The Holy Spirit In The Now 1

By Oral Roberts

Copyright © 1974 By Oral Roberts University Tulsa, Oklahoma All Rights Reserved Revised 1981

My Personal Word To You

Friend, I believe you are in for a spiritual learning experience that will enhance your relationship with Christ in a way you have never dreamed possible. This study on the Holy Spirit In The Now comes out of my personal experience and over 34 years of prayer and study of the Word. Before you begin to read these lessons, I would like for you to go get your Bible. I believe that you can more successfully study this series of lessons with your Bible at your side.

And as you study, keep in mind that these lessons are the very first of a series I taught to a class of approximately 1,500. These lessons are steno-graphically reported and only slightly edited in some instances to make a thought clearer, or to put it in more logical sequence for the person who was not there to hear it but will be reading it. This is volume one of a three-volume series.

I would like to tell you about the miracle that brought this class about because it is now a part of the established curricula at Oral Roberts University.

It was through the generosity of my good friend, the late J. Arthur Rank, outstanding British businessman, member of the Parliament, and Methodist layman, that the Oral Roberts University’s first endowed academic chair on the Holy Spirit was established in the fall of 1972.

I first met Lord Rank in 1967 while speaking at a luncheon of leading Christian laymen and businessmen in London. At the end of the session, as I was shaking hands with various individuals, I was introduced to him. Although I had heard his name many times and knew of his Christian witness, this was my first time to see him in person. At that time Lord Rank was in his late seventies but he stood tall and straight with a clean look in his eye, and strength and character stamped upon him. I knew I was in the presence of a man of God. I took his hand and said, "Lord Rank, I’m honored to meet you.” Then a curious impulse came upon me and I added ... "I pray that God will fill you with the Holy Spirit.”

Two years passed before I saw Lord Rank again, at which time I learned he had received the Holy Spirit. He then shared with me how this had transformed his Christian life and how Jesus Christ had become so real to him through the Holy Spirit. He said, "I feel as though Jesus were walking by my side.”

Because of his great interest in the Holy Spirit, Lord Rank determined to establish this chair at ORU. However, on the day he was to sign the papers, he passed away. The trustees of his estate honored his desire and set aside a generous sum for the next five years for this purpose. I am honored to be the first professor of this course on the Holy Spirit.

As you study these lessons, I pray that God, through the Holy Spirit, will reveal Jesus to you in a way more real than you have ever experienced before.

Chapter 1, How God Can Touch Your Life Through The Holy Spirit

Suggested Scripture reading for this lesson: 1 Corinthians 12

The Holy Spirit in the now is beginning a new march across the earth. Millions are being touched by His magnificent power. People are feeling a touch of the Spirit. It’s crossing all denominational lines, all social barriers, all levels of education. It’s great and I’m thrilled about it.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Holy Spirit has something unusual for YOU . . .

God Is Going To Touch Your Life

You are going to feel something from God. I cannot tell you exactly what it will be, but the Spirit himself will make it known in your inner being in a way so real that you cannot doubt it.

Now let’s talk about the charismatic move of the Spirit in the now. I want you to think about a funnel. The opening at the bottom of the funnel is very small but it is large at the top. The top part of the funnel represents the teaching on the Holy Spirit throughout the Bible. Then it narrows down (small end of funnel) in time directly to the individual. It comes down to you and to me in the now. What happens to you as an individual has to be the most important thing in the world. Because unless it happens to you, how can you really know it, and how can you share it with anyone else?

I’m very interested in your understanding the teachings of the Holy Spirit throughout the Bible until the baptism in the Holy Spirit explodes in your being. I want you not only to have the experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit in your life but also to have an understanding of it — to have a workable knowledge of it. I want you to know better how to apply the power of the Holy Spirit to practical problems that you face in your daily existence.

What Does Charismatic Mean?

It seems everyone is paying a lot of attention today to the word charismatic or charisma. But when we use the word charisma we do not use it in the same way that the secular world does. For example, they will see a man or a woman with great personal magnetism and say, "My, he has charisma.” Or if it’s an individual of outstanding talent and gifts, they will say, "He is charismatic,” or "He’s highly gifted.”

This is not the biblical meaning of the word. It is just a derivation of the Greek word charisma.

As you may know, our New Testament was written in the Greek language. When St. Paul speaks of a "gift of the Spirit,” the Greek word for that is charisma. It means "gift from God,” or "a favor from God.” It does not refer to the intellect of the individual or to his unusual endowments of personal magnetism. It may be given to a person with such natural human endowments, and again he may not have any unusual personal endowments or magnetism at all.

The word charisma as used in reference to the Holy Spirit is simply GOD LOVING A HUMAN BEING. It is God believing in that human being and imparting to him a gift of the Holy Spirit a gift which he has not earned ... a gift which he cannot buy. .. a gift which is not given because of his individual merit.

It is a gift given by the grace of God — unmerited favor. GOD HAS SMILED UPON THAT INDIVIDUAL SO THAT HE, IN TURN, CAN SMILE UPON THE WORLD. The gift works through him but he can never take personal credit for it.

Samson Had Charisma

Do you remember the story in the Old Testament about a man by the name of Samson? He was a judge of Israel and he was gifted charismatically by the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit of God came upon him, he had strength far beyond that of a normal man. He could do tremendous physical exploits, even to the defeating of an entire army of the Philistines.

But when Samson turned away from God he broke his connection with the Spirit of God in his life and lost that charisma. The gift that gave him this tremendous strength was no longer there. You may remember how he yielded to the seduction of a beautiful woman and how she lured him into revealing the secret of his tremendous strength. Then when he was sleeping she cut his hair and his enemies came in, gouged out his eyes, and "he did grind in the prison house” of Gaza, year after year, until he repented and returned to God.

Upon his return to God the Spirit brought back the charisma and Samson’s last achievement on earth was done through the charismatic power of the Spirit of God. He pulled down the temple in which there were more than three thousand lords and ladies of the Philistines. Samson slew more of the enemy at his death than he had in his life. And he did this through the gift of God that had returned to him. Maybe you’d like to read this in the Bible — it’s found in Judges 16:1-31.

When We Speak of Charisma In This Day, We Are speaking Of a Gift of God.

The charisma of the Holy Spirit, as St. Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 12, manifests Jesus Christ’s life through Spirit-filled Christians in the nine different ways St. Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11:

1. the gift of the word of wisdom,

2. the gift of the word of knowledge,

3. the gift of faith,

4. the gifts of healing,

5. the gift of the working of miracles,

6. the gift of prophecy,

7. the gift of discerning of spirits,

8. the gift of tongues, and

9. the gift of interpretation of tongues.

(In my companion lesson on the nine gifts of the Spirit, found in The Holy Spirit In The Now II, I reveal how these special nine gifts may work effectually in your life.)

These are tremendous gifts of the Spirit. We are seeing them working today on a larger scale than ever before in the history of the Christian Church.

Now, I want to tell you what I have personally observed and experienced of the charismatic move of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit Came Upon Me In 1947

People often ask, "How does the Holy Spirit come upon a human being? How does one know?” Well, you just know that you know that you know that you know. That’s how! I’m not being facetious. But this is the way it is — and when you experience this, you just know that you know that you know that you know. That’s the way you know!

You Just Know That You Know!

There’s a knowing inside that the Spirit of God is there.

Back in 1935 when I was a teenager, God raised me up from tuberculosis. He said:

"I’m going to heal you and you are to take My healing power to your generation.”

He might as well have been speaking Greek to me because I didn’t understand what He meant. But I never forgot the words.

Then in 1947 at Enid, Oklahoma, where I was attending Phillips University and pastoring a small church, God let me know that my time had come. My first reaction was, "How can I take God’s healing power to my generation? I don’t know HOW.”

I knew I had been healed myself. I knew that I believed in God’s great healing power, both medical and divine healing. But I didn’t know how God was going to use me because I did not consider myself a gifted individual.

I was born a stammerer. I was named Oral, which I later learned means spoken word. Well, I was the most misnamed person you ever saw. I’ll never forget, as a young boy, my first day at school. The teacher asked me my name and I couldn’t say it. Those agonizing years of growing up with my tongue seemingly paralyzed in my mouth gave me a terrible inferiority complex.

However, when I was healed of tuberculosis I was also set free from stuttering. And even though God had brought me so far, still I felt an inadequacy that was devastating. It was like a shot out of the dark when God said, "Your time has come to take My healing power to your generation.”

By now I had read my New Testament more than 100 times. I had virtually lived with the New Testament. In fact, the whole Bible. I was now keyed in on Jesus. I was asking God, "How? How can I do these things?”

One day as I sat on the back row in a sociology class at Phillips University, listening to my professor, I sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit in my heart. Inside me were these words from God:

Don’t be like other men . . .

be like Jesus and heal the people as He did.

"How, Lord? How? Who can I turn to? Who can I ask? How can I do that?” I asked.

Then He impressed upon me to read the four Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — and the book of Acts through three times — consecutively, while on my knees. And He said He would show me how.

During this time, as I studied again the life of Jesus, I made several discoveries that were new to me. I discovered the two sides of Jesus — His human side and His divine side.

I Saw The Humanity Of The Man, That He Entered Into The Needs Of Every Human Being.

I saw that He became a man to show us what God is like. I saw that it’s all right to be human because Jesus was human — He was also God.

I saw something else in Jesus that I’d never been taught before. I saw that:

He sits where we sit. ..

He feels what we feel. . .

He’s part of our being . . .

He came to give us life . .. and that more abundantly.

I Saw That Jesus Was Against Four Things — You May want to underscore these:

1. He was against SIN because it destroyed people.

2. He was against SICKNESS because it reduced a person’s life.

3. He was against FEAR because fear paralyzes a human being and dissipates his energies.

4. And He was against DEMONS — because when a person is possessed of a demon spirit he takes on the unclean and destructive characteristics of that demon, and only God can set him free.

I Saw That Christ Was Against Sin, Disease, Demons, and Fear, But He Was For Human Beings.

He was against hell, but He was for heaven.

He was against sin, but He was for salvation.

He was against sickness, but He was for health.

He was against fear, but He was for faith.

He was against hatred and bitterness, but He was for love.

This was revolutionary to me.

Then I Saw That Jesus Has Healing Hands.

Jesus hasn’t got a hammer but healing in His hand. He’s here to make you know that He cares what happens to you . . . that you are not out there in a lonely crowded world where nobody cares whether you eat or not, or have a steady income, or are healthy, or feel peace in your soul. Jesus cares. This is Jesus. Jesus Christ is life, abundant life. He is not sickness or privation, or torment or fear. He is joy, health, salvation, victory. Listen, Jesus Christ loves you. He died for you on the cross. He rose from the dead to lift you up from the powers that are attempting to destroy you.

He didn’t come to strike you down.

He didn’t come to afflict you and make you sick. He didn’t come to take your job away, or your position, or your business.

He didn’t come to rob you of the fruit of your years, or to condemn you to loneliness and defeat.

He came to make you a whole person.

He came to baptize you in the Holy Spirit.

I Saw Jesus Walking On This Earth As A Man.

With my spirit, and then through my understanding, I saw Him as He walked the shores of Galilee. I saw Him attracted to the people who were sick, to people who were suffering . . . financially, morally, spiritually, and physically. I saw THE MAN — as He entered into these human needs, as He recognized that every person had needs — and He came to each one at the point of his needs.

I Saw The Power Of The Holy Spirit On Jesus.

During those days of prayer and study, I would say, "God, let me see Jesus Christ with my eyes like the disciples did, like Peter, James, and John did. Let me see Him. Let me have a vision of this Man physically as they did and then I can go and pray for the people. I can go where they are. I can enter into their sufferings. Otherwise, I don’t know how.”

It was at this point that the Holy Spirit began to be real to me in my understanding. In my heart God spoke to me again. He said, "Do you have the baptism in the Holy Spirit?”

I said, "Yes.” I had received this charisma — this gift of the Spirit — shortly after my conversion. And I had also spoken in tongues a few times. At that time I didn’t know that tongues are the prayer language of the Spirit.

Then the Lord said to me, "Do you know what you have?”

In all honesty, I had to reply that I did not.

Then He said, "When you have the baptism in the Holy Spirit, it’s precisely as if Jesus is walking by your side in the flesh and having His invisible limitless form IN you. Do you want to see Jesus?”

"Yes,” I said.

"Well, having the baptism in the Holy Spirit gives you a sense of His physical being as well as His limitless spiritual being, and that’s what you have. Do you understand that?”

And, of course, this helped me to start understanding, but not fully. No one had ever explained it to me this way before. Jesus had said:

It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you (John 16:71 . . when the Comforter is come . . . he shall testify of me (John 15:26).

I began to study those Scriptures again. I looked in the Greek and found that in this Scripture the word comforter means Paraclete.

The word paraclete is translated comforter in the King James Version of the Bible, but it really means "one called alongside to help, one who warns, one who admonishes, one who helps us over our rough spots.” So the divine Paraclete is One who gives us what we need at the time we need it.

Once when I was teaching my class on "The Holy Spirit in the Now” at Oral Roberts University, I called up a member of the class and illustrated it this way:

Roberts: Will you open your billfold a moment, please, and take out a dollar bill? Now, will you give me that dollar?

Student: Yes.

Roberts: OK. I’m going to take that dollar.

Student: I thought you would.

Roberts: Now, I’m going to give you another dollar. Will you take it?

Student: Yes.

Roberts: Now, that dollar is just as genuine as the one you gave me. It is also printed by Uncle Sam — it’s a genuine dollar. Now, do you have as much as you had before you gave me your dollar?

Student: Yes.

Roberts: I gave you another dollar. And that dollar has the identical power of the dollar you gave me.

Student: That’s right.

Roberts: Thank you for helping me to exemplify what I’m about to say.

Jesus said, "If I go away I will send you another Paraclete, another one called alongside to help.”

He was saying to His disciples, "I have been by your side physically. I have been everything to you. Now you are distressed because I’m physically leaving the earth, but if I go back to My Father I will send you another Paraclete.”

I want you to notice that when the student gave me his dollar and I gave him back another dollar, he was just as well off as he had been before. In the same way, when Jesus physically left from the earth He said He would send us another Paraclete, One called alongside to help, and we would do better with our lives than if Jesus had remained physically with us. I wish you would re-read this illustration and think about it until it becomes really clear to you.

The Holy Spirit Is A Person, Just As Jesus Is A Person

Now you have to understand person in a spiritual concept. It speaks of the being of God. When we say the Holy Spirit is a person or Jesus is a person or God is a person, here is what we are saying — that He is not fragmented or broken as a human being is. He is a whole person. He has in Him at all times the wonderful and essential characteristics that we sometimes possess when we are at our very best. His least is greater than our very best. Remember, each one of us is broken in some way.

We are fragmented in our personality in some way, but the Holy Spirit, the divine Person, is not fragmented or broken. He is complete wholeness.

So back in Enid, Oklahoma, these things were happening in my spirit and understanding; I began to realize that:

I don’t have to see Jesus Christ as a physical man. God has filled me with the holy spirit. I have that comforter, the paraclete, the one called alongside to help it’s as if Jesus Christ is walking by me in the flesh, except he is in his invisible, unlimited form inside me. He is in me, therefore he can do these things through me.

That was the key that opened the lock. That was the beginning of my understanding that I could have a healing ministry. He was saying to me:

"Oral, you can do it because I am in you, and I am with you.”

The ministry of the Holy Spirit is built around Jesus Christ. God is a trinity. Now that’s a mystery. Your intellect can never figure it out. You can only grasp God as a trinity through your spiritual discernment. You have to accept this as truth through faith.

The Old Testament says, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4). Yet from the very beginning God has expressed himself in the plural.

In Genesis — the first book in the Bible — He said, "Let us make man” (Genesis 1:26). Here He is talking about the plurality of the Godhead — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is always God, whether He’s working in the humanity of the person of Jesus Christ, or whether He’s working in the person of the Holy Spirit. It’s God manifesting himself as a Father or as a Son — who takes on himself a human form to identify with you and me — or as the invisible Holy Spirit. It’s simply God manifesting himself to us in these three ways. So we don’t think of three Gods; He has simply come to us in ways and means which we can understand.

So in 1947, when I really began to understand what I had received through this experience in the Holy Spirit, I stepped out in faith to begin this ministry of healing of the whole person. The first person I prayed for was an elderly German woman who had a crippled hand for 38 years. She threw up her hand and began moving it about, crying at the top of her voice, "God has healed me!”

I was so filled with the power of the Almighty that I seemed to have supernatural strength. It was nearly six o’clock, four hours later, when I finished praying for the last person who needed deliverance. When I left, there was not a doubt that God had called me and was with me for whatever the future would hold. Not only had many people been wonderfully healed, but also more had come to Christ that day than I had seen saved in the past year of pastoral ministry.

Let me tell you, I knew that Jesus Christ was more real in me than I’d ever known before. I knew something about Jesus Christ after that service that could change a human being — millions of them. I knew there was no problem that God could not solve.

Although I was to pray for thousands later, I knew I would face both success and failure. But I also knew that in every person God healed, it meant that Jesus was walking on this earth again in the power of the Holy Spirit. He was making God relevant to people in the now.

Now I would like you to go over this lesson again — mark the Scriptures that you feel help you.

Chapter 2, How Jesus Can Be With You In The Now

Suggested Scripture reading for this lesson: Genesis 1 and 2

Throughout the Bible we see the inexorable march of the Holy Spirit across the centuries as He moves in human lives.

In Genesis 1:1, 2 we find a statement concerning the creation of the heavens and earth:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Now as this creative act begins to take shape we see that the first movement is by the Holy Spirit. "And the earth was without form, and void” — it’s a chaotic mass. The Spirit begins to move and brood over the waters ... to shape this formless mass and bring forth order out of chaos.

Then in Genesis 1:26 God said:

Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Here is God — God working as the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — making man. God made man first in His own image, that is, His spiritual and moral likeness, giving him the stamp of His own being and personality.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them (Genesis 1:27).

When God made the heaven and earth and created man and placed him upon it, He called it good (Genesis 1:31). God made man a whole man. Man had no imperfections of mind, spirit, or body. He had a harmony of nature and personality and spirit that defies our imagination today. If we could have walked into the Garden of Eden and seen male and female — man and woman — as God originally created them, we would have seen that God made man His masterpiece. Man was able to worship God with an understanding that was so intimate, so personal and real, it is hard for us to imagine it today. Also he could communicate — or talk to God in the most natural way.

In the Garden of Eden we see man as he was created in the beauty and perfection of God. There was perfect harmony in every department of his relationships. And then man rebelled. Sin reared its ugly head and all at once there was a discordant note.

The devil entered the garden and tempted man. Man listened to the devil, took the devil’s advice, rebelled against God, and lost his relationship with God. At that time God in His great love promised a Redeemer.

God now speaks to the devil and says:

I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel (Genesis 3:15).

This is perhaps the seed scripture of the entire Bible. God is saying to the devil, "You and man will be in conflict. There will always be this conflict of interest, this division between you. You will bruise the Seed of the woman. You will bruise the heel — the heel which speaks of Jesus, the outer humanity of the coming Messiah — but the Seed of the woman whom I will send as the Redeemer will bruise your head.”

Now it’s important to point out that in the very beginning when God created the heaven and the earth, made man, placed him in a perfect environment and man rebelled and lost his first estate that GOD’S LOVE HELD STRONG. And God said that He would send a Redeemer. This Redeemer would come, but He would be struck by the devil and the devil would bruise or injure the heel or the humanity of the man, which is now referring to the cross, when Jesus himself would be nailed to the cross. But God says in essence:

Devil, you are a defeated foe. The Redeemer will crush your head, your brain and mind, your spirit — everything that comprises your knowing will be destroyed. The Seed of the woman will smash your head.

This is in harmony with the scripture where our Lord said:

Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

And 1 John 3:8:

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

In Genesis 6:3 we notice that the Spirit of God had already begun His purpose of redeeming man:

And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man . ..

Upon the rebellion of Adam and Eve and their falling to sin and losing their first estate with God, the Spirit of God began to move, to strive, to restrain man.

And the Spirit found that the offspring of Adam and Eve had that same desire to rebel against God. It seems we human beings are like that. The first feeling we have is to say no to God rather than yes. But the Spirit is always striving with us to obey God.

In Numbers 11:16, 17 you see God is working through Moses by His Holy Spirit.

And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people. . . And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.

It’s interesting now that the Holy Spirit begins to select INDIVIDUALS. People like Moses and the seventy. The Spirit comes upon these people but it is not a mass movement. It is not the Holy Spirit coming upon the masses of people, but upon selected individuals — men of deep response and obedience to God. The Spirit now is given to 70 men who become elders of Israel and they share in the ministry of Moses as he starts leading the people of Israel back to God.

Another interesting scripture about the Holy Spirit is Isaiah 32:15. Here the prophet Isaiah says: Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high.

The prophet is looking ahead and praying that God will pour His Spirit from on high upon men.

Turn now to the book of Joel, and you’ll see the way God deals with you and me today. You see, in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit was given to Samson, Samuel, David, Elijah, Elisha, Moses, Noah, people like this. But now,

I will pour out my spirit upon ALL FLESH; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. ..

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered (Joel 2:28-32).

Notice that it says the Spirit will be poured out upon ALL FLESH. From that time onward WHOSOEVER would call upon the Lord shall be saved. You will find that verse, Joel 2:28, given by Peter on the Day of Pentecost in the book of Acts, chapter 2, verse 17.

In Zechariah 4:6 you will also notice that it says: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.

Here we see how God is going to win this battle. He’s going to do it by His Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God that moved upon the face of the deep in its chaotic condition, and brought light — that same Holy Spirit is going to work through the promised Redeemer, the Seed of the woman.

Turn now to Hebrews 11. This is the chapter which talks about the heroes of faith, men and women who hazarded their lives for their faith in God. It says: These all died in faith [that’s Abraham,

Isaac, Jacob, David, Samuel — all those people back there], not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth (Hebrews 11:13).

That means that they were looking forward to the coming of the Seed of the woman — the offspring — who would be Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We look back to His birth, death and resurrection but they looked forward. They didn’t receive the promise face-to-face.

And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise (Hebrews 11:39).

You will find that "the promise,” as we will see later on, is the promise of the Holy Spirit. They received not this promise . . .

God having provided some better thing for us . .. (Hebrews 11:40).

This is one of the most remarkable statements in the Bible. That after the coming of the Messiah — after His birth, death and resurrection — that "some better thing” would be given.

Turn now to Matthew, chapter 1, and we will see how God begins to deal to bring forth the Seed of the woman — how this Man enters the earth. Then we see in Acts 1 and 2 how He returns to the Father and then reenters to abide forever in the person of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Is Conceived By The Holy Spirit

Behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:20,21).

When our Lord Jesus Christ entered the earth He became one of us. Bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh. He was God in the flesh; He was born of a woman without a human father, conceived by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit simply put the embryo, or the child’s humanity, His earthly body, in the womb of this young, pure unmarried girl. This gave Him His connection with man. But His spirit was not born of man, but of the Holy Spirit. This gave Him His connection with God. Jesus was God IN THE FLESH. This is the Incarnation. He was in the world but He was not of the spirit of this world. He walked upon the earth, but His life was in heaven. He combined His divine nature and His human body in a perfect relationship with God and man.

The most dramatic part of Jesus’ life is that the holy spirit came upon him and he did nothing without the power of the holy spirit.

There were four things that Christ had to accomplish through the power of the Holy Spirit while He was in the flesh: He had to bruise the serpent’s head, He had to rise from the dead after three days, he had to bring captivity captive, and He had to send the Holy Spirit.

1. Jesus Had To Bruise The Serpent’s Head.

He had to destroy the devil’s power and that was through the cross. Many scholars believe that when the devil inspired men to arrange the crucifixion of Christ that he thought he had killed the Son of God. But it was the mistake of all mistakes. For all he succeeded in doing was killing Jesus which refers to His humanity, and not the Christ which refers to His divine nature.

It’s interesting that Joseph of Arimathaea begged Pilate to let him have the dead body of Jesus to bury in a newly made tomb (Matthew 27:57,58). Jesus Christ went to the cross to face death. You see, He was subject to death because He divested himself of His eternal glory. He became a man and now Satan is bruising His heel, or His body. Jesus is facing the mystery and fear of death the same way that you and I have to face it. But when Jesus Christ died on the cross, He said, "Father into thy hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). They could kill His body but He remained in control of His spirit, releasing it to the Father.

1. Jesus Had To Rise From The Dead After Three DAYS.

He conquered death and said, "Because I live, ye shall live also.” The greatest dread of man is to die. In his intellect he doesn’t seem to know that there is an afterlife. He doesn’t realize that Jesus Christ has come and died on the cross in his place and that He has risen from the dead. Today we can say, with all authority, that Jesus Christ has conquered death.

In Hebrews we read:

But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of Him'? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Thou madest him a little lower than the angels (Hebrews 2:6, 7).

Man is made lower than angels. Angels are an order of beings created on a higher level.

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death ... that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man (Hebrews 2:9).

You see, when Christ divested himself of His glory and became a man, He voluntarily accepted a position lower than the angels. Now remember this, that Lucifer, the great archangel, one of the three archangels, fell. He rebelled against God. You read this in Isaiah and Ezekiel (Isaiah 14:12, Ezekiel 28:2). When Lucifer rebelled God cast him out and one third of the angelic beings followed him. They lost their celestial bodies, they lost their spiritual illumination, and Lucifer became a deceiver, or the devil. And these angels, having lost their divine or celestial bodies, became disembodied spirits.

We believe that this is what demons are. We believe that a demon is a fallen angel, having lost his celestial body — his spiritual illumination—and is now in everlasting darkness. Because he is without a body, he seeks embodiment, primarily human embodiment. Because man is God’s masterpiece, man is the one demons strike at. And entering a man, they can strike against God and so fulfill part of their own lust and anger. I’m just saying that in passing to point out this tremendous scripture here:

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, [Christ] also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil (Hebrews 2:14).

You see, Christ had to rise from the dead. He had to ascend in order to destroy the power of the devil.

For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham (Hebrews 2:16).

When he became a man, it was not in the nature of angels but as a human being. He lived in the power of the Holy Spirit, went to the cross, and died for our sins. He rose from the dead; He ascended and when He ascended, we’re told that He ascended far above all kingdoms and powers and principalities.

And above all angels. What does this mean? It means that when we are in Christ, then we understand the scripture that says we sit with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). We, as redeemed, Spirit-filled human beings, are raised higher than angels. We, who were made lower than angels, are raised above angels, not in ourselves but through the ascended Christ.

It was the work of the Holy Spirit to take Jesus out of this world. That is, to release the Christ Spirit, to release the divine part in Him from the physical. In order to be man, Jesus had to lay aside His heavenly riches, His divine glory, and heavenly power. Jesus voluntarily limited himself. As long as Jesus was in His visible, physical form, He was limited to time and space. He could only be in one century at one time, or in one place at one time. He was also subject to death and the grave because He was in the flesh as a man like us.

In order to get the Christ who lived in the body of Jesus out of this world and back to God, the Holy Spirit had to raise Him from the dead. And the body of Jesus Christ, upon being laid in the tomb, was raised by the Spirit on the third day. Now it was on that day, shortly after His resurrection, that He began to show himself alive by many infallible proofs (Acts 1:3). In fact, for several days He made appearances to His disciples and to various others, such as Mary Magdalene.

3. Jesus Had To Bring Captivity Captive.

Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth ? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things) (Ephesians 4:8-10).

In 1 Peter it reads:

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah. ... Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him (1 Peter 3:18-22).

Jesus ascended into heaven but first He descended into the lower parts of the earth and there He preached to the souls that were in a sort of prison. What it means is this: The souls of men like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Samuel, Elisha — all these men had died with faith in the coming Messiah. They were looking forward. They embraced Him by simple faith, not having received the promise, not having seen Him at all. So they went to an intermediate place. The Hebrew word for it is Sheol and the Greek word is Hades.

Before the resurrection of Christ, this was the place for the souls of the departed dead. It was a divided place — on one side was hell and right over next to it was a place called paradise. Between hell and paradise was an impassable gulf. Those who had died in their sins were in hell and could not pass over to paradise. Those who had died with faith in God were in paradise and could not go into hell.

Jesus makes this plain in the Gospel of Luke concerning the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16).

When Jesus Christ rose from the dead and ascended, the first thing He did was to go to this place of paradise and proclaim His victory over death, hell and the grave, saying to them, in effect:

I died on the cross, I shed my blood, I’m going to rise from the dead and I’m going to transfer paradise out of this place right into the presence of God.

That third morning when the women came to the tomb to pay their last respects, the angel of God had preceded them. He had touched the stone and catapulted it from its socket. The Christ Spirit had reentered the dead body of Jesus and Jesus Christ walked out of that tomb. Laying aside the grave clothes He looked over the silent cities of the righteous dead and said, "Because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19).

When Mary came and recognized Him and said, "Rabboni; which is to say, Master” (John 20:16) and started to touch Him, Jesus said, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father.” And gathering up the souls of the righteous dead, He catapulted into time and space. He leaped above the planets and vaulted over into glory. There He laid the souls of the righteous dead at the feet of the Heavenly Father, so that today when a child of God dies, Paul says we are "absent from the body, and present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Immediately the soul soars and is instantly with the Lord and is there awaiting the resurrection of his earthly body. What a joy to be a child of God and know our bodies will be raised from the dead!

4. Jesus Had To Send The Holy Spirit.

Jesus said:

It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter [Paraclete] will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you (John 16:7).

Notice that Jesus is talking about His other self — the Holy Spirit is Christ’s other self. The Holy Spirit is Christ’s personal representative on this earth. When Jesus was ready to ascend to go back to God and sit on the right hand of the Father, He turned His disciples over to His personal representative, over to His other self.

At that time it was the purpose of the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, to bring back the unlimited greater Christ. One who is free from His physical limitation. Jesus said, "If I depart I will send Him unto you.” So Jesus comes back to us in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now this is one of the most stunning accomplishments of the Holy Spirit. That He would:

- Remove the physical limitations under which our Lord Jesus lived on this earth

- Reinvest Him with the power He had before He was born

- Re clothe Him with the glory He had with the Father before He came to earth

- Reendow Him with the riches that He voluntarily laid aside before He became a man.

