apart.

And the, the uh Reservation police couldn’t handle him. They’d call the Sheriff out of Flagstaff and they’d send three carloads, three carloads of Deputies out there to cariole that one man – it took that many to do it.”

So the missionary said, “One Sunday night I looked back there and there he was and I thought, ‘Oh my Lord.’

And these folks you know had been brought-up on the Reservation, many of them, most of them nowadays (this is, you see this happened many years ago, in fact thirty years ago), and many of the younger ones you know had education and so on, but these very little education. So,” he said, “you had to be very simple in preaching to them, just take a simple text and speak to them almost like you were preaching to children”.

And so the missionary said, “I told them, I took a text there…”

(the very one I quoted you, Romans 10:13 ‘For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved). ‘Whosoever shall call…’

“…and just spoke for about ten or fifteen minutes on calling on the name of the Lord, made it as simple as I could, and gave the altar call.

And this big old drunk Indian got up and started down the aisle, and the missionary, it happened to be a lady missionary said, ‘I just, I just, I just, I just knew he was coming to break-up the furniture again. But instead of that he fell over the altar and said, “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!”

And everybody so astounded that he even came, that nobody moved. And he had hollered Jesus three times.

Everybody realized well that’s that fella that’s so bad that’s in the altar, let’s get down there and help him get saved.

So made a rush down there to the altar to help, and about that time he got up.

And they said, ‘Well get back down here.’

‘No,’ he said, ‘I’m saved.’

‘No, no,’ – see they knew how mean he’d been – and it’s amazing how much, how much people you know get their own thinking mixed in with it.

They said, ‘No, you need to get back down there and pray some more.’

They knew it’d take a lot of praying for him!

“You need to get back down here and repent some more.”

“No, no, no” he said, “I’m saved! The preacher said, just preached whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” he said, “didn’t you hear me? I called on Him three times! I’m saved!”

“No,” they said, “get back down here and pray.”

“Well you know he said, ‘You can get down there and pray if you want to – I’m saved.’ ”

And the missionary said, “You know what, I come to find out I didn’t even believe my own preaching!”

And this preacher said to me, “Well I’m in the same boat. That woke me up. I began to see something.”

You see that’s a fact of God’s Word!

Whosoever shall call…” (Romans 10:13)

“Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved”.

And this missionary said, “I was just sure that poor fella – bless his heart – never got a thing: he wasn’t down there long enough just to holler Jesus three times; he didn’t get anything, he ought to have prayed-through, and he didn’t get anything, I’m sure that he didn’t – but he turned out to be the best and the greatest Christian they had.”

You see, he just simply believed the facts. He didn’t get any theory mixed in with it.

I heard one preacher said he had to pray three days and nights before he could get God in the notion to saving him.

No, thank God you don’t have to get God in the notion of saving you.

He’s already in the notion of saving.

3. Faith for Healing

Well, what about faith for healing?

Well we talked about how faith comes for healing: just like it does for salvation – by hearing the Word of God.

We know God initiates some things on His own.

You know, the same thing’s over in the realm of salvation.

Did you ever stop to think about it?

You read the ninth chapter of Acts.

Saul of Tarsus, breathing out threatenings against the church – letters in his, in his possession, giving him the authority to put in jail and in bonds and in chains them that are in that way.

And as he approached the city of Damascus something there shined a light around about him, brighter than the noonday sun, and he heard a voice from heaven speaking to him saying, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?”

Well he said, “Who art thou Lord?”

He said, “I’m Jesus, whom you persecutest.”

“What do you have me to do?”

And He told him.

Now, you see, that doesn’t happen very often.

Do you know, did you see a light and hear a voice when you was born again? No.

Do you know anybody else that did? Doesn’t happen.

But God can do it if He wants to.

Most people get saved just like the Bible teaches, see:

“Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned.”

Amen?

But you see, things like this will happen ever once in a while.

I tell the story some time – it’s a true story – the only time it ever happened in my ministry in fifty years.

I was preaching in February of 1952 over in Oklahoma City in the old Capitol Hill Tabernacle.

