America! Jesus is Here!

Mel Tari

Cliff Dudley

America! Jesus is Here!

Mel Tari with Cliff Dudley

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 76-1058

ISBN: 0-89221-021-4

Digital ISBN: 978-1-61458-292-2

© 1976 by New Leaf Press. All rights reserved. Published by New Leaf Press, Green Forest, Arkansas 72638.

Printed in United States of America

Please visit our web site for more great titles:

www.newleafpress.net

Contents

God’s Message to America

Simplicity of the Word

Getting out of the Nursery

“The King is Coming”

The power

Hindrances to the Spirit-filled life

Growth in the Spirit

Knowing God’s Will

Baptism of Love

Foreword

Mel Tari because of the daring of Like A Mighty Wind is in suspect by many people. There are those who praise him, and, yes, those who curse the day he was born.

The “miracles” in Like a Mighty Wind created the controversy – it became a matter of theology. Does Jesus through His Spirit affect miracles today, or did it all stop after the Apostles?

Sometime ago I received a letter from the famed author, Father Dennis Bennett, and I quote: “I have been re-reading Like A Mighty Wind, and, of course, in the meantime have had a chance to get acquainted with Mel and to know something of this fine young man, and I wonder if something cannot be done by way of counterattack, so to speak, on this campaign of vilification that has been leveled at the book by some of the brethren who are obviously very fearful of God’s miraculous workings today. For example, there are very few miracles in the book that could not be duplicated and documented from other parts of the world. It is true that some of the things Mel tells about are certainly unique, but it seems to me that there could be a concerted effort to reestablish the credibility of this book. It seems to me to be a shame that the effect of this inspiring little work should be weakened among Christians because of the misinformation that is being spread about it.”

Christians, Jesus is alive and doing great and mighty things among His people – listen to the cry of Mel Tari, America! Jesus is Here!

Cliff Dudley

Chapter One

GOD’S MESSAGE TO AMERICA

As we share together in this book the Lord promised that He’s here.

We think that He is here if He gives us some feelings, that is all right, you know. I think the Lord doesn’t mind giving us that extra special feeling just to indicate to us that He’s around. But I believe that even though without indication, warm feeling or whatever; we as Christians should know that He is here without feelings. God is not a man who will tell lies. He is God: what He has spoken He will make sure that He fulfills.

As we are experiencing more and more of the Lord’s touch and the Lord’s ministering among us, usually there is a tendency to somehow use our own experiences as the basis of certain truth rather than taking the Word of God as the basis of our Christian life and faith. This is very easy to do because we are not perfect people yet. Even one day there was a perfect angel, his name was Lucifer, but he made a mistake and he lost the whole thing.

We are still human beings and might make mistakes as we walk with the Lord, so it is good to remind ourselves that the Bible, the Word of God, has been given to us, and it is the foundation where we must stand.

I want to share with you four different points that I believe are necessary for all of us. I’ve learned them through the years.

Five years ago, the Lord told me to come to the States. It was a long, long story but I will share it quickly so you will know how I finally arrived in the United States. (The story in detail is shared in my book, Like A Mighty Wind.)

One day I was returning home from speaking at a missionary conference, and the Lord said to me, “Be prepared to go to America.” I was a bit surprised.

I began to realize that the people in the Bible had a very special relationship with God. They somehow knew Him on a personal basis. They talked with Him and He listened. Just like I did to my mother and father.

I began to think about myself. It seemed God didn’t listen to me. There didn’t seem to be a two-way communication between God and I. Especially in times when I needed Him. Like when I was sick, or had some other trouble. I had been taught if God says something He meant it. When I read the Bible I found all those real good promises. Like Matthew 6:33: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” I thought, Well, if that’s true you had better believe it but I’d like to see that really work in my life.

I wondered what was wrong with me. I had done everything I could. I was baptized when I was a little boy, I went to Sunday school classes, I’ve gone through catechism class, I’ve learned all the doctrinal bases the church teaches, I’ve taught Sunday school class, and sing in the choir. I’ve done everything a Christian is supposed to do, but it seems something is still missing. “God, what’s wrong?” I cried.

Finally, one day I knew what was missing in my life. It was the person of the Lord Jesus. I came to the truth, and the Lord really opened my eyes. He made me realize that being religious is good but not enough. I had to come to know personally that Jesus the Bible is talking about. It wasn’t that the revelation just came bing-bang and Jesus came in.

I had tried to get away from the truth the Lord revealed to me. I found out that those guys in the Bible somehow had a very special relationship with God. They didn’t just talk about God or hear about God, or preach about God, or read about God in the books they had, but somehow they knew Him in a personal way.

They talked with Him and he listened.

I began to think about myself and said: It seems God doesn’t listen to me. Those people in the Bible just didn’t learn about Him; they really got something out of this relationship with God. They talked with God and God talked with them. Many times as I look into my own life and experiences, it seems I’m the one who does all the talking and God is the one who does the listening.

There never was a two-way communication between me and God. Especially when I needed Him. Like when I’m sick, or in some other trouble.

As a Presbyterian they taught me to believe that the Bible is the Word of God. They taught me that God is not a man who will tell a lie. They taught me when God says something He means it.

I was upset a bit to discover that after years of having been a Sunday school teacher that I wasn’t even a Christian. It was hard to admit that.

I had tried to live for the Lord, and was supposed to have been one of the good guys, finally realizing that I was not a Christian. It was not easy to accept that truth.

I had followed all the ceremonies and all the rules—the do’s and don’ts—and it was hard to accept the truth that I wasn’t what God intended me to be. I hadn’t yet grown to the point where God wanted me to be at that particular time. Sometimes we get so stuck on our own ideas about who we are and how we are supposed to be, and in which place we should be as a Christian that we are not willing to admit and come humbly to the Lord and take His opinion about us, and then let Him bring us to whatever place He wants us to be.

As soon as I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour in 1965 there came this excitement and this new walk with the Lord. I wanted to tell everybody about this Lord I had found, and how He listened to me and talked to me. For me it was exciting.

One day the Lord began to speak to my heart and said, “Well, Mel, you haven’t really found everything yet that I want you to experience as a Christian. Yes, you have found me; that is a most important step, but that is just a beginning of a marvelous life in front of you.” He made it clear to me that the Christian life He planned for me is not just knowing Jesus and go to heaven some day. Of course, it is great to know that we have a place in heaven.

There are many religions and philosophies but only Jesus Christ can deal with the human being in a complete way: the past, the present and the future.

In dealing with the present, many religions hope for peace and try to offer some hope for tomorrow. The Moslem people will tell you, do much good and if you have enough good in store then later on God will try to balance it and He will take your past and push it to the other side. . .and if you have enough good there is a hope that He will bring you to heaven. Not knowing how to take care of the sins and wrongs done in the past we try to do many good things today to cover up the bad things done in the past. It is an attempt to bargain with God.

Only the Lord Jesus Christ can give us a perfect answer because he dealt with our past, present and future. For all of our past He has said, you are forgiven. He does not tell us to forget it, but to bring it to Him and receive forgiveness. And for today He wants to walk with us, heal us, help us, whatever our need may be. And for the future—there is a secure future—there is a heaven and a home He is preparing for us. Only Jesus Christ can give us this complete, perfect redemption. I tell you, you had better get it right now.

I knew God had dealt with my past, but I really wasn’t expecting too much for today. The Lord spoke to me about this and said, “Mel, you are happy because you are going to heaven some day, and you are happy that your past is taken care of, but don’t you know that for the present—for today—you can also experience the abundant life?”

Take Matthew 6:33. . . seek first the kingdom of God and all his righteousness and all shall be added unto you. . .what a wonderful promise! I know it is true, and I want to see that really work in my life. There are so many promises in the Bible. John 10:10 says, “The thief cometh not but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy; I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Jesus is the one who said that. In John 7 he said, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly (innermost being) shall flow rivers of living water.”

I live in Indonesia. Timor, the island where I came from, is pretty dry. Something like California. My people take the water from the river to irrigate the dry land so we can plant rice and all kinds of things. The river really brings life to people and brings all kinds of wonderful things. When I read that part of the Bible, I can picture in my mind the promise of Jesus saying, out of our innermost being shall flow the rivers of living water.

I can just picture that wonderful life that Jesus promised for me and for us as Christians. We should experience it, if Jesus was true to His Word, and if Jesus meant what He said in the Bible.

One other thing about the river, a river for me shows us something—it’s an abundance. Wells have water inside of them down there somewhere. But to get the water you have to pump or draw it out. You have to kind of force the water some way to get it out of the well. When you think about a river, it is something that flows naturally. You don’t force it, it just flows by itself . . .naturally and continually.

When Jesus spoke of the Christian life, it was to be a life full of abundance.

I found in my life—life didn’t happen to flow naturally. It didn’t seem I was naturally rejoicing or joyful. Especially when in a tight spot, or the circumstances not as I would wish them to be. I wasn’t experiencing the flowing of the river.

In thinking of the river, if a mountain is put in its way, the river will continually flow. It will flow until finally it overcomes the barrier, or it finds a different direction to flow.

Sometimes I have joy but someone has to “pump” it. “Okay, Mel, don’t feel so bad about it, because you know God will take care of you.” And after they pump a while then somehow it kind of flows, and I smile and begin to praise the Lord. Or, the pastor may pump me with a certain sermon, then I go out and do something Christian like.

Sometimes in Timor when we have the communion service, the pastor will usually give a sermon about making everything right with your brothers and sisters.

Because if you don’t and you eat of the flesh and drink of the blood of the Lord unworthily, you might get in trouble.

Of course, we are afraid of the trouble we are going to get into so we ask everybody to excuse us, and make peace with everybody whatever the problem is. But that doesn’t last long. As soon as the communion service is over we usually go back to that old bickering and hating way that we just left before, and so it all doesn’t seem right.

We are like the well, it flows when you pump it, but when you stop pumping, it doesn’t flow. But the river doesn’t do it that way. It flows naturally and continually; day-in and day-out, night and day it flows.

I believe that Jesus was giving us the very perfect and good picture of what He wants our Christian life to be. A river doesn’t only flow through nice areas, sometimes it flows through the desert. Or, it flows through rocks, trees, valleys, various hindrances and obstacles in its way. But, they always manage to keep moving and finally reach the ocean.

As a Christian there might be circumstances and situations come in our life that don’t go right, but I believe that we should be able by God’s grace, and by the help of the Holy Spirit, who lives in us, to keep flowing like the river. You can even put a dam in the river but pretty soon it will fill up, overflow and continue on its way.

We might have some hindrance or obstacle come in our life.

I have noticed that people never build big dams except in big rivers. No one puts in a million-dollar dam in a little creek. We Christians should think of it in this way; if you have a big trouble coming your way—let’s say the devil is building a billion-dollar dam in your river—we had better face it as a compliment!

The devil knows that there’s a big river, that’s why he is spending a billion dollars to make the dam. If you are just a little tiny creek he won’t do that to you. But big rivers don’t have to worry about those billion-dollar dams because the dam might only hold the river for a while. Maybe that is why I was a little bit upset to find out that after years of teaching Sunday school I was not even a Christian.

Perhaps you too have followed all the ceremonies and all the rules, don’t and do’s and sometimes, it’s hard to accept the truth that you aren’t what God intended you to be.

I found this true many times, even after I became a Christian and had accepted Jesus as my personal Savior, there were times when I found it hard to admit that I was not the person God wanted me to be.

We must come to the Lord humbly and take His opinion about us and then let Him bring us to whatever place He wants us to be.

As soon as I found the Lord as my personal Saviour I was full of the excitement that comes with this new walk with the Lord. You feel like you don’t want to quit talking and everybody you meet you want to tell them about this new Lord that you have found. And how He listens to you, and talks to you, and how much fun it is. And how good the feeling is inside and all this wonderful thing that you have found. Until one day, the Lord began to speak to my heart and said, “Mel, you haven’t really found everything yet that I want you to experience as a Christian. Yes, you have found me; that is the most important step and that’s the most important discovery you’ll ever make in your life, but that’s not all.”

I came to understand our lives consist of three parts: the past, the present and the future. We have messed up the past, we have made a blunder of it. We have gone through a lot of trouble in the past. Little or big, each of us has our own part in it.

All the religions I have tried to learn from, or I have known about, deal with the present. Take for example the transcendental meditation people. They go for meditation hoping for some peace, or whatever they can find now, and maybe it will offer them some hope for tomorrow. I say “maybe” offer them some peace. These people are never sure themselves.

Practically every religion and philosophy in the world teaches people something like that. They don’t know how to get rid of the past, the sins and the wrongs that they have done. Only the Lord Jesus Christ gives us a perfect answer because He dealt with us, with our past, with our present, and with our future.

For our past, the Lord Jesus Christ said, “You are forgiven.” He says, “I know you have messed it up, I know all the trouble you have gone through, all the sin that you have done because you were born a sinner. But I have died on the cross, and for the past you can be forgiven, you can be cleansed from all the unrighteousness that you have done.” Jesus doesn’t cover it up, He removes it forever.

Many tell us, “Oh, just forget the past.” But Jesus doesn’t tell us to forget it. He tells us to bring it to Him. So He the God who lives, who was the God of yesterday, the God of today, and the God of tomorrow can take care of our yesterday.

Jesus also wants to bless us today.

He walks with us today, heals us today, helps us today with whatever our needs or problems are today.

For the future He said, “I am there also. I’ll be there. There’s a secure future for you. There’s a heaven, a home that I’m preparing that’s waiting for you.”

It’s really wonderful, and only the Lord Jesus Christ can give us this complete perfect redemption where he dealt with our past and with our present and with our future.

I believe that is the reason why one day the Lord began to speak to me and said, “Mel, you know you are happy because you are going to heaven some day. You are happy that your past is taken care of, but don’t you know that for the present, for now, for today, you can also experience the abundance of God’s love and God’s mercy and God’s power? You can have that river flow in your life today.”

I said, “Lord, do You really mean what You say to me?”

He said, “Yes, you just read your Bible.”

I began to read my Bible. Of course, I did before but I didn’t read it with that kind of thought in mind.

And when I read the Bible with that in mind, I begin to find that, boy, God really has something great even for the present.

Many people think that we Christians live in a world of imagination because we talk about the past, and we talk about this glorious hope of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ but we don’t live in joy and peace today.

I read in John 14:12 “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” When I read this portion of the Bible I get excited about it and I say, “Well, Lord, what do you really mean by that?”