So that now Paul says it is God who will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

As long as Christ was not glorified or ascended, He was in His limited form. He was divested of His glory. Yet, thank God, even when He was divested of His eternal riches, glory, and power — through the power of the Holy Spirit working in Him —

- He walked on the water,

- He raised the dead,

- He healed the sick,

- He cast out demons,

- He forgave sins.

But now, when He goes back to heaven, going through death, resurrection, ascension and glorification, when He goes back, then the Father sends the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit.

This is why John the Baptist said, "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” (Matthew 3:11). This is why John the Baptist also said in verse 14, "I have need to be baptized of thee.” (Notice here that John the Baptist was the first one ever to ask Jesus to baptize him in the Holy Spirit!)

Jesus has been reinvested with His eternal glory and riches and power. He has come back by the power of the Holy Spirit, no longer limited by time and space, no longer subject to death. He is IN us so the world can never get their hands on Him to crucify Him again. While Jesus was here on earth for only a few years, He can now abide with us FOREVER. It means that when the Paraclete comes, the ascended risen Christ returns through the Holy Spirit to you and me. And when He returns He is no longer limited. He’s the greater complete Christ, so that the Scriptures say, "Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

Chapter 3, How To Overcome Problems You Face Every Day

Suggested Scripture reading for this lesson: Acts 10 and 11

I want to discuss one of the most remarkable demonstrations of the power of the Holy Spirit this side of Pentecost. The story is found in Acts 10 and 11. It vitally affects you and me for in it is the solution to . ..

Our religious hang-ups . . .

Racial prejudices, and . . .

A new way to reach out to others.

I feel this scripture will give you some answers to many of the problems that you face every day. Read Acts 10 and 11 once, then read them again very slowly. I believe it will enable you to face life with a whole new outlook of the unlimited possibilities opened to you through the Holy Spirit.

In Acts 10 and 11, we read of a man whose name is Cornelius. He is a captain in the Roman army over the area of Caesarea during the time the Roman government had conquered Palestine, and was the oppressor of the Jews.

Cornelius also happens to be a God-fearing man but not with the understanding of God that the Jewish people or the new Christians have. He is a man of prayer and a great giver. One day an angel came to him and said, "Cornelius, up in the presence of God a memorial to you has appeared in the form of your prayers and your giving . . .” This is a powerful statement. The angel says, "But I want you to send a messenger up to Joppa. There is a man there, a Christian whose name is Peter. He’s going to tell you what you ought to do.”

Well, in Joppa it’s noon and Peter is on the housetop waiting for the meal. He’s very hungry, and as he waits he falls into a trance. He sees a great sheet, perhaps like the sheet on a bed, coming down and it’s just covered with animals, including both those the Jews considered clean and unclean. And a voice says, "Peter, you are really hungry, aren’t you? Come on, get up and start eating.”

Immediately all the theology and philosophy that he’s been reared with comes rushing into his mind and Peter begins to say to God, "Oh, no . . . not me . . . not me! I’m not going to be trapped like this. I’ve never eaten any kind of meat that we the Jews consider unclean.”

Peter didn’t understand that God had taken the whole human race, symbolically, and put it on that sheet and brought it right under his eyes, right into his heart and said, "Brother, I want you to accept these people.”

He didn’t understand that so he argued with God. Then the voice said, "Don’t you ever do that again. DON’T EVER CALL COMMON THAT WHICH I’VE CLEANSED.”

Now the human race is very special. Do you know why Moses, who led the children of Israel from Egypt all the way to the Promised Land, was never allowed to enter the Promised Land himself? God had Joshua, Moses’ successor, to lead the people across Jordan. Why? Because Moses lost patience with the people of God and spoke sharply to them (Numbers 20:12). GOD WILL NEVER LETANYBODY GET BY WITH ATTACKING A HUMAN BEING OR ANOTHER RACE, BECAUSE ALL MEN ARE GOD’S CREATION.

In this scripture God gathers them all up in His arms and says to Peter, "Don’t you say anything against them.” Then He says, "I’m going to tell you about this Roman army captain down in Caesarea who you don’t think is anything. In fact, you consider him your oppressor and you Jews hate him. I want you to go down there and I want you to say exactly what I tell you to say.”

So Peter gets up and by this time he realizes he’s on the spot. I imagine he’s thinking, I’ve got to go down there and lay Jesus on these people. I have a feeling that Peter was still pretty confused at this point.

It really shakes you up when you understand that God loves PEOPLE — whether a man is red, white, yellow, brown, black, all shades between — whether he is a Russian, or a Japanese, or a Vietnamese, or an American, or a Jew, or an Arab, or a Chinese, or whatever he is.

It shakes people up when it really comes home. I’m not talking about lip service; I’m talking about when it really comes home.

I’m not talking about the so-called liberal American who says, "I love the black people. I want us to integrate our schools,” while he’s on his way to a private school to enroll his children so they will never have any contact with little black children. I’m not talking about liberals like that.

I’m talking about God getting down inside the human heart and saying:

"Listen, Brother, we are all made of one blood.

And don’t you call any nation common or unclean.

Don’t you call any man common or unclean.”

You know, Christianity really is about the toughest religion there is. The only reason it seems soft and easy is because many of us don’t know what it is and we’ve seldom applied it to the NOW of our lives. We’ve made Christianity a Sunday morning type, going-to-meeting-kind of a religion.

On Sunday we can sing like angels and through the week we can live like devils.

So by the time Peter gets down to Caesarea, the Holy Spirit has worked him over good. The beautiful part about Peter is, previous to this he had received the baptism in the Holy Spirit in an authentic way and God could get to him. The Holy Spirit had shed His love abroad in this man’s heart.

He Was Wrong In His Head But He Was Right In His Heart

And that’s the only hope we have right now in this moment of America’s history and in this moment of our world’s existence. Even if our heads are wrong, if we can get our hearts right and filled with the Holy Spirit’s love then we can get down here on this human level where God sent His Son Jesus and began to express His love.

The Bible says, "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost [Spirit] which is given unto us” (Romans 5:5). So here we see a different kind of love—AGAPE—the kind of love that you have for the person regardless of his value, regardless of whether he responds to you or loves you back or not. NOW THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO YOU — only the Holy Spirit can impart this kind of love to your heart. You can try to love the agape way but you cannot do it unless the Holy Spirit imparts it unto you. It is a divine gift, freely given.

For example, if you are out in your garden planting seed and scattering it about, you are "shedding it abroad ...” This is what the Bible is talking about. AGAPE love is coming at you from every side, from every area, outside, inside. God is shedding abroad this agape love in your heart.

In Matthew 3:11, John the Baptist said:

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he [Jesus] that cometh after me . .. he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost....

The word for baptize in this scripture means SUFFUSE. In other words, John was saying, "Jesus will baptize you or send you the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will flow like a river — like rivers of living water, completely engulfing your being. It will come unto you . . . within you . . . from every side, until YOUR ENTIRE BEING is completely covered and filled with the Holy Spirit.”

This is why your spiritual man—your inner being, your heart — is so important. Jesus said, . . Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). When the Holy Spirit floods up in the heart and up into the head and touches the reason of man, then you are going to really be a whole person — loving like a whole person should. You will have a whole marriage; you will be whole parents; you will have a whole family. This is AGAPE love shed abroad in your hearts. It takes in other human beings. It brings God into the whole of your life.

Someone asks, "Are you some kind of a religious nut? Do you actually think God should be in every part of your life?”

I’ll tell you how I feel — GOD IS MY LIFE. It is in God that I live and move and have my being (Acts 17:28). Without Him I could have no life.

There Was Complete Integration In The Early Church When They Had The Holy Spirit

The Bible says:

And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul (Acts 4:32).

They that believed on Jesus were of ONE HEART and ONE SOUL. Take two pieces of steel, put them in the fire and they become one. They are welded together inseparably. They are one. In the same way, the early Christians were ONE in the Spirit.

These Christians had it in Jerusalem but they didn’t have it outside Jerusalem. Now they are beginning to have it where it belongs ... out in the street, out where the people are.

The most important moment in your church service is not the opening prayer, or the choir singing, or the sermon, or the offering — as important as those things are — it’s the benediction. It’s after you’ve heard God’s Holy Word and been filled up — like your car is taken into a service station and filled with gasoline — and you take God’s Word to others. When you go from the church building to where the needs of the people are — then you become the Church. Some people will go to church but the great thing is to be the Church and take the Church where human beings are.

Well, Peter had been there in Jerusalem where they were all with one heart and one soul and having a great time. All races represented were one — there was no difference. They were together having a great time. But now he’s in another part of the world. This Roman army captain has interrupted everything because he’s gotten religion. And Peter doesn’t know whether to accept him or not. He really felt like he was in control but in essence, God said, "Listen, you may be one of My big apostles but you just simmer down. I’ll give the orders. You go down there and you say what I tell you to say.”

So Peter arrives and the captain has his family and friends filling the house. Cornelius is really excited because he’s also done what God told him to do.

The first thing Cornelius does is to do what he was accustomed to doing. You see, much of our strange behavior is based on our culture, not upon our relationship with Christ. It was the culture of the Romans to bow down to anyone they thought was God. To begin with, they all worshiped Caesar. Here comes Peter — he’s so great he’s got to be God, Cornelius thinks, so he falls down and worships him. He was just doing — not what God said but what his culture demanded.

Peter lifts him up and says, "Look, brother, I’m a man and no more.” Peter opens his mouth and he hears words coming out of his mouth that he’s probably never said in his whole lifetime. He says: "I PERCEIVE THAT GOD IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS.”

Did you know people have been gagging over that ever since? "I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.”

One of these days God may say to you, "Old buddy, listen to Me, I want you to go over there to a certain place. They are learning about true religion but they need help. You’ve received something that they don’t have but you are a little mixed up, too. You really thought that since you had the charismatic experience of the Holy Spirit you were in a select company. And you think if they don’t have what you have they really are nothing. Well, I want to tell you something, don’t you call common or unclean what I’ve cleansed.”

So God says to Peter, "Right now while you are thinking that Cornelius is a nothing, I’ve got all his prayers and his giving right up here in My hands. That man down there has been following Me the best he knew how. He doesn’t have the baptism in the Holy Spirit, like you have, Peter. He doesn’t know about Jesus like you know about Him. So I want you to go down there and tell him the Good News.”

By the time Peter gets to Cornelius, he is really ready. He opens up to Cornelius and says, "I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.” And Peter meant it — that’s the nice thing — HE MEANT IT!

So Peter began to preach. He begins by telling them (for he’s convinced by now) that God accepts any man — in any nation anywhere — who works righteousness. He tells them about Jesus being crucified and resurrected. He tells them about the Holy Spirit being on Jesus. He tells about the remission of sins and that’s as far as he got in his sermon. It was at this moment a spiritual explosion happened. And the Bible says:

While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.

And they of the circumcision [or Jews] which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. FOR THEY HEARD THEM SPEAK WITH TONGUES [in the prayer language of the Spirit], AND MAGNIFY GOD (Acts 10:44-46).

How Could It Happen So Easily?

There was no special difficulty to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I’ll tell you why! Because nobody had been down there to tell them it wasn’t real. Nobody had been down there to explain it away. Nobody had been down there to say, "Now the Bible doesn’t mean what it says.”

They had a group who knew a little about God but wanted ALL God had to offer. They were just sitting there saying in their heart, Hurry up, Peter. Get with it. Get down to the key issue. We are ready to receive. And receive they did —just like the Christians on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:4).

Simon Peter is excited about it and he goes back to Jerusalem to report it. Now in Jerusalem is the "First Church.” All the other churches are offsprings of it. When he arrives the elders hear about it. Peter is excitedly sharing what God has done, that the Holy Spirit has fallen in Caesarea among a group of ROMAN SOLDIERS!

The leaders in the first church in Jerusalem immediately reacted. They said, "Peter, word has come to us that you went in among the uncircumcised Gentiles and ate and socialized with them . .

But Peter said, "Now hold it just a minute, let me explain this to you. At first, I felt the same way.”

(I want to show you how we can be filled with God, even with the Holy Spirit, and our intellect can get in the way. We can put other people down because we lack knowledge.)

So Peter said, "Brethren, do you believe in your own baptism in the Holy Spirit?”

"Yes, sir.”

"You spoke in the prayer language of the Spirit?”

"Yes.”

"Well, God gave these Romans the same experience He gave you. Now, how can you go against God? God gave them the same gift — THE SAME GIFT — for we heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.”

And THEN they began to rejoice.

That’s the beautiful part of having God’s love shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit. When you learn the truth you accept it. You accept it. When you are wrong you are willing to say, "I am wrong.”

I’ll never forget what a friend of mine said — he is a pastor of one of the great churches in Tulsa. He said, "Oral, it never degrades any preacher or any leader in the church to say, 'I made a mistake. I’ve been wrong!’ It never degrades anybody to admit his mistakes.”

Right now in this country, in our churches, what a great revival of love we could have if we could just sit down and say, "We’ve been wrong here — we’ve been wrong there.”

For example:

ONE OF OUR GREATEST WRONGS IS TO FAIL TO LOVE ALL OF OUR PEOPLE, ALL OF OUR RACES.

We should just accept a person for what he is and love him. God says, "You must not call common or unclean what I have cleansed.” You can’t do that — not because I say it, but because God said it. Until you open up your heart and your house and your community and let your brother live where he wants to live, there can be no lasting solution. If we do this, then,

we can work at our jobs and businesses together,

we can go to school together,

we can go to church together,

we can pray together,

we can worship together,

we can be one together — one as human beings.

The whole purpose of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is to cause Jesus, who is Love, to EXPLODE in our hearts with power from on high, to fill our inner man until it’s like rivers of living water rolling up. This river of living water, or LOVE, covers our minds, our prejudices, our twisted thinking until love blots these things out and then we can reach out in real love and truly accept our brother — regardless of his race, his station in life, his cultural background, or his political opinion.

Get Your Head Straight Too!

What God is after also is the INTELLECT of man — the mind. There are thousands and millions in this country whose hearts love God, but whose heads are so filled with their culture — so filled with bias and prejudice — until this nation is really suffering over it, and is being virtually torn apart. This world also is being torn apart.

Jesus said:

This Is My Commandment, That Ye Love One Another, As I Have loved you (John 15:12).

I don’t believe we can fully love, really love, until we are all filled with the Holy Spirit. I mean FILLED. I’m not talking about just speaking in the prayer language of the Spirit — I’m talking about getting down in the inner man with it. God’s Holy Spirit love starts flowing up and we look at each other as human beings. Then we love each other as human beings. Then we come together. Jesus came that He might give us this love. .. that we might become LIVINGDEMON-STRATIONS OF THAT LOVE. When we have agape love in our hearts, then we are able to receive another human being . . . friends, loved ones, even strangers.

It Brings God Into The Whole Of Our Lives

A young militant of another race said to me, "You people say you are Christians and yet how can Christians do the things you do?”

I said very simply, "We are Christians but we are not always very good DISCIPLES.” There’s a big difference. You see, you become a Christian through no merit of your own. Through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ you are born again by the Spirit of God. It’s a gift. You also receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit as a gift (Acts 2:38). I mean you can’t ever get good enough for God to save you and fill you with His Holy Spirit. It’s a gift from God who loves you.

You don’t receive this gift because your head is right.

You don’t get this because you have already been loving everybody or because you have treated everybody as a human being.

Jesus explains it like this, "If any man will [become my disciple], let him . . . take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). You see, you get saved in one second. The grace of God can save your soul in one second and you are saved. The blood of Christ covers you. If you were to die you would go to heaven but that doesn’t mean that you will automatically make a great follower or disciple ... or even a great citizen. Jesus said, "There’s something else. You must take up your cross DAILY. You must become a disciple, a follower of Me.” That means to learn to be a follower of Jesus IN THE NOW.

Peter had accepted Christ, and been filled with the Holy Spirit, had spoken in tongues while he was up there in Jerusalem, but NOW Peter’s down in Caesarea facing this issue. It’s a whole new ball game. He’s got to be learning of Jesus, becoming a disciple, a daily follower of Christ in Caesarea as he was in Jerusalem. He’s got to accept his brother. Who is his brother? His blood brother? The Bible says that everybody is of one blood (Acts 17:26). Each person is a blood brother to the other. They may not be brothers in Christ yet, but they are blood brothers because God made all of one blood.

Peter had this marvelous transforming experience of his heart — thank God for that — and he goes back to Jerusalem and changes the mind of the church. I mean there’s hope for the church. I am an optimistic man about the church. I don’t believe people should come out of the church. I believe people should support the church, but I believe to do it you have to be really FILLED with the Spirit. I believe you may have to help overcome your cultural background if it has led you to be prejudiced and bitter against other human beings. You have to believe and follow Jesus every day to become a better disciple of this Man, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Discipleship is the real answer and that means following Jesus daily!

Jesus calls no man common or unclean ... He accepts ANY man who worketh righteousness (Acts 10:15, 35).

Not every person who reads this may accept the prayer language of the Spirit as part of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. All I can say is, I personally know it’s real. I have it. But I’m not going to run around putting you down if you do or do not. I think you can and I think God wants you to. I think if you learn how to really open up yourself inside and let the Holy Spirit flood up, as Jesus said in John 7:37-39, that it will take care of itself. The Holy Spirit will come to you and give you the prayer language of the Spirit which all of us need so much.

What I’m really talking about is something a lot deeper. I’m talking about LOVE. I wish each of us would learn to love more. To be a more Christ like Christian, to become a disciple. We don’t have to be such a bad example of our Lord, we can be living witnesses of His LOVE.

THE CENTRAL THEME OF THE STORY OF CORNELIUS IS "AGAPE” LOVE WHICH PRODUCES SENSITIVITY AND OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST. If we keep our eyes on Christ, the Baptizer and our Lord, we will be able to open our hearts to all men, to love as Christ loves... we can be channels for Christ’s love to flow through.

A Dialogue Between Oral And Evelyn Roberts

(At the close of this class my wife Evelyn and I had a discussion I think you will enjoy.)

Oral: When do you think that agape or Holy Spirit love really began to work in Peter?

Evelyn: I think it began to work in him on the Day of Pentecost but I don’t think it really came to full fruition until after he had found out that the Lord loved other races besides his own.

Oral: Is that a great thing to learn?

Evelyn: I really do think so.

Oral: Where do you think we are right now in race relations?

Evelyn: Well, it’s hard to say. I think in terms of the way I feel myself. I think I love everybody but there are times when I discover that I may have little prejudices that I didn’t even know that I had. I think this is one of the works of the Holy Spirit — to show us those little spots of prejudice we have.

Oral: You have prejudices?

Evelyn: I hope not. If I do, it’s not because of the color of a person’s skin. But it may be because of something else. In fact, at times I have trouble loving people of my own race, much less some others. I think all of us have to work on ourselves at this point. This agape love is so much different than any other love we know. The Bible says that He will go with you to the end (Matthew 28:20). A mother’s love goes only to the grave — it can’t go any further, right? But this love — God’s love — absolutely goes to the grave and beyond.

Oral: Into eternity.

Evelyn: I agree. Here’s a question I had. You said that Peter went up to the First Church in Jerusalem and reported what had happened.

Oral: I was speaking rhetorically.

Evelyn: I agree. But tell me this, when we receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, do you think we should go out and announce it to the public?

Oral: Not necessarily. In our society there’s so much division in the churches. So I think when you receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit that you should be very quiet about it, very personal. Let it come out of you in love, in a deeper prayer life. Let people see something in you that reminds them of Jesus and make them ask, "Something has happened to you; what is it?” Then instead of getting into all the mechanics say, "Jesus baptized me in the Holy Spirit.” Don’t try to pour it on people until they are ready, until they start asking.

Before I had the baptism in the Holy Spirit I resented people who had this experience and acted like they were better than those who did not. I tell you, the real truth is, we don’t speak in tongues because we feel we are better than those who don’t. It’s just that through my understanding alone I can’t get my prayers through all the time, so I use the prayer language of the Spirit to help me communicate better with God. So it’s not that we speak in tongues because we feel superior, but rather because we feel inadequate and need help to pray better. We have this feeling of need. It’s important for us to get some knowledge about the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Evelyn: You hear a lot of people say that the gift of the Holy Spirit is so abused that they don’t want to hear about it. A student in one of your classes wrote in a book report: "Heretofore I looked on the Holy Spirit as something very distant and out of reach instead of being real and very close to me in my daily needs. I had even begun to feel afraid when the Holy Spirit was mentioned, almost to the point of unbelief. Now this doesn’t bother me anymore.” Her final word was, "We need more practical applications on how to use the gift.” I think of it this way—the Holy Spirit is a perfect gift, given to an imperfect vessel (which is what we are). This is the way I think of Cornelius. You see, he was very imperfect and the righteous people looked upon him as being unworthy because he was a Roman.

Oral: You said the Jews thought that because Cornelius was a Roman, he wasn’t so great. But how did you think God felt about Peter up there on the housetop. Did you think God thought he was so great?

Evelyn: The Jewish people had been taught — correct me if I’m wrong — that they could only eat certain things. Anyway, I think the Lord was trying to overcome Peter’s cultural background. The Lord human beings. You have to believe and follow Jesus every day to become a better disciple of this Man, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Discipleship is the real answer and that means following Jesus daily!

Jesus calls no man common or unclean . . . He accepts ANY man who worketh righteousness (Acts 10:15,35).

Not every person who reads this may accept the prayer language of the Spirit as part of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. All I can say is, I personally know it’s real. I have it. But I’m not going to run around putting you down if you do or do not. I think you can and I think God wants you to. I think if you learn how to really open up yourself inside and let the Holy Spirit flood up, as Jesus said in John 7:37-39, that it will take care of itself. The Holy Spirit will come to you and give you the prayer language of the Spirit which all of us need so much.

What I’m really talking about is something a lot deeper. I’m talking about LOVE. I wish each of us would learn to love more. To be a more Christ like Christian, to become a disciple. We don’t have to be such a bad example of our Lord, we can be living witnesses of His LOVE.

THE CENTRAL THEME OF THE STORY OF CORNELIUS IS "AGAPE” LOVE WHICH PRODUCES SENSITIVITY AND OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST. If we keep our eyes on Christ, the Baptizer and our Lord, we will be able to open our hearts to all men, to love as Christ loves... we can be channels for Christ’s love to flow through.

A Dialogue Between Oral And Evelyn Roberts

(At the close of this class my wife Evelyn and I had a discussion I think you will enjoy.)

Oral: When do you think that agape or Holy Spirit love really began to work in Peter?

Evelyn: I think it began to work in him on the Day of Pentecost but I don’t think it really came to full fruition until after he had found out that the Lord loved other races besides his own.

Oral: Is that a great thing to learn?

Evelyn: I really do think so.

Oral: Where do you think we are right now in race relations?

Evelyn: Well, it’s hard to say. I think in terms of the way I feel myself. I think I love everybody but there are times when I discover that I may have little prejudices that I didn’t even know that I had. I think this is one of the works of the Holy Spirit — to show us those little spots of prejudice we have.

Oral: You have prejudices?

Evelyn: I hope not. If I do, it’s not because of the color of a person’s skin. But it may be because of something else. In fact, at times I have trouble loving people of my own race, much less some others. I think all of us have to work on ourselves at this point. This agape love is so much different than any other love we know. The Bible says that He will go with you to the end (Matthew 28:20). A mother’s love goes only to the grave — it can’t go any further, right? But this love — God’s love — absolutely goes to the grave and beyond.

Oral: Into eternity.

Evelyn: I agree. Here’s a question I had. You said that Peter went up to the First Church in Jerusalem and reported what had happened.

Oral: I was speaking rhetorically.

Evelyn: I agree. But tell me this, when we receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, do you think we should go out and announce it to the public?

Oral: Not necessarily. In our society there’s so much division in the churches. So I think when you receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit that you should be very quiet about it, very personal. Let it come out of you in love, in a deeper prayer life. Let people see something in you that reminds them of Jesus and make them ask, "Something has happened to you; what is it?” Then instead of getting into all the mechanics say, "Jesus baptized me in the Holy Spirit.” Don’t try to pour it on people until they are ready, until they start asking.

Before I had the baptism in the Holy Spirit I resented people who had this experience and acted like they were better than those who did not. I tell you, the real truth is, we don’t speak in tongues because we feel we are better than those who don’t. It’s just that through my understanding alone I can’t get my prayers through all the time, so I use the prayer language of the Spirit to help me communicate better with God. So it’s not that we speak in tongues because we feel superior, but rather because we feel inadequate and need help to pray better. We have this feeling of need. It’s important for us to get some knowledge about the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Evelyn: You hear a lot of people say that the gift of the Holy Spirit is so abused that they don’t want to hear about it. A student in one of your classes wrote in a book report: "Heretofore I looked on the Holy Spirit as something very distant and out of reach instead of being real and very close to me in my daily needs. I had even begun to feel afraid when the Holy Spirit was mentioned, almost to the point of unbelief. Now this doesn’t bother me anymore.” Her final word was, "We need more practical applications on how to use the gift.” I think of it this way—the Holy Spirit is a perfect gift, given to an imperfect vessel (which is what we are). This is the way I think of Cornelius. You see, he was very imperfect and the righteous people looked upon him as being unworthy because he was a Roman.

Oral: You said the Jews thought that because Cornelius was a Roman, he wasn’t so great. But how did you think God felt about Peter up there on the housetop. Did you think God thought he was so great?

Evelyn: The Jewish people had been taught — correct me if I’m wrong — that they could only eat certain things. Anyway, I think the Lord was trying to overcome Peter’s cultural background. The Lord sometimes has to help our background. Do you remember when we were in the Holy Land that the Jewish people we talked to thought that everybody who was not a Jew was a Christian?

Oral: Are they mixed up!

Evelyn: But, you see, to them a Christian means the same as Gentile, but not all Gentiles are Christians. And not all Christians are Gentiles.

Oral: And not all Christians are disciples of our Lord.

Evelyn: Right.

Oral: Evelyn, would you take three or four minutes and readjust a line or two from some of the book reports that we’ve received from members of the Holy Spirit class.

Evelyn: These are just really great.

One person wrote:

"Praying in the Spirit brings about a closer, more personal relationship with Christ.

When one receives the baptism in the Holy Spirit his power of communication directly with the Lord is tremendously improved.” Somebody else said:

"It helps us — we can cope with tight situations through personally edifying ourselves with this gift.”

Another wrote:

"Your teaching changed my views concerning the daily use of tongues. I thought it was to be used at special times of need or when a group of believers were in the Spirit together. I now realize it is just as important as when I speak to God through the intellect. And the words I say are understood.”

Isn’t that great? Whoever wrote this, understands that God helps us through our intellect as well as through the prayer language of the Spirit, and this is a point, of course, that you have emphasized.

Oral: The end result of speaking in the prayer language of the Spirit is what happens to your intellect or your understanding. The Holy Spirit is trying to bring our intellect into harmony with God, because all through our lives we’ve been taught to live by our head, haven’t we? That’s what education is all about — educating the mind. But speaking in the prayer language of the Spirit begins in the inner man and ultimately favorably affects the intellect so that you can pray better in your language and understand God better.

Evelyn: The prayer language of the Spirit is speaking to God in a language which He alone understands. This is very enlightening. It helps me realize God does care about each individual.

Oral: Evelyn, isn’t there a report about someone going into his room at two o’clock in the morning ... ?

Evelyn: Yes. I wanted to read to you about agape love first because somebody wrote about it here. They said:

"The central theme of your teaching goes beyond the prayer language of the Spirit and its value, though that is clearly and carefully explained. The central theme is agape love which produces sensitivity and obedience to Christ. If we keep our eyes on Christ, the Baptizer and our Lord, we will always be sensitive to the promptings and leadings of the Spirit, thus releasing more of God’s love to others.”

Isn’t that beautiful?

Oral: Find that 2 a.m. thing . ..

Evelyn: Oh, yes, here it is!

"Through reading the book I found God’s time for me to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit was 2 a.m., September 22. It has affected my whole life and made me a far more effective witness.”

Here is another one that’s very good. This person wrote:

"Another interesting factor is that the Holy Spirit speaks through the spirit and tongue of the believer and is always in agreement with the Father. This gives me goose bumps because it makes me better understand the Father’s love for me, and that gift can boost my Christian walk. I’ve often wanted this gift; now I feel God will show me the way and will bless me with this wonderful gift.”

Chapter 4, Jesus, You, And The Holy Spirit

Suggested Scripture reading for this lesson: Matthew 1

I want to discuss with you three divisions of the life and work of our Lord Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit:

1. Jesus and the Holy Spirit

2. You and the Holy Spirit in the Now

3. Trusting the Holy Spirit (the divine Paraclete)

1. Jesus And The Holy Spirit

What was Jesus’ life and His works?

Everything that Jesus was and everything that Jesus did, including all of His miracles, He attributed to the Holy Spirit. He never claimed this power for himself. He said that He did not come in His own name, nor in His own power, but He came to do the work that the Father had sent Him to do and that all these works were done by the power of the Holy Spirit (John 5:19, 5:43,10:25).

When you stop and think that the Savior of man had His dependence on the Holy Spirit, how much more do you and I need to depend upon the Holy Spirit?

First of all, Jesus’ birth was supernatural. Some of us may have forgotten that.

Let’s read in Matthew together, beginning with verse 18, and I’ll exhort verse by verse:

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, [that is, before they became man and wife] she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

This is the strangest thing in the history of man — that a virgin was found to be with child.

Then Joseph her husband, (verse 19)

Now the word husband is used because the marriage engagement vows in that day were tantamount to marriage itself.

…being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example,

that is, not wanting to embarrass her publicly since it was evident she was pregnant.

…was minded to put her away privily to very discreetly break up or annul the engagement.

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost (verse 20).

This is what we call the virgin birth. Jesus was born of a virgin. He was conceived in her, not by man but by the Holy Spirit.

We are emphasizing the supernatural birth of Jesus Christ. Mary, the human, was His mother. He received His body, His human features, and characteristics from a woman. But the divine part of Him was conceived by the Holy Spirit, so that He became the Son of man from Mary and the Son of God from the Holy Spirit. It’s a great mystery. The intellect cannot comprehend it. It has to be accepted and believed by faith or you can never grasp it. As St. Paul says, spiritual things must be discerned spiritually (1 Corinthians 2:14).

On the one hand Jesus is total man, so much man it’s as if He were not God.