Now we weren’t holding a meeting for them – we just used their building and put on our own meeting and uh, and uh, and uh several churches co-operated.

A, and so one night just as I was giving the altar call, a, and some folks had come – I’d have some folks to come down to the front and stand here to be saved; backsliders to come back home; church members that don’t know whether they’re saved or not; sinners that know they’re unsaved – and get them to go to the prayer room, and people pray with them; and then I form a, a prayer line and lay hands on people to be healed and to be filled with the Holy Ghost.

Well, some would come to stand here and to be saved; the singers were singing an invitation number:

Just as I am without one plea

But that thy blood was shed for me

And suddenly – swinging doors – like those doors yonder you see, just swung open.

Actually you see, in that old Tabernacle, there was uh uh five sections of seats across there – and swinging doors swung open and a young man stepped in and, and just looked, “Wow,” like you know he hadn’t been in the service, and he looked around a little bit, and they were singing, I’m standing here you know awaiting for them to finish singing, and finish the altar call, some are standing here.

And so he walked right down the aisle and he stood there with the rest of them – hadn’t been in the service, hadn’t heard one word – just come in then, looked like you know he’d seen a ghost or something, a, a, and so as he stood there, and I’m standing on the platform, he motioned to me and he stepped up here and I stepped down.

He said, “Sir, sir!” he said, “I, I was walking down the street two blocks away from here…”

See, it was February and it was cloudy, overcast.

And he said, “Suddenly I, I, I thought the clouds had moved, parted uh, and the full-moon was showing, a ball of fire was in the heavens, and he came right down and hung right up above my head,” said like, “Scared me to death!”

And he said, “Then that ball of fire started to fall, it started to moving.”

And he said, “It moved out and I followed it. I’m gonna see where it’s a going. And it went down this block and turned this corner and I followed it.”

And he said, “It came in this building.”

None of us saw it.

“It came in this building, and I came in right behind it.”

You know and he looked like you know oh he had, I can’t describe just how he looked – he looked frightened – he looked you know, and he, and he said uh, uh, uh and they were singing Just as I am without one plea.

He said, “I followed it in this building. It disappeared when I got in here.”

He began to weep.

He said, “I, I, I, I need to get saved! I want to get saved!”

I said, “You’ve come to the right place.”

Glory to God!

That was God wanting to do that.

He could – He didn’t have to ask me whether He could or not.

He didn’t have to get the church together and have them form a committee and wait on Him to see if He could do such a thing.

I mean, He’s God, hallelujah!

Let God be God.

Praise God.

Now, now, now that’s the only person I know in fifty years of my preaching that ever got saved that way.

So you see, that’s the exception, not the rule.

So God does move in special ways, even to get people saved.

Same thing’s true in healing – God initiates healings on His own.

God moves especially – and you’ll find it more so in certain areas where the Gospel hasn’t been preached or very little light’s there – that there’ll be more miracles and signs and wonders happen there you see, to bring, to get their attention, let them know that Jesus Christ is still alive.

Hallelujah.

Did you hear me?

Praise God.

But you see, and God does move that a way.

The problem is that some folks think that’s the only way He moves, but it isn’t.

Amen.

You see uh, God honours faith.

And again and again, we notice that Jesus said to a certain individual’s daughter, “Thy faith has made thee whole.”

“Go thy way,” He said to others, “and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto you.”

They received not by manifestation of God’s power but by their faith.

In the Acts of the Apostles we pointed this out and I want to re-emphasize it, the fourteenth chapter of Acts, the Bible said concerning the ministry of Paul and Barnabas, that they preached in Lystra, and in the seventh verse it said, “And there they preached the Gospel.”

And in the eighth verse it said, “There at Lystra there sat by a man that was impotent in his feet being a cripple from his mother’s womb who never had walked”;

and the ninth verse said, “The same [the crippled man, the lame man] heard Paul speak, who [Paul] steadfastly beholding him and perceiving that he had faith to be healed…”

Now you see the man wasn’t healed – some people said, “Well yeah Paul was an Apostle though, and the Apostles had that kind of power” – Paul didn’t heal the man, the man wasn’t healed because Paul was an Apostle – the man was healed ‘cause he had faith.

