The Name of Jesus

Legacy Edition

Expanded With New Material

Kenneth E. Hagin

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked AMPLIFIED are from The Amplified Bible, Old Testament copyright © 1965, 1987 by the Zondervan Corporation. The Amplified New Testament copyright © 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked ASV are from The Holy Bible: American Standard Version. Copyright © 1901 by Thomas Nelson & Sons.

Scripture quotations marked BBE are from the Bible in Basic English. Copyright © 1965 by Cambridge University Press.

Scripture quotations marked CONYBEARE are from The Life and Epistles of St. Paul, People’s Edition, by W.J. Conybeare and J.S. Howson. Copyright © 1869 by R.W. Bliss and Company.

Scripture quotations marked MOFFATT are taken from The Bible, A New Translation. Copyright © 1922, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1935 by Harper Collins, San Francisco; copyright © 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954 by James A.R. Moffatt; and copyright © 1994 by Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked THE NEW ENGLISH BIBLE are from The New English Bible, copyright © 1961, 1970 by The Delegates of the Oxford University Press and The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked PHILLIPS are taken from The New Testament in Modern English by J.B. Phillips. Copyright © 1958, 1959, 1960, 1972 by J.B. Phillips. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked ROTHERHAM are taken from The Emphasized Bible by J.B. Rotherham. Copyright © 1902 by Samuel Bagster and Sons.

Scripture quotations marked WEYMOUTH are taken from The New Testament in Modern Speech by Richard Francis Weymouth. Copyright © 1978 by Kregel Publications. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked YOUNG are taken from Young’s Literal Translation of the Holy Bible by Robert Young. Copyright © 1898.

ISBN–10: 1-60616-705-2

ISBN–13: 978-1-60616-705-7

Copyright ©1979, 2006, 2007 RHEMA Bible Church

AKA Kenneth Hagin Ministries, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Electronic Edition Published 2010.

The Faith Shield is a trademark of RHEMA Bible Church, AKA Kenneth Hagin Ministries, Inc., registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and therefore may not be duplicated.

Preface

In February 1978, I taught our annual prayer seminar at RHEMA Bible Training Center in Tulsa. This is an open seminar; the public as well as the student body attends. One night the Lord very definitely spoke to me, as I was ministering to people in the healing line, about teaching a seminar on the Name of Jesus. That seminar has become this book.

At the time, I had one sermon I preached on this wonderful subject, but I had never really taught on it at length. I began to look around to see what I could find written on the subject. For others, you see, have revelations from God.

I was amazed at how little material there is in print on this subject. The only good book devoted entirely to it that I have found is E.W. Kenyon’s The Wonderful Name of Jesus.[1] I encourage you to get a copy. It is a marvelous book. It is revelation knowledge. It is the Word of God.

Mr. Kenyon went home to be with the Lord in 1948. It was 1950 before I was introduced to his books. A brother in the Lord asked me, “Did you ever read after Dr. Kenyon?”

I said, “I’ve never heard of him.”

He said, “You preach healing and faith just like he does.”

He gave me some of Kenyon’s books. And he did preach faith and healing just like I do. After all, if someone preaches the New Birth, and somebody else preaches the New Birth, it has to be the same. There is only one New Birth. Likewise, if you preach faith and healing—and I mean Bible-faith and Bible-healing—it has to be the same. We may have different ways to express it, but if it is according to the Word of God, it is the same truth.

I began then to check up on Mr. Kenyon’s life. The Bible teaches that we should take as examples those “who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Heb. 6:12). I like to see if a man lives what he teaches.

Some people seem to want to find somebody the Bible didn’t work for to set up as an example. They always talk about somebody who didn’t receive his healing. Well, in preaching salvation, you don’t talk about someone who didn’t get saved. You don’t encourage Christians to follow the example of those who backslide. You talk about people who walk in the light of God’s Word and enjoy His blessings.

I like to check up on people. I like to follow those who inherit the promises. That’s why I teach those training for the ministry at RHEMA Bible Training Center each year from F.F. Bosworth’s book Christ the Healer.[2]I was personally acquainted with Bosworth. The last time I was in one of his meetings, he was 77. At 80-some-odd years of age, he announced one day, “This is the greatest day of my life. God has shown me that I’m going home.” He called in a friend for a time of visiting. Then he went home to be with the Lord.

Kenyon, too, went home to be with the Lord without sickness and disease at the age of nearly 81. He was holding Bible classes in southern California shortly before his death, teaching several times a day. (His daughter, Ruth Housworth, who keeps his ministry and writings going stronger today than ever, said that the young people on the team which traveled with him had a difficult time keeping up with his pace.) [Mrs. Housworth has since gone home to be with the Lord.—Ed.] He had just finished writing The Hidden Man of the Heart.[3]And he came home to rest for a while. One morning his daughter asked what he would like for breakfast. He replied, “Go ahead and eat. I don’t believe I will eat right now.” A short time later he was home with the Lord.

In the “Name of Jesus” seminar I conducted in April 1978, I quoted freely from E.W. Kenyon’s book The Wonderful Name of Jesus. I particularly like the way he grouped the scriptures for study. I like his outline. I acknowledge here my deep appreciation for the revelation knowledge God gave him on this wonderful Name, for his willingness and obedience to teach and live it. I also want to express special appreciation to Ruth Housworth for her dedication in getting the message out in print and for granting us permission to quote from his book in this book for the edification of the Body of Christ and to the glory of God the Father.

Kenneth E. Hagin

[1] E.W. Kenyon, The Wonderful Name of Jesus (Lynnwood, Washington: Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society, 1964).

[2]2 F.F. Bosworth, Christ the Healer (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell, 1974).

[3] E.W. Kenyon, The Hidden Man of the Heart, now titled The Hidden Man: An Unveiling of the Subconscious Mind (Lynnwood, Washington: Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society, 1998).

Acknowledgement

Throughout this book, the author frequently quotes from and refers to The Wonderful Name of Jesus by E.W. Kenyon, published by Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society, Lynnwood, Washington. Page numbers to the twenty-fourth edition, copyright 1964, are noted in parentheses following the quotations and references.—Ed.

Foreword

This is a critical time in the history of the Church. As the return of our Lord Jesus Christ draws ever nearer, Christians must walk in the fullness of the authority God has given us. Yet many Christians today are limited in their ability to walk in their God-given authority. They are limited because they do not understand the power that resides in the Name of Jesus.

These days, we don’t hear a lot of preaching or teaching on the Name of Jesus. That might surprise you. But it was the same in my father’s day. When God spoke to Dad in February 1978 about teaching on the Name of Jesus, he himself had only one sermon that he’d occasionally preach on that subject. He began to study so he could teach more on it, but he was able to find only one book that adequately dealt with the subject: The Wonderful Name of Jesus by E.W. Kenyon. Dad greatly appreciated Brother Kenyon’s book, and he encouraged others to buy and read it because the material in it would benefit all Christians.

In April 1978, Dad taught what he had learned from his studies and his personal experiences during a seminar on the RHEMA USA campus. From these sessions, the original version of The Name of Jesus was published. Dad wanted Christians to understand everything we have in that Name. While it was in print, The Name of Jesus was among Dad’s three most-read books. The other two were The Believer’s Authority and How You Can Be Led by the Spirit of God. And even though this book has been out of print, many people have continued to request it, and those who already had a copy treasured it.

The power in the Name of Jesus to save, heal, and deliver, and the authority we have to use that Name are two essential truths that all Christians need to know. It’s time for the Body of Christ to focus again on the power and authority we have in the wonderful, mighty Name of Jesus. It’s time for strong, biblical teaching on this subject to be presented to a new generation of believers. Christians cannot afford to ignore this vital truth any longer.

For this reason, Kenneth Hagin Ministries is publishing The Name of Jesus as the third book in our Legacy Series. As with each legacy edition, we have searched our archives for other sermons and teaching lessons that pertain to the topic. These materials are included as appendixes to this hardback edition. I firmly believe the biblical truths contained in this book will set Christians free to use the Name of Jesus as we were intended to use it. I believe that as we come to understand the authority vested in that Name and the right we have to use that Name, we will see God’s power released on the earth as never before.

I believe we will walk in the fullness of the authority that Jesus Himself gave us—the authority to use His Name.

Kenneth W. Hagin

chapter one

The Name of Jesus

E.W. Kenyon began his book The Wonderful Name of Jesus with this personal account:

One afternoon, while giving an address on “The Name of Jesus” a lawyer interrupted me, asking:

“Do you mean to say that Jesus gave us the ‘Power of Attorney’ the Legal Right to use His Name?”

I said to him, “Brother, you are a lawyer and I am a layman. Tell me—did Jesus give us the ‘Power of Attorney?’”

He said, “If language means anything, then Jesus gave to the Church the Power of Attorney.”

Then I asked him, “What is the value of this Power of Attorney?”

He answered, “It depends upon how much there is back of it, how much authority, how much power this Name represents.”

Then I began the search to find how much power and authority Jesus had (4).

All the power and all the authority that Jesus had is invested in His Name!

The question is: Do we have the power of attorney to use His Name?

The Word of God teaches that we do. Jesus said we could use His Name in prayer. He said we could use His Name in dealing with demons. He said we could use His Name in ministering healing.

In fact, that’s where the secret lies—in the use of that Name! We have depended, too much of the time, on our own ability to deliver someone—when in reality, it is the Name that does it.

Kenyon wrote:

The measure of His ability [the measure of the ability of the Lord Jesus Christ] is the measure of the value of that Name, and all that is invested in that Name belongs to us, for Jesus gave us the unqualified use of His Name (4).

The Name in Prayer

Jesus said, in regard to the use of His Name in prayer:

JOHN 16:24

24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing IN MY NAME: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

“Hitherto” means up till now, or till this time. In other words, up till the time that Jesus was speaking here to the disciples, they had asked nothing in His Name.

Now He is speaking to them about a “new day” upon the earth, and He is telling them, “. . . ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”

No, we do not ask for Jesus’ sake. Asking for Jesus’ sake is not asking in His Name. We are asking for our own sake. It isn’t Jesus Who needs an answer to prayer. We do. Due to a lack of knowledge along this line, many prayers have been destroyed and have not worked because they were prayed for Jesus’ sake, instead of in Jesus’ Name.

Here in the Book of John, Jesus not only gives us the use of His Name in New Covenant prayer, but He also declares that the prayer prayed in His Name will receive His special attention:

JOHN 16:23

23 . . . Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father IN MY NAME, he will give it you.

Notice what Jesus is saying: You ask of the Father in My Name—I will endorse it—and the Father will give it to you.

What an amazing prayer promise! Yet because we did not understand what Jesus said, and because we were religiously brainwashed instead of New Testament taught, we watered down the promises of God. We tacked on something Jesus did not say. We added something else to it. We have said, “God will, if it is His will, but it might not be His will.”

You don’t find that kind of talk in the New Testament. People have gone along without answers to prayer, saying, “It must not have been His will, because He didn’t do it. If it had been His will, He would have done it.”

Jesus stated God’s will in John 16:23–24.

I was born again on April 22, 1933. When I was born again, I was on the bed of sickness and helplessness. It was there that I learned some of the secrets of prayer and the use of the Name of Jesus I am sharing here. It took me a while to learn—I was bedfast 16 months—but in August 1934, I learned to pray the prayer of faith and received my healing.

Now I am going to say something, and I want you to pay close attention to how I say it. (Some people grab hold of part of what you say and miss the whole of it.) Understand that when it comes to praying about someone else, their will comes in on the situation. Nobody, through prayer and faith, can push something off on someone else which that person does not want. If we could, we would all put salvation off on everybody, wouldn’t we? When it comes to praying for the other fellow, about his needs, and about his requests, his will comes in—and his doubt can nullify the effects of my faith. Another person’s unbelief, however, cannot affect my prayers for my needs.

Now with that word of explanation, this is what I wanted to say. I have not prayed one prayer in 45 years (I’m talking about for me and for my children while they were young) without getting an answer. I always got an answer—and the answer was always yes.

Some people say, “God always answers prayers. Sometimes He says, ‘Yes,’ and sometimes He says, ‘No.’ ”

I never read that in the Bible. That is just human reasoning.

Jesus did not say, “Hitherto ye have asked nothing in My Name: ask, and ye shall receive; however, sometimes He will say, ‘No,’ and sometimes He will say, ‘Yes,’ and sometimes He will say, ‘Wait a while.’ ”

We have added things such as that to the Bible, trying to give people an answer as to why prayer hasn’t worked for them. Yet the reason it has not worked for them is, they did not work the Word. If prayer did not work for me, it would be because I was not acting in line with the Word.

A person can be a good Christian, sanctified, separated, and holy, and still not get the job done when it comes to answered prayer. We believe in people living right, but you cannot come bragging on yourself when you come to pray. You cannot come to the throne of grace, telling God what all you’ve done, bragging about that, and get an answer.

No! We come bringing the Name of Jesus! And God’s Word works today just as much as it ever did.

“Ask the Father in My Name,” Jesus said. “I will endorse that, and the Father will give it to you.”

Kenyon says:

This puts prayer on a purely legal basis for He has given us the legal right to use His Name.

As we take our privileges, and rights, in the new Covenant and pray in Jesus’ Name, it passes out of our hands into the hands of Jesus; He then assumes the responsibility of that prayer, and we know that He said, “Father, I thank Thee that Thou hearest Me, and I know that Thou hearest Me always.”

In other words, we know that the Father always hears Jesus, and when we pray in Jesus’ Name, it is as though Jesus Himself were doing the praying—He takes our place.

This places prayer not only on legal grounds, but makes it a business proposition.

When we pray, we take Jesus’ place here to carry out His will, and He takes our place before the Father (4).

The Name in Spiritual Combat

The Name of Jesus is to be used in combat against the unseen forces that surround us. We have authority in the Name of Jesus against all powers of darkness.

MARK 16:17–18

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; IN MY NAME shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

The American Standard Version says, “These signs shall accompany . . . .” I like that. Somebody following you is going along behind you, but somebody accompanying you is going right along with you. This translation agrees with the scripture that says we are workers together with Him (2 Cor. 6:1).

Literally, in the Greek, Mark 16:17 says, “These signs shall accompany the believing ones; in My Name shall they . . . .” Every child of God is a believing one. Since these signs are done “in My Name,” they must belong to every child of God, because the Name of Jesus belongs to every child of God.

“. . . IN MY NAME shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues . . . . [We have the right to speak with tongues in the Name of Jesus!] They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

“Here,” Kenyon says, “He is revealing His part in the Great Commis-sion” (5). Let’s look at that great document in the Book of Matthew:

MATTHEW 28:18–20

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power [authority] is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

The King James Version reads that Jesus said, “All power . . . .” More than one Greek word is translated “power” in the New Testament. W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words[1] shows that the Greek word translated power here is a word most often translated authority. Many translations read that way.

So Jesus literally said, “All authority is given unto me in Heaven and in earth.”

Now, if you stop reading right there, you might rejoice saying, “Thank God, Jesus has the authority. He has the authority in Heaven and in earth. He can do whatever He wants to do. It is up to Him, because He has it.”

But that is not all Jesus said. Immediately, He authorized the Church to go forth in His Name! “. . . All authority is given unto Me in Heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore . . .”!

One minister wrote to me after I had appeared on The 700 Club television program. He was always taught to believe that if God wants to do it, He does it. This man believed that since God has the authority—He has the power—we should just leave it up to God. There was sickness in this minister’s home. There was mental depression in his own life. He just accepted that the Lord was working out something. So he went along in the ministry for years, depressed and oppressed himself, sickness and disease in his family. He’d had no victory in his life for years.

“But,” he wrote, “God already had been dealing with me—and I guess I was just ready to hear what you said.”

God was trying to bring the truth to his spirit, that it is not so much up to God, concerning matters on this earth, as it is up to us.

He wrote, “When you began to say some things, I got my eyes opened. I began to see. It seemed like the Lord spoke to my heart and said, ‘That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all the time.’ ”

(Because our heads have been educated a certain way, it is sometimes difficult for us to listen to our hearts.)

“I’m beginning to see,” he continued, “that it is up to us to do something about some of these situations which exist—that Jesus has authorized us to do it.”

When you sum it up, this is what Jesus said: “All authority has been given unto me in Heaven and in earth. Now I am authorizing you. I am sending you out to make disciples of all nations—‘. . . and, lo, I am with you alway . . .’” (v. 20).

How is He with us?

Let’s go back to Matthew chapter 18.

MATTHEW 18:19

19 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.

Now that’s a wonderful verse. That’s a wonderful statement of fact. But I think we miss what Jesus is saying by lifting that verse out of context and quoting it alone, because in the next verse, He gives the reason, the secret, of why it will be done.

MATTHEW 18:20

20 FOR where two or three are gathered together IN MY NAME, there AM I in the midst of them.

Hallelujah!

Now again, when we take this verse 20 and lift it out of context and quote it alone, what we are saying is true, all right, but we leave the impression that is the full import of the verse.

An example of this is when we come together in a church service and say, “The Lord is here because He said, ‘Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, I am there.’ ”

That is true, in a sense, but that is not really what He is talking about in this verse. He is not talking about a church service. He is talking about those two on earth who are agreeing. He is telling why it is going to work for the two of them, or even a third.

“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. FOR where two or three are gathered together IN MY NAME, there am I in the midst of them.”

There am I! He is right there to see to it that what those two or three agreed upon comes to pass!

Now let’s go back again to Matthew chapter 28 where He said, “. . . lo, I am with you alway . . .” (v. 20).

How is He with us?

Well, He said that where those two or three people agree as touching anything they ask, “. . . IN MY NAME, THERE AM I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20).

That is the secret. He is with us in the power and the authority of His Name!

The Resources of Jesus

E.W. Kenyon makes these powerful statements, and then issues a thrilling challenge to the Church:

When Jesus gave us the legal right to use this Name, the Father knew all that that Name would imply when breathed in prayer by oppressed souls, and it is His joy to recognize that Name.

So the possibilities enfolded in that Name are beyond our understanding, and when He says to the Church, “Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My Name,” He is giving us a signed check on the resources of heaven and asking us to fill it in.

It would pay the Church to begin an exhaustive study of the resources of Jesus in order to get a measurement of the wealth that Name holds for her today (5).

Christians are where they are in life because they have written their own ticket, or their own check, so to speak, to arrive there. Most have written small checks because they had a small vision of Jesus and that Name.

A few times, when it was necessary, I have signed my name on a check and let somebody else fill it in. Of course, I did instruct them as to how to fill it in. I did not want them writing in just anything. But what Jesus has done is this: He has signed a check and turned it over to us.

Too many people have filled it in for one dollar—thinking they were being humble—when they ought to have filled it in for one hundred thousand dollars. Therefore, they have lived on a low level of life.

Jesus has given pastors of local congregations, for instance, this check, saying, “You just fill it in.” So they filled it in for a few dollars, and for 25 years they’ve been located in a rundown building, which brings disgrace to the Name of Jesus. Is that all His Name could provide?

In individual lives, the same thing is true. Many born-again, Spirit-filled Christians live on a low level of life, overcome by the devil. In fact, they talk more about the devil than anything else. Every time they give a hard-luck story, they’re bragging on the devil. Every time they talk about how sick they are, they’re bragging on the devil. (He is the author of sickness and disease—not God.) Every time they say, “It doesn’t look like we’re going to make it,” they are bragging on the devil.

No, let’s talk about Jesus! Let’s talk about the Name of Jesus!

He gave us, individually, a signed check, saying, “Fill it in.” He gave us a signed check on the resources of Heaven.

It would change our lives to make an exhaustive study of the resources of Jesus in order to get a measurement of the wealth that Name holds for the Church and for every believer today.

If we have a low estimation and a low respect for the Name, we will not expect much, because we do not know what belongs to us.

[1] W.E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell), 89.

chapter two

The More Excellent Name: How It Came

Kenyon points out that men obtain great names in three ways. Some men are born to a great name—a king, for instance. Others make their name great by their achievements. Still others have a great name conferred upon them (7).

The more excellent Name came by all three means. Jesus’ Name is great because He inherited a great Name. His Name is great because of His achievements. His Name is great because it was conferred upon Him.

We are about to examine these marvelous truths in-depth. They are almost beyond our capacity to grasp. But as we feed upon them, little by little, they will become a part of our inner consciousness. We need to catch a glimpse of them in our spirits—not in our heads. (Yet they do have to go through our heads to get down into our hearts; the mind is the door to the heart.) Once these truths really dawn on our hearts, people will say of us as it was said of those in the Old Testament, “There are giants in the land,” for this will make us to become spiritual giants!

Some of us have caught a glimpse occasionally—and we have done exploits. But by continuing to feed along this line, I believe we can get to the place where we won’t just visit there occasionally—but we will live in this place.

chapter three

By Inheritance

God who at sundry times and in divers manners

spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,

whom he hath appointed heir of all things,

by whom also he made the worlds;

Who being the brightness of his glory,

and the express image of his person,

and upholding all things by the word of his power,

when he had by himself purged our sins,

sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath BY INHERITANCE obtained a MORE EXCELLENT NAME than they.

For unto which of the angels said he at any time,

Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?

And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?

And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world,

she saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.

—Hebrews 1:1–6

Jesus inherited a “. . . more excellent name than they.” He inherited a greater Name than any angelic being.

As Son, He is heir of all things.

He is “the express image” of God. He is “the brightness,” or as the Bible in Basic English reads, “the outshining,” of the Father.

He is God speaking to us.

And He “. . . by inheritance obtained a more excellent name . . . .”

When did He inherit it?

He did not inherit anything in Heaven before He came to this earth, because He already had everything.

He did not inherit it when He came to the earth, because the Epistle to the Philippians says that He laid aside all honor and glory.

When did He inherit His Name? There is a clue in the following verses:

HEBREWS 1:4–5

4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? . . . .

These verses tell us when He inherited this more excellent Name. It was when God said to Him, “. . . Thou art my son, THIS DAY have I begotten thee.” This day! That’s when it happened—the day He was begotten.

When was Jesus begotten?

Most people think He was begotten when He came into the world as the Babe of Bethlehem.

No! Oh, no! The Son of God was not born as He took on flesh. He preexisted with the Father. He just took upon Himself a body.

HEBREWS 10:5

5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me.

He was not begotten when He came into the world; He always preexisted with the Father. (My remarks are in brackets in the following scripture.)

JOHN 1:1,14

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . .

14 And the Word [which already existed, and did not need to be begotten, or born] was made of flesh, and dwelt among us . . . .

No, “. . . thou art my Son, THIS DAY have I begotten thee,” is not talking about the day He took upon Himself a body.

Then what day was it?

ACTS 13:33

33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that HE HATH RAISED UP JESUS AGAIN; as it is also written in the second psalm, THOU ART MY SON, THIS DAY HAVE I BEGOTTEN THEE.

When was it that Jesus was begotten? When He was raised upon that Resurrection morn!

He tasted spiritual death for every man. He died on the Cross and took our place in spiritual death. His spirit, His inner man, went to hell in our place.

HEBREWS 2:9

9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

The death Jesus died was more than a physical death. Jesus tasted death for every man—including spiritual death.

Do you remember how He cried out on the cross, “. . . My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34).

Many people do not know what the Bible means when it talks about death. Death, in the Bible, even talking about physical death, never means the cessation of existence. Never!

Several kinds of deaths are spoken of in the Bible, but there are three kinds with which we need to familiarize ourselves: (1) spiritual death; (2) physical death; (3) eternal death (or, the second death—being cast into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone).

What is spiritual death? It is the opposite of spiritual life. It does not mean the cessation of being.

Ephesians 2:1 says, “And you hath he quickened WHO WERE DEAD in trespasses and sins . . .”—that’s us before we were born again. But he “hath quickened” us. Quickened means made alive. (See Eph. 2:5.)

Paul wrote to Timothy and talked about some people being dead while they live (1 Tim. 5:6). He did not mean they had ceased to exist.

When we talk about a sinner being in spiritual death, we do not mean his spirit does not exist. His spirit does exist, and will exist eternally, because that part of man—whether he is saved or unsaved—is like God. Man is an eternal spirit. (He possesses a soul.) But the sinner’s spirit is not in fellowship and not in a relationship with God.

