Pastor Ray…
I wanted to talk about a couple things. Robert Bakke’s service was yesterday. Usually, he’d be sitting right here. He’s sitting in a different place today, in his heavenly home. I thought this was interesting. First of all, he never gave a name to whatever it was that was attacking his body. He just focused on the Word. There was a pastor from north Minneapolis, Beacon of Hope, that shared yesterday. Beacon of Hope is a church where Living Word does an outreach feeding people in the community. Month after month, Robert was believing God, confessing the right things, doing what he’s called to do, he would show up at the church in north Minneapolis. The pastor there is intense. He’s awesome. But he and his family were all going through some serious things. He was going through an attack on his body as well. So when Robert would come to bring the food, different times he would show up at the pastor’s house and when the pastor would start to say, “This is what’s happening in my body,” Robert would stop him in his tracks and say, “But what does the Word say?” He just continually focused on what the Word said, not what the symptoms were saying. It was a blessed service.
I have to admit I did a flop-n-stop in my Bible this morning. I found this in Colossians and it goes along with something we were talking about this on Wednesday at noon. Dave was there. We were talking about 9/11 and how after 9/11, we had brother Kenneth Hagin Holy Ghost services here in the sanctuary. It was really close to the 9/11 event. For a while, planes couldn’t fly. The meetings were already scheduled. So the whole time during the meetings, brother Hagin never mentioned what happened on 9/11. We were talking about that. I questioned that. We expected he would say something. We’d pray concerning it. You know, whatever. But he never went there. Because Dave went to Rhema, he had some insight into brother Hagin. I wanted him to share that with you.
But first this is what I read in Colossians 3:1–4, in the Message: “So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.” The Amplified Bible makes it clear in a different way. It’s to not look at all the things that are around, keeping our eyes on those, but look up unto heaven. Then verse 3-4 says, “Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.”
Then down lower in verse 9. First he listed things we shouldn’t do. Those are the old ways. This one just says “Don’t lie to one another. You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.” Verse 12 –14 says, “So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.”
So back up to the beginning, if we’re really serious about this resurrection life we put off all those old things, those old ways. I’ve never thrown some of my old clothes in the fire but I have gotten rid of a lot of them. So saying that in the natural, but in the spirit realm too. Just put off the old ways, the old plans, the old deals and put on the new which is His love.
Just going back to how that was with brother Hagin. He chose to not focus on 9/11 because we were having Holy Ghost meetings, where you allow the Spirit of God to move in the meetings. He was letting the Holy Spirit move. He did not focus on what took place on 9/11, but instead, he focused on the Word, the power of the Holy Spirit, and let Him move in the meetings. Dave, you shared a couple things about what you noticed at Rhema. Please share with us.
Dave shared…
We were talking about the effects of natural things, like what Ray just shared. I remember a couple of occasions how when traumatic things happened and brother Hagin wasn’t affected by them. One of the teachers there, Patsy Camenetti, gave a testimony of brother Hagin. She got really sick, near death sick. She was at home in bed. She worked really closely to brother Hagin. She was like his right-hand person. If you saw brother Hagin, you saw her with him. She had been at home sick for three days. She said she was really concerned that he didn’t care. What was interesting about that is that he didn’t care. She didn’t know how accurate she was. Ha, ha… but not in the way that she thought. Because he didn’t care about that sickness was not an indication he didn’t care for her. Jesus had the same situation with Lazarus. Remember they told Him, “Your buddy is sick.” Jesus didn’t respond. He didn’t respond because He knew something inside Him they didn’t know.
On the way in today, I was praying in the Holy Ghost and this came out of my spirit. “Go by what’s in your heart, not what’s in your mind.” We know that, right? We’re to live by the Spirit. We’re spirit beings. Those who worship the Lord will worship Him in spirit and in truth, right? We know that it’s the spirit of man is the one that connects with God. And your spirit is the real “you.” That’s sometimes hard. We get mixed up about that, because some people think our brains are who we are. Or the way we think is who we are. No! That’s not who you are. Who you are is who you are in the inside. It’s your spirit that is the real you. And that’s who God communicates to. Your spirit will influence your thinking. Got it?
