How to Pass God’s Test

All God's Promises Are Yours

All the promises that God has promised you in the Bible are for anybody that will believe in Him. The whole New Testament is for anybody. The Gospel's for anybody. You can have what you want from God.

However, just because God has made these promises to you in the Bible, is no sign that you'll ever get to enjoy them, because your desires have got to be right.

What kind of desires do you have? If your desires are not right they can be changed. Many Christian people have desires that are not right and need to be changed.

Anything that God has promised you in the New Testament—it makes no difference what it is, if it's salvation or if it's healing or if it's a miracle, financial prosperity, spiritual prosperity—is yours if you will believe.

The reason the Christian world is so weak and half flaky is because they think they know something when they don't. Because they get involved in someone else's version of God. There are many different versions and opinions about God.

Believe the Word of God

See people just believe what they want to believe. They believe what their pastor tells them or believe what their friends tell them or whatever kind of church they were raised in, that's their version of God. They don't realize that all the time they have a right to open up the Bible and believe everything in it.

I was that way when I first came to God. I tried to believe the Bible and I couldn't. I didn't a bit more believe that a crippled person would get up out of their wheelchair and walk off than I believed that Castro's on the moon dancing with a pink apron on.

And since I found out that God was honest, He'll do exactly what He says He'll do, I just started believing Him.

But always remember all the promises God made you in the Bible, you can't have them and you'll never get to enjoy them as long as you deal with them nonchalantly.

That's the reason most church people never have any money. I said the majority of them, or the majority of church members will never be millionaires, they will never have any money to speak of.

They'll just continue to punch the clock and get by. Because they don't put any emphasis on it.

Somebody told them years ago that it was spiritual to be broke and that they didn't need to have any money to be spiritual. Well, you don't have to have any money to be spiritual. You don't even have to be well to be spiritual. You can have a lot of hang-ups and still be pretty spiritual.

Beloved I wish above all things that you'd prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospers.

3 John 2

Claim the Promises of God

Some say, "I'm just going on to more spiritual things. And that's what I want to do." That's fine. You can be a good Christian. You can be a strong Christian. You can have the gifts of the Spirit coming to you at certain times. You can win souls all of your life. Go to the hospital and pray for people all of your life, you can help the poor all your life.

You can be blessed of God spiritually all of your life, and wondering every month where your rent is going to come from. Wondering, "Why don't I have the money to buy a new car?" Every fall when winter begins to come, "Why don't I have the money to buy me a fur coat?" And every Christmas comes, "Look at all of my relatives, why don't I have the money to buy a lot of Christmas gifts for my relatives and my friends?"

Spring comes, "Oh look at all these pretty pictures in the Sunday paper about the spring fashions. "Why don't I have the money to go down and buy me one or two thousand dollars worth of clothes? Why don't I have it? Because I've been going to church every Sunday and I work the hospitals and I love the Lord, and I win souls and everything, why don't I have it?"

Years ago, you made up your mind not to put any emphasis on that. Some squirrely person told you it wasn't spiritual and you've got your own ideas about God.

Where God says in 3rd John, "Beloved, my son, my daughter, above all things in the world I want you to be rich. And above all things in the world besides that, I want you to live in health and not be sick, sickness will destroy you."

And God says, "Hey, I'll give you these two things, all you want. I'll give you both of them if you'll let your soul prosper, morning, noon and night. Let your soul prosper first."

Oh, no but back there years ago, you didn't even claim financial success or health or anything else. You just nonchalantly dealt with it.

"Oh, well you know...money's the root of all evil." Money is one of the greatest blessings in the world if you know how to use it. The love of money is the root of all evil, not money.

But you just got busy and you failed to call Jesus your finance giver. You failed to make Jesus the partner of your business. You failed to called Jesus the best business partner you ever met. You just failed to read those financial scriptures and say, "God, I believe these and claim them for myself. Thank you Lord for the finances coming in."

