Pastor Ray shared…
Yesterday, I read from Brother Hagin’s book “I Believe In Visions.” In that book, there are seven different times when the Lord appeared to him. It seems like a lot of the times he was in prayer when he had a vision. He would be on the platform or they would be kneeling to pray and all of a sudden he is somewhere else. I just think that is interesting because that would be a time when you’re really in His presence. And he had this vision I believe during an eight-week meeting and two days out of every week the meetings would be prayer. And so he was in this meeting on the platform, and all of a sudden, he was there but he wasn’t there. He saw Jesus but right behind Him there was a huge angel.
The following is an excerpt from I Believe In Visions by Kenneth E. Hagin:
“In August of 1963, the Lord appeared to me and began talking to me about my ministry. An angel stood about three feet behind Him. Every time I looked at the angel he looked back at me as if he were about to say something. But then I would look back to Jesus and the angel wouldn’t say anything. Finally I said to the Lord, “Who is this angel and what does he represent?”
“That’s your angel,” He replied.
“My angel!”“Yes, don’t you know, it is written in My Word where I said to My disciples, ‘… Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven’ [Matt. 19:14]. Then in another place I said, ‘For their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven’ [Matt. 18:10].
“You don’t lose your angel just because you grow up,” Jesus said. “He has a message for you,” the Lord said. Well, think about it. Why would we lose our angel just because we grow up?
“But, Lord, You are here. Why can’t You deliver the message?” (After all, I wanted to be scriptural. The Holy Spirit is to be our Guide. He is the One who is to give us guidance as well as the Word of God. But I wasn’t sure about an angel giving me a message.) I said to Jesus, “You know that I am a real stickler for the Word.”
Jesus said to me, “Didn’t you ever read in the Bible where an angel of the Lord came and awakened Peter when he was in jail, and in answer to prayer led him out of jail? Don’t you remember that the angel of the Lord appeared to Philip and gave him directions after that great citywide meeting in Samaria, telling him to go down by the way of Gaza? And there, you will remember, the Ethiopian eunuch was converted to Christianity and carried the Gospel back to Ethiopia.
“Don’t you remember that the angel of the Lord appeared to Paul when he was on board the ship on his way to Rome to appeal his case before Caesar? A storm had arisen and all the merchandise on the ship had been thrown overboard in an attempt to save the vessel and its passengers. All hope that they should be saved was gone.
“Then Paul stood and said, ‘…I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee'” (Acts 27:22–24). The Lord said, “Didn’t the angel give Paul direction? Didn’t he have a message for Paul from God?’
The Lord also reminded me of the time when Paul was praying in the Temple in Jerusalem, fell into a trance, and saw Jesus. Jesus told him, “… Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem …” (Acts 22:18). Then after Paul was arrested, before appealing his case to Caesar, the Lord appeared to him one night in jail in Jerusalem and told him not to be afraid, for Paul was to bear witness of Jesus’ Name before kings and authorities.
So we see that although Jesus had appeared to Paul and had given him words of comfort and direction, the angel of the Lord had also appeared to him and had given Paul direction.
In teaching me about angels, the Lord pointed out the Scripture, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Heb. 1:14).
I always had thought this verse said, “… minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation.” But the Word says, “minister for them….”
Pastor Ray…
Have you ever thought about that? It’s just a little different way of looking at it. Reading the way it says it.
The word “minister” used here carries the thought of to wait on or to serve. For instance, when you go into a restaurant, a waitress comes to minister to you, to wait on you, or to serve you. In other words, she waits for your order.
The Lord said to me, “Angels are ministering spirits who are sent to minister, not just to one, but for all who are heirs of salvation.”
Someone might ask, “Well, then why haven’t they done anything?” They are waiting for you to give them the order, just as a waitress cannot do anything for you until you give her the order!