Anyway, Patsy said after three days, she just lost hope. She started making funeral arrangements. That’s how bad it was. She was figuring out who was going to do the service. Finally, brother Hagin showed up. He just came in there like nothing was wrong. He was happy and excited. She kind of got offended by it. Because “Don’t you know I’m dying and you’ve been gone for three days. I thought I was important to you.” She said he laughed and said, “You’re going to be fine.” So he laid hands on her and she was healed. Instantly. That’s a good testimony but the emphasis is his behavior toward that circumstance.
On the way here when I was praying, that’s what the Spirit spoke to me about going by what is in my heart. You’ll always succeed when you’re in your heart, not in your head. Brother Hagin taught this class at school that was called “How to Be Led by the Holy Spirit.” One of the things that’s in that book says that the Lord told Hagin that if he could teach him how to be led by his spirit that He would make him wealthy, that he would keep him healthy. All the things that you need in life, he would be successful in. Hagin would say, “This is the most important class you have here. All the other classes are important but not like this one. If you can get this one, you’ll get all the other stuff.” If you can connect with your heart, it is what is going to drive you to success. It’s going to speak life. It won’t speak darkness. It’ll tell you that you’re going to go over the top, not stay down where you’re at. Your spirit will communicate to you the possibilities, not the impossibilities.
When you’re following your spirit, you’ll get to the point where you’ll know whether it’s your head or your spirit that is talking to you. You can get to that point. You’ll know when your mind is racing on something. “Oh no, I got to get that bill paid.” You’ll get to the point where your spirit will grab you and say, “Calm down. You need not be like this.” And in the circumstance of 9/11, everyone was frazzled. Rightfully so. It was a traumatic event for our nation. Yet we were all in that place. I remember that day, thinking that exact same thing. “Wow, brother Hagin, why aren’t you saying something about 9/11? We’re all looking to you to lead us and help us. You’re the prophet. Speak something. This is the time. Tell me I’m going to be okay. Tell us America is going to be fine. I need to hear that right now.”
Brother Hagin said this. “I never use an alarm clock. Because my spirit is an alarm clock. My spirit will wake me up.” He said the more he relied on natural things, the more he was connected to this up here rather than this in here. You may say, “That’s brother Hagin. He was a prophet.” I really believe that you can do that. I’m not saying I believe it because it’s something I can attain to. I actually do that. I set my alarm sometimes and my spirit will wake me up before the alarm goes off. What’s the point of the alarm clock? It’s a security blanket. Realistically, you would have been fine. But in your mind, this is an important meeting. I got to get up early. So the more reliant you are on that instinctive gift you have inside of you, your spirit and the Holy Spirit, the more relaxed you’ll be and the less circumstance you’ll have to deal with.
As I was driving here I was praying in the Holy Ghost and worshiping the Lord. Out of my spirit, I heard, “when you’re listening to your spirit, you’ll be okay.” That is the case. Everybody here has had problems in their lives. All of us have. How you deal with that problem is directly related on how quick your answer to prayer comes. It is! How quickly you get to the point of “I trust You, Lord. I’m going to relax because it’s in Your hands” is how quick you get to your miracle.
And I gave this testimony a while ago about my daughter going to China and having that problem where we took her to the doctor and she was sick. I just remember the day I was in the car riding next to her in a taxi going to a meeting. I remember the Holy Spirit saying to me, “Stop praying.” Now people of prayer, that’s contrary to them. You should be praying. This is bad. My world is falling apart. My daughter is going to die if she gets a problem with this thing. The Holy Spirit had the audacity to tell me to “Stop praying.” Doesn’t He understand? Doesn’t that sound like Patsy? “Doesn’t brother Hagin understand? He doesn’t love me.” He exactly loves you. You just don’t understand. The person in that situation that doesn’t understand is not him. It’s you. You’re the one that is missing something.
I know this is something that may sound like… when you’re going through hell on earth… and not literal hell meaning like … your soul travails. That’s what I’m trying to say. Your soul is dealing with something that is substantial. A challenge. You don’t understand why, like this brother who just left us. You’re close to them and you don’t understand. You can’t go by that. “Lord, why didn’t you heal him” or “Lord, why didn’t you do this. How can I get to that place, Lord, with You if I have no confidence that You will not leave me just like You left him?” Or those thousands of people who died in the trade centers. How can I trust You? Surely there were people in there that were Your people and You let them down.