I do it all the time. That's the reason it comes my way all the time. I didn't get to be a multimillionaire because of being smart. I didn't get to be a multimillionaire because of being stupid. I got to be one because I obeyed the Word.

Choose To Be Successful

When I first gave my life to God twenty some years ago, I was probably wasn't worth over $200,000 dollars. But after I got into the Bible myself and began to read it and after I gave my life to God instead of just my heart. And I began to confess and I began to pray.

And I began to say, "Jesus, You're the best businessman I ever met. Jesus, I'm making You my business partner. Jesus! I chose to be successful rather than unsuccessful!"

And I made Jesus my business partner! The gift of the spirit called the Word of knowledge will come unto me supernaturally. And He will give me ideas and show me what to do to make hundreds and thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay all of my bills with. And have thousands of dollars left over to spread the gospel and thousands and thousands of dollars left over to buy whatever I want!

Don't just be nonchalant and take your little family to a dried up church and say, "I love my pastor and have sweet friends and we go to dinner some and please pray for my job."

You say you'll just have to live as it comes to you. But the sad part of it is the only knowledge that ever comes to you is your own, or the company you work for, or friends.

You know, you have a lot of friends that have a lot of knowledge. They always want to tell you who to marry, what to do, what business to go into, how to live your life, always remember...if you ever believe them, you are as stupid as they are. You understand that?

Call Jesus What You Need Him To Be

God did not make you to be led by your friends, get that straight. You belong to God. You make Jesus your business partner. Before you get sick, make Jesus your Healer, the Healer of your body.

Confess that the Lord is your miracle worker, your own personal miracle worker, so if you ever need a miracle you don't have to muster up in your mind, Well I wonder if God would do it for me or not? If you've been calling Him your miracle worker for ten years and now you need one, it's easy to call upon Him for your miracle.

But you let those things lay dormant, that God's promised you and just deal with them nonchalantly, put no emphasis on it at all and hey, when it comes time for a miracle or a financial breakthrough or healing, it's hard to get.

Smith Wigglesworth said, "If you wait until you get sick to start believing God and start building your faith or wait till you have a deadly disease, and then you go to try to believe God to heal you, I've got news for you, you've waited too long. And it's hard to get healed."

That's the reason I wrote that book How to Live and Not Die. I wrote a case where you don't have to die, you can live and not die, you can receive a healing and a miracle from God, and you can. You can read that book and believe and do exactly what it reads and you won't die. It's designed so you can live and not die.

And if you'll do what you're supposed to do as far as your finances are concerned, you can be just as wealthy as you can handle. God wants to make you just as wealthy as you can stand. It all depends on what kind of desires you have in your life and what kind of emphasis you put on money, and what kind of emphasis you put on things and how you control it. Because God will give you anything you want; it is His good pleasure to give you anything you want.

I Was Delivered from Myself

I received a vision from God and I was delivered from myself. God turned my heart of stone into a heart of flesh, and I began to have a desire in me to help high school kids.

So I went into the high school principal's office and sat down and talked to them. I told them, "I want to help these high school kids get off dope, and I want to bring different high school speakers into town to minister to these kids." God gave me supernatural favor with high school principals and I did that for years.

Now, before I got delivered from myself, I had no desire to help high school kids get off dope. I had about the same desire as some of you. Well, I mean I just think it's awful what's going on in public schools, taking dope and they just kill themselves and I know it's not right for them. I wish they wouldn't do that. But I wasn't doing anything about it.

Always remember this: What you think, means fifteen cents worth of nothing until you come to a place that you'll do something about it. What you think means nothing to God, it's what you do that counts with Him. Don't be a hearer of God's Word, be doers thereof, all the time.

In your home town if you don't want to see so many high school kids die of overdose of drugs why don't you do something about it? Pray and ask God what you can do about it. Get them to God.

Work For God

I never visited one poor home. I live in a nice home, I got four Cadillacs in my garage and driveway, why would I want to go to some poor person's home?