Pastor Ray…
You know how that would be in a restaurant. If you just sit there and the waiter is standing there, “Hello?” They would be saying “What do you want?” And if you don’t tell them anything, they are not going to bring you anything or do anything for you. Coming here every morning, there is one corner I always turn; I just get it to loose the ministering spirits and tell them to go! It just happens on that one corner. I don’t know why but that is just when it comes up. I say “Go!”
So I want us to be sure we are using the angels. If they are to minister for us, serve us, let’s tell them to “Go.” Let’s tell them where to go, what to do, that kind of thing.
The Angel’s Message
After the Lord quoted these scriptures from the Word, I repented for my ignorance. I thought I was being a stickler for the Word.
You know, I think many times dear people have been defeated by thinking they were sticklers for the Word, when they were really just being sticklers for what they thought the Word said. The Word may have more to say on some subjects than they realized.So I said to the Lord, “All right, Lord, now I understand.” You see, if we’re not careful, we can get so conscious of obeying the letter of the Word that we miss the Spirit of the Word and shut the door on God and on the move of the Holy Spirit.
After the angel had delivered his message to me, the Lord said, “Now respond to him.”
Then I looked to the angel and asked, “What is it you have to say to me?”He replied, “I am sent from the Presence of God to tell you not to let So-and-so (and he mentioned a certain man’s name) duplicate your tapes, for he has ulterior motives. I am sent with this message to tell you that in four months’ time, you’ll have in your possession so many thousands of dollars (and he mentioned a certain amount), and you will have enough to set up your own office and make your own tapes.
“Not only will you have this money in four months’ time, but other money will come, for my angels are at work now to cause the money to come.”
I said, “What do you mean, ‘my angels’?”
He said, “I am over a number of angels, and I’ve got them working now.”Four months later, just like that angel said, I had the money he said I would have. I was able to establish our office and do the work of God without being under bondage to anyone. That was a divinely granted appearance concerning my ministry.
I have since learned to say, “Go, ministering spirits and cause the needed money to come in. In Jesus’ Name.”
Pastor Ray…
Let’s say that. “Go, ministering spirits and cause the needed money to come in, in Jesus’ name.” I like how he said it, “the needed money.” He didn’t just say random. The money that is needed to do what God called us to do really.
I praise God that He will direct us and guide us today—even by visions when necessary—not as we might will, but as He wills!
After the Lord quoted these scriptures from the Word, I repented for my ignorance. I thought I was being a stickler for Believers aren’t to pray and seek for angels to appear to them; the devil might accommodate them. The Bible says, “… for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14).
Just stay faithful to God. If God sees fit, a believer may have a divinely granted appearance. If God doesn’t, that’s fine too. God is the One who grants these things as He wills.
Pastor Ray…
You know we could go back and re-read all of Brother Hagin’s books just to re-stir ourselves up. This is such a good book because he describes the times when Jesus appeared to him. Yesterday at 3:30 prayer, I read about when the Lord appeared to him after he had an accident.
The sixth time the Lord appeared to me was in February 1959, while I was holding a revival meeting in El Paso, Texas.
I slipped and fell on my right elbow, hurting my arm rather severely. At first I thought it was broken, and because this was about 9:30 at night, I went to the hospital to have a doctor look at it and set the bones, if necessary.
About a block from the hospital, the Lord spoke to me and told me my arm was not broken; I had a fracture and had knocked my elbow out of place. The Lord also said this was the devil’s work, but He would make it turn out for His glory and my good. He also told me He would talk to me about it later, and I should not fear or worry about anything.
At the hospital the doctor x-rayed my arm and confirmed what I already knew to be true. He explained that my elbow was knocked out of place and some chips were broken off the bone. This, he explained, was even worse than a broken arm, because the ligaments and muscles that hold the elbow in place would have to be put back in place. He said they would have to give me anesthetic to do this; otherwise, I would not be able to stand the pain.
