Concerning Spiritual Gifts By Smith Wigglesworth

Concerning Spiritual Gifts By Smith Wigglesworth

God wants us to enter into the rest of faith. He desires us to have all confidence in Him. He purposes that His Word will be established in our hearts; and, as we believe His Word, we will see that “all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26).

In 1 Corinthians 12:1 we read, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.” There is a great weakness in the church of Christ because of an awful ignorance concerning the Spirit of God and the gifts He has come to bring. God wants us to be powerful in every way because of the revelation of the knowledge of His will concerning the power and manifestation of His Spirit. He desires us to be continually hungry to receive more and more of His Spirit.

In the past, I have organized many conferences, and I have found that it is better to have a man on my platform who has not received the baptism but who is hungry for all that God has for him, than a man who has received the baptism and is satisfied and has settled down and become stationary and stagnant. But of course I would prefer a man who is baptized with the Holy Spirit and is still hungry for more of God. A man who is not hungry to receive more of God is out of order in any Christian conference.

The Importance of Being Filled

It is impossible to overestimate the importance of being filled with the Spirit. It is impossible for us to meet the conditions of the day, to “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7), to subdue kingdoms and work righteousness and bind the power of Satan, unless we are filled with the Holy Spirit.

We read that, in the early church, “they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42). It is important for us also to continue steadfastly in these same things.

For some years I was associated with the Plymouth Brethren. They are very strong on the Word and are sound on water baptism. They do not neglect the communion service; rather, they have it on the morning of every Lord’s Day, as the early church did. These people seem to have the wood and the kindling, but not the match. If they had the fire, then they would be all ablaze.

Because they lack the fire of the Holy Spirit, there is no life in their meetings. One young man who attended their meetings received the baptism with the speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gave utterance (Acts 2:4). The brethren were very upset about this, and they came to the young man’s father and said to him, “You must take your son aside and tell him to cease.” They did not want any disturbance. The father told the son, “My boy, I have been attending this church for twenty years and have never seen anything of this kind. We are established in the truth and do not want anything new. We won’t have it.” The son replied, “If that is God’s plan, I will obey, but somehow or other I don’t think it is.” As they were going home, the horse stood still; the wheels of their carriage were in deep ruts. The father pulled at the reins, but the horse did not move. He asked, “What do you think is up?” The son answered, “It has gotten established.” God save us from becoming stationary.

God wants us to understand spiritual gifts and to “earnestly desire the best gifts” (1 Cor. 12:31). He also wants us to enter into the “more excellent way” (v. 31) of the fruit of the Spirit. We must implore God for these gifts. It is a serious thing to have the baptism and yet be stationary. To live two days in succession on the same spiritual plane is a tragedy. We must be willing to deny ourselves everything to receive the revelation of God’s truth and to receive the fullness of the Spirit. Only that will satisfy God, and nothing less must satisfy us. A young Russian received the Holy Spirit and was mightily clothed with power from on high. The secret of his power was a continuous waiting upon God. As the Holy Spirit filled him, it seemed as though every breath became a prayer, and so his entire ministry was continually increasing.

I knew a man who was full of the Holy Spirit and would only preach when he knew that he was mightily anointed by the power of God. He was once asked to preach at a Methodist church. He was staying at the minister’s house and he said, “You go on to church and I will follow.” The place was packed with people, but this man did not show up. The Methodist minister, becoming anxious, sent his little girl to inquire why he did not come. As she came to the bedroom door, she heard him crying out three times, “I will not go.” She went back and reported that she had heard the man say three times that he would not go. The minister was troubled about it, but almost immediately afterward the man came in. As he preached that night, the power of God was tremendously manifested. The preacher later asked him, “Why did you tell my daughter that you were not coming?” He answered, “I know when I am filled. I am an ordinary man, and I told the Lord that I did not dare to go and would not go until He gave me a fresh filling of the Spirit. The moment the glory filled me and overflowed, I came to the meeting.”

Yes, there is a power, a blessing, an assurance, a rest in the presence of the Holy Spirit. You can feel His presence and know that He is with you. You do not need to spend an hour without this inner knowledge of His holy presence. With His power upon you, there can be no failure. You are above par all the time.

“You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led” (1 Cor. 12:2). This is the age of the Gentiles. When the Jews refused the blessings of God, He scattered them, and He has grafted the Gentiles into the olive tree where many of the Jews were broken off. (See Romans 11:17–25.) There has never been a time when God has been so favorable to a people who were not a people. (See 1 Peter 2:9–10.) He has brought in the Gentiles to carry out His purpose of preaching the Gospel to all nations and receiving the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish this task. It is because of the mercy of God that He has turned to the Gentiles and made us partakers of all the blessings that belong to the Jews. Here, under this canopy of glory, because we believe, we get all the blessings of faithful Abraham.