The bible plainly said, read the latter part of the ninth verse, “He had faith to be healed”

Now where did he get faith to be healed?

From what he heard!

It said, “The same heard Paul speak.”

What did he hear?

“And there they preached the Gospel.”

So then Paul must have not only preached that Jesus died for our sins. According to the Scriptures he must have also preached that “himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses,” and that man believed it.

Glory to God.

Can you say Amen?

Faith – if you’ll accept God’s Word you see, if you’ll accept it as a fact – it’ll cause faith to spring up into your heart and you’ll receive!

You know – healing belongs to you because the Word of God said so.

Now, here’s a full Gospel person – like I said, didn’t have that happen once: many, many, times – here’s a Full Gospel church, person going to a Full Gospel church all the time – and I said, “Healing belongs to you.”

They said, “Does it?”

“Yeah,” I said, “Sure does.”

“Well I thought maybe, you know, that if it was God’s will that He healed me that, when you laid hands on me, I’d be healed – and if it wasn’t His will I wouldn’t be.”

I said, “I can’t pray for you because you wouldn’t be healed, and then you’d go off and say, ‘It’s not the will of God.’ “

“Well how am I gonna find out then…” see, “…whether it’s God’s will or not?”

I said, “Find out what the Bible said.”

Now many a time I’ve said to people – now I’m not saying it was so, see I knew it was so but I saw they didn’t know it was so, but I’m saying – “What if the Bible said that Jesus took your infirmities and bare your sicknesses – would it be His will to heal you?”

“Certainly!” they said.

Well I just reached and got my bible and opened to Matthew 8:17 said, “Would you mind reading that please.”

And they read, “That it might be fulfilled that which was spoken by the Prophet Isaiah saying, Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.

I’ve had it to happen many a time.

They just close the Bible up, hand it to me, said, “Lay your hand on me: I’ll be healed right now.”

What changed them? What put faith into them? How’d they get faith?

The fact of God’s Word.

Praise God.

Well I said to them – every single time I’d always say to them, “Now wait a minute now, that’s one verse but we want to be Scriptural. The Bible said, ‘In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.’

Well there’s one!

And you notice he quoted Isaiah – Matthew 8:17 quoted Isaiah – said , ‘Isaiah said himself…’ Alright let’s go back and read the 53rd chapter.”

So I turned, had them to read it, and the fourth verse and the fifth verse: “Surely he hath borne our sicknesses…” you know the Hebrew says sicknesses and disease – the King James translation said our griefs and sorrows – but the Hebrew said sicknesses and disease, “…yet we did esteem him stricken of God, smitten of God, and afflicted; he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed”.

Then I had them to read I Peter 2:24 – done that many a time.

Said, “Always work for everybody?”

Everybody that accepts it.

Haven’t you talked to people about being saved and told them Jesus already died for them? that rose from the dead for them? and that salvation belonged to them?

Did it work for them?

Everyone that accepted it, see.

Praise God.

Amen.

But the – I’d say this – the majority of times, the majority of times, I got those people healed right on the spot – but then some of them even after reading all of the Scripture, read it themselves:

“Well I don’t know. You know I knew brother so-and-so he was a preacher, fine man of God, and he was sick nearly all his life.”

Well that doesn’t do away with the Word of God – I don’t know how come him sick. Bless his heart.

Another lady said, “Well yeah but now my uncle John, now, now he was a preacher, fine man,” and said, “he never did preach but about twenty years and then he was sick about thirty years, and finally died.”

Well I said, “What’s that got to do with Matthew 8:17?”

Amen!

I, I’m sure uncle John was a fine man. I’m glad he was. I’m glad he’s up in heaven shouting with the angels and walking up and down the streets of gold.

Hallelujah.

Glory to God.

But that’s got nothing to do with this. Maybe he didn’t know about that. Maybe he didn’t know about that. Maybe he didn’t know the Word.

Ha-ha.

I, I remember when uh you know before we had the polio vaccine, and uh, and there’s so much you know in some areas – just a polio epidemic.