Then, he said, I would have to be in the hospital for several days. After that I would have to wear a cast on my arm for at least four weeks, and then I would have to carry the arm in a sling for a while.
The next afternoon I was propped up in bed in my hospital room. I was fully dressed as I sat there, because I had been walking up and down the hospital corridors. I had sat in the lobby for a while before my dinner tray was brought to me. After I finished dinner, I was alone and feeling rather lonesome.
A White-Robed Visitor
Then I heard footsteps coming down the corridor toward my room. I looked toward the door to see who it was, because it was only 6:30—too early for visitors. Someone dressed in white came through the door, and at first I supposed it was a nurse.As I looked closer, I saw it was Jesus! It seemed as if the hair on my head stood on end. Cold chill bumps popped out all over my body, and I couldn’t say a word.
Jesus approached my bed and sat down on a chair. He was robed in white and wore some sort of sandals. (When I had seen Him before, His feet had been bare.)
The Lord began His conversation with me by saying, “I told you in the automobile the other night as you approached the hospital that your arm was not broken, and you have since learned that this is true. I also told you I would talk to you about this later.”
Someone might ask how the Lord told me this. While riding along in the car, I had heard the Lord speak so clearly that I had thought everyone else in the car had heard Him, too. In fact, I had asked, “Did you hear that?” But no one else had heard anything.
In the Old Testament we read the expression over and over, “… the word of the Lord came to me, saying …” (Jer. 2:1). Or “… the word of the Lord came unto him, saying….” (1 Kings 17:2). This Word certainly wasn’t audible, because if it had been an audible voice like a human voice, everyone present would have heard it, and the prophet would not have had to tell the people what the Lord said. But the Word wasn’t audible—it came to the prophet’s spirit from the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. (It is so real, it just seems audible at the time.)
In my hospital room, the Lord reminded me of what He had told me in the car on the way to the hospital. “I told you that your arm was not broken, but that you had knocked your elbow out of place and had a slight fracture,” He said. “I also told you this was the devil’s work, but it would all work out to my glory and your good.”
I replied, “Yes, Lord, and I haven’t worried about it for a minute, because I know what You told me. In fact, I’ve been having a glorious time in the Lord.”
Perfect vs. Permissive Will
“You are to be commended for taking me at My Word,” Jesus continued. “Now I want to say this to you: This has happened to you not because it was My perfect will for you—because it is not My will at all; this has happened to you because you got out of My perfect will into my permissive will.”He reminded me of the Scripture, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that GOOD, and ACCEPTABLE, and PERFECT, will of God” (Rom. 12:2). I once read a translation of this verse which read, “that you may prove what is that good, and permissive, and perfect will of God.”
The Lord explained that He permits people to do things that aren’t expressly His will. For example, He said, “It wasn’t My will that Israel have a king, and I told them so. But they wanted to be like other nations.” (They kept clamoring for a king, so God permitted them to have a king.)
“Some time ago when you preached to a convention of ministers, you stated that your ministry was that of a teacher and a prophet. You got into trouble because you reversed the order of your ministry, putting your teaching ministry first and your prophetic ministry second. When you did that, you got out of My perfect will and into My permissive will, thus opening the door for the devil to attack you.
“You might ask why, if I knew you were going to fall and hurt your arm, I didn’t prevent it. I could have, of course, but I didn’t want to. And instead of being angry with Me for not preventing it, you should be glad I allowed it to happen. If I hadn’t permitted Satan to do this to arrest your attention, you would not have lived past the age of 55, because you would have continued in my permissive will instead of my perfect will.
“This is the third time I have had to speak to you about this. For this reason, I am going to let you wear your arm in a cast and then in a sling for a little while. I will speed up the healing process, however, so you will not be disabled as long as the doctor has said would be necessary.” Then Jesus told me the exact day I would get out of the cast.
He went on to say, “You have enjoyed divine health for 25 years. Even now you are not sick. But,” He said, “you have been out of My perfect will for two years and have been walking only in My permissive will.”