Well, I didn't want to because I had a heart of stone. I had a self-satisfying heart, a selfish self-satisfying heart. I didn't want to visit their homes, I had no desire to visit their homes at all.

I had no desire to get high school kids off dope. I had no desire to help guys in jail and penitentiaries. I had no desire to knock on doors in my home town. Had no desire to pass out tracts. But I just wanted to go to church and love the Lord, and make money and be nice.

When I gave, I Received

When I received that vision from God and He delivered me from myself, and I began to care about people, regardless of what shape they're in to help lift them out of the world they're in, God began to bless me.

I tell you I could carry food to a poor house and on the way back to my car sometimes the Spirit of God would come over me and I'd just stand there and weep and weep.

I'd bring Micky Cruz or Bobby Green or somebody in and turn them loose in front of a thousand high school students. I'd sit in the back of an auditorium or behind the stage curtains, and the Spirit of God would come on me and I'd just sit there and weep all the time they were ministering to those kids.

And I began to bring businessmen in the Full Gospel Businessmen's organization, and open up a chapter every once in a while for Full Gospel Businessmen. Get those businessmen filled with the Spirit of God, get them dedicated to God's work.

Then I got to a place where I began to take orders from God. My heart was turned from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh, that I could have mercy upon the human race.

And I began to work and raise money over at the city dump to build a church for little poor kids. It took us two years to raise enough money to build it. Lee College students and myself. It's still a nice church today, for little poor kids that didn't have no place to go to church.

Call Jesus Your Business Partner

And in the mean time I began to make God my business partner, "Jesus you're the best businessman I have ever met." I began getting blessed more and more.

And so I eventually went into the restaurant business and opened up six restaurants. And I built a sub-division down there in Florida. I bought this two hundred acres of raw property and I brought bulldozers in and knocked down the trees and built five miles of streets. Cost a few dollars. And I begin to build five miles of streets and roads through there and I developed 544 lots. And real quick, we sold about 300 lots.

I also owned my own manufacturing company.

A Divine Destiny

Brother Hagin was speaking one night in California and Clara Grace gets up and just walks up to him and says, "The Lord has a prophecy for you brother Hagin." And just starts giving it out to him. And she says, "The Lord wants you to go to Washington D.C. next week to the Full Gospel Businessmen's convention. The Lord says there is a man that's going to be there that He wants you to meet. It's a divine destiny that you meet him. And God has put you together. And He will show you who he is when you get there."

And so Brother Hagin came to the convention. He wasn't the main speaker. They gave him fifteen minutes to give a testimony. As he opened his mouth the Spirit of God came on me and showed me the anointing on Brother Hagin's life.

Now I'm sitting in the congregation with three thousand people. And he's up there on the stage.

After it was over I walked in to the dining room to get something to eat, and there sat brother Hagin at the table.

So I walked over there and I said, "Brother Hagin, my name is Norvel Hayes, I'm a businessman from Cleveland, Tennessee. When you opened up your mouth and began to speak today the Spirit of the Lord came upon me and it was like God drew me up in His presence and begin to show you to me. And the Lord said to me that He wanted you to come to Cleveland, Tennessee. I'm just telling you what the Lord told me."

He said, "I know it. I'll come. I saw you."

I thought about that for a long time. What does he mean he saw me? I was sitting in the middle of three thousand people. What does he mean he saw me?

A Word from the Lord

But he came to Cleveland Tennessee. I'd sent him over to a church and he was holding a seminar. And one night he was speaking, and all the sudden the Spirit of Prophecy came upon him and in the middle of the prophecy he called my name.

The moment he said my name, God hit me and I broke and begin to cry. And the prophesy said, "Son, the devil is going to attack your finances. But I am telling you tonight, if you will keep praying and stay faithful to Me and keep working for Me and keep on praying and praying and praying and praying, you will come through the attack and then you'll be more successful financially than you've ever been in all of your life."