Now I remember my own dear mother, bless her heart, was visiting us.

I, I’d always take the family with me in the summer time, and Ken and Pat you see were just youngsters, oh I don’t know – eight/ ten years old, something like that – and so uh, uh we would be gone then all the summer and then during the school year well they were home – my wife was a with them and I travelled alone.

And so my mother was visiting us and so we’re sitting at the breakfast table, she’s asking me where I’m a goin’ this summer, I said, “Well I’m going here, and we’re going to hold a meeting here, and I’m going to the other place…”

And when I mentioned this other place she almost jumped out of her chair.

“Why son,” she said, “you’re not a going to take your children there, are you?”

Said, “Oh yeah, they’re going with me all summer.”

“Why,” she said, “I heard on the radio there’s a polio epidemic on. I mean they’re, they’re…” she said, “…they’re uh, uh I heard on the radio that they’re even considering closing down all the places of amusement because there’s a polio, so many people are getting the polio – and you going to take your children into that?”

And I said, “Why certainly Mama,” I said, “neither one of my children ever have polio.”

A, and the poor dear just jumped up out of the chair and grabbed her heart and said, “Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh that, that just, that makes me hurt here. Ah! What makes you talk like that?!”

I said, “The Word of God.”

See, I got to talk to Mama the same as I do you.

Amen!

I have to talk the same to everybody as I do you, for the Word of God’s the same.

I said, why now she said uh, “Now, now, now, now, now son, you remember brother so-and-so, brother S–––, a pastor, minister of the Gospel?”

“Yeah,” I said, “I know him” – lived within two houses, and grandpa, my grandpa, just one house between him and, “yeah.”

“Well now he’s a fine man of God, preacher, pastor – and one of his children died, nine years of age”.

I said, “Mama that don’t have a thing in the world to do with the bible! Maybe he didn’t know what I know. I know he was a fine man of God. I know he loved God. I remember he came to visit me one time when I was sick, after we moved.”

Because you see I was bedfast sixteen months – seventeen months almost, a, a, and I was uh, uh we moved – after I’d been bedfast about nine months – we moved from 405 North College Street to 903 East Greenville Street in the city of McKinney Texas; and Rev. S––– lived just one house you know one house between us and his and he I, I was bedfast there then for eight months you see.

So he came over there and visit one time, a, and he talked about the weather, and told a few jokes, and left.

So I’m just nearly sure he didn’t know about this.

For if he had a known about it he’d a probably told me.

But he didn’t tell me one thing that, that helped me.

He thought those jokes would cheer me up, something funny you know.

Never even prayed.

“Well did you ask him to pray?”

“No I didn’t ask him to pray.”

After hearing him talk I sure didn’t want to hear, have him to pray!

Yet Mama used him for an illustration that it must not be God’s will because he’s a “fine Christian man” and he was – and pastor, he wasn’t pastor right at that time but he had – and, and, uh, and his child died at about nine years – one of them – at about nine years of age so – so that must not be, so…

And I said, “Mama that don’t have a thing in the world to do with the Bible – the Word of God is true.

The 91st Psalm said, ‘No plague shall come nigh thy dwelling.’ And I vaccinated both of my kids with the 91st Psalm when they were born.”

Some people wait too late.

Amen!

I vaccinated them with the 91st Psalm when they was born.

And so, “Well, maybe so,” she said, “maybe so.”

I said, “Don’t ‘maybe so ’ about it Mama. I know so.”

See faith is built on facts – the facts of God’s Word.

This man that we referred to in that fourteenth chapter of Acts (faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God), the Bible said: the same had faith to be healed” – he had faith to be healed.

Where’d he get it?

What he heard.

What’d he hear?

The Bible said he heard the Gospel.

Then you see people can be healed just because they heard the Gospel – faith will come.

Glory to God.

And you could go to anybody – wouldn’t have to be called of God, wouldn’t have to be anointed of God – (‘course people anointed of God to minister healing, there are gifts of the Spirit and manifestations of the Spirit) – but you wouldn’t have to be called of God, wouldn’t have to have anything – except just know what the Bible said.

You can take that same message to the sick and get them healed.