Guard against Error

Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.(1 Cor. 12:3) Many evil, deceiving spirits have been sent forth in these last days who endeavor to rob Jesus of His lordship and of His rightful place. Many people are opening the doors to these latest devils, such as New Theology and New Thought and Christian Science. These evil cults deny the fundamental truths of God’s Word. They all deny eternal punishment and the deity of Jesus Christ. You will never see the baptism of the Holy Spirit come upon a man who accepts these errors. Nor will you see anyone receive the baptism who puts Mary in the place of the Holy Spirit. No one can know he is saved by works. If you ever speak to someone who believes this, you will know that he is not definite on the matter of the new birth. He cannot be. And there is another thing: you will never find a Jehovah’s Witness baptized in the Holy Spirit. The same is true for a member of any other cult who does not believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is preeminent.

The all-important thing is to make Jesus Lord of your life. Men can become lopsided by emphasizing the truth of divine healing. Men can get into error by preaching on water baptism all the time. But we never go wrong in exalting the Lord Jesus Christ, in giving Him the preeminent place and glorifying Him as both Lord and Christ, yes, as “very God of very God.” As we are filled with the Holy Spirit, our one desire is to glorify Him. We need to be filled with the Spirit to get the full revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

God’s command is for us to “be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18). We are no good if we only have a full cup. We need to have an overflowing cup all the time. It is a tragedy not to live in the fullness of overflowing. See that you never live below the overflowing tide.

Use the Gifts Properly

“There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:4). Every manifestation of the Spirit is given “for the profit of all” (v. 7). When the Holy Spirit is moving in an assembly of believers and His gifts are in operation, everyone will profit.

I have seen some people who have been terribly off track. They believe in gifts—prophecy, in particular—and they use these gifts apart from the power of the Holy Spirit. We must look to the Holy Spirit to show us how to use the gifts, what they are for, and when to use them, so that we may never use them without the power of the Holy Spirit. I do not know of anything that is so awful today as people using a gift without the power. Never do it. God save us from doing it.

While a man who is filled with the Holy Spirit may not be conscious of having any gift of the Spirit, the gifts can be made manifest through him. I have gone to many places to minister, and I have found that, under the unction, or anointing, of the Holy Spirit, many wonderful things have happened in the midst of the assembly when the glory of the Lord was upon the people. Any man who is filled with God and filled with His Spirit might at any moment have any of the nine gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12 made manifest through him, without knowing that he has a gift.

Sometimes I have wondered whether it is better to be always full of the Holy Spirit and to see signs and wonders and miracles without any consciousness of possessing a gift or whether it is better to know one has a gift. If you have received the gifts of the Spirit and they have been blessed, you should never under any circumstances use them without the power of God upon you pressing the gift through. Some have used the prophetic gift without the holy touch, and they have come into the realm of the natural. It has brought ruin, caused dissatisfaction, broken hearts, and upset assemblies. Do not seek the gifts unless you have purposed to abide in the Holy Spirit. They should be manifested only in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Use the Gifts with Wisdom

The Lord will allow you to be very drunk in the Spirit in His presence, but sober among people. I like to see people so filled with the Spirit that they are drunk in the Spirit like the 120 disciples were on the Day of Pentecost, but I don’t like to see people drunk in the Spirit in the wrong place. That is what troubles us: somebody being drunk in the Spirit in a place of worship where a lot of people come in who know nothing about the Word. If you allow yourself to be drunk there, you send people away; they look at you instead of seeing God. They condemn the whole thing because you have not been sober at the right time. Paul wrote, “For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you” (2 Cor. 5:13). You can be beside yourself. You can go a bit further than being drunk; you can dance, if you will do it at the right time. So many things are commendable when all the people are in the Spirit. Many things are very foolish if the people around you are not in the Spirit. We must be careful not to have a good time in the Lord at the expense of somebody else. When you have a good time, you must see that the spiritual conditions in the place lend themselves to it and that the people are falling in line with you. Then you will always find it a blessing.

While it is right to earnestly desire the best gifts, you must recognize that the all-important thing is to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit Himself. You will never have trouble with people who are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, but you will have a lot of trouble with people who have the gifts but no power. The Lord does not want us to “come short” in any gift (1 Cor. 1:7). But at the same time, He wants us to be so filled with the Holy Spirit that it will be the Holy Spirit manifesting Himself through the gifts. Where the glory of God alone is desired, you can expect that every gift that is needed will be made manifest. To glorify God is better than to idolize gifts. We prefer the Spirit of God to any gift; but we can see the manifestation of the Trinity in the gifts: different gifts but the same Spirit, different administrations but the same Lord, diversities of operation but the same God working all in all (1 Cor. 12:4–6). Can you conceive of what it will mean for our triune God to be manifesting Himself in His fullness in our assemblies?