I had never had a problem with anybody attacking my finances. I thought to myself, Well, what does he mean, the devil's gonna attack my finances, I don't care nothing about the devil, I know how to run a manufacturing company. I know how to build subdivisions. I know how to plot out land. I know how to have them surveyed. I know how to build streets. I know the kind of people to contact, to know the deals to make. I know how to buy raw land, develop it. I know how to run a restaurant; I know about food costs. I know exactly what I'm doing, what does He mean? It's one thing being dumb and another to be real dumb.

Well, I went along and everything's going just fine: six restaurants, subdivision, salesmen all over the country. All of a sudden, just all of a sudden, one of my restaurant managers went bad. He began to steal money. It took me a while to catch him. All of a sudden another one went bad.

Then my secretary at my manufacturing company in Columbus, Ohio — the best secretary I'd ever had in my life — stole thousands and thousands of dollars from me.

And then after that, the real estate people contacted me and said, "We haven't sold a lot in three months. I can't sell one lot. Mr. Hayes, I've tried to sell your lots in your subdivision down in Florida, I can't sell a lot."

Well, it went from bad to worse. Thank God for the Holy Spirit. Thank God for the gift of prophecy. Thank God for people standing up and giving out prophecy. Thank the Lord that One lives in you that can tell you what the devil's going to do before he ever does it. Not only tells you what the devil's going to do, but tells you how to get out of it.

And I remembered, like bells ringing in my ears, "but if you will pray and pray and pray and pray and work for Me and stay faithful to Me son, work for Me, keep on working for Me, and pray and pray and pray and pray, don't lose your ministry son, pray and pray and pray, I'll bring you out of it."

I have a tape series entitled, "Don't let the devil steal your ministry," I don't care what you go through. Don't lose your ministry for Jesus. What you go through with your family, finances, friends, relatives, people. Whatever you go through with people has nothing to do with God and your relationship with Him. Don't lose your ministry because the devil comes by.

A lot of things in your life may be the work of hell, but don't lose your ministry. Always remember, all those bad things that happened to you, God has nothing to do with it. It's always the work of hell. Always.

God promises you only good things. All the bad things the Bible says that come to you, come from the father of darkness, who wants to rob, kill and steal from you and your children — your wife and your business. He wants to steal your business away from you. I told the devil, "You can't have my businesses in Jesus' name, I claim success upon them in Jesus' name."

I just kept on, kept on, kept on praying, kept on working, kept on praying, kept on working. Now the thing where you'll hook the devil, is keep on working and keep on praying. Keep on! Don't lose your ministry, keep on with your ministry. And keep on praying.

If you don't make very much money or even lose money, take some of the money and go feed the poor, find someone somewhere and do something good with it. In the midst of the storm it looks like you have no profits, well, get a few dollars somewhere you know and by some tracts with it, or help a church or just keep on doing something for God. Keep on praying and keep on praying and keep on praying.

And one day I asked my main secretary, "Marilyn, how much money do I have in the main account to run all these businesses? After you write your check, how much money is in the main account?"

She said, "$85.00 dollars."

I said, "I won't accept that, I see thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars in there."

Keep Working for God

I wouldn't give up my praying, and I'd go pass out tracts or help somebody or help little poor kids and then I'd go down about 10 o'clock at night to my office, open up the main checkbook, $150 dollars in it. Three or four hundred in it or something.

And I would walk the floor in my office and I'd pray and I'd laugh. I didn't feel like laughing, I felt like crying. But you don't go by your feelings, you go by faith.

Now remember you have to keep on working for God. I didn't lose my pride in working for God, I kept on working for God. I was down in the office one night and I said, "Satan, you just might as well get this straight flako, once and for all, I don't have to have any businesses to work for God. I don't have to have any money to work for the Lord. The only thing I have to have is the Bible and the Holy Ghost and I've still got both of them.