On the other He is total God, so much God it’s as if He were not man.

He was Son of man and Son of God.

The Holy Spirit brought this to pass in a supernatural birth.

... and thou shall call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins (verse 21).

20

Now, in like manner, people in this age who become Christians and followers of Christ have to experience a supernatural birth. They’ve been born of the flesh the first time of their earthly parents, but to be children of God they must be born of the Spirit. That is, the Holy Spirit must give them a second birth (John 3:3-8).

Our birth as Christians is supernatural.

Jesus Christ was and is God Incarnate, which means God in the flesh. We read in 1 Corinthians 6:19, "Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.” Our body is a temple. It’s like a cathedral, and the Holy Spirit dwells within us. So you are an extension of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. You become a Christian by a supernatural birth, which means that the Holy Spirit has given you your birth — a rebirth of your spirit.

Now Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit. In Mark 1:10 we read:

And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him.

One day while John the Baptist was preaching, Jesus walked up. And John looked over, stretched out his hand, and said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Then Jesus asked John to baptize Him. Immediately John said, "I have need to be baptized of thee” (Matthew 3:14).

Now this is one of the greatest dialogues in history. Jesus was asking for water baptism, and John was asking for the Holy Spirit’s baptism. But Jesus said, "You go ahead and baptize Me because we will fulfill the laws of God and do completely what is right.”

So John baptized Him. And Jesus came out of the water and the heavens opened and there descended upon Him the Holy Spirit in the bodily form of a dove (John 1:32). Now most Bible scholars agree that it was a bodily form of a beautiful, innocent little dove. The dove is also a symbol of peace.

The infusion of the Holy Spirit in any man’s life helps to calm his nature and bring him to a level of peacefulness so that he begins to love and care and express concern for people.

However, many people mistakenly believe that when they take Christ, or are filled with the Holy Spirit, that from then on everything is going to be peaceful. Everybody will love and respect them. Everything will go well. But, friend, I have news for you. The Spirit leads us into conflict. JESUS WAS BOTH LED AND DRIVEN BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.

I want to point out something here that’s extraordinary. Luke 4:1 says,

And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, [notice that He was full of the Holy Ghost] returned from Jordan, and was LED by the Spirit into the wilderness.

Now this was the wilderness where Satan would be lurking. This was where Jesus fasted for 40 days and nights and was later tempted of the devil. But He was led by the Spirit. Another verse says:

And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness (Mark 1:12).

The Spirit both led and drove Him into conflict — INTO CONFLICT. While there is peace in the heart of the Christian, there is not peace in the outside world. Jesus was immediately thrust into a gigantic struggle with the forces of evil. Actually — to gain victory over himself to be tempted and to learn how to overcome those temptations. So Jesus of Nazareth, a man — a human being — was led by the Spirit and also driven by the Spirit into conflict.

You see, there are two stages in being a Christian. First, you are born of the Spirit and you become a child of God. This means you are saved by the blood of Christ and you will go to heaven.

The second state of a Christian’s life begins immediately — that is, to become a disciple, which means learner or a follower of Jesus.

If any man will come after me [would be my disciple], let him Deny Himself, And Take Up His Cross Daily, And Follow Me (Luke 9:23).

So Discipleship Is Something We Do

Conversion is something God does for us but discipleship is something we do back toward God. We become a follower, a learner of our Lord, and that takes a lifetime. You may be converted or born again in a moment’s time by the Holy Spirit but it takes a lifetime to become a follower, a learner, a disciple of Christ. I’ll have much to share a little later about these two important stages in your life.

The Power Of The Spirit Opens Up A Whole New AREA Of Miracles And Life

And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee (Luke 4:14).

HE RETURNED IN THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT. Notice now that from His baptism in the River Jordan when the heavens opened and the holy dove came upon Jesus, and He was filled with the Holy Spirit, that He enters a new kind of earthly life — a new dimension of humanity. No longer is He the stranger from Galilee, or the carpenter from Nazareth, or the man walking up into the crowd where John the Baptist was preaching. He NOW comes in the power of the Spirit. The power of the Spirit will open up a whole new area of miracles, of life for the human race. From this moment on our Lord will meet the devil head on. He will go about doing good, healing all who are oppressed of the devil, for God is with Him (Acts 10:38). He will forgive sins, heal sicknesses, cast out fears, make men whole because He’s now in the power of the Spirit. He is here to destroy the works of the devil.

The Entire Christian Life Is A Supernatural Life

It is lived in the power of the Spirit. We retain our intellect. We live in our physical bodies. But at the same moment we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings intellect, body, and spirit into a unity, a harmony, and we cease to be ordinary people, loving only ourselves, caring only about our own need, trying to get. We become giving, loving human beings. We have a new dimension of power. It is the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Was Anointed By The Holy Spirit

In Luke 4:18 Jesus said:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me ...

Notice that Jesus instantly dispelled all personal claims of power and attributed His power to the Holy Spirit.

This is a very personal thing. God knows you as a person, an individual in your own right. He knows your name. He knows the number of hairs on your head. He knows where you live. He knows all your needs and cares. In the same way that the Holy Spirit indwelt Jesus, the Spirit comes to us and we can say, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon ME . .

…because he hath anointed me [or possesses me with the Spirit of God] to preach the gospel to the poor.. .

The word poor here does not necessarily mean pauper. In other words, Jesus was saying, "He has sent Me with the good news of the gospel to those who have needs.” I have met rich people who were poor and poor people who were rich. So you cannot say that the word "poor” here necessarily means material poverty. Jesus is talking about people whose needs cannot be met by mere human power.

Recently I was with two of the greatest people in America whose needs were so desperate that they are now beyond the power of mortal man’s help. They cannot be helped further by doctors; they cannot be helped further by money. Nothing on earth can be done for them. Only a miracle will save and change their lives. So they are poor in that they have terrific needs.

He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted . ..

This means that people are bruised, fragmented, broken. Their personalities have been divided. We are not whole. We are tortured by fear on the one hand and inspired by great faith on the other. Sometimes our fear overcomes our faith and sometimes our faith overcomes our fear. Seldom do we go through a day when we are not broken, either in ourselves or in some member of our family or neighbor. So Jesus is saying, "God has sent Me to heal you.”

[He hath sent me] to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.

Isn’t it remarkable that the church world is only now beginning to accept Jesus as the Healer, as the Great Physician! He not only will bless medical science and use doctors, but also will infuse a human being with His own Holy Spirit, who can change the blood system, the nervous system, and effect a healing in the individual that cannot be explained by the mind of men. Jesus Christ is a healing Christ and Christianity is a healing religion.

It’s important that we understand that the Holy Spirit came on Jesus and sent Him to heal. It really takes the Holy Spirit — the divine Paraclete — to give you a feeling for healing on a supernatural basis. I fully believe it is intellectually impossible to believe in healing by the Spirit of God unless the Holy Spirit enlightens your spirit and your understanding (intellect).

Listen To Jesus Now

It reads like a great poem.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor [those with needs]; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives [to people in bondage], and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised (Luke 4:18).

Do you know this Christ? Is this Christ familiar to you? Or is He known better to you in art, or in poetry, or in words of ministers, or in some book? Is He a living man?

- a dynamic Messiah?

- a conquering Christ who is more concerned about you than you are yourself?

- a Christ who is too good to do wrong, too strong to fail, too wise to make a mistake?

- a Christ who has healing hands and is here in the NOW to touch your life?

It’s so difficult for some of us to actually believe that such a man as our Lord lived, and more difficult to believe that He’s in the NOW.

If you don’t know Him like this I want to assure you that you can. Open your heart and simply ask Him to come in and take control of your life.

2. You And The Holy Spirit In The Now

A man said to me, "Mr. Roberts, you are an intelligent man. Do you actually believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and is in the NOW, like you say?”

I said, "Yes, Sir! I KNOW IT.”

Many times people say to me, "Mr. Roberts, how do you know?”

And I say, "I know that I know that I know that I know that I know that I know — that’s how I know! I KNOW that Jesus Christ is alive in the now.”

The Holy Spirit’s New Name

Jesus talked about the Holy Spirit in reference to the lives and works of His own disciples. Four different times He referred to the Holy Spirit and gave Him a new name.

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever (John 14:16).

The word for comforter in the Greek is the word paraclete. You ought to become familiar with the word paraclete because it means, literally, one called alongside to help. For example, here you are struggling with a burden and someone just steps up and puts his arm and shoulder under it and helps you bear it — someone called alongside to help. This is what the word paraclete means.

Four different times Jesus mentions that word Comforter, or Paraclete, in John 14, 15, and 16. In these chapters He’s referring to the Paraclete’s personal coming to the disciples:

I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever (John 14:16).

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you (John 14:26).

When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me (John 15:26).

It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you (John 16:7).

Now Jesus also had been given a new name. The angel said:

Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).

And it means Immanuel, or God with us. The reason that Jesus became a man was to show us what God is like. God is a Spirit, seemingly so far away, so incomprehensible to our intellect and our spirit. But God sends His Son in the likeness of flesh. He walks on this earth as a man. He sits where we sit. He feels what we feel. And He says:

He that hath seen me hath seen the Father (John 14:9).

In other words, if we’ve seen Jesus we have seen what God the Father is like. The name "Jesus” refers to His visible, physical presence . . . His being a man . . . and Christ refers to His divine nature. So He is Jesus Christ — man-God, God-man. He is God incarnated, or God in the flesh. So Jesus has a new name and now He gives the Holy Spirit a new name which is Paraclete, one called alongside to help.

Now, Jesus says in John 16:7:

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter [Paraclete] will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

Notice what Jesus is saying, "As long as I am here in my visible, physical presence, I cannot send you the Paraclete. So I am going to My Father and if I go to My Father I will send Him to you. And it’s better for you that I go away.”

You see, the disciples had built their lives around the visible, physical presence of Jesus Christ. What they did not realize were the limitations that Jesus had voluntarily placed upon himself. He had stripped himself of His riches in heaven. He had made of himself no reputation. He had no place to lay His head. He laid down everything in order to become a man, to sit where we sit, to feel what we feel.

But now the Christ in the human body of Jesus is straining to return to that unlimited dimension where He will be the full released Christ, where He will be the glorified Jesus Christ, The only way He could do that was to submit to death, to rise from the dead, and ascend to heaven. There on God’s right hand He would pray the Father to send another Comforter which is the Holy Spirit — the divine Paraclete.

Now let me give you another dimension of the work of the Holy Spirit:

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:26,27).

Here the Scripture says the Spirit is praying through you and making intercession "for the saints according to the will of God.” Once the Holy Spirit indwells you He becomes your personal Paraclete. He gathers up the longings and desires of your innermost being and expresses them, through your groanings and prayer language to God.

The Spirit also searches out the inhibitions, hidden resentments, repressions, and scars that are embedded in the human spirit — it may be a hurt that you have carried ever since childhood, or a grudge. But the Spirit knows how to pray and for what to pray that Christ may be complete in us.

THE SPIRIT THROUGH YOU PRAYS IN THE WILL OF GOD AND IN THE MIND OF THE SPIRIT IN YOUR BEHALF OR IN BEHALF OF SOMEONE’S NEED FOR WHICH YOU ARE BURDENED.

He not only knows your heart, but their heart and their needs and He knows exactly what God’s will is regarding each of these needs. He gives utterance through you with groanings for which there is no equivalent expression in human thought. Those "groanings” can only be expressed in "divers kinds of tongues,” tongues that are unknown to the understanding. This is because at times we are incapable of formulating the words or phrases to Accurately and fully unburden ourselves. So we rely on the Holy Spirit who knows how to intercede for us or for the one for whom we are burdened.

THE PARACLETE BECOMES ALL TO YOU THAT HE WAS TO JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF. He begins to reveal the fullness of Christ to you, the everlasting riches of Christ that are laid end-to-end across the heaven and are available to you. Paul says, "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

3. Personally Trusting The Holy Spirit — The Divine Paraclete

It was only during the last few weeks, and even the last day of His life, that Jesus talked in detail about the Paraclete. In John 14 we read the story of the Last Supper, the last night of our Lord’s life as a man in His pre-glorified body. Prior to this, Jesus had not talked much about the Holy Spirit coming upon His disciples. He did attribute the miracles wrought through Him to the power of the Holy Spirit. He made it very evident that He was working in the power of the Spirit, that He was casting out devils by the power of the Spirit.

But now as He gets ready to go to the cross, to die and to be resurrected, and to ascend to heaven and to be glorified at God’s right hand, it suddenly is imperative to Him to prepare His disciples to receive the Holy Spirit.

One of the thoughts Jesus brought out about the Holy Spirit is:

He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you (John 14:26).

The fact of the matter is that although Jesus was their teacher for about 3 years, the disciples never really understood His teachings about the kingdom of God. They didn’t understand Him as a person.

One reason was that the disciples had a Jewish consciousness — a political orientation. That is, in the Old Testament the Messiah is presented both as a lamb and a lion. But in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, it tells us that the first part of our Lord’s life on earth is to be that of a suffering servant, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, a lamb slain from the foundation of the world, for the salvation of man’s sins. However, in Isaiah 10, 11, and 12 it tells us that He will restore the kingdom of Israel to its original glory and even greater glory.

The Jewish people have difficulty even today in seeing the two natures of the Messiah, one as a lamb as we see in the New Testament, and the second coming as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah in the Revelation when He comes back to this earth in His glorified form to establish His eternal kingdom (Revelation 5:5). They had, and still have, trouble with that.

In spite of the fact that the disciples had not learned very well all that Jesus tried to teach them, He came up to the last moments of His earthly existence relatively undisturbed about their lack of understanding His teachings. As a matter of fact, the disciples asked Him what seems to be a stupid question that could have shattered Him on the eve of His departure to heaven just before He ascended. Now, this is after the Resurrection and just before the Day of Pentecost.

He was with His disciples and He was telling them about the Holy Spirit coming upon them . .. telling them they will receive new power to be witnesses unto Him. And He said, "You are to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. .. Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel"? (Acts 1:6).

It’s one of those stupid questions that people ask after you’ve taught and you think they have understood what you’ve said to them. Then somebody comes up with something totally unrelated. Jesus’ reaction could have been, "Oh, no! You’ve missed the whole point! I’ve just thrown away 3 years trying to teach you these things.”

In fact, on one occasion Jesus did say, "O fools, and slow of heart to believe ...” (Luke 24:25). The fact of the matter is that they were slow in their understanding. They were not grasping what Jesus was trying to teach about himself, or about the Holy Spirit.

You may recall in the Bible where Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments on two tables of stone that God had given him. And instead of waiting to hear from God, the Israelites had made a golden calf and were worshiping it. Moses became so upset that he threw the tables of stone down and broke them as if to say, "You dumb, stupid people, you! I’ll have no more to do with you.” (Read Exodus 32.)

It was a similar kind of thing that happened before Jesus left. In 3 years, the disciples were not able to absorb His teaching. But why was not Jesus upset like Moses had been — because Jesus trusted the divine Paraclete. He said to His disciples, "I’m going to hand you over to the Paraclete. He’s going to come to you and tell you what I have been trying to get across for the last 3 years. And I won’t have to worry about you forgetting it. He’ll bring to your remembrance all things whatsoever I have said unto you. He will teach you all that I’ve been talking about.” (Read John 14:26.)

Jesus Trusted The Whole Beginning Of Christianity Into The Hands Of The Paraclete.

Jesus left only a handful of men, most of them uneducated from a seminary or college point of view. He seemed to place the whole future of the Church in the hands of these few unlearned men who just didn’t grasp the picture. But He was really trusting the Paraclete. He knew that He would send the Paraclete. He knew that these followers would receive the Paraclete. And He knew that the Paraclete would be faithful. The Paraclete would teach them whatsoever He had said during those 3 years in which they had not been able to comprehend all He had told them.

Within 24 hours after receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit, on the Day of Pentecost, it is evident that the disciples understood Jesus more and had more supernatural power in their lives than they had understood or had had in all the 3 years previous.

First, they received a new language of prayer and praise in which they could release their inner selves (Acts 2:4).

Second, they understood the Person of Christ, that He is not dead; He’s alive in the now — alive forever-more! (Acts 2:30-32).

Third, they understood that the Spirit would convict people of their sins, that if they would preach under the anointing of God people would be convicted and would come to Christ (Acts 2:37).

Fourth, they developed a holy boldness which they had not had before. (Remember, they fled at the death of Christ.) (Acts 4:13).

Finally, they moved into a supernatural level that seemed almost completely foreign to them during the 3 years when Jesus’ physical presence had been on the earth (Acts 3).

THEY DISCOVERED THAT THE PARACLETE COULD BE TRUSTED TO BLOSSOM THEIR INTELLECT, TO REVIVE THEIR MEMORIES, TO BRING BACK TO THEIR REMEMBRANCE ALL THAT CHRIST HAD SAID.

They even found that the Scriptures came alive to them. On the Day of Pentecost when they received the baptism in the Holy Spirit the Scriptures in the Old Testament came alive in their minds when only a few days before they had been asking such seemingly stupid questions as, "Lord, when are You going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” But now through the infilling of the Holy Spirit they had become men whose response to life began in their spirit, then worked out through their mind and total personality. They became more what God made man to be when He first created him.

You see what the Holy Spirit can do and will do in our lives when we receive and TRUST THE DIVINE PARACLETE!

A Dialogue Between Oral And Evelyn Roberts

(Here is another dialogue between Evelyn and me after this class session. I believe it will help you.)

Evelyn: Oral, it has always bothered me that Christians face conflict so much. We say we have the peace of the Lord in our hearts, yet we are in conflict. I believe this lesson clears up this point in my mind.

Oral: Remember, the Bible says that when Christ left the place of His baptism He was actually both driven and led by the Spirit into the wilderness to a prearranged meeting set up by the Holy Spirit. I don’t believe that even Satan really wanted to be there.

Jesus was taken out into the wilderness to meet him there. It was at that point that Satan suffered a great defeat. That was the beginning of the end. The Holy Spirit is within us and He leads us forth to oppose the forces of darkness. Offensive conflict is a part of the Christian life.

Evelyn: You also said that when Jesus was being baptized in water John said to Him, "I need to be baptized of you” (Matthew 3:14). I always thought this meant that he wanted Jesus to baptize him in water.

Oral: John the Baptist said, "He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost” (John 1:33). So John the Baptist was saying, "I need the baptism in the Holy Spirit.”

Evelyn: I’ve read that Scripture at least a dozen times or more but this is the first time I ever saw it like that. . . but that’s exactly what John is saying.

Oral: The moment you begin to get close to Jesus Christ and see His glory, it makes you hungry for the deeper dimensions of the Holy Spirit. That’s what happened to John the Baptist. He said, "I have need to be baptized by you, Jesus.” Jesus didn’t baptize with water — His disciples did, but not Jesus. He baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Evelyn: I thought John’s statement was one of humility. That is, "You should be baptizing me,” but it was really more like a sigh of his own heart — "Baptize ME in the Holy Spirit.” That is, "I need Your baptism; You don’t need mine.”

Oral: Yes. Now, let’s get into a second part. You notice that Jesus was talking about himself as He talked about the divine Paraclete (the Holy Spirit) because the Paraclete was Jesus’ other self. He was Jesus’ personal representative.

The Paraclete would release Jesus from His physical, visible limitations. He was going to exchange the visible physical for the invisible and spiritual. He would no longer be limited as Jesus the man, although He would continue to be man. He would be glorified and He would have reinvested in Him all that He had laid aside. So when Jesus says, "I will not leave you comfortless (or orphans), I will come to you,” He’s saying, "I’m leaving you as I am in my visible, physical form, but I’m returning to you in My glorified invisible, unlimited form. This is why you will do greater works than I’ve been able to do as the limited physical, visible Jesus — because I will come back unlimited and you will do greater works than I did.”

Evelyn: Today some people say that when you are baptized in water you automatically receive the Holy Spirit. Would you explain the difference in these two experiences?

Oral: The Bible says that Jesus came up out of the water, THEN the Holy Spirit came upon Him. It’s very important to point this out. People can be taught — and often are — that when they are baptized in water they automatically receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit even though there may not be any accompanying evidence other than what someone did. Water baptism, in its proper place, is a tremendous part of the Christian life. But if that’s all we have of the Holy Spirit we don’t have very much. The Holy Spirit is a separate experience from the water baptism. It’s not a part of the water baptism. The Holy Spirit came upon Jesus as He came out of the water, or as the baptism in water was completed. (Also note what Jesus said in Acts 1:5.)

Evelyn: I was interested in your comments regarding Jesus now being greater to us through the Paraclete than He had been visibly and physically.

Oral: Yes. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit is with you but He shall he IN you... in you, where the world can’t get their hands on Him to crucify Him like they did Me.

I think the greatest danger any Christian faces is to try to do God’s work in his own power, in his own strength, rather than depending on the Holy Spirit to really prepare him and to give him that inner boldness.

Early in my ministry I made a twofold vow to God: First, I would never touch the gold or the glory. Second, I would never try to preach or pray for people without the anointing — I would have to feel the Holy Spirit coming upon me.

I have kept those two vows. It’s kept my ministry intact for these many years. I remember in Philadelphia I was preaching in a great auditorium there night after night. One night as I was preparing to leave my hotel to go to the auditorium, I was in prayer but I didn’t feel God’s anointing coming upon me. I said to God, "I will not leave this room; I will not face those people unless you anoint me first. That’s my vow.”

It came up to within minutes of the time the meeting started, which was away down the street at the auditorium, and I was still in my room. I waited and I waited. Finally, I just put my arms across my face and I said, "God, I won’t leave this room. If I go down there without the anointing of the Holy Spirit, I can’t face those people, particularly those people with terrible needs.”

When I said that, I felt the Spirit start up my limbs, coming through my body, my spirit, my mind. I jumped up and said to the young man who was driving me to the service, "Brother, I’m ready to go.”

When I walked into the auditorium that night I didn’t have to tell the people that I was anointed. They knew the anointing was there.

If I’ve learned any lesson in life, it is that you have to be anointed by the Spirit of God to do God’s work. You can’t do it within your own power and strength.

Chapter 5, You Can Have The Power Of Jesus In Your Life Today

Suggested Scripture reading for this lesson: John 7

It’s interesting that Jesus didn’t talk much about the Holy Spirit until the last few days of His life. Then he carefully prepared His disciples for the coming of the Paraclete. He said that when He went back to heaven He would pray the Father and He would send them another Comforter (John 14:16). The Greek word for comforter is paraclete. And the word paraclete means "one called alongside to help.”

Now Jesus said, "The Holy Spirit [Paraclete] is with you, but He shall be IN you.” So the Paraclete, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, is a PERSON. He is not a thing. He is not an it. He is a person. A completely whole person — not bruised, not divided nor fragmented — and He comes with total care, love, and concern for every man. Let me tell you of the Holy Spirit’s power as it relates to your life today.

1. The Power Of A Person

What I’m talking about is the power of a person. Jesus said:

Ye shall receive power, after that the HOLY GHOST is come upon you (Acts 1:8).

This is the power of a person. The word power in Acts 1:8 in the Greek is dunamis, which literally means in modern terms "dynamite,” the explosive power of dynamite. When you receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, you receive the explosive power of the Paraclete. There’s an inner boldness for one thing. There is an inner ability to reach out to God without fear. So many people are afraid to talk to God. But I’ve never met anyone who was baptized in the Holy Spirit, and understood what he has, who has this kind of fear. He now has a direct open communication with God through the Person of the Holy Spirit. Now we use the word person because the only 100 percent whole being is the Holy Spirit.

Adam was made a whole man in the beginning but he lost his wholeness through sin and disobedience to God, and became a divided, fragmented, miserable, unhappy human being. Since then man has been unwhole.

One of the reasons God sent His Son Jesus Christ to the earth was to show us what God is like and what God wants us to be. In the whole man, Jesus Christ, the Man in the flesh, we see a totally integrated being. He is human on the one hand, divine on the other. Son of man. Son of God. Total God. Total man. So Jesus was sent to bring broken humanity wholeness.

A part of the Holy Spirit’s work was to bring Jesus Christ into the world. He had Him born of a virgin. His birth was supernatural. Then He had the Holy Spirit to come upon Him at His baptism in the Jordan. There the Spirit came upon Jesus in power and both led and drove Him into the wilderness. Here He entered conflict — conflict with human powers that are separated from God and conflict with satanic powers that are against God. Later He came out of the wilderness with the power of the Holy Spirit still upon Him, ready to face His temptations and to overcome every one of them. He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

The Holy Spirit filled Jesus, giving Him His power. Jesus said that He did nothing outside the power of the Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, our Lord’s ministry only lasted some 3% years. But through the power of the Holy Spirit within Him He telescoped many lifetimes within that 3V2 years.

2. The Power Of A Personal Relationship

Now, how do you and I receive this same power that Jesus had when He was on earth — the power of the Holy Spirit?

In the Bible we’re told that Jesus Christ is the Baptizer. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, says: I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he [Jesus] shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire (Matthew 3:11).

You can only receive the gift of the Holy Spirit when JESUS gives it to you. So this is a power through a personal relationship. This is not a power that you receive from yourself. It is not a power that you receive from some other human being. It is not a power that you receive from some earthly system. It is a power you receive when the Holy Spirit is given to you by Jesus Christ. As John the Baptist said, "He [Jesus] shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost [Spirit].”

Jesus Christ, continuing the same line of thought, said:

If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink (John 7:37).

In the Greek language this means, "If any man thirst and keep on thirsting — if he reaches a point of desperation where he’s so thirsty he thinks he’s going to die — let him come unto me and drink.”

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified) (John 7:37-39).

Notice: First, JESUS CHRIST IS THE BAPTIZER.

Second, you must THIRST and keep on thirsting. You reach a point of desperation where you know you’re not going to make it without Jesus Christ.

And then that leads you to BELIEVE ON JESUS. It begins with Jesus. It is the power of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ of Nazareth. You don’t just say, "Well, God, I want the baptism in the Holy Spirit.” You start with Jesus. Jesus is the one you deal with.

When you believe on the Man Jesus, something happens in your belly or the inner man. Right down in the solar plexus something happens.

"Out of his [your] belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit . . . because that Jesus was not yet glorified)” (John 7:38). Remember at the time Jesus said this He was still in His human body. He was still physical and visible and human, with His limitations. Only after He’s glorified, sitting at the right hand of the Father, will He be the fully released Christ — that is, the complete full Christ with no further limitations, voluntary or otherwise.

Rivers of living water. Now when you are baptized in the Spirit, you will feel the "living waters” start coming up. They start spreading through you from the central core of your being (belly, Jesus said). One of the most powerful things that continues to happen in a Christian’s life is the phenomenon of the Spirit’s moving inside him. It actually is a movement in both spirit and body. For when the Holy Spirit comes He baptizes both spirit and body.

In 1 Corinthians 6:19 it says, "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.” That is, your body is like a great church building where you have fellowship in the Spirit with other Christians, worship God, share the Good News of the gospel. You learn to become a witness of our Lord. Just as a church building houses the people at worship, your body is a temple, housing your spirit and the Holy Spirit.

You become an extension of the Incarnation. The Incarnation is Jesus as God in human flesh. Likewise, Jesus is incarnated in you and you become an extension of Him — an extension of the risen Christ himself. How? By the Holy Spirit dwelling in you. Your body and spirit contain the Holy Spirit. He said, "For he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:17).

This is why every Christian has to give himself totally to God. He can’t give God his spirit and hold back his body. Nor can he give God his body and withhold his spirit. Nor can he give God his spirit and body without giving the mind. He’s got to give the totality of himself to God. He IS God’s property.

How many times when I’m praying for the healing of the human being these words have come from my lips. They come out before I realize it: "Devil, take your hands off God’s property.” You are the property of God. When the Holy Spirit indwells you, He indwells spirit, mind, and body — the TOTAL man. You’re baptized in the Holy Spirit from your hair to your toenails. You belong to God. So it is the power of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

3. Power From On High

Jesus was talking about a supernatural power, a power which supersedes the ingenuity of man or the ability of any human being. This is the power that spins the universe, that scooped out the bed for the oceans, that flung the stars from His fingertips, sculptured the mountains and hung the earth on nothing. This is the power that creates life. This is the power that gives you a new heart, a new existence. It is the power that heals, the power that lets you walk in the Spirit while you’re down here on a human and physical level. It is power from on high.

Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you (Acts 1:8).

The literal meaning of that statement in the Greek language is "The Holy Spirit CLOTHES you with power.” In other words, the Holy Spirit puts you on like a garment.

For instance, if you were present behind the scenes in a federal courtroom as the judge is robed, you would think they’re putting the robe on him. But what is actually happening is they are investing him with a higher power, the full power of the United States Government. He isn’t going to walk out there into that courtroom without that robe because that robe is a symbol of all power of the government of the United States. You may think that you put on the Holy Spirit but the Holy Spirit puts you on like the judge is clothed with the robe of his office.

One of the things I’ve been most conscious of as I’ve gone across America and throughout the world trying to bring Christ’s healing love to humanity, is this very thing—that the Holy Spirit has put me on like a garment. Sometimes I felt that I was like a checker on a table with a greater power moving me. I do not mean to say that God denies my free will, nor that I do not have the power of choice. I do have the power of choice. I am a free moral agent, just as you are. I can say yes to God, I can say no to God. But when the Holy Spirit puts you on like a garment... some part of you goes up to God, goes out to God, and while you still have the power of choice, you become aware that there is a force moving you, putting thoughts in your mind, putting the Spirit in you, letting you feel the presence of God even at times when you’re not expecting it.

In a sense, the power from on high has become a man. It’s become humanized.

In the summer of ’68 the Oral Roberts University World Action Singers and I were the guests of the late prime minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion. He had retired from the post of prime minister and was living south of Beersheba in the desert, writing his memoirs. During our visit I said, "Mr. Prime Minister, what would you say is the greatest scripture in the Bible?”

And he said, "I believe the greatest scripture in the Bible is in Genesis, where God says, "Let us make man. .. and he made man.”

He explained that when God made man, He didn’t make him Jew; He didn’t make him Arab; He didn’t make him American. He made him a MAN — a human being. And he indicated that what we need is for man to become a human being again, not a member of a certain race or culture, but to become what God originally made him: MAN.