He began to explain it to me and said, “As a Christian, not only that your past has been taken care of and forgiven, not only is your future secure, but today you can also experience the abundance of God’s love.”

I said, “Well, Lord, that’s a nice idea, and how can I experience and come to the place where that river can flow?”

Then I read in Acts 1 where Jesus said to the disciples to go back to Jerusalem, to wait, not to go anywhere, not to try to be big preachers telling people about Him, but to wait there until they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. John had baptized with water, but now Jesus said they would be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Of course, I’m not a theologian.

Recently I was on a TV program in “California and they asked me, “Mel, do you think you are a missionary, a pastor, a layman, an evangelist, or what?”

I answered, I’m none of them. I’m very far from being a theologian because I’m so mixed up with some of the theology that goes on. People ask me, ‘Do you believe in premillennialism, postmillennialism, or mid?’ And I say, ‘What is that?’ I don’t even know the terms you use.”

I just tell them I don’t know if we will go through the tribulation or not. I don’[t worry about it. Christians in Russia are going through big tribulations over there. I mean they live for Jesus every day and people are killing them. Let me tell you something, if that tribulation comes into the whole world. . .what will happen is you will die. They might kill you because you follow the Lord. But for Christians that’s not bad. When you die you go to heaven. In the English language there is no word like deader, deadest, or dead, more dead, most dead. There’s only one word—death.

Some say you’ll go through seven years, some only three-and-one-half, some say not at all. Poor me. I don’t know what I say, I don’t care about it. If I go through seven years, Jesus will be with me. If I only go through three-and-one-half, well, Jesus will be with me. If I don’t go through it at all, I just praise the Lord—it won’t bother me.

It’s all right if you have time to sit down and learn if we’re supposed to go through three or three-and-one-half. But don’t hold to it in such a way until those certain doctrines make a division among the Christians, and it takes away your eyes from the Lord Jesus Christ, and you get so tribulation-centered that before the real tribulation comes, you are troubled already!

So when I’m asked if I’m a theologian or a missionary to America I say, “None of all that, I’m just a Christian. I’m a very ordinary Christian.”

Sometimes when I speak people push to shake hands with me. They think it was great to shake hands with Mel Tari, or someone else. That’s just pure bologna. What’s so great with shaking hands with me. My hands are just like your hands, maybe not as white or not as smooth as the ladies. I’m just like anybody else—a sinner saved and cleansed by the blood of Jesus.

Some people say, “Well, but you are a missionary. You travel and tell others about Jesus.”

You don’t have to travel to Indonesia to tell others about Jesus, but wherever you go, share Jesus. That’s enough, God won’t hold you responsible for not telling people in China about Jesus, but he will hold you responsible for the neighbor next door. . . and for the friends you meet in the grocery stores, and in your office. Be sure you find the will of God for your life.

Chapter Two

SIMPLICITY OF THE WORD

There are at least 30,000 promises in the Bible, all that we need for this life and for the life to come. We can have guidance in this life as we walk with God. We are to believe Him, put our hand in His.

The Christian life is marvelous if we can learn the secret of walking with Him in a simple way—simple trust and simple obedience. This is one of the lessons God wants me to share with the Americans: simple trust and simple obedience.

We are to believe in God in a childlike, simple way. We have a perfect example of this in the story of an experienced fisherman, Peter, who was told by Jesus to cast his net on the “other side” after having been out fishing all night and catching nothing.

The man who gave him the instructions was not a fisherman—he was a carpenter. This carpenter came to the experienced fisherman and said, “Peter, if you only drop your net over there you will get a lot of fish.”

Put yourself in Peter’s place. What would be your reaction if a carpenter came to you and tried to tell you how to go fishing? Would you agree very quickly and do what he told you to do? Perhaps it was quite difficult for Peter to obey. Had Jesus told him how to repair a table or chair that would have been acceptable for he was a carpenter.

Peter had tried for one long night. And to compare the long night with the few minutes that Jesus is telling him to do just doesn’t make sense.

Also, one doesn’t drop the net in the daytime—the fish will see the net coming and will swim away. It just doesn’t work as far as the science of fish is concerned.

Peter said, “Master, we have been trying all night and got nothing, but because you said so we drop the net.” He believed the word of Jesus. Simple faith. And with the trust came simple obedience. Jesus didn’t ask Peter to do something Peter could not do. It was a very common, everyday job for a fisherman to throw a net. God’s instructions to us are never complicated.

For example, we are told to confess our sins.

Oh, no I can’t confess my sins!

What is so difficult about that; confess your sins, just open your mouth and speak. Don’t you speak every day?

It’s really easy, but sometimes we make it difficult.

Jesus gave Peter the easy part, and he did the most difficult part himself.

My imagination has gone wild—I have no scripture to back this. But suppose while Peter was throwing the net and the net was in the air ready to fall into the lake, the Father in heaven must have been telling the angels: “You better get all those fish ready there.”

Do you think those fish were waiting there for days and days for Peter to catch them that time?

The angels were busy running all the fish together in that one certain spot, at a very certain time. As soon as the net came down they would have to be there. So you see, God did the most difficult: that is bringing the fish together to the one spot. And Peter did the easiest: the one thing he had done hundreds of times—just throwing the net in that perfect little spot.

So when the simple part and the simple obedience on your part meet with God’s provision you have the fish.

We always have our part to do. And God does his part, and as we trust and obey usually a miracle will take place. And we experience the mercy and goodness of God in our lives.

Take healing for example. We are told in Mark 16 to lay hands on the sick and the sick shall recover. Our part as Christians is just to lay on hands. That is it. What is so difficult about laying on hands?

God has been in the healing business all these years. It is not that big a deal for God. Of course, it is difficult for us.

Miracles are supernatural for me, but natural for God. God is a supernatural being. Our trouble is that many times we switch the departments. Our department is throwing the net; God’s department is bringing the fish together. Many times we worry so much about how to get the fish together to come to that certain spot, until we forget to throw the net. Or, worse yet, we try to bring the fish to a certain spot and wait for the dear Lord to throw the net. He says: You are the one who needs the fish, you better throw the net. I am the one who gives you the fish. I am the one who will gather the fish.

Sometimes we forget and try to mess around and stick our nose too much in God’s department and we mess up everything, and come up with nothing.

While in Africa preaching one time I asked if anyone was sick. Many raised their hands. The anointing oil was handed to the elders as they were to do the praying as commanded in the Scripture (James 5:14-16). And I said, “Good night, I am going to go.”

I got to the car and said to my friend, “Let’s go.” We began to drive but one of the elders motioned for me to stop and said, “Where are you going?”

I’m going to another meeting.”

“Well, what do you want us to do with the people inside?”

“I thought you knew what to do. Just take the oil, anoint them and pray for them and God will heal them.”

He said, “Brother, would you please come in and pray with us.”

“I’m not the elder in this church. I am just a passing Christian brother. You are the elders. It is your part to pray for them not mine.”

“But we never had an experience praying for the sick in this church,” he said.

“Well, that is good, tonight you get your chance to have some experience.”

“But you know we never pray for people, and would you mind just going in and sit somewhere in the corner, if you are too tired to pray. At least when we see you sitting there we have some encouragement so we can pray for the people.”

“No, I’m not going to do that. Just go back and tell the people, and just do your part that God wants you to do, and God will do his part.” And away we went.

The next day I went back to the same meeting and this big husky African elder hugged me and picked me up, and he was jumping up and down and praising the Lord. I was praising the Lord too but getting a lot of pain as he was squeezing me too hard. “Praise the Lord, brother, but put me down,” I said.

He finally calmed down and said, “Brother Mel, I haven’t slept since last night.”

“Well, what is wrong with you?”

“I’m just so happy.”

“That’s good. What are you happy about?”

“Brother Mel, last night I went back to the church and we were all pretty scared because we didn’t know what to do. We never prayed for sick people, but you put us on the spot, and we couldn’t tell the people to go away. We just had to pray for them. So we took the oil and put it on their forehead. It was the first time we had ever done that. It scared me to death. Since we didn’t know what to do we just had to follow God’s Word as He told us. This was the first time in my life that I saw God at work. Nearly everyone anointed was healed. Brother Mel, my life will never be the same. It is a shame that this Bible promise has been there for ages and I didn’t know it until last night when I dared to trust God in a simple way and found that God is still in the healing business, and is still doing miracles. And that God is going to fulfill His part, if I fulfill my part. I know from now on that I can count on God. I can count on His promise.”

Many people have all the good things one can have in this world, but are still unhappy because they are afraid to face the future. They know not what will happen to them after this life.

In Indonesia when we speak of the heart we talk about the liver. In New Guinea, if their stomach is full they say, “My heart is good.” Ten years ago I said to the Lord, where is my heart? I don’t know whether He came to my New Guinea heart, Indonesian heart, or American heart, I just didn’t understand. When I read Revelation 3:20 I didn’t know where the door was He was knocking on, but I said to God that I was going to open it. “Lord,” I said, “just come in even if you have to kick around and get in.” I don’t know if He ever did kick, He just got in.

It was so sweet. He just got in and when he told me about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I didn’t understand that either. I had no one to teach me, or even a book to read about it. But I said to the Lord: “I don’t understand it. It is there in the Bible and that is good enough for me.”

The disciples needed the Holy Spirit baptism and if Peter needed it, I surely need it for today. Peter had lived with Jesus for three years and still needed something else. We haven’t had the privilege of being taught directly by Jesus so surely we need a double portion of the Holy Spirit. I told the Lord, Oh, you just do it. I don’t know how you are going to do it but just make sure that you do.

The Lord promised that the earthly father will never give stone to a child who asks for bread and neither will God the Father fail to give other than the Holy Ghost to those who ask.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not for you to be happy by yourself, it is for the purpose of empowering us to become witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ and sharing His name, and His love for others.

After the baptism experience in my church people began going out in teams and preaching the gospel. People were converted and the miracles listed in the Bible began to happen to us.

The first day the Lord sent me out to preach he said, “Go to the little village over there.” I said, “Lord, I have known that village all my life. I know where every stone and every tree is. I can walk through it in the middle of the night with my eyes closed. That is a tiny village.”

“You’ll minister there until I move you to another place.”

I ministered in that one little village for a few months, and god finally told me to go to a different place, and to go all over the island to minister.

After five years, one day the Lord said, “Now you are ready to go to the States.”

This was a very big surprise to me. I knew perhaps fifty words in English. I didn’t see how I could come to the States. Then too, there was the problem of money. One day before I was to leave, a family from Kansas City sent me a round-trip ticket. So the Lord took care of that.

I was worried about coming to a land which had sent missionaries to us. A people who stamped on their coin: In God We Trust. A Christian nation founded on Christian principles. Who am I that I should go and tell them about God. What shall I do? The Lord said, “You go because I have a message I want you to share with America.”

God will supply our needs whether spiritual, physical or financial. I learned this lesson in Indonesia after so many things happened.

One of the best illustrations I have found of simple trust and simple obedience is the vending machine in America.

After you put in the dime and push a certain button, out jumps the coca cola. That is a smart machine. You cannot fool it. If you put in a nickel instead of a dime you can push until you destroy your finger and nothing comes out. Though you may not understand how the machine works, you know it does work. If it doesn’t function, the man who owns it is going to make sure that it works. The machine can be trusted. And it has something to offer. First, you have to pay the price, second, you have to push the button, and third, you take what comes out.

God has a huge vending machine and the principle is just the same. God’s storeroom has in it everything we need. If you try to learn all about what is going on at the back of the machine you might die before you know.

Many people have said to me, “I don’t understand these miracle things.”

You’ll never understand it. I don’t understand it either. You don’t understand everything that you enjoy.

I don’t understand how one can plant banana, orange, mango and wheat in the same soil. They get the same water and yet they come up differently. But I don’t wait to understand before I eat those products.

Our troubles come when we try to understand God’s vending machine. God wants us to trust Him in a simple way and obey Him in a simple way. First we have to trust the vending machine. It works and never, never has trouble. It works perfectly and always is in order—God sees to that. There is one thing you have to do—you have to pay the price. And that is good news because the Bible tells us Jesus has paid the price for us. We have to put in a coin but God has put in the coin, the first and the only coin needed for God’s vending machine. The Son of God, Jesus, died in my place. He is the only coin that God has ever put in that machine, and the only coin that fits. All other coins are foreign and will always jam the machine. If we try to come to God’s vending machine using our own coin, our own merit and righteousness it will never work. The only coin acceptable is Jesus and what He has done for us at Calvary. There is just one step left for us—push the button of faith. And what comes out of the machine is for us to take and just praise the Lord for all His goodness and mercy.

Chapter Three

GETTING OUT OF THE NURSERY

The second time I was to come to the United States the Lord gave me another message to share. I was flying in a TWA plane from Cairo to Rome. “Well, Lord, I am going to America. I don’t know what to tell this time in America,” I said.

The Lord said to me very, very clearly in that TWA plane, “Tell the Americans one thing: ‘Get out of the nursery, and step on to the battlefield.’”

I hadn’t learned what the word nursery meant. The Lord explained. “Remember the church in Houston. There is a little room in the back where they keep all the babies. That is the nursery.”

“What do you mean, Lord?”

He explained; many Christians are like babies. They accept Jesus as Saviour. They receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and all the extra blessings that come with it, but they like to stay in the nursery. They want to have someone take care of them, change their diapers, give them the bottle, play with them and comfort them.

How sad it would be to see a 12-year-old in the nursery. But God has many children older than that still being bottle-fed.

I tell you, it is fun to know Jesus; it is fun to be baptized in the Holy Spirit; it is fun to know that God can heal us when we’re sick; it is fun to know that God supplies all our needs. We have to remember that God’s purpose of saving us is not only so that I can have all these blessings and come to God‘s vending machine and push the button every time just for my own sake.

God doesn’t want us to stay in the nursery and someone take care of us and pray for us when we have a headache, and counsel us when we have trouble. He wants us to mature in Him, that our life be a channel of His blessing so others will know this great love we have found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Many people miss so much of what is going on in the world today simply because they like to stay back in the nursery rather than stand up and go to the battlefront.

We need to make ourselves available to God so He can use us to do what He wants to do with us.

This type of life can be described as a container, or a pipe. The container is the nursery stage. We might come to God’s vending machine with our one-gallon container, push the button and get the blessing in the one-gallon container, and that is what we will have: one gallon. If our container is a ten-gallon container, we get ten gallons and that’s it.