God told Adam, concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “. . . thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:17).

He made no reference to physical death, because Adam did not die that day, physically. But the moment he ate of it, he did die, spiritually. That does not mean that Adam ceased to exist. It means he immediately was out of fellowship and out of relationship with God.

Adam had been walking and talking with God, in fellowship, in relationship to Him. But this time, when God came down in the cool of the day to commune and fellowship with him, Adam was nowhere to be found. He called out to him, “Adam, where art thou?” Adam answered, “. . . I was afraid . . . and I hid myself . . .” (Gen. 3:10). Why? Because he had sinned.

Sin separates from God. Spiritual death means separation from God. The moment Adam sinned, he was separated from God and his own spiritual nature or condition was changed.

Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44).

The Pharisees were very religious. They went to the synagogue on the Sabbath, they prayed, they paid their tithes, they fasted, and they did a lot of other fine and good things—but they lied about Christ and murdered Him. Jesus said they were children of the devil—they had the characteristics of the devil.

When one is born again, his spiritual nature changes. As a new creation in Christ, he receives a new nature—one with the life and peace of God. He takes upon himself the nature of God—which is life and peace. The nature of the devil is hatred and lies.

Jesus tasted death—spiritual death—for every man. He became what we were, that we might become what He is.

2 CORINTHIANS 5:21

21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

That doesn’t mean that He became a sinner, but Jesus did take on our entire spiritual condition. He took our place as our Substitute when our sin was laid on Him.

Notice in the following scripture that Peter, preaching on the day of Pentecost concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, said, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” I encourage you to read Peter’s entire message. He brings out the fact that David, in Psalm 16:8–10, was really prophesying by the Spirit of God.

ACTS 2:25–27; 29–31

25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:

26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:

27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption . . . .

29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.

30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;

31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

Paul is talking about the same thing in Act 13:33.

ACTS 13:33

33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

It is clear that both Peter and Paul are talking about the same thing. While we do not know specifically what all transpired in hell, we know that through Jesus’ great redemptive work, He effectively took care of spiritual death for us.

You will not be able to understand the authority in the Name of Jesus until you understand that Jesus tasted spiritual death and satisfied the claims of justice on behalf of each one of us when He died as our Substitute.

God in Heaven said, “It is enough.” Then He raised Him up. He brought His spirit and soul up out of hell—He raised His body up from the grave—and He said, “. . . thou art My Son, THIS DAY have I begotten thee.”

What day? The day He was begotten. The day He was raised up. That is the day, then, that He “. . . hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent Name!”

chapter four

By Bestowal

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him,

and GIVEN HIM A NAME WHICH IS ABOVE EVERY NAME:

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things [beings] in heaven,

and things [beings] in earth, and things [beings] under the earth;

And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

—Philippians 2:9–11

God gave Jesus a Name which is above every Name. E.W. Kenyon writes:

The inference is that there was a Name known in heaven, unknown elsewhere, and this Name was kept to be conferred upon some one who should merit it: and Jesus, as we know Him—the Eternal Son as He is known in the bosom of the Father—was given this Name, and at this Name every knee shall bow in the three worlds—Heaven, Earth, and Hell—and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord of the three worlds to the glory of God, the Father (7).

Paul was praying a prayer for the Church at Ephesus in the first chapter of Ephesians. He wanted them to see something—to understand something. So he prayed that the eyes of their spirit would be enlightened to truths they would never be able to figure out in their heads. This is his Spirit-inspired and anointed prayer:

EPHESIANS 1:17–23

17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

20 Which he wrought in Christ, WHEN HE RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, AND EVERY NAME THAT IS NAMED, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,

23 Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.

Notice that in connection with His being raised from the dead, the Name is mentioned.

Paul’s prayer was not for the Church at Ephesus only. Because this is a Spirit-given prayer, it belongs to believers everywhere.

It is a prayer that the eyes of our spirits might be enlightened to some things. (That is where we have to get the knowledge of God’s Word: in our spirits—our hearts, down on the inside. We cannot get it with our mentality; our mentality is not great enough to grasp it.) God wants us to know some things, to see some things, to be enlightened to some things in our hearts. Here is Moffatt’s translation of that prayer.

EPHESIANS 1:17–23 (Moffatt)

17 May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, grant you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation for the knowledge of himself,

18 illuminating the eyes of your heart so that you can understand the hope to which He calls us, the wealth of his glorious heritage in the saints,

19 and the surpassing greatness of his power over us believers—a power which operates with the strength of the might

20 which he exerted in raising Christ from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavenly sphere,

21 above all the angelic Rulers, Authorities, Powers, and Lords, above every Name that is to be named not only in this age—but in the age to come—

22 he has put everything under his feet and set him as head over everything FOR THE CHURCH, the church

23 which is his Body, filled by him who fills the universe entirely.

God not only gave Jesus a Name at which every being in three worlds must bow and confess His lordship, but God seated Him in the highest place in the universe, at His own right hand, and made Him to be head over all things.

For what purpose?

For the Church! For the benefit of the Church (v. 22)! Kenyon writes:

God has made this investment for the benefit of the Church; He has made this deposit on which the Church has a right to draw for Her every need.

He has given to Him the Name that has within it the fullness of the Godhead, the wealth of the Eternities, and love of the heart of the Father-God: and, that Name is given us.

We have the right to use that Name against our enemies.

We have the right to use it in our petitions.

We have the right to use it in our praises and worship.

That Name has been given unto us (8).

It belongs to us!

Heaven, earth, and hell recognize what Jesus did. All that Jesus did, all the authority, all the power, all of His achievements are in His Name. And the Name on our lips will work the same things now as it did then.

The last week of August 1952, I was holding a meeting in east Texas. I was lying across my bed one afternoon with my Bible and another book, doing some studying. I was not necessarily studying for the service that night, but just feeding upon God’s Word for my own spiritual edification and benefit.

One of the scriptures I was looking at was Philippians 2:9–10 about the Name of Jesus and how, at the Name of Jesus, beings in Heaven, and in earth, and under the earth, must bow.

Momentarily, I caught a glimpse of something—in my spirit, not in my natural mind. I caught a glimpse, just momentarily, of the Name of Jesus—and the authority of that Name—what that Name would do—and particularly about the phrase, “in the earth.” After all, that’s where we’re living—right here on the earth.

That Name will work in Heaven; it will work here on the earth; it will work under the earth. It will work in all three worlds. And those are the three worlds with which we have to do.

I can remember how on that afternoon, with that revelation in my spirit—though just a glimpse—I rose up! I knew that Name worked! I said, “In the Name of Jesus! In the Name of Jesus! In the Name of Jesus, I break the power of the devil over my brother Dub’s life. I claim his deliverance. I claim his salvation.”

To me that settled it. Within 10 days, he was born again. I had prayed and fasted for him off and on for 15 years, which never seemed to do any good. But the minute I rose up with the Name of Jesus, it worked!

It will not work for you, however, until you get the revelation of it. And you will not get the revelation of it without studying. I was studying, feeding on God’s Word. This is why I’m teaching along this line. You may not get the revelation of what I’m saying just now, but if you will continue to feed, continue to study, sooner or later, what the Word of God is saying will dawn on your heart, on your spirit, down on the inside of you. But if you throw it away or give it up, it won’t ever happen to you.

I do not think these truths have registered upon our spirit conscious-ness. I do not think the church world as a whole knows anything at all about it. We use the Name, but just as we do any other name. We do not realize the significance of it. We do not realize the authority of it. Yet He gave us the right to use the Name that was given to Him.

chapter five

By Conquest

In Paul’s prayer for the Church, he stated that God had raised Christ from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenlies, “Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named . . .” (Eph. 1:21).

By His conquest of these principalities, powers, might, and dominion, Jesus obtained that Name!

COLOSSIANS 2:15

15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it [the Cross].

Another translation says, “He disarmed the principalities and powers, [which fought against Him] . . . (Conybeare). The Phillips translation says, Jesus “. . . exposed them, shattered, empty and defeated, in his own triumphant victory!” The Rotherham translation says, Jesus “paralyzed” them (Heb. 2:14). These are the same principalities and powers spoken of in Ephesians 6:12:

EPHESIANS 6:12

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

The principalities and powers we wrestle against are the same ones that He overcame, that He spoiled, that He put to nought.

HEBREWS 2:14 (ASV)

14 Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same; that through death HE MIGHT BRING TO NOUGHT HIM THAT HAD THE POWER OF DEATH, that is, the devil.

“Bring to nought” means reduce to nothing! As far as we are concerned, He reduced them to nothing! No wonder He said, “In My Name, they will cast out demons”!

Jesus met Satan and his cohorts on their own territory and defeated them. The conquest that Jesus made of the devil, of sin, of sickness and disease is wrapped up in the Name. And the Name belongs to us. The Name, when we use it, will bring into reality in our lives what Jesus has already accomplished. I think that’s the reason the devil has fought so hard to keep us from knowing about it.

You can just repeat the Name, like a parrot saying, “Polly wants a cracker,” and it won’t do a thing for you. But, oh, when you know what is back of that Name—when you know the authority invested in that Name—when you know what Jesus wrought, and that He arose on that glad Resurrection morning—life will be different for you. When you know that Jesus said, “. . . all authority is given unto Me in Heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, because I’m giving you My Name; I’m giving you authority,” you will “go ye,” taking and using His Name!

COLOSSIANS 1:13

13 Who hath delivered us from the power [authority] of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.

It was in Jesus’ spoiling the principalities and powers, bringing them to nought—overcoming them, defeating them—that He delivered us from the “power of darkness.” That means from the power, or authority, of Satan.

Satan has no authority to dominate the Christian or the Church.

When you know this truth and know that the Name belongs to you, you can put Satan on the run every time. I mean every single time!

Some people say to me, “Well, I tried that and it didn’t work.”

I always tell them, “If you will repent for lying, God will for- give you.”

God has delivered us from the power of darkness—from the authority of darkness, from the authority of Satan, from the authority of Satan’s kingdom—and He has translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son!

I want to show you something that will corroborate what I have been teaching. First, let’s look at First Corinthians 2:6 in the King James Version.

1 CORINTHIANS 2:6

6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect [mature]: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought.

Let’s look at that same verse in Moffatt’s translation;

1 CORINTHIANS 2:6 (Moffatt)

6 We do discuss ‘wisdom’ with those who are mature; only it is not the wisdom of this world or of the dethroned Powers who rule this world.

The King James Version speaks of the “. . . princes of this world, that come to nought.” Moffatt’s translation calls them “the dethroned Powers who rule this world.”

Consider First Corinthians 2:6 in the light of Colossians 2:15, and you will see that it was when Jesus spoiled principalities and powers, making a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it, that they were brought to nought and dethroned.

Why then is the devil—depression, oppression, demons, sickness, and everything else that is of the devil—ruling so many Christians and even churches?

It is because those believers do not know what belongs to them. They take the Name of Jesus like you would take a good-luck charm: “If I carry this rabbit’s foot, maybe it will keep something from happening.” They seem to think like this: “If I take the Name of Jesus, it might work.”

No! Find out all the authority that is back of that Name. Know that as far as God is concerned, and as far as the believer is concerned, these rulers, these princes of this world, are dethroned. Jesus dethroned them.

They are not going to be dethroned—they are dethroned.

“Well,” some people say, “we know that during the Millennium they will be dethroned.”

No! He has already done it! We are in the world, but we are not of the world—they have no right to rule us (John 17:11–16).

In teaching on divine healing and health, I have often said, “I haven’t had a headache in so-many years.” (At this writing, it has been 45 years.)

I guess the devil got tired of hearing me say it. Just a few months later, as I left my office building and started home, suddenly, my head started hurting.

(Someone might say, “Well, you had a headache.”

No, I didn’t have one! I don’t have headaches. I haven’t had a headache since August 1934.)

Then, as if someone were sitting in the backseat—and of course, the devil was there, but he doesn’t bother me because I know he has been put to nought—I heard these words, “Ah-ha! You’ve got a headache.”

I said, “In the Name of Jesus (You see, the Name stands for all of His authority and power!), I do not have a headache. In the Name of Jesus, I will not have a headache. And in the Name of Jesus, pain, you leave.”

I hadn’t gotten the words out of my mouth until it left. It just disappeared.

Someone said, “I wish I could get that to work for me.”

It does not work by wishing—it works by knowing.

The reason for this book is to get people to know. Do not forget the scriptures we use. Look them up. Study them. Feed on them until they become a part of your inner consciousness. That’s when they start working for you.

Oh, there is a Name that’s above every Name—the Name of Jesus. Heaven, earth, and hell realize what that Name means. We need to realize it.

No wonder Mr. Kenyon called his book The Wonderful Name of Jesus. That Name is just as wonderful as He is. That Name is just as mighty as He is. That Name is just as powerful as He is. That Name is just as great as He is. That’s the reason it is a more excellent Name.

Think about the excellency of Jesus—His Name is just as excellent. Think about Jesus being above all—above all dominion, above all power, above all principalities, and every name that is named—so is His Name!

Meditate on that! Think on that!

May the truth of God’s Word dawn upon our spirits—lift us above the mundane things of this life—that we may sit with Him in heavenly places and exercise the authority that is vested in that Name and that has been given unto us.

chapter six

Authority in the Name

There is authority in the Name of Jesus. When Jesus appeared to John on the isle of Patmos, He said, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore . . . and have the keys of hell and of death” (Rev. 1:18).

The one who has the key is the authorized one. Jesus is saying here, “I am the authorized One.” He has authority.

Just before He ascended to be seated at the right hand of the Father, Jesus said, “. . . All power [authority] is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matt. 28:18). He immediately delegated His authority in the earth to the Church: “Go ye therefore . . .” (Matt. 28:19). Then He promised, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; IN MY NAME . . .” (Mark 16:17).

In My Name! In the Name of Jesus! He authorized us. He gave us His Name as the authority. The power is in the Name. The authority is in the Name. He gave us the Name that is recognized in three worlds—the Name that has authority in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth. Angels, men, and demons have to bow at that Name—and that Name belongs to us. We are authorized to use that Name.

He commissioned us: “. . . All power [authority] is given unto me in heaven and in earth, Go ye therefore . . . And these signs shall follow them that believe; IN MY NAME shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Matt. 28:18–19; Mark 16:17–18).

Some folks would tell us, “Healing has been done away with. Speaking with tongues has been done away with. The Church doesn’t have any authority today over devils and demons. They can’t cast them out.”

No! No! No! These supernatural signs follow the Name of Jesus. They accompany the believing ones. If your spouse, or a friend, accompanies you some place, he or she goes right along with you. These signs go right along with the believing ones.

“But that was just for the Early Church,” religious people tell us.

If that is so, then the Name of Jesus does not belong to us, for it is “in My Name” that the signs accompany the believing ones. If that is so, then the Name of Jesus belonged only to the Early Church. And if we do not have the Name of Jesus, then no one is born again today, for there is no other Name given under Heaven whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

But, blessed be God, the Name of Jesus does belong to us today! And, thank God, there is salvation in that Name.

Yet, there is more than salvation in that Name. That Name still enwraps all the power, all the majesty, and all the glory it ever did.

The Father God has lifted Jesus to the highest position of the universe. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father on High, far above every known authority. God the Father has conferred upon Him the highest Name in the universe—the Name above every name. He has bestowed upon Him honor, glory, and power.

Jesus with His resurrected body is there at the right hand of the Father. But, that Name has all the authority, all the power, all the dignity, all the majesty, and all the glory that Jesus the Person has. The Name stands for the Person. This honor, this glory, this authority, this power, is vested in the Name of Jesus. And this Name is given to us!

The Church has been rich since its beginning. Yet, thinking we were being humble, we sat around and sang, “Here I wander like a beggar, through the heat and through the cold,” or “Just build me a cabin in the corner of glory land.” That’s not being humble. That’s being ignorant. We have a rich inheritance—the Name of Jesus!

Would to God that we could catch a glimpse of what it means. Too often, the scriptures we are hearing fall on deaf ears. Would to God that we would get the revelation of what God’s Word says to us about it. E.W. Kenyon did. I want to quote what he has written under the subtitle “New Land Ahead.” And remember, he wrote this many years ago. We are getting more into the edge of this now than they were in the day he wrote it.

Oh, that our eyes were open; that our souls would dare rise into the realm of Omnipotence where the Name would mean to us all that the Father has invested in it; that we would act up to our high privileges in Christ Jesus.

This is practically an unexplored tableland in Christian experience.

Here and there, some of us have experienced the authority vested in the Name of Jesus.

We have seen the lame walk, the deaf hear, the blind see; those on the verge of death brought back instantly to health and vigor; but, so far, none of us have been able to take a permanent place in our privileges and abide where we may enjoy the fullness of this mighty power (11).

Smith Wigglesworth got into the edge of it. In his book, Ever Increasing Faith[1], he tells about going to Wales to pray for a man called Lazarus. Lazarus had been a leader in the assembly, working in the tin mines days and preaching nights until he broke down physically and collapsed. Tuberculosis set in. He lay bedfast and helpless for six years.

God spoke to Wigglesworth and told him to go raise up Lazarus. When Smith walked into his room, Lazarus looked like a skeleton with skin stretched over it. Wigglesworth endeavored to get him to release his faith, to believe God. But he was bitter. Others had prayed for him. He thought God should have healed him. After all, he had given his life to Him, working days and preaching nights.

Undaunted, Wigglesworth said to the people he was staying with, “Could we get seven people to pray with me for the poor man’s deliverance?”

So seven people, plus Wigglesworth, went into the room where Lazarus lay on the verge of death. The eight believers circled the bed, holding hands. One brother took one of Lazarus’ hands; Wigglesworth took the other to include him in the circle.

Then Wigglesworth said, “We are not going to pray; we are just going to use the Name of Jesus.” They all knelt and whispered that one word, “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!”

The power of God fell, and then it lifted. Five times it fell and lifted as the little group spoke that magnificent Name. The man in the bed was unmoved. The sixth time the power of God came down on that man, it remained.

“The power of God is here,” Wigglesworth told him. “It is yours to accept.”

The man’s lips began to move. He made a confession. He said, “I have been bitter in my heart, and I know I have grieved the Spirit of God. I am helpless. I cannot lift my hands, nor even lift a spoon to my mouth.”

Wigglesworth said, “Repent, and God will hear you.”

He repented and cried out, “Oh, God, let this be to Thy glory.” When he said that, the power of God went through him.

Wigglesworth said, “As we again said, ‘Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!’ the bed shook, and the man shook. I said to the people who were with me, ‘You can all go downstairs right away, and we will follow. This is all God. I’m not going to assist Him.’ I sat and watched that man get up and dress himself. We sang the Doxology as he walked down the steps. I said to him, ‘Now tell what has happened.’ It was soon noised abroad that Lazarus had been raised up, and the people came from all the district round to see him and hear his testimony. And God brought salvation to many.”

One of the leaders of a certain Full Gospel denomination told me of an experience he’d had in his youth. He started preaching at the age of 14. When he was 16, he held a youth meeting in Iowa and stayed in the home of the pastor, who had children near this young minister’s age.

The pastor was called away to preach a funeral in another state. While he was gone, at two o’clock one morning, one of the church members came to the parsonage. A three-year-old girl was very sick. She had gone into convulsions. The pastor’s wife prepared to go to their home to pray. She asked the evangelist, just a 16-year-old boy, to go with her.

She was in the ministry with her husband, but she was not called to preach. So they asked the young minister to pray.

He told me, “The child was in convulsions. I laid hands on her and prayed. I did everything I had ever seen anybody do. I said everything I ever heard anybody say. Nothing happened. The child was still in convulsions.

“Then the pastor’s wife began to sing, ‘Praise the Lord! Glory to God! Hallelujah! Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!’

“We were on our knees. One by one, we picked it up and sang praises and the Name of Jesus. While we were singing, the child suddenly grew quiet; the convulsions ceased.

“We stopped singing, sat around and visited about 10 minutes, and the child seemed fine. Then suddenly, she went back into convulsions. We prayed. I laid hands on her again, anointed her with oil, and said everything I had ever heard anybody say. I rebuked the devil. I commanded the child to be well. Everything! Nothing seemed to work.

“After a little while, the pastor’s wife began to sing, ‘Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Glory to Jesus! Glory to God! Jesus! Jesus!’

“One by one, we picked it up. We sang praises unto the Name, and we sang the Name. Suddenly, all convulsions ceased.”

He went on with the meeting for several days. The child was perfectly well.

There is power in that Name! That is what Kenyon was talking about when he said, “Some of us have experienced the authority vested in the Name of Jesus . . . but, so far, none of us have been able to take a permanent place in our privileges and abide where we may enjoy the fullness of this mighty power” (11).

Mr. Kenyon goes on to say something which expresses my convictions. I have said these very words myself.

But we have a conviction that before the Lord Jesus returns, there will be a mighty army of believers who will learn the secret of living in the Name, of reigning in life, living the victorious, transcendent, resurrection life of the Son of God among men (11).

Hallelujah!

Kenyon went on, “If our minds could only grasp the fact that Satan is paralyzed, stripped of his armor by the Lord Jesus, and that disease and sickness are servants of this Man; that at His voice, they must depart, it would be easy to live in this Resurrection Realm” (11).

MATTHEW 8:5–10

5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,

6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.

7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.

8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.

9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

What did this Roman centurion say to so marvel Jesus?

He said, in effect, “Speak the Word only. Just as I am set over these hundred men who obey my command, You have been set over disease. You are the master over demons and the laws of nature. You have authority over disease and sickness. All You have to do is speak, and sickness and disease will obey You.”.

[1] Smith Wigglesworth, Ever Increasing Faith (Springfield, Missouri: Gospel Publishing House, 1971)

chapter seven

The Name: Possession of the Church

All the authority, all the power that was in Jesus is in His Name! And He gave His Name to the Church. The early believers knew what they had—and they used it.

You remember the account of Peter and John, going into the Temple at about three o’clock in the afternoon, passing by a crippled man who was begging alms.

ACTS 3:3–6

3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.

4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.

5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.

6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but SUCH AS I HAVE give I thee: IN THE NAME of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.

In a later chapter, we will examine in detail the use of the Name of Jesus in this incident, but my point here is that Peter knew he had something.

The church world as a whole today does not know they have anything.

Some churches do not even know they have the New Birth. They do not understand that they are new creatures. They think all they have is forgiveness of sin.

You see, as long as I believe that I receive forgiveness of my sins, and that’s all (not remission, but just forgiveness), then I remain in the position where Satan will dominate me all of my life. But when I know I have been born again and have become a new man in Christ Jesus, and that I have become the righteousness of God in Christ, then I will dominate sin (2 Cor. 5:17,21; Rom. 6:14).

Other churches are strong on the New Birth; they know that you can be born again, but they do not know that you can get anything beyond that. Their attitude seems to be: “Hold out until the end, and pray that Jesus will come quickly, because the devil is taking everything over. He is bigger than God and stronger than the Church. You can just look around and see how strong he is. He is ruling and dominating everything, and he is going to take over the whole world. We’re left orphans, helpless. Poor old me. I can’t. I won’t ever amount to anything. Pray for me that I’ll hold out faithful until the end. But I don’t know whether I can or not. I hope so.”

That is not New Testament Christianity! That is not what the New Testament teaches.

New Testament Christianity is: “. . . greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

New Testament Christianity is: “I am more than a conqueror through Him that loved me” (Rom. 8:37)!

New Testament Christianity is: “. . . he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Heb. 13:5–6).

We have defeated and robbed ourselves. Even some who knew they had the Name of Jesus did not think it amounted to much.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834–1892), noted English Baptist preacher, told this personal experience. He was called to the home of an elderly woman who was bedfast. Malnutrition was about to take her physical life. During his visit, Spurgeon noticed a framed document on the wall. He asked the woman, “Is this yours?”

She said it was and explained that she had worked as a maid in the household of some of the English nobility. “Before Lady So-and-so died,” the woman said, “she gave that to me. I served her for nearly half a century. I’ve been so proud of it because she gave it to me. I had it framed. It’s been hanging on the wall ever since she died 10 years ago.”

Mr. Spurgeon asked, “Would you allow me to take it and have it examined more closely?”