I remember one testimony from a guy on the 700 Club. He was in the towers and something inside him told him to leave the building. There was another brother that was supposed to go there and he decided he wasn’t going to work that day. Something told him, “You’re not going to work today.” See what I’m saying? It’s not God that is your problem. It’s us not listening to our hearts. It’s us not saying, “Hey, I’ll do whatever is in my heart and not wig out.” It’s not an easy thing sometimes. When you’re challenged.
I was in my car bleeding in an accident, not knowing how bad the accident was. All I knew is that I was in pain and there was blood everywhere. What do you do with that? Isn’t that the time to panic? Not for the Holy Ghost. And not your spirit. The thing that saved me that day was my spirit connected to the Holy Spirit and not looking at the circumstances. That day I had a supernatural miracle happen. I got to the hospital and Barb was sitting with the doctor. The doctor looked at the injuries and was confounded. When I got in the ambulance, the person in the ambulance said, “There must be somebody upstairs that really likes you.” I smiled. Of course, I was in my spirit. I was in here. I wasn’t up here. I said, “Yup! That’s true.” They said the wound on my head was opened up like an inch. And I couldn’t walk on my foot. I had broken my ankle. It was like this. By the time I got to the hospital, the doctor said, “You don’t even need stitches.” And I walked out of the hospital!
But I remember when I had the incident and was sitting in the chair. The first thing I did was I went inside myself. I started praying in tongues. I started thanking the Lord. Out of my mouth, I started praying for my wife. “You’re the guy that needs help. Why are you praying for your wife?” That’s what my spirit said to do. Follow your heart. Not how you feel, not what it looks like. Follow your heart. What is the Holy Spirit saying? It’s all going to be okay. Then I look up and there is Barbara about 20 feet away. At the scene of the accident! The point is, the heart matters. As long as we can do that, we will overcome. Time after time after time… when you do this, you will see the manifested grace of God. You will see the miracle working power of God. And if you don’t believe in God or you’re kind of worrying about, “God, you haven’t been answering my prayer. Do You love me?” If you’re wondering about that, I guarantee you, when you start following your spirit, you will start seeing how much God loves you. He’s trying to get you to the miracle. That’s why praying in the Holy Ghost is critical. Because when you pray in the Holy Ghost, you’re disconnecting your brain and you’re getting into your heart. You heart is connected and picking up that which is necessary to get you to the place you need to be. Your spirit in you is trying to get you to your miracle. Why wouldn’t you pray in the Holy Ghost?
I just gave you a couple testimonies about that. But brother Hagin would sit in meetings and he could go for an hour and give you testimony after testimony. How does your spirit know you need to wake up at 8 o’clock? God knows all things. And your spirit is connected to the One who knows all. That which is necessary will be there when you have need. Whatever need you have, your need cannot exist without an answer. You can’t have a need where there isn’t a positive answer for you, a positive outcome. Think of it that way. So if you think about it, whatever heart challenge you confront, that can’t even exist without God having an answer to that problem. If you know that, well then it’s just a matter of you lining up to the answer. So is it appropriate for me to say, “why did this happen”? Really, is that the question? That’s not the question. Right? You’re asking a question that is not relevant. I feel this in my spirit. The thing that holds you up the most is the question that you’re asking. If you’ve been struggling with a situation, the thing that keeps it lingering is the question that you’re asking about it. Maybe you need to reshape the way you’re looking at the situation.
Pastor Ray…
I want to do what you were just talking about. Just be led by the Spirit and start praying. We’re going to go with Holy Spirit led prayer.
Prayed…
Father, we thank You for the Holy Spirit… when He hears Your voice He speaks… He brings to us the things that we have need of… we thank You for Him… we thank You that You created us in our image… our spirits are created like Your spirit… an eternal spirit… able to reach into the past and the future that transcends time… You have opened the eyes of our understanding and you have enlightened us to know the hope to which we have all been called to… that we can have hope that we have been called to a place in You… a place of victory… a place where You’re at… that our spirits are ascending and not descending… connected with You… ascending with you to the heights… where circumstance doesn’t affect us… above the mire and clay… a voice of victory… speaking faith rather than doubt… looking to the future and seeing the possibilities… we’re pressing to that which You’ve called us to…