Praise God.

I met a Baptist doctor in California, fact he didn’t even have the baptism of the Holy Ghost – got the baptism of the Holy Ghost during my meeting – but uh, uh, we, we went to eat with him, fact I ate, my wife and I went into their home to eat.

This Baptist doctor said, “Well I learned about Divine healing from the Episcopalians.”

He didn’t even know about the Pentecostals and what they believed in.

But he have learned from the Episcopalians about Diving healing.

And he only take, took people you see – patients – by, by appointment.

And so he would skip after, after the meeting got started why he skip that uh ten o’clock hour and come from ten to eleven – I noticed he’d get up and leave at eleven every day – a, and so finally I found-out who he was.

But he said to me, he said uh, “I always ask my patients – now I have a, I teach a,” – uh there, there’s a college in his town – “I teach the College Bible class, I have uh, uh, well anywhere from four to six hundred College students in my Bible class every Sunday.”

(The whole Sunday school in the Baptist Church running about 4000 that town, and he had about uh 600, sometime more than that in his class).

A, and so he said uh, “You know, any patients that comes to my office,” – this Baptist doctor said – (didn’t even have the baptism of the Holy Ghost) – he said, “I have my Bible open right there on my desk. I have it open,” he said, “to Isaiah 53.”

And he said, “I say to every patient, ‘You know you could be healed by God and wouldn’t have to have any of this medicine.’”

“No – I didn’t know that.”

“Well,” he said, “the first thing I do is find out whether they’re saved or not.”

And he said, “I average leading anywhere from three to ten people to the Lord every single day in my office.”

That’s pretty good isn’t it?

He said, “They’ll say, ‘Well I’m a member of the Baptist church,’ and I say to them, ‘Well I am too – but that don’t saved you! Have you been born again?’ “

“Well no I just joined the church when I was a little boy or a little girl and I thought well I’m saved ‘cause I was in the church.”

“No,” he said, “I was that way too until I found out one day I wasn’t born again. You need to be born again.”

They said, “Well how do you do that?”

He said, “I get right down on my knees with them in the office, pray with them.”

And then he said, “Here somebody comes you know, a, and I ask them if they’ve been born again.

They go, ‘What are you talking about?’ “

“Well are you a Christian?”

“Well I belong to the Presbyterian Church.”

“Well he said I belong to the Baptist Church – but that don’t make you a Christian. Have you ever been born again?”

“Well if I have I don’t know it.”

And so he gets them saved, praise God!

And then he said, “Here some-, come, -body comes from the Episcopal Church,” and he said, “some of them know they’re born again, some of them don’t” – from different churches you see – “and those that don’t I get them born again. And then I tell them,”Now, you can be healed you know.”

“Can I?”

“And I read to them, have them to read.”

And he said, “I, I, I’ll pray with people, lay hands on people there in my office, some every day nearly, and get some of them healed.”

But he said, “What amazes me is even the Full Gospel people, all of them, would rather spend their money, take shots, have their case diagnosed, than to be healed.

And I offer it even to the Pentecostals and the Full Gospel folks, always offered to them to pray for them, get them healed with the power of God.”

They said, “Uh, uh, uh, but uh, a,” and he went-on to tell me, he said, “The greatest,” – (now see this isn’t some wild-eyed Pentecostal talking, this is a Baptist doctor talking) – he said uh, “I’ve had one fella raised from the dead.”

Oh I tell you – I’d like to have a doctor like that!

Haha.

Amen!

Wouldn’t you?

He said, “A fella – friend of mine, here in town, I mean,” said, “he’s the same, uh, uh, I mean goes to the same church I do,” the Baptist Church, just a certain Baptist Church, and he said, “I know he was born again ‘cause I questioned him closely, prayed with him, know he was a, we had many good times of prayer together.

I, I’d diagnosed his case, I knew that he was just a serious condition, but I sent him to a larger city, I phoned a friend of mine who’s a heart specialist.”

(This man is more of a general practitioner you see).