I believe it is through this Man Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit that we can become fully human again, to become man. For it is through a new birth we become a new man. We become the new man by putting on Jesus Christ. The divine Paraclete — the Holy Spirit — brings back to us the greater unlimited Christ. No longer physical and visible in human form, subject to death and subject to time and space. But invisible and spiritually alive forevermore and with the keys of death, hell, and the grave in His everlasting possession. He comes back reinvested, reclothed and reendowed with all His power, glory and riches.

His limitless resources mean that your limitations are nothing. You CAN do what you were born to do. The Holy Spirit will give you the power to do it. Just as He took Jesus out of His human limitations and reinvested Him with the power He had with the Father before the foundation of the world, God will freely by Him give you all things (Romans 8:32).

Oral Roberts University

When I began to obey God to build Oral Roberts University back in the early ’60s I was confronted with two or three very serious limitations. One was my own inadequacy and inability. I didn’t know how to build a university, but God told me to build it. Now how are you going to do something that God tells you, and you don’t know how to do it?

Secondly, God told me to build the university out of the same ingredient He used when He made the world — and He made it out of nothing. So He told me to build Him a university and to start building with nothing. This may sound funny to you. But believe me, it wasn’t funny to me.

Years before, just after I was healed and converted at the age of 17, God said to me:

Some Day You Are To Build Me A University. You Are To Build It On My authority and on the Holy Spirit.

At 17,1 didn’t even know the meaning of those words . .. Me! Oral Roberts was to build God a university — and do it on His authority and on the Holy Spirit.

Twelve years later, in 1947, God thrust me into a healing ministry that soon spread throughout the world. He gave me a concern for people, a feeling of compassion for them. Then in the early ’60s God told me the time had come to build the university.

How do I build a university? I’m in the healing ministry. My ministry is even put down by the educators. In the minds of many of them, I’m at the lowest rung on the ladder. And now I’m to build a university and I don’t even know how to start. I’m just a reasonably intelligent man and I have a gift of God in my life to preach the gospel, to help men to Christ and to pray for the healing of sick humanity, and that’s about all I have. But God says, "Your time has come. Build Me a university. Build it on My authority and on the Holy Spirit.”

Nobody understood me when I said I was to do this and nobody believed I could do it. I had received the infilling of the Holy Spirit when I was 18 years old and I spoke in tongues (the prayer language of the Spirit), but I had never really fully understood what tongues were. I had the experience. I was blessed by it but I did not properly understand how to use it.

So now I launched into an in-depth study of 1 Corinthians 14 and other scriptures on the value of tongues (the prayer language of the Spirit), their purpose and proper use in the now. This study evolved over the months, then years. Gradually a clearer understanding came of the working of the Holy Spirit in the world today, and particularly in the individual, and certainly in me.

In my heart God was saying, "Build Me a university and build it on the authority of God and on the Holy Spirit.”

My heart was saying, "Yes, yes.” But my mind was saying, "No, no.”

Now, have you ever had this experience? Your heart says yes, yes, but your mind says no, no. It’s tough, isn’t it?

We had no land. No campus. No buildings. No students. No faculty. No money. And a man who knows nothing about building a university. .. and he’s going to build one! In effect, my intellect was saying, "You dumb-dumb!” And my intellect was not the only one referring to me as a dumb-dumb. Some others were too. Thank God, because I finally began to understand the baptism in the Spirit within me, and the University is a living reality and a powerful force for Christ, I don’t believe they think I’m quite so dumb now.

Praying In The Spirit Opens Up Your Mind

I began to understand that when I prayed in tongues I could pause and interpret back to my mind. Then I could pray better with my understanding. My spirit could speak through my mind and my mind began to blossom, to sharpen, to come alive to what God was saying to me.

All at once — believe me, friend, when I say this — all at once I understood enough to build a university. I didn’t understand all the details but I understood the basics. I understood because when I met a problem that I could not solve with my intellect I would pray in tongues and then pray with my understanding. Then God would let these rivers of the Spirit flood up in my understanding.

This sounds simplistic, but this is really the way it is — praying in the Spirit (tongues) opens up your mind more keenly to the will of God and to a clearer understanding of what is in His mind for you (Romans 8:26,27).

Speaking in the prayer language of the Spirit, in the final analysis, has its greatest outward effect upon your mind and thus upon your understanding. I know because here is what happened:

One day I was out walking across a piece of land, upon which we paid down a sum of money, that hopefully would one day be the place where we would start building the campus of Oral Roberts University. I’m trying to pray in my understanding, that is, with my own language, and getting nowhere. My mind says,

"No, no, no, no, you can’t do this!” Then by my will I start praying in the Spirit and my heart says, "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. You can. You can. You will. You can. You can. You will. You can.” Then this was interpreted into my understanding.

It came up out of my belly, out of my inner being, as Jesus said, like rivers of water. It came up into my mind. Into my understanding. AND I SAW IT. I saw that God would reintegrate the total personality of man. I saw that the healing ministry as given to me had been born for a purpose . . . including praying for people’s bodies, but much more... it would be a healing for the TOTALITY of man.

I saw that we would create a higher education for your sons and daughters and mine, that they would be educated, beginning in the spirit, then in the mind and the body. They would get a TOTAL education! I SAW IT — I saw the WHOLE-MAN CONCEPT AS BASED ON GOD’S AUTHORITY AND ON THE HOLY SPIRIT. And I knew through the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit I — me — could do it! I knew that I knew that I knew.

I think this is why so many people who visit the campus feel like getting on their knees. They see the beautiful buildings, the lovely students. They see the Prayer Tower. They feel the atmosphere. They sense a Presence — whoever heard of building a Prayer Tower in the middle of a university? See? That’s crazy! Your intellect says, "You are out of your mind!” And in a sense you really are — for you are "in the Spirit.” For when you walk in the Spirit your response to life is both with your spirit AND with your understanding.

So when the Holy Spirit comes upon you it is an investiture of power not from earth, not from your intellect, nor the combined intellects of men, nor of the power of nations or of an ideology, but it is POWER FROM ON HIGH — from God himself.

It is GOD’S POWER coming in a supernatural form upon you so that you are now filled with the energy of God. You clothe yourself with the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit clothes you with himself. In a sense, He puts you on like a garment and you put on the Holy Spirit. It’s like a piece of steel placed in the fire until it becomes red hot. The steel is in the fire and the fire is in the steel. God is in you and you are in God so that you are one — YOU ARE FUSED TOGETHER IN THIS GREAT POWER FROM ON HIGH.

Chapter 6, The First Great Outpouring Of The Spirit

Suggested Scripture Reading For This Lesson: Acts 2

The first great outpouring of the Holy Spirit was in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost.

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place (Acts 2:1).

The word "Pentecost” means fiftieth. That is, seven weeks and one day, or 50 days, following the Passover. Let me explain:

On the night before God led the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, the final plague struck the homes of the Egyptians. Because of Pharaoh’s refusal to let the Israelites go, the firstborn were slain by the angel of death. In order that the homes of the Israelites might be spared, God had told them to slay a lamb and place the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of the house so that the death angel would pass over and their children would be spared. They were then to cook the lamb, eat it, and then prepare to leave Egypt.

Fifty days later, at Mt. Sinai, God gave the Law to Moses who in turn gave it to the children of Israel (Exodus 19).

These happenings were commemorated each year and came to be known as the Passover Feast.

Now it was 50 days after the death of our Lord (the giving of the Passover Lamb, which is Christ himself) ... 50 days later came the pouring out of the Holy Spirit and with it, the opening up of a new and living way through Christ. This was the beginning of the Christian way of life, the Church of Jesus Christ. Now who was present that day? Who were the "they” referred to in the Scripture?

And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.

These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,) Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus (Acts 1:13-16).

This establishes that there were 120 people there on the Day of Pentecost, including Mary the mother of our Lord. This in itself is a miracle. That’s probably the greatest phenomenon of all, that that many people could meet together on one given day and be in perfect accord.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind... (Acts 2:2).

I wouldn’t be surprised if that same sound wouldn’t be repeated today if we as Christians could get together in unity and one accord. It may not come in the same physical sense but the Holy Spirit does come wherever we are in one accord. This sound from heaven was like a rushing mighty wind. It was not a wind. It was a sound like a wind and it was a sound from heaven.

And it [the sound] filled all the house where they were sitting.

I think it’s particularly appropriate to mention that the one hundred and twenty were seated. There’s no particular position that is sacred to God. It is the person who is sacred to God. Not whether he stands, sits, kneels, or lies down.

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them (Acts 2:3).

You recall at Mt. Sinai when God gave the Law to Moses that fire appeared. On the Day of Pentecost there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire. That is, it appeared or looked like fire. It was not fire. It was broken up into little flashes. It was a manifestation from God, just as were the fire and the smoke and the earthquake before God gave the Law to Moses there on Mount Sinai. So here are phenomena that appeared to be physical, taking place as the Holy Spirit is being outpoured on the Day of Pentecost.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost [Spirit] and began to speak with other tongues [the prayer language of the Spirit], as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4).

At Mount Sinai the important thing that happened was not the fire and the smoke and the earthquake but the giving of the Law which became a new way of life for God’s people. So at Pentecost the sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind filling the house, and the cloven tongues like as of fire sitting on each of them, were not the important things. The important thing was that the Holy Spirit (the Paraclete) had come. This, in essence, is Jesus saying,

"I have arrived in heaven. I have been glorified. I have done what I told you I would do. I have prayed the Father to send you another Comforter who is the Holy Spirit, and He has come. I am baptizing you with the Holy Spirit.”

On this occasion 120 men and women, including the apostles and the mother of our Lord, were filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had conceived our Lord Jesus Christ in the womb of Mary and yet she is present on the Day of Pentecost — she feels her need of the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

I cannot say anything more important than to point out the caliber of people who were present that day. These people, who had been so near our Lord when He was on the earth, felt their need of receiving this promised infilling of the Holy Spirit. They thirsted for more of Jesus and He baptized them with the Holy Spirit.

And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he [Jesus], ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost [Spirit] not many days hence (Acts 1:4,5).

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost [Spirit] is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8).

During the 40 days after His resurrection our Lord was with the disciples at different times and places, further getting them ready for the coming of the Paraclete — the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. He told them to REMAIN there in Jerusalem until He had returned to heaven, until He had been restored to His former glory — His unlimited form . . . until He had sent them the Promise of the Father which was the Holy Spirit. And they obeyed.

The Phenomenon Of Tongues

It’s amazing to me that the Christian Church began with such unity. The next amazing thing is that I see the beginning of a new kind of unity among God’s people today. We are truly beginning to form into the Body of Christ.

They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues [the prayer language of the Spirit] as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4).

The important thing is that they were ALL filled with the Holy Spirit. People often ask me, "Which comes first — the baptism in the Holy Spirit or the prayer language of the Spirit?” Well, of course, the baptism in the Holy Spirit comes first because the infilling of the Holy Spirit is what causes and enables us to speak with the prayer language of the Spirit.

The speaking in tongues or the prayer language of the Spirit doesn’t cause the baptism in the Spirit to take place, but it is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in your spirit that gives you the instant ability to speak to God in tongues, which is a true communication of your spirit with Him.

And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven (Acts 2:5).

It was the custom of the Jews to come to Jerusalem once a year from all over the world for the feast of the Passover. So the city was filled with strangers from all over the world, most of them Jews or proselyte Gentiles who had been adopted into the Jewish faith.

They were very devout, that is to say, they were dedicated to God according to their knowledge of the Law of Moses.

Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language (Acts 2:6).

Notice, first of all, that when the Holy Spirit was given, only the one hundred and twenty were present. It was a very private affair, a devotional scene. But then news of the one hundred and twenty there speaking in the prayer language of the spirit began to infiltrate the city. THEN the crowd gathered. And they were confused because they heard the one hundred and twenty speaking in the language of the Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and various others. They marvelled at this because they said:

Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? (Acts 2:7,8).

You see, the one hundred and twenty were Galileans from the province of Galilee. This was an area north of Jerusalem that was looked down upon because the Galileans were uneducated, uncultured people of Israel. They were not sophisticated in any sense of the word. Yet here they were speaking fluently in the languages of all the nations represented — languages which they had not learned.

Another amazing thing is found in verse 11:

Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God (Acts 2:11).

Nobody thought of the Galileans as religious people. They certainly were not looked upon as super spiritual men and women. Simon Peter, a Galilean, was present on that day. He was probably the roughest of the lot. He had accepted Christ and had been with Him about 3 years. He had even declared Jesus to be the Son of God by divine revelation. Yet at the crucifixion Peter actually cursed and denied that he had ever known Jesus. This was a hot-blooded bunch from Galilee — uncouth, uneducated, uncultured and ready to fight at the drop of a hat. So it was most amazing to the Cretes and Arabians and others present to find them praising God. And in the language of their own countries! They wondered what had happened to these uncouth, unlettered Galilean people.

And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying to one another, What meaneth this? (Acts 2:12).

You see, THEY WERE STILL IN THEIR HUMAN UNDERSTANDING. They were in their intellect and they were trying to reason it out.

There’s no way any man can reason out God. He has to start with faith and discern spiritual things through his spirit, not his intellect. However, one good way to have faith is to start with doubt. Some of the greatest faith I’ve ever had began in honest doubt. Because as you doubt, you begin to examine it .. . and as you carefully examine, you find evidence for your faith to act on — and it will do it every time.

Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine (Acts 2:13).

That is, they said, "They are drunk.” In a sense they were right. First, they sensed that they were people who had had problems. And of course people who drink alcohol have problems. They drink it because they feel they need it. In fact, they come to a point where they feel they have to have it — a crutch to lean on.

I’ve never been severe with alcoholics. I don’t drink. I just don’t find any place in my life for alcohol and I notice the closer people get to God and the more of the Holy Spirit they get, the less that they have to have things such as alcohol. But I can’t go around preaching against alcohol all the time. I preach Christ. Somehow when Christ fills you up, there are a lot of things in this old world you don’t need anymore.

Here are these fellows — Peter, James, and John, and all the rest — these men who had the privilege for three and a half years of walking with Jesus in the flesh. They had even gone forth in His name and cast out devils and healed the sick; they had duplicated many of the works of Jesus. They were tremendous men. But at the crucifixion all that success turned into failure. They all forsook Him and fled. Maybe it was because of a scripture in the Old Testament which says, "For he that is hanged is accursed” (Deuteronomy 21:23).

Then in the New Testament it says, Cursed is every man that hangeth on a tree (Galatians 3:13). The Jewish people rejected crucifixion. It was the most abominable of deaths. The fact that Jesus Christ would submit to crucifixion, to the cross, was a stumbling block to the Jews.

The disciples had followed Jesus Christ three and a half years, had believed in Him, had even done some miracles, and now all of it comes crashing down around their heads. Not only is He killed but He’s killed on a CROSS. He’s violated what they believed about their religion.

Their spirits are scarred. They are filled with frustrations and torments. They now know that Christ has risen from the dead. They’ve seen Him; they’ve touched Him. They’ve handled Him. They know He’s alive, alive forevermore. And they say, "Well, why didn’t we understand that? How could we have denied Him? How could we have been so dense in our minds — so unable to understand that He must need suffer and go to the cross?” They still carried the effects of their failure in their spirits.

Now when God baptizes them with the Holy Spirit and they begin to speak with prayer languages of the Spirit as the Spirit gives them utterance, something happens on the inside — in the spirits — of these men. They have at last broken through the limits of their intellect. They have now gone beyond the intellect with which they had denied their Lord and even disbelieved His resurrection. They have gotten into the Spirit. God has baptized them in the Spirit. They have been filled, immersed, suffused in the Holy Spirit. They’ve been opened up and out of their belly rivers of water (which is the Holy Spirit) have begun to flow.

They are now able to speak to God in the prayer language of the Spirit. They are able to have direct communication with God.

The Holy Spirit is giving them therapy. As they pray in the prayer language of the Spirit they are releasing their inner emotions. All the failures, all these festering sores of their memory about rejecting Jesus at the cross are wiped out. No wonder the crowd is saying, "They are full of new wine.”

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel (Acts 2:14-16).

Peter starts with the prophecy of Joel. Let me point out some important things to you in this. First of all, the one hundred and twenty who were speaking in the prayer language of the Spirit were doing it before it was noised abroad and before the big crowd came. They were also using the prayer language of the Spirit when the crowd arrived and started listening in.

There are those who sincerely believe that when the crowd came they heard the gospel of Jesus preached to them in their own language. In a sense, they believe that the one hundred and twenty had now become missionaries and had supernaturally been given the language of the people from that particular country and that’s what "speaking in tongues” is.

But in all fairness to the scripture, let me point out to you that as soon as the crowd arrived and listened, there is no indication that they were being preached to. Actually, they were greatly confused about these Galileans — the fact that these people could speak so fluently in the tongue of the country in which they themselves had been born. Then their confusion turned to doubt. They wanted to know what it meant. For they said, "They are speaking of the wonderful things of God,” indicating they were hearing them praising God. The thing that amazed them was that these so-called uncultured, uneducated people were able to speak fluently in a language they had never learned and that they were speaking of God and His marvelous works.

I mentioned to you before that these disciples had come out of the terrible traumatic experience of having denied their Lord, but now they are praising God. It’s because the Holy Spirit has moved into their hearts, healed their inner man, released them from all of the terrible scars of their spirit, and given them a new joy and love for God. And they were just praising God, and telling Him how wonderful He was. Now that’s really what confused these onlookers who were now eavesdropping on them.

Second, when the crowd came, the fact is that soon after, all of those speaking the prayer language of the Spirit stopped! At the very moment that you would have expected them to preach — if the prayer language were given for this purpose — they became silent and Peter rose to speak.

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words . . . (Acts 2:14).

At this point, Peter is not speaking the prayer language of the Spirit as the Spirit gives him utterance. Peter is back in his own tongue, not a tongue by which the Spirit gave him utterance. He continued to be inspired by the Spirit, but in his own language. And he begins to PREACH in the tongue of his own language. Now that’s a fact and you should accept it and appreciate it.

Another thing that’s very important to you is that all Jesus said would happen when the Paraclete (the Holy Spirit) came, did begin to happen!

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost [Spirit], whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you (John 14:26).

Peter’s Sermon On The Day Of Pentecost

Here on the Day of Pentecost Simon Peter, this uncultured rough peasant of Galilee, is able to quote the Old Testament, to pick out a prophecy from the Old Testament that is completely relevant to the issue of what’s happening at that moment.

But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved (Acts 2:16-21).

The prophets in the Old Testament had prophesied this day would come when this phenomenon would happen. Until that time, the Jews believed that in order to be accepted by God you had to be converted to the Jewish faith. You had to learn the Law of Moses. You had to be adopted into the kingdom of Israel to be accepted of God.

Now Peter, this uncultured, uneducated man, suddenly is given divine illumination, that the day would come (and had come) when WHOSOEVER would call on the Lord would be saved (Acts 2:21). No longer would a man have to come through a temple in Jerusalem. He wouldn’t have to keep the dietary laws of the Jews. He wouldn’t have to keep a sabbath day. He wouldn’t have to pay a tenth of his income (tithe) in order to be saved. He would call upon the Lord and he would be saved.

Now read Acts 2:22-36. Here Peter preached how Jesus had been crucified and resurrected and had poured out the Holy Spirit.

And when they [those who had gathered] heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? (Acts 2:37).

That is, the hearts of the people were deeply moved and they immediately wanted to know, "What must we do to be saved?”

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost [Spirit] (Acts 2:38).

Immediately, Peter said, REPENT. This was his first word to them. This sermon, preached by Peter on the Day of Pentecost, was the first sermon preached this side of the glorification of Christ. It’s the first thing God said through a man after the Church came into being on the Day of Pentecost. And when the crowd responded, Peter’s first word to them was REPENT. So you can see the importance God places upon repentance for you and me in the now.

Repentance is a complete change — it turns your life around. You are sorry because you have done wrong and you ask God’s forgiveness. It is a change of your mind, based upon a change in your heart — your innermost thoughts and being. You no longer want to sin, or to make it a way of life to you. You change your MIND — your way of THINKING, your way of ACTING — then salvation happens inside you. It’s a miraculous change of your old nature, a new birth that changes you into a new creature in Jesus Christ.

Salvation is a Person . . . the Man Jesus Christ saving you. Through the Holy Spirit He creates in you a new heart, a new spirit. You start a new way of life. You don’t think like you once thought, You have a change of attitude, a change of habits, a change in your ENTIRE way of living — and it’s all toward loving God, and loving other people as you love yourself. It’s a conversion experience in which God gives you a SECOND BIRTH or the rebirth of your spirit. It’s a beginning to follow Christ and learning to become His disciple every day of your life for the rest of your life.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, ALL THINGS ARE BECOME NEW (2 Corinthians 5:17).

You may look like the same person outside, but inside there is a renewing going on. The likeness and image of God are restored to your spirit. And the Holy Spirit is there flooding up from your inner self. As Jesus says:

He that believeth on me . . . out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive) (John 7:38,39).

They received the baptism in the Holy Spirit (gift of the Holy Spirit) on the day of Pentecost. This was a new dimension of the Person of the Holy Spirit who had been with them all the time. The only reason they had not received this gift before was because Jesus in His limited form had to be crucified, resurrected, and returned to heaven from where He would pour it out on them.

Now if you have repented and believed on Christ the Holy Spirit has already come in and you have an open door to a deeper level of communication with God. You can, if you will do it, speak directly to God in a new prayer language of the Spirit. You can communicate with Him, beginning with your spirit. This means you can speak directly to God with your SPIRIT and then WITH YOUR UNDERSTANDING (1 Corinthians 14:15). You can pray much better with your understanding AFTER first praying with your spirit in tongues.

When you repent and believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit will come in and you can immediately start praying with your spirit. These rivers will start flowing, as Jesus said in St. John 7:37-39. You can will to do it and by lifting your voice to the Lord, your spirit will use your speech organs to talk to God.

Remember the Holy Spirit is a Person; as a Person He can talk. It is His purpose to help you talk directly with God with your spirit, as well as with your understanding. Through the prayer language God will release more of your true feelings to yourself. He will help you understand Him better, and you will feel you are on a more personal level with Him.

Further, all these things given to you by the Spirit are just that much more of Jesus.

They that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers (Acts 2:41,42).

After repentance, believing in Jesus and receiving Him as your Savior, the Spirit comes in to help you. Through the SPIRIT YOU CAN COME INTO DISCIPLESHIP. . . which means following Jesus daily. Jesus said:

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me (Luke 9:23).

Jesus is talking about something now that follows repentance of sin and becoming a Spirit-filled Christian. He’s talking about a journey — a journey that lasts a lifetime — a journey on which you embark as you try to become a disciple. It’s the hardest thing any of us has ever tried and I’m sure we have not fully achieved it as we should, but it is our highest desire and goal. . . that is, every day of our life we take up our cross daily and truly endeavor to follow our Lord and be like Him as He would have us do — to be His disciple.

Chapter 7, What Is The Prayer Language Of The Spirit?

Suggested Scripture reading for this lesson: 1 Corinthians 14

Two men especially were greatly used of God in the Early Church in introducing and teaching concerning the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the prayer language of the Spirit. They were Peter — whose ministry I have discussed in another chapter — and the Apostle Paul, formerly known as Saul of Tarsus.

The Apostle Peter received the gift of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. He had the prayer language of the Spirit experientially and he was able to help others receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, but nowhere in the New Testament does he take time to teach concerning this gift. It took another kind of man to do this, and his name was Paul.

Peter was from Galilee but Paul was from Tarsus. Both were Jews. Peter grew up in the uncultured area of Galilee but Paul came from the most sophisticated area of Asia Minor. Tarsus was a city of great universities. Peter was a fisherman, while Paul was a scholar in Greek philosophy and all types of things taught in the universities in that time. He was also a theologian of the Jewish religion, having studied at the feet of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). Paul was also a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee (Acts 23:6).

Peter was a citizen of Palestine, while Paul was a Roman citizen. As you recall, the Romans were in power at that time. Tb be a citizen of Rome you had to be born of Roman parents. However, it was possible to purchase citizenship with a great amount of money but this was not easy. In most cases you also had to perform some tremendous deed for the Roman Government. As far as we know, Paul’s Roman citizenship was derived from his parents, who apparently were outstanding people and were recognized as such by the Roman Government.

As far as we know, Paul was not present in any of the meetings that Jesus conducted while He was alive in the flesh. Christ was later revealed to him in a vision but Paul never saw Him with his own physical eyes while Jesus was on earth.

You will recall that through his reason, his intellect, Paul was unable to accept Jesus Christ while He was on earth in His limited physical form. Paul doubted the story of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and it angered and enraged him that the followers of Jesus could not be stopped. He set about — with authority given him by the Jewish Sanhedrin, a group of 70 men who were the ruling elders of the land — to destroy Christianity in its infancy.

Paul would search for Christians and cause as many as possible to blaspheme Jesus. Others, he would put into prison. Still others, he would cause to be put to death. He was making a wreckage of the new church when he met the young man Stephen, a man full of the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:5). And let me tell you, he met more than his match. Oh, Paul was able to arrest Stephen; he was able to stop him; he was able to have him put to death. We read that Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, said, "I see ... the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” (See Acts 7:54-60.) And Stephen prayed that God would not lay the sin of his death to the responsibility of those who were putting him to death.

Paul saw this happen. He was the man who held the clothes of those who were stoning Stephen, and consented to his death. In my opinion, he never got away from it because the Holy Spirit was in young Stephen.

One day Paul was on his way from Jerusalem to Damascus. He heard that there were Christians there and he was determined to destroy them. But the One he met on the road to Damascus was Jesus himself. Paul (then known as Saul of Tarsus) suddenly fell to the ground. A blinding light engulfed him and a voice spoke. "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (Acts 9:4).

And he said, "Who art thou, Lord?” (Acts 9:5).

The fact was that whenever Paul persecuted anybody who had Jesus he was persecuting Jesus. Jesus was very sensitive to this type of persecution. It was in that encounter with Jesus that Paul was told to go into Damascus and wait.

In the blinding light Paul had lost his sight. He had been for several days now in a certain house fasting and praying, waiting upon God. While he was there God sent one of the Christians, Ananias by name, apparently a Christian layman, to minister to him. When the Lord said, "You go over there and lay your hands on Paul,” Ananias said, "Lord, you know who this is, don’t you? He’s coming over here to kill us.” But Jesus assured him that it was all right to go. So Ananias laid his hands on Paul and Jesus healed his blinded eyes and he received the Holy Spirit. (See Acts 9:10-18.)

Now Paul was converted, filled with the Holy Spirit, and called to preach the gospel. At that moment, you and I enter the picture because Paul was called to preach to the Gentiles (Romans 11:13).

What happened to Paul from this moment on has a lot to do with you and me today. He said that he immediately did not confer with flesh and blood, that is to say, with other people. He did not find a Christian to ask him what Christianity meant, what it was like, what it was all about. He went into Arabia, into the deserts, and then to Damascus.

Over a period of 3 years — there in the loneliness of the deserts and other places — Paul was alone. He was ALONE. Remember that he knew the Scriptures from a child up. He had studied the Scriptures. He is now alone with the Scriptures, with Jesus, and himself. He seeks to know who he is and what he is — and what he is to do.

Simon Peter spent 3 years with Jesus while He was in His physical, visible form and he flunked out by deserting Jesus during His crucifixion. By comparison Paul spent 3 years there in the deserts alone with Christ and when he came out he was on fire.

He knew what Christianity was all about. He had it not only as an experience, a personal experience, but he had the knowledge and understanding of it. (Read Galatians 1:11-19.) Paul had the experience of the infilling of the Holy Spirit and he had the knowledge that goes along with it. How important to have both the experience and the understanding.

Simon Peter had the experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He spoke in the prayer language of the Spirit. It worked wonders in his inner man. He was able to help others receive, as is recorded in Acts 8 at Samaria, and at the house of Cornelius in Acts 10. He was able to reassure the Jewish brethren that these people had received the same gift of the Holy Spirit that they had on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 11:15-18). Peter had the experience, he understood it, but he didn’t seem to have the gift of communicating as Paul did later.

Paul not only had the experience but also he had it in knowledge and in ability to express it in simple terms to others. The prayer language of the Spirit was an experiential part of his Christian life and he delighted in sharing it (Read 1 Corinthians 14.)

There are many similarities between Peter and Paul.

Peter had denied Christ, even using curse words,

Paul had rejected Christ’s authentic life and His resurrection.

On the Day of Pentecost when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit came and Peter spoke with the prayer language of the Spirit, he received a therapy of his inner man. He was getting released, recreated. Paul, out there in the desert with no human communications, remembered how he had persecuted the Church, how he had rejected Jesus Christ and it still hurt his spirit that he had done it. I believe he too received the therapy of the Holy Spirit.

I believe that that’s when he began to understand what the prayer language of the Spirit really is, and also why he is able to explain it to us so well in 1 Corinthians 14:1-19.

Paul wrote 1 and 2 Corinthians to the Christians in Corinth. Now when Paul wrote to a church — or a group of believers —- he took into consideration their social or cultural background, or whatever problem they were wrestling with in their newfound Christian experience. The Corinthian Church was to some extent the greatest of all the New Testament churches, but on the other hand it had the most severe problems, much of them due to the cultural background.

Corinth was a great sprawling city. Although it was not located directly on the sea, it was known as a seaport town. It was a city where paganism was rank. The people worshiped in a temple that had a thousand young priestesses with whom the male worshipers ended their worship in sexual intercourse. This was part of their worship of idol gods.

There were great riches in Corinth, also great poverty. The people were educated in one sense of the word, but in another they were nonintellectual, unsophisticated, and very emotional.

Have you ever thought about your own cultural background, or why you are what you are? You may have been born into a home where you were raised as a Catholic or as a Protestant or as a Jew, or as an atheist. You may have been raised in a home that believed in education or in one that didn’t want you to get an education. All of us to some extent, and sometimes to a large extent, reflect our backgrounds.

As far as the city was concerned, they were possibly at the lowest rung of the social ladder in the Roman Empire. So when they accepted Christ and received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and the gifts of the Spirit began to work in them, these Christians reacted in a different way than virtually anyone else in the entire Christian world of the first century.