"Hey flako, attack something else I own, go ahead, every time you attack something, I'm gonna go and pass out tracts. Every time you attack something, I'm gonna find somebody and cast the devil out of them. Every time you attack one of the my businesses, I'm gonna go work hospitals and pray for everybody there. Every time you attack one of my businesses, every time you do anything to me, it means more victory! Go ahead Satan, attack everything, you flaky thing you. If you attack something of mine next week, I'm gonna bring four sinners to church, not just one!" Then I would tell Jesus, "I'm claiming my rights in Christ Jesus! Jesus! You're the best businessman I ever met!"

I just kept on and on and on. How long? Five years.

Pray in the Spirit

The Lord says now if you get somewhere and you don't know what to do, do this:

"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 with groanings which cannot be uttered."

Romans 8:26

He knows you, I don't care what condition you're in, He knows you.

"And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind and the spirit because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God."

Romans 8:27

Well, what is the will of God? The will of God is this:

"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

3 John 2

God is saying, "My little beloved children, I'll just go ahead and give you these things if you'll let your soul prosper." Don't lose your ministry, if the devil comes and attacks you.

So I just made intercession and prayed for how long? For five years. "The power of Intercession" is one of my tape series. The power. What kind of power does it bring you? It brings the knowledge of God to you.

Determined Faith

You must have determined faith that believes in God for the impossible.

"Determined faith," determined faith just absolutely will not let go. I don't care if it takes five years.

Always remember if you can learn how to make intercession and not be defeated and know what determined faith is — to believe

God for the impossible — I don't care how high the mountain looks. It's called the last crucial test of dedication. God blesses you mightily for your dedication, faith and faithfulness.

Be Obedient

I had taught at a meeting in San Antonio and afterward I was sitting in my hotel room and the Spirit of God came upon me and said, "Go to Tulsa, Oklahoma for Me. I'll show you two things after you get there."

So I called Brother Hagin and I said, "Brother Hagin, this is Norvel. The Lord said if I come to Tulsa, He'd show me two things after I got there."

I had no earthly idea why I was going there. You don't have to know. If God says do something just go ahead and do it.

So as I was sitting in Kenneth Hagin's home, the Spirit of the Lord came upon me and said, "pray." So I started praying. After a while of praying, the Lord said, "You can go home now."

On the way to the airport Brother Hagin said, "Brother Norvel, the Lord showed me the two reasons why He sent you here to Tulsa. I started praying back there and making intercession as the Lord wanted me to.

"And the first reason He sent you here was the duty of the calling that's on you. The second reason is—the Lord told me to tell you Norvel—the time has come now. You've passed His test. He said to tell you that He's going to open up the windows of heaven wide and He is going to allow the light of God to shine upon your finances. And they will come to you by flood, by flood, by flood."

The Breakthrough

So I didn't change, I just kept on working for the Lord. About two weeks went by. I had previously bought a little piece of property down in Florida. I'd paid $13,000 dollars for it —just a little bitty piece.

And the real estate company called me and said, "You know that little piece of property you just bought down here in Florida? I have a buyer that wants to give you $28,000 for it? Would you sell it?"

I thought, $13,000...$28,000, I'd double my money and make $15,000 dollars off of that. Why not?

I said, "I believe I'll sell it. Go ahead and sell it to him for $28,000."

Well, I had previously bought a piece of property off a dirt road down in Florida for $15,000 dollars. And I noticed they had come along and just put a black top county road in front of the property that I'd bought.

And so it wasn't but a few days later, the real estate man called me and said, "Mr. Hayes, you have a piece of property down here and I have some people that want it. They said they will give $87,500 dollars for it."

I paid $15,000 for it!

"You want to sell it?"

I said, "Why not? Oh I might as well I guess. Go ahead and sell it."

Another property I had invested $55,000 in I got about a quarter of a million out of that one.

Well, I'm driving up highway 19 and I said, "God, what do You want me to do with all this money Lord?"

He said, "You better use it for Me."