Imagine a large locomotive boiler that is being filled with steam. You can see the engine letting off some of the steam as it remains stationary. It looks as though the whole thing might burst. You can see believers who are like that. They start to scream, but that does not edify anyone. However, when the locomotive moves on, it serves the purpose for which it was built and pulls along many cars with goods in them. It is the same way with believers when they are operating in the gifts of the Spirit properly.

Inward Power Manifested Outwardly

It is wonderful to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and for Him to serve His own purposes through us. Through our lips, divine utterances flow, our hearts rejoice, and our tongues are glad. It is an inward power that is manifested in outward expression. Jesus Christ is glorified. As your faith in Him is quickened, from within you there “will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). The Holy Spirit will pour through you like a great river of life, and thousands will be blessed because you are a yielded channel through whom the Spirit may flow.

Understanding the Gifts

Let us review the twelfth chapter of 1 Corinthians. The first verse reads, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.” When the Holy Spirit says that, He expects us to understand what the gifts are, and He wants us to understand that the church may be able to profit by them.

First, let us examine the nature of those who are led by the Spirit. “No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3). Whenever I have come in contact with people who have acknowledged the Lord Jesus, I have known whether they knew anything about the Spirit of God. For every spirit that is of God testifies of Jesus, and you will always be able to tell people’s spiritual condition by that. If they do not confess that Jesus was manifested in the flesh, you may know that they do not have the Spirit of God (v. 3). Beloved, on the contrary, we find that every spirit that confesses that Jesus is Lord does so by the Holy Spirit.

Great Possibilities

Everyone who has received the Holy Spirit has within him great possibilities and unlimited power. He also has great possessions, not only of things that are present but also of things that are to come (1 Cor. 3:22). The Holy Spirit has power to equip you for every emergency. The reason people are not thus equipped is that they do not receive Him and do not yield to Him. They are timid and they doubt, and in the measure that they doubt, they go down. But if you will yield to His leading and not doubt, it will lead you to success and victory. You will grow in grace, and you will have not only a controlling power but also a power that reveals the mind of God and the purposes He has for you. I see that all things are in the power of the Holy Spirit, and I must not fail to give you the same truth.

Manifesting the Glory of God

We must remember that we have entered into the manifestation of the glory of God, and there is great power and strength in that. Many believers might be far ahead of where they are now spiritually, but they have doubted. If by any means the Enemy can come in and make you believe a lie, he will do so. We have had to struggle to maintain our standing in our salvation, for the Enemy would beat us out of it, if possible. It is in the closeness of the association and oneness with Christ that there is no fear, but perfect confidence all the time. The child of God does not need to go back a day for his experience, for the presence of the Lord is with him and the Holy Spirit is in him, in mighty power, if he will believe. I see that we should stir one another up and provoke one another to good works (Heb. 10:24).

The Pentecostal people have a “know” in their experience. We know that we have the Spirit abiding within, and if we are not moved upon by the Spirit, we move the Spirit; that is what we mean by “stirring up the Spirit.” And yet it is not we but the living faith within us—it is the Spirit who stirs Himself up.

Faith

We should ask ourselves, “Where are we living?” I do not mean in the natural. We are a spiritual people, “a royal priesthood,” a holy people (1 Pet. 2:9). If we find that there is unbelief in us, we must search our hearts to see why it is there. Where there is a living faith, there is no unbelief, and we go on from faith to faith until it becomes as natural to live there as can be. But if you try to live by faith before you have been justified in Christ, you will fail, for “the just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17). When you are justified, it is a natural consequence for you to live by faith. It is easy; it is joyful. It is more than that: it is our life and spiritual inheritance.

If the Spirit can stir you up, you will not “come short” (1 Cor. 1:7) in any gift. God wants you to see that we do not need to come short in any gift, and He wants to bring us to a place where we will be on fire because of what He has called us to. We should always move the tent every night; we cannot stay in one place. The land is before us; there are wonderful possessions to be had. God says, “They are yours; go in and claim them.”

Paul prayed that we might “be able to comprehend with all the saints” (Eph. 3:18). I see the place where Paul was in the Holy Spirit, and I believe that God is calling us today to comprehend as much as Paul comprehended. It is in the perfect will of God that we should possess the needed gifts, but there must be unity between God and you. When the gifts are in evidence, the whole church is built up, Christ being the Head.