1 Corinthians 14:1-19, Verse By Verse

So let’s consider 1 Corinthians 14:1-19, start verse by verse, and really try to catch the tone in Paul’s voice as he communicates to these Corinthian Christians.

Follow after charity [love], and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy (1 Corinthians 14:1).

In this verse Paul is saying, "My beloved Corinthian Christian brethren, what I want you to do is to really get excited about God’s love in your heart. Follow it. Make it the key pursuit of your life. Really try to love God and to love people. But while you are following after love, I want you also to desire the gifts of the Holy Spirit.”

Someone may say, "You take the gifts of the Spirit and I’ll take the love.” That’s like saying, "You take the track and I’ll take the train.” I mean what’s a train worth without a track? And what’s a track worth without a train?

I want the love AND the gifts of the Spirit, for what is love worth without a gift of the Spirit? And what is a gift of the Spirit worth without God’s love? Paul is not saying "either/or,” he’s saying, "Follow after love AND at the same time deeply desire these spiritual gifts.”

Now notice that we are not to seek after these gifts, we are to desire them. We are to seek the Giver of the gifts, JESUS. All the gifts of the Holy Spirit are resident in Him, and when He is in us His gifts are in us also . .. every moment for every need.

Then Paul adds, "But rather that ye may prophesy.” Tb communicate love and the gifts is all-important, he is saying here.

For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him (1 Corinthians 14:2).

Many of these Corinthian Christians had had no real cultural or social standing and background. When the Lord began to fill them with the Spirit, one of the manifestations was tongues or the prayer language of the Spirit. Each one of them could use it if he wanted to and he could use it at will. It was a tremendous release; it was something he used to edify or to build up himself inside. Well, that was great.

Later we find out that every time the Corinthians met they all began to speak in the prayer language of the Spirit at the same time. They were inadvertently making it like a plaything. It was as if they said, "This is something special for me. I can do with it whatever I want to. It’s mine, I can do with it as I please.” The prayer language was authentic but the manner in which they were using it was out of place. It was as if they were making it an exhibition. There was not enough love or consideration for each other.

Notice how beautifully Paul deals with them. When he puts them down on the one hand, he picks them up on the other. He does it so they won’t lose face or lose sight of the importance of the prayer language of the Spirit, but so they will know there are certain things they’ve been neglecting that they should be observing. In the second half of verse 2, Paul says:

... howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

Paul tells us there are two forms of behavior in the use of tongues. One of them is for an individual when he is by himself or with a small group which shares common interests. There’s another form of behavior when Christians get together in a group in a public service. For example, suppose you are in your home. There are certain things you do in your home. There are certain things you do in your home that you don’t do up on Main Street or outside your home. Or if you go to somebody else’s house, you may not do there exactly what you would do in your home.

In verse 1, Paul said, "I want you to follow after LOVE.” The word for love here is agape, which in the Greek means "love without regard to the value that is placed on a person.” When you love a person, whether you think he’s great or not, that is agape love.

Then Paul says, "Desire spiritual gifts.” That is, desire the charisma of God, the special gift of God. But now, Paul says, "Let’s get right down to what Christianity is all about. You are witnesses of Christ. So rather, I desire that you prophesy.”

Tb give a prophecy is to speak in your own tongue or language as the Spirit gives you an inspired utterance.

Prophecy is an inspired utterance. It doesn’t come through your intellect. It isn’t something you study out. It’s something that the Holy Spirit just drops into your mind or your heart. As you speak it, you give an inspired statement and it’s remarkable in its effect upon people.

For example, there have been times when I was speaking on something I had studied and was prepared to give and all at once I felt the Holy Spirit move in me and inspire me. Then the words that came from my lips were not words I had learned, but words I had not studied. They were statements in my own tongue that were inspired; that is, God was handing me in a bulletin fresh — right then — something hot off the wire from heaven. When this happens usually some will come to me later and say that as I spoke they felt the Spirit moving through them and communicating something from God to them.

Paul says the whole of the Christian’s life is a thrust toward witnessing to people. Therefore, we need to follow after love and to desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. Learn to be moved upon by the Spirit so that you can say something under the inspiration of the Spirit. Don’t depend only on your own intellect.

As we study 1 Corinthians 14 we discover that Paul is not talking so much about tongues or the prayer language of the Spirit as he is about a new dimension in our understanding. Because if we don’t understand, we really cannot be effective Christians. THE REAL PURPOSE OF THE PRAYER LANGUAGE OF THE SPIRIT IS TO HELP OUR INTELLECT AND OUR UNDERSTANDING, AND TO BUILD UP OUR INNER SELF IN THE LORD.

For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God (1 Corinthians 14:2).

Why is Paul saying this? He’s saying, "If you are trying to give a witness through tongues, or if you are trying to get somebody’s attention and lead him to Christ by speaking in tongues, or if you are trying to teach him through tongues, then you are really on the wrong track. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God.” You just cannot use tongues as a teaching or preaching vehicle, for people in their intellect cannot understand you.

Paul seems to be saying, "You Corinthians are really thrilled about 'speaking in tongues’ and I’m going to tell you in a moment what’s happening to you, how great it is. But you are really using it out of place.”

But he that prophesieth [who speaks by an inspired utterance in his own tongue] (1 Corinthians 14:3).

When we prophesy, Paul says that we speak unto men. This is a horizontal relationship: me to you and you to me, as the Spirit moves us to speak. The devotional prayer language of the Spirit is vertical — out of my spirit, over my tongue to God. It bypasses my intellect in that my intellect doesn’t create the words. I speak as the Spirit gives me utterance, not as my intellect gives me utterance. So I speak in the prayer language of the Spirit, up over my tongue, bypassing my intellect, straight to God.

But when I prophesy I speak out of my spirit and by the Holy Spirit. What I speak first comes up out of my spirit by the Holy Spirit, then it comes through my intellect (mind) over my tongue. My intellect or mind is used in an inspired way. My intellect is able to create inspired sentences and statements that men can grasp with their spirit, then with their mind, thus understanding what I’m saying. The inspired statements are horizontal — they are man to man. The purpose and usefulness of prophecy is to edify, to exhort, and to comfort other people by inspired utterances.

He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself (1 Corinthians 14:4).

I want you to notice that when Paul says, "He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself,” he is not speaking of a gift of tongues which requires the gift of interpretation. He is speaking of the prayer language of the Spirit in the believer. He’s simply describing the use of this prayer language as a vertical relationship between you and God. It’s devotional. It’s a private, personal devotion by which you edify yourself.

And what is the purpose of this devotional prayer language, which every believer can release to God in his personal life? It edifies your spirit, calms you and strengthens you on the inside, and sends your deepest longings to God.

At times when our burdens are so great and we have no words to adequately express what we feel, then the Holy Spirit searches out and prays from deep within our heart and soul "making intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26).

This is what Paul was telling the Corinthians: "Brethren, what I want you to understand about the prayer language of the Spirit is that you are really edifying your own spirit, your inner man.”

Someone said to me, "Well, is that all the use that the prayer language of the Spirit is, just edifying myself?”

I said, "Can you think of any better reason than that you would be edified — which means to build you up spiritually in the inner man? Can you think of anything a Christian, from a subjective point of view and a personal point of view, needs more than to be built up spiritually in the inner man?”

So many Christians are full of frustrations, fears, insecurities and doubts that edifying themselves by tongues, or the prayer language, is an edifying force they cannot afford to be without.

Paul is not putting down the prayer language of the Spirit. He’s simply describing it as a vertical relationship between you and God. It’s devotional. It’s a private, personal devotion by which you edify yourself. He’s talking here about you, an individual, using tongues in your own devotions.

But he that prophesieth edifieth the church (1 Corinthians 14:4).

That is, when a person speaks an inspired utterance in his own tongue, he is speaking to the understanding of the people who hear him, who have gathered together in the church (a group of believers).

I would that ye all spake with tongues (1 Corinthians 14:5).

In other words, Paul is saying, "Now I know a lot of you have the prayer language of the Spirit and some of you don’t.” Not all the Christians in Corinth had released the prayer language.

Do You Have To Speak In Tongues?

This leads me to make this observation. I’m inevitably asked, "Do you have to speak with tongues or do you have to have a prayer language of the Spirit?” Well, I ask you, "Do you have to breathe?” It is almost that kind of question as far as I’m concerned. I like to answer it like Paul did. "I WOULD THAT YE ALL SPAKE WITH TONGUES.” I know it will enable you to be built up in your inner man.

My observation is this: In all these years that I have had this experience and have prayed for people to receive it, in every case where there was any openness at all or lack of tension and inhibition, every one has received it. It’s my personal belief that any child of God, any born-again believer, anyone who has repented and received Christ, has the Person of the Holy Spirit, the divine Paraclete already. It’s my experience that he can release the prayer language of the Spirit immediately if he knows how to open up his inner self.

Most of us are tense. We are inhibited. Something down inside us doesn’t let go. So I usually say, I’ve never met a believer who I thought couldn’t receive or release the prayer language of the Spirit if he really wanted to and if he had some instruction.

Sometimes a person does not release the prayer language because he’s not been instructed. He might not know how, or, as Paul says, he might be unlearned in it (1 Corinthians 14:23).

On the other hand, a person may have been taught so strongly against the experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit that he thinks if he receives he would blaspheme the Holy Spirit. In other words, he would be doing some terrible, terrible thing. That happens! Some people have been taught this way and they are sincere people.

It’s a little hard for me to understand for if you are going to accept the Bible as the Word of God and believe it, well, there it is. Are you going to cut part of the Bible out and throw it away? I know there are some people who don’t think all of the Bible is inspired. I am one who believes it is. I believe it’s inspired — all of it. I wouldn’t change any part about the Bible if I could.

Now I want you to notice how beautifully and clearly Paul works with the Corinthians. He does not put them down. He tries to teach them something. And if you approach this chapter in the spirit in which Paul gave it, it will be remarkable what you will learn from it. He tells them, "I would that ye all spake with tongues ...” He makes them feel good, and they say, "He’s one of us ... he speaks in tongues ... this is great.” Then he says, "But, wait a minute.” You see, many of these Corinthians looked upon their gift of the Holy Spirit as a prized possession. They thought it was something they had that maybe not very many others had. They said, in effect, "Because of this we’re really superior Christians.”

They were making tongues the common denominator of Christian fellowship. And Paul was just saying, "You can’t do this. Christ is the common denominator of the Christian life. It’s our Lord Jesus Christ himself. It’s the Person of Jesus. You cannot take any doctrine, or any revelation, or anything that we could possibly conceive of and make that something special — up here above our Lord—because our fellowship is around Christ and His body.”

Let me further illustrate that. When Dr. Henrietta Mears was alive she was a great Bible teacher at the First Presbyterian Church in Hollywood, California. She is now with our Lord. She was responsible for leading thousands of young people to the Lord. Many of them entered the ministry or the teaching profession. I knew her personally and admired her. Someone once said to Dr. Mears, "Do I have to believe in the book of Genesis in order to be saved?”

"Oh,” she said, "of course not. Tb be saved you have to believe in Jesus Christ and then He will take care of Genesis later.”

You see what I mean? Sometimes we Christians go off on a tangent on some part of Christ that’s very real in itself, but we separate it from the center and get too far away from the center.

... but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying (1 Corinthians 14:5).

Notice that Paul is now back in the church — in the public worship service. It’s very important that you have the spiritual discernment to understand here in 1 Corinthians 14, when Paul is talking to an individual as a person in prayer by himself, or when he’s talking to that same individual and his behavior with the group in church.

Read 1 Corinthians 14:5 again and notice the setting is in a worship service of the church. He is not referring to a private devotion of tongues by an individual when he is by himself. But to the behavior of that person using a tongue in a believers’ meeting. It makes a lot of sense when you know the difference.

I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues,... (1 Corinthians 14:5).

Now if you put a period there where the comma is, then you are going to have to conclude that anybody who can prophesy is a greater Christian than someone who speaks with a gift of tongues. I know some teach this as if it were based on this Scripture. However, when you realize a comma belongs here, then you must go on with the rest of the sentence —except he interpret.

In other words, it is better for a person in a believers’ meeting to prophesy than to speak publicly with the gift of tongues . .. except or unless he also interprets its meaning to the understanding (the mind) of those present.

Now if a person interprets the gift of tongues, then the person prophesying is not greater, or not more effective. They are of equal value, for in each case the church is edified or built up in the Lord. There is no place for one being greater than the other. Only love is the greatest of all!

Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine? (1 Corinthians 14:6).

In other words, if I begin teaching and I start speaking in the prayer language of the Spirit and spend the rest of the teaching session in that manner, how in the world can anyone in the audience understand and thus profit? You cannot, unless I bring you a revelation from God, or a word of knowledge, or some prophecy, or some doctrine.

Don’t you see that the moment I begin to witness to you I must get out of the prayer language of the Spirit and use an instrument that you can understand. That is, I must begin speaking in your language, either by an inspired utterance or with something I’ve studied out of the Bible, or some personal experience, or some word of doctrine.

Now let’s notice how Paul reasons with the Corinthians and with you and me.

And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? (1 Corinthians 14:7).

If you are playing a piano or organ and you don’t create a distinctive sound, how can a music lover understand what you are doing?

For if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? (1 Corinthians 14:8).

In those days people usually lived in walled cities. They had men posted on the wall day and night watching for invading armies. They had rehearsed the entire city so that when they heard the trumpet sound — and there was a certain sound given by the trumpet that meant the enemy is coming — they were to get ready to fight. So Paul says, "If those fellows upon the wall toot their horn and they don’t toot that sound that tells that the enemy is coming, how can you prepare for battle?”

It’s like an air-raid warning. If we don’t know that the air raid is coming — if we don’t hear the designated sound — we are not going to run for a place where we will be safe. This is what Paul is saying. He’s reasoning with us now, urging us to have the thrust of our Christian witness towards our fellow man, and not take something personal like the prayer language of the Spirit which is between you and God, and make a teaching or preaching instrument of it. It has to be used for a purpose and for the purpose God intended.

So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air (1 Corinthians 14:9).

That is, you will just be beating the air. People won’t understand a word you are saying.

There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification (1 Corinthians 14:10).

"There are a thousand kinds of sounds in the world,” Paul says, "but every one of them has a significance.”

Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me (1 Corinthians 14:11).

In that day a barbarian was a pagan, a man unacquainted with the culture of the Roman Empire . . . an uncivilized person by Roman standards.

Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church (1 Corinthians 14:12).

Whatever you do toward some other person, do something that will uplift him. Now doesn’t that make a lot of sense?

Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret (1 Corinthians 14:13).

Are you beginning to see now that the prayer language of the Spirit of the believer, or the use of the gift of tongues for others, is a means to an end? Neither one is an end in itself. Neither was ever intended to be. Each is an experience very precious and valuable, a valid instrument through which you communicate directly with God for yourself or in behalf of others.

But if you are going to be effective through your prayer language of the Spirit to help yourself, or through the gift of tongues to help others, you must pray that you also may interpret. . . and then do so.

When I am speaking before a large crowd I am under a different kind of Bible rule or law than when I am with a small group or by myself. As Oral Roberts, the individual, I can pray in the prayer language of the Spirit anytime I want to and it’s nobody’s affair but mine. I can do it quiet, I can do it loud, I can do it short, I can do it long. Because I am alone, by myself. But the moment I stand before a group I come under a new set of rules. At that time when I use the prayer language of the Spirit it is usually in the form of the gift of prophecy or the gifts of healing or a gift of tongues. I am dealing with other people. Suddenly I come under different rules than those that apply when I am praying by myself.

Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret (1 Corinthians 14:13).

That is, interpret so that the people will know what you are saying. When a person prays in the prayer language of the Spirit or praises God in tongues, he should pause, ask God to reveal to him the substance either of what he said to God or what God says back — God’s response — and then reveal that to the person or persons present.

Then speaking in tongues is on a par with prophecy. You now have an inspired utterance that’s spoken horizontally, in the language of the hearers to the hearer. The interpretation then makes tongues understandable, which also makes them serve God’s purpose.

Now Paul speaks autobiographically. He says, "Here is my own personal experience ...”

For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. [My mind doesn’t know what my tongue is saying.] What is it then [What will I do?] I will pray with the spirit [that is in tongues] and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also (1 Corinthians 14:14,15).

In other words, Paul just waits a moment and asks God to let him interpret his own tongue back to himself. One good way to do this, if you are by yourself and you are praying in the prayer language of the Spirit, is to pause. When you have finished, wait a few moments for God to reveal back to your understanding either what you said to Him in tongues or His response to the prayer by your spirit. Then simply lift your voice and start praying or praising God again and most of the time you will receive the essence of what you said beforehand in the prayer language of the Spirit.

What happens is that when you pray in the prayer language of the Spirit — which is speaking in tongues — it alerts your mind to God, it sharpens your intellect. It sort of wakes you up, it makes you more aware. Then you can pray better in your own language. This is, as Paul indicates, praying with your spirit AND with your understanding.

If you could do this with the intellect alone, then of what use is the prayer language of the Spirit? So Paul is saying, "When I pray, this is what I do. First, I pray in tongues (the prayer language of the Spirit). Then I pray in my understanding.” Then when he gets into singing, he sings in tongues and then he sings in words of his understanding.

For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.

Paul is very concerned about the intellect, about the mind, the understanding. Christianity has emotion. But Christianity doesn’t come out of emotion but out of the will of man, of his mind and spirit. Notice that Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:10:

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind.

Do you know what divides Christians? One belongs to this church and another belongs to that church. But if you can take a man in the Catholic church and a man in a Protestant church and if they are born-again, filled with the Spirit, and love Jesus — really love Him and practice love — you cannot tell them apart in their love. There is no way on earth because love makes them one.

Now they may have different ways and methods that they use in their type of church service, but I can tell you now that God isn’t nearly as concerned about those forms as we are. What He’s concerned about is how we love, how we give, how we respect and have concern for other people. He is concerned that we pray for one another, to touch and agree, and love each other as we do ourself.

That is what Christianity is about: love and loving. You love a person like he’s the most valuable thing in the world, like you love yourself. This is the giving part of love. This is the seed sown which God multi-

plies back in the form of an answer to your need. You sow it and God will grow it.

You have to love yourself. You MUST love yourself. It’s not wrong to love yourself. Jesus said, "Love thy neighbour as thyself.” He tells you to love yourself but balances this by telling you to love others like you love yourself. The whole thing is confusing to the outside world, to people who don’t know Christ, because they don’t have the same mind. By having the same mind in Christ we can understand it.

Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? for thou verily givest thanks well [in tongues, that’s what he means], but the other is not edified. I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all (1 Corinthians 14:16-18).

This last statement sounds like Paul was really proud, doesn’t it? That he really felt superior. Paul didn’t mean that at all. I know that some of us inadvertently think we are superior because God has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit and we can speak in the prayer language of the Spirit. Now you’ve got to get real frank and honest with yourself to admit that. We tend to take some gift and, because it’s so great in our lives, we tend to act like we are superior and those who don’t have it in the way we do are inferior. So we divide and hurt and separate from one another. I believe this is a sin! A gift of the Spirit is not our uniter, but Christ himself!

Yet in the church — and here’s where Paul is really balanced — he says ...

Yet in the church [when I’m with all these people] I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue (1 Corinthians 14:19).

Paul does not mean here that the Corinthian Christians should not use the prayer language of the Spirit frequently in their own private devotions. He just says, "When you get in church with all the people, then talk with your understanding and use words they can understand.” He is saying, "If you use a gift of tongues in church, always follow it with the gift of interpretation so the needs of the hearers can benefit.”

I’ve found from years of practical experience that it is seldom beneficial to have "a message in tongues” in a large gathering. The exception is when those present understand the proper use of the gifts of tongues and interpretation.

Paul is simply putting this marvelous experience of the gifts in the Holy Spirit and the prayer language of the Spirit, tongues and prophecy, and the other gifts in their proper places that we might be more effective in our Christian witness.

The benefit of using the prayer language of the Spirit in my daily devotions has done so much to open my mind to God and His greatness, to His mighty works. I cannot thank Him enough for revealing to me the exciting privilege of speaking to Him first in tongues, then with my understanding.

While I am learning better every day to use the prayer language of the Spirit and expect to continue to learn, I, like Paul, wish every child of God would — and they can — pray in tongues often and experience it’s exhilarating, therapeutic, and instructive benefits. I know it is simply the Holy Spirit enabling us to receive and learn more of the unlimited Christ and make Him more alive and real, first to us and then to those around us.

Chapter 8, How You Can Talk To God And Receive His Answer

Suggested Scripture reading for this lesson: 1 Corinthians 2:9-14

In a previous lesson (Chapter 5) I discussed the power of a person, the power of a personal relationship, and a power from on high. Now I want to discuss with you a power to discern the DEEP THINGS OF GOD and to properly use the prayer language of the Spirit to talk to God and receive His answer. And I want to do it in greater depth to help you with your understanding.

In 1 Corinthians the Apostle Paul is talking about the Holy Spirit and he says:

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Read that Scripture again. This means that our physical senses cannot perceive the great things that God has prepared for us who love God. We used to think that this verse was talking about life after death. Now we know that Paul is talking about the NOW.

But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10).

God hath revealed them unto US. He hath revealed them BY HIS SPIRIT. They are revealed in the NOW. They are all around us; they are inside us. That means you don’t have to wait until you get to heaven to receive their benefits.

For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:10,11).

The Spirit Of Man

Notice that Paul asks, "Who knows the spirit of man?” Now we don’t know exactly where the spirit is inside us. But when we talk about the spirit, or inner man, we are talking about the area where we have our deepest feelings — our solar plexus. Usually our feelings start in the pit of our stomach. So Paul says, "What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man?” Certainly his intellect doesn’t know. But his spirit knows. And "the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” Here we have our own spirit knowing the things in us, and we have the Holy Spirit knowing what’s in the mind of God.

No matter how hard you try, you can’t figure out what’s in your spirit through your mind. You can know some of it, but there’s so much in our inner man that baffles the doctors, the educators, even the people closest to you — your husband, your wife, your family. You can’t even figure yourself out. But that knowledge is in your own spirit.

At the same time the knowledge of God is in the Spirit of God.

So we have the root problem — man is living in his intellect, in his reason, trying to figure everything out by his intellect, his mind. But his mind doesn’t know what’s in his spirit and cannot understand or perceive his own spirit.

This is one of the reasons we have established Oral Roberts University. We do not seek to put the mind above the spirit of man. We value the mind. We have a terrific academic program. We think it’s second to none in its field. Study here is important for we must develop our minds. But in no way is ORU built upon the mind alone.

Nor is ORU built upon the body alone, although we emphasize the body probably more than most universities. ORU is the first university in the nation to institute a physical education program based upon the Aerobics program that was conceived by Kenneth Cooper, M.D., formerly a colonel in the U.S. Air Force, and implemented by him for the U.S. and Canadian Air Force. It is mandatory for every ORU student — all four years. This is partly because I have a healing ministry and have dealt with thousands of people whose bodies are ill in some way and have not been able to get well by any means. I have personally been healed of a terrible affliction so I’ve come into an appreciation of the physical part of man. So at ORU we do emphasize the importance of our bodies. We have to live in them until the day we die. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, as the Bible has said (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19,20).

But we teach that our response to all life begins in our spirit, because we must understand first what’s in our spirit and we can only do that through the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God and the spirit of man must come together and work together. Out of this can come a true education.

Let me explain. When we have a problem usually we start with the mind to solve it, don’t we? We try to understand its cause and implication with our intellect alone. Our educational institutions train us to do this. But I believe the Bible teaches that all problems have their origin, in some way, in the human spirit. For example, we get up in the morning and we don’t feel right about a certain thing or a certain person. Often we don’t know what to do about it. Here we are in our MIND trying to understand what is in our spirit.

God reverses the process through the Holy Spirit. God starts with your spirit.

The Holy Spirit knows the mind of God. Your spirit knows what’s in your spirit. So the Holy Spirit and your spirit have to work together and then come up through your intellect and enrich your mind with understanding.

Your spirit and the Holy Spirit come together in a divine human reciprocity (or cooperation) so that your mind can be the beneficiary of it. Then your mind can think in a truly human way, as God originally intended man to be human when He created him in His own spiritual and moral likeness (Genesis 1:26).

Conversion — being converted by the Spirit of God, becoming a Christian, or a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) — is simply God taking you back to the original man He made.

God made man and He made him perfect; He made him good. But man has thwarted God’s purpose. Man has sinned. Man has rejected God’s way. He has gotten out from under the authority of God. He has not accepted the will of God and he has filled his earth with pollution that’s physical, with pollution that’s mental, with pollution that’s spiritual. He has filled the world with dangers of all kinds such as wars between nations and wars between individuals, wars between wife and husband, wars between parents and children, wars between brother and sister, wars between strangers. All this is in the world because man’s mind is not capable within itself to solve his own problems. His mind must be washed, regenerated, renewed, and this can only be done by starting in your spirit and submitting it to the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Bible says:

Be renewed in the spirit of your mind (Ephesians 4:23).

Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2).

I keep saying, you can’t do it by your mind alone. You have to get down into your own spirit. Only the Holy Spirit can bring God to you and bring God’s knowledge to you.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God (1 Corinthians 2:12).

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him,: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Praying In The Spirit Reaches God

The only way that you can really understand God is through the Holy Spirit. The spirit of man and the Spirit of God working together is the answer.

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered [or for which there is no equivalent human speech]. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:26,27).

The Spirit searcheth all things ... the deep things of God (1 Corinthians 2:10).

The Holy Spirit knows what the mind of God is, so you have the Spirit searching all the time, reaching inside God, bringing forth the treasures and riches and gifts of God to us. On the other hand the Holy Spirit reaches inside man, searches out what his real problem is ... the Holy Spirit searches out (or examines) the spirit of man.

We know not what we should pray for as we ought. That is to say, our mind — the intellect — doesn’t really know very much at all about what’s in our spirit.

We live on the sense level on this earth: the sense of touch, sight, hearing, taste, smell. We have a mind through which we express ourselves. But the mind is inadequate within itself and the body is inadequate by itself. So the Holy Spirit comes up through your mind, renewing your mind in the Spirit so that you can talk to God about your heart — and from your heart.

The Holy Spirit comes down inside you — into your inner man. How do we know this?

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying,

If any man thirst [the original is, if he thirsts and keeps on thirsting], let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water [coming up out of the belly, out of the inner man], (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified) (John 7:37-39).

You will remember that the Holy Spirit had to bring Christ to the earth through being born of the virgin Mary. He had to empower Him to perform miracles. He had to prepare Him for death. He had to raise His body from the dead. He had to return Him to the Father’s right hand, so that He could be released as the fuller, greater Christ without human limitations.

If you believe on me, out of your belly [out of your innermost man] will flow rivers, Jesus said.

In other words, you will feel it. Everyone who has ever believed on Jesus has felt the rivers of the Holy Spirit. Whether you recognized what it was or not, you can say, "That’s what I felt.” If you will just think back you will realize that you have felt the Spirit of God. You felt something coming up inside and it was good, it was great, it was powerful.

It was the Holy Spirit working with your spirit and the feeling was coming up. It’s got to come up over your tongue so your spirit can speak to God. Not your intellect, which often doesn’t know what’s going on, but your spirit comes up over the tongue and speaks to God in the prayer language of the Spirit. This is referred to as speaking in tongues. Remember the Holy Spirit in you is a Person. A person can talk. The Holy Spirit talks, using your tongue, enabling you to form His prayer to God in your behalf.

Speaking the prayer language of the Spirit seems so difficult for the intellect to understand because that intellect has been out of touch with God so long. The spirit of man has been suppressed so that the intellect doesn’t grasp what the inner man is actually saying to God.

For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God (1 Corinthians 14:2).

This is not horizontal speaking, such as man to man, but vertical. The Christian believer speaks directly TO GOD. Plus, it comes out of the heart — the spirit of man. It’s prayer. It’s praise. It’s communication. It’s direct talking to God. It does not use the mind; it does not depend upon the intellect. The intellect doesn’t know the mind of the Spirit (Romans 8:27).

In order for me or for you to talk to God out of the deepest depths of our being — down in our belly — we have to bypass the mind from time to time, for a few seconds at least each time, and let the spirit well up from our inner being.

A Dialogue With Oral And Evelyn Roberts

In this dialogue I believe Evelyn asks some of the same questions you may have in mind.

Evelyn: Oral, you said according to John 7:37-39 and Acts 2:38 that when we repent of our sins and believe on Jesus we would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Is this the same as the baptism in the Holy Spirit?

Oral: When you accept Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, of course you receive the Holy Spirit, for without the Holy Spirit himself you are none of His. But there is a baptism in which you are immersed in the Holy Spirit. It’s an extra dimension. Jesus referred to it as the rivers of the Holy Spirit flowing up out of your belly — out of your innermost being (John 7:38,39). Of course the prayer language of the Spirit is in that river as it flows up. It is in the baptism, which is the immersion of you, in the Holy Spirit.

Evelyn: What is the purpose of the baptism in the Holy Spirit?

Oral: Before I answer this question I want to give some background. The Bible says that God made man in His image. That is, we are made in the spiritual and moral likeness of God. God is not speaking of a physical shape. He is talking about His spiritual and moral likeness. God is pure, which is the way He made Adam and Eve. God is Love; God is Truth. That’s how He made us. But by man’s rejection of God and by our hurting one another, too often with malice, we have thrust God out of our lives. That is why we have to be born again by the Holy Spirit. God is trying to restore His moral and spiritual likeness, His truth, His life, His values, to us inside.

Evelyn: Does this mean that our spirit inside will be remade in the image of God?

Oral: Without a doubt. This happens when God saves us. We are made a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). This is the work of the Holy Spirit. But the baptism in the Holy Spirit has a different purpose altogether. Its purpose is communication with God through this prayer language of the Spirit or tongues. It is to open up the heart, the inner man, which is all too often closed up by hurts, lack of understanding, and our own intellect. Also, we don’t always know how to pray.

The baptism in the Holy Spirit gives a person this new prayer language so he can communicate directly with God. He can edify or build himself up inside spiritually. His intellect blossoms and he can understand God better, also his own purpose in life is made clearer.

Evelyn: Often when I mention the baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues people say, "But how can I reconcile 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 and speaking in tongues?”

