The
Word of Knowledge and Gift of Faith
To
another [is given] the word of knowledge through thesame Spirit, to
another faith by the same Spirit. —1 Corinthians 12:8–9
We
have not passed this way before. I believe that Satan has many
devices and that they are worse today than ever before. But I also
believe that there is to be a full manifestation on the earth of the
power and glory of God to defeat every device of Satan. In Ephesians
4 we are told to endeavor “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace,” for “there is one body and one Spirit…one Lord,
one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all” (vv. 3–6). The
baptism of the Spirit is to make us all one. Paul told us that “by
one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…and have all been
made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13). It is God’s
intention that we speak the same thing. If we all have the full
revelation of the Spirit of God, we will all see the same thing. Paul
asked the Corinthians, “Is Christ divided?” (1 Cor. 1:13). When
the Holy Spirit has full control, Christ is never divided. His body
is not divided; there is no division. Schism and division are
products of the carnal mind.
The
Word of Knowledge
How
important it is that we have the manifestation of “the word of
knowledge” in our midst. The same Spirit who brings forth the word
of wisdom brings forth the word of knowledge. The revelation of the
mysteries of God comes by the Spirit, and we must have a supernatural
word of knowledge in order to convey to others the things that the
Spirit of God has revealed. The Spirit of God reveals Christ in all
His wonderful fullness, and He shows Him to us from the beginning to
the end of the Scriptures. It is the Scriptures that make us “wise
for salvation” (2 Tim. 3:15) and that open to us the depths of the
kingdom of heaven, revealing all of the divine mind to us. There are
thousands of people who read and study the Word of God. But it is not
quickened to them. The Bible is a dead letter except by the Spirit.
The words that Christ spoke were not just dead words, but they were
spirit and life (John 6:63). And so it is the intention of God that a
living word, a word of truth, the word of God, a supernatural word of
knowledge will come forth from us through the power of the Spirit of
God. It is the Holy Spirit who will bring forth utterances from our
lips and a divine revelation of all the mind of God.
The
child of God ought to thirst for the Word. He should know nothing
else but the Word, and He should know nothing among men except Jesus
(1 Cor. 2:2). “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). It is as we feed
on the Word and meditate on the message it contains that the Spirit
of God can vitalize what we have received and bring forth through us
the word of knowledge. This word will be as full of power and life as
when He, the Spirit of God, moved upon holy men in ancient times and
gave them the inspired Scriptures. All the Scriptures were inspired
by God (2 Tim. 3:16) as they came forth at the beginning, and through
the same Spirit they should come forth from us vitalized, “living
and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword” (Heb. 4:12).
With
the gifts of the Spirit should come the fruit of the Spirit. With
wisdom we should have love, with knowledge we should have joy, and
with faith we should have the fruit of peace. Faith is always
accompanied by peace. Faith always rests. Faith laughs at
impossibilities. Salvation is by faith, through grace, and “it is
the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8).
The
Power of Faith
We
are kept by the power of God through faith. God gives faith, and
nothing can take it away. By faith we have power to enter into the
wonderful things of God. There are three kinds of faith: saving
faith, which is the gift of God; the faith of the Lord Jesus; and the
gift of faith. You will remember the word that the Lord Jesus Christ
gave to Paul, to which he referred in Acts 26, where the Lord
commissioned him to go to the Gentiles:
To
open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and
from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of
sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in
Me. (Acts 26:18) Oh, this wonderful faith of the Lord Jesus. Our
faith comes to an end. Many times I have been to the place where I
have had to tell the Lord, “I have used all the faith I have,”
and then He has placed His own faith within me. One of my fellow
workers in ministry said to me at Christmastime, “Wigglesworth, I
was never so near the end of my finances in my life.” I replied,
“Thank God, you are just at the opening of God’s treasures.” It
is when we are at the end of our own resources that we can enter into
the riches of God’s resources. It is when we possess nothing that
we can possess all things. The Lord will always meet you when you are
on the edge of living. I was in Ireland one time, and I went to a
house and said to the lady who came to the door, “Is Brother
Wallace here?” She replied, “Oh, he has gone to Bangor, but God
has sent you here for me. I need you. Come in.” She told me her
husband was a deacon of the Presbyterian church. She herself had
received the baptism of the Spirit while she was a member of the
Presbyterian church, but they did not accept it as from God. The
people of the church said to her husband, “This thing cannot go on.
We don’t want you to be a deacon any longer, and your wife is not
wanted in the church.”
The
man was very enraged, and he became incensed against his wife. It
seemed as though an evil spirit had possessed him, and the home that
had once been peaceful became very terrible. Finally, he left home
without leaving behind any money for his wife. The woman asked me
what she should do.