“Oh, yes,” said the woman, who had never learned to read, “Just be sure I get it back.”

Spurgeon took it to the authorities. They had been looking for it. It was a bequest. The English noblewoman had left her maid a home and money.

This elderly woman lived in a little one-room house built out of wooden boxes and was starving to death—yet she had hanging on the wall a document that authorized her to be well cared for and to live in a fine house. The money was gathering interest. It belonged to her. Spurgeon helped her get it, but it didn’t do her as much good as it could have earlier.

I think that is indicative of what has happened to much of the church world. We live in a little run-down shanty—spiritually speaking—while lying on a table somewhere is the New Covenant. We’re proud of it, but we’ve never taken time to find out what it says belongs to us.

Peter knew what belonged to him when he fastened his eyes upon that life-long cripple at the Gate Beautiful and said, “. . . silver and gold have I none; but SUCH AS I HAVE give I thee; IN THE NAME of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.”

“You know, though,” some would say, “Peter and John were apostles. The apostles had that kind of power to get the Church started. But when the last apostle died, all that ceased.”

How in the world sensible men could think like that is beyond my comprehension!

The devil has hoodwinked whole denominations. He doesn’t want people to find out about this Name. He’s afraid of the Name. He knows Jesus conquered him. He knows that Name is just as powerful as Jesus the Person. He knows Jesus said, “In My Name, they shall cast out devils.” (That means they will exercise authority over the devil and demons.) The devil knows that. He does not want you to know it! As long as you do not know it, he can continue to dominate you. So he has hoodwinked the church world. He does not care how religious you get—as long as you don’t have any power, you are no threat to him.

Then there are those who believe in the New Birth, who believe in being filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking with other tongues, who believe in divine healing, who believe in the power of God—but there is confusion in this camp.

There are all kinds of ideas here. “Well, the Lord can heal if He wants to—but it’s not always His will.”

People who are filled with the Spirit, speaking with tongues, who have the Powerhouse in them, sit around and say, “Well, if we had the power, we could do what they did in the Acts of the Apostles. Pray for the power.” So they sing, “Oh, Lord, send the power just now.” The power was there all the time they were singing.

The Lord could have looked over the banister of Heaven and said to Gabriel, “What are they doing down there?” Gabriel might have answered, “They think they’re having church, but like two- or three-year-old children, they’re just playing church.”

We have so much of that in Pentecostal and Full Gospel circles and prayer groups—playing!

No! Let’s wake up and find out what belongs to us. We have had it in our hands all the time. It is ours. What is it? It is just what Peter had. “. . . Silver and gold have I none; but SUCH AS I HAVE give I thee . . . .”

What did he have?

He had the Name that is above every name.

“. . . IN THE NAME of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.”

Peter had the Name. We have the Name. The Name today is just the same.

“Well, I use the Name and nothing happens,” you might say. You never took time to study the Word to see what is involved in the Name—to see what is back of the Name. It is not to be used like a magic charm. It is not to be used like a rabbit’s foot. You must know what is invested in that Name. You must know what is back of that Name.

You cannot say that a nice home, a good living, and money didn’t belong to that poor woman Spurgeon visited. All that belonged to her. It was hers. She had the legal document, signed and sealed, which said it was hers. Why didn’t she possess it? Because she didn’t know it.

Thank God, we have the legal document of the New Covenant, the New Testament, sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ. And when He went away, He left us His Name. But we must know what is invested in that Name. We must know what is back of that Name.

chapter eight

Backed by Deity

For more than a quarter of a century, a battle has raged. It started right here in America in the church world. Church groups, growing more and more “modern” (“liberal” as some call them), began to deny the deity of Jesus.

I read an article by one of the main leaders of one large denomination. In it he said, “After nearly 50 years in the ministry, I no longer believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ. In fact, I have come to this conclusion—you do not have to believe in the deity of Christ. I am not going to discuss it, but I will just say, I do not know whether He is the Son of God or not.”

Of course, to this man, the Name of Jesus means nothing. For if Jesus is not virgin born, then He is not deity; He is not God. If He is not God, then His Name means nothing.

Kenyon said, “The Deity of the Man of Galilee is the crux of Christianity. If this can be successfully challenged, then Christianity has lost its heart and it will cease to function; it will become a dead religion.

“There is no denial that the challenge of His Deity has already begun its reactionary effect upon society. If Jesus is not Deity, He is not Lord. If He is not Lord, then He cannot interfere with our moral activities. If He is not Lord, then the laws that have been founded upon His teachings have lost their force. The morals that surround marriage with its lofty ideals have no basis of fact” (13).

Today we can clearly see the “reactionary effect” Kenyon talked about. We see it in our educational system. We see it in our liberal and modernistic churches. We see it in our society.

A person would have to be a fool not to see the wave of crime and lawlessness sweeping over our nation. It is a by-product of the modernist challenge to the integrity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This battle, raged in the churches, is one reason so many people live together today without marriage. Nobody can do that and believe in the Deity of the Son of God. Nobody can be permissive in sexuality and believe that Jesus Christ is Deity.

If you believe He is Deity, you will follow His precepts, His teachings, His morals. You will follow them in business dealings and in your daily life. For the Bible says that we must all stand—talking about Christians—before the Judgment Seat of Christ to give an account of the deeds done in the body (2 Cor. 5:10).

Kenyon said it so well:

To say He was but a good man is an insult.

To say that He was the highest expression of Deity in humanity is to throw the lie into His face.

Jesus is or He is not what He said He was (14).

Thanks be unto God, the Word of God is true. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is the Living Word. He is God manifested in the flesh. He is Truth. He is deity. He is alive today—and He has given us His Name. Deity is what stands back of that Name!

chapter nine

That Name—In Salvation

There is no salvation apart from the Name of Jesus and apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the One Name through which the sinner can approach the Great Father God.

MATTHEW 1:21,23

21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins . . . .

23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

ACTS 4:12

12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

No one can get to God in any other way than by the Name of Jesus. You cannot get to God through nature. You can know that there is a God by observing nature, but you cannot come to Him in any other way than by the Name of Jesus.

“That is narrow,” some people say.

If it is narrow, then it is narrow. That is what the Bible teaches. There is “none other name” that gives man a hearing before God’s throne.

Jesus said, “. . . I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me . . .” (John 14:6).

He is the way. There is no other way to the Father. There is no other way to salvation. There is no other way to Heaven. There is no other way to truth. There is no other way to God. There is no other way to Eternal Life—except through Jesus and through His Name!

chapter ten

The Name and Baptisms

The believer is not only saved by the Name—but the believer is baptized into the Name—and on the ground of the Name he receives the gift of the Holy Spirit.

MATTHEW 28:19

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in [INTO] THE NAME of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

ACTS 2:38

38 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.

The Bible teaches that there are three baptisms available to every person in the Name of Jesus: (1) baptism into the Body of Christ at the New Birth; (2) baptism into water; (3) baptism into the Holy Spirit.

The fundamental principles of the doctrine of Christ are listed in Hebrews chapter 6. One is called, “the doctrine of baptisms” (v. 2). Note that the word “baptisms” is plural.

Someone who has not studied the Bible very deeply, but just skimmed along on the surface, might ask, “How can that be, when the Book of Ephesians says there is just one baptism?”

Paul wrote both Letters—Ephesians and Hebrews. The Spirit of God, speaking through the Apostle Paul, is talking about the entire doctrine of baptisms in Hebrews. In Ephesians, He is talking about the one baptism that saves a person—the only baptism which puts one into the Body of Christ.

EPHESIANS 4:4–5

4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism . . . .

Baptism Into the Body

To baptize means to immerse; to put into. When someone is born again, he is baptized into—immersed into, put into—the Body of Christ.

1 CORINTHIANS 12:13

13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body . . . .

Jesus is the Head. We are the Body. The Head and the Body are one. A person’s head doesn’t go by one name and his body by another. People wouldn’t call a man’s head, James, and his body, Henry. Christ is the Head—we are the Body—and the Body of Christ is Christ. He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). This expresses our union with Christ. We are one with Him.

GALATIANS 3:27–28

27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Water Baptism

The believer can be baptized in water as an outward evidence of what has happened in the New Birth.

Water baptism does not save you.

I know. I was baptized in water, and I died and went to hell! I was on the bed of sickness, given up by medical science to die. On April 22, 1933, I slipped out of my body. I cried out in the darkness as I went down under the earth, “God! I belong to the church! I have been baptized in water!”

I was trying to tell Him He was making a mistake—I ought not to be going in that direction.

I cried louder, “God! I belong to the church!! I’ve been baptized in water!” There was no answer—only my own voice echoing through the darkness.

The third time, I literally screamed, “God!!! God!!! I belong to the church!!! I’ve been baptized in water!!!” There was no answer.

I came to the bottom of the pit—to the entrance of hell. Heat beat me in the face. A creature met me and took me by the right arm to escort me in.

Then a Voice spoke from Heaven. It sounded like a man’s voice. I do not know what He said; it was not in English. But whatever He said, thank God, it got the job done. That place shook like there was an earthquake. That creature took his hand off my arm. A suction to my back, an irresistible pull, drew me away from the gates of hell. I began to come up, head first, out of the pit. I could feel the cool breezes of the earth before I got to the top of the pit.

As I was coming up, I started praying. I said, “God, I come to You in the Name of Jesus Christ. I repent of my sins. I ask You to forgive me.”

I came up at the foot of the bed, in that south bedroom of 405 North College Street in the city of McKinney, Texas. I leaped from the foot of the bed, through my mouth, back into my body. When I got inside my body, my physical voice picked up that prayer right where I was praying. I prayed so loudly, they tell me traffic stopped for several blocks. Thanks be unto God, I was saved!

That very moment I had peace. That very moment it was as though a two-ton weight rolled off my chest. That very moment I was born again, baptized into the Body of Christ.

Several years passed before I was baptized in water again. In fact, I had been preaching and laying hands on the sick for two or three years before I was baptized in water. I knew that the first time I was baptized in water I was unsaved. I think the fellow who baptized me was probably unsaved. So I waited until I found someone who was saved and had the power of God in his life to baptize me in water.

Some people have gotten into controversy trying to be technical about a water baptismal formula. But a baptismal formula is not going to save you.

I believe in being baptized in the Name of Jesus. I do not believe in being baptized in the name of “Jesus only.”

When I baptize people in water, I say this: “In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I now baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Thank God for water baptism.

Baptism in the Holy Spirit

The believer can be baptized in the Holy Spirit, and speak with other tongues as the Spirit of God gives utterance.

Jesus said, “For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence” (Acts 1:5).

This was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost, “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).

It is on the ground of the Name of Jesus that we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Peter, preaching on the Day of Pentecost, said, “. . . 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” (Acts 2:38).

Jesus Himself declared, “. . . IN MY NAME . . . they shall speak with new tongues” (Mark 16:17).

All in the Name

Three baptisms are available to each of us—but it is all in the Name of the Lord Jesus. Outside of that Name, not one is available.

chapter eleven

The Name of Jesus in Our Daily Walk

The Name of Jesus touched every part of the early believers’ lives. The Name of Jesus filled a place in their thoughts, in their prayers, and in their preaching that we are almost ignorant of today. Yet in our Christian walk—in our Christian life—in prayer, we have the same right to the use of the Name of Jesus. May the Lord open our eyes and our hearts that we may know the riches of the glory of God which are hidden in that Name as we take special notice of its place in the believer’s daily walk.

In Prayer

Most Christians know, to some extent, that they can use His Name in prayer—but they do not realize the significance of it.

Some repeat it in parrot-like fashion—and it does not work.

Most do not expect it to work.

Many times people have come to me, quoting Scripture, such as Matthew 18:19–20. They say, “Brother Hagin, will you agree with me about this?”

I agree with them, have a word of prayer, and then ask, “Do you agree?”

They say, “Yes, yes I do.”

I say, “It’s done then, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is done,” they say, as they go their way.

In the process of time, in conversation with these same people, I ask them about it. They say, “Well Brother Hagin, I didn’t much expect it to happen, anyhow.”

There was no agreement. I did expect it to happen.

They had quoted Jesus’ promise regarding the use of His Name in the prayer of agreement—but they’d said it out of their head. It did not work because they did not agree from their heart, from their spirit. They were not in the spiritual realm. They were not in the biblical realm. They were in the natural, human realm—in the mental realm.

It is possible to repeat scriptures, or the Name of Jesus, from memory, or rote, just because somebody else said it—and it will not work.

But, blessed be God, when you know and realize what the Word of God actually says—when you believe it from your heart, when you act on it from your heart—then it will work!

And when you actually believe God’s Word from your heart, you will stay with that Word—speaking naturally now—live or die, sink or swim, go over or under! It may look sometimes as if you are going to do all of it—die, sink, and go under! But as you stay with it—God will stay with His Word. It will work!

Briefly, we will look again at the classic promise Jesus made regarding the use of His Name in prayer.

JOHN 16:23–24

23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ASK THE FATHER IN MY NAME, he will give it you.

24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing IN MY NAME: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

I have a key that unlocks the door of my automobile. I may say that I unlock the door, but really it is the key that does it. I have a key that fits the ignition. I couldn’t start the car without that key. The key is the important factor in driving that car. I could get nowhere without it.

There is a key to prayer without which we can get nowhere. This key will unlock the doors and windows of Heaven and grant our every need. This key is the Name of Jesus.

Jesus is our Mediator, Intercessor, Advocate, and Lord. He stands between us and the Father. In the Bible we are told to pray to the Father in Jesus’ Name. Therefore, to be sure our prayers reach the Father, we must come according to the rules laid down in the Word.

When Jesus said, “in that day,” He was talking about the day we live in now. He made this promise just before He went to Calvary. The New Covenant was about to come into being. A good way to think of it is, “In the day of the New Covenant, ye shall ask Me [Jesus] nothing. Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My Name, He will give it you” (John 16:23).

While Jesus was on the earth, His disciples did not use His Name in prayer. Hence, He said, “Hitherto [or up till now] have ye asked nothing in my name . . . .” It was after He arose from the dead, conquered the hosts of hell, and was seated at the Father’s right hand—far above all principality, power, might, and dominion—that the Church could pray in the more excellent Name He obtained—the Name above every name!

“. . . Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24). His Name guarantees an answer to our prayer!

In Demanding Our Rights

Closely associated with the Scripture we just examined—because the Name of Jesus is involved—yet different in application is another promise Jesus made regarding the use of His Name.

JOHN 14:13–14

13 And whatsoever ye shall ask IN MY NAME, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14 If ye shall ask any thing IN MY NAME, I will do it.

Jesus is not talking about prayer here. (He is talking about prayer in John chapter 16, because He said, “. . . Whatsoever ye shall ASK THE FATHER in my name, HE WILL GIVE IT YOU.”) Here in John chapter 14, He said, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, THAT WILL I DO . . . . If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I WILL DO IT.”

He is not talking about praying to the Father to do something. He is talking about using the Name of Jesus against the enemy in our daily life.

The word ask here also means demand. “Whatever you demand in My Name, I [Jesus] will do it.”

An example of this is recorded in Acts 3:6 with Peter and John at the gate called Beautiful. We have already discussed that Peter knew he had something to give when he said to the crippled man, “Silver and gold have I none, but what I have I give thee . . . .”

Then Peter said, “. . . In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” He asked, or demanded, that the man get up and walk in the Name of Jesus.

I was teaching this once and a professor of Greek, who was qualified to teach the language in any university, was following along in his Greek Testament. He came to me after the service, saying, “Brother Hagin, I never thought of that until you brought it out, but the Greek says that whatever you shall demand as your rights and privileges, that shall I [Jesus] do.” Hallelujah!

You cannot demand rights and privileges, however, if you do not know what they are. That’s where Christians fail. They do not realize that under the New Covenant, which God has established with the Church through the Lord Jesus Christ, we have rights and privileges.

We have the right—we have the privilege—to use the Name of Jesus! And vested in that Name is all the power, all the authority, that Jesus ever had.

When Jesus was on the earth, He healed the sick.

Now do you see what Peter did? Peter was bold. He understood what Jesus meant when He said, “Whatever you demand in My Name, I will do.” So he said, “I have that Name—and it is my right to use it. So, in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

He demanded it in Jesus’ Name! And Jesus got the fellow up and put him to walking!

Read through the Book of Acts. You will see the early believers using the Name in just this way.

Several years after the healing of the man at the Gate Beautiful, for instance, Peter said to a man who had been bedfast eight years, “. . . Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed . . .” (Acts 9:34). He arose immediately!

They did not have some unknown power we don’t have today. It was the Name of Jesus that did it. That Name has not been taken away from the Church. That Name belongs to us.

Why doesn’t that Name do now what it did then? Why doesn’t that Name perform the same miracles it did then?

I think we can locate the problem from Peter’s remarks in Acts chapter 3. He was speaking to the crowd that gathered after they saw the man who had lain so many years, begging alms at the Gate Beautiful, now walking and leaping and praising God.

ACTS 3:12–13,16

12 . . . why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?

13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus . . . .

16 And his name THROUGH FAITH IN HIS NAME hath made this man strong . . . .

We have had the Name, but our faith in the Name has been weak. Our faith in the Name has not been the same.

What can we do to correct this? The Bible says, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). How can our faith in the Name of Jesus be increased? By hearing what the Word of God has to say about the Name.

We need to feed on God’s Word along this line until our spirits are thoroughly educated and our faith rises to a higher level. Then it will be just as natural for us to act on that Word as it was for Peter.

chapter twelve

All in the Name

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, DO ALL IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

—Colossians 3:17

The Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul, gave these instructions to the Church. Whatever you do—in word or deed—do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus.

If you sweep the floor, sweep it in the Name of Jesus.

If you wash the dishes, wash them in the Name of Jesus.

If you make the beds, make them in the Name of Jesus.

If you teach a Sunday school class, teach it in the Name of Jesus.

If you sing a song, sing it in the Name of Jesus.

If you play an instrument, play it in the Name of Jesus.

If you work in a service station, work there in the Name of Jesus.

If you work in a factory, work in the Name of Jesus.

Whatever you do! In word or in deed! Do it in the Name! That Name has something to do with us in everyday life. Every day! Every day, the Name!

In the early days of the Church, they were taught to do all things in that Name. Everything they did, they did in the Name of the Lord Jesus. Everywhere they went, they were conscious of the Name of Jesus.

No wonder the people outside the Church feared that Name more than anything else. The authorities who took Peter and John into custody after the healing of the man at the Gate Beautiful threatened them, “. . . that they speak henceforth to no man IN THIS NAME. And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach IN THE NAME of Jesus” (Acts 4:17–18).

That Name should be so in our lips and mean so much to us that people outside the Church today would notice. Those authorities took notice of Peter and John and marveled. Though they perceived that Peter and John were unlearned and ignorant men, they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13).

They didn’t have one Church in the first century, while we have another Church today. We are members of the same Body of Christ. What the Spirit of God, through the Apostle Paul, wrote to the Church at Colosse, belongs to the Church today. It belongs to the believers everywhere. “Whatever you do,” we are instructed, “in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord.”

Give Thanks in the Name

EPHESIANS 5:20

20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father IN THE NAME of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The early believers were taught to give thanks unto God for all His benefits in that Name.

Washed, Sanctified, Justified in That Name

1 CORINTHIANS 6:11

11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified IN THE NAME of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

“And such were some of you . . . .” We’d better read the preceding verses to find out how some of us were. We will start with verse 9:

“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived . . . [Many people are being deceived today.] . . . neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate . . . [Effeminate means homosexuals.] . . . nor abusers of themselves with mankind . . . [This means homosexuals, too, including lesbians. Don’t they have any rights? Certainly, they have the right to go to hell if they want to. Every sinner has the right to reject Jesus if he wants to. But they also have the right to go to Heaven. And I have the right to try to keep them out of hell. The way to do it is to get the Bible to them. Jesus loved them and died for them, and we want to help them. But you do not help people by siding in with their wrongdoings. Morals are involved here, and the Bible is plain on the subject.] . . . Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9–10).

My! That is a terrible catalog of sins. But, praise God for the power in the Name of Jesus. The next verse says, “And such WERE some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified IN THE NAME of the Lord Jesus Christ . . . .”

Giving Thanks to His Name

HEBREWS 13:15

15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks TO HIS NAME.

Continually! We are to offer the sacrifice of praise continually—that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His Name.

Anointing in the Name

JAMES 5:14

14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil IN THE NAME OF THE LORD . . . .

There it is again. Everything the early believers did, they did in the Name. They anointed the sick in the Name of the Lord.

Believe on the Name

1 JOHN 3:23

23 And this is his commandment, That we should BELIEVE ON THE NAME of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

We are not only told to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ—but we are told to believe on the Name. The New Covenant commandment is that we love one another and believe on the Name.

chapter thirteen

In My Name Cast Out Demons

The very first sign Jesus said would follow the believing ones is, “. . . in my name shall they cast out devils . . .” (Mark 16:17). In other words, they shall exercise authority over demons.

He did not say that this sign would follow preachers. It is not just ministers who have authority over demons in the Name of Jesus, but all believers.

Believers should know that they have this authority.

The Bible, our textbook, records the following example. In the Name of Jesus, Paul cast a demon out of a possessed girl, set her free, and stirred the city of Ephesus to its very foundation.

Acts 16:16–18

16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:

17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.

18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

Notice that this damsel was “possessed with a spirit.” Paul did not speak to the girl. He spoke to the spirit. He said to the spirit, “. . . I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her” (v. 18). And the scripture says the spirit came out the same hour.

That spirit had to come out. No possibility existed of it not doing so. Remember that Philippians 2:9–10 says, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things [beings] in heaven, and things [beings] in earth, and things [beings] under the earth.”

That spirit had to bow to the Name. Demons have to go at that Name. It is the Name that does it. And that Name has for the Church today the same power it had then. What a treasure we have in the Name of Jesus—yet how we have neglected it.

E.W. Kenyon remarked:

One would naturally think in reading our modern religious literature, and listening to the average preacher’s sermons, that demons had gone out of existence, or else they had been herded together in the slums of the city and were spending their entire time among the lower strata of humanity (17).

In December 1952, as a pastor and I were praying in the kitchen of his parsonage, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to me in a vision. He said, “I am going to teach you concerning the devil, demons, and evil spirits. For from this night forward what is known in My Word as ‘discerning of spirits’ will operate in your life and ministry when you are in the Spirit.”

I was caught up in that vision for an hour and a half as Jesus taught me.

During the vision, I saw a spirit operating through a certain individual, harassing a pastor and creating problems which could have caused a split in the church.

“Do not deal with the person,” Jesus said to me. “Deal with the spirit.”

(We have missed it by trying to deal with the person. Paul spoke to the spirit, not to the damsel.)

“How do I do that?” I asked. The pastor was in the same state I was in, but that person was in another part of the country.

“There is no distance in the realm of the spirit,” the Lord said. “Simply speak to that spirit and command him, in My Name, saying, ‘You foul spirit that is operating in the life of (He called the person’s name), that is harassing and embarrassing the ministry of the servant of the Lord (calling his name), I command you to desist in your operation and stop in your maneuvers this moment.’”

In the vision, I could see the spirit which was operating through that individual. When I said what Jesus told me to say, that spirit cowered down, whimpering and whining like a whipped puppy.

Then he spoke to me, “I know I have to go if you tell me to, but I sure don’t want to.”

I said, “I told you to go, in the Name of Jesus Christ.”

It was not so much that he was afraid of me—Kenneth Hagin—per se, but I believe he remembered how Jesus died in my place and went to the dark regions of the damned, in Satan’s own kingdom, and defeated him. He remembered how Jesus rose up and hurled back the forces of darkness; how He spoiled principalities and powers. He remembered how Jesus paralyzed Satan. He remembered how Jesus dethroned him. So, that spirit was afraid. At the Name of Jesus, he left and never caused that man’s ministry any more trouble.

A short time later, I was holding a meeting in Pueblo, Colorado. A man came up in the line while we were laying hands on the sick. He told me he was nervous and couldn’t sleep. (His wife told me later he’d had mental problems and had been unable to work for six months. Doctors had told her that sending him to the state mental institution would be the next necessary step.)