There are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.(1 Cor. 12:6–7)

The Power of Yielding to God

Jesus said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God!” (Heb. 10:9), and as we surrender in that way, God will be delighted to hand to us the gift that is necessary. The more we realize that God has furnished us with a gift, the more completely we will be united with Jesus, so that people will be conscious of Him rather than of His gift. Oh, beloved, if everything is not of the Holy Spirit, and if we are not so lost and controlled in the ministry of the gift that it is only to be Jesus, it will all be a failure and come to nothing. There were none so selfconscious as those who said, “In Your name, [we have] cast out demons” (Matt. 7:22). They were so controlled by the natural and the thought that they had done it all, that God was not in it. But when He comes forth and does it, it is all right. There is a place in the Holy Spirit where we will not allow unbelief to affect us, for God has all power in heaven and earth. And now that I am in the secret knowledge of this power, I stand in a place where my faith is not to be limited because I have the knowledge that He is in me and I in Him.

Some of you have come from your homes with broken hearts; you have a longing for something to strengthen you in the midst of the conditions that exist there, and a power to make these conditions different. You say you are “unequally yoked together with unbelievers” (2 Cor. 6:14). You have a mighty power that is greater than all natural power. You can take victory over your homes and your spouses and children, and you must do it in the Lord’s way. Suppose you do see many things that ought to be different; if it is your cross, you must take it and win the victory for God. It can be done, for He who is in you is greater than all the power of hell (1 John 4:4). I believe that anyone filled with the Holy Spirit is equal to a legion of demons any day.

In a meeting in Glasgow, a man got up and said, “I have power to cast out demons.” A man full of demons got up and came to him, and this man did everything he could, but he could not cast out the demons. Do you want to cast out demons? You be sure it is the Holy Spirit who does it. Recall that a slave girl who had a spirit of divination followed Paul around for many days (Acts 16:16–18) before he cast the demon out.

The Holy Spirit has His dwelling place within me and is stirring up my heart and life to adore Jesus. Other things must be left behind; I must adore Him.

What Is Your Motive?

God says, “Everyone who asks receives” (Matt. 7:8). What are you asking for? What is your motive? In the Scriptures we read, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:3). There is a need for the gifts, and God will reveal to you what you ought to have, and you should never be satisfied until you receive it. It is important that we know we can do nothing in ourselves. However, we may know that we are clothed with the power of God so that, in a sense, we are not in the natural man. As we go forth in this power, things will take place as they took place in the days of the disciples. When I received the new birth at eight years of age, it was so precious and lovely. Since that time, I have never lost the knowledge of my acceptance with God. Then, brothers and sisters, God did a wonderful work in me when I waited for the baptism.

I was in a strange position. For sixteen years I had testified to having received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but I had really only received the anointing of the Spirit. In fact, I could not preach unless I had the anointing. My wife would come to me and say, “They are waiting for you to come out and speak to the people.” I would say, “I cannot and will not come without the anointing of the Spirit.” I can see now that I was calling the anointing the baptism. But when the Holy Spirit came into my body until I could not give satisfaction to the glory that was in me, God took this tongue, and I spoke as the Spirit gave utterance, which brought perfect satisfaction to me. When He comes in, He abides. I then began to reach out as the Holy Spirit showed me.

Ask and You Will Receive

In the call of the prophet Elisha, God saw the young man’s willingness to obey. The twelve yoke of oxen, the plow, and all soon came to nothing; all bridges had to be burned behind him (1 Kings 19:19–21). Friend, the Lord has called you, too. Are you separated from the old things? You cannot go on unless you are.

As Elisha went on with the prophet Elijah, the young man heard wonderful things about Elijah’s ministry, and he longed for the time when he would take his master’s place. Now the time was getting close. His master said to him, “I am going to Gilgal today. I want you to remain here.” “Master,” he replied, “I must go with you.” I see that other people also knew something about it, for they said to Elisha, “Do you know that your master is going to be taken away from you today?” He said, “Hold your peace; I know it.” Later on, Elijah said, “I want to go on to Bethel. You stay here.” But Elisha said, “No, I will not leave you.” Something had been revealed to Elisha. Perhaps, in a similar way, God is drawing you to do something; you feel it.

Then Elijah said, “The Lord has sent me to Jordan. You stay here.” It was the spirit of the old man that was stirring up the young man. If you see zeal in somebody else, reach out for it; it is for you. I am coming to realize that God wants all the members of His body joined together. In these days He is making us feel that when a person is failing to go on with God, we must restore that member.

When they came to the Jordan, Elijah struck his cloak on it and they crossed. No doubt Elisha said, “I must follow his steps.” And when they had gone over, the old man said, “You have done well; you would not stay back. What is the real desire of your heart? I feel I am going to leave you. Ask what you like now, before I leave you.” “Master,” he said, “I have seen all that you have done. Master, I want twice as much as you have.”

I believe it is the fainthearted who do not get much. As they went on up the hill, down came the chariot of fire, nearer and nearer, and when it landed, the old man jumped in and the young man said, “Father, Father, Father,” and down came the cloak.

What have you asked for? Are you satisfied to continue on in the old way now that the Holy Spirit has come to give you an unlimited supply of power and says, “What will you have?” Why, we see that Peter was so filled with the Holy Spirit that his shadow falling on sick people healed them (Acts 5:15).