“And so I sent him to the specialist. I called the specialist ‘cause I knew the man. ‘He’s my brother in the Lord and he’s not able to pay and so I don’t even charge him.’ “

And he said, “I called the specialist and told him, ‘Fred, I’m sending so-and-so down there, now I want you to give him eh, you know, a, and I want you to send me what you think about it and I just want to be sure I’m doing everything what got to be done, and I’m going to pay for it, I mean he’s a friend of mine, a close personal friend.”

And he said of course this doctor friend wouldn’t charge him, said, ‘Oh no, no, I’ll do it.’

And he sent me all the record back, called me long distance and said to him, “You’re doing the only thing that can be done for him – the medication you’ve got him on; the diet you’ve got him on; so-and-so everything – and I’ll tell you the truth about it,” the heart specialist said, “He’ll, he’ll not live another six months.”

“Well,” he said, “that’s, that’s my diagnosis – I just wanted to be sure.”

Well the doctor said to me, he said, “Ordinarily now, I, I don’t make house calls” – you know doctors don’t nowadays – course this was several years ago.

But he said uh, “One day my, I, you know in my office the phone ring and his wife called and said he’s dying.”

“Well,” he said, “I just simply said to my nurse, ‘I’m going.’

I rushed out the back of the, uh, of the office, jumped in my car and went over there.”

And he said, “Brother Hagin,” this Baptist doctor said, “I’ve pronounced too many people dead. I could not detect a heart beat about him. I, I could not detect a pulse. I, I, I would have pronounced him dead – I’ve pronounced many people dead but,” he said, “he’s only fifty-sixty years old.

I just laid my hand on his chest and said, ‘Dear Lord, this is my brother, and he’s your child, and he just not old enough to die, he’s only fifty-six years old, and he’s not old enough to die.

Now Lord, just let his spirit come back. In the name of Jesus!” and said he was lying there with his eyes set looked like glass marbles and his mouth open said suddenly – gasp!! – and started breathing!

And he said, “I checked him over and couldn’t find anything wrong with his heart. I sent him right back to the same heart specialist. I wanted to get a confirmation. I sent him to that heart specialist,” and he said, “that heart specialist phoned me when he began to examine him, said, ‘I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. That fella’s got a brand new heart. Not a thing in the world wrong with him.’

Hallelujah!

Well thank God.

Thank God for a doctor like that.

Praise God.

I mean, he get ‘em coming and going, either way!

Like he said, “If I have to diagnose your case and prescribe medicine I’ll have to charge you, ‘cause that’s the way I make my living – but if I prayed for you and God healed you it won’t cost you anything.”

“Well go ahead and diagnose the case.”

Haha.

Amen.

Well he learned the facts of God’s Word.

I said he learned the facts of God’s Word.

Thank God for the Word of God

“The same [the crippled man, the lame man] heard Paul speak,” and he got faith from what he heard.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

4. Faith for Finances

Now, what about faith for finances?

Comes same way.

Comes the same way.

You see the trouble with a lot of people is they try to pray about these different things without going to the Word and finding out what the Word says about it.

You remember, you remember John 15:7 where Jesus said, “If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you”.

My words abide in you.

But you know I had faith for healing, we had faith for healing for our children, but we always struggled individually financially.

And every church I pastored we struggled financially.

Now as I look back now you see I, I turn my face away in shame that I was so stupid, you know, a – and we’d finally make it through some way or another, I mean just kick and crawl, bawl and squall, and fast and pray, haha, and, and look like you’re not gonna make it, just look like you’re never going to make it.

I mean, both individually and family-wise, and also church-wise.

But we’d get through you know.

God, in- (He’s not the cause of it) but in spite of it, had mercy on us and helped us – mercy on our stupidity and ignorance see.

I was taught it is a mark of holiness that you ought to live way down at the end of Barely-Get-Along Sreet, right next to Grumble Alley, and go through life with the sole of your shoes wore out, the seat of your breaches wore out and the top of your hat out, and drive an old car with the fenders a floppin’ – and that’s was being holy and humble and honouring God.

Dear Lord – where did we get that?

Where in the world did we get that.

And I’d heard the expression – and you know we young preachers you just pick-up on others say – be careful about what other, others say – it may not be right!