Oral: This is one of the most serious questions I have ever been asked. In 1 Corinthians 13:8-10, the love chapter, Paul said:

Charity [love] never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

So the real question is, have tongues ceased? To be absolutely objective and take it like the Bible says, then we have to say no. If you say that tongues have ceased, then objectively and honestly you have to say that prophecy must stop and so must knowledge.

First, Paul said, For we know in part. This is why we now pray in tongues, or "in the Spirit.” We don’t know fully how to pray. In addition we only know in part how to prophesy, as well as only knowing part of knowledge. Not even all of us together have all knowledge.

But, Paul continues, when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When our Lord comes — and that is what I think this means — we will be able to communicate with Him face-to-face. He is the Truth, He is the Light, He is all wisdom, He is all knowledge. And at that time, when He comes, we will no longer need to speak in tongues or prophesy or need to seek knowledge.

Until then we gladly use these divine helps.

Evelyn: Would you say that the Holy Spirit now illuminates our minds, but when Jesus comes we won’t need to speak in tongues to get our minds illuminated?

Oral: Yes, because He will be here face-to-face with us. For example, if Jesus Christ were sitting in your chair, do you think I would speak in tongues to Him?

Evelyn: No. You wouldn’t need to. So, in other words, the Holy Spirit is to help us get through this earth, this life, with all its limitations.

Oral: Yes, this earth! This life! Before our Lord returns to this earth and before we get to heaven. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is for the NOW. . . and it is to help our limitations.

Evelyn: Today there are many Christians who are open to receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit. How can we help them receive this gift and through it, the release of the prayer language of the Spirit?

Oral: First of all, I usually ask a person, "Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? Have you repented of your sins and believed on our Lord? Have you committed your life to Him?” Remember that Christ is in your life only by the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that rivers were flowing up; they are flooding up (John 7:37-39). That is, you feel this flooding up in the pit of your stomach. So when you feel this, begin to worship the Lord. And as you do, just open your mouth and stop talking in your own tongue and let the sound come out, and you will speak in tongues, which is the prayer language of the Spirit.

One of the best ways to start speaking in tongues is to pray with a believer who does. The fact that they are praying in tongues will make you less inhibited, less tense, and you are more apt to open up and let the Holy Spirit, who is already there, speak through you. Once you break through it will seem so easy you will wonder why it took you so long.

Evelyn: The other day a lady said to me. "How can I know the tongues I speak are by the utterance of the Holy Spirit?”

Oral: There are many good ways for you to determine that when you speak in tongues it is by the utterance of the Holy Spirit. First, it all starts with Jesus. Have you repented of your sins? Have you believed on Him as your personal Savior? Are you seeking Jesus Christ?

Second, when you speak in tongues do you feel an edification of your inner self? A release — a therapy of your inner being?

Every time I pray in tongues, I receive a release. There is a quickening, a release of the inner self. That is good when you are going through some experience that is beyond you — a problem which you just don’t have the answer to. About the only way you can get release is to pray in tongues. Now praying in tongues may not cause the problem to disappear, it may still be there. The value in tongues is that it brings a release to your spirit so you can look on the problem from God’s standpoint, and it really helps.

Third, your understanding is helped. When you pray in tongues or sing in tongues or praise God in tongues, you can pause and ask God to let you interpret.

Let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret (1 Corinthians 14:13).

You can interpret back to your understanding. In this way you can edify yourself in your spirit and by interpreting back you can also illuminate your mind as a result of praying in tongues.

I do this all the time. I pray and praise God in tongues and then wait a moment and start praying again in my own tongue. Usually the very same words, or at least the understanding of what I have just prayed in tongues, will come to my mind and then my mind can pray better. In this way I can pray with real understanding.

Evelyn: Oral, do you think the devil can speak in tongues?

Oral: Unquestionably, no! The devil can’t speak in tongues, because the Bible says in Acts 2:4: "They. .. began to speak with other tongues, as the SPIRIT gave them utterance.” The devil hates Jesus Christ. He hates the Holy Spirit. And the baptism in the Holy Spirit has to do with Jesus himself. The Holy Spirit’s entire ministry is built around Jesus, whom the devil hates.

Evelyn: Someone asked me if speaking in tongues is a result of emotion, or does it bring about emotion? I personally think it causes the emotion. Because when you speak in tongues you must exercise your will and know that you are talking to God, and there is a joy that hits you down inside .. . and joy is an emotion. What do you say?

Oral: Sometimes it is not joy that hits you. Sometimes it is something else. For example, if you are going through a tremendous personal traumatic experience and you begin to pray in tongues, although you feel something here, it isn’t always joy. It’s a struggle, strain, burden — sometimes deep sorrow. You may have lost a loved one. There may be a problem in the marriage, in which the marriage is dissolving. Remember, we prayed with a dear person the other day whose marriage is dissolving, and as she would pray in tongues, you see, she would reach way down where the Spirit of God is and take hold of that sorrow that was breaking her up — a marriage that she has had all these years and suddenly it is going.

Later she felt joy when she had emptied herself out and the Spirit began to move in her. She felt joy in that God was with her and she knew God was going to help her. She may or may not solve that marriage problem. But something marvelous is happening to her. She has a sense that God is with her and God is going to help her. We don’t know what the outcome will be, but we know God is going to help her.

Evelyn: If a person receives the baptism in the Holy Spirit, does he have to change churches?

Oral: No. First of all, you need wisdom. You don’t need to run around talking as loud as you can about what you have received, indicating that you feel superior. (Whether you mean to or not, some people would take it that way.) I think the main thing to do is to try to let that extra love shine through and then wait until someone asks you about this experience — someone is bound to see the change it brings in your life. It is a very personal thing and you have to pray and seek God’s will for your life.

Evelyn: What then should be the attitude of charismatic and non charismatic believers toward each other?

Oral: The charismatic believer and the non-charismatic believer have one thing in common, which is greatest of all, they’re saved by the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. Having the baptism in the Holy Spirit or not having it doesn’t make one better than the other. We are all one in whom? IN CHRIST. So while we share and instruct, it is not with the idea of arguing over something or trying to force something on somebody. It would not work like that and it would not be the love of God.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal (1 Corinthians 13:1).

That is, if we are fluent in an unknown tongue and don’t love people, what do we have? Paul tells us:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law (Galatians 5:22,23).

Evelyn: Will the baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues mean I will solve all my problems?

Oral: No. The difference is that when you receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues, your approach to problems will be different. You will have help in the form of an inner release. You will have help in your intellect if you know how to pause and wait for the interpretation. The problems may still be there but you will see them in a different light. You will have to fight them just exactly like you did before you received this gift but you will have very special help from the Holy Spirit in facing those problems.

Evelyn: I am a very practical person. To me an experience has to be practical or it doesn’t do me any good. I was talking to a scientist recently. He was at Cape Kennedy when they started to put one of the Apollo rockets up. You remember, it came back down. He had worked on that and he said, "I knew the Lord in the power of His Holy Spirit. And the way that started to come back down — if it had gone where it started to — I knew it would have killed everybody standing there watching. So quietly I began speaking in tongues and saying, 'Lord, You can guide this and take it completely away from where it is headed. I believe You will do this!’ The Apollo turned and fell someplace else and didn’t hurt all of these people.”

He said he thought it was because he was there communicating with the Spirit. Now he helped create the thing. So this makes me think when people really know God through the Holy Spirit that He gives them some information on certain things they might not otherwise know.

Oral: Wouldn’t you say that would apply to a doctor? A lawyer, housewife, businessman, working man, a person without a job, a student?

Evelyn: Oh, absolutely. The infilling of the Holy Spirit can make you more effective in any area of life — He is sent to give you the abundant life in the NOW of your existence.

Oral: I can say AMEN to that.

Chapter 9, Two Guest Sermons:

Because of their vast experience in charismatic clinics throughout the world and their own personal Spirit-filled lives, I invited two of my very warm friends to share in this first semester of THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE NOW. They are:

Rev. Ralph Wilkerson and Dr. Robert Frost.

REV. RALPH WILKERSON is the pastor of the Melodyland Christian Center in Anaheim, California. The Christian Center is unique in that it is zoned as a theater convention center, not a church. Yet Rev. Wilkerson ministers to a congregation of 6,000 three times on Sunday morning and again on Sunday night. On Thursday mornings he conducts a prayer and share healing service.

Rev. Wilkerson conducts charismatic clinics across America and around the world and has also been on the campus of Oral Roberts University on several occasions to lead in spiritual renewals in our seminars, and to share with our students and faculty.

He is a man of God, filled with the Spirit, and a charismatic leader in the now. He has had a great influence on my life in the past several years and is among the men in the world who are really turning the world upside down for the Lord.

I believe his message on HOW YOU CAN GET YOUR PRAYERS ANSWERED will directly relate to you right in the midst of your need.

★ ★ ★

For several years DR. ROBERT FROST was Chairman of the Department of Natural Sciences and Professor of Biological Sciences at Oral Roberts University. He received his B. A. from Reed College; his M. A. and Ph.D. degrees from Rice University.

Today he is well known as a leader and lecturer in the charismatic movement among both the Catholics and the Protestants throughout the world. He is also an educator and author. I appreciate Dr. Frost, his integrity of soul and life, and his grasp of the natural sciences through training, intuition, and ability. But above all, I appreciate his grasp of the Holy Spirit as the Holy Spirit relates to you and me in the now of our lives.

I feel sure that Dr. Frost’s message on YOUR LIFE IN THE SPIRIT will help to open up a whole new era in your Christian walk.

★ ★ ★

How You Can Get Your Prayers Answered by Rev. Ralph Wilkerson

I was in England some time ago attending a charismatic conference in the great Cathedral of the Holy Spirit. The cathedral is adjacent to the University of Surrey. It is one of the few cathedrals built in medieval times that is still standing.

A most extraordinary thing happened during that conference. The late J. Arthur Rank — who endowed this special class on the Holy Spirit at ORU — had a special banquet in honor of all the conference speakers. This tremendous man, a great Methodist leader, a man well known in the film industry, sat beside me. He told me a story that I’ll never forget.

Tears came in his eyes and he said, "The greatest experience that’s happened to me since I’ve received Jesus was when Dr. Oral Roberts was here. We talked about what God was doing in these times. Then Dr. Roberts prayed for me in that moment — there in the presence of God — and the Holy Spirit came and filled my life.”

That was the turning point in this tremendous man’s life. Well, he’s with Jesus now but the Holy Spirit is still here.

I believe that the greatest power in all of the world is the power of prayer in the work of the Holy Spirit. I’m going to talk to you about how to get all of your prayers answered. Some of you will say, "There’s some trick,” but no, I don’t believe it’s a trick. I believe that God has made promises in the Word of God. He has promised us that we can pray and get an answer.

Several years ago I was in Seoul, Korea, and a pastor told me he was building a church facility that would seat 10,000 people. I looked at him and said, "You must really have faith.”

He said, "No, it’s not faith that I have, it’s boldness. It’s boldness to believe!”

I think that’s the number one thing we need today — we need boldness to believe that God will answer our prayer.

With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).

God has given us the perfect equation in the Scripture.

Desire + Faith - Unbelief = Results

Now God is very explicit in the Scripture on this. First of all, in Matthew He tells us that WE CAN ASK AND RECEIVE AN ANSWER.

Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven (Matthew 18:19).

Then Mark 11:23 says:

For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

These are direct promises, aren’t they? I could give you 20 more verses like these, but it isn’t necessary.

God has promised in the Bible that HE WANTS TO ANSWER OUR PRAYERS.

No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11).

When President Roberts says, "God is a good God,” he’s really quoting a scriptural truth. Because God wants to bless His people today. I believe that! And I’m seeing God today keeping His word and answering prayer. It’s His delight to answer your prayer. How do you get your prayers answered?

First, Come Before God In Adoration

I think a good way to diagram this is for you to take the word A-C-T-S. Now some people call the book of Acts in our New Test ament "the Acts of the Apostles” but it’s really "the acts of the Holy Spirit.” It’s the story of what the Holy Spirit did through the apostles.

So first, let the letter "A” stand for ADORATION, or worship.

How we need to praise God for His greatness to us! It’s when we begin to minister to the Lord and praise the Lord and love the Lord and adore Him that God comes so close to us.

Not long ago I had an eventful "ecumenical” week: Monday night I was in the Christian Church. They were having a charismatic convention.

Tuesday night I was in our own drug prevention rally. We work with drug addicts. We believe that there’s a social dimension to the charismatic. We know that when one is filled with God’s Holy Spirit he has compassion, love for others. We should have that kind of baptism of love today.

Wednesday night I was at a Unity Church — one of the largest in Los Angeles. God is doing a new thing. It was exciting to watch the Holy Spirit at work in this Unity Church as we preached Jesus Christ and Him crucified. There’s only one message and that’s Jesus. I told them how Jesus Christ died for our sins while we were yet sinners ... that He went in our place. As we began to talk about the works of God and what it means to know Jesus Christ, God began to move over that whole audience in quietness and met so many persons’ needs who believed in Him as the living Son of God. In that same meeting more than 75 people received the gift of the Holy Spirit.

I had had a Baptist preacher praying with me all week long. On this particular occasion the Holy Spirit was moving upon this dear Baptist minister. He’s a tremendous man of God and he said, "You know, this just blows my theology because I didn’t know God would do these things today.”

The great purpose of the Spirit is to get us to adore Him, to worship Him, and to thank God because He’s so close. God wants us to minister to Him.

As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them (Acts 13:2).

It’s as we wait upon God, as we recognize the Lordship of Jesus Christ, that He ministers power to us. The church needs to get back to that place and that ratio.

Second, the letter ”C” in "Acts” stands for...

Confession

I was glad to hear that Dr. Billy Graham was at ORU. He was in our area sometime ago. One of the ministers got up and said that Billy Graham’s services had set the church back 20 years. It was reported that when Billy heard about this he said, "I only wish it had set it back 2,000 years.” I liked that. I believe that’s what the Holy Spirit does. He brings us right back to that place of living, vital reality.

I was in Indonesia in the middle of the great revival there. It was near the beginning of the revival that I learned their secret. The people had learned the power of confession to the Lord. The Word of God teaches us that when we open our hearts and all of the guilt feelings are released and we begin to tell Jesus, "I’m sorry,” and mean it, then God makes himself available to us. The Holy Spirit begins to flow up.

Third, from the letter "T” in "Acts” we get. ..

Thanksgiving

This is one that I have a hard time with. Maybe you don’t. Thanksgiving. A chaplain came to our congregation and he preached on the subject of thanksgiving. He has written a best seller on praise and thanksgiving. Maybe you’ve heard about it—Power in Praise by Merlin R. Carothers.

Soon after his visit I was on my way back to California and I had a three-hour layover in Denver. It was two o’clock in the morning. You see, we preach things and sometimes it’s hard to practice what we preach. It seemed that everybody around me was complaining. They were tired and you could hear people making different remarks.

I thought, well, I’ll be different. (Really, when you praise God today you are different, aren’t you?) A fellow near me let out a swear word and I said, "Well, praise God.” I thought if he could say that, I ought to be able to say, "Praise God.”

When I said, "Praise God” someone in the opposite part of the waiting room shouted out, "Hello, Pastor Wilkerson.” Was I ever glad I said, "Praise God” instead of something else. You just don’t know who’s listening in these days, do you? You never know.

God wants to give us thankful hearts. One of the great secrets of getting your prayer answered is to know how to praise Him. That’s where the Holy Spirit has to come to our aid. It’s the work of the Holy Spirit to move through us to give thanksgiving. What a different world this would be if suddenly we would start thanking God for His gifts to us.

In the beginning of this great Charismatic movement, when it was starting to fall upon the Roman Catholics, I boarded an airplane at the invitation of David Wilkerson to fly to Grand Forks, North Dakota. This was quite an experience to me because I had never shared with Roman Catholics in this manner. I knew God loved Roman Catholics and I thought there could be some who might know the Lord — how generous we are sometimes in our feelings toward others! But we are finding out today that the family of God is quite big!

I boarded the airplane and somebody got my assigned seat. I was upset because this was my place, and the only other seat was by a priest. The stewardess said, "You can sit here.” I sat by the priest and I thought, this is quite unusual. Why would I be sitting by a priest? You see, before I got on the airplane, I said, "Lord, prepare me for this meeting in Grand Forks,” but I didn’t know He was going to prepare me that way. I sat down by the priest. He looked over at me and introduced himself. I didn’t tell him who I was because I think it’s a lot more fun not to. I simply sat down beside him and began to listen.

He told me that he was from Australia and he was interested in the changes taking place in the church world. He remarked that some of the nuns were changing their attire and I thought, well, if he knew all about this then I’d ask him about the charismatic.

And he responded, "Yes, I’ve heard about the charismatic.” We began to share a little bit and he began to express to me that this was all through his creed. He knew that it was biblical. He knew that this was the answer today. . . that we needed to have an answer to Pope John’s prayer, "Come, Holy Spirit, come.”

Later I went up to the front part of the plane to get a magazine and on the way I saw a Marine. He was reading a book, the life story of an evangelist. Someone had left the seat by him and I said, "Son, may I join you?” I sat down by him and I said, "I happen to know of the evangelist about whom this book was written.”

He said, "You do?” Then he said, "I went to church for the first time last week. My neighbor bugged me until I finally went but I didn’t understand a thing they said. When my neighbor heard I was being transferred to Panama he said, 'Take this book along with you and read it.’ ”

I had the opportunity then of taking my Bible out and opening it up and showing this Marine the plan of salvation — how one can really know Jesus Christ, that God loves you, that while we were yet sinners Jesus died for us . . . that Jesus died in our place . . . that He was buried and rose again. I told him, "You don’t have to understand all of the technical parts of the Bible, you just simply have to come as a sinner and say, 'Jesus, I need you.’ ”

I think so often we get hung up on doctrinal areas but if we will just come in simple faith, believing God will do what He promised, that’s all we need. As I sat there, this Marine bowed his head and prayed and Jesus came into his life. That’s the miracle of all miracles, isn’t it? That’s the greatest thing that can happen to anybody.

In our congregation we believe that the number one thing for people to do is to receive the Lord Jesus Christ. Every week we are seeing many people come to the Lord. In our Thursday morning prayer meeting it’s not unusual to see 100 people receive the Lord. I believe wherever the Holy Spirit moves, people should be introduced to Jesus. Well, we believe when someone receives Jesus Christ that he should confess this before men. He should share his witness with someone else. And so I said to the Marine, "Sir, you need to share your faith with someone else and tell somebody that you’ve received Jesus Christ in your heart.”

I said, "Come with me.” There was only one other person I knew on that whole airplane and that was this priest. So I walked back and I said, "Father, this young man has a confession.” When I did that I thought the priest was going to come out of the seat.

He looked up and he said, "Yes, what do you have to say?”

And in his own style this Marine opened up and he told the Roman Catholic priest how he had been introduced to Jesus . .. and that now Jesus was his warm friend, that He had changed his life and made life worth living. Then he said, "I’m so happy.”

The priest later said, "This is worth my trip to America. It’s the greatest thing I’ve heard since I’ve been here. To hear someone talking about God in this way.”

When we landed I went to the cathedral. I opened up and starting talking to them about the Lord and the work of the Holy Spirit. I thought the people there knew about what I was coming to talk to them about. But the more I talked, the more I realized that they did not know what I was referring to. But they were anxious to know .. . they were asking questions. It wasn’t long until we began to open the Scriptures and talk about it.

Pretty soon a professor of psychology stood up at the back and said, "Sir, would you mind giving us a demonstration.”

I said, "Well, I could but I won’t. But I tell you what I will do. If you people will bow your heads and pray, we will wait upon God. If God wills for some kind of a representation of His power, I’m open to it. Will you pray with me?”

We bowed our heads and we began to pray and then somebody stood up at the back. I had never seen this man before. He was a priest. He began to pray in the prayer language of the Spirit — or in tongues — and then he gave an interpretation. Then he gave a prophetic word. It seemed that all of the gifts began to operate in this man. I said, "Sir, where did you come from? Are you some angel from heaven?”

He laughed and he said, "No, I’m a priest from Minneapolis. Five years ago I received the gift of the Holy Spirit. I’ve never before given a manifestation of the Spirit in a public meeting. I was so fearful but when you said somebody may have a manifestation, God began to say, 'You are the one.’ My heart began to triple beat and I knew I was the one.”

Most of the people attending the meeting knew him because he was the parish priest who set up all the camps and the retreats. He was well known in the area. It makes a difference when you know someone and they give a manifestation of the Spirit because you can judge the manifestation. Then he began to share and tell the story of how God’s blessings had rested upon him. It was so extraordinary and so exciting that all of them opened up to it.

Then I said, "We’ve finished our session. I’ll dismiss you. If any of you would like to remain behind and be prayed with, that’s what we are here for.” No one left. They all stayed. I had the priest to lay hands upon them and I did the praying. It was beautiful, Jesus did the baptizing in the Spirit.

I believe we are living in a glorious day. I want you to pray with me that God will keep unfolding His mysteries and His ways of the Spirit to the heart of people because God said He would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh (Acts 2:17). This is the promise of God.

The last letter of "Acts” is "S”. It stands for. ..

Supplication

James tells us:

Ye have not, because ye ask not (James 4:2).

There are three levels of asking. In Matthew 7:7 and in Luke 11:9 Jesus tells us to ask . . . to knock . . . and to seek.

Asking is when you get salvation . . . when you receive the gift of the Spirit.

Knocking is when we begin to say, "Lord, more than life itself, I want what You promised in the Bible...”

Seeking is that higher level of prayer where you begin to penetrate. You search!

In the Scriptures God has given implicit instruction as to how we are to pray in the Spirit. You see, the only problem that any of us has in knowing how to get our prayers answered is in knowing the will of God. Jesus always had His prayers answered, didn’t He? Every prayer Jesus prayed was answered. Why did Jesus have His prayers answered? Because His purpose was identical with the heavenly Father. There was no problem of conflict. If we as Christians can have that same unity with Jesus, we will get all of our prayers answered.

Jesus prayed in John 17:11. .. that they [His Church] may be one, as we are.

He also said that He did nothing except first He saw it of His Father in heaven (John 5:19). And He prayed that His Church might have that same bond and that same unity.

It’s so disarming to see the love of God pouring through the hearts of people in these times — knowing that this is one of the great signs of spiritual renewal. The Holy Spirit is doing this. To me, receiving the gift of the Spirit is simply Jesus taking fuller control of our lives — so when we give ourselves to the Holy Spirit, we should never fear the ministries and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? (Luke 11:11-13).

There’s not one place in the Bible where God has ever withdrawn His power and His gifts. They are for today. God wants us to have all the operations of the Holy Spirit. I believe they are all important.

I was in the barber shop one day and a lady was filing my nails. She said, "That’s an unusual finger, what happened to it?”

I said, "Well, I cut it off. We were vacationing in Yosemite Park and I had an accident. A doctor sewed it back on but it looked black for a long time. Finally one day while I was at a restaurant with Demos Shakarian (founder and president of Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International) and another businessman, they said, 'Where are you going after lunch?’ ”

I said, "I’m going to the surgeon to have this black finger removed. It’s not growing.”

And they said, "Can we pray for you first?” They prayed and that finger started turning pink before I even got to the doctor’s office. Now, that might not be important to you but it is to me. That finger is important to me. Why is it important? Because it’s part of me. In the same way, I don’t think we can say there are any lesser gifts.

Somebody said to me, "Don’t you think there are some gifts more important than the others?” No. I think every gift in the Bible is important in its place.

If I need to minister to someone who is sick, what gift would I need? I’d need the gift of healing, wouldn’t I?

If there was a person who was bound by evil spirits, I would need the gift of discerning of spirits.

If I needed to know how to praise God and didn’t have means of expression, I think the praise in heavenly tongues would be the most glorious gift.

The Word of God tells us in 1 Corinthians 14:15:

I will pray with the Spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the Spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.

The Apostle Paul was telling us that when he prayed with the Spirit his understanding was unfruitful (1 Corinthians 14:14). "That is,” Paul said, "I do not know what I’m saying.” You might ask me, "Pastor Wilkerson, what value is it to pray in tongues if you don’t know what you are saying?”

Well, God understands and my spirit understands. The most valid thing in the world is to realize that God can express himself to a human being. He expressed himself to His own Son, Jesus Christ, and we are sons of God, aren’t we? We are joint-heirs with Jesus Christ (Romans 8:17). One of the greatest miracles in the world is to realize that God can live within us . . . that Jesus moves in us . .. that He can express himself through us. That’s the dimension of power that the Early Church had. Jesus said:

And, behold,, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry Ye In The City Of Jerusalem, Until Ye Be Endued With Power from on high (Luke 24:49).

Wherever the early Christians went they shared Jesus Christ. It didn’t make any difference where they were, many were introduced to Christ. That’s the purpose of the Holy Spirit. When I pray I know that God hears me.

Let me stop a moment and tell you about what has been happening in our congregation in Anaheim, California, because people are praying. You should listen to the man who listens to God. Tb be much FOR God, you must be much WITH God.

I had a direct impression that I could never lead the congregation deeper than what I had been myself, so for one year I met God every morning at six o’clock to pray. After a year one of the deacons came by and saw my car. He wanted to know what I was doing there at that hour. When I told him he said, "Would you mind if I joined you?” He came and he prayed with me.

Today fifty home groups have sprung up all over the area as God has instituted a ministry of prayer. The whole secret is prayer. God is calling the nation back to prayer. There are many people who are praying for spiritual awakening and renewal and that’s why so much is happening in different places.

Praying in the spirit. How do you get your prayers answered? The way I believe you get your prayers answered is to pray in total accordance with the plan of God. Now Paul says there are two ways to pray:

(1) with the Spirit and

(2) with the understanding also.

It isn’t just enough to pray with the Spirit. There are some people who only pray with the Spirit. That’s preparatory. We must also pray with the understanding. Paul says that he thanked God that he did this more than all the rest of them put together (1 Corinthians 14:18). Paul knew the value of praying in the Spirit and he talks about it in this dimension ... of total expression ... of giving himself to the power of the Holy Spirit. I like to think of it this way:

Eight years ago I was walking down a hospital corridor and I saw a priest standing there praying for a parishioner. I said, "May I join you in prayer?”

He said, "Surely.”

We began to pray together. Then we talked for a while and I learned that he had recently heard Father Dennis Bennett speak. Father Bennett is an Episcopal priest in Seattle, who formerly pastored in Van Nuys, California, where he was written up in TIME magazine, after he received the infilling of the Holy Spirit. He fell in love with Jesus and some people didn’t understand what was happening. They shipped him off to Seattle, thinking that the little mission church there would be a good place to hide him. Before he came, the doors were closing but suddenly this church became alive. Now it’s one of the largest churches in the Northwest.

Well, our local priest went up to see him and came back gloriously anointed. His face was shining. He was so happy and radiant. In fact, he was so radiant some people asked him what happened and that’s where they made their mistake. He told them! He said that God had done a new work in his life and he had received this tremendous infilling of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit Is Being Poured Out In All Denominations And Throughout The World

I’m thankful that many pastors of all different denominations are being able to stay in their own denominations. This is what we need. I never urge anybody to leave their congregation. I believe that if you have something great from God, you should go back to your congregation and share it quietly and wisely because this is what will bless the church. My feeling is this: I couldn’t get all the people into Melodyland who are going to receive the Holy Spirit, and the best thing in the world is for all of the churches in our community to be revived and renewed and restored. That’s the promise of God.

Well, this local Episcopal priest said, "Ralph, I unloaded the whole thing last Sunday. They didn’t defrock me from the church but they just decided that they would take my salary away temporarily to see how long I could live without it.”

An amazing thing happened. I was just beginning a new congregation and I didn’t have very many people, but strangers and friends from the outside would come by and they’d say, "Ralph, here is an offering. Give it to the priest.” I would put these offerings in an envelope and every Saturday night I’d go over and drop these offerings into his mailbox. He thought an angel brought them by. Well, God blessed him. In fact, he became the best-paid preacher in our area!

One day we had a prayer meeting in his house. We were praying and saying, "Lord Jesus, we are so thankful that you brought this priest into this relationship and he’s able to share and bless so many people. But, Lord Jesus, we would just love for you to bless him like you blessed us.” You see, when this priest prayed in the Spirit he didn’t pray fluently. It didn’t sound like a language. So we prayed, "Lord, please straighten him out and give him a beautiful heavenly prayer tongue so he can praise God like we do.”

Then a prophetic utterance came:

"He that prayeth in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him: howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries” (1 Corinthians 14:2).

I knew I had been rebuked.

There is an interesting ending to this story. I had been invited by the local superintendent of the Methodist churches of all the district to come and talk to them about praying in the Spirit. I went. Here were all these wonderful Methodist ministers and the superintendent said, "Now, we want you to come back for a second week and go more into depth in this particular area.”

The Episcopal priest learned about this and he was so shaken up because he wanted to go along. He said, "Ralph, they need another preacher there besides you.” I didn’t want him to go because I knew if he went he’d pray like he usually did and I thought he’d blow the whole thing. But he kept insisting on it! So finally I decided to let him go because I didn’t want to offend him.

I talked right up to the very end of the session and the superintendent said, "Would you mind laying hands upon these people and praying for them because our preachers really want to be filled with God’s Holy Spirit. This is in our tradition of our Methodist church. Wesley believed in what you are talking about. Would you pray for us?”

I said, "Well, sure, I’d be glad to.” And I thought, now, Lord, what’s going to happen? The Lord said to me, "You know, I’m the Baptizer.”

I said, "Yeah, I know that, Lord, but what about this priest?”

The Lord said, "He’s my business too.”

I went down one row and the priest went down the other and he was laying hands upon them and praying in the Spirit. I was praying inside. "Oh, me, oh, me, oh, me.” You don’t know how I was shaking.

But here is the interesting thing. Later that day two of the Methodist pastors called me and said, "We went home before our own altar and we knelt before God and God gave to us the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Then they said, "Ralph, we don’t want you to feel badly, but it wasn’t what you said, it was what that priest did. We knew he had to have a valid experience because if he were going to make up a prayer language it would have to be better than that.”

So I’ve learned never to argue with God. But that’s still not the end of the story. Six months later I went to South Africa. I was preaching through two interpreters. The first interpreted my message into French, then the second interpreted it into the native dialect of the tribe. While the second man was interpreting I suddenly realized that he was speaking in the same language that I had heard the Episcopal priest use when he was praying in the Spirit! And I said, "God, I’ll never again question!”