What do you want? Elisha asked, and he got it. He came down and said, “I don’t feel any differently.” However, he had the knowledge that feelings are not to be counted as anything; some of you are looking at your feelings all the time. He came to the waters of the Jordan as an ordinary man. Then, in the knowledge in which he possessed the cloak (not in any feelings about it), he said, “Where is the God of Elijah?” and he struck the water with the cloak. The waters parted and Elisha put his feet down in the river and crossed to the other side. When you put your feet down and say you are going to have a double portion, you will get it. After he had crossed, there were the young men again (they always come where there is power), and they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” (See 2 Kings 2:1–15.)

You are to have the gifts and to claim them. The Lord will certainly change your lives, and you will be new men and women. Are you asking for a double portion? I trust that no one will “come short” in any gift (1 Cor. 1:7). You say, “I have asked. Do you think God will be pleased if I ask again?” Yes, do so before Him. Ask again, and we may go forth in the Spirit of the cloak. Then we will no longer be working in our own strength but in the Holy Spirit’s strength, and we will see and know His power because we believe.

God’s Treasure House

How inexhaustible is the treasure house of the Most High! How near God is to us when we are willing to draw near to Him! And how He comes and refreshes us when our hearts are attuned to Him and desire Him alone, for “the desire of the righteous will be granted” (Prov. 10:24). God has for us today a divine experience that quickens, a divine life flowing through our beings that will be sufficient for us in all times of need. When God is for you, who can be against you (Rom. 8:31)? What a blessed assurance this is to the hungry heart. How it thrills one to the very depths of one’s soul!

My heart’s desire is to bring you again to a banquet, that wonderful spiritual reserve, that great blessed day of appointment for us with the King, so that you may believe that all the precious promises are “Yes” and “Amen” (2 Cor. 1:20) to us as we dare to believe.

Oh, to believe God! Oh, to rest upon what He says, for there is not one “jot” or “tittle” of the Word that will fail until all is fulfilled (Matt. 5:18)! Has He not promised, and will He not also perform (Rom. 4:21)? Our blessed Lord of

life and glory impressed upon us before He left that He would send the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, and that, when the Spirit came, He would take of the words of Jesus and declare them to us (John 16:14–15). The Holy Spirit would

pray through us, and whatever we would ask, the Lord would hear us (1 John 5:14–15).

So I want you to get in a definite place, daring to ask God for something that will be the means of stimulating your life forever.

Are you ready? You say, “What for?” To have some of the promises fulfilled.

Are you ready? What for? For God to so clothe you with the Spirit this day that there will be nothing within you that will war against the Spirit. Are you ready? Search your heart diligently.

Are you ready? What for? For you to know the Word of God. For you to know that they who dwell and live in the Spirit of God are kept in a perfect state in which there is no condemnation. (See Romans 8:1.)

I want very much for you to get stirred up with the prospect of this state and then to come into the experience of this state, because that is what God wants you to have. He wants you to get so moved by the power of God that you believe that the things you are hearing about will be yours.

So many people miss a great many things because they are always thinking that they are for someone else. I want you to know that God’s Word is for you and that you are to make a personal application of all there is in the Scriptures.

I do not believe that the Scriptures are only for pastors, teachers, evangelists, prophets, or apostles. They are for the whole body of Christ, for it is the body that has to be the epistle of Christ. So the Word of God has to abound in

you until you are absolutely built and fixed upon the living Word.

All Gifts Are for Edification

I am going to remind you of 1 Corinthians 14:12, because I want to make it the keynote of everything I am presenting to you here on the topic of spiritual gifts: Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel.

Keep that definitely in mind because, whatever gifts are manifested in a service, they mean nothing to me unless they edify or comfort or console.

God wants to make you worthy of His wonderful name. You must always understand that all the gifts and graces of the Spirit are most helpful to you when you are a blessing to others. The Holy Spirit did not come to exalt you; He came so that you could exalt the Lord. Before these services are over, I will be able to tell you definitely how to receive a gift and then how to use a gift or how to be in a place where the gift can be used. We should cover much ground because the Spirit is going to speak. If I were to use my own reasoning, you wouldn’t be edified. There is only one edification that is going to last, and it is the spiritual, inward revelation of Christ. What is in the mind is no good unless it is spiritually quickened through the heart affections. So let us remember that it is more important that we are filled with the Holy Spirit, that the Spirit has His perfect control and way, than that we be filled with knowledge to no profit. “Knowledge puffs up” (1 Cor. 8:1). As the saying goes, “A little knowledge is dangerous.” In fact, all knowledge is very dangerous unless it is balanced in a perfect place where God has the controlling position.