We
went to prayer, and before we had prayed five minutes, the woman was
mightily filled with the Holy Spirit. I said to her, “Sit down and
let me talk to you. Are you often in the Spirit like this?” She
said, “Yes, and what could I do without the Holy Spirit now?” I
said to her, “The situation is yours. The Word of God says that you
have power to sanctify your husband. (See 1 Corinthians 7:14). Dare
to believe the Word of God. Now the first thing we must do is to pray
that your husband comes back tonight.” She said, “I know he
won’t.” I replied, “If we agree together, it is done.” She
said, “I will agree.” Then I said to her, “When he comes home,
show him all possible love; lavish everything upon him. If he won’t
hear what you have to say, let him go to bed. The situation is yours.
Get down before God and claim him for the Lord. Get into the glory
just as you have gotten into it today, and as the Spirit of God prays
through you, you will find that God will grant all the desires of
your heart.”
A
month later I saw this sister at a conference. She told how her
husband came home that night. He went to bed, but she prayed right
through to victory and then put her hands on him and prayed. He cried
out for mercy. The Lord saved him and baptized him in the Holy
Spirit. The power of God is beyond all our conception. The trouble is
that we do not have the power of God in a full manifestation because
of our finite thoughts, but as we go on and let God have His way,
there is no limit to what our limitless God will do in response to a
limitless faith. But you will never get anywhere unless you are in
constant pursuit of all the power of God.
One
day when I came home from our openair meeting at eleven o’clock, I
found that my wife was out. I asked, “Where is she?” I was told
that she was down at Mitchell’s. I had seen Mitchell that day and
knew that he was at the point of death. I knew that it would be
impossible for him to survive the day unless the Lord undertook to
heal him.
There
are many who let up in sickness and do not take hold of the life of
the Lord Jesus Christ that is provided for them. For example, I was
taken to see a woman who was dying, and I said to her, “How are
things with you?” She answered, “I have faith; I believe.” I
said, “You know that you do not have faith. You know that you are
dying. It is not faith that you have; it is language.” There is a
difference between language and faith. I saw that she was in the
hands of the Devil. There was no possibility of life until he was
removed from the premises. I hate the Devil, and I laid hold of the
woman and shouted, “Come out, you demon of death. I command you to
come out in the name of Jesus.” In one minute she stood on her feet
in victory. But to return to the case of Brother Mitchell, I hurried
down to the house, and as I got near I heard terrible screams. I knew
that something had happened. I saw Mrs. Mitchell on the staircase and
asked, “What is up?” She replied, “He is gone! He is gone!” I
just passed by her and went into the room. Immediately I saw that
Mitchell had gone. I could not understand it, but I began to pray. My
wife was always afraid that I would go too far, and she laid hold of
me and said, “Don’t, Dad! Don’t you see that he is dead?” I
continued to pray and my wife continued to cry out to me, “Don’t,
Dad. Don’t you see that he is dead?” But I continued praying. I
got as far as I could with my own faith, and then God laid hold of
me. Oh, it was such a laying hold that I could believe for anything.
The faith of the Lord Jesus laid hold of me, and a solid peace came
into my heart. I shouted, “He lives! He lives! He lives!” And he
is living today.
There
is a difference between our faith and the faith of the Lord Jesus.
The faith of the Lord Jesus is needed. We must change faith from time
to time. Your faith may get to a place where it wavers. The faith of
Christ never wavers. When you have His faith, the thing is finished.
When you have that faith, you will never look at things as they are.
You will see the things of nature give way to the things of the
Spirit; you will see the temporal swallowed up in the
eternal.
I
was at a camp meeting in Cazadero, California, about eight years ago,
and a remarkable thing happened. A man came who was stone deaf. I
prayed for him, and I knew that God had healed him. Then came the
test. He would always move his chair up to the platform, and every
time I got up to speak, he would get up as close as he could and
strain his ears to catch what I had to say. The Devil said, “It
isn’t done.” I declared, “It is done.” This went on for three
weeks, and then the manifestation came. He could hear distinctly from
sixty yards away. When his ears were opened, he thought it was so
great that he had to stop the meeting and tell everybody about it. I
met him in Oakland
recently
and he was hearing perfectly. As we remain steadfast and unmovable on
the ground of faith, we will see in perfect manifestation what we are
believing for.
The
Gift of Faith
People
say to me, “Do you not have the gift of faith?” I say that it is
an important gift, but that what is still more important is for us to
be making an advancement in God every moment. Looking at the Word of
God, I find that its realities are greater to me today than they were
yesterday. It is the most sublime, joyful truth that God brings an
enlargement, always an enlargement. There is nothing dead, dry, or
barren in this life of the Spirit; God is always moving us on to
something higher, and as we move on in the Spirit, our faith will
always rise to the occasion as different circumstances arise.