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

That no flesh should glory in his presence (1 Corinthians 1:27-29).

How do you get your prayers answered? The only way I know how to get your prayers answered is to get in total accordance with Jesus, to be totally in a right relationship with Him. Then you will never ask anything that isn’t according to His will.

To me, the greatest verses in the Bible are Romans 8:26,27.

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is in the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

It says in Verse 27 that the Spirit knows the mind of God. He knows what the will of God is and He makes intercession with unutterable speech. He expresses that deep feeling. No wonder Jude 20 says:

But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.

And again in Ephesians 6:18, it says:

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

Would you let God make you a channel of blessing? I believe there’s a principle here that my life touches somebody else and that your life touches somebody else. We can pray for one another. You don’t know the problem that our friends or neighbors might be having. You don’t know the needs of that one that might be sitting next to you, but Jesus does. And He can pray through you in behalf of that other person’s needs.

Let’s conclude this session by going back to the equation we started with.

Desire + Faith — Unbelief = The Answer.

★ ★ ★

Your Life In The Spirit By Robert Frost, Ph.D.

Earlier this year I was in Lima, Peru, attending a Catholic charismatic conference. One morning the entire group was broken up into little prayer and share sessions. This was done by numbering off from one to ten. Then all the number "ones” would go out and find a little tree under which to sit where they could talk and share with one another. The number two’s would find a place, and so on. I was a number seven, which isn’t a half bad number.

While the number seven’s were getting up, I looked around to see who my partners were going to be. They were ALL Catholic sisters. I began to realize that I was going to be the only man among all of those sisters. I guess it showed on my face because as I was going out the door one of the little sisters came over and very simply and sweetly said, "Remember what the Scriptures say, 'Blessed art thou among women.’ ”

We had a blessed time together. Each one of us shared where we had come from and what need there was in our own lives and the desire that we had to minister and pray with one another for these specific needs. One sister said, "Oh, I wish you all would pray that God might really put His heart into our work.”

Of course, there’s only one way to get the heart into the work, and that’s to get the heart of God into the worker. Sometimes this involves a healing down deep on the inside. God so much wants us to be free. He so much wants us to be ourselves in Christ Jesus that we might share His life and His love with others who likewise need to know and to find this freedom.

Our approach to our walk and life in the Holy Spirit can be taken by considering some of the descriptive terms and phrases that are used in the Scripture relating to it. For example:

the promise of the Father. ..

the coming of the Comforter...

the baptism of Jesus in the Holy Spirit.

And then there are other phrases like . .. the receiving of the gift. .. the infilling of the Spirit. . . the overflowing of the Spirit.

Each one of these phrases highlights a particular aspect of our life in the Spirit. For a little while, I want to consider the very familiar phrase, "the baptism of Jesus in the Holy Spirit.”

The Baptism Of Jesus In The Holy Spirit

I remember once hearing someone say, "In our emphasis of the beautiful blessing of God’s Spirit in our life — the Holy Spirit baptism — we need to be careful lest we so emphasize the baptism that we somehow bypass the meaning and the significance of the cross.”

When he said that I responded in a twofold way: A part of me said yes, and a part of me said no. The part of me that said yes was agreeing that we can never bypass the centrality, the significance, the supremacy of the cross. The part of me that said no was recognizing the implication that when we refer to the baptism of Jesus in the Holy Spirit that this somehow excludes the thought of the cross. Actually we are going to see that right in the very center of the baptism is the cross. In fact, if you were to look at the word you would see that the cross is right in the center.

Baptism speaks of submission and surrender. John the Baptist put it this way:

There cometh one mightier than I after me . . . I indeed have baptized you with water: but he [meaning the Lord Jesus Christ himself] shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost (Mark 1:7,8).

The Scripture is filled with picture language. And right away as we read these verses a picture comes to our mind. We get a picture of a person submitting and surrendering his life into the hands of the baptizer. Actually, he trusts his life with him. If you ever have been baptized by immersion in water, or have seen a baptism by immersion in water, you know in the natural there is a little risk. Because you are yielding and trusting your life to the one who is going to put you under. He could keep you there, you see. So in one sense, it’s a surrender, it’s a submission, it’s a yielding. That is the whole principle of the cross.

THE CROSS IS A GATEWAY THERE’S A DEATH SIDE TO THE CROSS BUT. ..

There Is Also A Life Side To The Cross

So often this isn’t appreciated. Either the enemy would like for us not to see the significance of the cross or if we do, the devil would like to keep us on the negative side of it.

One of the earlier types of the cross in the Old Testament was the occasion when the death angel came across the land of Egypt. You will remember that the children of Israel were told to take a little lamb and slay it and then take a branch of hyssop and splash the blood on the sides and the top of the door of their houses. This is a beautiful type and picture of the cross. God wants us to move from that which speaks of death to that which speaks of life — glorious, wonderful, resurrection life.

I’ve discovered it takes the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish both. I can’t die out to myself — my desire, goals, aims, ambitions, plans, weaknesses and faults, fears, doubts, failures — the whole ball of wax that I am. I can’t die out to these things by myself. I need the power of the Holy Spirit to die as well as to live. God wants us to do both. One comes before the other.

We begin to see that this is pictured as a surrender to Jesus the Baptizer who puts us into the ongoing, everflowing stream of God’s Spirit. We come under His control so that our life in Christ might be fulfilled. Furthermore, when we do this we are not going to lose our personality, we are going to find it. Death is a means of finding ourselves. Jesus said:

He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it (Matthew 10:39).

All that speaks of selfhood. As we yield and submit and surrender ourself to the Holy Spirit we are going to be truly free.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17).

That is, there is a release. There is a freedom that can be found in no other way. We find it in Christ Jesus through the power of God’s Holy Spirit. That is the reason He sent the blessed Comforter. In all of this we might wonder, "Isn’t there a little risk involved in this business of coming out from under our own control and coming under the control of God’s Spirit?”

The Freedom We Have In The Spirit

Yes, there is. On the other hand, there is also a dimension of freedom that is to be found in no other way.

When I was a boy I used to enjoy swimming in a mountain stream in the State of Washington. There was a place in that river that was very swift, deep, and narrow. Further down the line it broadened out and was quite shallow and calm. At that point you could very easily come out upon the bank. But when you dived in upstream where the river was swift, you were under the control of that river. You went as fast as the river went. If the river turned, you turned. You remained under the control of that river until you got on down to where it broadened and became shallow. Then you could climb out onto the bank. Then, what did you do? You did it all over again.

Now that’s a crazy sort of thing. Why would anyone want to lose the freedom he has of controlling himself when he is related to the earthly pull of gravity. .. determining where he is going to go and how fast and how far and all else? Now why would anyone in his right mind want to lose that kind of control? There’s a reason. In the water we found a whole new dimension of freedom. There are things that we could do in the water that we could never ever do on land when we were under the restricting pull of the earth’s gravity. For instance, we could do somersaults in the water — we could go through all kinds of very graceful ballet movements in the water... we could even fly in the water. We enjoyed a whole new order of freedom.

Now this same thing is true when we submit and surrender our lives to God’s ongoing, flowing river of His Spirit. There comes an openness, a release, a freedom that we would have never known otherwise. In one sense, we were born to live in the water — the river of God’s Spirit.

I remember sharing this in a Catholic retreat and one of the sisters came up to me afterwards and said, "Your little illustration meant very much to me. You see, I’m a physical therapist and we use a hydrotherapy pool in the treatment for those who are limited physically and handicapped in many different ways. I remember on one occasion watching a little girl who had never ever been able to walk and jump and skip and play like other children but had been limited to a wheelchair. The first time that she got into the pool it was like watching a miracle, a whole resurrection almost. As the little girl began to feel the soft buoyancy and lifting power of the water and began to realize that here was a freedom she had never ever had before, she became so excited. She said, 'Look, look, I can jump ... I can skip ... I can dance .. . just like the other little girls.’ The lifting buoyant power of the water was what made the difference.

"On another occasion an elderly gentleman, who had suffered an accident and he no longer had freedom of movement, had withdrawn within himself and from people. All he wanted to do was to just be alone and watch television. Finally he came down to the pool and got into the water, and guess what happened? He didn’t have the strength to swim, but he discovered that if he would just let go and rest and float and kick his feet he could propel himself all over the pool. While he was still in the pool some little children came in, and what do you suppose he did? He said, 'Kids, come over here, I’ll show you how it’s done. It’s very simple. All you have to do is lie on your back. Now kick, that’s it; now see how it goes. Isn’t that wonderful?’ ”

What had happened? This man had found a release. He was back in life again. He was relating to people. He now had something to share. This is a beautiful picture, isn’t it, of our life in the Spirit?

Let’s Talk About Baptism

Let’s take this word 'baptism’ and consider it in a little more detail. The word in the Greek is baptiso and there’s no English equivalent for it. "Baptism” is a transliteration, that is, the Greek word is carried over into the English language and anglicized. As a result we don’t get the same feeling and the depth of meaning that those in that time and culture saw in the use of this word. It might help us to see how the word was used in those days . . . the significance and added dimension this will bring when we think of it in terms of the Holy Spirit baptism. It was used in several different ways:

a mechanical sense ...

a ceremonial sense and ...

a metaphorical sense.

In the mechanical sense baptism was often used in speaking of a cloth that was dipped into a vat of dye to the point that every fiber in the fabric of that cloth took on the quality of the dye. Forever after, it will be different in a way that people can see. I kind of like that.

Baptism was also used in a ceremonial sense. For example, an iron sword is heated quite hot and then plunged into cold water so that it might be tempered to the point that every molecule in the makeup of that sword will realign itself in such a way that there will be conferred upon the metal a durability, a hardness, a stability to its cutting edge.

In the metaphorical sense baptism was also used to speak of a substance material like a sponge which was soaked to saturation. God wants to touch every fiber, reach every molecule, every little corner, every inch of our lives — inside and out — with the releasing power of the Holy Spirit so that the LIFE and the LOVE and ALL THAT JESUS IS. . . can come pouring through our lives.

We begin to see some parallels here: the cloth has been baptized into the dye — it was forever changed. The sword had been baptized, so to speak, into the tempering effect of the water so that it was stronger, more durable and stable than ever before. The little sponge, you see, has been baptized — soaked to saturation — so that every little space in that sponge was filled with the medium into which it has been placed.

Baptism is also used of course by John the Baptist himself. In both his ceremonial and metaphorical usage, he says:

I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost (Mark 1:8).

It’s almost as if John might have said, "You will notice that it’s the outer man that gets wet all over in water baptism. But in the Holy Spirit baptism the inner man will get wet all over.” I think God wants us to see and to understand some of these things because often we can receive something and yet not fully appreciate what we have and what has us. It’s the truth that sets us free and that keeps us free.

Sometimes it’s not that we need more of God... we need to know what we ALREADY have in Him . . . and what He can do in and through us. Then this will cause our faith to rise and take on a definition.

Faith is characterized by its object. As God the Holy Spirit begins to reveal to us what the object of our faith is, our faith will become as strong and real and alive as is the object of our faith.

The Baptism Gives Light

What happens to us in this beautiful experience in the Holy Spirit is what we descriptively call the baptism of Jesus in the Holy Spirit that He gives to us. Our desire is that we be so baptized — so bathed — by the clean, pure, bright, white light of the Lord that every part of our makeup is going to come under the revealing and releasing power of that light from above. I like to think sometimes of myself as standing before the Lord and allowing Him, through the power of His Spirit, to bathe my life with His beautiful, wonderful light of love. You’ve seen pictures or models of the human anatomy made out of plastic — the light shines all the way through. I like to picture myself like that. I say, "Lord, I won’t hold back one part, not one corner, not one aspect, one recess, of my life within. You just shine Your light all the way through me.”

This is significant because wherever light comes in, what goes out? DARKNESS! In fact, there’s no other way to get shadows out of your life.

You can’t FIGHT shadows out —

You can’t FORCE shadows out —

You can’t SHOUT shadows out.

There’s only one way to get the darkness out of our life and that is to allow the light to come in. Light has a dispelling power and WHEN THE LIGHT COMES IN, THE DARKNESS GOES and all the things that live in the darkness go.

Have you ever noticed — in the summer — when you turn over a rock that all kinds of little creatures go scurrying around? What are they trying to do?

They are trying to get out of the light.

Why are they trying to get out of the light?

Because they are creatures of the darkness.

I remember praying for a young lady that God would really bathe her life with the light of His love. It seemed that in my mind I could see the windows of a house as they, one by one, started lighting up until the entire house was aglow with the light of God’s Spirit.

We, as the temples of the Holy Spirit, are to be aglow in the selfsame way. When people look upon us there should be no darkened windows. God by His Spirit can reach down and turn every light on in our house. He is the Light of the World and He can become the Light of OUR world.

What we are in the present is a product and an accumulation of all of the things that have ever happened to us in the past — people, places, events, decisions, good things, bad things, successes, failures, hurts, scars, disappointments. Anything that we can think of that happened in the past contributes to what we are in the present. Now if we are a product of the past then it would seem that the baptizing power of God’s Spirit would need to cover more than just the present in relationship to our inner man, doesn’t it? The Holy Spirit must cover all that is in our past; that is, how we felt from the very moment we were born.

The point is that all kinds of things have happened to each of us. Sometimes the enemy has taken advantage of us. Sometimes he’s planted a seed in the past which began to grow and by the time it got to the present it had been a great tree bearing bitter fruit.

Why Don’t We “Stay On The Mountain?”

Sometimes we can go to church or read a book or something else and we feel blessed on the inside and feel good. It seems like the clouds lift. . . only to return in a few days. Then we find that the same old problems are still there, sometimes more stubborn than ever. It just doesn’t seem like our religious experience took, or it didn’t last very long. There’s a reason . .. we just cut the top off.

For example, I discovered that there is a certain amount of satisfaction in standing at the head of a lawn filled with dandelion heads, such as ours was a summer or so ago. I said, "All right, dandelions, get ready,” and I mowed the lawn. Dandelion heads went flying everywhere. I ended up with a nice looking lawn. The only thing is that the dandelions grew up again. Why? Because I didn’t get the roots. Dandelions have a big tap root. I discovered that you need to get roots and all. Then where the hole was you plant a sprig of grass.

Are you beginning to see how the searching streams of God’s Spirit desire to surge their way back through our lives into every corner, every place, every situation, and to bring a healing, to bring renewal, to take things out — literally by the roots — so that He can, in turn, replant with the fruit of His Spirit. Now the Holy Spirit can do this. This is more than just pretty words. This really works in life.

God Accepts Us As We Are

We need to realize that the blessed Comforter is ONE who can enable us to be honest with ourselves and with each other and with the Lord. He’s also the Spirit of Truth. Every time the little phrase, "the Comforter,” is used, it is coupled with another little phrase, "the Spirit of Truth.” So we can be honest. We can be honest with God. He’s honest with us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. And in His great grace He loves us anyway.

Incidentally, what drew me when I met Jesus as my Baptizer was His love. It just seemed like it came down from above and up from within and I remember thinking, Oh, dear Lord, wait a minute, I’m not worthy, Lord. Don’t You remember I’m not worthy?

But He didn’t take it back. He said, "No, I know you better than you know yourself, and I love you anyway.

I love you just as you are because I know what you can become through the power of MY Spirit.”

That’s encouraging. God always accepts us where we are. He never says, "All right, you’ve got to come up about ten notches and maybe I’ll give you the time of day.” God reaches us where we are and then brings us into the heavenlies with Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:3). God did some things in and through my life through the searching streams of the Holy Spirit.

One of the first times I ever prayed with somebody that God by His Spirit — the eternal Spirit who is not limited by the dimensions of time as we are — would reach back into this person’s heart and life and heal, was in an Oral Roberts crusade away back in the early ’60s. We were sharing in an after-meeting. A little lady came up, her face all darkened and filled with despair. She said, "Oh, please, would you pray for me that God might just take away this fear?”

I remember I said something like this, "I’ll tell you what, here is how I would like to pray. I don’t know enough of your past to know what the roots of all this fear might be. Even if I did get into the surface I’m not too sure I would know what to do or would have the power to do it. But let’s trust God, the eternal Spirit of the Lord. Let’s see Him going back out through your life, away back into time, even when you were just a little girl. Let’s see Him . ..

wherever there’s darkness, bringing in light. .. wherever there is resentment, bringing in forgiveness. .. wherever there is hatred, bringing in love . . . wherever there is anxiety and turmoil and fear, bringing in peace and joy in a sense of tranquility that only God by His Spirit can do.

"This is overcoming evil with good. There is a displacement that happens when God by His Spirit begins to move through our lives. It is something deep ... something thorough. Every fiber and fabric of our soul is touched by the Spirit of God, and forever after we are changed.”

Then I began to pray for the lady — but I really didn’t have to. She had been praying as I’d been talking. The Holy Spirit was already doing the work and something very unusual happened. Every once in a while God will do something very different. I think sometimes He does it as much for me as He does it for somebody else. He’s kind of saying, "There’s something here I want you to follow.”

God’s Spirit came upon this woman in an evident way to the point where she just slumped from her chair. It didn’t scare me. I knew something was happening much deeper than I had realized or had anticipated. Then she burst out praising, loving, worshiping, and adoring God in the most beautiful heavenly tongue you ever did hear. I mean, she was just in rapture. There was a washing out; there was a healing. You could see and feel the Holy Spirit restoring and renewing and releasing. Oh, it was a marvelous sight. I was moved. I am every time I share it.

After some time I guess she became more aware of all that God was doing and she began to speak in English and these were her words: "O my Redeemer,

O my King. O my Lord. O my Redeemer. O my King, welcome home . .. welcome home!” Now it wasn’t that He had ever left, but God by His Spirit was making her AWARE of the presence of her Good Shepherd, who said:

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me (Psalm 23:4).

She was set free. The last I saw of her, her husband was helping her out the door. She had one hand in the air and she was saying, "O my Redeemer, 0 my King,

O my Lord.” Her husband said it had been weeks — maybe even months — since she had smiled.

What had happened? God set her free. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

God Can Redeem Your Past

God wants to do something that is sometimes beyond what we can fully appreciate. God not only wants to forgive our past but He also wants to HEAL our past. And He wants to REDEEM our past.

This last summer while I was in England participating in a family conference, a lady came up to me. She said, "There’s a young girl here in her early 20s and she’s very depressed — seriously so. She’s in a great place of despair and darkness. Would you be willing to share with her?”

I said, "If this is the desire of her heart, I would be pleased to take time.”

So she came and this was her story: Her name was Penny. She had been a Hell’s Angel before she met Jesus as her Lord and Savior and she had accidentally killed a little boy with her motorcycle. After she met the Lord she knew in her head that she was for-

given but, you know, sometimes our heart has to be told. What had happened was this. On the way up to the conference, the group she was with picked up a hitchhiker. When Penny shared her witness with this hitchhiker concerning their faith, he opened up and shared something of his own life which was so closely parallel to Penny’s life that it just reopened all of those wounds and scars again. She came to the camp a very hurt girl.

I remember she cried out to me, "Dr. Frost, I asked God over and over if He would just keep me from ever coming into circumstances that would remind me of that part of my past. It’s too painful and it hurts too much. I’ve asked Him to protect me and guard me and keep me from it. And look what happened.”

I said, "Penny, I have good news for you. God by His Spirit can do something that most desperately needs to be done in your life. And it’s this: He, with you, can go back into the past. You can review and relive that incident again, only this time Jesus will be by your side. His loving tender care will be by your side. He, who knows, He who can not only forgive but also can heal, will be with you. That part of your past, Penny, is not to be just forgiven, it’s to be yielded. But more than this, God wants to heal the past.”

Her eyes lit up and she began to praise and love and worship God. It was wonderful to see it happen right before our eyes. I mean, the light came on. But did it last? Well, a few days later, Penny, with some of the other young people, went into a nearby village to witness and who did they run into?

Hell’s Angels.

What happened? Did it reawaken the pain of the past, or had she really been healed?

You know what Penny did? She took Jesus stickers and stuck them all over their leather jackets and invited them to come to the camp for the meetings. Some of them did come. They didn’t know what to do with all the love that was there.

We are showing how God can not only forgive, He can heal; but He can do more than just heal, He can redeem.

The last night of the camp a couple came who were partly intoxicated. Someone took them aside to counsel with them and Penny’s heart went out to what was happening. She got up and went out to share with them. She came just as the man, the husband, was saying, "But you all don’t understand! You don’t understand! You see, I’ve gone too far, God can’t forgive me. I’ve gone beyond help. I killed a person.”

And Penny said, "But I DO understand, I DO know. I’ve been down that road. But let me tell you something. I met Jesus there and you can meet Him too.” Do you see the redeeming, healing power of God’s Spirit? This is a part of this mighty work of God’s Spirit. When we come to Jesus the Baptizer, it’s that we might be made whole—altogether whole.

God can reach you right where you are, right now. He really can. He loves you and He knows you better than you know yourself. He loves you and He’s ready by the releasing power of His Spirit to heal and redeem your past.

We don’t have to be afraid to face the past if we are walking with Jesus. That’s precisely what we can do. In God’s grace and in His goodness He has given to us the Comforter — not the tormenter, but the Comforter. He is the One who reveals Jesus to us. We can picture ourselves hand in hand with Jesus, walking back through memory’s lane, not being afraid anymore — seeing those situations, seeing those people, confronting those circumstances because the Lord is by our side.

No longer are we insecure, no longer are we helpless, no longer are we threatened, no longer are we hurt, because Jesus — the great Physician, the Good Shepherd — is with us.

We can open ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit. We can allow the Light — He is the Light of the world — to shine all the way through our lives. The darkness goes because of Jesus — and it’s wonderful!

Chapter 10, How You Can Enter Into Abundant Life Through The Holy Spirit

(The Scriptures are throughout this lesson — this is a message from me to you to help you enter into abundant living.)

I want to try to help you understand more fully the part the Holy Spirit (the divine Paraclete) plays in bringing Christ into the NOW of your great needs.

I want to talk about:

• building a new pattern of life for you in the Holy Spirit. ..

• a new pattern of life in the NOW of your needs.

What I’m going to say will help you:

• in your job

• in your marriage

• in your relationship with your children.

It will help bring a healing from inner tensions and problems that have you tied up in knots.

It will help your spirit and your understanding.

I have quite a lot to say, so please take your time. You’ll be glad you did.

How Can God Be One And Also Three?

We often speak of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Yet the Bible says, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is ONE Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4). One of the problems our Jewish friends have with us Christians is that we seem to indicate that God is three beings and the Bible says He’s one. But there is no difference between the Jewish concept of God, as one God, and ours when you understand what we are saying. That is, God is a Person and He has three expressions of himself — God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Don’t think of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit as being separate because they do not exist separately. He is one God — not three gods.

God Manifests Himself In Three Different Ways

There is one God but God manifests himself in three different ways so we can grasp what He is like.

1. God Manifests Himself As A Father.

He comes to us in the love and the protection, the security and the power of a Father to supply our needs.

2. He Comes To Us Through The Son, Jesus Christ.

A young man in the full strength of His life, where He lived on this earth like any man and faced all the life situations that humanity faces. He took man’s place. He substituted His life. He offered himself upon the cross in behalf of man. He faced and conquered death. He arose from the dead. He sent the Holy Spirit.

3. Then God Comes To Us Through The Holy Spirit.

There are no time and no space barriers between us and God. We do not have to limit ourselves to thinking of God as a historical fact — that 2,000 years ago there lived a man, Jesus Christ — because He is beyond history. He’s beyond time. He’s bigger than time. He is not dated in any way. God is everywhere; God is all the time. He is omniscient (all wise), omnipresent (everywhere present), omnipotent (all powerful). Through the Spirit all of this comes to pass.

Jesus Shows Us What We Can Become Through God

Now we think of God as a person, not a person as you are and I am because we are fragmented and divided persons. There’s something broken in you and something broken in me. There are imperfections, disorders, and disharmonies in us. But God comes as a whole person who has no divisions in himself. He’s not fragmented. He is known as the perfect Person, holy and undefiled. And when He came through His Son Jesus Christ we saw God and we saw what God wanted us to be.

It was God’s design to get His Son upon the earth to do His work, then to get Him off the earth and back at His right hand, and then to send Him back permanently through the Holy Spirit. Then He would abide with us forever, not being subject to time or to space or subject to death but He would be alive forevermore and saying, "Because I live, ye shall live also.”

So it was just as important for God to get Jesus off the earth as it was to bring Him onto the earth.

Now see this method used by God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. God brought His Son TO the earth through a supernatural birth. He was born of the Holy Spirit. What was born? Not the Christ, not the Son of God, for He’s the begotten of the Father before the foundation of the world. He coexists with God. But Jesus the man — the human part, His human body — that part was supernaturally conceived. It did not happen through the seed of a man, not through the natural process — no. The Holy Spirit overshadowed a young unmarried pure girl and actually put the embryo in her womb. The Holy Spirit did this without the aid of a male human being. So the Son was given a human body through His mother, the virgin Mary.

Jesus was man. He was so much man that it is like He was not God. Yet He was so much God it is like He was not man. He was God in the flesh. It’s a mystery. You either have to believe through your spirit by faith or resist it by your intellect and reasoning. You try to reason it out and you say, "No, it can’t be.” And that’s true, for through reason it can’t be. But by faith it does exist. God had His body born of this young girl. He grew up as a boy, as a young man. He became man, a human being, and this is how we see God — through the life of Jesus.

Jesus Shows Us What God Is Like

When I grew up I was scared of God. I always loved Jesus. Later through Jesus I came to see that He SHOWS US WHAT GOD IS LIKE.

Jesus is God becoming flesh of our flesh, bone of our bone, taking our mind and our body and our spirit, our being, and wrapping it all up inside himself.

Jesus is God sitting beside us . .. getting inside our skin . .. feeling what we feel. . . bearing our sicknesses . .. taking our sins upon Him.

Jesus is God entering into our torments . .. our sorrows, even the death of a loved one.

This is what the coming of Jesus was all about so that we could finally understand what God is. WHAT JESUS DID AS A MAN IS WHAT GOD IS ALL THE TIME. What God is doing all the time is coming to you in the form of your need — coming to you where you hurt ... coming to you in your brokenness . .. coming to you in your sicknesses ... in your sinfulness .. . coming to you at the point of your need and saying, "Here I am. I have come to deliver you.”

Jesus said:

He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised (Luke 4:18).

THIS IS GOD ALL THE TIME — 24 hours a day, seven days a week — but we never could have known that unless God had come to us through the dimension of His Son Jesus in the flesh.

Jesus Voluntarily Limited Himself

But, you see, that posed another kind of problem. God in becoming flesh, becoming Jesus Christ, a man, had to voluntarily empty himself of the glory and the power and the riches He had before He was born of the virgin Mary. He who was rich had to become poor for our sakes (2 Corinthians 8:9). And He had to limit himself. He voluntarily limited himself even to death.

In order for Jesus Christ to be man He had to empty himself of what He had in God — the glory, the power and the riches — and come down here and live like a man. By this I mean He actually experienced bills piling up — actually having no place to lay His head (Matthew 8:20) — that is, no money to buy a house. At times no money to buy anything, or even pay His taxes (Matthew 17:27).

Jesus had to experience a sick body, even though it was by vicariously taking the sicknesses of other people’s bodies (Matthew 8:17).

Then Jesus had to be subject to time, a brief period of some 33 years. He had to limit himself to space, the Palestine area. He could not be every place on the earth at one time.

Then ultimately He limited himself by subjecting himself to death. He had to experience death because every human being has to die.

Now in order for Jesus Christ to survive on this earth He had to carry within Him the atmosphere of heaven. Just as the astronaut in going from the earth to the moon has to carry the oxygen of the atmosphere of this earth in his space suit, from which he breathes while he is in space and on the moon, for if he were to breathe the atmosphere of the moon it would mean instant death.

Why The Holy Spirit Is Necessary

That is why Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit. This is why He came to John the Baptist at the River Jordan and asked John to baptize Him. John the Baptist was one of those particular Baptists who was wanting the charismatic infilling and he said, "I have need to be baptized of you” (Matthew 3:11,14).

He’s the first one that we know of who wanted to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Jesus told John that in order to fulfill the Scripture John must baptize Him in water (Matthew 3:15). When Jesus came up out of the water the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit came on Him in the bodily form of a dove, temporarily lighted on His head, and He was filled with the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:10).

Now, with the Holy Spirit filling Him, Jesus is ready to live not in heaven where He had been, but on this earth with all of its torments and poverties, sicknesses, and sins, and limitations — yet without the poisonous sinful atmosphere of earth defiling Him (Hebrews 4:15).

If there’s one word that describes man, it is the word limitation. We are limited in our humanness. Jesus ministered to people as if their hearts were breaking. But He had this atmosphere of the Spirit within Him.

Being filled with the Holy Spirit was just one of three tools Jesus used to overcome His human limitations while here on earth. He also used His knowledge of the Word of God and His faith as a "seed.”

Jesus Used The Word Of God Against The Devil

The first thing Jesus faced after His baptism was conflict and temptation by the devil (Mark 1:12; Matthew 4:1). I think the biggest shock any Christian has when he finds Christ and is filled with the Spirit is that suddenly the devil comes against him. And he faces conflict and temptation until the day he dies.

I think Christians never rise above conflicts. We mistakenly think of the kingdom of heaven being so strong that it rules out the devil, but it does not. We are limited on this earth and we face a devil who has come to steal from us, to destroy us, and to kill us (John 10:10). He’s a tempter. But Jesus shows us how to win over conflicts and temptations. Jesus also used the Word of God against the devil’s temptations, saying, "[Devil], it is written ...” (Matthew 4:7). He knew the Scripture and He used quotations from the Scripture against the devil.

Jesus Used His Faith

The third thing that Jesus used was His faith — His "Seed-Faith.” He said:

If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this Mountain [Mountain Of Need, Mountain Of Sickness, Or Mountain Of torment], Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you (Matthew 17:20).

So Jesus used these three things — all of which are available to you and me — while here on earth to overcome His human limitations and show us how to use them to overcome our human limitations:

1. Being filled with the Holy Spirit

2. His knowledge of the Word of God

3. Faith as a "seed”

These were continual reminders to Jesus that God was His Source, that He would always love and give first and that He would live in constant expectation of miracles, and that miracles would happen through Him.