So I'm driving early one morning and had planned to go fishing and the Lord said, "Don't go fishing."

Now this is ten years ago. "Buy a piece of property for Me today." He showed me the piece of property He wanted me to buy. Told me where it was. "There are five acres on a seven lane highway there in Crystal River, Florida. I want you to buy that for Me and I want you to put a mission on it. I want you to have workers go from door to door, and I want you to win some of these old people to Me."

One of the largest businesses in the state of Florida, is hauling out dead bodies every morning. That's one of the largest businesses in the state of Florida. Millions of old people go there to die. Millions of them all over the state. And so I obeyed the Lord.

I bought that five acres of property and it cost me $90,000, I paid $10,000 down on it. I began to have little missionary type meetings. Sending cars out, 8, 10, 12 cars a day, two by two working from door to door.

The Lord said, "Fix this place up. You've been faithful to Me in this mission ministry. I have great things in store for this place."

I said, "Yes Sir, yes Sir, I will."

So I began to fix the place up. I put a brand new auditorium on the place. Never did take up one offering for it. I didn't have the money in that account to build it when I started. But when it was finished, it was paid for. The parking lot was paid for. The new sound system was paid for. The new seats were paid for and I never took up one offering.

God just sends people. But I did learn the power of thanksgiving and I began to thank the Lord for it.

Now remember I've only invested around $10,000 dollars that I paid down on it and I've done some building there. But originally I invested $10,000 in it. The real estate company called me the other day and said, "I have a buyer for that property." He will give $1,500,000 for it.

I said, "Is that right?"

You ever make a million dollars with a $10,000 dollar investment?

The Lord said, "My light's going to shine upon your finances." You can go in my Bible school account and look at it if you want to — you can go in the children's home, you can go in the church account, you can go in the main business account.

In that main business account now, you won't see just $85.00 dollars and $150.00 dollars. Now in that main business account you will see thousands and thousands of dollars.

Worship and Praise Him

It doesn't have just $85.00 dollars now and it will never have that little again. Praise God forever. I don't get on TV or radio and beg for money. If those who do would just learn to walk the floor diligently—and call Jesus their provider—and if they would get down on their knees and worship God—worship Him and worship Him and worship Him, they wouldn't have to beg for money. If you ever get too busy in your Christian life to worship God, you're going to have a lot of problems.

The Lord told me one day several years ago, "Son, the church is lacking — My church is lacking."

I said, "What for, Lord, what for?"

He said, "They don't fight the devil the same way I did, and besides that, they don't spend enough time worshipping Me."

I believe in worshipping the Lord. I believe in dancing before the Lord because the Bible teaches dancing before the Lord. I believe in healing and I believe in salvation. I believe in faith and in the gifts of the Spirit, in prophecy and in tongues and interpretation. I believe in all of it.

But God said, "If you'll worship Me in secret, I will reward you openly. If you'll pray to Me in secret, I will reward you openly. Those that pray out loud on the street side and on the street corner, that want to be heard by men—that's all the reward they'll ever get. But if you will do it to Me in secret, I will reward you openly."

All of the promises in God's Word are yours. But you must claim them and not deal with them nonchalantly. Call Jesus your Healer and your business partner and God will bring you out of every situation. You must be faithful and diligent to worship Him and trust Him and not give up.

How To Pass

GOD'S TEST

There are several things that we need to know as Christians when we are trying to get through a struggle in our life. It is up to us if we want to claim all the promises that we are promised in the Bible or go through life with just barely what we need to get by.

Norvel shares the secrets of obeying God and doing what He says to do in every situation and hanging in there even when it seems impossible. God’s Word works and if we are diligent to do what He has told us, we will pass His test and triumph in every situation.

* * * * * *

NORVEL HAYES, a successful businessman, has learned through personal experience that God’s Word works for anyone who will believe and apply it. He shares with a bold simplicity that captures the heart of the reader and shines new light on hidden treasures.

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