Or, we can be like a pipe, a channel where God flows through to bless and reach others. Even if your pipe is only tiny as a pencil—if the water continually flows, before long the water that flows through the little pipe can fill a lake. It is the channel which God uses to bless others.

One good thing about being a pipe, the water always flows. Whereas in a container the water might get stagnant, or we might get bored because it is the only thing we have. But when a channel, it flows fresh every moment.

Jesus is in heaven and cannot now minister to the people like He did here on earth. So He has sent the Holy Ghost to live in us so that we can be the extended hand of Jesus, and as we lay our hand on the sick, the sick will recover.

We work and minister to the world in behalf of Jesus. It is great to be the channel through which God can meet the needs of people. The channel gets the blessing before the container. It is fun to be a blessing for Jesus and to let your life be a channel.

A sister was helping me as we were praying for some sick folk in a church. She did not pray for herself. She was burdened and weeping for the sick lady before her. Before we finished the prayer the sister turned to me and said, “Hey, Mel, I feel better already.”

I said, “Well, sister, that’s good. God just wanted to teach you that when you become a channel, before the container receives the water, the channel gets it first. You see, you were willing to let yourself be the channel of God’s healing power, so the healing power came through you. It reached you before it reached the lady you were praying for. The dear lady hasn’t received it yet. The water hasn’t come to the container, but the water is in the channel already. That may be why you are healed and she hasn’t been healed yet. She will, you know, if she just lets the container receive that blessing that God wants to give to her.”

People have asked me, “Do you ever get sick?”

I said, “Yes, every once in a while.”

And they said, “Have you ever prayed for healing for yourself?”

“No, never.”

“Why?”

“Because,” I said, “I pray for healing for other people, and as I pray for their healing, that healing power has flowed through me before it got to them. Whatever blessing they receive, it always comes through me and I get the same blessing. And sometimes they don’t even get it, and I get it myself. Not because I want to be selfish, they just don’t put the container in the way that they will be able to receive it.”

If you need something, just try to minister to others and you’ll see a principle at work. If you need to be comforted, go find someone and comfort them. Before you finish comforting you too will be comforted. If you are sick, go pray for the sick and before you know it you yourself will be helped.

We are to grow up and be mature in our Christian life and not let the enemy bug us with every single thing that happens so we nearly go out of our mind. We are to know our rights as Christians. Some people permit the enemy to bother them all the time until they have no time left to do the things that God wants done. Some are always so worried about their little problems that they never seem to get over them.

Some people go from one meeting to another just to enjoy the blessings and feel good for themselves. God would wish for them to mature to where they would be vessels in God’s hand so that God could use them to bless others. Jesus said “rivers of water” were to flow out of us.

Many people have said to me, “Brother Mel, I never see a miracle happen.”

I say to them, “Do you pray for the sick to be healed?”

They say, “Never.”

I tell them, “You’ll never see a miracle because you won’t let yourself be a channel of God’s blessing to pray for others to be healed; so how can you see it?”

Some people go to the meetings, open their big eyes and see nothing! They want Brother Bob to pray for that sister and they think that is how it will happen. God does not want us to be a spectator. He wants us to be involved. He wants us to be in the partnership with him so that we not only watch God’s way, but that we work together with Him.

If we allow ourselves to be the channel to let God reach others, we ourselves will be enriched. We will be so surprised that the Christian life can be so exciting. I believe that is what God meant when He said to me, “Tell your friends to step out of the nursery and walk to the battlefront.”

It would be a good prayer for all of us to pray daily: Lord, make me useable and use me. Make my life a channel.

No matter how small the pipe, if it flows all the time it can make a lake, especially if the water pressure is high—God’s pressure is never down, it is always high.

Jesus was here in the world. He opened the eyes of the blind. We tell the good news of the love of God and it is through us that God can meet the needs of the people. I tell you the truth, this is fun to let your life be the channel!

Many people try to understand God’s vending machine, but I don’t think we have to. God wants us to trust Him in a simple way and obey Him in a simple way.

First, you have to trust the vending machine—you know it works and God’s vending machine never has any trouble. Let me tell you that—it never, never has trouble. God always stands around and he’s always checking it every morning, every wire. It works perfectly and you don’t have to worry. He always fills in the parts that have been emptied. You just don’t have to worry about God’s vending machine, it’s always in order.

The only thing you have to do is put in the coin. You have to pay the price. And that’s good news because the Bible says Jesus has paid the price for you. So, in all the vending machines in the world, you have to put in a coin, but in God’s machine God has put in the coin. The first and only coin needed. And it is the Son of God, Jesus. He died in my place. He’s the only coin that God has ever put in that machine and the only coin that fits anyway. The other coins are foreign to that vending machine and it will never work. The only coin acceptable is Jesus and what He has done on Calvary for us.

So actually what’s left for you and I really is just one step—push the button. You push the button and it’s going to come out and then you take it and just praise the Lord for all His goodness and His mercy. I believe that is what God wants from us.

His Word is clear that God is going to take our hands and lead us through. By the way, He’s the One who invented the idea of creating man and woman. It was not our own idea. He’s the one who had that brilliant idea sometime, somewhere, before we were around.

It broke His heart that Satan came and sin destroyed our lives. But He did something for that too. The Son of God has come, has died on Calvary to lead us back to that place where there is a marvelous relationship with God the Father and we as his children.

So we don’t have to worry too much about Him and His part. He has through all eternity prepared for this day. We can put our life in His care.

The Christian life can be really marvelous if we only learn the secret of walking with Him in a simple way—simple trust and simple obedience.

The Word of God is very simple, and the Holy Spirit can make it clear to us as we open our hearts and are willing to walk this way. This lesson is very basic for us as Christians. I believe you will remember it as you walk with the Lord the rest of your life.

Chapter Four

“THE KING IS COMING”

Recently on one of the islands of Indonesia, a lady in the interior was in her garden digging taro roots. Suddenly a man appeared before her dressed in a long white robe. In that particular part of the island the dress style is grass skirts for the women, and near nakedness for the men. The woman was a bit frightened, however, the messenger said: “Do not be afraid. I come to give you a message and you are to tell it to the people in the village.”

She said, “What is the message:”

“The Lord Jesus sent me here to tell you that the people are to prepare for His soon return,” came the reply and then the messenger vanished.

The woman hastened to the village and recited what had been told her. The people being very primitive did not understand her words. Some went to a nearby mission station and asked the missionary, “How can we be prepared for the coming of Jesus?”

The missionary had waited for many years endeavoring to reach these people. And now with this question he was able to teach not only personal acceptance of Christ but more about the Christian life.

There are many clear indications in Matthew 24 that the coming of Jesus is very close. Jesus spoke of natural disasters coming to pass prior to His return, such as famine, pestilence and earthquakes.

Although all of these have occurred many times in the past, yet the natural disasters appear to be on a greater scale and in greater frequency. And the prediction is that in the future there will be even more famine because of growth in population and change of climate.

The scriptures also mention nations rising against nations and kingdom against kingdom. Rulership in many countries is changing hands with great rapidity. With South Vietnam having fallen, will all of Asia follow suit? Tensions between nations are on the rise.

Even in the Island of Timor where for over 400 years no one has dreamed of wars, yet even now Indonesian troops are fighting communist forces. This island is seeking for its independence from foreign government.

Fifty years ago it was just a dream in the heart of many people, but today it is a reality—the fulfillment of the prophecy in Israel again being a nation. This is significant, as Bible scholars agree, that in the last days God is going to visit his people Israel. Today this is happening.

This last decade we have seen the movement of the Holy Spirit. As never before we have seen this in Indonesia. It is as Jesus said it would be: the laying on of the hands to heal the sick, the cleansing of the leper, raising the dead, and the casting out of demons.

People of all denominations and religious back-grounds are coming to know Jesus and to experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are being manifested. This too is proof of the sign of fulfillment of the promise of Jesus that in the last days the gospel would be preached in all the world as a witness unto all nations.

Another indication of the soon return of Jesus is given in verse 12 of Matthew 24. Iniquity here also means lawlessness. Rape, burglaries, and all types of crime are on the increase. We are living in the time and the generation where we see this prophecy being fulfilled.

Five years ago when I came to the States the occult, eastern religions, and demonic worship did not seem as bad in comparison to other countries. But today many millions in America awaken to astrology reports; and horoscopes are consulted in the newspapers.

Also, Yoga classes are deceiving many. While in New Zealand some folk said all they wanted out of Yoga was physical fitness, but will also get some spiritual troubles. There are those who tell that they have not received spiritual difficulties from these activities. The devil isn’t stupid. He knows how to wait his time. He will let you experience something good first, then place the hook in your jaw.

Having come from a country which practices the eastern religions and much occultism, I know the curse that has been on our land because of this.

America has been blessed so much by God because its founding fathers founded this nation on the belief of God and Jesus. The Scripture tells us that God will bless unto the thousandth generation those who follow Him. The devil is trying to bring a curse on this country through occultism, astrology, eastern religions, and Satan worship.

When Europeans came to South America they came seeking only gold. Those who came to North America sought for freedom to worship God. And God has blessed this nation abundantly.

In my own country we have great natural resources but we don’t enjoy the prosperity of the Americans. The reason being the curse because of the worship of false gods, demons, and Satan.

As Christians we should not be discouraged but we can rejoice for Jesus said as all of this happens, to remember He is at the door.

Also, we are to remember that we do not have to be afraid of the demonic powers for Luke 10:19 tells us that we have complete authority over all the power of the enemy, and can rise against them in the Name of Jesus. Jesus has given us this spiritual weapon. He has given us the power of the Holy Spirit whereby we are able when Satan would come in like a flood to surprise him and come against him.

We are victors because of Christ. We should be alert as to what is happening so we will be able to help others who knowingly or unknowingly have become victims of the demonic forces.

Christians can be ready to enter into this warfare with the fullness of God’s power to counterattack the work of the enemy, for in these last days we will see more and more of the work of the enemy. With the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, and being equipped by the gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit we can stand against the forces of the enemy and bring deliverance to those bound by the enemy.

Those who permit the rivers of living water to flow through them are aware of the need to prepare for the second coming of the King. The best way to be ready is to help others to be ready.

I have been privileged to go to some of the most primitive tribes in the world and people come to know Jesus, and the miracles of God happen.

Recently while in the Island of New Guinea while praying for people to accept Jesus, a lady who had been blind for 15 years suddenly said, “I can see now! What is happening?”

“I don’t know,” I said.

“God has healed me!” she exclaimed.

“Well, praise the Lord. He didn’t tell me He would do it tonight but that is all right with me. You got healed. Don’t fuss too much about it, just go and praise the Lord.”

“You were praying for people to accept the Lord and I got healed!”

“Don’t you like to be healed?”

“Yes, I guess I do. I’m just so surprised that God healed me, although I didn’t ask for healing.”

“Well,” I said, “I’m surprised myself, but that is how Jesus heals. He is not only an exciting and wonderful Jesus, but He is also a surprising Jesus. He has done the healing. Give Him all the glory and use your eyes to go to see good things, and see the Lord, and doing things for Him.”

So many things are happening in the world today. Things are happening in my country. Moslem people are still coming to the Lord. We have many great things happening, and there are many more things that God wants to do. A few of the tribes have never heard the gospel. Jesus said He would not return until all the tribes hear the gospel. We have to do something about it.

In order for the work of the move of the Holy Spirit to continue, and for us to see in a more effective way than we have seen so far, it is essential for us to have a baptism of love. That is that the Christians should be filled with love in such a way that we can cry with those who are crying, and also rejoice with those who God lifts up.

When God lifts up someone we are to rejoice and have no jealousy. If He lifts us up we are quite happy about it. But the Word teaches that we should rejoice with those God glorifies. It takes love to do that. We are to rejoice for someone else’s good.

It is not really love if we see our brother suffer spiritually, physically, or financially. It is only love if we step in and do something about it and help. We have to make love practical. Love has to come to an everyday level. Love has to penetrate our life in such a way it becomes part of us and it becomes the only motivation and the only reason we exist.

It must be a baptism of love that we can come to the point that not only we do something for someone, but like Jesus, we even sacrifice ourselves for them; willing to take their place and even die in their place that Jesus can be glorified, and the work of God continue.

Chapter Five

THE POWER

One day some time back I was invited to preach in my home church where the revival started.

After the meeting a lady I have known from the very beginning of the revival came to me and said, “Mel, I know what you are saying today is really from God.”

Boy, did that bless me! Because before the meeting I was wondering, Lord, what shall I speak? Is this the Word you want me to say? It was encouraging to me that she told me that she knew it was from the Lord and she received a blessing. So, I asked, "How do you know that it is really from the Lord?”

She began, “I was sitting in the congregation, and before you said a word I heard somebody else speak. When I looked I saw you but I saw somebody else behind you. It wasn’t very plain—like a bright light. Before the words came forth that you spoke a voice came first from that person behind you. The first sentence was, ‘Brothers and sisters in Christ.’ As soon as the person behind you spoke you would repeat it exactly like the voice did. You did this during the whole sermon. So I heard the sermon twice!”

Boy, that really scared me. I thought, Jesus really spoke!

It scared me a little bit to realize that if I hadn’t said exactly what that voice said first she might really tell on me.

As I share this book with you, I trust you will not only read what I say, but you will hear somebody else saying it directly to you and you will know that somebody else is Jesus. I don’t expect you to see a vision of bright lights, or to hear another voice saying it before I’m saying it. It doesn’t have to be that way, but as long as that voice is able to reach you in the way that it has reached that lady, I believe that this book will be very fruitful for you.

I’m glad that even though I didn’t hear the voice, I said it like the lady heard it. We must make ourselves available to the Holy Spirit to say exactly what the Spirit has said.

Many of us wish to share Jesus and the baptism of the Holy Spirit with people, but sometimes when they come our way we get a little mixed up, or we don’t quite know how to relate the message properly to them.

Somehow the Lord has given me the privilege to meet with people from all denominations. I’ve been with people who have had many years experience in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, and with those who just came to it. I’ve seen the dangers they’ve gone through and the lessons they have learned. I would like to share this with you so that as you and I live in the Spirit, grow in the Spirit, and minister in the Spirit we will find that if we do everything just the way the Lord wants it to be then our lives will be a better vessel to be used by Jesus. Our lives will be filled with what He has in mind for each of us.