The Formula For Real Christianity

To me, this is what real Christianity is all about — being filled with the Spirit, living by the Word of God and applying it against the devil and his forces. This is what I call living by the three keys of "Seed-Faith.”

1. God is the Source of my total supply.

2. Seeding for your miracle (give, and give first; love, and love first).

3. Expect a miracle. (From the seed of faith I plant, I am to expect God to perform miracles of supply for my need.)

Jesus lived like this.

Jesus’ final limitation was death. And that was the seed of His life. Jesus was the seed of David. He came to give and He came to love. He went to the cross and submitted to death. This was a further limitation which He eventually overcame, which means that you and I will also overcome death through Him.

The Poverty Syndrome

There’s been a poverty syndrome grown up among Christians, based upon the fact that in our Lord’s lifetime there were times when He had no place to lay His head, when there was no money to pay His bills, and when society did not receive Him. Therefore, we have been taught that when we get saved and serve God we are not to expect God to take a hand in our physical, material life — that God’s not concerned about this. That it will be taken care of when we get to heaven.

But remember that to become a man Jesus had to suffer what we suffer, taste what we taste, and feel what we feel in order to be what we are. He had to go through it, overcome it, and bring us through to victory. So He voluntarily laid aside the glory and the power and the riches He had before He was born of the virgin Mary. But at death something happened.

The physical body of Jesus was changed — it’s terribly important to understand this. Let me tell you why You live in your physical body 24 hours a day. You have five senses — touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing, and you therefore live on the physical sense level. Jesus lived on the sense level also and His disciples followed Him on the sense level. They saw Him as a man, but they had a hard time seeing Him as God.

Because Jesus was in a human body, limited to time and to space and to death, He never completely broke through into their minds, into their spirits. They deserted Him at the cross like rats desert a sinking ship, because no one can build his spiritual life around the physical senses only.

Having The Holy Spirit Is Like Having Jesus With Us In The Flesh

People say, "Oh, I wish I had lived in Jesus’ time; I wish I could have seen Him.” Oh, my friend, that would have been a mistake. I used to want that. I remember when God started this healing ministry in 1947.1 prayed that God would let me see Jesus in the flesh and He said, "Do you have the baptism in the Holy Spirit?”

I said, "Yes.”

"Well,” He said, "that’s like having Jesus in the flesh, only He’s inside you and you can bring healing to the people because the Holy Spirit is within you.”

Oh, the disciples did some miracles while Jesus was on earth. But they were never able to carry forth all the way on the physical level. That’s why during the last few months and days of our Lord’s life He began to talk along a different theme. He said, "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter [God, the Holy Spirit] will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you” (John 16:7).

The Holy Spirit Is Jesus’ Other Self

The Holy Spirit is God manifesting himself in a slightly different dimension — the same God.

God had to put His Son on the earth. Jesus was on the earth in an atmosphere unnatural to Him — like the astronaut on the moon. Now when He completed His earthly mission, God has to get Him off the earth because if He leaves Him on earth He will die and He will stay dead — like our dead loved ones are dead now — and we would have no hope of resurrection as they do now.

How did Jesus do it? The very thing that was the severest limitation was the vehicle, and that was death. When Jesus died they thought they had killed Jesus Christ. They had killed Jesus, but they never got their hands on Christ.

Jesus Was Reinvested With All His Former Glory And Riches

It is significant that Joseph of Arimathaea came to Pilate and begged the BODY of Jesus. He wanted to take the body down from the cross and bury it. You see, it was Mary’s son that died. It was the humanity of Jesus that died. It was the physical body that they nailed to the cross. For when He died, Jesus said, "Father, into thy hands I commend [or commit] my spirit.”

The Christ Spirit came out of that limited physical body and three days later God raised Him from the dead. When God raised Christ Jesus’ body from the dead and He ascended to heaven, God reclothed Him with the glory that He once had. God reinvested Him with the riches that He had had. So now in Philippians 4:19 we read,

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

SO NOW JESUS IS NO LONGER THE VISIBLE, PHYSICAL, LIMITED JESUS.

HE IS NOW THE INVISIBLE,

UNLIMITED SON OF GOD, CROWNED KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS, REINVESTED WITH THE ETERNAL RICHES OF HIS FATHER.

Before I go further, I want to point out a terrible error many Christians fall into. They think Jesus is poor. And thousands of Christians subconsciously believe it is God’s will that they be sick, that they suffer financially and socially. They think of a kind of withdrawal from society.

This is why we must be careful not to overemphasize the church building itself. If we are not careful we can, inside those four walls, allow ourselves to be separated and removed from the actual world, its problems, and even our own! Anything physical or visible that we use in our worship of God and disciple-ship is a means to an end, and not an end in itself.

Jesus says that while you are not to be of the world (John 11 \1Q),you are to be IN it!-INIT. Involved in it. Taking dominion, subduing the earth, as God told man in the beginning (Genesis 1:28). This of course takes you beyond the walls of your own church building.

Where do Christians get this poverty syndrome — this sickness ethic? Perhaps from statements in the Bible which refer only to Jesus in His physical, visible form when here He voluntarily limited himself— to be literal about it, when He took our place. Statements such as:

"He made himself of no reputation” (Philippians 2:7).

"Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20).

"Though He was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

But listen, in His GLORIFIED form - when He reentered heaven and sat down at the Father’s right hand - He was reinvested with His eternal riches, reclothed with all power of heaven and earth, with the keys over death, hell, and the grave, and reendowed with the glory He had before the foundation of the earth.

No longer is our Lord Jesus Christ of no reputation. No longer is He poor.

He did all this for our sakes. Therefore, as the risen Lord, He is qualified to meet our needs while we are still human on this earth. He comes to us IN THE NOW and directly to the point of our need . .. with His original heavenly riches to supply our financial needs . . . with His original divine power to heal and strengthen us in our weaknesses . .. with His original glory to raise us from obscurity and nothingness . .. with His warm loving personal presence for our loneliness. .. with His enduement with "power from on high”. .. with His "now-ness” so that we need never look back to that physical, visible, limited form of 2,000 years ago, but "sit with Him in heavenly places” ... in the NOW!. . . and with His eternal riches and power and glory available to us every moment.

Since He took on himself our limitations, went to the cross, rose from the dead, ascended, and poured out the Holy Spirit, we can have ALL OUR NEEDS MET according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

With His eternal resources we can face our limitations with hope and expectation for miracles, many miracles. We know now that we don’t have to accept them as we would have, had Jesus not come in the flesh and taken our place.

Let me tell you, "God ain’t poor no more.” No human being has any right to say he has to be limited. The only ultimate limitation he faces is death, but later he will conquer death because he, too, will rise from the dead through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So what are our limitations? Our limitations are the same that Jesus encountered: financial, physical, spiritual, torments, frustrations, family problems, loneliness — the whole gamut of human needs.

But now we talk about the risen Christ, the unlimited Christ, the Christ reinvested with the riches that He had before the earth was made. And now then we face our needs with this faith that God will supply all our needs (not according to our riches or man’s riches), but according to the riches of Jesus Christ in heaven.

That’s why WE CAN HAVE EVERYTHING GOD WANTS US TO HAVE. We don’t have to settle for one penny less, or one ounce of health less, or one degree of salvation less, or one ounce of divine powerless. WE CAN HAVE IT IN THE NOW, BY BEING FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, BY LIVING BY THE WORD OF GOD AS CHRIST DID, AND BY LIVING WITH OUR FAITH AS A SEED WE PLANT, AND EXPECTING MIRACLES.

Through the seed of faith we put in, which is our loving and giving, we can expect miracles and God will give us those miracles. Just as surely as you put a seed in the ground, that seed has a potential of a harvest, or a miracle. Every time you give of your love and concern, of your faith and hope, whatever you possess, whatever you give, it is a seed. It is a seed of faith and God will multiply it back in the form of your need.

Remember God says there are only three permanent things: faith, hope, and love (1 Corinthians 13:13). Although what you give may be tangible, it must be an expression of faith, hope, and love — or what we give profits us nothing (read the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians). But when our tangible gifts come out of our faith, hope, and love, they actually become Seed-Faith. And Jesus says then, "Nothing is impossible to you.”

Man Was Created A Spiritual Being

Let me put it this way: I, Oral Roberts, am not just a physical being. I am a spiritual being. God made man spiritual and the spirit in man was to be the governing power of his life on earth. His spirit was to take the mind and the body and to bring them into a cohesive force, a unity, a harmony, in which God would live.

We see it in the Garden of Eden when God and man walked and talked together. There was no sin, no sickness, no unhappiness. It was God and man, the way God made us. That’s why we long for our Lord to return to this earth, to come, having raised the dead in Christ, to come back to restore the Eden that man once had. But this time with a redeemed mankind.

In order for man to be a spiritual being and to be like God, God had to originally voluntarily limit himself when He made man. That is, He would give man the power of choice. If you get this point, you will really understand yourself, you will understand your children, you will understand your salvation, you will understand the work of the Holy Spirit.

God made man a spirit and gave him the power to choose. Had He not done that, man would have become like any other animal. But God breathed spirit only into the man, making him a living soul with the power of choice (Genesis 2:7).

In order for man to be given the power of choice, God had to test him so he could say yes to God. He could have compelled man to worship Him but He would receive no glory and man would not have had the power of choice.

So God put a particular tree in the Garden of Eden. It represented knowledge. And He said, "If you eat of it, you will die.”

But God was not talking about the instant death of the body, though that would ultimately be included in the death that He was talking about. He was talking about the death of something inside him, the image of God in him, the spiritual dominance, the spiritual supremacy that was in him. God said that will die.

"In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17).

Man Lives According To His Intellect

In our terms it means this: When they ate of the tree of knowledge and saw how pleasant it was to get knowledge, suddenly the spirit of man was put down and the mind ascended. The mind got up in the saddle and from that day to this man has lived as if he never had a soul, as if he were not created by God. He has lived in the flesh. Today education, particularly higher education, is concerned with only one thing — not your soul — not your relationship with God, but knowledge. One university president said — and it made the headlines in the newspaper — "We are not concerned with the morals of our students, only with their minds...” This is also true in business; it’s true everywhere.

When man fell, his spirit fell, and the mind climbed up there and took ascendency. Today medical science says that about 85 percent of our diseases are emotionally induced. They come out of the friction that our mind has with life. Our mind cannot cope with life and our mind passes off to our bodies its torments, its incapabilities, its limitations. Our mind is the big boss who stole God from man’s soul and now it says, "God is dead.” MAN HAS GRIEVED OVER THE GRAVE OF GOD. He’s never been the same since he believed God died.

But God in the Old Testament sent His prophets. And God sent His laws. And finally in the New Testament He sent His Son. This Son said,

"I am come that [you] might have life, and . . . have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

Jesus Christ came to restore man, to take away that which the devil had put on man and to put back on man what the devil had stolen away. And in the latter part of Jesus’ ministry on earth He began to talk about the Holy Spirit.

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified) (John 7:37,38,39).

Here Jesus is not talking about a well of physical water. He’s not talking about water-thirst. He says, "He that believes on me, out of his belly...” and He’s not talking about your stomach. He is talking about the solar plexus area, the area where you feel. He’s really talking about the inner man. He’s talking about the image and likeness of God in you. He’s talking about the spiritual part of you that died back there at the time of Adam and Eve. He’s talking about death and sins and trespasses. He’s talking about us as we’ve gone away from God and the light of God had become darkness inside us. The life of God has become death and we are lost.

Not only are we lost from God, but also we are arrogant toward God. We want to intellectually run our own lives. "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1).

HUMANITY HAS BUILT A CIVILIZATION BASED UPON MAN’S MIND AND PARTIALLY HIS BODY, BUT WITHOUT THE SOUL, WITHOUT THE SPIRIT.

This is why everybody must repent of sin and be born again. This is why we must be born by the Holy Spirit in the same way that Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit (John 3:3). We must be born again because the first self is dead and we have to come out of that death through repentance of sin and through believing on Jesus.

Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, quickens us, opens our minds, brings us into newness of thinking and living. When we receive that new birth we are instantly a new creature. We are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).

(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified) (John 7:39).

When Jesus said, "But when you believe on Me, out of your belly, out of your innermost being, it will be rivers flowing.” He was still on the physical sense level — that is to say, in a human body. On the human level He hadn’t died. He hadn’t been raised from the dead. He hadn’t ascended to the Father. He hadn’t yet sent the Holy Spirit.

The First Word Spoken To The Church

Now turn to the second chapter of Acts, where the Christian church came into existence on the Day of Pentecost. God poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit where the 120 were gathered in the Upper Room, according to Christ’s instructions, and:

"they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4).

Now what were they saying in tongues? Well, they were glorifying God. They were speaking of the wonderful works of God (Acts 2:11). They certainly were not preaching. For when it came time to preach they stopped speaking in tongues and Peter began to speak in his own language (Aramaic), which the crowd that had gathered understood. When Peter finished his sermon, the crowd asked, "What must we do to be saved?” And Peter’s first words to them were:

Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost [Holy Spirit] (Acts 2:38).

This means that when a man repents of his sins and believes on Jesus, out of his belly, his innermost being, the Holy Spirit will start flooding up like a river. (Remember Jesus said this in John 7:37-39.)

In that moment the Holy Spirit is trying to reintegrate the total personality of man. In that moment He’s going all the way back to Eden when God created man a spirit, and the spirit was supreme; the spirit was dominant; it had the ascendency over the mind. Once again the spirit of man comes to the forefront and the mind and the body are governed by the spirit. MAN FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, BECOMES A REINTEGRATED PERSONALITY AS GOD MADE HIM.

A Word About Speaking In Tongues

Now turn over to 1 Corinthians 14 and we will look at this on a practical level. The reason that speaking in tongues seems so difficult for the intellect to understand is because the intellect has been out of touch with God so long. The spirit of man has been suppressed so long that the intellect doesn’t grasp what the inner man is actually saying to God.

For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God (1 Corinthians 14:2).

Not horizontal speaking such as man to man, but vertical: the Christian believer speaking directly TO GOD. It’s something coming out of the heart. It’s prayer. It’s praise. It’s communication. It’s direct talking to God. Not using the mind. Not depending on the intellect. The intellect doesn’t know the mind of the Spirit (Romans 8:26).

In order for me or for you to talk to God out of the deepest depths of our being — down in our belly — we have to bypass the mind from time to time, for a few seconds at least each time, and let the Spirit well up from our inner being.

Notice in this same 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians, it says:

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 (1 Corinthians 14:14,15).

What Paul is saying is that when the fullness of the Spirit wells up within your inner being these rivers start flooding up. At that moment, if you will yield yourself and open your mouth and stop talking in whatever language you’ve learned, your spirit will start speaking to God and will use your tongue just as your intellect uses your tongue.

Now in ordinary speech your tongue is doing only what your mind tells it to do. Likewise, when you are speaking in tongues your tongue is just a vehicle being used by your spirit. Your tongue is saying what your spirit — by the ability of the Holy Spirit in you — tells it to say to God in behalf of the deepest needs and levels of your inner being.

Think of your tongue in this instance as you would the spigot or hydrant which you turn on when you want water, or you turn off when you have enough. The important thing is not the hydrant but the reservoir full of water backing up the hydrant or keeping it under pressure so at a turn of the tap it flows. In the same way, your tongue is the instrument used by the Holy Spirit. See, the Holy Spirit is in your spirit (belly, inner man), and is, as Jesus said, flooding up in rivers of living water. This is like a water reservoir storing up the supply, with the water constantly held and contained under pressure.

With the Spirit in you and constantly contained under pressure, ready to flow over your tongue and up to God at any moment you have need, there is created with you a whole new pattern of life. From this moment on you can speak directly to God first with your spirit, then follow it by speaking to Him with your understanding or intellect. This is what Paul is saying in verse 15. Your spirit has retaken supremacy over your mind, it has regained the ascendency. Your spirit guided by the Holy Spirit — and directed by your will — now comes up in a language you never learned, a language "as given utterance” by the Holy Spirit himself.

Ever since you first thirsted for Jesus and then repented and believed on Him, being born again and made a new creature in Christ, ever since that moment the Holy Spirit as a Person has been in you. And ever since that moment there has been the possibility of a baptism in the Spirit, or an immersion in Him, which instantly releases the language (or languages) resident in the Spirit himself.

So that at any moment (1) of need and (2) an act of your will, you can speak directly to God WITH YOUR SPIRIT — or in tongues, which is speaking to God "in the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 14:2, Ephesians 6:18, Jude 20). Your spirit will be guiding your mind so you can first pray with your spirit (or in tongues). That’s why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:13:

...let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.

After your spirit has prayed in tongues, stop . . . pause a moment and breathe a prayer that God will let you interpret to your own intellect, your own mind, what the Spirit is saying. For if you will pause, then lift up your voice in English — in your own language — (most of the time) you will be interpreting what you have just prayed in tongues. You will be saying what you said to God in tongues or you will be saying back to yourself God’s response. (Some of the time tongues will not need a response or interpretation because your praying in tongues is intercessory or for your personal edification.)

The effect of interpreting back to your understanding will be electrifying. The Spirit will be working in you and it will be like Jesus Christ is standing in your shoes.

It’s More Of Jesus In Your Life

Think of the baptism in the Holy Spirit as simply more of Jesus in your life. It is Jesus baptizing you in the Spirit, as John the Baptist said in Matthew 3:11, and keeping it contained under pressure — in your innermost being all the time. Then think of the Holy Spirit’s ability to unify with your spirit producing a new language pattern with which to speak, through your tongue, directly to God. Speaking from the deepest levels of your being, and doing it according to God’s will for you.

As I said, this is under your will. Paul says, "I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also” (1 Corinthians 14:15). I WILL. The word will here means determination, deep purpose. So Paul is indicating that as you can at any moment turn the tap, and water held under pressure in the reservoir will start flowing, so at any moment of need to speak to God with your spirit alone, you can determine to do it, and you can and will. By the same will, you can determine to speak to Him with your understanding (words chosen by your mind) also. The most beautiful and effective part of all is in verse 13 where you can interpret back to your understanding either the tongues you prayed in or in God’s response to it.

The end result is that something wonderful happens to your understanding. The spirit is in ascendency over your understanding as it was when God first created Adam and Eve, and before they ate of the tree of knowledge.

There comes flooding into your mind a knowledge you never had before, an ability to grasp and to do much more of God’s will and purpose for your life. Your intuitiveness is sharply increased, your grasp of the impossible is enlightened, you begin to feel from deep within you that miracles can actually happen where before your mind had blocked any such possibility.

Where Are We This Moment?

If God would say this is the last thing I’m going to let you say to anybody, this is what I would tell you:

- REPENT OF HAVING LIVED YOUR LIFE ONLY IN YOUR INTELLECT.

- REPENT OF HAVING YOUR WAY RATHER THAN GOD’S.

- REPENT FROM YOUR HEART OF HAVING SAID YES, YES, AND YOUR MIND SAYING NO, NO, AND . ..

- YOUR MIND OVERRULING THE WAY GOD CREATED YOU.

- REPENT OF SIN BECAUSE THAT’S REALLY WHAT SIN IS — JUST DOING YOUR THING RATHER THAN GOD’S.

- REPENT AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

- BELIEVE ON JESUS AND OUT OF YOUR BELLY SHALL FLOW RIVERS OF LIVING WATER, WHICH IS THE BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT.

And it can happen at once. God can integrate you spiritually, physically, and mentally. It will take only a few moments or minutes for this to start happening to you.

Or if you, months or years ago, repented and believed on Jesus and you didn’t know the Holy Spirit baptism could happen to you and you are wondering if it’s too late or if you still can experience it, let me say, ever since you’ve had Christ—from that moment — the Person of the Holy Spirit has been in you.

So at this point of time simply realize God loves you and will start with you where you are in the NOW. It can still happen to you — you can pray with your spirit AND with your understanding also. And believe me, you’ll find yourself enjoying praying more, you’ll understand God better, you’ll understand your inner self better, you’ll grasp life better, you can be — through it, if you will to do so — closer to God and have MORE LOVE (JESUS) in your life and work here on earth.

And Now, Partner, I Want To Pray This Prayer For You. ..

Our heavenly Father, it’s so good to talk to You. To feel Your love for us .. .to know You are at the point of our need THIS MOMENT. Thank You for coming to us in the dimension of Your Spirit. .. for the possibility of a baptism in the Spirit in our lives. Thank You for the possibility of praying with our spirit B Y YOUR SPIRIT. Thank You for the enlightenment that comes to our understanding so we can pray better with our understanding.

Thank You, Father, for our unlimited Lord and for showing us You can meet ALL OUR NEEDS by His riches in glory. You are so close, oh, so close, to each of us.

And now, dear friend, I pray for you. I pray for you to just bring your mind to a standstill for a moment, and deep down in your spirit to feel the Holy Spirit flooding up within you.

I pray that the Holy Spirit will give you this inner release, that the words created by the Spirit, in harmony with your own spirit, will start coming up ... and you will begin now to lift your voice and quietly speak "in the Spirit” to our Lord. Don’t worry about how it sounds — don’t worry about your understanding now —just begin. God will help you.

May you feel the presence of God healing your heart, your emotions, your mind, and your body. May you feel the abundance of the Lord flood your entire being.

I pray, I believe, and I expect many miracles to happen to you from this hour forward ... through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen and amen.

Table of Contents

The Holy Spirit In The Now 1

My Personal Word To You

Chapter 1, How God Can Touch Your Life Through The Holy Spirit

God Is Going To Touch Your Life

What Does Charismatic Mean?

Samson Had Charisma

When We Speak of Charisma In This Day, We Are speaking Of a Gift of God.

The Holy Spirit Came Upon Me In 1947

You Just Know That You Know!

I Saw The Humanity Of The Man, That He Entered Into The Needs Of Every Human Being.

I Saw That Jesus Was Against Four Things — You May want to underscore these:

I Saw That Christ Was Against Sin, Disease, Demons, and Fear, But He Was For Human Beings.

Then I Saw That Jesus Has Healing Hands.

I Saw Jesus Walking On This Earth As A Man.

I Saw The Power Of The Holy Spirit On Jesus.

The Holy Spirit Is A Person, Just As Jesus Is A Person

Chapter 2, How Jesus Can Be With You In The Now

Jesus Is Conceived By The Holy Spirit

3. Jesus Had To Bring Captivity Captive.

4. Jesus Had To Send The Holy Spirit.

Chapter 3, How To Overcome Problems You Face Every Day

He Was Wrong In His Head But He Was Right In His Heart

There Was Complete Integration In The Early Church When They Had The Holy Spirit

How Could It Happen So Easily?

Get Your Head Straight Too!

It Brings God Into The Whole Of Our Lives

A Dialogue Between Oral And Evelyn Roberts

A Dialogue Between Oral And Evelyn Roberts

Chapter 4, Jesus, You, And The Holy Spirit

1. Jesus And The Holy Spirit

So Discipleship Is Something We Do

The Power Of The Spirit Opens Up A Whole New AREA Of Miracles And Life

The Entire Christian Life Is A Supernatural Life

Jesus Was Anointed By The Holy Spirit

Listen To Jesus Now

2. You And The Holy Spirit In The Now

The Holy Spirit’s New Name

3. Personally Trusting The Holy Spirit — The Divine Paraclete

Jesus Trusted The Whole Beginning Of Christianity Into The Hands Of The Paraclete.

A Dialogue Between Oral And Evelyn Roberts

Chapter 5, You Can Have The Power Of Jesus In Your Life Today

1. The Power Of A Person

2. The Power Of A Personal Relationship

3. Power From On High

Oral Roberts University

Praying In The Spirit Opens Up Your Mind

Chapter 6, The First Great Outpouring Of The Spirit

The Phenomenon Of Tongues

Peter’s Sermon On The Day Of Pentecost

Chapter 7, What Is The Prayer Language Of The Spirit?

1 Corinthians 14:1-19, Verse By Verse

Do You Have To Speak In Tongues?

Chapter 8, How You Can Talk To God And Receive His Answer

The Spirit Of Man

Praying In The Spirit Reaches God

A Dialogue With Oral And Evelyn Roberts

Chapter 9, Two Guest Sermons:

How You Can Get Your Prayers Answered by Rev. Ralph Wilkerson

Desire + Faith - Unbelief = Results

First, Come Before God In Adoration

Confession

Thanksgiving

Supplication

The Spirit Is Being Poured Out In All Denominations And Throughout The World

Your Life In The Spirit By Robert Frost, Ph.D.

The Baptism Of Jesus In The Holy Spirit

There Is Also A Life Side To The Cross

The Freedom We Have In The Spirit

Let’s Talk About Baptism

The Baptism Gives Light

Why Don’t We “Stay On The Mountain?”

God Accepts Us As We Are

God Can Redeem Your Past

Chapter 10, How You Can Enter Into Abundant Life Through The Holy Spirit

How Can God Be One And Also Three?

God Manifests Himself In Three Different Ways

1. God Manifests Himself As A Father.

2. He Comes To Us Through The Son, Jesus Christ.

3. Then God Comes To Us Through The Holy Spirit.

Jesus Shows Us What We Can Become Through God

Jesus Shows Us What God Is Like

Jesus Voluntarily Limited Himself

Why The Holy Spirit Is Necessary

Jesus Used The Word Of God Against The Devil

Jesus Used His Faith

The Formula For Real Christianity

The Poverty Syndrome

Having The Holy Spirit Is Like Having Jesus With Us In The Flesh

The Holy Spirit Is Jesus’ Other Self

Jesus Was Reinvested With All His Former Glory And Riches

Man Was Created A Spiritual Being

Man Lives According To His Intellect

The First Word Spoken To The Church

A Word About Speaking In Tongues

It’s More Of Jesus In Your Life

Where Are We This Moment?

And Now, Partner, I Want To Pray This Prayer For You. ..

Table of Contents

The Holy Spirit In The Now 1

My Personal Word To You

Chapter 1, How God Can Touch Your Life Through The Holy Spirit

God Is Going To Touch Your Life

What Does Charismatic Mean?

Samson Had Charisma

When We Speak of Charisma In This Day, We Are speaking Of a Gift of God.

The Holy Spirit Came Upon Me In 1947

You Just Know That You Know!

I Saw The Humanity Of The Man, That He Entered Into The Needs Of Every Human Being.

I Saw That Jesus Was Against Four Things — You May want to underscore these:

I Saw That Christ Was Against Sin, Disease, Demons, and Fear, But He Was For Human Beings.

Then I Saw That Jesus Has Healing Hands.

I Saw Jesus Walking On This Earth As A Man.

I Saw The Power Of The Holy Spirit On Jesus.

The Holy Spirit Is A Person, Just As Jesus Is A Person

Chapter 2, How Jesus Can Be With You In The Now

Jesus Is Conceived By The Holy Spirit

3. Jesus Had To Bring Captivity Captive.

4. Jesus Had To Send The Holy Spirit.

Chapter 3, How To Overcome Problems You Face Every Day

He Was Wrong In His Head But He Was Right In His Heart

There Was Complete Integration In The Early Church When They Had The Holy Spirit

How Could It Happen So Easily?

Get Your Head Straight Too!

It Brings God Into The Whole Of Our Lives

A Dialogue Between Oral And Evelyn Roberts

A Dialogue Between Oral And Evelyn Roberts

Chapter 4, Jesus, You, And The Holy Spirit

1. Jesus And The Holy Spirit

So Discipleship Is Something We Do

The Power Of The Spirit Opens Up A Whole New AREA Of Miracles And Life

The Entire Christian Life Is A Supernatural Life

Jesus Was Anointed By The Holy Spirit

Listen To Jesus Now

2. You And The Holy Spirit In The Now

The Holy Spirit’s New Name

3. Personally Trusting The Holy Spirit — The Divine Paraclete

Jesus Trusted The Whole Beginning Of Christianity Into The Hands Of The Paraclete.

A Dialogue Between Oral And Evelyn Roberts

Chapter 5, You Can Have The Power Of Jesus In Your Life Today

1. The Power Of A Person

2. The Power Of A Personal Relationship

3. Power From On High

Oral Roberts University

Praying In The Spirit Opens Up Your Mind

Chapter 6, The First Great Outpouring Of The Spirit

The Phenomenon Of Tongues

Peter’s Sermon On The Day Of Pentecost

Chapter 7, What Is The Prayer Language Of The Spirit?

1 Corinthians 14:1-19, Verse By Verse

Do You Have To Speak In Tongues?

Chapter 8, How You Can Talk To God And Receive His Answer

The Spirit Of Man

Praying In The Spirit Reaches God

A Dialogue With Oral And Evelyn Roberts

Chapter 9, Two Guest Sermons:

How You Can Get Your Prayers Answered by Rev. Ralph Wilkerson

Desire + Faith - Unbelief = Results

First, Come Before God In Adoration

Confession

Thanksgiving

Supplication

The Spirit Is Being Poured Out In All Denominations And Throughout The World

Your Life In The Spirit By Robert Frost, Ph.D.

The Baptism Of Jesus In The Holy Spirit

There Is Also A Life Side To The Cross

The Freedom We Have In The Spirit

Let’s Talk About Baptism

The Baptism Gives Light

Why Don’t We “Stay On The Mountain?”

God Accepts Us As We Are

God Can Redeem Your Past

Chapter 10, How You Can Enter Into Abundant Life Through The Holy Spirit

How Can God Be One And Also Three?

God Manifests Himself In Three Different Ways

1. God Manifests Himself As A Father.

2. He Comes To Us Through The Son, Jesus Christ.

3. Then God Comes To Us Through The Holy Spirit.

Jesus Shows Us What We Can Become Through God

Jesus Shows Us What God Is Like

Jesus Voluntarily Limited Himself

Why The Holy Spirit Is Necessary

Jesus Used The Word Of God Against The Devil

Jesus Used His Faith

The Formula For Real Christianity

The Poverty Syndrome

Having The Holy Spirit Is Like Having Jesus With Us In The Flesh

The Holy Spirit Is Jesus’ Other Self

Jesus Was Reinvested With All His Former Glory And Riches

Man Was Created A Spiritual Being

Man Lives According To His Intellect

The First Word Spoken To The Church

A Word About Speaking In Tongues

It’s More Of Jesus In Your Life

Where Are We This Moment?

And Now, Partner, I Want To Pray This Prayer For You. ..