(More than fifty years have now passed since I was healed as a teenager. The Lord has kept me from sickness and has given me divine health all these years. Hurting my arm was the only accident I have had in all that time.)
Although I had been anointed by the Holy Spirit for the ministries of a prophet and a teacher, I had been putting my teaching ministry first because teaching is my natural preference. I also had seen a great need for Bible teaching, and, of course, pastors had encouraged my teaching ability. But the Lord told me in this vision that I was going to have to reverse it and put my prophet’s ministry first.
I realized this accident was not caused by the Lord. He merely permitted it. John 10:10 says, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” The one who steals and destroys is the enemy. The Lord doesn’t commission it, although when man opens a door to the devil, He may permit it.
For example, God didn’t cause Job’s children to be killed or his flocks stolen. God didn’t cause the thieves to rob him or the fire to burn his crops. God didn’t smite his body with boils. The devil did it. Actually, Job gave Satan permission by opening the door to him through fear. God only allowed Satan to do what Job had already permitted through the open door of fear (Job 1:5).
In order to get my attention and to bring about my complete submission and obedience to His perfect will, God had allowed this calamity to come into my life. Jesus said to me, “It is my perfect will that men and women enjoy divine healing and divine health, but many are like you and are living only in My permissive will. For that reason, difficulties have been permitted to come their way.
“Others are weak in faith. Their faith is not strong enough to appropriate the healing that belongs to them. Some don’t even know what belongs to them. Always pray for people who are sick and in hospitals and are under doctors’ care that I will speed up the healing process, because I will do that for you.”
Thirteen days later I went back to the doctor to have my cast changed. When it was removed, the doctor looked at my arm in amazement and said, “I have never seen an arm heal so rapidly.” Normally it would have taken four weeks for my arm to heal properly.
The doctor had told my wife that I would never be able to touch my shoulder with that arm; however, I can. The Lord told me as He sat there by my hospital bed that He would restore 99 percent of the use of that arm. He said He was going to leave that 1 percent disability to remind me not to disobey Him again, but to use the ministry He had given me. (My arm gives me only the slightest amount of trouble. No one can ever tell that anything is wrong, and most of the time I have no difficulty with it.)
Pastor Ray…
Do we want to be in His perfect will? Yes. That shows us the importance of doing what He has told us to do. To do what He has called us to do, stay stired up and continue. Hallelujah.
Ms. Annie…
I will say this “Lord, may I always be in Your perfect will. May I always hear what You are saying to me and obey.” Even the ability to obey Him and hear Him is a gift He give us by His grace. We can’t even do that without Him helping us. But Father, we thank You that You help us.
Ms. Annie led us singing Let Your Will Be Done In Me
Ms. Jeani shared…
While Ms. Annie was singing which was really Holy Spirit singing through her, He referenced Genesis 12, “Now [in Haran] the Lord said to Abram, Go for yourself [for your own advantage] away from your country, from your relatives and your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.”
On the way over here, my husband and I were reading Isaiah 43 about not thinking on or considering the things of the past but that God is doing a whole new thing. And even in that scripture He provokes us with a question. He says “Behold, do you not perceive it?” So, He is provoking Abram by saying that when you do this, it is to your own advantage. But He doesn’t just leave Abram there. Then He says “And I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you with abundant increase of favors.” He is saying He will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert when we behold the new things He is doing. So, even now He provokes us to obey.
I don’t always love the word “obey” because in my mind, my unsanctified thinking, it’s not relational. But it is relational when it comes from the Father because it’s to our own advantage because He’s a good Father. So, right now, Holy Spirit, we receive Your help to see “obedience” as a part of the relationship. He’s not a hard task master. It’s to our own advantage and He is saying even now “Do you not perceive it? Will you not see what I am doing?”