I remember one time I went to see my grandpa, my mother’s father. I like grandpa very much. He was the only Grandpa I had so I couldn’t afford not to like him. He kinda liked to talk a whole lot. We always got a kick out of him because in his whole life he never traveled anywhere. The most he traveled was fifty miles from his village. But when Grandpa began to talk he would tell us things that happened out of his village, and almost out of the world.

We boys liked for him to tell us stories because we got good entertainment by hearing Grandpa bragging around, and by telling us stories that he didn’t even know if they were true or not.

One day when I was talking to Grandpa I asked him if he remembered how the first car came to the Island of Timor. This is how Grandpa told me the story.

“About 50 years ago, or a little less, we were told this car was supposed to come to our island. Everyone was really excited, for on a remote island like Timor a car was something wonderful. Hardly a person on the island had ever seen a car, so it was something to look forward to. Of course, the King was about the only person in those days who could afford to buy a car.

“The king wanted to show off and give good entertainment to the people. And, I guess I didn’t blame him. He told all of us on the island that this certain day his car is going to arrive in the capitol and all are invited to come and see what a car really is. Timor had never had a car, so there wasn’t a word in the Timor language for car. In order to explain to the people what a car really was the king had to use another term that was understandable. He told that this iron horse was going to drink water, but it wasn’t going to eat grass.

“There was a fellow on the island who had a funny idea about a month before the king’s new horse was to arrive, this man started the rumor that no one should watch the iron horse because if you do go and watch the sparks out of the horse might burn your house. (In those days the houses of Timor were made very, very low and sometimes the roofs came down to the ground and the houses were made from grass. You can imagine how just a little spark could burn the whole house.) He said in the rumor the men had to stay home and get buckets of water to help put out the fire in case the new horse catches the house on fire. Only the ladies and the kids were to go. Somehow the rumor got spread over the village.

“So when the big king and his car arrived only the ladies and the children were in the streets. All of the men were in front of their houses. Some had brought big buckets of water and some had even brought big tubs an hour or two prior to the coming of the new car. Many even dumped water all over the rooms so that the car’s fire wouldn’t catch very easy. Actually they didn’t like the idea of that car coming through the streets, but the car was the king’s.

“Finally the car drove through the city and stopped in front of the king’s garage. The people looked at each other and realized that no house had caught on fire and someone had told a bad story.

“When they wanted to find out who started the story, they couldn’t because the rumor had been going from one person to another so one would not know who was the source of this story.

“The men were terribly upset because they missed this whole opportunity to see the first car that came to Timor, because somebody had fooled them and told about the danger that was to come.”

After Grandpa told me this story I thought it was funny and laughed.

Not long ago while I sat alone I was thinking about how many Christians have been misinformed or heard a rumor of the work of the Holy Spirit. They have been told a different story from the real truth that the Bible explains about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Many people, because of a lack of knowledge and ignorance, are not able to have the fullness of the Holy Spirit intended for them to have.

I have met so many people who when you talk about the Holy Spirit are amazed. It is like in some countries, many people know about God, but they don’t know God has a Son and his name is Jesus. There is a terrible ignorance in other parts of the world, in pagan land about God’s Son, but I have found a greater ignorance among the Christians about the Holy Spirit.

Many people don’t quite understand about who the Holy Spirit is, and what He is going to do in the life of the Christian. What they hear and know is some funny information that somebody has told them, sometime ago. Somebody said to them, “You had better not get the baptism of the Holy Spirit because if you speak with tongues you are really possessed by the demon and you roll on the ground.”

Something almost as bad is when the comment is made, “Don’t even open to that spiritual thing because you might get the wrong thing.” This is the information that many people have heard in their lives and it is no wonder that many of them are so terribly afraid and miss so much of what God really intends for them to experience in this life.

I heard a story that, maybe, you have heard as well. It is about a man who took a boat from Sydney to Europe. This was way back before we had the airplane. The man bought his ticket. Of course, you know that when you buy your ticket it is not just for a room on the boat, but this includes all your food as well. If you have been on a boat you know how good the food is. It was his first time on a boat so he packed up some food to bring on board. The journey from Sydney to Europe can take many, many days.

Before they got halfway through the journey, the poor fellow when he got to Amsterdam had to be rushed to the hospital because he was fainting. The doctor finally located the problem and said, this man is not really sick he just hadn’t eaten for a long, long time.

When the man was nurtured back to life the people said to him, “Why did you suffer so much? The doctor told us that you didn’t have a disease, your problem was that you haven’t eaten. Didn’t you know when you bought your ticket you could eat the very best food, and all you want?”

“Nobody told me,” the man replied. “I thought it was only for the room I was paying and I was supposed to supply my own food. If I’d only known that when I bought my ticket I wouldn’t have had to suffer.”

Well, poor fellow, it’s just a story. But I think it’s a story of many people today who have bought a ticket, they have accepted Jesus Christ as their own personal Saviour, but they thought that the ticket was only for bringing them into heaven someday. That’s true but that’s not all the story.

The ticket covers more things than going to heaven. There are many blessings you can have on the way. You might be missing a whole lot. When you go to heaven you will be real happy there, but you will have missed something.

When you go to heaven there is no sickness, no hunger, no trouble at all. So if you really want to know how the Holy Spirit heals people and how miraculously He works in your life you had better experience it now because you won’t get it over there.

If you want to know how exciting it will be to have God answer your prayers, if you want to know how exciting it feels to have the Holy Spirit minister to you and have the power flow through you—it is now! Later in the perfection of heaven you’ll see something greater than that, but you’ll miss something in this life. And I don’t think God planned it to be that way!

Also, many Christians miss much because they think the blessings are for others but not for them. God could do this big thing for Kathryn Kuhlman, or Oral Roberts but not for them.

One day while visiting a very rich pagan king who lives near the Island of Timor, we were shown his vast acres of land, many cattle, then taken through his wealthy home, and finally a small place in the back of his home.

In this room was an electric generator which he had bought in Jakarta, the capitol city. The generator was large enough to light a whole city. I asked, “What are you doing with this?”

He said, “I am a king and I have to have something that is different from others. I have cars—so do others. I have cattle—so do others. I have gold—so do others. But no one has anything like this. It is my god.”

I said, “Sir, your god can do much good for you if you will only let this machine help you. You could light up your dark house.” He was very surprised.

One day he went to a city and bought the equipment to set his generator in motion. When he saw the light in his bedroom he exclaimed: “I’ve had this for many years and sat in darkness and I could have had this light all the while.”

“You can have more than that,” I said, “Like electrical appliances, electric stove, electric washer.”

He was so surprised that this god in the back room could do so much more than he had thought. He was so proud and happy.

So too we have had Jesus and the Holy Spirit in us just sitting around and not letting them bring light and do others good. Not letting God do what He can do in our lives. We are not to be afraid of the unknown.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 we are told, “. . . your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We are to be presented blameless and in completeness.

With our body we communicate with the physical world. Our soul consists of emotion, mind and will, and communicates with the unseen world around us (love, fear, anger). Our spirit is designed to communicate with God.

When man was created his mind was fine, his body was fine and his spirit was fine. We are told Adam and Eve were perfect. Unfortunately, when sin entered all areas of man were spoiled. The body now becomes sick and grows old and degenerates; the mind has been polluted; the emotions are unstable; the will is distorted and makes foolish decisions (our Yes ought to be No, and our No ought to be Yes); and our spirit does not freely and fully communicate with God.

Man makes an effort to reach God and many end up giving sacrifices, doing crazy dances, some cutting themselves with knives. The spirit is blind toward God and does not see the sin in its life.

When Jesus Christ comes into our life in regeneration, he gives life to our spirit and we are again able to communicate with God. And now begins the process of the Lord again ruling spirit, soul and body. God intends to do in us what His Word tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:23. God desires for His Spirit to reign in our spirit; to rule our mind (soul); and body and direct us to the path where He wants us to be. The power and work of the Holy Spirit will so work in us that this word will become true.

It is the area of the filling of the Holy Spirit that there is much misunderstanding. When we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit it is allowing ourselves to again be under God’s control. God can start the work toward our perfection. His goal for us is completeness and blamelessness before Him.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is an important step in the process of again being under the full control of God.

Do I have the Holy Spirit when I accept Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour?

Yes.

Those who say we should receive the Holy Spirit because we do not speak in tongues yet, they had better find out what the Word teaches.

“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Rom. 8:9). “But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. . .” (Jn. 1:12). You are the son of God, you belong to God if you have accepted Jesus as Saviour. “Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (11 Cor. 1:22).

Why then the teaching that we are yet to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit?

Remember the story of the generator in the man’s back room? Even so, we have not yet received all the benefits and joys the Holy Spirit can bring to us. The Holy Spirit has come for a very great purpose. He wants to do many, many things. Like produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit. He wants to manifest the ministering gifts in our lives. And flow through us to manifest Jesus through us in the fullest capacity.

If we keep the Holy Spirit only in our spirit, we are actually binding Him and not letting Jesus be magnified through our life to the extent that the Holy Spirit desires. Jesus can only be manifested, magnified and glorified if the Holy Spirit has full control, for John 16:14 tells us when the Holy Spirit is come, “he shall glorify me.”

When you talk so much about the Holy Spirit baptism, are you taking Jesus away?

By talking about the Holy Spirit infilling we are letting Jesus live to the fullest in our lives and are bringing more honor and glory to Jesus.

The Moslems in Timor have said to me, “You people have a big talk about Jesus but it seems he isn’t even able to heal your headache so you have to swallow aspirin. He is surely a poor and weak Jesus. We don’t want anything to do with that kind of Jesus.”

But when the Holy Spirit began to manifest his powers of miracles the Moslems said, “How wonderful your Jesus is. We want him.”

Is it possible to receive a wrong spirit?

It is not possible if you are a born-again Christian and you are asking the Heavenly Father to give you the Holy Spirit. The Word gives us this certainty.

Why the baptism of the Holy Spirit?

“And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained” (Jn. 20:22, 23). Jesus never spoke vain words. If he said something it happened. He wouldn’t have said “receive” and nothing happen. He gave them the Holy Spirit. They are commanded to wait to be baptized with the Holy Spirit (empowered).

Just because we have the Holy Spirit in the regeneration experience doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit has all of us. That is what the baptism in the Holy Spirit is all about. It is not receiving more and more of the Spirit, but the Holy Spirit receiving more and more of us—total surrender—full control by the Holy Spirit.

Must I speak in tongues immediately if I have the baptism in the Holy Spirit?

Yes, you can right away, if you know the truth and cooperate with the Holy Spirit.

Some people get so fearful they can’t do anything. Some allow their emotions to get entangled with their spirit and begin to weep. You can’t do two jobs at once. The Holy Spirit will have to help you in your emotions first before he can help you in your spirit.

If you develop properly in your life—allowing the Holy Spirit to help you in everything in your life you too will worship the Lord in the Spirit, in an unknown tongue, it will come sooner or later.

How do you explain demonic or false tongues?

There are always two sides to a coin. If there is a good dollar bill there is also a counterfeit. There is a tongue which is from the devil, but there is also the real tongue or language from the Holy Spirit which is the gift to the believer given for the purpose of praise, communication and intercession.

There are those who speak in tongues but do not live as they ought. In the Island of Bali there is a group of people who come together to worship demons. They come to a state of trance and take sharp knives to pierce their bodies. In this state they frequently speak in demonic tongue or language. I have personally heard them.

Where there is a false there is also the true. In Acts chapter 2 we are given the instance of the true. This tongue was given to praise God and not the devil. This is the highest form of worship.

Do all need to minister to the Lord in the Spirit or to speak in tongues?

The reference is to 1 Corinthians 12:29-31, where the question is asked if all are apostles, are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? And, of course, the answer obviously is No.

The scripture here is talking about the body of Christ. That is to say, we do not all minister to the body in public in tongues and interpretation. I have to this moment never spoken in tongues in a public utterance to the body of Christ, I do not do this because I do not have that gift. In 1 Corinthians 14:5 Paul speaks of “I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied.” Is this a contradiction? The previous verse 4 makes it clear that he is speaking here of a private, personal ministry that we have toward God.

What to do when people get upset with the term “baptism of the Holy Spirit”?

Learn from Webster that one word can have more than one meaning. Be flexible.

The baptism, being filled, the fullness of—just so what is meant is that one allows the Holy Spirit to have full control, that Jesus may be magnified in the life.

What are the steps to receiving the Holy Spirit baptism?

1. Be certain you have been born again. If you don’t have the Holy Spirit in you already it is difficult for the Holy Spirit to take control of the rest of your life.

2. Have no unconfessed sin in your life. For it is an opening into your spirit where the enemy can shoot his arrows. Unconfessed sin is grounds for the devil to attack you. If you are still playing with sin this will give the enemy opportunity to push in some of his ideas and you will be mixed up and end in disaster. It is in this area that others look at the life and question the validity of the baptism.

3. Be sure all demonic relationships have been renounced (Yoga, transcendental meditation, Ouija board, astrology, horoscopes, fortune-telling, spiritism, tarot cards, etc.).

We can confess to God that we have sinned regarding any of the above, but the act in having done these things established a relationship with the devil. It is this relationship that has to be renounced. From this demonic bondage you need deliverance and freedom which is available through the Lord Jesus Christ. Just say, “In the Name of Jesus I renounce this relationship I had with the enemy. From now on I have nothing to do with the devil. All of my life is committed to Jesus.” Tell the devil good-bye.

4. If there are wounds experienced in early life, be encouraged to open this area of your life to the healing power of the Holy Spirit. Because of the wounds experienced there may be a tendency to withdraw from society and a lack of desire to share these experiences, there will also be a tendency to be closed to God also. We are to let Jesus heal all the wounds.

5. Ask for the Holy Spirit. “. . . how much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Lk. 11:11-13). Because the Word says to ask, we ask. God has given the command to receive the Holy Spirit, and he will also make it possible for the command to be fulfilled.

6. Receive the Holy Spirit by faith. “That you might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Gal. 3:14). God said it. That settles it. Faith is God’s rule. We are not to base the baptism on our experience, but always on the will and Word of God. The Spirit filled life is a continual walk by faith.

Chapter Six

HINDRANCES TO THE SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE

While visiting one of my missionary friends on the Island of Sumba, he was having a demonstration of a new electric singer sewing machine. Many of the ladies had gathered to see the demonstration. Barbara sat at the new machine, turned on the switch and pressed the foot pedal. Nothing happened. She pushed the pedal again and again. No action.