This
is how the gift of faith is manifested. You see something, and you
know that your own faith is nothing in the situation. The other day I
was in San Francisco. I was sitting on a streetcar, and I saw a boy
in great agony on the street. I said, “Let me get out.” I rushed
to where the boy was. He was in agony because of stomach cramps. I
put my hand on his stomach in the name of Jesus. The boy jumped and
stared at me with astonishment. He found himself instantly free of
pain. The gift of faith dared in the face of everything. It is as we
are in the Spirit that the Spirit of God will operate this gift
anywhere and at any time.
When
the Spirit of God is operating this gift within a person, He causes
him to know what God is going to do. When the man with the withered
hand was in the synagogue, Jesus got all the people to look to see
what would happen. The gift of faith always knows the results. Jesus
said to the man, “Stretch out your hand” (Matt. 12:13). His word
had creative force. He was not living on the edge of speculation. He
spoke and something happened. He spoke at the beginning, and the
world came into being. He speaks today, and things such as I have
just described have to come to pass. He is the Son of God, and He
came to bring us into sonship. He was the “firstfruits” of the
Resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20), and He calls us to be “firstfruits”
(James 1:18), to be the same kind of fruit as Himself.
There
is an important point here. You cannot have the gifts by mere human
desire. The Spirit of God distributes them “to each one
individually as He wills” (1 Cor. 12:11). God cannot trust some
people with a gift, but those who have a humble, broken, contrite
heart He can trust (Isa. 66:2).
One
day I was in a meeting where there were a lot of doctors and eminent
men and many ministers. It was at a conference, and the power of God
fell on the meeting. One humble little girl who served as a waitress
opened her being to the Lord and was immediately filled with the Holy
Spirit and began to speak in tongues. All these big men stretched
their necks and looked up to see what was happening. They were
saying, “Who is it?” Then they learned it was “the servant.”
Nobody received except the servant! These things are hidden and kept
back from the “wise and prudent” (Matt. 11:25), but the little
children, the humble ones, are the ones who receive. We cannot have
faith if we show undue deference to one another. A man who is going
on with God won’t accept honor from his fellow beings. God honors
the man who has a broken, contrite spirit. How can I get to that
place?
So
many people want to do great things and to be seen doing them, but
the one whom God will use is the one who is willing to be told what
to do. My Lord Jesus never said He could do things, but He did them.
When that funeral procession was coming up from Nain with the widow’s
son being carried in an open coffin, Jesus made them lay the coffin
down. (See Luke 7:11–14.) He spoke the word, “Arise” (v. 14),
and gave the son back to the widow. He had compassion for her. And
you and I will never do anything except along the lines of
compassion. We will never be able to remove the cancer until we are
immersed so deeply in the power of the Holy Spirit that the
compassion of Christ is moving through us.
I
find that in everything my Lord did, He said that He did not do it
but that Another who was in Him did the work (John 14:10). What a
holy submission! He was just an instrument for the glory of God. Have
we reached a place where we dare to be trusted with the gift? I see
in 1 Corinthians 13 that if I have faith to move mountains and do not
have love, all is a failure. When my love is so deepened in God that
I only move for the glory of God, then the gifts can be made
manifest. God wants to be manifested and to manifest His glory to
those who are humble.
A
faint heart can never have a gift. Two things are essential: first,
love; and secondly, determination—a boldness of faith that will
cause God to fulfill His Word. When I was baptized in the Holy
Spirit, I had a wonderful time and had utterances in the Spirit, but
for some time afterward, I did not again speak in tongues. One day,
as I was ministering to another, the Lord again gave me utterances in
the Spirit. After this, I was going down the road one day and
speaking in tongues a long while. There were some gardeners doing
their work, and they stuck their heads out over the hedges to see
what was going on. I said, “Lord, You have something new for me.
You said that when a man speaks in tongues, he should ask for the
interpretation. I ask for the interpretation, and I’ll stay right
here until I get it.” And from that hour, the Lord has given me
interpretation. One time I was in Lincolnshire in England and came in
touch with the old rector of the church there. He became very
interested in what I had to say, and he asked me into his library. I
never heard anything sweeter than the prayer the old man uttered as
he got down to pray. He began to pray, “Lord, make me holy. Lord,
sanctify me.” I called out, “Wake up! Wake up now! Get up and sit
in your chair.” He sat up and looked at me. I said to him, “I
thought you were holy.” He answered, “Yes.” “Then what makes
you ask God to do what He has already done for you?” He began to
laugh and then to speak in tongues. Let us move into the realm of
faith and live in the realm of faith and let God have His way.
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