But then if we really look in verse three, there are other people on the other side of our obedience or the relationship a child has with their Father, and I am going to say her, that a child has with her Father. She trusts Him. She knows that it’s to her own advantage. She knows it’s the right thing and she is right there with Him. She wants the perfect relationship, nothing withheld, nothing broken. “And I will bless those who bless you.” So, if Abram stayed in the same place, would the blessing come onto other people without that obedience? Probably not, right?
So, even right now, Father, we just thank You and we receive a heart of flesh for the heart of stone
We receive it today as Your children, as Your children, as Your children
We trust You and we obey and we obey
And I just see the word obey right now going from sterile and OBEY! to drawing us in
Let the word “obey” draw the Church into her Father’s arms right now
Scripture focus…
(2) And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you [with abundant increase of favors] and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing [dispensing good to others].
(3) And I will bless those who bless you [who confer prosperity or happiness upon you] and [curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed [and by you they will bless themselves]. Gen 2:12 (AMPC)
Ms. Jeani…
A couple months ago, I was sitting on the other side of the chapel reading the Word. I was reading Deuteronomy 28 and Holy Spirit said “Okay, you have been reading that through a law filter. Now read it through a daughter filter.”
So first listen to this through a law filter. So, “If you will listen diligently to the voice of the Lord your God, being watchful to do all His commandments which I command you this day, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.”
“And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you heed the voice of the Lord your God.” In other words obey Me and you get blessed.
A daughter filter says “The blessing overtakes you so much, you need My voice.” It’s time for the Church to come together because there are massive resources in their hands and they need His wisdom, because there is massive influence in their sphere and they need wisdom, because governments and leaders and nations are coming, from Isaiah 61, because she arose and now she is shining and the nations are coming to her. And what do we do? We don’t withdraw from the Father. We draw even nearer because “Now, how do we steward and bring the Kingdom here on the earth?”
I am just repenting in front of all of you and I am obeying my Father today and moving forward. So, as a daughter, I am going to read this backwards. “All these blessings come upon me and overtake me and because they do, I am heeding the voice of my Father.”
Without Him, what do I do with this? How do I do it? Can’t we see why we need prayer? Can’t we see this? We come together because so many things are going right! Like the far beyond what we could ask or think is happening in our nation, in our schools, in the movie theaters, in the songs coming out. There is massive harvest going on and now we are saying “Daddy, how do we do this?” Words of wisdom, revelation knowledge, the Kingdom of heaven here on earth coming through us.
One day I was talking to Pastor Ray and I was struggling with something and he looked at me and said “You are already free.” And in that moment, I was able to hear Holy Spirit clearly. You know the enemy will come and he will tempt us, tell us we are not free. But He Whom the Son has set free, is free indeed. We are already free. We are free. We’re free. We’re free indeed. We are free right now. We were free yesterday and we’ll be free tomorrow! We are already free.
You know the Word says that when we preach the message and teach the message of grace, it seems extreme because it seems permissible to sin. But really that’s how much God trusts the Holy Spirit in us. And when we receive His perfect love, we don’t want to sin. We just want to be near Him. We become the answer, Church. So, even right now, I contend. I contend like Jacob contended with God that we would know who we are, that we would know that we are already free.
You know what, if when Jacob was wrestling with God, it was like this. Jacob said “But God I messed up!” Then God said “I don’t care, I have something for you!” “But God, I robbed everybody!” And God said “I don’t care, I don’t see you that way!” And then when the wrestling was over, He wanted to know “Do you want the blessing?” He said “Okay, I am going to let you go. I am done. Either you want it or you don’t.” And Jacob said “I won’t let you go until you bless me.”
It happened with the wrestling! Because God stuck with him and he stuck with God and they wrestled and they contended together! To know who Jacob was. His name was changed to Israel! A nation! We have nations inside of us!
You know Steve Jobs said something and it should have been the Church. He talked about the fear we have is to know the greatness that is inside of us – to sum it up. Could we acknowledge that He lives in us and we are the answer? We are the answer.