And I’d heard others say, “I don’t want any of this old world’s goods!”

So I picked that up, “I don’t want any of this old world’s goods.”

And I didn’t have any of this old world’s good either!

As though there’s something wrong with this old world’s good.

“Well yeah there is.”

No there isn’t!

So the Lord said to me, “Go back to the book of beginnings.”

I knew He was talking about the Book of Genesis.

“I…” and it was Jesus talking to me, but you see the Word of God tells us that God said, “Let us…” plural, us.

The Son was with the Father and the Holy Ghost. “Let us,plural.

God said, “Let us make man in our own image and after our own likeness.”

The Word of God said, the first chapter of the Gospel according to Saint John the first verse, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God,” and uh, so-on, “all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.”

Now, He said, “I made the world and the fullness thereof, and you read in my Word where it says, ‘The world and the fullness thereof is the Lord’s.’ “

It’s not the devil’s – it’s the Lord’s.

The cattle of a thousand hills are the Lord’s.

And the silver and the gold is the Lord’s.

“Well,” He said, “I made the world and the full-…” now this came as revelation to me, I never heard anybody preach it, this is January 1950.

“…I made the world and the fullness thereof; the cattle of a thousand hills, and all the silver and the gold, and I put it all there, and then I made my man Adam. And I said, ‘Adam, I give you dominion over all the work of my hand.’ “

He said to me, “For whom do you think I made the cattle of a thousand hills? For whom do you think I made the silver and the gold? For whom do you think I made the world and the fullness thereof? For the devil and his bunch? his crowd? No. For my man Adam. My man Adam. And I gave him dominion over it.

But see he committed high treason and sold-out to the devil, and Adam was originally…” – and I never heard anybody say that ‘til the Lord said this to me – “…Adam was originally the god of this world,” – but it’s in II Corinthians 4:4 it says Satan’s the god of this world.

Well he wasn’t the god of the world to begin with!

How’d he become the god of this world?

Well Adam committed high treason and sold-out to him, he took Adam’s place.

Now the Lord said to me, “It’s not Me that’s withholding from you – it’s the devil. It’s not me that’s withholding from your little children – it’s the devil. Not me. And I’m not gonna rain any money down from heaven,” because he said, “I don’t have any American dollars up here. And if I did rain any $20 bills down they’d be counterfeit, and I’m not a counterfeiter.”

You see the money’s down there where you need it.

The silver and the gold’s down here.

Amen?

“Well,” I said, “What am I gonna do?”

“Well,” He said now, “your first problem is” – another problem that you have at least – “you don’t practise what you preach.”

I mean, He can get pretty tough with you sometimes.

I mean, I grabbed my stomach, I mean it hurt just like, did you ever have somebody just come up, you know you wasn’t expecting and just hit you right in the stomach with their fist, just jabbed – ooh, hurts!

That’s the way my stomach hurt.

I grabbed my stomach said, “Lord you hit me a low blow. You hit me below the belt! What do you mean you don’t practise what you preach?”

He said, “You preach faith but you don’t practise faith.”

Well I come to my defence.

I told Him how I’d always been healed through the years, my children been healed, we raised both of them you know up to that time they wasn’t you know grown then but we raised them to be grown and all they cost us medically speaking was was thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents.

“Oh,” He said, “you practise faith on healing alright, and salvation, but,” He said, “faith works identically the same in every realm and in every sphere. Faith for finances works just like it does faith for healing, or faith for the baptism of the Holy Ghost, or faith for salvation.”

I remember as a little kid Ken you know, he might get the stomach ache. He’s out playing just a little fella three, four, five years old, he’d run up you know said, “Daddy, daddy, my stomach hurt – pray.”

I’d lay my hand on his stomach and pray you know, he would jump down, his stomach’s still hurt, said, “That’s it, I got it, I got it, I got it,” run off start playing again.

See because we, we knew about that.

But we didn’t know you could exercise your faith for finances over here.

So we did without – struggled through, barely made it – ha, see.

“Your, your problem is you don’t practise what you preach”.

Oh that is tough to swallow, isn’t it?