The ladies laughed and said they would rather sew with their old foot-treadle machine—when you wiggle your foot it sews.

Barbara was embarrassed. Finally, my friend, Dick, took the machine apart and found one tiny one-inch thread stuck in the bobbin area. Such a small thing to give such a big machine so much difficulty.

Generally we think it is something big that stops or hinders the flow of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We need to learn about these hindrances and determine not to let anything, however small, to hinder us.

Many Christians are not able to flow in the Spirit because of lack of knowledge. Some do not know God’s will in their lives. They would like to pray for the sick, but do not know if it is God’s will.

A second hindrance I have found in my travels among Christians is the problem of struggling to do God’s will. If you ask your doctor what he will do to perform surgery on you, he quite likely will tell you that after all the preparation and checkup, you will be brought to the operating table, and the anesthetist will put you to sleep (this is because the doctor doesn’t want your help, and if you are not asleep you struggle too much while he is cutting on you). He will be sure you are well asleep before he begins his surgery.

In serving the Lord Jesus Christ, God wants you to sleep real good—I don’t mean you don’t have your part in cooperating with God—it is an attitude of the heart. God wants us to do His will free from tension, not in a struggling way—He wants us to rest.

There are some persons who have faith to believe to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit but have difficulty in releasing the tongue for utterance of the new language. Here are three admonitions:

1. Stop your crying so the Holy Spirit can do what he wants to do. Some get so emotionally disturbed and cry so much they are unable to worship the Lord in the Spirit.

2. Stop speaking English. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak in a different way. You cannot speak two languages at one time—one can follow the other, but not two at one time. Trust the Lord to enable you to worship the Lord in a new language.

3. Don’t try to understand the new language. Some begin to give forth the new language and immediately the understanding tells you it sounds so funny (all new languages sound strange to our minds), or that you made that up. It is the devil who suggests to you that you made this up. You can tell him: If I could have made this up I would have done it a long time ago.

There are those who will tell you that this type of worship sounds foolish. When we read the gospel to some folk they say it is foolish too. This is because they use their carnal mind. In the natural carnal mind it does seem foolish—it is using the wisdom of man to understand, and it never can understand spiritual things.

Here are three points that may help you to stop struggling and rest in the hands of God and let Him use you instead of you trying to use the Holy spirit and tell him what to do.

Don’t try to conquer and to achieve things with your own power, or your own strength. Perhaps you have some habit, instead of relaxing and letting the Holy spirit do his own work in you, you try different ways of overcoming. And the more you try the less victory you have. This can be very frustrating to new Christians.

God is more interested in you getting over that habit than you are yourself. He too wants you free from these problems and hang-ups. Learn to rest and let the Holy Spirit do the job in you. He will be able to finish the job quicker if you quit your wiggling around on the operating table. He cannot do his work if he has to spend his time trying to keep you quiet. Stop fighting and rest in the Lord.

Many people struggle because they are trying to live the standard of others. We are so conscious of how we are doing, what people will think, and forget we are to please only our Heavenly Father. It matters not the opinions of others—we are to take HIS opinion as our standard. If God says it is okay, it’s okay. I have to take His opinion.

When I used to read stories about great men such as J. Hudson Taylor I wanted to be like him. I read about Spurgeon and I wanted to be like him. I read about Billy Graham and I wanted to be like him. I wanted so much to be used by God like each of the persons I read about, until one day God got tired of me wanting to be like this one and that one. He told me quietly and nicely, “Mel, I just don’t want you to be like anybody else. I just want you to be free to be yourself. When you are free to be yourself the Holy Spirit will be able to change you and you will learn to be more and more like Jesus.”

It wasn’t wrong for me to be like any of these great and wonderful persons, but that is not the purpose of the work of the Holy Spirit. He wants me to be like Jesus and I’m to keep my eyes in that direction. I am not to look to man and live up to his standard, or ministry. If I persist in this I am giving the Holy Spirit a hard time in what he is trying to perform in me.

Another hindrance to the work of the Holy Spirit comes when Christians start by grace, but continue by works.

Before we become Christians we are aware that we cannot make it without the Lord, that salvation is by grace, and the baptism in the Holy Spirit is the free gift of God and comes by faith. Unfortunately, many people after they receive these great gifts from the Lord, instead of continuing by grace and faith, try to work their way up in pleasing God. The result is disaster and many troubles as they are not depending on the Holy Spirit in helping them in their maturity, but are trying to work it up themselves.

All of us are like the little wild sour apples that need to be grafted into the good, juicy apple tree branches. After we have been grafted into the good tree just think how ridiculous it would be for that branch to say that it now desires to get fed on its own, and is smart enough to do its own thing and wants to be free from the mother tree. . . it’s so embarrassing to be dependent on the mother tree!

If this branch is cut off from the mother tree—wait a few days and you will see the poor apple—instead of growing better it will begin to dry up, and soon that will be the end of that wonderful apple branch.

This is how some Christians act. When they accept Jesus as personal Saviour there is dependence upon Him, but we might get to the point in life where we think we are smarter and can do it all by ourselves—we have had the experience—so we can now manage by ourselves, so we cut ourselves off and soon we are in big trouble.

Maturity never means that you grow out of the need to depend on the Lord Jesus Christ. True maturity is constantly recognizing our dependence on Him moment by moment regardless of the years of experience.

I have experienced and seen many healings and miracles—had seen the dead raised—and the devil put a trap in my way. I thought after seeing all of these things I could manage to do it by myself. That was my downfall. I have gone through hard times just to learn that little lesson. We will never outgrow our need to depend totally on the Lord Jesus Christ.

The more you are used by the Lord, the more you see God move in your life, the more you see the Holy Spirit use you in different spiritual gifts, the more you are dependent on the sustaining grace of the Lord.

A third hindrance to why many Christians are not able to flow in the Holy Spirit is our past experiences have something to do with the trouble we have today. There are three steps for helping yourself, or others, who have had experiences that disturb your present life and walk with God.

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal that which is causing the present difficulty.

We should ask the Holy Spirit because we have the tendency to use our own ideas and many times what we think is not the cause at all. The Holy Spirit knows exactly what is bothering you.

Several years ago while ministering in Germany I was especially aware of many older Germans who could not find freedom to go on in the things of God. They found it hard to respond to the Holy Spirit and to love God. Many of them had gone through very difficult times in the two world wars. Because of these sufferings they had built a wall around themselves and tended not to respond to people. Their attitude toward people became their attitude toward God—they seemed to close themselves toward God. They didn’t quite trust God because they thought He would treat them the way other people had treated them.

Sometime orphans who are sent from home to home, foster parent to foster parent, have deep hurts from being rejected time after time. They tend to have a wrong idea about God. They may think God is as mean as a foster daddy, or as bossy as a foster mother.

We can ask the Holy Spirit to heal all these hurts or wounds.

Walk with Jesus into the past, and let him minister to you at the particular point of hurt.

By walking back into the past we simply mean those experiences that the Holy Spirit brings to our understanding that have been the reasons for hurts or wounds. In your mind go back to those hurtful events and ask Jesus to stand with you at that point of experience and speak the word of healing. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is enough to do just that.

Suppose someone told you, you were the ugliest of all your sisters. As you grew up you always thought of yourself as the ugliest of the sisters. This was a hurt. Let Jesus minister to you, and let Him speak the opposite word of what that person said to you. Hear the words of your Lord to you: “Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee. You are my most precious daughter. I have created you in a special way. I love you and have died for you.”

Face the fact that there is trouble there. We try to cover up these hurts instead of bringing them to the Lord. And we attempt to be more and more spiritual—teach classes, go to church, say “Hallelujah,” speak in tongues and all the while covering up hurts.

We cannot build a spiritual building on such a poor spiritual foundation. If you try to act spiritual and cover up the things in your heart, a time will come when there is an explosion and the ruins will be drastic.

Learn to forgive.

A lady in Ohio had been suffering from asthma for many years. She had asked prayer from nearly every minister who came through the area. She never seemed to be helped.

When we prayed together she was aware of the big hurt or wound in her life which came when her mother died and her father remarried. The stepmother was not kind to her. She had much resentment and bitterness toward her. When this resentment and bitterness was forgiven the asthma was gone.

Forgiveness is not an act of emotion, it is an act of the will. Either you are willing or not willing to forgive. You might say, “I don’t feel like forgiving that fellow.” It is quite likely that you will not feel like forgiving the person who has hurt you deeply. Just tell yourself: God wants me to forgive, so I just forgive them. It is an act of the will. If you wait until you feel like forgiving you will never forgive. Jesus has been gracious to forgive you. Ask Him to help you to forgive others. Once you speak forgiveness you will begin to experience the healing of the hurts or wounds.

The fourth hindrance to the Spirit-filled life may be demonic influence.

There are many born-again Christians who have trouble with demonic spirits. Many times the root problem is that they have been involved in the occult in the past. Some of these demonic bondages show up in physical or spiritual troubles.

I was visiting in the home of a Spirit-filled pastor in the south whom God has used in a tremendous way. He had had asthma for 25 years. He had been prayed for many times but never received healing. We were praying about this and the word astrology kept coming to us. I said, “Pastor, do you read astrology?”

“No. I don’t believe in it, I preach against it, and tell my people to stay away from it,” he replied.

“The Lord is talking about astrology, so there might be something in the house about it,” I said.

We looked about the house and did find the daily newspaper with astrology on the back page. “Well, pastor, there is astrology here in your house,” I said.

“I know, but I never read that particular part of the paper. I only read the front page, the headlines. I never even glance at that other part.”

“But the Bible said in Deuteronomy 7:25-26 that we are not to bring an abomination into our house. You are bringing in a curse. You open yourself to an attack of the devil when he sees this. I think this is the cause of your trouble. Why don’t you stop this paper and see what the Lord can do for you,” I suggested.

He didn’t really want to do this. His asthma got worse. The pain became so severe he was unable to read the newspaper. His wife said, “Well, honey, it looks like you aren’t going to read your newspaper, so why don’t you stop this paper for a while and see, maybe the Lord will help you.”

He stopped the paper and the day after got up in the morning completely free of the asthma. It has never come back. That was several years ago.

Some people find it hard to read the Bible, or to pray. A lady on the west coast, every time she closed her eyes and began to pray she would see a terrible vision. She disclosed that she had been playing with the Ouija board, going to séances and fortune tellers. She renounced this occult past and asked the Lord to deliver her from this occult experience. Then, instead of seeing the terrible vision, she really knew that she was in the presence of God, and found a great peace.

Those who accept Christ as Savior should be told about the occult, and asked to renounce it. If it is not renounced they will have unnecessary trouble in their Christian walk and life with the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is also an area of bondage from the forefathers that gives Christians difficulty. This is spoken of in Exodus 20:5 “. . .visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.” In my own country many of our grandparents are former witch doctors, and worshipped idols and demons.

One of my friends had great difficulty in controlling anger. He had been desperate and asked the Lord to help him overcome this anger, but did not overcome it. We spent some time in prayer and began to realize that this spirit of anger came to him through his grandfather who had been a man of war.

My friend asked the Lord to take away this curse handed down from the forefathers, and victory came. Thank God that in Jesus Christ the captive can be set free. Whom the Son sets free, shall be free indeed.

The Bible makes it very clear that we are living in enemy territory: the world is the devil’s territory. “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19). “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against power, against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:10-12).

We are living in a battlefront, and the devil will always try in many ways to attack a Christian. He knows you are on your way to heaven and he has lost you forever. He knows I have my ticket to heaven, and he is terribly upset. He says to all his generals: “That Mel Tari, we will never get him to go with us to hell, but at least we can give him a rough time as he is going toward his final destination.”

This is why the Bible tells us to put on the whole armour of God, and when the enemy comes around, surrender yourself to God, resist the enemy and he will run away from you. For “greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.”

I do much travel, and since I don’t know who has been in the motel room before me, I make it a practice to pray and ask the Lord to cover me with his blood, and in the Name of Jesus I come against every spirit that might be there and tell them to get out because I want this motel room to be just for Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and me.

Every time I go to a new city, before the plane lands I pray, “Jesus you take care of all those demons who try to come around me and bother me, and protect me from the enemy. I have enough to do, and I don’t want to waste my time with demons.” Before I got converted they had all of my time. Now since I know Jesus I just don’t have any time for them, and before they come around I just let them know where they stand.

The devil is very real in this world, but Jesus Christ is just as real. If we keep our eyes on Jesus and realize his presence and power we don’t have to let the enemy bother us. Christ has gotten the victory for us.

Chapter Seven

GROWTH IN THE SPIRIT

As we continue in the walk of the Spirit there may come the time when we would look upon the experience as the standard rather than the Word of God. We are to remember that all God’s blessings are by faith. And it is by faith that all parts of man (spirit, soul and body) continue to be developed. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6).

There are those who would say that the evidence of being filled with the Spirit is speaking in tongues. To hold to this position is dangerous. This has led to much confusion and misunderstanding.

We are to live a balanced Christian life, and tongues is just one part of the life of the believer. “...by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matt. 7:20). You will know if the person is from the Lord or not—by the fruit. You will know if the person is full of the Spirit of God—by the fruit.

There are at least three signs or results of being filled with the Holy Spirit. One of these is love toward God. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matt. 22:37). When we are truly possessed by the Holy Spirit, He the Spirit will pour into our hearts the love of God (Rom. 5:5), and we are enabled to love God more.

The Holy Spirit will help us to start a process whereby we can become the fully-balanced Christian in spirit, soul and body.

We are told to first seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness (Matt. 6:33). Many times we need to check our attitude about God. Is He really first in our life? Sometimes I get a headache. I might swallow an aspirin or tell someone about the headache. The aspirin may not help and at the end of the day I might seek Jesus as a last resort. I should have sought Jesus first and if He said to swallow an aspirin I’m to go ahead and do that, but I am to seek Him first not last. Like a child who trusts its parents and goes to them when something is wrong, goes to them first for that is where it gets its comfort.

The way to check in your life how much you love God is if He is really first in your thoughts in the night, and in every problem in the morning. Or, if you speak to others first about your problem rather than God. This is why the Holy Spirit has come to our life: to help us make God first in our life.

As we grow in the Lord and are experiencing more and more of the Lord’s touch and his ministering among us we are to take the Word as the standard. It is the only way we can look upon our experiences to know if they are or are not from God. The work of the Holy Spirit is always hand in hand with the Word of God.