Ms. Annie led us singing Abba, I Belong to You
Pastor Ray…
Would we sing that “Abba, I belong to you?” Just in my Spirit I saw Jesus singing that back to us inserting our name and saying “I belong to you. You are My child, I belong to you. You say you belong to Me. I say it to you. I belong to you. You are My child. I am Abba, your Dad, your Father. By the power of My Spirit, I can and I do and I will say I am to each one of you, name by name by name, personally speaking, I belong to you. You are My Child. You are My children. I have called you and I belong to you.”
Ms. Jeani…
Father, we thank You that You are our beloved
I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine
Romance returning to the Church, the relationship, the massive romance
Let the Church, the Church with Her creator, her Father, her Bridegroom, perfect love that never fails, that casts out all fear, kingdom forces, violent kingdom forces coming upon the earth,
In education, in the media, in the Whitehouse, in Congress, in the courthouse, in every business
Your kingdom come through Your people, through Your beloved
Before we think a thought, You know it
Before we say a word, You show it!
You show us what to say, You show us what to do
We rely on You, we obey You out of relationship, out of complete and full trust
The joy, the joy of submission
The Joy! The Joy of submitting!
Abba, we belong to You and You belong to us
You loved us first, first, first
There are some of you in here! Where the vision is so massive!
You think “Well, if I allow that, I am going to turn away from You and get into pride.”
That is a LIE from the enemy!
He is so BIG in you! He is so, so BIG in you and He has much more than what you see
So get started! And go! Get started and go!
He has got you! And know that you have got Him! You got Him! He belongs to you!
It’s time to launch! It’s time to rise up and it’s time to go!
And it’s time to know – to know that you know that you know that you know that you know!
Ms. Annie led us again singing Abba, I belong to You
A Word of the Lord came forth:
I keep seeing this. As members of the body of Christ, we have been coming around the bend so to speak. We’ve been moving. Things have been changing. But as a member of My body, they will continue to be rearranged and you will continually move with Me. We are connected as one! My Spirit is within you. My guide, My Word, My Words, My direction, My plans, and My purposes I put within you the power of My Spirit to assist you. And I have sent ministering spirits for you to tell what to do, to tell where to go. So, speak unto your angel and angels will minister for you for you are coming around the bend. Things that looked as if they’d never drop off are dropping off as you make the turn. And then you will turn the other way and more things will drop off. But I won’t drop off. I am with you, I am guiding you, and I yearn for you like you yearn for Me. So, My strength, My power, My anointing, My presence, My authority is within you. So, speak it forth, declare it to come, call it, declare it, believe for it, expect it and it shall come in its entirety. Hallelujah!
I just have this sense that the Holy Spirit, while we are moving along these rivers, He is ministering, ministering, ministering unto us individually. And even the questions that we hadn’t know the answer to, BANG! All of a sudden they will come up. An answer to this, an answer to that, direction as to where to go, words, words divinely orchestrated from heaven will begin to flow out, go forth, and bring absolute total restoration and change. Oh, we receive from You, Lord. Precious Holy Spirit, Your presence in our lives, it is Your presence, Your glorious, glorious presence.
Let’s sing out about His presence before we go.
Ms. Annie led us singing I Love, I Love Your Presence
Continue praying…
Hallelujah, Thank You, Father
For the power of Your precious Holy Spirit
Again and again and again, more and more and more
Your precious presence, Your glory, Your steps, Your Words, Your Word
The power and the move of Your Holy Spirit in us and through us – thank You, Father
This nation is blessed, our president is blessed, our leaders are blessed
With wisdom and understanding and revelation knowing exactly what to do
Thank You, Father, so much for this day
It’s a good day! It’s a great day! It’s a holy day! It’s a new day
We thank You in advance for every minute of this day in Jesus’ name, Amen
Thank you for coming