In the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 12, we find that the Holy Spirit is speaking through the apostle Paul. Paul’s initial comment is that he does not want you to be ignorant concerning spiritual gifts. You are not to be ignorant of the best gift God has arranged for you. You are to come into possession. It is a will that has been left by God’s Son. He rose to carry it out, and He is on the throne to carry out His own will. His will is that you should be filled with all the fullness of God. What a wonderful will!

The next thought is that, because we are Gentiles, God has entrusted to us the proclamation of the Gospel in the power and demonstration of the Spirit, so that we may not speak with man’s wisdom but by the revelation of the operation of God.

So the Holy Spirit is to make us ready for every perfect work, ready in such a way that opportunities are taken advantage of. Just as much as if the Lord Jesus were in the world, we must be in the world, ready for the glorious, blessed anointing and equipping for service. In this way, the powers of hell will not prevail (Matt. 16:18); we will bind the powers of Satan. We will be in a great position to engage in spiritual battle.

Interpretation of Tongues

The Spirit Himself brings forth light and truth to edify and build up the church in the most holy faith, that we might be ready for all activity in God. For the Spirit of the Lord is upon us to bring forth what God has declared and ordained, that we should go forth bearing precious fruit and come forth rejoicing, singing, and harvesting together. Oh, to keep in the covenant place where you are hidden in Christ, where He alone is superseding, controlling, leading, directing, and causing you to live only for the glory of God!

The Unchangeable Word of God

Let us move on to 1 Corinthians 12:3: “No one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed.” Don’t forget that you are entrusted with the Word of Life, which speaks to you as the Truth. Jesus was the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6), and He declared eternal life by the operation of the Gospel. For we receive immortality and life by the Gospel. Seeing these things are so, you can understand that those who receive the life of Christ move out of condemnation into eternal life.

But what about those who do not? They are still under condemnation, “having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12) and in danger of eternal destruction. God save them!

Don’t get away from the fact that Jesus is the personality of eternal death and eternal life. Hellfire will never be changed by what men say about it. Hellfire will be the same forever. You will never change the Word of God by men’s opinions. The Word of God is fixed forever (Isa. 40:8).

The Lord wants you to be in a significant place in which the Holy Spirit has such control of your inner eyes that He may reveal the fullness of the Lord of life until Jesus is glorified tremendously by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, until He becomes Lord over all things: your affections, your will, your purposes, your plans, and your wishes forever. Let Him be Lord.

Interpretation of Tongues

For when the Lord changes the situation, then you come out of the hiding of captivity into the fullness of the revelation of the blaze of His glory, for when He has molded you, then He can build you and change you until He is having His way.

Building Your Crown of Glory

God has a great purpose for us in that we can be changed, and you are in a great place when you are willing to have this change take place. You are in a greater place when you are willing to drop everything that has brought you to where you thought you could not be changed; and when you have dropped all things that have hindered you, you have leaped forth and been tremendously changed.

If you have held anything from a human standpoint, no matter how it has come, that is not according to the biblical standard of the Word of God, let it be weeded out. If you do not get it weeded out, be warned: there is a time coming in which wood, hay, and stubble will be burned, but the gold, the silver, and the precious stones will stand the fire (1 Cor. 3:12–13).

Lots of people would like to know what kind of crown they will have when they get to glory. Well, the Lord will take everything that could not be burned by the fire and make your personal crown. So everybody is forming his own crown. Be careful not to be all wood, hay, and stubble. Have something left for the crown. There is a “crown of glory that does not fade away” (1 Pet. 5:4), which I am trying to help you build today.

A Gift Specifically for You

God has a special way of meeting the needs of individual people today. We all vary so much in our appearances, in how we are made. Yet God has a way of particularizing a gift so that it fits you perfectly, so that you will not be lopsided. I am trusting the Lord to help me to build you up so that you are not lopsided.

Lots of people have good things—but. Lots of people might be very remarkably used—but. Lots of people might soar into wonderful places of divine positions with God— but. And it is the “but” that spoils it.

Some people have very good gifts—all the gifts of God are good—but because the gifts have been made a blessing, these people transgress with the same gift and speak in tongues longer than they ought to. So it is the “but” that is in the way and that is spoiling the best. Some people have prophecy, very wonderful prophecy, but there is a “but.” They have prophesied, and the Lord has been with them in the prophecy, but because the people have applauded them, they have gone beyond divine prophecy and used their own human minds. The “but” has spoiled them until they do not want the hidden prophecy.

Mrs. SoandSo has a wonderful testimony, and we all like to hear her for three minutes, but we are all sick of it if she goes on for five minutes. Why is this so? There is a “but” about it.

Brother SoandSo ignites fire in every prayer meeting when he begins to speak, but after about five minutes, all the people say, “I wish he would stop.” There is a “but” there.