There is a danger that some people might come to when they experience the Holy Spirit baptism and have revelation. They may say, I don’t need the Word of God as this is revelation that God gave to someone sometime ago, I want the fresh revelation, I want to listen to God today, and what He gives I will take.

The Bible, the written revelation of God, is the standard which we must use to check all other revelation we may have today. If you know your Bible, you will know God better and you will love Him more.

God is not one who will tell lies, he is God: what He has spoken He will make sure He fulfills—every promise He has given. He has promised to be with us when we come together. Some people used to tell me if they have goose bumps it means God is there; if they are not there, God isn’t there. God has promised in His Word he will be with us when we come together in His name. Although there may be no indication, His Word should be enough assurance. Our faith stands on His Word. Goose bumps or no goose bumps, God is there.

To grow in our love toward God we need continual fellowship. This can come in two ways: Bible study in a group, or personal study.

There are many ways to read the Word. One helpful way is to read the Word with just one purpose: to find out how wonderful and marvelous is God. For example, in the Old Testament when an offering was brought for a sacrifice, if you were too poor to afford a lamb you could bring a pigeon. And if you couldn’t afford the pigeon you could bring whatsoever you could afford. He is a very understanding God. Learn about his patience, his love and how he dealt with his people, and as you recognize his feelings you will love Him more.

Learn to appreciate God through nature. It will give you a deep devotion and adoration toward God. I have looked at the stars and tried to count them. I would get to 5,000 and my eyes wearied, and I remembered the Bible said God knows every star by name. This makes me admire Him more.

Another way of recognizing God and coming to know Him better is through everyday experiences. You may say, I don’t see God work in my life. The reason may be that you are not recognizing God and His work of grace in your life.

For instance: you arrive at the gas station and your car motor stops just short of the gas station. The station attendant checks your car and finds the gas tank of your car empty. You may say, “I am so lucky that it happened so close to the gas station.” But as a Christian you may take another attitude. The Word tells us that the steps of a righteous man are ordered of the Lord. So this is no coincidence. It just didn’t happen that your car happened to stop where it did, but because God is taking care of us and He has seen that everything happens according to His perfect plan. Instead of saying you are just pure lucky, you could say, “Well, praise the Lord!”

You could easily have run out of gasoline a mile away and had to go through all the trouble of getting someone to take you to the gas station and bring the gasoline back to the car, with an extra burden of loss of time and money. Recognize God in his interventions in our life.

You could pray this prayer: Lord, help me today to recognize you in everything that happens in my life, and to see you in every happening. This will also remind you to be more thankful to the Lord, and you will love Him more as you watch Him work in your everyday life.

Being obedient is another way of helping our love toward God to grow.

The Lord may speak to you to do something. You experience an urge to call a friend. You obey and find that the call was helpful to your friend. God will bless you for your obedience. Obedience affects you and your friends. Through obedience the kingdom of God is advanced. It will help us to cooperate with the Holy Spirit so our love toward God will deepen day by day.

Why is obedience so terribly important? In Romans 5:15-19 we are shown the supreme example of obedience and disobedience. It will lead to life or death. The disobedience of Adam led to spiritual death for all mankind, but the obedience of Christ led to righteousness, justification and eternal life for all.

Another way of growing in our love toward God is through prayer. As we yield the tongue to the Lord the Holy Spirit helps us to worship the Lord in a new way. Jesus told the woman at the well that we are to worship the Father in spirit and in truth (4:24). Paul gives an explanation about worshipping in 1 Corinthians 14:13-14: “Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also. . .” Our spirit, along with the Holy Spirit is communicating with God in a special way. It is so special the mind does not understand it. This is a quick way of communication.

If God has to go through the mind, at times, he runs into difficulty for it takes time. For example, the spirit may quicken to you to pray for someone in Australia. The mind might wish to ponder this. At times it is difficult to accept the information that the Spirit brings. You may even say, Oh, that is just the devil bothering me. The mind does not cooperate with the Spirit—it wants explanation first. It is in this area that “praying in the Spirit,” or tongues, that prayer becomes effective instantly. You pray in the Spirit and a person in Australia gets instant help.

During the civil war in Lebanon, a friend of mine in California was awakened at night with a burden to pray fervently. Not knowing what or whom to pray for, he just prayed in tongues for an hour or so. Later the Lord told him that a missionary friend of his was in danger, at that very hour in Beirut. Later, as he checked with the missionary, he found out that at that same hour as he prayed their house was shot at from every direction, but they were protected by God—because of the intercession of believers.

It is true that God doesn’t have to have us pray first—He can do anything he wishes at any time. But there is a great thing about God—He wants for us to have the privilege of working and cooperating with Him in the whole plan in this world in which we live. God could do the whole thing without us. We don’t have to preach the Gospel. If God wants to, he can send all the dumb asses in the world and let them speak the gospel. And everyone would hear it immediately because it would surely be something phenomenal! But it just doesn’t happen that way.

God desires cooperation from us. God could just send angels. In the Book of Acts (chapter 10) God did send an angel to the house of Cornelius, but only to tell him to send men to go to a place called Joppa, where Peter was staying with someone called Simon the tanner. And he could give Cornelius instruction.

Years ago as I read this portion of scripture I thought, Why did the angel go through this waste of time telling Cornelius to go to Peter and then wait for Peter to get back to Cornelius. Why didn’t the angel just (since he was there anyway) go out and tell Cornelius that he should accept Jesus in his heart as his personal Saviour and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Why waste all this time. God had to give Peter a vision to show him how stubborn he was about how freely God gives the Gospel to all men—Jew or Gentile). Actually the angel could have done a good job without Peter. But God was willing to go through a long worry just to convince Peter to come and give the message to Cornelius. Through the mouth of a man came the delivery of the salvation message.

God can get along without us, but He wants to give us the privilege of sharing the plan of salvation, and of His kingdom. God has chosen in His own free will to give us this privilege. This is why when we pray in the Spirit God will do something about that prayer—it is part of His plan to involve us directly.

God has given us this hotline to heaven, and with the Spirit doing the praying there is instant result. It is important that we understand that the Spirit needs to have control of our tongue. If the tongue is controlled by the Spirit so too will be the whole body (James. 3).

We are told in Romans 12:1-2 to give our body as a sacrifice. Where is there an altar upon which to give the body? Some say we give the body for sacrifice if we preach the Word, or to do things that bring honor and glory to the Lord. This is just part of it, but to give ourself and our whole body to be controlled by God is to let our tongue be controlled by God.

To worship God in the Spirit is the highest form of worship. It is speaking directly to God through our spirit.

The second sign or result of being filled with the Holy Spirit is love toward our fellowman. “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1 John 4:20).

We are to look at our fellowman through the eyes of Jesus Christ. There are two groups of fellowman, Christian and non-Christian.

How can my love toward Christian friends grow? A few years ago I was helped to understand this somewhat. A lady in our islands was use by God to raise people from the dead. Two ladies came from America and invited this lady to come to America to give her testimony. The lady spoke no English. This was something different and very exciting.

In our small town the news got around that she was going to America. Many were jealous.

Somehow all the praise and good talk puffed up this sister until she didn’t want to speak to the rest of us anymore. She said, “Well, I’m the only one among the Timors who is going to America.”

I was upset by her. One day I said to God: “Why are you choosing such a stupid lady who is so stuck up? She is so terribly proud. She looks at us and despises us. She is doing great damage to the revival for the people are saying they want nothing to do with us for here this lady who is supposed to be humble and she is all puffed up. Lord, you really made a very poor choice!”

I was in my room. I didn’t want to read my Bible. I was just talking to the Lord and accusing him of how dumb he was in choosing such a lady who was causing us so much trouble. Finally, the Lord spoke to me.

“Mel, you don’t like that lady, and you are terribly upset with her because you don’t look at her the way I look at her.”

“Lord, what do you mean?”

“I agree the lady is in a dangerous position. She is puffed up and full of pride, but I am the one who chose her. And you think I made a poor choice. Don’t you know that by my choosing the worst person you will have the chance to be chosen by me. You want me to choose only wonderful people to be my servants. You want my standard to be high. That would mean that only a few people in the world would be chosen.

“The question is: Are you able to live up to that standard so that you yourself can be chosen and be given the privilege to serve me?”

I said, “Thank you, Lord. That is a neat way of looking at people. I really appreciate how smart you are and how you do things.”

I got so embarrassed over my behavior and accusations I crawled under my bed and stayed there for a while.

From that day I began to look at people in a different light. Instead of accusing them and feeling terrible about their behavior, I can praise the Lord that His grace is so great. Even a person who makes mistakes all the time, God still loves them.

God says to a believer: You are my daughter, or my son. You are perfect, you are pure. You have been washed in the blood of my Son, Jesus Christ, and you are my precious child.

A second way to help us in loving our fellowman is to know God’s plan in our life. The story of the lady served to bring new understanding here also. In the Song of Solomon we read, “Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee” (4:7). The Lord spoke to me about this. He had said, “I want you to know that she’s my daughter, and I chose her, which according to you is a very poor person to be chosen, so that gives you more chance or possibility that you too may be chosen. Look to the plan I have in her life. You tend to look at her present-day situation.

You are looking at an unfinished product.”

Now when I look at some of my Christian friends who are yet behaving in ways that are upsetting, I can say, “Praise the Lord, God isn’t finished with them yet. And what God has started He is going to complete, (Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.) Phil. 1:6

It is going to take a little faith to believe that, but that’s the way this is. We grow by faith, and in faith I look to my brothers and sisters in Christ as a perfect son and daughter of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The third way of helping to let love grow for Christian fellowman is through fellowship one with another. As we come together, learn to know one another, share one another’s burdens, pray for one another, and worship together we grow in that love.

These same three principles will work toward non-Christians. There is lack of love for the lost because we do not look at them as God does. We might look upon the non-Christian as a happy person because he has a big Cadillac. But God would look upon them as a lost person because they do not know the Lord Jesus Christ personally. He is lost, he is going to suffer. If we look at a person with that understanding, we will have more compassion for them.

We are to look at the non-Christian realizing that God has a wonderful plan for their life. Knowing that God wants a sinner to be saved will help us to love them.

As for fellowship with the non-Christian, we are to fellowship with them but not on their terms. We are to fellowship with them but not with their bad deeds and rebellion toward God.

Part of our development or growth as a Christian is that we will be able to minister to others spiritually and aid them in coming into the Kingdom. We are to go into all the world and preach the gospel, and by the power of the Spirit win them into the Kingdom. This is one of the signs of the Spirit-filled life that God will release in us the power of the Holy Spirit in a spiritual way by using us to reach others for the Kingdom, and through this ministry we will also see the physical manifestation of the power of God.

At times it is easier to command the devil to leave us alone than it is to work with our fellowman. If they bug us we cannot cast them away. We get upset and do not know what to do. This is where we need God.

All of us have hang-ups, problems and make mistakes, and God has to show us how to tolerate and love others, and especially when they are Spirit-filled Christians.

Difficulties and hurts arise as we communicate with people. God’s love in us is as a pillow—as people bump us it is not so painful. If the Lord doesn’t help we might have the tendency to fight back. But as we ask the Holy Spirit he will help us to release the power of God to help others spiritually.

This is what we noticed about the Indonesian revival: when someone was converted very shortly thereafter they were out sharing Jesus with others.

As we grow in the spirit, the physical power of God can and ought to be manifested through us. This could be in the form of healing or miracles.

It is not correct to assume that only certain –persons should pray for those who need healing in public services. If you have the Holy Spirit there is a strong possibility that you can be used by the Holy Spirit to release the physical power of God. God has no special favorites.

Why did we see miracles in the ministry of Miss Kuhlman? It is simply because she was willing to be used by God as a channel for the power of God to be released.

Many Christians are like babies, looking up to people, and have the tendency to depend on somebody. This is not a very healthy attitude. This limits God’s healing power for only a few would be willing to be channels. Also this would nullify the scripture for we are told “a believer” is to place hands on the sick and they shall recover.

One admonition is needed here: After praying for many persons there may be the tendency to think you should always be used rather than waiting and letting the Holy Spirit do the healing through someone else.

The third sign or result of being filled with the Holy Spirit is found in worship.

Worship can be done in public or private. 1 Corinthians 14 gives us the instructions for the order in public worship. Tongues are not to be given if an interpreter is not present; only two or three prophets are to speak; and if a prophecy is given the rest are to judge (weigh) the prophecy. The Holy Spirit is a spirit of love, of power and also a spirit of order.

Some say, “We don’t want order, we just want the Spirit to lead.” By ignoring the scriptural pattern the result generally is confusion.

Private worship of the Lord can be done through the understanding, or in tongues. One might just sing a song (or psalm) in your known language.

Private worship may also be done in your bedroom, the woods, or anywhere—in the Spirit. Worshipping the Lord in tongues, in an unknown language. This is a direct communication—a quick way, a hot line to heaven. “He that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God. . .” (1 Cor. 14:2).

Worship in tongues edifies or builds up spiritually. “He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself...” (1 Cor. 14:4)

Someone said to me, “I have faith so I don’t need that buildup.”

I have found from experience that as my spirit worships and communicates with God it does something good to my spirit—like recharging the battery, and builds one up in faith and enables one to have a greater release when ministering to others.

We miss much if we don‘t allow the Holy Spirit to help us to worship God in this wonderful way. Tongues will improve the mind’s ability to express oneself to God and to receive from God.

To develop in every area and live a balanced Christian life then is to permit the Holy Spirit to control us, and we will begin to see the development of our spirit, soul and body.

Chapter Eight

KNOWING GOD’S WILL

Many people have a good motive, really love God and are determined to pay the price to do “God’s will, but are uncertain about what is God’s will for their life.

Some have the burden to pray for the sick and then wonder if they are the one to do the praying or not, and eventually end up doing nothing. They say, I am afraid if I do it I will make a mistake, or I’ll goof the whole thing and wind up being more of an embarrassment to the Lord than doing good.

It is natural to have this burning desire to do god’s will. The following steps will help you in understanding the guidance of God.

Step 1. Abide in Him continually.

Many people treat God as though he were a nice fellow, and in everyday life forget about Him. Then in the face of a problem turn to Him and say, “I forgot you all day, but my friend is sick and about to die. Would you tell me right now what I am to do for him?”

Never treat Jesus as the last resort, or when you happen to think about Him. With the help of the Holy Spirit we can be conscious of His presence every moment of every day.