I laid hands on him and prayed for his healing—that his nerves would be healed and that he would be able to sleep. Then I went on to pray for the next person in the line. I continued ministering to four or five more individuals. About 10 minutes had gone by since this man had gone back to his seat, which was on my right.

I happened to glance over his way—and with my eyes wide open, God allowed me to see into the spirit realm. (The gift of discerning of spirits is seeing or hearing into the spirit realm.) I saw, sitting on his right shoulder, a demon. It looked like a little monkey. It had an armlock around his head. I understood what was wrong with the man.

I said to him, “Come back up here.”

As he walked up, I could see the demon sitting on his shoulder as plainly as I could see the man.

I said to the demon, “You’re going to have to leave.”

He said, “I know it. I know I do, if you tell me to.”

I said, “In the Name, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you leave this man’s mind and body now.” I saw him fall off the man’s shoulder, down to the floor. He lay there whimpering, whining, and shaking. I said, “Not only leave his body, but leave these premises.” He ran out a side door.

The man lifted his hands and began to praise God. His face lit up. Then he said, and he did not know until I told him afterward what I had seen, “It seemed like there was an iron band around my head, and it just snapped. I’m free! I’m free!” I saw him 16 years later, and he was still free.

When the Lord has permitted me to see into the spirit realm, every single time, those spirits would tremble and jerk. But that always happens whether I see it or not, because I know the authority of Jesus’ Name. And I can talk to the devil without seeing him—just as I can talk to God without seeing Him.

If this truth ever dawns on our hearts as believers, then life will be different: That Name belongs to us, and the devil is frightened of us.

A certain church I held a meeting in was the most difficult church to preach in I have ever seen. The people were good people. They loved the Lord. They loved my preaching. But it was tough to preach there. The very atmosphere was hard. Everything I said seemed to bounce off the wall back into my face.

Some months later I was back in the area, preaching a revival at another church. I went back to this first church and spent some time with the pastor and his family. I spoke at a New Year’s Eve watch night service for them. The next day, the pastor’s wife asked, “Brother Hagin, can you see any difference in our church?”

I said, “What do you mean?”

She said, “Is it any easier to preach? What about the pulpit now?”

I said, “There’s as much difference as between daylight and dark. It doesn’t seem like the same pulpit. It doesn’t seem like the same church.”

She said, “Get my husband to tell you about it.”

He said, “I don’t tell people about it, because they might think I’m crazy.”

(The spiritual world ought to be as real to us as water is to a fish—because that is the world we’re ‘swimming’ around in! Yet when someone touches that spiritual world occasionally, since most of the Church lives in the natural and is motivated by the flesh, they think that person is crazy, a fanatic.)

“I won’t tell everybody,” the pastor said, “but I will tell you. I got so concerned. This was the hardest church I ever preached in. The pulpit seemed to hold me in bondage. I knew the people loved me. They supported us well. We had good fellowship with them in their homes. But that pulpit was like a prison.

“I began to fast and pray about it. The seventh day of my fast, I was kneeling on the platform about three feet behind the pulpit, when I happened to look up directly over the pulpit. The ceiling disappeared.”

Discerning of spirits had come into manifestation. God allowed him to see into the spirit realm. He saw, sitting up in the rafters directly above the pulpit, a huge spirit. It looked like a big baboon. It was as large as a man.

The pastor said, “I found myself saying to him, ‘You’re going to have to come down.’ He said nothing, but he seemed to draw up as if he didn’t want to obey. I said, ‘You come down in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.’

“He fell down onto the pulpit; then jumped to the floor. I said, ‘You get out of here!’ He said nothing, but looked at me as if to say, ‘I don’t want to.’ I said, ‘Just march right out of here, in the Name of Jesus.’ He marched down off the platform. I marched right behind him. He would go four or five steps; then stop and look at me, almost begging. I would say, ‘No, go on.’ But he wouldn’t move until I said, ‘In the Name of Jesus.’

“We went down the aisle that way, stopping every four or five steps. I went ahead of him and held the vestibule doors open. (The spirit could have gone through the doors, of course, but this is what the pastor did.) That thing would not go through until I said, ‘In the Name of Jesus.’

“Then I opened the front door. I stepped back and said, ‘Move on out.’ He stood there. He never said a word, but I could tell by the expression on his face, he was begging me, ‘Don’t!’ I said, ‘In the Name of Jesus,’ and he moved.

“He went down the church steps and got halfway out into the yard. Then he stopped, turned around, and looked at me again. I said, ‘No, you don’t. You go on in the Name of Jesus.’

“He went as far as the curb. I said, ‘You’ll have to go on. And don’t ever come on these premises again.’ He stood there until I said, ‘In the Name of Jesus.’ Then he ran across the street and down the other side about a quarter of a mile. I watched him run into a nightclub called The Green Hut. The next night it burned down.

“Ever since, it is easy to preach here. The people have noticed. They have asked, ‘What happened?’ But I didn’t tell them.”

After Jesus appeared to me in 1952 and taught me from the Word of God on the subject of demons, I was led to study this subject in more detail. I found that the Scriptures teach a great deal about demons, their habits, their influence, their power over men.

Ephesians chapter 6 points out a fight. This spiritual fight is not with fellow human beings; it is not with flesh and blood.

EPHESIANS 6:12

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual wickedness in high places.

Read the entire passage (Ephesians 6:11–18), and you will find that this conflict is particularly tied to the area of prayer.

Listen to what Paul wrote to the Church at Colosse concerning a minister named Epaphras.

COLOSSIANS 4:12

12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant [minister] of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring [striving] fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

The Greek word translated labouring in the King James Version is rendered by other translations as striving. It means to wrestle; to struggle; to combat. Epaphras was always wrestling, struggling, combating for the Colossians in his prayers.

With whom was he struggling? With whom was he agonizing? Certainly not with God the Father. It is God’s will to bless men.

Prayer does not change God. God does not change. There is not even a shadow of turning with Him (James 1:17).

We can pray according to God’s will (the Bible) and receive the provisions He has made for us. But we do not strive, wrestle, struggle, and combat with Him. The wrestling is with the unseen force that is scheming and battling against the purpose of God.

That unseen force, of course, is the devil and demons and all their activity. They fight against God’s plan.

They have battled against the ministry God called me to fulfill. I would shut myself up in the last church I pastored for two and three days at a time—just fasting and praying. God was dealing with me about leaving the pastorate and going out into the field ministry. So, I left that church in 1949 and went out on the field. I’ve been there ever since.

But I’ll tell you, those first six months, it seemed as if I fought more demons than I had in 15 years of ministry put together. They ganged up on me. You see, if they could have thwarted God’s plan, they would have stopped what we are doing today. There was a struggle! And I didn’t know everything I know now. (That’s how I learned a lot of things.)

Demons deceive and dominate people in more ways than we realize too. They try to stop people from coming to God. They try to hold Christians back from spiritual development.

In October 1963, I came to Tulsa to speak on a Saturday night at a Full Gospel Business Men’s banquet, and then to teach the following Monday through Friday a Holy Spirit seminar for the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International. We held the seminar in a local church. God began to move, and instead of five nights, the meeting lasted eight weeks.

I ministered in two services a day—morning and night—for those eight weeks. One afternoon, between services, I was in one of the Sunday school rooms praying about the night service. I had grown tired on my knees and was lying flat on my back on the carpet, praying in other tongues.

Suddenly, the Spirit of God spoke to me about my son-in-law, Buddy Harrison.

Reverend Harrison is at this writing, founding pastor of Faith Christian Fellowship in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is also president of Harrison House Publishers. [Rev. Harrison went home to be with the Lord Nov. 28, 1998.—Ed.]

Reverend Harrison is today a leader in the Body of Christ. But in 1963, he had problems. He was unable to stay with anything. He would not keep a job; he would just quit and walk off. He wouldn’t stay in church. One time we would see him, and he would be in church, leading the choir, and everything would be fine. The next time we would see him, he would be out of church, and he would walk up to me and blow cigar smoke in my face. I never said anything. I just loved him. I knew the devil had hold of him. He was a roller coaster, or a yo-yo Christian—up and down, in and out.

So while I was lying there flat on my back, praying in other tongues about the night’s service, suddenly, the Spirit of God said to me, “There are three demons that follow Buddy around.”

I had a quick spiritual vision. I saw him walking down the sidewalk. What looked like three little dogs were following him—one on the right edge of the sidewalk, one on the left edge, and one in the middle.

The Spirit of God said, “He will turn to the right and yield to the demon on the right. Then he will turn and yield to the demon on the left. Then he will turn and yield to the demon in the center. It seems at times that he is almost a different person.”

Whatever the demon was that he yielded to, Buddy would act that way. Relatives had even remarked, “I don’t understand Buddy. Is he schizophrenic?”

Buddy was a born-again, Spirit-filled Christian. But just because you are filled with the Holy Spirit does not mean you are incapable of yielding to the devil. You still have a will of your own. You can yield to the devil and let the devil dominate you anytime you want. You can yield to the flesh and let the flesh dominate you. You can yield to the world and let the world dominate you. The Bible teaches that we have to deal with the world, the flesh, and the devil. But you do not have to yield to any of these, thank God.

The Lord said to me, “You speak to those spirits. Command them in My Name, the Name of Jesus, to desist in their maneuvers. Command them to stop.”

I said, “I’m in Oklahoma. Buddy is in Texas.”

He said, “In the spirit realm, there is no distance.”

I said, “Tell me again just how I do that.”

He said, “You say, ‘In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command all three of you foul spirits following Buddy around to desist in your maneuvers and stop in your operations.’”

I rose to a seated position and said that.

Then the Word of the Lord came to me saying, “Within 10 days, he will have a job. He will stay with that job until he does something else I have for him.”

I wrote it down on a piece of paper, dated it, and put it in my billfold. The next time I saw Buddy, he said, “Dad, I got a job.” I said, “I know it.” I pulled that piece of paper out and handed it to him. He said, “That’s the very day I got the job,” as he counted 10 days from the day it was dated.

He stayed with that job and made a success of it. They made him assistant manager—and wanted to make him manager of another business. But God called him to Minneapolis to be a choir director in a church.

His boss told someone who told me what he had said: “I don’t understand that young man. He went off up there to be a song leader for $100 a week. I offered him $20,000 a year to manage this business. I guaranteed him $30,000 within 18 months. There is no doubt that in five years he could be making $50,000 or $60,000.”

But Buddy wanted to obey God—and he has been going with God ever since.

I did not wrestle with flesh and blood. I did not deal with Buddy. Our problem is that we keep dealing with the person—when the problem may not be with the person.

As a pastor, I saw people who seemed to be held by unseen forces. This caused me great concern. I wondered how I could help them. Many times, I was led to command the unseen powers broken over them. It worked. I just said, “In the Name of Jesus, I command Satan’s power broken over this life.” Instantly, the person was delivered. I’ve seen that happen over and over again.

Here is what Kenyon said along this line:

I found that the reason many men did not accept Jesus as their Saviour was because they were held by the power of demons.

The people are hungry; they want deliverance from sin; they crave eternal life, but they are unable, many of them, to break loose from the bonds that are holding them.

Hundreds of people have said to me, “I cannot become a Christian. I want to, but something holds me.”

I have simply laid my hand on their shoulder and said, “In the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, I command the power that holds you, broken. Now, in His mighty Name, get on your feet.”

With tears of joy, they have obeyed.

I have prayed with men who were held by habits—tobacco, liquor, lusts, and, in the same mighty Name, I have seen them delivered, usually instantaneously (18).

I do not believe God wants His children bound by anything. And so, I just refuse to let anything dominate me.

As a young Baptist pastor of a little country church, I took a job in a store at Christmastime to have some extra money. Several times a day, we clerks would take turns buying cola-type soft drinks from the restaurant next door. I was drinking four to six a day. When the job was over, every time I went by that café I just had to have a cola. One day, I stopped still in front of that café and said, “I will not let colas dominate me. From this day forward, I will never drink another one.” I have not had one from that day to this, and it has been nearly half a century.

I did not say it is a sin to drink colas. But if you are a colaholic, a coffeeholic, an alcoholic, or any other kind of “holic,” do not let it dominate you. If you just have to have something, quit it. It will affect your faith—it will keep your faith from working.

I refuse to let anything dominate me. I drink iced tea. A while back, it seemed as if I couldn’t get along without it. So I quit for a while—just to prove I didn’t have to have it.

A man came to me after a night service with tears. He said, “Brother Hagin, you haven’t condemned me, but my own heart condemns me. I’m sixty-three years old. I’ve smoked cigarettes since I was 12. I want to be free. Can you help me?”

I said, “I sure can. All you have to do is give me permission to do it.”

He said, “I give you permission. I want to be helped.”

I laid my hand on his shoulder, and said, “In the Name of Jesus, I break the power of nicotine over your life. And I am going to say this by faith: The next cigarette you smoke will make you sick.”

He told me later, “I went home that night. Usually the last thing I did before going to bed was smoke a cigarette. I don’t know why, but I didn’t smoke that night. I didn’t smoke the next morning. I did put the cigarettes in my pocket as I left the house.”

This man was a truck driver. He picked up a fellow he knew that morning. The passenger was smoking when he got in the truck.

“I never got so sick in my life,” the man told me. “I rolled down the window to get some air. Finally, I had to ask him to put out his cigarette.”

This man came for help. I couldn’t do that for just anyone. They may not want to be helped. But, thank God, when people want to be helped, there is authority in the Name of Jesus to help them.

Demons attempt to hinder people in every aspect of spiritual life. They try to keep people from all the blessings of God.

Christians who felt too timid to testify, or to pray in public, have had their tongues loosed instantly in the Name of Jesus.

We must always be sensitive to the Holy Spirit when dealing with people. In praying for Christians to be filled with the Spirit, for instance, sometimes it is the devil who’s holding them back. It isn’t always the devil, but I am sensitive to the Holy Spirit when I pray with people, and I know when it is.

I knew that it was the devil with one woman when she told me how many years she had been seeking to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. I laid my hand on her shoulder and said, “I rebuke you, foul spirit of doubt. In the Name of Jesus, leave this woman.” Instantly, she started speaking in tongues.

This has happened time and time again. I just lay my hands on the person’s shoulder, and very calmly, very quietly, sometimes under my breath, I say, “I rebuke every devil that is holding this person.” Instantly, they lift both hands and start talking in tongues.

chapter fourteen

Can a Christian Be Possessed?

People have muddied the water on this demon business. It is to be regretted that the Church either gets into the ditch on one side of the road or the other, instead of going down the middle.

You hear the question: Can a Christian be possessed?

Man is a spirit, he has a soul, and he lives in a body. When one is fully possessed, the devil has taken over his spirit, his soul (mind), and his body. That person would be insane. Here in the United States, because we have so much light, and so much Christianity, we seldom see a truly demon-possessed person.

My son-in-law, for instance, was not possessed by the devil. He yielded to the devil.

The mad man of Gadara, the Bible says, was “possessed” with a devil, and “had” a legion (Mark 5:9,15). One devil possessed him; a legion indwelt him. He was taken over completely—spirit, soul, and body.

A Christian cannot be taken over spirit, soul, and body. So, a Christian cannot be demon possessed.

But here is another question: Can a Christian have a demon? This question is different from whether or not a Christian can be possessed. It’s possible for a demon to affect a Christian’s soul (mind) and body. But this potential influence is not possession.

Some people are possessed with money. Money is their god—it dominates them. I have money, but I am not possessed with money.

So someone can have a demon and not be possessed. In those cases it is in the flesh—the body—or it is in the mind.

In dealing with sickness, Jesus sometimes cast out a demon. In one case, for instance, He said, “. . . thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him” (Mark 9:25). That demon was not in the person’s spirit—it was in his body.

EPHESIANS 4:27

27 Neither give place to the devil.

If a Christian knows his rights and how to keep the devil out, he cannot come in and exert his influence. But if not, he will try to gain a foothold in one’s mind or body.

Here, many Christians start by unconsciously yielding to a thought or suggestion of the devil. They don’t mean to—they just don’t know any better. Before long the devil gains a foothold in the mind or body.

For an in-depth discussion of this subject, see my book The Triumphant Church.

chapter fifteen

Three Necessary Steps

Three things are necessary to take deliverance and victory over demons.

First, you must be a child of God.

The seven sons of Sceva saw Paul casting out demons in the Name of Jesus. So they tried it. They found a man who was demon possessed and they said, “. . . We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth” (Acts 19:13).

The evil spirit used the man’s voice and said, “. . . Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?” (v. 15).

Then that lone man in whom the evil spirit was, jumped on those seven fellows, overcame them, and pulled their clothes off them, so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded.

They had no right to use that Name. That Name belongs to the children of God. That Name belongs to us. To use that Name, you must be sure you are a child of God.

Second, you must not have any unconfessed sin in your heart.

If you do, demons will laugh at your prayers.

The Bible says, “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God” (1 John 3:21).

You will have boldness also in the presence of demons. Don’t let the devil bother you over your past life. If you’ve confessed it, you’re forgiven (1 John 1:9). Laugh in his face.

Third, you must know the power of the Name of Jesus—and how to use it.

Jesus put them—principalities and powers, devils and demons—to nought! That means He reduced them to nothing. And now they are being brought to nothing by us. Eventually they are doomed to pass to eternal judgment. But they are being brought to nothing right now, because Jesus defeated them and gave us His Name to use against them.

“In My Name, they will exercise authority over them,” Jesus said. Another way to say that is, “In My Name, demons will be rendered useless. They will be brought to nothing.”

When you know that, you will do as I do. When the devil attacks, I start laughing. I say, “Nothing, get on out of here.” I call him “Nothing.”

Some people open the door to the devil and say, “Come on in.” They get up in church and brag and testify about what all he is doing.

I like the way the New English Bible says it:

1 CORINTHIANS 2:6 (New English Bible)

6 . . . not a wisdom belonging to this passing age, nor to any of its GOVERNING POWERS, WHICH ARE DECLINING TO THEIR END.

Declining to their end! The devil has hoodwinked the church world. People keep talking about how strong the devil is getting. The Bible says he’s declining. He isn’t growing stronger—especially in our lives. He’s declining to the end.

Why is he holding sway in so many lives? Because they do not know the power of the Name of Jesus.

That’s the reason for this book—to teach people what their rights and privileges are.

Now let’s look at several translations of First Corinthians 2:6:

King James Version

Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, NOR OF THE PRINCES OF THIS WORLD, THAT COME TO NOUGHT.

Moffatt

. . . only it is not the wisdom of this world OR OF THE DETHRONED POWERS WHO RULE THIS WORLD.

Young’s Literal Translation

. . . and wisdom not of this age, NOR OF THE RULERS OF THIS AGE—OF THOSE BECOMING USELESS.

The Amplified Bible

. . . we do impart a higher wisdom (the knowledge of the divine plan previously hidden); but it is indeed not a wisdom of this present age or of this world NOR OF THE LEADERS AND RULERS OF THIS AGE, WHO ARE BEING BROUGHT TO NOTHING AND ARE DOOMED TO PASS AWAY.

E.W. Kenyon wrote:

I cannot conceive how successful work can be done today, or how believers can be in a place of continual victory, unless they know that the source of their danger lies in demoniacal power, [Don’t stop there. Some people magnify the demonic powers; that is all they talk about. Kenyon did not stop there.] and that the power to conquer it is in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God.

The more quickly we recognize that the very air about us is filled with hostile forces, who are attempting to destroy our fellowship with the Father, and to deprive us of our usefulness in the service of our Master, the better it will be for us (19).

They exist. These principalities and powers and rulers of this age rule. We see visible people ruling as heads of governments. Yet behind the scenes, very often, wicked spirits are dominating those people.

We must keep in mind, though, that Jesus spoiled principalities and powers. The same principalities and powers we wrestle against—He spoiled! He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in the Cross (Col. 2:15)!

chapter sixteen

Wicked Spirits in the Heavenlies

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS IN HIGH PLACES.

—Ephesians 6:12

The margin of a good reference Bible renders that last phrase, “wicked spirits in the heavenlies.”

Are there wicked spirits in Heaven?

Bible scholars agree that the Apostle Paul was talking about his own experience when he said, “I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell: or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the THIRD HEAVEN. . . How that he was caught up into PARADISE, and heard unspeakable words . . .” (2 Cor. 12:2,4).

The Bible speaks of three heavens. First, there is the atmospheric heaven right above us. Above that is the heaven where the stars are. Above that is the Heaven of heavens, Paradise, where the throne of God is.

When Ephesians 6:12 says, “wicked spirits in the heavenlies,” it is talking about the first heaven—the atmosphere right around us.

The atmosphere around us is literally infested with demons and evil spirits. That is the teaching of the Word of God.

I think that most Christians know the first two prerequisites for taking authority over the devil and demons (see the preceding chapter), but they do not know the third step as they should. They do not know the power of the Name of Jesus—and how to use it.

The Bible is our textbook.

I’ve read a lot of books along this line, but I can’t swallow everything in them because it is not in line with the Bible. The authors may be good people. They may be friends of mine. I may love them in the Lord, but I cannot go along with all they say because it is not in line with the Acts of the Apostles; it is not in line with the Word of God.

The Name of Jesus will work now just like it did in the days of the Acts of the Apostles. Dealing with demons will work now just like it did then.

Read the Book of Acts carefully. Notice how the disciples used the Name. Underline, or write down, all the verses relative to how they used the Name in connection with demons. See what happened—instantly, usually.

If your own life has been defeated and hemmed in by the power of the adversary, rise up in that Almighty Name of Jesus, hurl back the enemy, and take your deliverance. Then set others free.

You will not be able to set others free until you get free yourself. Start dealing with the devil in your own life. I don’t mean you have to cast a devil out of yourself. As a believer you’re not possessed. But the devil is arrayed against you—just like he is against me. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. If the Church then wrestled against them, we now wrestle against them. But we shall enter into that conflict with the consciousness that Jesus is the Victor!

Make these confessions aloud, with your mouth, because you believe what you are saying with your heart:

The Name of Jesus belongs to me.

In the Name of Jesus, I have authority over demons.

I refuse to be dominated by any demon.

In the Name of Jesus, Satan, I break your power over my spirit, soul, and body—over any way that you would try to dominate me.

And I proclaim my deliverance and victory.

You are a defeated foe.

Jesus dethroned you and all of your cohorts.

I am no longer afraid of you.

One time, Satan, you were my master, and I was your slave.

But now I am your master in Jesus;

Because Jesus has made me master over all evil powers, over all demons,

And I am free!

It is written,

Whom the Son has set free, is free indeed.

I’m free indeed!

I’m free indeed!

My Master Jesus said,

Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Now I know the truth . . . Jesus has defeated you.

Demons, all evil spirits, and Satan himself are subject to the Name of Jesus.

For every knee should bow,

Of things, or beings, in Heaven, in earth, and under the earth.

Heaven, earth, and hell know,

That God raised Jesus up from the dead

And has seated Him at His own right hand,

Far above all principalities, and powers, and might, and dominion,

And has given Him a NAME! ABOVE EVERY NAME!

And that Name belongs to me.

There’s Power in that Name!

There’s Glory in that Name!

There’s Majesty in that Name!

There’s Authority in that Name!

And I have a right to use that Name!

So, Satan, be gone!

Sickness, be gone!

Pain, leave my body!

All evil, leave me!

I stand free!

For I know the truth.

The truth has set me free!

chapter seventeen

In Him

People often ask me about studying the Bible. Although I have many suggestions, there is one I present above all others.

I present it here to you. As a Christian, a believer, read through the New Testament—primarily, the Epistles, for the Epistles are the letters written to the Church.

As you read, look for all expressions such as: in Christ, in Him, in Whom, through Whom, and so forth. Underline them. There are approximately 140 such scriptures which tell you who you are, what you are, and what you have because you are in Christ.

They show you your position as a believer. (You are in Christ!) They show you your legal standing. They show you your place in the family of God. They show you your place in God’s purpose and plan.

By studying these scriptures, you will find out what God’s Word says about you. You will come to see your place in Christ. You will see that when Jesus gave the Church the right to use His Name, He authorized us to be His representatives in the earth.

In fact, in the Epistles, the Church is called Christ! The Church has not yet realized that we are Christ. No, we’re not divine, as He is, but we’re joint-heirs with Him—we’re His Body sent forth to work in the earth on His behalf. When we realize this, we’ll start doing the work we’re supposed to do.

2 CORINTHIANS 6:14–16

14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath RIGHTEOUSNESS with unrighteousness? and what communion hath LIGHT with darkness?

15 And what concord hath CHRIST with Belial? or what part hath HE THAT BELIEVETH with an infidel?

16 And what agreement hath THE TEMPLE OF GOD with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

The believer is told not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers.

Then the believer is called righteousness, and the unbeliever is called unrighteousness.

The believer is called light; the unbeliever is called darkness (v. 14).

Now, notice the next statement: “And what concord hath CHRIST with Belial . . . ?” (v. 15). What is Paul doing? He is showing our close identification with Christ. We are His representatives on the earth.

Christ is the Head of the Body—the Church. We are the Body. We are one with Christ, joined with Him in a living union. We’ve been given the right to use Jesus’ Name and to act on His behalf.

You see, that’s what Jesus is saying: “Take My Name. Be My representatives.”

Christ, with His resurrected flesh-and-bone body, is at the right hand of the Father. We are here as His representatives—not only collectively, but individually.

Kenyon wrote:

When we pray in Jesus’ Name, we are taking the place of the absent Christ; we are using His name, using His authority to carry out His will on the earth (20).

As He Is

Unless you are really grounded in the Scriptures, it may not seem to you that the following verse could be true. But it is.

1 JOHN 4:17

17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because AS HE IS, SO ARE WE IN THIS WORLD.

As who is?

As Jesus is!

So are we, where? When we get to Heaven?

No! In this world! Glory!

As Jesus is, so are we in this world! And Jesus is the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Heb. 13:8).

Jesus is the same right now as He was when He walked the shores of Galilee.

He is the same right now as He was when blind Bartimaeus, a beggar, sat by the wayside outside the city of Jericho and cried out, “Jesus! Have mercy on me!” (See Matt. 20:29–34; Mark 10:46–52; Luke 18:35–43.)

People around, evidently even the disciples, tried to get him to hush. But he would not.

Jesus stopped still, and commanded him to be called. He said unto him, “What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?”

The blind beggar answered, “Lord, that I might receive my sight.”

In one place, the Word says that Jesus had compassion on him. Keep that in mind. Then consider “as He is” and “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”

He is now all that He ever was—and as He is, so are we in this world. Jesus had compassion and healed.

John G. Lake, mighty apostle of God, went to South Africa around the turn of the century. In five years, he built 500 churches there.

The wife of one of the government leaders was at the point of death with terminal cancer. Knowing that Lake taught divine healing, the husband asked him to come and pray.

Because of great pain, the woman was taking pain-relieving medicine. But she made the decision to stop. She said, “I’m going to throw myself completely over on the mercy of God. I’m not even going to take anything for pain.”

Lake said, “If that’s your stand, and that’s your faith, we’ll stand with you.” He wasn’t telling her not to take medicine.

He and some other ministers stayed by her bedside praying 24 hours a day. The only way she could get any rest was for them to pray until she fell off to sleep.

One morning Lake went home to bathe and change clothes. On his way back, within two blocks of the house, he heard her screaming in agony. He rushed back to the house. He stated that as he ran, compassion overtook him. He rushed into the house, rushed up to the bed, and without thinking, he picked up the woman’s emaciated body and held her in his arms as he sat on the bed and wept with compassion. While he was weeping, she was completely healed—every symptom of terminal cancer left.

I’ve noticed in my own ministry that when I can yield to the Spirit of God and allow the compassion of Jesus to well up in me and flow out of me, greater healings take place.

We have His Name.

We have His authority.

We have His compassion.

As He is, so are we in this world!

. . . we take Jesus’ place and use Jesus’ Name just as though Jesus Himself were here.

The only difference is that instead of Jesus doing it, we are doing it for Him; we are doing it at His command.

He has give to us the same authority He had when He was here, and the believer’s position in Christ [in effect] gives him the same Standing with the Father that Christ had when He was here (20).

—Kenyon

Let that soak through to your inner consciousness. It’s an absolute Bible fact. We have the same standing with God that Christ had when He was here on earth.

Jesus was praying for believers—and we are included—in John chapter 17. In His prayer, He said:

JOHN 17:23

23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and HAST LOVED THEM, AS THOU HAST LOVED ME.

What did Jesus say? He said that the Father loved them, the believers, as He loves Jesus. God doesn’t love Jesus any more than He loves us!

An outstanding Bible scholar said, “I wish I could believe that.”

Thank God, I can. I can believe it because it is in the Word. He loves us the same. We have the same standing with the Father.

2 CORINTHIANS 5:21

21 For he hath made him [Jesus] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

We are the righteousness of God in Him!

Somebody said, “I’m trying to be righteous.”

That’s a waste of time.

Righteousness is one of the most misunderstood subjects in the church world today.

I was teaching on it once in a church in Pennsylvania. To illustrate its true meaning to the people, I suddenly stopped and said to a man on the front pew, whom the pastor had told me was the most spiritual man he’d ever pastored, “Are you righteous?”

“Well,” he swallowed, “I’m trying to be.”

I said, “I don’t want to be vulgar, but I want to ask you a question. Are you a man, or a woman?”

“I am a man.”

“How did you get to be a man?”

“I was born that way.”

“That’s the way you get to be righteous,” I said. “You’re born that way.”

Righteousness means right-standing with God.

JOHN 15:5,8

5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit . . . .

8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit . . . .

When you look at a tree, you don’t think of the branches as being one thing, and the main part of the tree as being something else. It’s all one tree. Jesus said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches.”

Where does the fruit grow?

On the branches! It is because of the vine life, but it is produced out on the branches.

We should be doing the works of Christ. We are in Christ. We have a right to use His Name to the glory of God the Father.

“This unlimited use of the Name of Jesus,” Kenyon points out, “reveals to us the implicit confidence that the Father has in the Church. This in itself is a challenge” (20).

God is a faith God. He is exhibiting His faith.

Our part is to accept the challenge.

chapter eighteen

The Miraculous! Christianity’s Norm

Right in the heart of Mr. Kenyon’s book is a chapter entitled “Man and Miracles.” It is so important, I would like to cover it word for word, but I shall choose only a few quotes from it here. Again, I encourage you to get a copy of his book and study this chapter until you grasp it.

Jesus! The very Name has within it miracle working power, even to this day . . . Jesus’ life was a miracle (22).

A stream of miracles flowed from the hands of the apostles that upset Judaism and shook the Roman government to its foundation. They made a discovery—the Name of the Man Whom they had loved, Whom they had seen nailed to that cross in nakedness, now has power equal to the power that He, Himself exercised when He was among them (22).

Christianity began in miracles; it is propagated by miracles. Every new birth is a miracle; every answer to prayer is a miracle; every victory over temptation is a miracle (22–23).

When Reason takes the place of the miraculous, Christianity loses its virility, fascination, and fruitfulness (23).

Man craves a miracle working God today . . . Man wants a living God. Man craves a miracle (23).

The answer to the universal craving of man for the supernatural is found in the new birth, and indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, and the Name of Jesus (23).

God is a miracle worker. Jesus Christ was a miracle and is a miracle. The Bible is a miracle Book. . . . It is history of the outbreakings of the supernatural realm into the natural (23–24).

When Jesus began His public ministry, it was a ministry of miracles. When the Church began Her ministry it was a ministry of miracles. Every revival since Pentecost that has honored the humble Galilean has been a revival of miracles (24).

The Church has never been rescued from Her backslidings by great philosophical teachers but humble laymen who have had a new vision of the Christ, of “Him” Who is the same yesterday, today, and forever (25).

We crave the manifest presence of the Spirit in our religious services. . . . All normal men crave the supernatural—they long to see the manifestation of the power of God and to feel the thrill of the touch of the unseen (25).

Man was created by a miracle working God—that miracle element is in man. Man yearns to perform miracles and live in the atmosphere of the supernatural. This miracle element in man has made him an inventor, discoverer, and investigator (25).

The miracle realm is man’s natural realm—he is by creation the companion of the miracle working Father-God (25).

The Bible says that we are “labourers together with God” (1 Cor. 3:9). Well, if we work together with God, we will have to be workers of miracles, because He is a miracle-working God!

Sin dethroned man from the miracle realm but through grace he is coming into his own. It has been a hard struggle for us to grasp the principles of this strange life of faith. Sin has made us workers—grace would make us trusters (25).

In the beginning, man’s spirit was the dominant force in the world; when he sinned, his mind became dominant—sin dethroned the spirit and crowned the intellect; but grace is restoring the spirit to its place of dominion, and when man comes to recognize the dominance of the spirit, he will live in the realm of the supernatural without effort. No longer will faith be a struggle and fight but an unconscious living in the realm of God (25).

The spiritual realm is man’s normal home; it places him where communion with God is normal experience, where faith in the miraculous, miracle-working God is unconscious, where he will exercise the highest type of faith and yet be as unconscious of having exercised faith as he is when he writes a check (25).

The Church’s problem has been that we have lived beneath our privileges so long, we think that is normal Christianity. But it is abnormal. It is absolutely abnormal Christianity!

The whole Church—the Pentecostal, Full Gospel, Charismatic move included—is in babyhood stage. We’re trying to have faith. We’re trying to believe.

But, thank God, some are coming to see the light of God’s Word. And I am more convinced today than I was yesterday that in these last days, there is going to arise a company of believers who will see and know their authority, their rights and privileges in Christ. They will know that the Name of Jesus belongs to them. They will take up that Name and start using it as unconsciously as they take their car keys and unlock the car door, then put them in the ignition and start the car.

There is coming the knowledge of what has been revealed all the while in the Word of God, but which we failed to see because we tried to comprehend it with human reasoning.

The Bible plainly states, “. . . 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 Cor. 2:14).

You could read that verse, “. . . the natural mind receives not the things of the Spirit of God.”

Remember that the Word of God is of the Spirit of God.

2 PETER 1:20–21

20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

God’s Word contains God’s thoughts. Those thoughts are as high above man’s thoughts as the heavens are above the earth (Isa. 55:8–9).

You have to get the revelation of God’s Word in your heart—in your spirit. Your natural mind cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. They are spiritually discerned.

The Church will never see these things unless they are preached—God put teachers in the Church to teach—but it will come, little by little. And when it comes in its fullness—and we grow out of the babyhood stage of Christianity; realize our rights and privileges, and the authority and power in that Name; and rise up to use that Name—it will be said of us as it was of the early disciples, “. . . These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also” (Acts 17:6).

chapter nineteen

Faith and the Name

If I just had enough faith, you might be thinking, I could use that Name.

You can use it, anyway. It belongs to you!

If you study the Scriptures carefully, you will find that nowhere does Jesus mention faith or belief when He talks about using His Name.

Kenyon writes, “The Right to use His Name is a conferred blessing to the Church—it is a Right that belongs to every child of God” (26). Then he gives our four-fold right to use the Name.

1. We are born into the family of God and the Name belongs to the family (26).

2. We are baptized into the Name, and being baptized into the Name, we are baptized into Christ Himself (26).

3. It was conferred upon us by Jesus Who gave us the Power of Attorney (26).

4. We are commissioned as Ambassadors to go and herald this Name among the nations (26).

“I cannot see,” Kenyon observes, “where we need to have any special Faith to use the Name of Jesus, because it is legally ours. If I had a thousand dollars in the bank, it would not require any conscious act of Faith on my part to write a check for one hundred dollars . . .” (26).

“If you are a child [of God], then you are an heir of God—a joint heir with Christ—you have a Right to the use of the Name of Jesus, and if you have this Right, it is because of your place in the family” (27).

Faith is normal and natural to children of loving parents who provide for them. They don’t worry about the next meal. They don’t stop playing to come in and say, “Momma, I know that if I asked for a piece of bread, you would give it to me.” They automatically know that. And they act on it. They exercise an unconscious faith. No wonder Jesus said, “. . . Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3). We need to get to that place of an unconscious faith in God, an unconscious faith in the Word.

Kenyon also states, “I believe the hour will come when large companies of believers will live this simple life of Faith; live it unconsciously, live it daily—they will live in this upper realm where they will see in the Name of Jesus the fullness of the authority and power that was in Christ when He walked the earth” (27).

Our problem is we have kept people in a babyhood stage of development.

One of the faults I’ve found with much of the teaching in recent years about discipleship, submission, and so forth, is that it held people babies. They couldn’t develop. They couldn’t make decisions. They couldn’t get leadings from God for themselves. Somebody else had to tell them what to do. That’s unscriptural, unbiblical, and, really, unintelligent. It holds people in bondage. It holds them in a babyhood state.

God wants His children to mature—to grow up, spiritually. He wants them to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. He wants them to begin to reign in the realm of life by Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:17) and by the Name.

chapter twenty

Reigning by the Name

For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. —Romans 5:17

You could read that verse like this: “For if by Adam’s offence, spiritual death [which is the nature of Satan—hatred, lying, poverty, sickness, and so forth]—reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.”

The Amplified Bible and several others translate that, “reign as kings in life.”

What are we to reign over? Circumstances, disease, sickness, sin, hatred—and everything else that is of the devil.

Those things will not dominate us. We will dominate them. That’s what it means to reign in life.

Would you think of someone as reigning in life who lives on Barely-Get-Along Street way down at the end of the block right next to Grumble Alley, who goes through life with nothing much to eat, and who is sick, emaciated, and has his nose to the grindstone? No, you would not.

It is when we get into the Word and think through on its truths that we actually begin to reign in life by Christ Jesus.

COLOSSIANS 1:12–13

12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.

The Apostle Paul is talking about giving thanks unto God the Father for something that belongs to us right now. God has made us able to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. The saints inherited something!

In verse 13 he begins to tell us about that inheritance. First, the Father God has delivered us from the power, or the authority, of darkness. That is, He has delivered us from Satan’s authority. From demons. From sickness. From disease. From poverty. God has delivered us from everything that belongs to Satan.

One translation says, “[The Father] has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness.”

Instead of Satan reigning over us, we are to reign over him.

Too often, Spirit-filled Christians are ruled and dominated by the devil, circumstances, and everything else of this world. They ought to be happy and joyous, filled with life and light.

Let’s rise up and take advantage of what belongs to us.

How is it that we’re going to reign? By Christ Jesus! I think you could say it this way: We are to reign by the Name Christ Jesus. For He gave us His Name, saying, “In My Name, you shall cast out demons.”

chapter twenty-one

There Is Healing in the Name

We have had a treasure without realizing it.

You can ask people, “Does the Name of Jesus belong to the Church?”

“Yes.”

“What good is it?”

“Oh, it is just to be adored and praised.”

We do adore and praise the Name of Jesus, but that is not its purpose. It was given to us for our benefit.

There is healing in that Name. There must be, because Jesus said, “In My Name, they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover” (Mark 16:18). There must be, because Peter said to the lame man, “. . . Such as I have give I thee, IN THE NAME of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6).

Full Salvation

ACTS 4:12

12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

That Name of Jesus is salvation.

When we use the word “salvation”—because we have been trained that way—we automatically think of just the remission of sins, the New Birth. But that is only part of salvation. And if that is as far as you think, you limit God.

In the Scofield Reference Bible, Dr. Scofield points out the full meaning of the word “salvation” in the following footnote reference to Romans 1:16. (Romans 1:16 reads: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”)

The Hebrew and Greek words for “salvation” imply the ideas of deliverance, safety, preservation, healing and soundness. Salvation is the great inclusive word of the Gospel, gathering into itself all the redemptive acts and processes.

—Scofield

When God says salvation, He is talking about more than most people realize. The Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto deliverance. The Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto safety. The Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto preservation. The Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto soundness. The Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto healing.

When God’s Word says, “There is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12), it is not just talking about the New Birth. It is also talking about healing for our bodies.

There is healing in no other name.

Healing in Redemption

We need to know that healing for our physical bodies is part and parcel of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He not only took our sins; He also took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.

ISAIAH 53:4–5

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs [Heb. sicknesses], and carried our sorrows [Heb. pains]: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

MATTHEW 8:17

17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

1 PETER 2:24

24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

The healing that He has already provided becomes real to us through His Name. “In My Name, they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.” Why? Because healing belongs to us. Jesus provided it in our redemption.

But, you see, we have been taught to divide it. We have been taught to think like this: The Lord does save nowadays. The Name will work when it comes to (what we call) salvation. But the Name doesn’t work any further. That’s the end of it.

No! That Name will do all it ever did! If it doesn’t, then I have no right to believe there is salvation in that Name.

Thank God, there is healing in that Name!

If we were taught concerning healing in the Name of Jesus like we are taught in what we call salvation in the Name of Jesus, there wouldn’t be any doubt about it. We would have an unconscious faith in healing, like we do in the remission of sins.

The Remission of Sins

Jesus dealt with the sin problem. He bore our sins.

When we believe that and accept Him personally, it becomes a reality to us individually. We are born again. We become a brand-new creature—a brand-new creation with no past.

2 CORINTHIANS 5:17

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Old things are passed away!

The old sins that we committed before we were born again do not exist in the mind of God. He does not remember them.

ISAIAH 43:25

25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

MICAH 7:19

19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

If you put Isaiah 43:25 and Micah 7:19 together, you will find that God has hidden our sins in the Sea of Forgetfulness.

As Corrie ten Boom said, “Don’t go fishing for them!”

Leave them alone. They don’t exist anymore. God blotted them out. They do not exist in the spirit realm. Jesus bore them.

PSALM 103:12

12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

That distance is immeasurable! You can start traveling east around the world, and just keep going and keep going. If you lived to be one thousand years old, and went around the world every day of that one thousand years, you still would be traveling east.

That is not the case with north and south. If you traveled north, you would one day pass the North Pole and begin to travel south.

Jesus bore our sins away from us as far as the east is from the west!

Now the devil will try to remind you of them. He wants to try to hold you out of the place where the Name of Jesus will work for you. If you are under condemnation, you cannot be bold about using that Name.

He will bring a photograph before your mind of something you have done in the past.

When he does that to me, I just laugh at him and say, “Sure, I did that. But all you’re doing is showing me a picture of it, because God blotted it out. God dealt with that sin and put it away. He hid it in the Sea of Forgetfulness. You can’t get it. You are only bringing me a picture of it.”

Looking at some of the pictures he brings is rather like looking at old photographs you took several years ago. They don’t look like you now. But the pictures that the enemy brings are not really you at all! You are a new creature.

Forgiveness of Sin

But what about the sins you have committed since being born again?

1 JOHN 1:9

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

After you become a Christian, First John 1:9 is the way to forgiveness of sins.

People often use this scripture in dealing with sinners. But it was not written to the sinner.

A sinner could not comply with it. He couldn’t confess every wrong thing he had ever done, because he couldn’t remember them all. He hasn’t made just one mistake—his whole life is wrong.

After you become a Christian, though, the minute you do wrong, you know it deep within your being. No one has to tell you; you know it. You can stop right then and say, “I missed it. God forgive me.” And He will!

In the Name of Jesus, forgiveness of sins belongs to the Christian.

But what I want you to see is this: It is just as easy to be healed as it is to be forgiven of your sins.

If people would start believing that, it would work for them!

Back in the ’50s, polio was rampant. A mother and her six-year-old daughter, both victims of the disease, were brought to my meetings.

I learned later how desperate their situation was. The mother had no use of her legs and almost no use of her arms and hands. She was helpless. Someone was hired to come in part time and do the housework, but they could not afford full-time help. So while the father was at work, there were times when there was no one in the home to take care of the two polio victims.

They were not Pentecostal, but they had heard that God was healing people, and they had come in search of healing. The father pushed the wheelchair his wife was confined to down the aisle and positioned it at the front. The little girl sat in her mother’s lap.

They attended several services and heard the Word taught several times before I laid hands on them.

The little girl received her healing instantly. She jumped down off her mother’s lap, and ran up and down the aisles in front of everyone.

The woman did not receive her healing.

All three were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke with other tongues.

I said to the woman as I ministered to her, “You can receive healing for your body as easily as you received salvation. You can receive healing for your body as quickly and as easily as you received the Holy Spirit.”

She said, “I wish I could believe that, Brother Hagin.”

(That’s what hindered her—her wrong believing.)

I said, “You could be healed as easily as your daughter was.”

She said, “I know she is healed. I wish I could be healed that easily.”

She stayed in her wheelchair.

But four or five years later, I received a lengthy letter from her. Before, she could not use her hands enough to write, but she wrote this letter herself.

“Dear Brother Hagin,” she began. “I wanted you to know that I am out of the wheelchair. I am walking. I have 90-percent use of my body. I will regain all of it. I’m doing all my housework. I see after our daughter. I sweep. I mop. I cook all the meals.

“I want you to know that it was the messages I listened to sitting in that wheelchair, over and over again . . . .”

We did not have audiocassette tapes at that time. But they had recorded the meetings on their own reel-to-reel recorder. She had listened to them for years before the truths of God’s Word on healing got into her spirit and she could receive her healing.

Many good people who are thoroughly born again have been taught only part of the Gospel. They think it all begins and ends with the New Birth. It is difficult for them to believe beyond that. That’s why it takes so long.

It doesn’t take God a long time.

That little girl in childlike faith just accepted what was taught, and she was healed. Her mother kept sitting in the chair.

Some unbeliever might have said, “That can’t be right. Why wasn’t the woman healed?”

She had something to do with it.

You see, we have something to do with it. God has provided the remission of sins for the sinner. He has provided the forgiveness of sins for Christians. He has also provided healing for us. But we have something to do with it. And it is all wrapped up in the Name of Jesus.

God’s Word is true. And we can act upon that Word.

The moment I confess my sins, He is faithful and just to forgive me my sins (1 John 1:9). The moment I confess, He forgives me. When He forgives me, I am forgiven—whether I feel like it or not; whether it seems like it or not.

“On the same ground,” Kenyon says, “the moment I confess that Satan has put a disease or infirmity upon me, just that moment He [God] is faithful and righteous to heal me, and I am healed!” (30).

Sickness comes from the same source that sin comes from. It doesn’t come from Heaven. There isn’t any up there. Jesus told the disciples to pray, in what we call the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven.” Is it God’s will that there be sickness in Heaven? Everyone knows that it is not. Therefore it cannot be His will on earth.

Listen to Kenyon on the subject:

. . . when He gave us the right to use His Name to heal the sick, it was simply that we might bring on the scene by the use of that Name the fullness of His finished work, and that the afflicted one might know that in the use of that Name the Living, Healing Christ was present.

It is not trying to believe; it is not trying to take healing.

Believing becomes unnecessary in the modern sense of that term.

That healing is ours; that Name makes it available to us.

That Name is ours, and in that Name is all help, all victory, all power, all health.

Do not try; do not struggle—just use it.

Use that Name with the same freedom that you use your checkbook.

The money is on deposit; you write the check without exercising any special faith; that is, you are not conscious of exercising it—you do though.

And in the use of Jesus’ Name, you do exercise Faith—it is the unconscious faith, the faith that is borne in upon us by evidences that convince us beyond the shadow of a doubt.

Any other kind of faith is abnormal.

At the Second Coming of Christ, it will not require any act of faith on our part to be translated; neither will it require any effort to receive immortality—we shall simply be made immortal—we shall be translated.

That is in the plan, in the eternal program of God.

It will not require any special faith to be resurrected—the resurrection is in the program (27–28).

But what about God’s program for today? Kenyon makes this observation, “If we understand His program for today, the sick would simply be healed the moment that sickness touched them” (28).

ROMANS 8:11

11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

This refers to our bodies now. Mortal means death-doomed.

Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit only because your body is the temple of your human spirit. The Holy Spirit will not indwell your body after your human spirit has departed. The Holy Spirit will not indwell your body in the grave. He indwells your spirit now. And one of His reasons for indwelling you—not the only purpose, but one purpose—is to quicken your mortal body; to heal your physical body.

To quicken means to make full of life.

The only times I have been attacked in body (other than those times I violated a law of nature, such as going out into cold night air while still hot and sweaty from preaching, and not wearing a coat) were when I missed God.

I don’t mean that I committed some great sin. I just wasn’t obeying God exactly. I wasn’t in the specific ministry He wanted me in; I was doing what I wanted to do. I was preaching, and what I was doing was right, but it wasn’t His perfect will. So the door was open for Satan to attack me.

Every single time, this is what happened to me when I was healed. The Spirit of God in me quickened my mortal body. He rose up in me.

Death came, more than once, and fastened itself upon me.

One time an Assemblies of God evangelist who had been in the ministry many years was with me. (I weighed only 138 pounds and was very thin. That’s why it was so easy for him to detect the beating of my heart.)

He said to me afterward, “Brother Kenneth, I had one hand over your heart and the other under your back as you were lying there. Your heart had stopped dead still. But when it stopped, you rose up off the bed and stood up. I never did turn loose. I held my hand on your heart as you walked the full length of this parsonage [the living room and bedroom] twice. And your heart never beat one time. The third time you started back, it began beating perfectly.”

I’ll tell you what happened. I didn’t get up off that bed. The Spirit of God in me rose up and quickened my body. That power in me just lifted me up, stood me on my feet, and started me walking.

At the same time, He enlightened my mind as to where I had missed it. I had pushed my body. (Our bodies are still mortal. We cannot overwork without our bodies’ reacting.) I had overworked, gotten too hot, and had something like a heatstroke.

As I turned to walk the length of that parsonage the third time, while the power of God held me, I promised God, “I’ll never push my body that far again.”

The minute I promised Him, my heart started beating.

Another time, death came and fastened its final throes upon me. (I know; I’ve been dead twice.) I had missed God, gotten out of His will, and the devil attacked me. The death chill was upon my brow.

Yet the minute that happened, on the inside of me (the Holy Spirit dwells in you) He rose up and quickened my body. Life went all over my body.

The Lord said to me once in the winter of ’48 (and I didn’t fully understand what He was saying until now), “I did not put gifts of healings and the Name of Jesus in the Church for the Church to heal themselves with. I put the Name of Jesus and the gifts of healings in the Church for the Church to heal the world with.”

You see, the Church ought to walk in Romans 8:11!

Listen again to Kenyon:

. . . one of the reasons of His indwelling is to heal our physical bodies of the diseases that are continually attaching themselves to us.

When we understand this, we shall not be trying to exercise faith for our healing, or for any other need—we shall simply recognize the fact that this healing, this need, is in the program, is a part of it, and we shall accept what belongs to us (28–29).

He bore our sins in His body on the tree and He died because of those sins, and we believe that we died with Him—then we do not have to die again to sin.

He was made alive, and we were made alive with Him (29).

In Ephesians we see that word “quickened” again. Remember that it means to be made alive.

EPHESIANS 2:1,5–6

1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins . . . .

5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

We died to sin in Christ. We were quickened (made alive) with Him. We died to our sins. We died to our old nature. We also died to our diseases. We arose in the fullness of His life. That is what full salvation is.

As we come to understand this, we know that our old sin nature hasn’t any right, any privilege, to reign over us because it is dead, and we will not accept any imitation of it that Satan may in our ignorance impose upon us, neither will we recognize any condemnation that might come to us through any sins we may have committed in the past, for Christ bore them, and we need never bear them again, neither do we need to suffer any condemnation for them because He was condemned for them, and He bore them.

Consequently, we are free, and there is, “therefore, now, no condemnation to us because we are in Christ Jesus.”

The same thing is true with our sicknesses. Isaiah 53:4 “He bore our sicknesses and carried our pains.” (correct trans-lation) . . . (29).

Now, sickness hasn’t any right to impose itself upon us and Satan hasn’t any right to impose any diseases upon us.

We are free!

And when these diseases and sicknesses come, all we need to do is treat them exactly the same as we treat our old sins (29).

—Kenyon

I have not had one sick day in over 45 years. I did not say that the devil hadn’t attacked me. But before the day is out, I am healed.

When the devil does attack, I say to him, “Satan, those diseases were borne in the body of Jesus. You have no right to bring their photograph around here to frighten me with. Now you just pick up your things, pack them up, and get out of here. I will not accept it.”

Someone else says, “I’m taking a cold.”

That’s a mistake. They accepted it.

Jesus put away sin. He “bare” our sins. He also “took” our infirmities, and “bare” our sicknesses.

The Greek and Hebrew words translated “bare” carry the meaning to remove or convey to a distance.

That sickness is not there. Satan is trying to bring it to me. If I will accept it, he can put it on me. But I won’t accept it because Jesus did something about it.

This profound statement by Kenyon sums it up:

There is no more need of our bearing about in our bodies our sicknesses than there is of bearing about in our spiritual nature an unforgiven sin (30).

chapter twenty-two

Confession and the Name

Confession holds an important place in connection with the Name of Jesus. We should confess our faith in Jesus as a Person, but we should also confess our faith in the Name of Jesus, because He and His Name are One.

I saw this as a Baptist boy many years ago. I saw Mark 11:23 and 24. And I began to say out loud—I confessed with my mouth—what I believed in my heart. Within the hour the paralysis disappeared, the heart trouble was gone, and the incurable blood disease was gone. I was well. And I’m still well.

Some Christians oppose themselves. They say, “I don’t believe in that confession business.”

I love them. I’m not against them; I’m for them. I feel so sorry for them, I could weep about it. But, if there is nothing to “that confession business,” then there is nothing to salvation.

ROMANS 10:9–10

9 That if thou shalt CONFESS with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth CONFESSION is made unto salvation.

There is no salvation without confession. There is no remission of sin, no New Birth, without confession.

Our Christian experience begins with confession.

The trouble with the church world in general is, they started and stopped right there. They stopped at the starting place—and it has held them in the babyhood stage of spiritual development.

Christianity is called “The Great Confession.”

HEBREWS 3:1

1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession [confession], Christ Jesus.

The word the King James Version translates profession here is the same Greek word translated confession in Romans 10:9 and 10.

W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words gives this meaning for confession: “to declare openly by way of speaking out freely, such confession being the effect of deep conviction of facts.”[1]Kenyon points out that profession means “witnessing a confession of our lips” (31).

People may not realize what they are saying when they say it, but to say, “I don’t believe in confession” is tantamount to saying, “I don’t believe in Christianity.”

We see the place confession holds in the New Birth experience. It holds the same place in our daily walk, for the Christian’s daily walk is a walk of faith (2 Cor. 5:7).

HEBREWS 4:14

14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession [confession].

Christianity is a confession.

Let us hold fast to the witnessing and confession of our lips.

Let us hold fast to saying who we are, what we are, and what we have, because we are in Christ.

Let us hold fast to the confession of our place in Christ—to the confession of our rights and privileges in Christ Jesus—to the confession of what God the Father has done for us in Christ, and to what the Spirit through the Word of God has done in us and is able to do through us.

Our faith is measured by our confession. We can never realize beyond our confession.

The Name of Jesus will work for us when we begin to confess what that Name will do.

Kenyon points out a danger, however:

There is a grave danger of our having two confessions.

One would be the integrity of the Word, and the other would be of our doubts and fears (31).

To confess the integrity of the Word of God, and then to turn around and confess doubts and fears will build confusion into our spirits.

If God’s Word is true—and it is—and if we believe in the integrity of God’s Word, doubt and fear can have no place with us. They have to go.

Someone said, “When faith comes in the front door, doubt goes out the back door. When faith comes in the front door, fear goes out the back.” You cannot have both faith and doubt. You cannot have both faith and fear.

I remember the struggle I had in learning to hold fast to my confession. I hadn’t read any books on the subject—I wish I had; it would have helped me immeasurably.

After I was raised up and healed, I went back to high school. I was over six feet tall and weighed 89 pounds. They called me a walking skeleton.

One doctor on my case asked my aunt, “Is that boy up?”

“Yes.”

He said, “I saw him in town the other day, and thought I was seeing a ghost. I believe that boy has the strongest willpower of any person I’ve ever seen. But he won’t be up long. I’ll give him 90 days at the most

to live.”

I walked a mile and a half to school. I went up and down staircases to my classes. Naturally, I was weak. Heart symptoms began to come back on me.

The principal called me to his office.

He said, “Kenneth, do you suppose you ought to come to school? The lady teachers in particular are afraid you’re going to fall dead in their classrooms.”

One of them had called the doctor. He’d told her, “I don’t know how he has made it. He’s up by sheer willpower. He cannot live. Climbing those steps with the condition his heart is in, he could keel over dead at any moment. You may look up in the classroom, and he’ll be dead at his desk.”

That really helped those ladies!

So the principal said to me, “Education is fine. I’m an educator. But your health comes first. Should you come to school?”

I said, “Sir, I am not up by willpower.” Now I was far from being Spirit-filled, but I’d caught a glimpse of the truth. I said (I made my confession), “I am not up by willpower. I am up by faith. And my faith will hold.”

The heart symptoms did come back on me. But I never told anyone.

I struggled with it in the nighttime. There was no one to help me. Anyone I might talk to would try to talk me out of my healing. I didn’t know everything I know now. But I remember how at exactly four o’clock one morning, I saw I was making two confessions.

You see, you can make wrong confessions to yourself.

I was saying, “Yes, according to the Word of God, my faith will work. According to God’s Word I’m healed.”

But I was also saying, “Yes, I’ve got heart symptoms. In fact, if it gets any worse, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

The second confession nullified the first.

So, that morning at four o’clock, I cut off the second one.

I wouldn’t even say to myself, “I’ve got heart symptoms.”

I would say to myself (I went to sleep confessing it), “According to His Word I am healed.” I would give the scripture—chapter and verse for it.

Years later after I had entered full-time ministry, I was attending a convention being held in a large church when a pastor we all knew suffered a heart attack. The doctors told his wife he would never regain consciousness. She knew the convention was in progress, so she rushed out of the hospital room to a telephone and called us to pray.

Raymond T. Richey, a noted healing preacher, was there. They called him to the platform to lead in prayer.

He said, “Let’s all lift our hands and pray for the healing of Brother S.”

We lifted our hands and prayed in Jesus’ Name that the man would live and not die. Two thousand of us prayed at once. The sound was tremendous. After a while, we began to quiet down, one by one, until all were quiet.

Brother Richey said, “How many of you believe God heard us?”

I lifted my hand. At least 90 percent of the crowd lifted their hands.

“Let’s lift our hands and praise God for the answer,” Richey said.

We all praised God a few moments for the man’s healing. Brother Richey walked off the platform. The song leader began leading a song.

Then Brother Richey—I will never forget it, because I was standing close by—suddenly whirled around and ran back up the steps to the pulpit. He put his arm around the song leader and said something to him. The fellow stopped singing. Everyone stopped. Everyone was quiet.

Raymond T. Richey said, “How many of you are going to keep on praying for Brother S.?”

I didn’t raise my hand. I wasn’t going to pray anymore. I was going to praise God for the answer because I believe the Name of Jesus works. But I looked around, and I’m sure 90 percent of the crowd lifted their hands.

Brother Richey said, “What for? I thought you already believed God heard you?”

The whole crowd missed what he said. Preachers standing around me blinked their eyes and said, “What is he talking about?”

They missed it. They were living in another realm, in the natural realm, where they were governed by their senses.

Several years later I heard the man we were praying for tell how as he lay unconscious in the hospital a few blocks away from where we held the convention, suddenly, Jesus appeared by his bed, looked at him, and said, “I am the Lord that healeth thee.” He rose up well.

Somebody might have said, “Oh, that great convention and all those thousands of people praying got the job done.”

No. It was Brother Richey and me, and maybe one or two others. If that man had been depending on the crowd, he would have died. Because if they had kept on praying, they would have nullified the effects of their prayers!

Every time we confess weakness and failure and doubt and fear, we go to the level of them.

We may pray very ardently and very earnestly and declare in our prayers our faith in the Word and yet, the next moment we question whether He heard us or not, for we confess we have not the things for which we prayed.

Our last confession destroys our prayer (32).

—Kenyon

So many prayers have been destroyed. Christians are good at it. And most of the time they don’t know what they are doing.

People often come up to me after a service and ask me to pray for their healing. I lay my hands on them, pray and claim it, and thank God for it, for the Word of God says, “In the Name of Jesus—they shall lay hands on the sick, and the sick shall recover” (Mark 16:18).

Then I boldly declare, “It’s done in the Name of Jesus. You will recover. Glory to God. I believe it.

Many times they say, “Brother Hagin, I want you to keep on praying for me.”

I say, “What for?”

“Well,” they say, “for my healing.”

I say, “It won’t do any good. You’ve just denied the Word of God. You’ve just denied that you are going to recover, because you want to keep on praying.

You see, I prayed the prayer of faith. But by their confession, they nullified my prayer and destroyed the effects of my faith.

The Name of Jesus and faith in that Name always works! It is possible, though, for someone else to nullify the effects of your prayer.

Some of our RHEMA Bible Training Center students asked me about the death of a relative. They said, “Brother Hagin, we laid hands on him. We prayed for him. We had all the faith in the world, but he died. Where did we fail?”

I said, “You didn’t fail. God heard you.”

You see, the other person can nullify the effects of my faith. I would let them cut off my head before I would say that God didn’t hear me. He heard me when I prayed. If someone does die, God still heard me. And He sent the answer; he or she did not receive it.

I spent many hours praying at the bedside of a returned missionary. He was eaten up with cancer throughout his body. Only 37 years old, he was helpless, the picture of death.

One day I had been praying for about two and a half hours. Suddenly, about a foot away from the foot of the bed, Jesus appeared. He wore a white robe. I saw Him as plainly as I ever saw anyone.

I didn’t tell the missionary that I saw Jesus, but I did say to him, “Jesus has come to heal you.”

(The healing was already bought nearly 2,000 years ago at Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, but Jesus so wanted the man to be healed that He came in person to manifest the healing.)

When I said that, the man did something he was incapable of doing. He leaped out of the bed, ran down to the foot of the bed, and stood right in front of Jesus, facing Him.

(He told me later, after I told him I saw Jesus, “I didn’t see Him, but He stood right there, didn’t He? I sensed His Presence.” A Presence stood there as real as a man would stand there.)

It seemed that Jesus held something in His hands like you would hold a bowl. It must have been the man’s healing. It was an oddly shaped something. He held it out to the man.

The man reached out his hands to take it. Then he dropped it, dropped his head, and a frown came over his face. He stepped back. He sat down on a stool at the foot of the bed, put his head in his hands and said, “I can’t. I can’t. I can’t.”

I said, “You can’t what?”

He said, “I can’t receive my healing.”

I said, “Yes, you can. You can receive your healing. Jesus has come to heal you.”

He stood up and stepped toward Jesus. He stood right in front of Him.

Jesus reached out again to hand something to him.

He reached out his hands to take it. (He never saw anything, but he sensed it in the Spirit.) Then his hands fell to his side. The frown came over his face. He backed back to the stool and sat down, put his head into his hands, and cried with tears, “I can’t. I can’t. I can’t.”

I said, “You can’t what?”

He said, “I can’t receive it. I just can’t receive my healing.”

I said, “Yes, you can. Jesus has come to heal you.”

He stood the third time, stepped up a couple of steps, reached out his hands, and Jesus reached out to hand him what I knew to be his healing. But, again, he dropped his hands, backed toward the stool, dropped his head into his hands, and said, “I can’t. I can’t receive my healing.”

I will never forget it. I could have reached out and touched Jesus as He said to me with a tone of sadness in His voice, “See, I’ve come to heal him, and he won’t let me. Now he will be dead in (so-many) days.”

And he was.

Was that the will of God?

No! I’m glad he went to Heaven. I’m glad he’s up there now, shouting up and down the streets of gold. But I’m so sorry he missed out on what he should have had in this life. He ought to have been back on the mission field.

Was it God’s will to heal him?

Did God hear my prayer?

Yes. I prayed the prayer of faith, and Jesus, in a supernatural manifestation, came to deliver the healing Himself.

What nullified the effects of the prayer of faith?

The man’s unbelief.

God always hears me. (When you know it, He hears you.) I came in Jesus’ Name. He said to me in His Word, and He cannot lie, “Whatever you ask the Father in My Name, He will give it you” (John 16:23). You cannot make a stronger assertion than “I will” or “He will.” He will give it you!

People substitute their thinking for Bible thinking when they say, “Well, if you pray the prayer of faith for me, it will work whether I have any faith or not.”

That’s erroneous, unscriptural thinking.

“If you pray the prayer of faith for me, it will work whether I’m living right or wrong.”

No, it won’t.

The Bible plainly states, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3). They cannot.

My confession is, “He always hears me!” He heard me on the part of the 37-year-old missionary. But that dear man annulled my prayer; he destroyed the effects of my faith.

How? By wrong confession.

Your confession must absolutely agree with the Word. When you have prayed in Jesus’ Name, you are to hold fast your confession. Do not destroy the effects of your own prayer by a negative confession.

We have included some confessions here. Say these aloud with your mouth because you believe them in your heart.

Confession

The Name of Jesus is above all names.

The Name of Jesus is greater than every name.

The Name of Jesus has authority in Heaven, in the earth, under the earth.

The Name of Jesus has authority at the throne of God.

The Name of Jesus gives me authority over the demons of hell.

The Name of Jesus belongs to me today, in the earth.

For “. . . 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.

For where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them.”

Jesus is here.

He’s here to see that my prayer is heard and answered.

He’s here to honor what I say—for “If you ask anything in My Name, I will do it.”

His Name has authority.

He has authorized me to use that Name against my enemies—all of hell, all demons, sickness and disease, oppression and depression, and sin as well.

So, in the Name of Jesus, I am free.

I declare my freedom today.

For Jesus has set me free.

And all that He has done, and all of His power, and all of His authority, and the might of all of His conquests are invested in the Name.

And that Name belongs to me!

I’m more than a conqueror through Him that loved me and gave Himself for me.

So I take the Name and I walk victoriously.

[1] W.E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Old Tappan, New Jersey:

Fleming H. Revell).

chapter twenty-three

Scriptures for Meditation

You can learn a lot by looking up every scripture in the New Testament in relation to His Name.

It’s enlightening. It’s thrilling. It’s enthralling. It’s faith-building. It’s instructive.

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). Without meditation in the Word of God on the subject of the Name of Jesus, you will not have the faith in it you should have. It will not work, even though you purport to believe in it.

For instance, you believed in the Name of Jesus before you read the book. But through the teaching, your faith in that Name has grown stronger. Your confidence, your assurance, your respect for that Name has grown stronger.

Take time to meditate on all the scriptures in the New Testament concerning that Name.

Take time to look up every scripture in the New Testament relative to His Name.

We have included some of them in this chapter.

In the Book of Acts you will come face to face with the fact that the Early Church must have devoted time to instructing people regarding the use of the Name of Jesus. They must have understood that they had what we call “the power of attorney” or, the legal right to the use of the Name of Jesus.

Jesus gave that to them.

But He didn’t give it just to them. He gave it to the whole Church. That means He gave it to us.

I think this is what has happened: The devil has blinded our eyes to the truth because of church teaching that was not scriptural. People did not take time to examine the Scriptures for themselves. They were taught things such as, “The apostles had that kind of power. They could heal the sick, and so on, to get the Church established. But when the last apostle died, then all that ceased.”

Therefore, generally speaking, the Church thought that healing and miracles ceased, so no effort to study or learn about those things was made. The people thought, “That was for them then, not for us now.”

But when one begins to study the Scriptures in detail for himself, he is confronted with facts that raise some questions to such teaching.

If the healings and miracles were wrought in the Name of Jesus—and no intelligent person could deny it—and they are not for us today, then the Name of Jesus is not for us now. If the Name of Jesus is not for us now, then no one is saved, for there is salvation in no other name. And if His Name only works when it comes to the New Birth, then that Name has lost half its power, Jesus is diminishing, God is growing smaller, the Church is growing weaker, and the devil is growing bigger.

That is not what the Bible teaches!

If we think these things through, we cannot accept conclusions such as, it all stopped with the last apostle.

The problem with most has been, they were not thinking.

I am not willing to let the other person do my thinking for me. I did a lot of thinking when I was bedfast those many years ago. And I began to see things in the Bible that my church didn’t teach. Though I was just a teenager, I decided, I am not going to let my church do my thinking for me. I am going to accept God’s Word for what it says.

The Gospels

MATTHEW 1:21

21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

MATTHEW 1:23

23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

MATTHEW 1:24–25

24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:

25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

MATTHEW 10:22

22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

MATTHEW 12:18,21

18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles . . . .

21 And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.

MATTHEW 18:5

5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.

MATTHEW 18:19–20

19 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.

20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

MATTHEW 19:29

29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

MATTHEW 28:19

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

MARK 9:38–41

38 And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbade him, because he followeth not us.

39 But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.

40 For he that is not against us is on our part.

41 For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.

MARK 16:17–18

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

LUKE 10:17

17 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.

LUKE 24:46–47

46 . . . Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

JOHN 1:12

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

JOHN 2:23

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.

JOHN 3:18

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

JOHN 14:13–14

13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

JOHN 14:26

26 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 15:16

16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

JOHN 15:20–21

20 . . . If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.

JOHN 16:23–24,26

23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.

24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full . . . .

26 At that day ye shall ask in my name . . . .

JOHN 20:31

31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

The Acts

ACTS 2:21

21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

ACTS 2:38

38 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.

ACTS 3:6

6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.

ACTS 3:16

16 And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

ACTS 4:7–8,10,12,17–18

7 And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said . . . .

10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. . . .

12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved . . . .

17 But that it spread no further among the people, let us [the priests and the Sadducees] straightly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.

18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

ACTS 4:29–30

29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,

30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.

ACTS 5:28,40–42

28 . . . Did not we straightly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us . . . .

40 . . . and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

ACTS 8:12

12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

ACTS 9:14–16

14 And here he [Saul, or Paul] hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.

15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.

ACTS 9:21,27,29

21 But all that heard him [Paul] were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem . . . ?

27 But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus . . . .

29 And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians . . . .

ACTS 10:43

43 To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

ACTS 10:48

48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

ACTS 15:25–26

25 It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

26 Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

ACTS 16:18

18 And this did she [the girl possessed with a spirit of divination] many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

ACTS 19:5

5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

The Epistles

ROMANS 1:5

5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name.

ROMANS 10:13

13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

1 CORINTHIANS 1:2

2 Unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.

1 CORINTHIANS 1:10

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 and in the same judgment.

1 CORINTHIANS 6:11

11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

EPHESIANS 5:20

20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

PHILIPPIANS 2:9–11

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

COLOSSIANS 3:17

17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

2 THESSALONIANS 1:12

12 That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 TIMOTHY 2:19

19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

HEBREWS 1:4

4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he [Jesus] hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

HEBREWS 6:10

10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

HEBREWS 13:15

15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

JAMES 5:14

14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

1 PETER 4:14

14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

1 JOHN 2:12

12 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.

1 JOHN 3:23

23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

1 JOHN 5:13

13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

REVELATION 19:12–13,16

12 His [Jesus’] eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God . . . .

16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

REVELATION 22:3–4

3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.

The following prophetic utterance came through tongues and interpretation as Kenneth E. Hagin taught “The Name of Jesus” seminar in April 1978:

But, yea, come ye, saith the Lord, with an open heart, and a mind that is receptive to My Word;

And the truth of the Word of God shall dawn upon your spirit.

And ye shall realize that you are thoroughly furnished, with all that you need,

To meet the enemy in combat from day to day.

And so, thou shalt be victorious,not just once in a while,

But every single day of thy life.

For thou shalt put the enemy to flight.

And thou shalt enjoy victory in every fight.

But some would say, “Oh, that sounds too good to be true.

I’ve tried before to walk in the light of what I thought was God’s Word.

And it just won’t work for me.I just don’t know what’s wrong.”

Yea, saith the Lord,

Humble thyself before Me and My Word,

And acknowledge with all sincerity,

“Thy Word is truth, and I will stand upon thy Word; And I will speak forth thy Word; And I will pick up that Name, With all of its authority, and majesty, excellence, and glory;

Even the Name that’s above every name.

Because that Name is mine;

And from this day forward, I will refuse to relent;

I will refuse to be defeated;

But I will stand my ground and enjoy the fullness of all the blessing that belongeth unto me.”

Yea, saith the Lord,

Learn all that belongs unto you.

Study to know, and the Spirit of the Lord will unto you show the mightiness of His glory, the greatness of His authority, the reality of His Presence.

And you shall stand in His Name,

And it will be a strong tower unto thee

For protection against all the storms of life And the onslaughts of the enemy And all that the enemy shall seek to do unto you.

You need not cry out in fear,

And cry out in desperation,

Even though sometimes because of the lack of knowledge, He will hear.

But in all calmness and peace,

And serenity of heart and mind,

Ye can say, “The Truth I do find. Yea, I’ve found the way of life and truth. I’ve found the way of majesty, royalty, and goodness. For Jesus has overcome, And His Name with all of its majesty and glory Today is the same. I will exercise my right And walk in the light of His Word.”

Introduction to the Appendixes

Of the following appendixes, the first seven have been compiled and edited from lessons Rev. Kenneth E. Hagin taught in Healing School at RHEMA Bible Training Center in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Because of the forum in which they were presented, these messages focus primarily on the use of the Name of Jesus as it relates to healing.

Healing was always a major part of Brother Hagin’s ministry. After his miraculous healing as a teenager, he told everyone who would listen that Jesus had saved and healed him, and that God still heals people today. Jesus appeared to him on September 2, 1950, in Rockwall, Texas, called him into the healing ministry, and gave him a special anointing to do that work. The Lord inspired him to start Prayer and Healing School, which began October 1, 1979, and continues today. Brother Hagin’s son, Rev. Kenneth Hagin Jr., carries on the work his father began, and often ministers with a strong healing anointing.

Because the message of divine healing and the use of the Name of Jesus go hand-in-hand, we are pleased to present these materials for the first time in print.

Appendix 8 is a statement from Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society.

appendix 1

You Are the Caretaker

[This appendix was compiled and edited from transcripts of messages Brother Hagin taught during Healing School in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, on the afternoons of December 9 and 11, 1985.—Ed.]

I have said many times in my preaching and teaching over the years that the last headache I had was in August 1933. I never said symptoms didn’t come. I said, in effect, I’ve been without headaches for all that time. And I still haven’t had a headache, because when I demand that that pain leave in Jesus’ Name, it leaves!

Whenever I have an experience like that, I go along for several years, and the devil doesn’t try that one for a while—I don’t have any more symptoms of a headache for a long time. But the devil is persistent. The Gospel of Luke says, “After Satan tempted Jesus, he left Him for a season” (Luke 4:13).

Notice this scripture doesn’t say, “Satan left Him and never came back.” It says, “He left Him for a season.” Yet later on, the Bible states that Jesus “. . . was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). That’s the reason we have in Jesus such a faithful and compassionate High Priest to help us (see vv. 15–16). He understands what we’re going through. And He has given us the right to use His Name when we experience adversity!

So if pain, sickness, or disease come, instead of accepting them and telling someone, “I have this, that, and the other,” you say, “In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, leave my body!” And the pain, sickness, or disease must go.

I said it must go, because you are the master of your body, not me or anyone else. I am the caretaker of my own body. You are the caretaker of your body; your spirit is the caretaker that lives in that house, your body.

The body is the house you live in. And you are to rule your body. That’s where folks get into trouble. They don’t rule their bodies.

The Apostle Paul said about himself (and he admonished other believers to do the same), “. . . I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection . . .” (1 Cor. 9:27). In other words, Paul was saying, “I rule my body.”

Failure to rule the body produces carnal Christians. The Amplified Bible calls them “flesh-ruled” Christians (Rom. 8:12). In other words, their body rules them.

I heard Brother Lester Sumrall, who knew Smith Wigglesworth personally, say that during one of their visits, he asked him, “How is Smith Wigglesworth today?” The older preacher answered, “I never ask Smith Wigglesworth how he feels; I tell him how he feels!”

Some folks don’t understand that. But, you see, you rule your body. Paul said, “I keep under my body. I bring it into subjection.” When he said “I,” Paul was talking about his spirit, the real man, or the inner or hidden man (1 Peter 3:4).

Someone said, “Yes, but that was Paul. He was an apostle, so he could do that.”

Just because Paul was called to the office of the apostle didn’t make him any more a Christian than you or I or anyone else. Paul wasn’t any more saved than any other member of the Body of Christ. The office Paul stood in didn’t give him any more authority to rule his body than you have authority to rule your body. And it didn’t give him any more power to do it, either.

According to the Bible, all Christians—not just a select few—can rule their bodies.

ROMANS 12:1

1 I [Paul] beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Paul wrote the epistle, or letter, of Romans to believers. He addresses the letter, “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints . . .” (Rom. 1:7). Well, “saints” can apply to people everywhere who are born again—“to all that be born again” in Tulsa, the United States of America, or wherever you’re from!

What did Paul say that saints should do with their bodies? He said, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that YE present your bodies . . .” (Rom. 12:1). As you can see, you are to do something with your own body. And this verse indicates that you can do it.

You are the master of your body. If you weren’t, you couldn’t present it to God. You wouldn’t be able to do anything with it. But you are the master, the ruler, of your body. And thank God, you have a right to freedom from pain and sickness and disease in the Name of Jesus! You can command those things to leave your body in that Name, and they must go. But notice who has to do the commanding—you do!

In the early days of my ministry, I pastored for nearly 12 years. And in those days, I’d sometimes have to get myself by the ear and lead myself out to the church, saying, “Come on, boy, you’ve got to pray!” Then I’d put myself down on the altar, and I’d make myself pray. The Bible says, “. . . the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41). Sometimes you—your spirit being, the real you—just have to assert yourself. And you must take advantage of your rights and privileges in Christ, including your right to use His Name.

In 1934, soon after I was healed and raised up from the bed of sickness, I read an article in a magazine about a certain government building in Washington, D.C. In front of the building were two little plots of grass on either side of the main walkway. People entering and exiting the building would cut across the grass to and from the walkway. Eventually, they wore a path in those little plots of grass.

The caretaker put up stakes and string as a barrier to protect the grass, so it would grow back where it had been worn down. But that didn’t help. People just stepped over the string and continued cutting across the grass.

Eventually, the caretaker painted two crude signs on pasteboard and placed one on each plot of grass. The signs read, “Gentlemen will not, and others must not, trespass on this property.”

You see, it was that caretaker’s job to take care of those grounds. He was the custodian, or guardian, of that property. It was his responsibility to ensure that the building and grounds were kept neat and in good repair. Similarly, I—the man on the inside—am the caretaker of this building of mine, my body. And you are the caretaker of your body.

When I read that article and got to the part about the “No Trespassing” sign, I simply put up a sign on my body in the spirit realm. I wrote on it in invisible ink with the pen of the Spirit of God: “Gentlemen will not, and others must not, trespass on this property.” Then I wrote in parentheses, “Devil, this means you! Don’t you trespass on God’s property!”

Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” That new creature is the man on the inside, the spirit man. And you, as that new creature, are the caretaker of your body, the overseer of your house.

You are the caretaker of your body, but really, your body doesn’t belong to you; it belongs to God.

1 CORINTHIANS 6:19–20

19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own [whose are you if you’re not your own]?

20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Because you are a new creature in Christ, you and the Father are one in union of relationship. As I’ve said many times concerning John 14:13–14, when you use the Name of Jesus to exercise spiritual authority, you’re not demanding anything of God the Father. You and the Father are one in Christ, and He has given you authority in that Name over demonic forces. Directly or indirectly, sickness and disease come from the devil; they don’t come from God. So when you command sickness and disease to leave your body in Jesus’ Name, you’re just taking your place and upholding your rights in Christ Jesus. You’re exercising the authority that God gave you and commissioned you to exercise. And you’re acting scripturally as the caretaker of your own body.

appendix 2

The Name of Jesus and You

[This appendix was compiled and edited from transcripts of messages Brother Hagin taught during Healing School in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, on the afternoons of December 9 and 11, 1985.—Ed.]

In teaching on the Name of Jesus, I often use the following verses from the lips of the Master as recorded in the Gospel of John.

JOHN 14:13–14

13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

JOHN 16:23–24

23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.

24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

I’ve said many times that without really examining the Scriptures, if you just sort of “skim” across the surface, you don’t really get what is said. This is often true concerning these passages. For example, the verses in John chapter 16 are talking about prayer. Jesus is instructing the disciples that “in that day” (the “day” meaning the time after Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection—the Day or Age of Grace) they were to pray by asking the Father in Jesus’ Name. And it is His Name that guarantees the answer to prayer.

But John 14:13–14 isn’t talking about prayer in that sense. It’s talking about using the Name of Jesus as Peter did in Acts 3:2–16. Peter said to the lame man who was begging for alms at the gate called Beautiful, “. . . Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk” (v. 6).

In John 14:14, Jesus said, “If ye shall ASK any thing in my name, I will do it.” That word “ask” in the Greek concordance also means demand. Jesus was actually saying, “If you shall demand anything in My Name, I will do it.”

Notice that Peter didn’t demand anything of God; God never made the man crippled to begin with. Peter simply demanded in the Name of Jesus that the man rise up and walk.

In John 14:14, Jesus said, “If ye shall ask [or demand] any thing in my name, I will do it.” And in John 16:23, Jesus said, “. . . Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.” These verses refer to the use of the Name of Jesus in two different ways. But I want you to notice who’s doing the using: “If you shall demand anything in My Name” . . . “Whatever you shall ask the Father in My Name.”

The Responsibility of the Individual

As you read through the Epistles in the New Testament, you find that the responsibility for doing certain things is often placed in the hands of believers. Yet today, we have it almost totally backward. It seems we want someone else to do for us what we’re supposed to do. Romans 12:1 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that YE present your bodies a living sacrifice . . . .” Well, I can’t present your body to God, because it’s your body, not mine.

The Word of God also talks about giving, but I can’t give your offerings, because whatever you would give comes from your pocketbook, not mine. Second Corinthians 9:7 says, “Every man according as HE purposeth in HIS heart, so let HIM give . . . .”

Also, Ephesians 4:24 tells us “. . . that YE put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” As Christians, we are new creatures on the inside, in our spirit (2 Cor. 5:17). We are to “put on the new man,” or “clothe” our outside with our new nature. Well, I can’t put on the new man for you—I can only put on the new man for myself.

So you see, God expects the believer to do certain things, not look for someone else to do them for him or her. Yet, when it comes to using spiritual authority over sickness and disease, or over the devil and demon activity, many folks always want someone else to take care of the situation for them.

Every time the devil is mentioned in the New Testament Epistles, it is in connection with the fact that believers are already delivered, and the individual believer is commanded to do something about the enemy for himself. For example, James 4:7 says, “Submit YOURSELVES therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” And the next verse says, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you . . .” (v. 8). The understood subject in these verses is “you.” You resist the devil. You draw nigh to God.

I can’t submit to God for you any more than you could submit to God for me. By the same token, I can’t resist the devil for you—that’s something you have to do for yourself. I can’t draw nigh, or near, to God for you. And you can’t draw nigh for me. Certainly, by teaching and encouraging you, I can assist you in submitting to God, and so forth. But in the final analysis, it would be impossible for me to submit you to God. You’d have to do that yourself.

The point I’m making is that we have endeavored to pass the buck, so to speak, and put the responsibility on someone else to do for us what we should be doing for ourselves. And that seems especially true when it comes to exercising spiritual authority—commanding the source of pain, sickness, disease, fear, doubt, and other demonic influences to leave in the Name of Jesus.

What are the individual believer’s rights and responsibilities? Let’s look at something Paul wrote in Ephesians chapter 4.

EPHESIANS 4:27

27 Neither give place to the devil.

Since God tells the believer not to give place to the devil, that means it is God’s will that the devil should have no place in you as a Christian. But Ephesians 4:27 also indicates that it is your responsibility not to give the devil any place, and that you are able to keep him out. In modern language, Paul was saying, “Don’t you give the devil any place in you.” And in turn, that means the devil has no place in you unless you give it to him.

Obviously, you must have authority or power over the devil, or you couldn’t prevent his having a place in you. Your authority is in the Name of Jesus, and exercising that authority for yourself is something you have to do. While we know the authority comes from God, we must recognize that He has delegated the use of it to us—that’s you—through the Name.

You see, I can keep the devil from having a place in me—in my life—but I can’t keep the devil from having a place in you—in your life!

Let’s look at another scripture regarding your authority over the devil and demonic influences.

1 PETER 5:8–9

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

This scripture wasn’t written to sinners, those who are not born again. The devil is not seeking whom he may devour among the unsaved; he already has them. They are already in his kingdom, and he has access to them to devour them. No, this passage is talking to Christians, those who have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and translated into God’s Kingdom, the Kingdom of light (see Col. 1:13).

Verse 9 of this passage tells the individual believer what to do about the devil: “Whom resist stedfast in the faith . . . .” The Rotherham version says, “Whom resist, steadfast in your faith.”

The New Testament was written to the Church—to you and me! And the Epistles are part of the New Testament. Well, if the Epistles instruct us to do something—if they tell us it is our responsibility as individual believers to do it for ourselves—then that must mean we can do it. God wouldn’t tell us to do something we couldn’t do. If He did, He would be unjust, and God is not unjust.

Our Rights Concerning the Lives of Others

I want to discuss another passage that puts the responsibility to act on the shoulders of the individual believer.

JAMES 5:14–15

14 Is any sick among you? let HIM call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil IN THE NAME OF THE LORD.

15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

An authority on the Greek language, P.C. Nelson, once told me, “The word sick in verse 14 denotes that the person is beyond helping him-self.” So even when a Christian is sick to the point that he is beyond helping himself, notice there is still something he can do for himself: he can call for the elders and have them pray for him in the Name of Jesus.

It’s important that we understand there is individual responsibility involved in Christianity and in life. God did not put the responsibility for your life over on somebody else. He gave that responsibility to you.

We’ve missed it in two ways: by trying to put too much responsibility on others when the Lord expects us to do something; and then also by taking on too much responsibility for others when the Lord expects them to do something. For example, we’ve thought concerning others, Well, I’ll just turn in this prayer request, as if God is going to slip up on their blind side and bless them, regardless of what they want or believe! No, generally speaking, God won’t move on their behalf while they’re rejecting Him and His Word.

When requesting prayer for others, we’ve not taken into consideration what they want. Now, even without knowing another person’s will, you can pray that God would open his or her eyes to the truth of His Word. But we’re not going to be able to push something off on someone else that he or she doesn’t want. That person sets the pace for himself or herself, whether it’s regarding a blessing or a curse. In other words, when it comes to receiving from God, it is up to the individual.

We’ve been slow to ask, Am I to do something in this situation? What is my responsibility in this? Whether you’ve been born again for 10 minutes or 10 years, the Name of Jesus and all the rights, privileges, and benefits wrapped up in that Name belong to you as much as they belong to anyone else in His Body.

What will you do with the Name?

appendix 3

Meeting the Conditions

[This appendix was edited from a transcript of a message Brother Hagin taught during Healing School in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, on December 11, 1985.—Ed.]

As I’ve said previously, we can’t push off on other people what we want for them without their cooperation. I believe this truth applies to people who desire prayer for healing but are not yet ready to receive. Sometimes we make a mistake in praying for folks too quickly. We either get no results, or we get limited results which are not long-lasting.

If we’ll study the Gospels and the earthly ministry of Jesus, we’ll find that His ministry consisted primarily of three things: preaching, teaching, and healing. Luke 5:15 says about Jesus, “. . . great multitudes came together TO HEAR, and TO BE HEALED by him of their infirmities.”

Too many times, people want healing but they don’t want to do any hearing. And ministers, wanting to be kind, will pray for them before they’re really ready to receive. Then those same people will go off saying, “See, I told you that healing business doesn’t work.” Or perhaps they receive their healing and then lose it after a time when Satan returns with his symptoms. They’ll say, “Well, I thought I was healed, but I guess I’m not.” They don’t have any spiritual understanding of how to walk by faith in what God said in His holy written Word.

There was a certain minister from another country in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who received light on the subject of healing, and news of his ministry spread quickly all over the world. He was having phenomenal success in getting people healed.

About the turn of the century, newspapers publicized that this minister, a healing evangelist, was coming to America. They called him a healer. Well, we know that no man is a healer. A person might minister healing, but he or she is not a healer. Jesus is the Healer. And ministers should preach Jesus the Healer and minister healing to folks in the Name of Jesus.

The power to heal never lies in man’s hands. Divine healing is manifested very often through man, but it never lies within his hands. The power to heal is in the Name just as the power to save is wrapped up in that Name, the Name of the Lord Jesus.

This healing evangelist from overseas arrived at a hotel in San Francisco, and shortly afterward, the hotel manager knocked on the door of this minister’s room. The minister answered, and the manager exclaimed, “I don’t know what we’re going to do. People are lined up for two blocks in every direction from this building—hundreds of them—and they all want to see you.”

Those people wanted to be healed. It is recorded that most of them were beyond the help of medicine. Well, I can’t blame them for wanting to be healed. It is just in man to desire healing, health, and soundness of body. God intended that it be that way.

This evangelist agreed to see every one of the people who had come to see him. He set up a special room where he would meet with them and deal with them one by one. He “interviewed” each one and passed by about 143 people without praying for a single person before he finally prayed for the next person in line: a dear elderly woman whose feet were wrapped in gunnysacks because her swollen feet had festering sores on them.

The minister talked with this woman and determined that she was ready to receive healing. He laid hands on her, and she was instantly healed! The swelling and the sores disappeared. It was not only a healing—it was a miracle!

Why was this woman the only one in such a large crowd who was prayed for? Because the others weren’t ready to receive their healing. Healing belonged to them, all right, and it was God’s will for every one of them to be healed. But they were not in position to receive healing.

Healing is in the same plan of redemption as salvation. Now, if you were to bring somebody to me and say, “Brother Hagin, I want you to pray with him that he’ll be saved,” one of the first things I would ask him is, “Do you believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God?” If he said to me, “No, I don’t believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and I don’t believe in the Bible,” there would be no use in my praying for him. Someone who doesn’t believe that Jesus is the Son of God cannot be saved.

Well, what if someone asked you to pray for him to be healed? You might ask, “Are you saved?” so you would know how to pray for him. He might answer, “Oh, yes, I’ve been born again. I am a child of God.”

“Do you believe in divine healing? Do you believe that Jesus heals today?” you might ask next. “Well, no,” he might reply, “I thought I’d take a chance and just see what happens.”

Someone who believes like that won’t receive healing. There’s not even any use in praying for him to be healed!

You can’t pray for healing successfully for someone who doesn’t believe the Bible. And you can’t pray and see results for someone—even if he says he believes the Bible—who doesn’t want to be healed. Jesus said in Mark 11:24, “. . . What things soever ye DESIRE, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” If you don’t desire healing, you’re not going to receive healing, because you don’t meet the conditions set forth in the Scriptures.

Some folks don’t want to be well. I know, because I’ve talked to them. There are different reasons, but some don’t want to receive healing because if they did, they wouldn’t have anything for folks to pity them about. Remember, James 5:14 says, “Is any sick among you? let HIM call for the elders of the church . . . .” You can’t call on behalf of somebody else who might not even want to be healed.

You Make It Possible

The point God is endeavoring to get over to us is that we’re the ones who make it possible for Him to bless us. If you’ll make available the possibility, He will bless you. I can make it possible for God to bless me. But you’re going to have to make it possible for Him to bless you.

Did you ever stop to think about the fact that a sinner could hear the Word preached, see that he’s lost, get under conviction, yet fail to be saved because he failed to make it possible for God to bring about the New Birth in his life? For example, the Bible says, “. . . whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13). Well, you make it possible for God to perform the New Birth in you when you call on the Name of the Lord.

Jesus said, “. . . [he] that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). You make it possible for God to save you when you come to Jesus. On the other hand, you wouldn’t make it possible for God to save you if you didn’t come to Jesus.

By the same token, you make it possible for God to hear and answer your prayers when you meet the conditions laid down in His Word. God wants to bless you. God wants you to be healed and prosperous. He wants you to use the power and authority that He has conferred in the Name of Jesus. Jesus Himself said, “If YE shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14). You bring that power and authority to bear on a situation when you take the Name of Jesus on your lips and speak it from a heart of faith. Faith in what? Faith in the Name.

May that wonderful Name never be just a name upon our lips but a power in our lives. May it never be a name of history—of yesterday—but a name of today, fresh, burned on our inner consciousness. May our Father in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ grant unto each one of us a spirit of wisdom and revelation that we may clearly understand the things that are freely given unto us by God (1 Cor. 2:12; Eph. 1:17).

appendix 4

Use the Name and Guard Your Thoughts

[This appendix was edited from a transcript of a message Brother Hagin taught during Healing School in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, on December 9, 1985.—Ed.]

After I began studying the Name of Jesus, I began to see and understand the magnitude of the authority and power of that Name. I began to see that not only could I use that Name in commanding sickness and disease to leave, I could also take that Name and break the power of the devil over my loved ones and claim their salvation and deliverance.

My understanding of the power of the Name of Jesus in this area wasn’t just my mental agreement or assent to the Word. This understanding came as a real revelation to me, with inspiration, as I read and studied the Word. (If the Word never gets beyond your mental understanding, it won’t mean much to you. But when it gets down in your spirit, your days of trying are over and your days of doing begin!)

So I thought, I’ll pick out the worst relative I’ve got—the meanest one—the black sheep of the family. Now, you cannot claim the salvation of just any person, but you do have a certain jurisdiction or sphere of influence among close relatives. The Name of Jesus will work on their behalf (Acts 16:15,31; Matt. 8:1–13). So I focused on my brother Dub. I read Philippians 2: 9–11, which says that the Name of Jesus is the Name above every name. I was thinking about that as I rose up and said, “I take the Name of Jesus and break the power of the devil over my brother Dub’s life. I claim his deliverance and full salvation.”

Demons and Spiritual Strongholds Must Surrender to the Name

Philippians 2:10 says, “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.” In Weymouth’s New Testament in Modern Speech, the word “things” is translated “beings”—beings in heaven, in the earth, and under the earth. That means men, angels, and devils must bow at the Name of Jesus. In other words, they have to surrender to that Name.

The Spirit of God once said to me, “No person in his right mind would drive his automobile down the road at 100 miles an hour and run past flashing red lights and signs that read, ‘Warning! Bridge Out!’ and then plunge off the edge, killing himself.”

But, you see, a drunk or doped person—someone who wasn’t in his right mind—would do something like that. Well, the Word of God tells us that “. . . the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Cor. 4:4).

The unsaved have their understanding darkened. Well, who has darkened it? Satan has; he has blinded their spiritual eyes. How do their eyes get opened? Through the Word of God. The entrance of His Word gives light (Ps. 119:130). If folks sit under the sound of the Word, very often, that Word opens their spiritual eyes, and they see.

Many times, the power that’s controlling an unsaved person must be broken to get them to the place where they can see the Gospel. So when I used the Name of Jesus for my brother Dub, that settled it for me.

I didn’t see instant results. I was in a meeting in east Texas at the time and didn’t even know where Dub was. But when you really act in faith, you’re not moved by circumstances—by what you can or cannot see. You’re settled. You’re only moved by what you believe. Otherwise, you’re in unbelief. Unbelief cries and begs and pleads, but faith speaks and shouts and jumps!

When I broke the power of the devil over Dub in Jesus’ Name, that settled it for me in my spirit. I just closed the book on it and shut my mind off about it. I wasn’t going to think about it anymore. To me, it was done.

After I closed that meeting in east Texas, I went home for a few days before heading to west Texas to begin another meeting. In my meetings, I would usually teach in the daytime and preach at night, so I would always rest in the afternoon. Often, I’d lie down and read and meditate on the Word and pray.

One afternoon between services there in west Texas, I woke up from a short nap. I was thirsty, so I headed to the kitchen in the parsonage where I was staying with the pastor and his wife. I drank a glass of water and started back to my room when suddenly, I heard something. It was just as plain and real as if someone were standing beside me. I heard, “Aw, c’mon now. You don’t really think that old Dub will ever be saved, do you?”

Using the Name in Faith: A ‘Know-So’ Experience

For just a moment, I touched that situation in my thought life. I had closed the book on it, so I hadn’t allowed my mind to touch the subject. But then I began to feel laughter from way down in my spirit. It just sort of came up out of my spirit and bubbled out of my mouth. I started laughing, and I said, “No, Mr. Devil, I don’t think Dub will be saved; I know he’ll be saved.”

A couple of days later, the exact same thing happened. I was returning from the kitchen in that parsonage to the room where I was staying, and I heard, “Aw, c’mon now. You don’t really think that old Dub will ever be saved, do you?”

Now, I’m going to share something right here, because this is what defeats people: They think on the wrong things. And just as sure as you think on the wrong thing, you’re going to believe the wrong thing. And if you believe the wrong thing, you’re going to say the wrong thing. Then you’re defeated.

“Well, what am I to think on?” someone may ask. The Bible tells us exactly what to think on.

PHILIPPIANS 4:8

8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Reading this verse in its context, you’ll find that it was written in connection with prayer and faith. The first part of the verse says, “. . . whatsoever things are true . . . .” Now, whatever the devil says is not true, because the Bible says, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44).

So if you’re thinking on what Philippians 4:8 tells you to think on, you’re not thinking on other things—things that are not true, not honest, not just, not pure, not lovely, not of a good report, and so on.

You see, as long as Satan can hold you—in your thought life—in the arena of reason, he’ll whip you every time. He will defeat you in every combat, in every battle. But if you will hold him in the arena of faith, you’ll whip him every time!

Just know this: if Satan can capture your thought life, he can defeat you.

Let’s look at verse 7 of Philippians chapter 4: “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your HEARTS AND MINDS through Christ Jesus.” God is telling us right here that our mind needs to be kept as well as our heart. And then in verse 8, he tells us how to do it. He tells us what to keep our mind preoccupied with.

Some people think on the wrong things, and they’ll say, “Well, it’s true, isn’t it?” It may be true, but is it just, pure, and lovely?

Some people are more concerned about bad reports than about good reports. They’ll say to someone, “So-and-so has left his wife and run off with his secretary.” Well, that’s not a good report, so we shouldn’t think on things like that.

You can’t constantly feed on bad reports and expect faith to work for you. Thinking on evil reports will hinder your faith and affect your health. Even if folks who are dwelling on negative reports do receive healing, if they don’t change what they’re thinking on, they will end up right back in the same mess they were in before.

You see, the devil moves through feelings, suggestions, and the thinking process. He did this in the beginning when he suggested to Eve in the Garden, “Has God really said?” (see Gen. 3:1–5).

So when the devil suggested to me a second time that Dub would never be saved, I shut my mind off to that line of thinking. I resisted him. I looked to my spirit and that laughter started bubbling up. I started laughing and said, “No, Mr. Devil, I’ve never thought Dub would be saved. I know it! For, you see, I took the Name of Jesus and broke your power over him and claimed his deliverance and full salvation.”

Now, we cannot claim a person’s salvation against his or her will. But we can pray in the Name of Jesus and break the influence of the devil that is hindering that person from hearing and receiving the message of the Gospel (2 Cor. 4:4).

Well, on the following Sunday night, Dub was saved. For a while, he had problems walking steadily with the Lord. But, thank God, that all changed, and eventually, he even began going out and doing some preaching.

Friend, every believer should understand clearly that he has a right to perfect deliverance from the hand of the enemy—in the Name of Jesus.

appendix 5

Believe the Name

[This appendix was edited from a transcript of a message Brother Hagin taught during Prayer & Healing School in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, on January 8, 1981.—Ed.]

We know that the Name of Jesus belongs to us as believers. But it’s one thing to know that something belongs to us and another thing to use it. For example, in the natural you can know that the automobile you bought belongs to you. The salesman at the dealership or the person from whom you purchased that automobile handed you the key. You readily opened your hand and took the key.

But if you are going to receive any benefit beyond just knowing that the key and car are yours, then you must actually believe that using that key will cause the automobile to start. If you don’t believe that fact, you probably won’t insert the key into the ignition. It’s not enough just to know that the key and car belong to you. If you never use the key, neither the key nor the automobile will do you much good.

Similarly, although we know that the Name of Jesus belongs to us, we need to believe in the power and ability behind that Name for the Name to work for us.

1 JOHN 3:23

23 And this is his commandment, That we should BELIEVE ON THE NAME OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

1 JOHN 5:13

13 These things have I written unto you that BELIEVE ON THE NAME OF THE SON OF GOD; that ye may know that ye have eternal life . . . .

The command that we should believe on the Name of Jesus is literally this: We should believe the Name. In First John 3:23, the preposition “on” or even the word “in” are not in the original Greek language. And in First John 5:23, the Greek is understood to mean that the action of the verb “believe” is directed to the word “Name.” In the original text, both First John 3:23 and First John 5:13 are telling us to “believe the Name.”

We should believe the Name—believe it for what it stands for and for all that it means to the heart of God. There are two questions every believer ought to ask himself or herself: (1) Do I believe the Name of Jesus? and (2) What does the Name mean to my life?

We can see in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles that the Early Church believed the Name and what it stood for. In all of the activities of the first believers, the Name of Jesus was the center around which everything else was built.

The Early Church understood that Jesus did not carry out the Father’s plan of redemption for Himself—Jesus did it for the Church. And everything Jesus came to earth to accomplish was ultimately laid up and invested in that Name, for the Church.

What did that Name mean to the Early Church? They lived and worked and praised in that Name. That Name meant food and clothing for them. That Name meant deliverance from the hand of the enemy. That Name meant power over demons and disease. That Name meant worship and praise and access to God. Enwrapped in that mighty Name for the Church was the miracle-working power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Well, does the Church today still have His Name? Yes! And that Name will still accomplish salvation, healing, deliverance, and any wonder it has ever performed or provision it has ever supplied. Yet, it seems the Name doesn’t mean to us what it did to the Early Church. Sadly, where we are concerned, that Name has largely lost its preeminence and authority. Obviously, the devil has deceived many in the Church and has convinced them not to believe and use the Name.

But Jesus is still alive, and by His Spirit, He is here through the use of His Name. Jesus and His Name are One. Through the use of His Name, His power and ability are made available. In His Name, He is here. And He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). But because we’ve been religiously brainwashed, we’ve boxed Him in and built a fence around Him, so to speak.

Brother T.L. Osborn, whom God has used mightily in many nations of the world, has said if he can get to countries and unreached peoples before unbelieving preachers do, then the people in those countries will experience the miraculous in that Name.

Brother Osborn says he can simply preach Jesus as He was in the four Gospels and tell people that the things He did in the Bible are what He still does today. He doesn’t even have to pray for the sick. [Oftentimes, there have been so many people present—as many as a half a million in one service—that you couldn’t pray for them individually anyway.] Yet, people all over the crowd are healed. Blind eyes pop open, the deaf hear, and the crippled walk.

Once I talked to a businessman who, many years ago, attended one of those meetings with Brother Osborn. This man saw 12 grown men—demon possessed and in chains—who were naked and whose hair and nails had grown so long that they looked like animals. One man crawled around on all fours, barking like a dog. At least one of them had been a college professor who later lost his mind.

The businessman related that when Brother Osborn began to say the Name, “Jesus,” the man who had been barking like a dog looked up and called loudly, “Jesus? Jesus?—Jesus!” And he stood up, delivered and restored to a normal condition.

That businessman saw every one of those 12 men liberated. Nobody prayed for them. Nobody cast any demons out of them. Nobody went through any kind of rigmarole as we’ve often seen when people don’t have any revelation of the power that’s behind that Name. Brother Osborn simply believed and spoke the Name of Jesus, and the miraculous was wrought.

Why don’t we see the results in this country that others often witness in other countries of the world where the people are untaught spiritually? Because of wrong teaching that’s embalmed many with unbelief. Obviously, the Name—and all that it means—has not been as real to us as it should have been. But I believe we’re honoring the Name more. It is becoming more real to us, and it will become even more real as we simply take hold of the truth of God’s Word and believe the Name of Jesus.

appendix 6

Knowing Our Rights and Taking Our Place

[This appendix was edited from a transcript of a message Brother Hagin taught during Prayer & Healing School in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, on February 11, 1981.—Ed.]

As I ministered to people over the years, from time to time some got mad at me because they didn’t see results, particularly when it came to healing. Sometimes we can carry people with our faith when they are baby Christians and don’t know any better. But it’s a whole lot better for folks to know that the authority and power that are invested in the Name of Lord Jesus Christ belong to them—not to someone else, but to them.

Notice that in Mark 16:17–18, Jesus said, “. . . these signs shall follow THEM that believe; IN MY NAME shall they cast out devils; [in My Name] they shall speak with new tongues; [in My Name] They shall take up serpents; and [in My Name] if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; [in My Name] they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

These verses start out, “. . . these signs shall follow them that believe . . . .” Jesus didn’t say, “These signs shall follow the ministry or full-time ministers.” No, these verses apply to every believer, every believing person.

Power and authority are invested in the Name of Jesus, and you as a believer have the right, or the authority, to use that Name. When you know that, you receive a responsibility that cannot be ignored. You become responsible to act on what you know—to act in obedience on the authority of the Word of God—and to see the results God intended for you to see.

Many years ago when I was in field ministry, going from church to church to hold meetings, I usually never stayed less than three weeks in one church. Often I stayed four to nine weeks in a single meeting, teaching the Word of God.

I’d begin the meeting by saying, “I didn’t come here to tell you what I think. I’m here to tell you what I know, and then I’m going to let you do your own thinking. And if I leave you like I found you, I’m not God’s man and I don’t have God’s message.

“But if you attend the services, when this meeting is over, you will never be the same again. You can’t be the same kind of Christian that you were.” And no one can. When the light of God’s Word shines in your heart, you’re either going to be better off or worse off—better off if you accept the Word and walk in the light of it, or worse off if you close your mind to the light of the Word.

In those meetings, I would share the following truth. You must realize that the moment you were born again, the moment you became a new creature in Christ, you had the right and the authority to use the Name of Jesus. Jesus said in John 16:23, “And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.” Jesus was saying “in that day,” any believer would be able to approach the Father just as easily as He could. And God would hear that believer pray just as quickly as He heard Jesus pray. This was new territory for many of those Christians.

But did you know that God doesn’t love Jesus any more than He loves you? God loves you just as He loves Jesus. Jesus said so in John’s Gospel.

JOHN 17:23

23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, AND HAST LOVED THEM, AS THOU HAST LOVED ME.

Most of us have been brought up to consider our weaknesses and failings and to think only on our lack of ability. But friend, there are sick and needy people who don’t know the truth of God’s Word. There are those who are bound by habits—Satan rules them with a merciless hand—who could be set free through the Name of Jesus if we would just take our place. These people can be helped if we will understand and use the authority that is ours in that Name.

We know from reading John 16:23–24 that we are to pray, or make petition, to the Father in Jesus’ Name to receive answers to prayer. But in using John 14:13–14, we are not to pray or make petition. We are to use the authority of the Name to heal the sick, cast out demons, and set men and women free!

That’s what Peter did in Acts 3:1–10. He said to the lame man at the gate called Beautiful, “. . . In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk” (v. 6). Peter did not pray for the crippled man. He used the authority in that Name to minister to him.

In reading through the Book of Acts, I have not found one single record of the disciples ever specifically praying for the sick. That doesn’t mean they didn’t pray at all. But when it came to actual ministry to the sick, they simply laid hands on people in the Name of Jesus.

I am not saying we shouldn’t pray for the sick, because James 5:14–15 talks about such prayer. But there is no record in the Book of Acts of anyone praying for the sick.

The closest thing we find to prayer for the sick in Acts actually refers to prayer before ministry to the sick. In chapter 28, we find Paul shipwrecked on the island of Melita. Verse 8 says, “ . . . [Publius’] father was lying ill of dysentery aggravated by attacks of fever; so Paul went to see him, and, after praying, laid his hands on him and cured him” (Weymouth). So Paul entered in, prayed, and then laid hands on the man.

I am sure that after Paul prayed to get over into the Spirit, he then simply laid hands on the man in the authority of the Name of Jesus. In the case of Peter raising Dorcas from the dead in Acts chapter 9, he prayed beforehand and ministered by the gifts of the Spirit.

Jesus said in Mark 16:18, “. . . they shall lay hands on the sick [in Jesus’ Name], and they shall recover.” And we know that the “they” who shall lay hands on the sick are believers. The moment a person is born again, he or she is expected to begin using the Name of Jesus. A believer believes and uses the Name.

It’s strange to me that more folks don’t see this. I’ve seen this truth for a number of years, but there was a time when I was functioning in this area beyond my knowledge of the Bible. In ministering healing to people, I was being led a certain way. And then I found out later why it was scriptural for me to do it that way. (It’s true that the Holy Spirit will only lead you in line with the Word).

In the early days of my ministry, I was often asked to have healing services because other ministers saw that I was getting results. Then afterward, I got criticized by many of those ministers. It was the criticism that caused me to study and search the Bible along this line.

Up to that time, I very seldom prayed for folks who came for healing. I would lay hands on them and command them to be healed in Jesus’ Name. Then after I was criticized, I began asking God, Am I wrong to minister this way? Should I just pray, “Dear God, heal them now—I ask You to do it in Jesus’ Name?”

But I continued to be led to minister the other way—laying hands on folks and saying, “I command you to be healed in the Name of Jesus.” Then I found out why I was being led to do it that way. In my study of the Book of Acts, I found disciples laying hands on the sick and commanding the devil to leave, the lame to walk, and the sick to be healed in Jesus’ Name. Believers today can do the same things. We can lay hands on the sick and say, “Disease, leave this body in Jesus’ Name.”

appendix 7

Who Can Be Healed?

[This appendix was edited from a transcript of a message Brother Hagin taught during Prayer & Healing School in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, on February 11, 1981.—Ed.]

When our thinking is wrong concerning spiritual things, it’s usually because we lack biblical teaching. Either we’ve been taught wrong, or we haven’t been taught at all. But God has given us His Word to straighten out our thinking. When our thinking is right, our believing will be right, and our acting will be right.

I haven’t always known everything I know now, and I still don’t know everything. In fact, the more I learn about the Bible, the more I realize I don’t know. For instance, I remember back in the early ’40s when sinners, those who were unsaved, began getting healed in my meetings. At first I thought, Lord, is this right?

I held a healing service in the church every Saturday night. One Saturday night, a woman who was about 55 years old asked my wife if she could get in the healing line. This woman was a nurse who had worked for the same doctor for 25 years. She had diabetes, and the doctor she worked for had become greatly concerned about her because her condition was getting worse. Back then, blindness and amputations were not uncommon in folks who had diabetes.

The woman said to Oretha, “I’m not a Christian; I’m not saved. I used to think I was before I started coming here to church. But now I see that all I’ve ever done is join such-and-such church. If I’ve ever been born again, I don’t know it.” Then she asked if she could enter the healing line.

Oretha answered, “Why, yes—I mean, I guess so. As far as I know, you can get in the line.” Oretha and I were kids, really, in our 20s at the time, and we didn’t know what we know now.

Personally, I didn’t think that God would heal this woman. But He did. I laid hands on her in the Name of Jesus, and she was perfectly healed. The doctor she had worked for tested her and couldn’t find a trace of diabetes in her! He gave her a clean bill of health. (By the way, this woman did eventually get saved.)

Well, I’ve learned a thing or two since those early days of ministry, and I found out that God will and does heal sinners.

How do I know God will heal sinners? Well, there’s evidence for it in the Bible. The Church had its beginnings in Jerusalem. At first, all believers were right there. Yet, we have record of the disciples ministering to people not only in Jerusalem, but also in surrounding towns and cities. For example, Philip went to the city of Samaria, and God wrought miracles there among the people.

ACTS 8:5–8

5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.

6 And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, HEARING AND SEEING THE MIRACLES WHICH HE DID.

7 For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.

8 And there was great joy in that city.

The people in Samaria whom Philip delivered of unclean spirits and healed were not born again. Now, Jesus had spoken to the woman at the well in Samaria during His earthly ministry. But she couldn’t have been born again then, because nobody could be saved until Jesus died, defeated Satan, arose from the grave, ascended into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of the Father on High. By believing on Him when He walked the earth, people had a promissory note, so to speak, on what would become available later—after Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.

In the days of the Early Church, the Name of Jesus was used largely in healing people who were not Christians. Healing is evidently God’s method of advertising, so you very definitely can lay hands on the unsaved.

Years ago, Dr. Lilian B. Yeomans, a medical doctor, was raised up from a deathbed and later began to preach and teach divine healing. She related that under her own ministry, a woman who was a heathen was healed instantly. Back in those days, it was considered outrageous for a woman to swear, or cuss, and smoke cigarettes. This woman was a dancer who had come down with a serious case of appendicitis and was about to die. But when Dr. Yeomans ministered to her in the authority of the Name of Jesus, she was instantly healed. Apparently, the woman, although not yet born again, was open to hear what Dr. Yeomans had to say. And that openness readied her to receive healing in the Name of Jesus.

Notice that Mark 16:18 doesn’t say, “They shall lay hands on Christians, and they shall recover.” No, it says, “They shall lay hands on THE SICK.” And just a few verses prior to verse 18, Jesus said, “Go into all the world.” He didn’t say, “Go to the Church.” When the world is open to hear the Name of Jesus (and all that the Name includes), the Bible says that these signs—including healing—shall follow the believing ones.

Really, members of the Church shouldn’t need to have hands laid on them. A Christian could certainly have hands laid on him or her for healing, but for the believer, the highest method of receiving healing is simply to believe and appropriate Isaiah 53:5, Matthew 8:17, and First Peter 2:24. Jesus took, or bore away, our pains, sicknesses, and diseases, and by His stripes, we are healed.

Friend, God has given us His Word, the Bible, to straighten out our thinking. Armed with the truth of God’s Word, let us busy ourselves with proclaiming the Gospel and doing the works and the commands of Jesus—including laying hands on the sick in His Name and seeing them recover.

appendix 8

A Statement From Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society

[The following statement appears in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society Web site. It was written before Kenneth E. Hagin’s death in September 2003, so it speaks of Rev. Hagin as still alive. The article is reprinted here with the permission of Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society. It may be accessed online at http://www.kenyons.org/faq.shtml.—Ed.]

In his book A Different Gospel, author D.R. McConnell goes to some length to show that Kenneth Hagin plagiarized the writings of E.W. Kenyon. Some have contacted the office of Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society quite irritated about this situation. So what is our response?

First of all, it must be noted that Kenneth Hagin, to the best of my knowledge, does not actually write his books. What I mean by this is that his books are for the most part transcriptions of his speaking ministry. Someone transcribes the taped messages and then they are edited and put into book form. Those who are preachers understand that it is impossible to stop and credit everyone who influenced your message while you are preaching. As someone who has been preaching and teaching for around 20 years, I shudder to think what would happen if I were called upon to remember each author or speaker who had influenced any given message I teach.

Anyone listening to me preach who was familiar with E.W. Kenyon would recognize many of his ideas in my preaching. The thoughtful listener would also recognize many other influences in my speaking ministry. This would be confirmed by my personal library of books and tapes.

One respected Charismatic leader, who has since gone on to be with the Lord, said of E.W. Kenyon that he was often quoted, yet seldom footnoted. Many people have absorbed his phrases and echoed his ideas. I have heard Kenneth Hagin personally testify to the fact that many of the phrases he has used and ideas he has taught, he heard from some other preachers before he ever heard of E.W. Kenyon. It is quite possible that they were quoting Kenyon and using his material and Kenneth Hagin didn’t know the original source. Liking the sound of the phrases, Hagin added them to his preaching vocabulary.

Hagin has noted that he has an almost photographic memory. Reading or hearing something once was all that was necessary for him to recall it verbatim. Every preacher wishes he had this ability! Most of us remember what we can but seldom remember where we heard it. But most preachers have no need to become paranoid about someone chastising us for quoting another author or preacher in our messages and being accused of plagiarism either! Brother Hagin has not been so fortunate.

A second thought that bears on this subject: All of those ministers who worked with Kenyon used his terminology and catchy phrases. It would be hard to imagine him being offended by this. People enjoy Kenyon’s writings because he had a unique way of stating things that grabs our attention. People seldom imitate boring speakers! Kenyon would probably be delighted to find that so many are using his phraseology today. In his day he sent forth many ministers that he trained in his churches and Bible schools who preached essentially his message. A father in the faith is blessed when his children imitate him, not angered.

A third point: Kenneth Hagin published a book titled The Name of Jesus. The book was taken from tapes of a seminar where he taught through Kenyon’s book The Wonderful Name of Jesus. He credits Kenyon both on the tapes and in the introduction to the book. He worked, through his editor, with Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society and had the complete approval of Ruth Kenyon Housworth (Kenyon’s late daughter) for the book when it went to print. Hagin’s ministry has always maintained a good relationship with Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society. One of Kenyon’s books is used in the curriculum at Hagin’s Rhema Bible Training Center.

We consider Kenneth E. Hagin to be a great man of God. If E.W. Kenyon were here today, he and Hagin would probably be good friends. And from his vantage point in heaven, Kenyon is probably delighted that Kenneth E. Hagin has been so successful in getting the message of faith, so dear to Kenyon’s heart, out to so many in the world in this generation.

If Kenyon himself wouldn’t be bothered about it all, why should anyone else?

Joe McIntyre

President

Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society

Lynwood, Washington

About the Author

Kenneth E. Hagin

Kenneth E. Hagin ministered for almost 70 years after God miraculously healed him of a deformed heart and an incurable blood disease at the age of 17. Even though Rev. Hagin went home to be with the Lord in 2003, the ministry he founded continues to bless multitudes around the globe.

Kenneth Hagin Ministries’ outreaches include The Word of Faith, a free magazine; RHEMA Bible Training Center; RHEMA Alumni Association; RHEMA Ministerial Association International; RHEMA Correspondence Bible School; and the RHEMA Prison Ministry. Rev. Hagin’s son and daughter-in-law, Kenneth W. and Lynette Hagin, cohost RHEMA Praise, a weekly television broadcast; Rhema for Today, a weekday radio program; and Living Faith Crusades held around the world.

More Information from KHM

Visit www.rhema.org/wpc

Visit www.rhema.org/wof

Visit www.rhema.org

Visit www.rbtc.org

Visit www.rhema.org/rcbs

Table of Contents

The Name of Jesus

The Name of Jesus

The More Excellent Name: How It Came

By Inheritance

By Bestowal

By Conquest

Authority in the Name

The Name: Possession of the Church

Backed by Deity

That Name—In Salvation

The Name and Baptisms

The Name of Jesus in Our Daily Walk

All in the Name

In My Name Cast Out Demons

Can a Christian Be Possessed?

Three Necessary Steps

Wicked Spirits in the Heavenlies

In Him

The Miraculous! Christianity’s Norm

Faith and the Name

Reigning by the Name

There Is Healing in the Name

Confession and the Name

Scriptures for Meditation

Introduction to the Appendixes

You Are the Caretaker

The Name of Jesus and You

Meeting the Conditions

Use the Name and Guard Your Thoughts

Believe the Name

Knowing Our Rights and Taking Our Place

Who Can Be Healed?

A Statement From Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society

About the Author

More Information from KHM

Table of Contents

The Name of Jesus

The Name of Jesus

The More Excellent Name: How It Came

By Inheritance

By Bestowal

By Conquest

Authority in the Name

The Name: Possession of the Church

Backed by Deity

That Name—In Salvation

The Name and Baptisms

The Name of Jesus in Our Daily Walk

All in the Name

In My Name Cast Out Demons

Can a Christian Be Possessed?

Three Necessary Steps

Wicked Spirits in the Heavenlies

In Him

The Miraculous! Christianity’s Norm

Faith and the Name

Reigning by the Name

There Is Healing in the Name

Confession and the Name

Scriptures for Meditation

Introduction to the Appendixes

You Are the Caretaker

The Name of Jesus and You

Meeting the Conditions

Use the Name and Guard Your Thoughts

Believe the Name

Knowing Our Rights and Taking Our Place

Who Can Be Healed?

A Statement From Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society

About the Author

More Information from KHM