It is because of the lopsidedness of people that I want to advise you so that you do not transgress. Do not use divine liberty to spoil God’s position; rather, be wise, and the Lord will cause you to understand what it means. Be wise.

When you say that you have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, people look and say, “Well, if that is so, there ought to be something very beautiful about you.” Yes, it is true, and if there is something that is shady, something that is uncanny, something that does not express the glory or grace, the meekness or love of Christ, there is a “but” about it. The “but” is that you have not really gotten your own human spirit under control by the divine Spirit; the human is mingled with it, and it is spoiling the divine.

Now, a word to the wise is sufficient, and if you are not wise after you have heard it, it shows that you are foolish. Do not be foolish; be wise!

“Do not let your good be spoken of as evil” (Rom. 14:16). God wants people in these days who are so fortified, so built in Christ, that they do not need to be ashamed.

Interpretation of Tongues

For it is God who has called you for His own purpose. It is Christ who ordained you, and being ordained by Christ we go forth to bring forth much fruit. God is being glorified when our anointing or our covenant with Christ is being reserved for God only, and we live and move for the glory of the exhibition of Christ. Then that is the place where Jesus is highly honored, and when you pray, God is glorified in the Son, and when you preach, the unction abides, and the Lord brings forth blessing upon the hearers.

Diversities of Gifts

In 1 Corinthians 12:4–7, you notice very remarkable words. In these verses we are dealing with the Spirit, with the Lord, and with God—each One of them in cooperation with this position: There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. (1 Cor. 12:4–7)

There are diversities, varieties of gifts that truly are to be in the believer. There are nine gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12, and I would like you to notice that they never interfere with the gifts that Jesus gave. If you will turn to Ephesians 4, you will find that Jesus gave gifts: But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.”

(vv. 7–8)

A little later in the chapter, these gifts are listed: And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. (vv. 11–12) Let us look at the gifts Jesus has. How beautifully He arranges things. “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men” (Eph. 4:8). Now, the apostle Paul was in captivity. How do we know? He described his position as the chief of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). By the way, as long as we know that the chief of sinners has been saved, every man that ever lives can be saved. Paul was the chief of sinners, and he was led captive when he was enraged with indignation against the disciples; he was rushing everywhere to apprehend them and put them in prison and make them blaspheme (Acts 8:3; 9:1–2; 26:9–11).

So Paul was in captivity. Yet Jesus took him out of captivity; then He took him into His captivity and gave him gifts.

Jesus has already made disciples; He has gone up on high leading captivity captive; now He is giving gifts. This is the divine position of our Lord, giving gifts to those He has in captivity.

Now, who do you think is most likely to be in captivity? It is the people who are lost in God, who are hidden in Him. Baptizing in water is an emblem of death, and the moment a person is immersed in the water, he is lifted out. But this is not the case with the baptism in the Holy Spirit. To be baptized in the Holy Spirit is to be in deeper every day, never lifted out, never coming out; it is to be in captivity, ready for gifts.

Now, is a person made a prophet or an apostle or a teacher before the baptism of the Spirit or after? I want to speak to you very definitely, and I want you to keep in mind what the Spirit will say to us at this time.

When I went to New Zealand, the power of God was very present, and God wonderfully worked miracles and wonders there. The gifts that laid hold of the whole place were the gifts of tongues and interpretation. That entire city was moved until the place that held 3,500 was often overcrowded, and we had 2,000 and 3,000 people who could not get in.

Now when the Plymouth Brethren, who knew the Word of God, saw the grace of God upon me, they wanted to have some conversation with me. So I gave them an audience, and eighteen of them came.

As soon as they began they said, “Well, we know God is with you; it is evident.”

(In ten days we had 2,000 people saved, and we had 1,500 of those young converts sit down to communion; and it was the Plymouth Brethren who served us the wine and the bread.)

“Now,” they said, “we want to examine the truth with you to see where things stand.”

I said, “All right, brethren.”

In a moment or two, they were quoting Ephesians to me.

“But, beloved,” I said, “you know better than anybody that the man who climbs up some other way is a thief and a robber, don’t you? How many times have you preached that? Jesus is the Door, and everyone entering that way will be saved. What does it mean? Jesus is Truth.” They continued quoting Ephesians to me.

“But, brethren,” I said, “you have no right to Ephesians; you have no right to the epistles. The epistles are not for you. You are climbing up some other way.” Without fear of contradiction, on the authority of God, I say today that there is no person who has a right to the epistles until he has gone through the Acts of the Apostles and received the Holy Spirit.

They said I could not prove it. I said, “I can prove it very easily.” And I read, “For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries” (1 Cor. 14:2).

“Now, brethren,” I said, “tell me if you understand that.”

They said, “No.”