You think sometimes I get rough on some of you folks – you ought to start listening to the Lord.

Amen.

Yes sir!

And so I said uh, He uh, I said, “Now what am I gonna do?” You know because actually I saw how dumb I was.

He said, “Well now first, don’t ever pray about money any more, that is, the way that you have been.”

See I ought to have enough sense, well that’s one reason, I did finally come, you know took me a long time catch on you know, sixteen years. Slow learner. It just don’t work. Some folks live and die and don’t ever find out ‘til they get to heaven that it didn’t work.

So, I said, “What, what…”

He said, “Don’t ever pray about money anymore, that is, not the way you have been praying.”

I said, “What am I gonna do then?”

He said, “Claim whatever you need.”

Claim it?

I never heard anyone say that! when it come to money – claim it.

Yeah?

Well now I had a budget in those days of $150 a week, that’s what it takes for me to get-by, I mean to make it, keep the home going, and, and, and keep me on the field.

And I had it, just cut right down, I never bought anything extra out there by myself.

I never bought a cold drink.

I never bought a, a milkshake.

I never bought a block of chewing gum.

I mean I cut it right to the bone! And I lived that a lot way so many years it’s hard for me to change.

Now listen, what do you do?

I, it, you know I had that trimmed down you know because a hundred-and-fifty dollars a week.

I said, “Well now…”

He said, “Alright, you say: ‘I claim a hundred-and-fifty dollars this week,’ and then you say, after you say, ‘I claim a hundred-and-fifty dollars this week,’ you say, ‘Satan, take your hand off of my money!’ ”

See it’s not God.

See it’s not God.

Can you, can you get that?

See the money’s here.

Let me, let me, here’s a little something before we finish, listen, listen real closely: did you ever notice this and do you know why, did you ever notice that in any area of the Christian life – any area, I don’t care what it is, any area of the Christian life – you’ll always have more problems, more trouble, a harder time, in the area of finances than you will anything else.

Did you ever notice that?

The devil will fight you harder here.

Now why?

Because he has more leverage there than he does anywhere else, because the finances are where he is now god, “the god of this world”.

That’s where the money is.

“So you say, ‘I claim a hundred-and-fifty dollars this week,’ then you say, ‘Satan take your hands off of my money.’ ”

See, what I’ve claimed, take your hands off of it.

“Then you say, ‘Go ministering spirits and cause the money to come’ “ – and boy that was a new one.

“Do what?”

You ever hear anybody say anything like that? such a ridiculous thing?

“Go ministering spirits and cause the money to come.”

I said to Him, “What do you mean by that? Go ministering spirits and cause the money to come. What does that mean?”

“Well,” He said,”didn’t you ever read in my Word where it is written that “angels are ministering spirits, sent to minister for those who are the heirs of salvation”?

“Yeah,” I said, “yeah, that’s right there in the beginning of the Book of Hebrews.”

Isn’t it?

I said, isn’t it?

“But,” I said, “I thought that said to – that angels are ministering spirits sent to minister to.”

I had to open my Bible.

I opened it.

Hebrews 1, last verse, talking about angels now, see the thirteen verse:

“to which of the angels said he at any time sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits…”

Are who “not all ministering spirits”? – the angels he’s talking about see.

“Are they not all…”

How many of them?

That’s all the good ones – the bad ones you know are in chains under darkness against the judgment of that day, they fell you know.

…ministering spirits…”

Fourteenth verse, first chapter Hebrews, you got your Bible open there?

“…are they not all ministering spirits sent forth…”, sent forth, to where? in heaven?

No.

“…sent forth…” where?

Down here!

“…to minister for…” not minister to – “…minister for…” them who shall be the heirs of salvation.

That, that’s us, isn’t it?

Isn’t that us – heirs of salvation – isn’t that us?

Well then the ministering spirits are sent to minister for us.

Well the Lord used this kind of illustration. He said: “You know, you go into the restaurant and sit down, and the waitress comes, to wait on you, to minister for you, not just to you but for you. You turn your order in and they go get it.”

Wooh!!

Can you see what He said?

Turn your order in!

Send the spirits out to get it!


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