Some expect to hear God’s voice, but if we don’t abide in him continually even though He spoke as clear as the thunder we might mistake Him for the devil, or if the devil spoke very clearly we might think it is God simply because we haven’t been living close enough to Him to know what his voice is really like.

Jesus said we are the branches and he is the vine, and if we want to live fruitful we will need to stick close to the vine all of the time. So when the time comes and guidance is needed we need not come with guilt for having neglected Him throughout some of the hours of the day. Sometimes when we get in trouble and we are at out wits end we sort of forgive ourselves and say, “Lord, I am just a human being but please forgive me this time. Please speak to me and minister to me.” Which many times God in his mercy does, but because we were not really close to Him we did not realize what He was talking about and we miss out all together.

As we abide in God continually every day we will come to the point where it is the normal flow of the life of Jesus in us and His thoughts and His desires will finally become our thoughts and our desires. “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (Ps. 37:4).

Some look for God to come in a supernatural way, rather than a natural way. The Word tells us the Holy Spirit works in us to change us and bring us into the image of Christ. This means that our minds also will become the mind of Christ.

In the early days of the Indonesian revival the Lord blessed and told the people what to do. We had no teachings on the work of the Holy Spirit, and some of my friends thought that the rest of their lives they would just wait for the Lord to tell them when to eat, when to sleep, when to read the Bible, etc. And many of them waited for days and days and no command came for them to read the Word so they didn’t read it, and they became confused.

God does not have to speak to us audibly before we go to pray. If we are sensitive to His voice we will desire communication with Him and will come to the point of growth in our life where we walk and talk with our Lord, and we can know and do the will of God in our life. We are told in Proverbs 3:6 to acknowledge him and he would direct our steps.

Finding God’s will is not a matter of coming to God once in a while and demanding to know this or that, but to make it a habit to have a continuing fellowship with Him so that you don’t just come to the Lord when you are at the end of your wits and you want to know something and you are demanding to know something and many, many times end up frustrated and very disappointed because it appears God doesn’t answer you and doesn’t give you direction.

Sometimes we come to the Lord feeling guilty because we haven’t been close to Him for a long, long time. He may have spoken to us but we failed to realize it. We need to ask forgiveness and move on again with God. We need also to know the difference between conviction and condemnation.

There is a difference between condemnation from the devil and conviction of the Holy Spirit. One can become mentally ill not knowing the difference.

Suppose you did something that did not lease God, and you felt very sorry about it. When you feel sorry about it—this is conviction. Once you become a Christian as soon as wrong enters your life the Holy Spirit makes you feel uneasy and convicts you that something is not all right. Ask the Lord for forgiveness (1 John 1:9).

As soon as you ask for forgiveness the next moment the devil will tell you how terrible you are, and remind you of how you gave your testimony to your neighbors and here you are goofing. He will attack your feelings and seek to depress you.

After you have asked for forgiveness—ignore all condemnation feelings. Never listen to the condemnation of the devil.

Step 2. Follow the flow of love.

In a house meeting in Houston I felt a flow of compassion for a girl who was wearing glasses. I wondered what to do. The Lord said to me, “I want you to pray for that girl and I will heal her eyes.”

As we laid our hands on her I could feel the compassion of God flow through me and the result was that the girl was instantly healed. I was enabled to minister by following the flow of love.

In praying for the sick always remember that if your motive is not love, forget about praying for that person.

In making a decision if the motive is love, and God gives you the green light, go ahead.

Step 3. Let the peace of God legislate it for you.

In the scripture “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts...” (Col. 3:15) we have the word rule—which means to legislate. If you want to find out God’s will in your life, let the peace of God legislate it for you, or make up the mind for you.

If you think the Lord wants you to do something and you are not quite sure about it and you have perfect peace about it (although you may not be able to explain why) this is one way you can know the will of God. When you have the peace move ahead.

Step 4. Ask God to give you a revelation regarding that particular matter.

By this I do not mean every single thing. Two justifiable revelations could be your partner in marriage, and a call of the Lord for a special ministry.

Some people think if the guidance comes through an audible voice it must really be God, but if it comes through a natural, normal channel they are not sure if it is God. The devil too can give supernatural guidance—as in a vision. All visions should be checked with the Word of God and if you don’t have peace about it and it brings no glory to God then it is to be rejected.

We are not to make a habit of anything—voice, vision, dream, or whatever as a method whereby we would know the will of God.

The revelations can come through a dream. The Lord spoke to both Joseph’s mentioned in scripture through dreams.

Visions are another form of revelation. This is seeing with the spiritual eye into the spiritual world. Sometimes it is seeing with the spiritual eye into the natural world. We experienced this many times in the jungles of Indonesia where no road maps are available, but the Spirit of God gave us vision as to where we were to go by showing a tree, river, or house, etc.

A third way of receiving revelation may be through tongues and interpretation. (It is an easy way to live with Jesus.)

A fourth way is through prophecy and a word of knowledge. These can come through others to you. This is where the local fellowship is important for many Times it is through the local fellowship that the guidance comes God has for you.

Be leery of those who are very independent and absolutely refuse any word that might come through the body of the believers—they want only their own direct prophecy from God. If God has spoken to me about something that is really important and needs to be done, God will speak to the fellowship and confirm the guidance. Acts 13 is an example of this. Paul (Saul) had been called by God to preach the gospel, but did not do so until God spoke to the elders of the church and confirmed the call.

The fellowship guidance will help keep you from being too independent, and also help keep from error. However, it is also important to remember that fellowship guidance only serves as confirmation. If God has something for you to do you have a right to know firsthand from God what it is he wants you to know or do. Sometimes we ask for guidance from other people simply because we want to avoid the responsibility. God wants us to know His voice, and you have to hear that for yourself. John 10:4 reads: “. . .and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.”

Step five—Guidance is sometimes a personal thing between you and God.

If we are instructed by the Lord to do a certain thing we are not to go and say “The Lord told me to. . .” This makes it appear that the other person would have to listen to us because “this is God.” What we are really doing is getting some authority and get the other person to listen by putting God on the spot. If God really sent us we do not need to announce it, it will soon be apparent.

With all of these guidelines, someone may say, I have all those guidelines, but what if I still miss it?

As long as your heart is right with God and you have done all you can to ask for His guidance, and have done it with the motive of love, you just want to make sure that you do the right thing, and you have done all you can do, even though you make many mistakes God understands and He will forgive you.

I have made mistakes in my life. I have followed all of these guidelines and still sometimes I have misunderstood God in one point. I have heard God say, “Son, you goofed it this time but next time you will do better.”

God is more concerned about us being in the center of His will than we are. If you understand the heart of God it will help you to relaxingly find His will in your life and it will be a very happy adventure and walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Suppose you had found the will of God in your life and you are told by the Lord you are to pray for a neighbor lady who is sick and needs healing. Following are some scriptural promises to help you in ministering to that person.

There are five accompanying signs for the believer: authority over demons, speak in a new language, power and authority over the animal kingdom, poison will not hurt the believer, and when hands are laid on the sick they shall recover (Mark 16:17-18).

There may be some who have a specific ministry of deliverance for the demon possessed people, but every believer has authority over the enemy. “. . .greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). “. . .Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

We cannot be controlled by two persons. A born-again believer who has given the Holy Spirit control of his body cannot be possessed by the devil. Light and darkness cannot dwell together. If the Holy Spirit is in full control he will not tolerate the devil and his darkness sitting comfortably in the temple (our body).

Some Christians get in trouble with the devil simply because they have opened themselves to the attack of the enemy. Somewhere they have given ground to the devil to shoot in his arrows. But if you know your inheritance and rights you do not need to let the devil continue to bother you. Ephesians 6 indicates we will always have this warfare with the enemy, but it also says we have the authority to win over the enemy. We have to use this authority over the devil and go ahead in the freedom that God has given us to serve and live for the purpose God has in mind for us.

Speaking in a new language worshipping god in the Spirit is the second accompanying sign for believers. If you are filled with the Holy Spirit maybe not right away, but sooner or later as you let the Holy Spirit have control of your tongue you will worship not only in your understanding but also in your spirit. This is worshipping in an unknown language.

“They shall take up serpents. . .” is the power of authority over the animal kingdom. Adam and Eve had that authority but unfortunately lost it when sin entered their lives. Those who live in jungles appreciate having this power of authority over the animal kingdom.

I was going to preach in a little village and had to climb a fence, as I did so a three-foot rat-tailed poisonous snake was headed my way. It could have finished my ministry soon. I cried out, “Oh, Lord, what shall I do. There is not chance to jump.”

The Bible verse came to me about my authority over the animal kingdom, so I said, “Okay snake, you stop there. You understand because you know I am a Christian and I am going to do Jesus’ job.”

I could hardly believe my eyes, that snake stopped about a foot away from me and couldn’t move. I appreciated that for it gave me a chance to get over the fence and walk away. I looked back and the snake still seemed petrified. Instead of me being afraid of him, he was afraid of me. I felt pretty good because I am the crown of creation and he is lower than I. If I am afraid of him it means that he is the crown of creation and not I. In Christ we have some degree of authority restored over the animal kingdom.

“. . . and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. . .” This we have seen many times in the villages of Indonesia.

Believers are not to deliberately drink deadly or poisonous things—this is tempting God. In the last nine years God has proven His authority in this area of my own life.

Team 36 was going to a village in Amfoang. A witch doctor did not like the team, and came to the village because he knew that his people will become Christians through the ministry of the teams. . . as it had happened in other villages before, and he was losing business. So, when the team arrived in the village he put poison on their food. The team was to die in a matter of minutes. But Praise the Lord, nothing happened. God had protected them. The funny thing was, the witch doctor was the one who got the trouble. He got so sick he rolled, and moaned on the floor with foam in his mouth. The team ministered to him. He confessed his sin and was healed. The door was then open for the pagans to come to Jesus.

And this sign shall follow those who are believers; “. . .they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” God knows we cannot always wait for Sunday to come and get in a prayer line or go forward for prayer in a fellowship group, or even have time to call a pastor to come to pray for our healing. God is so thoughtful, he thinks of all the possibilities, and makes the gospel so simple: In my name “they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover”!

When the children become ill, don’t get nervous. Just praise God and say, This is my right, and I am not going to let the devil rob me of my rights. I am a believer and in the Name of Jesus I lay hands on the sick. You will begin to see miracles happen in your home.

There is another form to follow for healing. This is given in James 5:14-16, where the elders of the church are to anoint with oil and the sick shall be healed. This is the special gift or privilege that God had given to the elders of the church.

There is also a special ministry of healing spoken of as the gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:9-10). There are people such as Kathryn Kuhlman who had received this gift. God used her to specifically minister to the sick.

There are three ways in which healings occur: it can happen instantly; it can happen gradually; and it can, on rare occasion, be a healing that never occurs but it will be for the glory of God.

If some are not to be healed, why bother to pray?

Perhaps we could answer that best by asking if everyone who hears the gospel is saved? Why bother to preach the Gospel if not all be saved? Or, does everyone who goes to a hospital get healed? Why bother to go to the hospital if not all get helped?

This should not keep us from believing God and trusting God for healings and miracles in the life of those who need it.

What is the difference between healing and miracles?

In all the cases of healing listed in the Bible you will find a little phrase used by Jesus: My son, or my daughter, go back home, or be happy because your faith has made you whole, your faith has healed you, you have received this blessing because of the faith that you have toward me. So the word faith has a part in the healing from the Lord Jesus Christ. Healing and faith work together.

The difference between healing and miracles is that healing always requires faith, but miracles do not require faith on the part of the person who receives the miracle. The person who God uses to perform the miracle has to have the faith. For example: the person who is raised from the dead has no faith, but the person who prays for him does have the faith. When God changed the water into wine in our island, the water had no faith, but the one praying over the water did and so the miracle of water changed to wine.

Frequently a pagan, or non-Christian, is ministered to and he gets healed. This did not happen because the pagan had the faith, but because the one who was doing the ministering had the faith.

Chapter Nine

BAPTISM OF LOVE

About a month before we were to come to the States, my wife said to me, “Mel, what are we going to tell the people in the States as to why we are going there?”

I said, “We can tell them one reason that we are going is that I have been with these primitive people in the jungle for many months this year, and I am getting more and more used to the gorillas and monkeys so we had better go to the civilized world so I can keep up with what’s going on.”

Of course, that was just a joke I was telling my wife.

To give you an idea of what is happening, the Lord has led me to places I could never imagine ministering to. But, praise God, wherever one goes in America, or in the most primitive jungles in Indonesia, it is always exciting because you can know that the power of the Lord Jesus Christ can change lives.

Just a few months ago I was sitting with the stone age tribes. Until ten years ago they were still head hunters.

I was seated with two of these warriors. I could see on their bodies the marks of the arrows and other weapons that have scarred them. They were about my size. I said to them, “May I ask you one question, how do you know that Jesus is alive?”

One of them said to me, “If you want an answer, this is my answer,” pointing to the other warrior. “Ten years ago this man beside you, if I had seen him I would have killed him. Or, if he had seen me he would have killed me. But today, we can sit together and sing the praises of Jesus because God is alive, and a miracle has taken place in our lives. A few years ago we found Jesus, and since that time we didn’t want to be head hunters. We found the love of Jesus that turned the hate in our hearts into love. Today, when I can sit with this man beside you, that is miracle, and proof that God is alive.”

There are so many exciting things happening in the world today.

It is a little bit scary for me to come to America to speak to the people, especially in English, which is not my mother tongue. It is a kind of funny language. Many times I make some little mistake here and there in my grammar. In Indonesia we say yesterday I eat. In America I am supposed to say yesterday I ate especially when you use yesterday. People are supposed to know that it was yesterday. But, bless your heart, that is how it happens anyway, but I just have to adjust to you and your language.

The second reason why it is quite difficult and a little bit scary to speak or write to the American audience is the realization that I am speaking to a people who are at least, or supposedly, have known the Lord Jesus Christ. They are the people who have sent the missionaries our way to tell us about Jesus.

I come from a pagan background. I come from a country where most of the people do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour. I come from a country where in our constitution there is nothing about the Lord Jesus Christ whatsoever. I find it hard to come to a people who know about God, and their money has printed on it, “In God We Trust,” and tell them about God. They are supposed to know far more than I, and, of course, I realize that.

However, despite all that scary feeling I want to share with my American friends and people everywhere the fact that Jesus Christ is alive. He is here today and wants to do great and wonderful things in our lives.

In the book of Revelation we read, “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, say this: ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My names’s sake, and have not grown weary. “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. “Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent. ‘Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.’ (Rev. 2:1-6, NAS).

There are only seven letters that the Bible tells us about that Jesus specifically wrote to the churches. This first one is to the church in Ephesus. If you read carefully, this church in Ephesus is a marvelous church. Marvelous because Jesus said so. He said, “I know thy works, thy labor, thy patience, how thou canst not bear them which are evil, and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and they are not, and hast found them liars.”

Verse three tells how they have worked for the Lord’s sake and they never tired in working for Jesus. It is really wonderful in verse six it says how they hate all hypocrisy and all false speaking that was coming their way in those days. So it is very clear that the people in Ephesus were Christians according to Jesus’ letter.

If you read verse one it says that Jesus introduced Himself as Him that walks among the candlesticks, and the verse before that says that the candlesticks represent the church and He holds the stars, the apostles of the churches in His hand.

Jesus was very happy with all the good things that they had done. However, the most important thing that Jesus was saying to those people was not about their works. He was concerned that they had left their first love.

This is very important for us to meditate on because this is the key, the missing link, the key to the secret why many Christians today have not come to the full knowledge, the fullness of blessing, the full inheritance that God has for them.

The letter to the church of Ephesus is almost my own story, and the story of my church. If you came to Indonesia you would see that in my church we have a lot of activities. If Jesus wrote a letter to us He would say almost the same thing that He said to the Ephesians—we had lost our first love.

In our case, maybe, we had never found that first love at all. For a person who calls himself a Christian should experience Jesus’ love in his life.

If you read your Bible you will see many wonderful things that Jesus has done. I get excited when I read my Bible because there I read how God worked in the lives of men and women, and performed great and wonderful things.

In the very beginning of the Bible the great God who created the universe later on performed miracles in the life of Abraham, David, and the Israelites.

In the New Testament Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead; changed water into wine; fed five thousand, and even had leftovers; he healed the sick and did many wonderful things.

As you read the Bible you’ll find that almost before every miracle took place with Jesus, the disciples or Christians, something happened first in their hearts. Take the story where Jesus fed the five thousand. Jesus was looking to the people and the Word says His heart was moved, he was filled with compassion because they were like sheep with no shepherd. There was a deep compassion and love for those people. As He loves them He wants to fulfill that love, and the result is a miracle.

You will also read about Lazarus, and how Jesus raised him from the dead. It is clearly stated in John 11 that when Jesus came to see Martha and Mary that Lazarus was dead. Jesus went to the tomb, sat there and cried. The people said, “Look how much he loved Lazarus.”

Why did Jesus cry? Because there was love and compassion in his heart toward Lazarus and his sisters. The Bible tells us after He cried He told them to take away the stone. Jesus shouted to Lazarus to come forth, and a miracle took place. Lazarus came back to life.

As you read many parts of the Bible you will always find this little thread where it shows us clearly love is very necessary. That was the motivation of the ministry of Jesus. He is LOVE and is filled with love and, He is able to minister to the needs of people.

This, I believe, is what we have lost in my church and lost in many of our lives.

We began to realize for the first time that we were just having Bible knowledge about God without knowing His love. Knowing Him is knowing love, but we did not really know Him personally. If you have only Bible knowledge without love then we are like the people described in Ephesus. Ephesians, you are in big trouble!

If there is no love, maybe you just got stuck up with all your labels, and what you have done for God. You maybe have gotten so happy that you think you have done something for Him, and it is really nothing in His eyes. I know this because it happened to me! I got so happy with all that I had done for God, teaching Sunday school, singing in the choir, all the jobs that I had done in the church, but Jesus said, without love that is really nothing (I Cor. 13).

That was the problem with the Ephesians, they worked hard for God but there was no love. Many times we get so busy until we almost forget Jesus himself.

A second thing He said to the church in Ephesus was, “You have tried those people and found that they are false apostles.” Wasn’t it wonderful how they were able to distinguish between truth and error? This is one of the gifts of the Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12, the gift of discernment.

Do you know what happens when you have discernment and you don’t have love? You end up to be the biggest criticizer in the world. I think this trouble is coming in the Charismatic Movement, and it worries me!

As soon as I returned to America one of the first things I heard was that somebody was saying that somebody else was going off the deep end. Somebody else was saying that somebody else was wrong, and has been following false teaching. One charismatic leader is criticizing the other charismatic leader. Christians are criticizing other Christians. They all may be true, and maybe the other person has gone off the deep end, maybe there is something in his doctrine that isn’t quite right, and their discernment is that they have no love. That is dangerous.

When you are only able to discern but you have no love to minister to that person, and bring him back into the fellowship and the truth of God then you are causing just as much trouble as that person who has gone off the deep end.

It doesn’t do you any good to brag about the discernment you have, because discernment without love does the Kingdom, or you, no good. The Lord Jesus Christ was telling the church in Ephesus, “You have discernment, you know who is the false prophet, but unfortunately, you lost the most important thing there is—love.”

The Ephesians were very good people, they had wonderful doctrine. In verse 6 Jesus said that they didn’t believe in the Nicolaitans. (Nicolaitans, when translated from Greek to Hebrew, becomes Balaamites; followers of the man who induced the Israelites to fall by lust). So they didn’t believe false things like those Nicolaitans did. Their doctrine is straight, pure, it is all biblical, sound teaching. You can know all that there is to know about the doctrines in the Bible, but without the love of Christ there is nothing to it. I know that. I have known good teaching too since I was a little boy.

I knew that Jesus had come and He died and rose again and He went to heaven. I knew He had sent the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost and He will one day return. I knew that was straight doctrine and very biblical. But knowledge in itself, without the knowledge of God’s love did me no good.

I had pretty good discernment about what was wrong and what was right. If Jehovah’s Witnesses came to my door I just said, “I don’t want to listen to you.” If a Mormon came to me I wouldn’t listen to them. I had good discernment, but unfortunately for the first 19 years of my life, I did not know God. I did not know that love, the God of love, the God who was able to do great and wonderful things in the life of men and women. But praise God! He knew my trouble. He knew the problem I had in my church, and several years ago He visited me. This was strictly a surprise when Jesus came to me and began to open my eyes.

I began to see what I had been missing in my life. I remember the night when Jesus came into my heart. He began to show me how sinful I was despite all the “things” I had done. That night He began to pour His love into my heart.

I know that God is working in America and all over the world. But I believe that if we want to see the continuation of the work of God there is one thing we need and that is the baptism of love.

Without this love of God we will never make it. Without this baptism of love we will never be able to experience the release of the full power of God.

The power of God is released through vessels and channels whose hearts and lives have been electrified, fired and warmed by the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know a man who owns a big Cadillac with the power to run 100 miles per hour. Boy, in our country a Cadillac is really something. But it doesn’t do one any good on a bad road. If the road is very, very poor like up in the mountains, that Cadillac will crawl and crawl and maybe you come to the point where you can go no more if the road isn’t good enough.

It is good to have a nice big Cadillac with power to run 100 miles per hour, but it can’t run to its highest capacity if you do not have the good roads. The power of God without love, is like a Cadillac without a good road.

God can still do miracles today. He told us in the Bible He never changes. He is the same, yesterday, today and forever. Jesus heals today just like the Jesus that Paul, Peter, James and John knew. If Jesus is changed today we are all in trouble. I mean we are really in trouble if Jesus changed because if His love would change, His power would change and perhaps even His plan of salvation. But, praise God, He will never change. His love is still the same, and His power is still the same. The trouble is, many people, including me, got so excited about the power of God we forgot that the only way that power of God can be manifested in our lives to others is through love!

When two or three Christians come together Jesus is always there, there is no doubt about it. Jesus promised it in the Bible and Jesus is a man of his own word. When Jesus says I am there, He is there!

Why is it that many of us Christians come to church with a sickness in our bodies and we go back with the same sickness? We come with a trouble and we go back with the same trouble, maybe even more trouble.

We have experienced the reality of Jesus but we haven’t been baptized into this baptism of love. If we want to see this Charismatic Movement really do the work of Jesus today all over the world, what we must have is a greater measure of the love of God in our hearts! Without it we are going to wreck and to hinder the flow of the Spirit of God.

I have experienced many things out of the great Indonesian revival. We have seen many things happen. There are many miracles I could tell you about for many days, miracle after miracle. God raised people from the dead. He changed water into wine, multiplied food, transported in the Spirit (one moment you are here and the next moment you are somewhere else). I could tell you about healings, and story after story that would blow your mind. I know you would think I am telling you something out of the blue sky, or telling you lies. But I can tell you out of my own experiences great things that God has done.

The fact that I have traveled around the world shows that something has taken place, a miracle has happened that enabled me to do this. People in my country earn about ten dollars a month—those who work for the government. And those who don’t work for the government earn almost nothing. Some of my pastor friends earn only about fifty cents a month. It costs nearly $1,600 to fly round trip to Indonesia. So if you only make fifty cents a month you can save all your life, and you could go nowhere.

I had no job, or money. Here I am writing this book. This is proof of God’s ability to perform miracles even in the financial area. He has sent me to almost every corner of the globe. I don’t know how many thousands of dollars that Jesus has spent for me to travel, and I am not going to count that. That is His own business. I am just enjoying myself telling people that Jesus is alive.

I have seen all these great things happen, but one thing that I notice is that before every great miracle happened there is always a flow of love.

I remember the time when our team stood by the body of a dead man. We were wondering what to do and the Lord spoke and said, “You sing a few songs because I am going to raise this man from the dead!”

I can hardly describe what happened, except to say it was like the travail of a mother giving birth to a child. But it was the travail of love. I have lived near the maternity hospital in Indonesia and many times I could hear the ladies screaming and crying. I surely felt sorry for them but it is part of the thing of having babies.

We stood there singing and our hearts were moved with love to where we could hardly stand it. And do you know what? As we sang the man came to life! We just praised and praised the Lord!

God works in your heart and prepares you, for He wants to move through you as a channel and perform whatever He wants to perform.

One thing I noticed about most of my friends that were in the Indonesian revival. If you follow them closely you can see that love that they have for those to whom they are ministering. Before they pray for healing you can just sense the love for those sick people. That love they have for those sick people. That love they have for those people causes them to cry, and to even sometimes fast and seek God to do mighty things. Praise Him, He does do mighty things. Praise Him, He does do mighty things!

In my own experience if I pray for somebody with compassion in my heart I am always sure that the miracle will happen. However, if I pray just because people expect me to pray, usually I just have to pat the fellow and say, “Keep believing brother, keep believing,” and the poor fellow keeps believing and nothing comes. But if we really allow ourselves to be the channel of God’s love and that love flows, you will be so surprised what God will do!

I have noticed the men and women of God who are greatly used by God have one characteristic: love. Love toward God, and great love for one another.

All Christians, especially us in the charismatic movement, need this baptism of love in our lives, because without this love we’ve got trouble.

I am learning a very deep lesson. If people now ask me what is the secret of the Indonesian revival, I will tell them the secret is the love of God. That is the only reason that we have seen great revival.

When the heart is full of love you just can’t sit at home. You want to do something for the one you love, for the Jesus that you love, for the friends that you love. You love those people even when it is raining. You know what will happen when you go into the rain because of love? Suddenly the rain isn’t so bad. Suddenly the rain isn’t there. You might experience a miracle and surprise yourself.

When you are loving with your first love you are willing to do anything just because you love people. You will be so surprised to see that God is always there. The presence of love is the presence of God.

If you want to see the power of God, just love and let His love cover you. If we are covered in God’s love, baptized in His love, we will experience new things that we have never known before.

If we let God’s love flow through our hearts into the congregation, into the hearts of our brothers and sisters, into our pastor’s heart and into the community, we will see a new awareness of the presence of God! That in itself will bring the power of God into our midst.

What all of us need to do is pray and ask Jesus to help us to see how much His love really has been in our hearts, and if we have in some way hindered His love from flowing freely in us.

It is very easy after we get Jesus as our personal Saviour, and have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, to be excited and let His love overflow.

But sometimes it seems that in doing things for Him we lose that first love for Him. This happened to the Ephesians—and they had the famous Apostle John for their pastor! Somehow they lost their first love. It is possible to learn a lot and have all the theory of love and still lose love. And with the loss of the love is the loss of the powerful presence of God. If we get back that love, we get back that presence and the power of God, and we again see the move of God.

When I first came to America the Lord said, “Tell the Americans to get back to the simplicity of the Word of God.” When God says anything don’t you try to figure it out, smart Americans. When God says you are healed, you are healed. When God says miracles are for today, they are for today. If we will go back to the simplicity of the Word of God the revival will happen in our midst.

When I came to America the second time God told me this, “Don’t stay in the nursery, but go to the battlefront.” The third message that He gave me for America was, “Be prepared because the King is coming.” The fourth message was to tell the Americans they need the “Baptism of love.”

If you really want to see God work and you have gone back to the simplicity of the Word of God, you have accepted Jesus and have accepted the baptism in the Holy Spirit—this is good. And also if you have come to the step and have grown to be mature, to be the soldiers for Jesus, and you are prepared for the coming of the King and doing things for Jesus—there is one more thing that Jesus requires and that is that every day we be baptized with the baptism of love. This is the only guarantee for the continuation of the work of the Holy Spirit. That work has been started in each of us. Without this we are going to stop growing, and we are going to do without many great and wonderful things that God wants to do.

If you want to see God move in your life, if you want to see a revival move in your church, if you want to see the power of God, if you want to see many souls saved—let Jesus immerse you in His love. Let it be the only thing that you really seek for and the only thing that really motivates you. Let the love of Jesus fill you.

Dear Jesus, please let us know the importance of being baptized into your love, and immersed into the love of God.

Lord, there are so many troubles that arise in so many churches, that break relationships, that hinder the power and the work of the Holy Spirit, and it is because we have lost our first love.

Lord, You know that even in the Charismatic Movement today Satan is getting in, people are accusing one another and the devil is really happy. We are so excited about your power until we forgot your love.

Lord, I pray that You will minister to each of us. Fill us with your love so it can prepare the way for your power to really move in a new and a greater way to reach this world and America for Jesus Christ. Minister to us and fill us with Your love.

Nothing is impossible when your people flow together in the love of God. Thank you Jesus.

Praise your Holy Name. Amen.