“That is simply because you have never received the Holy Spirit. Every person who receives the Holy Spirit receives that—speaking unto God by the Spirit. The Gospels are the Gospel of the kingdom of God. It is in the Acts of the Apostles that people see water baptism, sanctification, and also the receiving of the Holy Spirit fulfilled. So the moment you pass through the Acts of the Apostles, you are ready for the epistles, for the epistles were written to baptized believers.

“I will prove it another way,” I continued, and I read Romans 8:26–27: Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Here is another distinct condition of a man filled with the Holy Spirit.

Interpretation of Tongues

For the Lord Himself is the chief director of all truth, for He is the Way and the Truth; therefore, the Spirit takes the Word, which is Christ, and reveals it unto us, for He is the life by the Word. “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life.” Jesus is the Way, Jesus is the Truth, Jesus is the Life. The Holy Spirit is jealous over you. The Holy Spirit has a godly jealousy over you. Why? Lest you turn to yourself. He wants you to exhibit the Lord entirely. Therefore, He girds you. He sees to you in every way so that you will not be drawn aside by human desires but that, instead, Jesus will become the Alpha and Omega in all your desires. Now, to this end the Spirit knows the great hunger of the heart. Hunger for what? For gifts, graces, beatitudes. Oh, it is lovely when we are at a point at which we can only pray in the Holy Spirit!

Praying in the Spirit

I am going to give you a very important word about the usefulness of praying in the Spirit. Lots of people are still without an understanding of what it is to pray in the Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 14:15 we read, “I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.” I am going to tell you a story that will help you to see how necessary it is that you be so lost in the order of the Holy Spirit that you will pray in the Holy Spirit. Our missionary work in the center of Africa was opened by Brothers Burton and Salter, the latter being my daughter’s husband. He is now there in the Congo. When they went there, there were four of them: Brothers Burton and Salter, an old man who wanted to go to help them build, and a young man who believed he was called to go. The old man died on the road and the young man turned back, so there were only two left.

They worked and labored. God was with them in a wonderful way. But Burton took sick, and all hopes were gone. Fevers are dreadful there; mosquitoes swarm; great evils are there. There he was, laid out; there was no hope. They covered him over and went outside very sorrowfully, because he truly was a pioneer missionary. They were in great distress and uttered words like this: “He has preached his last sermon.”

When they were in that state, without any prompting whatever, Brother Burton stood right in the midst of them. He had arisen from his bed and had walked outside, and he now stood in the midst of them. They were astonished and asked how and what had happened.

All he could say was that he had been awakened out of a deep sleep with a warm thrill that went over his head, right down his body, and out through his toes.

“I feel so well,” he said. “I don’t know anything about my sickness.”

It remained a mystery. Later, when he was over in England visiting, a lady said to him, “Brother Burton, do you keep a diary?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Don’t open the diary,” she said, “until I talk with you.”

“All right.”

This is the story she told. “At a certain time on a certain day, the Spirit of the Lord moved upon me. I was so moved by the power of the Spirit that I went alone into a place to pray. As I went there, believing that, just as usual, I was going to open my mouth and pray, the Spirit laid hold of me and I was praying in the Spirit—not with understanding, but praying in the Spirit.

“As I prayed, I saw right into Africa; I saw you laid out helpless and, to all appearances, apparently dead. I prayed on until the Spirit lifted me, I knew I was in victory, and I saw you had risen up from that bed. “Look at your diary, will you?”

He looked in the diary and found that it was exactly the same day.

So there are revivals to come; there are wonderful things to be done, when we can be lost in the Spirit until the Spirit prays through to victory.

Interpretation of Tongues

It is only He; it is He who rolls away the cloud. He alone is the One who lifts the fallen, cheers the faint, brings fresh oil, and changes the countenance. It is the Lord your God. He has seen your misery, He has known your brokenheartedness, and He has known how near you seem to be to despair.

Oh, beloved, God is in the midst of us to help us into these wonderful divine places of appointment! Are you ready? You say, “What for?” To let all differences cease and to have the same evidence the disciples had in the Upper Room.

Are you ready? What for? To be so in the place in which God’s Son will be pleased that He gives you all the desires of your heart.

Are you ready? What for? So that God can fill you with new life, stimulate you with new fire. He can inflame you with great desire. We are in the midst of blessing; I want you to be blessed.

Faith has the greatest ability to position us. Faith is what will lift you into every place, if you do not interfere with it.

Don’t forget you are in the presence of God. This day has to be covered with a greater day. It is not what you are; it is what you are intending to be.

If you have ever spoken in tongues, believe it is your right and your privilege to have anything in the Bible. Don’t let your human mind interfere with the great plan of God. Submit yourself to God.

May the divine likeness of Him who is the express image of the Father dwell in you richly, abounding through all, supplying every need, bringing you into a place where you know the hand of God is leading you from treasure to treasure, from grace to grace, from victory to victory, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord.