Steps to Answered Prayer

Kenneth E. Hagin

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

ISBN 13- 978-1-60616-759-5

ISBN 10- 1-60616-759-6

Copyright © 1998 RHEMA Bible Church

AKA Kenneth Hagin Ministries, Inc.

All Rights Reserved

Electronic Edition Published 2011

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.

Lesson 1

Seven Steps to Answered Prayer (Part 1)

Bible Texts: James 1:6-8; Joshua 1:8; Matthew 7:7,8; Mark 11:23,24

Central Truth: By faith we reach out to claim what we need, and we thereby create the reality of it in our life.

This two-part series on the subject of prayer deals with fundamental aspects of praying that gets results. If the believer will faithfully follow these steps in prayer, he can be sure of an answer.

Step 1: Decide What You Want From God

JAMES 1:6-8

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

The above scriptures show us the importance of decisiveness. James said if a man wavers — if he cannot make up his mind — he is “unstable in all his ways” and he cannot expect to receive anything from the Lord.

Often we are indefinite in our praying. When I ask people what they are praying about, they sometimes answer they don’t know. One person said he was praying just to be praying.

Of course, there is one kind of prayer we pray to worship and have fellowship with God, but in this lesson we are dealing primarily with praying to get an answer to our prayers. If we are not careful, this general type of praying will carry over when we need to be specific about a certain need.

If you went to a grocery store and pushed your cart up and down the aisles without buying anything,

people would think something was wrong with you. If you send a child to buy certain items and he buys just those things, he is being definite.

The same is true with prayer. It would be better to pray for two or three minutes and know what you are praying about than to pray aimlessly for two or three hours.

Decide what you want from God and be definite about it!

Step 2: Read Scriptures That Promise the Answer You Need

JOSHUA 1:8

8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

In order to be successful in our prayer life, God’s Word must be foremost. As we feed upon His Word, we build it into our inner consciousness. Then, in time of need, we are prepared. We can use the appropriate scriptures against the devil when he tries to make us doubt God and rob us of what we want.

In the wilderness when Satan tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread, Jesus answered with the Word. He said, “. . . It is written That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” Then Satan took Him up on a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world. He told Jesus if He would worship him, he would give all these kingdoms to Him. Again Jesus answered, “. . . it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”

Satan then took Jesus upon a pinnacle of the Temple and said to Him, “. . . cast thyself down. . . .” Again Jesus answered with the Word, saying, “. . . It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (Luke 4:3-12).

Jesus used the same weapon to defeat the devil that all believers have today: the Word of God. All we have to do in the face of temptation and doubt is to say, “It is written.” If the Scriptures are firmly implanted in our heart, we are prepared for any attacks of the devil.

In matters of guidance, search the Scriptures to see what God has to say about any situation. His Word plainly shows us His will. If the Scriptures don’t promise us what we may be seeking, we don’t have any business praying for it. We should not want anything that the Word of God says we shouldn’t have.

On the other hand, when praying for things that are expressly promised in the Word, we can have complete confidence that God will give us what we need. Years ago I wrote in red ink on the fly leaf of my Bible, “The Bible says it, I believe it, and that settles it!”

Many people try to pray beyond their faith. It is the Word of God that gives faith. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10: 17). The reason people do not pray with confidence and faith is because they do not know the Scriptures well enough to know if what they are praying for is God’s will. They may hope it is, but they don’t know it is. As we read God’s Word and learn His will, we can appropriate His promises for our every need.

Step 3: Ask God for the Things You Want

MATTHEW 7:7,8

7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

In Matthew 6:8 Jesus said, “. . . your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” Yet in the next chapter, as we see in the verses quoted above, He tells us to ask Him for our needs. Therefore, even though He knows our needs, He wants us to bring them to Him and ask His help.

Step 4: Believe That You Receive

MARK 11:23,24

23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

The Amplified version of the above verse says, “. . . whatever you ask for in prayer, believe — trust and be confident — that it is granted to you, and you will [get it].”

To understand this better, we need to realize that there are two kinds of truth: sense-knowledge truth and revelation truth.

Some people think truth pertains to things they can see with their physical eyes. But we cannot see the things of the Spirit. They are not flesh; they are not material.

Everything we need is provided for us in the spiritual realm. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). Our needs have been provided for in Christ Jesus. We may not always be able to see them, but they are there.

When “sense-knowledge truth” contradicts “revelation truth,” or the Word of God, I start walking by revelation truth. I walk by what God says.

That which is in the spiritual realm is made real in the natural realm through faith. Faith grasps it and creates the reality of it in our life.

Therefore, when you pray, believe that you receive that which you are asking for and you shall have it. This is beyond our natural thinking. The natural mind cannot grasp it, but we are to walk by faith and not by sight.

Once while preaching in a small church, I got too warm. When I stepped outdoors after the service, my body was wet with perspiration. When the cold outdoor air hit me in the face, my throat started hurting, and by the time I reached the parking lot, I could hardly speak. The next day my chest started hurting and I couldn’t speak above a whisper.

I started reading scriptures on healing. With my Bible open before me, I prayed silently and said, “Lord, your Word tells me I am healed. If I asked my body if I were healed, the answer would be no. If I asked my feelings if I were healed, the answer would be no. If I were to ask the people around me if I were healed, they would say I was not.

“Your Word says God is truth and every man is a liar. So if I say I’m not healed, I am a liar. Your Word says that God cannot lie. Romans 3:4 says, ‘God forbid, yea, let God be true, but every man a liar, as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.’”

When time came for the evening service, I stepped up to the microphone and said I wanted to thank God that I was healed. The congregation looked at me as if I were crazy, because I was barely whispering.

I began to tell them what the Word of God says about healing. I showed them from the Word that I was healed. I told them what God says is true and that if I said I wasn’t healed, I would be lying. I told them that I wanted them to stand and praise God with me because I was healed.

As we stood and began praising God, I hadn’t said “hallelujah” three times until my voice came back. Then I preached my sermon with a strong, clear voice. That night the congregation saw an illustration of faith in action.

All we have to do is ask God for the things we want, and believe that we have them.

Memory Text:

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

— Matt. 7:7,8

Lesson 2

Seven Steps to Answered Prayer (Part 2)

Bible Texts: Proverbs 4:20-22; Philippians 4:6

Central Truth: Thinking faith thoughts and speaking faith words lead the heart out of defeat into victory.

The previous lesson covered four steps to take to see our prayers answered:

1. Decide what you want from God. Be specific in stating your petitions.

2. Read scriptures that promise the answer you need. Search the Bible for scriptures that apply to your need. Plant God’s Word firmly in your heart so you will be prepared against Satan’s attacks.

3. Ask God for the things you want. Make your wants known to God. Even though He knows what we need, it is His divine plan that we make our wants known to Him.

4. Believe that you receive. Develop a stubborn faith that refuses to look at circumstances — a faith that produces results.

In this lesson we will deal with three more steps to take to pray more effectively.

Step 5: Refuse To Doubt

Let every thought and desire affirm that you have what you ask. Never permit a mental picture of failure to remain in your mind. Never doubt for one minute that you have the answer. If doubts persist, rebuke them. Get your mind on the answer. James 4:7 says, “. . . Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Doubt is of the devil. Resist it.

Eradicate every image, suggestion, feeling, or thought that does not contribute to your faith. Concentrate on things that contribute to your confession for what you need from God.

When our daughter, Pat, was 3 years old, a growth appeared in the corner of her left eye. It kept growing larger and larger until it was the size of the end of her little finger. It was a cause for concern.

I knew in my spirit that it was going to go away. Friends told us, “Oh, it probably will go away as she gets older.” I knew when God healed Pat, they would say the growth would have gone away anyway, so I took her to an eye specialist for an examination.

He said Pat had a type of growth that would never go away without surgery. He suggested she be operated on, because the growth would become larger and larger until eventually it would hang down over her face. I thanked him for his diagnosis and left.

That night about 10:15 I prayed about it and said, “Lord, the doctor said an operation is necessary, but John 16:23 says, ‘. . . Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.’ I am standing on that scripture. I have asked you, and now I believe you have done it. I believe tonight at 10:15 for my baby’s healing. I thank You for the healing.”

I got off my knees, and as I started to go to bed, the devil told me to turn the light on and see if the growth was gone. Immediately I resisted that thought. Several times during the night I was awakened with the same thought — to go see if the growth was gone yet.

I said, “Satan, why should I get up and turn the light on to see if it’s gone yet? I know it’s gone, because I have God’s Word for it.”

The same suggestion returned the next morning, and again I pushed it from my mind. I kept saying Pat had received the healing the night before at 10:15.

When I saw her at breakfast, the growth was still on her eye, but the Bible tells us to walk by faith and not by sight. I ignored the physical evidence of the growth. I walked by faith and kept thanking God for her healing.

Every time our family gathered at the dinner table, I saw that ugly growth sticking right out at me. But I just kept thanking God for the healing which had taken place that night at 10:15 when I prayed and believed that I received.

I was so engrossed in thanking God for the healing that I really don’t know when the growth left. A few days later we were driving along and Pat was standing on the front seat between Oretha and me. I turned to say something to Oretha and I noticed Pat’s growth was gone. When I mentioned it to Oretha, she told me it had been gone for about 10 days.

We saw a miracle as a result of believing God and thanking Him for the answer, even though our physical senses told us it had not happened. This is the realm in which the battle of prayer is fought and won.

Our thoughts are governed by observation, association, and teachings. We must guard against every evil thought and doubt that comes into our mind. We must stay away from all places and things that do not support our confession that God has answered our prayer. (Sometimes this means staying away from churches that teach more doubt than faith.)

Philippians 4:8 says, “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.”

Step 6: Meditate on the Promises

PROVERBS 4:20-22

20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. 21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.

22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

Meditate constantly on the promises on which you base your answer to prayer. See yourself in possession of what you have asked from God, and make plans as if it already were a reality. God will make His Word good if you will act on it.

God’s Word says He hears and answers prayer. If the Word doesn’t depart from before your eyes, you are sure to see yourself with the things you asked for. If you don’t see yourself with them, God’s Word has departed from before your eyes.

If you don’t stand by the Word, God can’t stand by you, even though He wants to. The only way God works is through His Word. He moves in line with His Word. He has magnified His Word above His Name! If you stand by the Word, God will stand by you.

Many people pray and pray, but they don’t pray according to the Word. John 15:7 says, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” Jesus didn’t just say, “If ye abide in me”; He added, “and my words abide in you.” With His words abiding in us, we have a solid foundation.

Once I went to pray for an elderly evangelist in Fort Worth, Texas. Many people had been saved and filled with the Spirit under her ministry. Now, at the age of 82, she had been operated on, and her doctors had found seven cancers in her body. They just sewed her up and told her she didn’t have long to live. Months had passed and, although bedfast, she was still alive.

When I talked to her, she said she was old enough to die, but I encouraged her to let God heal her first, because she could still win many souls at her age. Then I read Proverbs 4:20-22 to her and told her to visualize herself well and preaching.

When I saw this woman eight months later, she was busy holding evangelistic meetings! She came up to me after one of my services, threw her arms around me, and hugged me. It startled me, and she realized I hadn’t recognized her. She looked different because she had gained weight. She appeared to be in excellent health.

She told me she was so glad I hadn’t let her die. She had done what I had told her to do: She had begun to picture herself well, and now she was out working for God again. She said she had evangelistic meetings scheduled for the entire summer.

I later heard that this woman lived to be 91 years old. She didn’t die of cancer. She enjoyed many more fruitful years for the Master. Before her healing, she had pictured herself dead, but I got her to see herself with what God had provided for her.

We have to see ourselves with the answer.

Step 7: Give God the Praise

PHILIPPIANS 4:6

6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

The words “be careful for nothing” mean “in nothing be anxious.” The Amplified Bible says, “Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything.” As long as we fret and are anxious, praying and fasting won’t do any good.

This verse says “with thanksgiving,” and this comes after praying about the matter. We thank God for the answer after we have prayed.

The final step to answered prayer is to lift your heart to God constantly in gratitude and increasing praise for what He has done and for what He is doing for you now.

Make every prayer concerning your need a statement of faith and praise, not a statement of unbelief. You can do this just as easily as you can think thoughts of doubt and unbelief.

Thinking faith thoughts and speaking faith words lead the heart out of defeat into victory. Do not accept defeat. Do not be denied. It is your family right — your redemption right — to have what God has promised. It is yours, and it will come. Accept it, and it will become a reality.

Andrew Murray said, “It is not good taste to ask God for the same thing over and over again. If, when you do pray again for something that hasn’t materialized, don’t pray for it in the same way, because that would be unbelief. Remind God that you asked for it and what His Word says, and tell Him you are expecting it. Then thank Him for it.”

Often people undo their prayers! They get into unbelief and stay there, as if they were spinning their wheels.

Once during a convention in Texas, I heard Rev. Raymond T. Richey lead in prayer for a man who was in the hospital, dying. After we prayed, we thanked God that He had heard us.

Brother Richey started to walk away from the pulpit, but then turned around and went back to the microphone. He asked how many in the congregation were going to keep praying for this man in the hospital. Nearly everyone raised his hand.

“What do you want to do that for?” Brother Richey asked. “We already have prayed for him. Now let us keep praising God because He has healed this man.”

At the close of the service, someone came in and announced that the dying man had suddenly revived and was going to be all right. He had seen Jesus walk into his room and say, “I am the Lord that healeth thee.” He had awakened and immediately was well. This had happened while we had been praying.

The Christian who practices these seven steps to answered prayer will discover great victory in his prayer life.

Memory Text:

“If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”

— John 15:7

Lesson 3

The Prayer That Unlocks Heaven

Bible Texts: John 16:23,24; Ephesians 5:20

Central Truth: The Name of Jesus is the access to the heart of the Father.

We have a key that unlocks the door of our automobile. We may say that we unlock the door, but really it is the key that does it. We also have a key that fits the ignition. We could not start the car without this key. This key is the important factor in driving the car. We couldn’t get anywhere without it.

The Name of Jesus

There is a key to prayer that will unlock the doors and windows of heaven and grant our every need. Without this key we can’t get any where. This key is found in John 16:

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.

Jesus is our Mediator, Intercessor, Advocate, and Lord. He stands between us and the Father. No place in the Bible is it ever recorded that Jesus told His disciples to pray to Him. They always were told to pray to the Father in Jesus’ Name. Therefore, if we want to be sure our prayers reach the throne of God, we must come according to the rules laid down in His Word.

In the above scripture, Jesus said, “In that day ye shall ask me nothing.” He said this to His disciples before He went away. He was talking about His present position as Mediator, seated at the right hand of the Father.

Another translation reads, “In that day ye shall not pray to me.” Jesus said to ask the Father in His Name. This is the key that will unlock Heaven on our behalf.

We can tell Jesus how much we love Him, but when it comes to praying, we must ask the Father through the Lord Jesus. Ephesians 3:14,15 says, “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. . . .” It is not important which church we belong to, but it is important which family we belong to.

Overflowing Joy

John 16:24 says, “. . . ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” There is real joy in knowing that the Father will answer our prayers.

The beloved preacher Smith Wigglesworth worked for many years as a plumber before he began his full- time preaching ministry. Once while installing plumbing in a large house, he noticed the owner kept coming in, looking at him, and then leaving. Finally she entered the room where he was working, sat down, and asked, “What in the world is it that causes that wonderful expression on your face? You look as if you are full of joy.”

He told her that morning at breakfast his wife had told him two of their children were very ill. Before they ate, they went upstairs, laid hands on the children, and prayed for them. They were instantly healed and joined their parents downstairs for breakfast. Wigglesworth said it was wonderful to have such a wonderful Jesus.

He told the woman “The Scripture says, ‘. . . ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.’” (Certainly our joy could not be full if our children were ill, but the Lord told us to ask Him for what we need, “that our joy may be full.”)

The woman asked Wigglesworth if Jesus would save her and give her this wonderful joy too. Wigglesworth assured her He would.

She accepted the Lord and started rejoicing. She asked Wigglesworth if she could keep this joy. He answered that the only way to keep it was to give it away. He told her she should tell all the women at her club meeting about her salvation. She did and all of them were saved. This is the way to keep it: Tell others about it.

If Wigglesworth had gone to work that day with two sick children at home, his joy would not have been full. He would have been worried. He would have looked distressed. Instead, he had a light on his face — a radiance that was obvious to all who saw him. Something seemed to flow out of him. What was it? It was the joy the Father has promised when we ask Him for our needs and receive in faith.

On another occasion Wigglesworth was in dire financial need. At that time he was in London visiting in the home of a wealthy man. Wigglesworth simply committed his financial burden to the Lord and refused to worry about it. He told no one. He knew the Lord would take care of it.

As he and his friend were out walking in the park, Wigglesworth was happy and singing, rejoicing in his spirit. His rich friend commented that he would give all he owned to have the same spirit of joy that Wigglesworth had.

Wigglesworth told him it wouldn’t cost him anything; all he had to do was cast all his cares on Jesus. Wigglesworth explained that this is what he had done, and he was without a care in the world. He could be free and happy. He still did not mention his financial need to his friend, but instead talked of victory and joy in Christ Jesus.

One man had material wealth but no joy. The other lacked material things but was filled with joy. What was the secret? Wigglesworth knew the truth of the scripture, “. . . ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”

Can your joy be full if you have great financial burdens pressing you? Can your joy be full if you have unpaid bills that are due? If you have asked God to supply your needs and you believe “ye shall receive,” your joy can be full.

Joy That Precedes the Fact

Sometimes you have to have the joy before you will receive what you are praying for. If you are worrying and trying to figure matters out alone, you hinder God from helping you. You are carrying the burden instead of letting Him carry it. In fact, if you are worrying, it will do

little good to pray, because you are not praying in faith.

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6,7).

When I was holding evangelistic meetings, I often would drive straight through from California to Texas. My mother once told me that when she knew I was traveling, she prayed that the Lord would be with me. And she stayed awake at night worrying, waiting for the telephone to ring with news I had been in an accident. I told her she was wasting her time praying if she was going to stay awake worrying.

Prayer is more than that. “. . . ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” We should be full of joy even before we receive what we ask for because we have His Word that He heard our prayer.

EPHESIANS 5:20

20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice here that Paul tells us to give thanks for all things “unto God and the Father” in the Name of Jesus. Paul tells us to pray to the Father and not to Jesus. The Name of Jesus is the access to the heart of the Father in all our real praise and thanksgiving.

Someone said the way we pray doesn’t make much difference. But if it doesn’t, why did God inspire Paul to write the Epistles? To say these verses are not important would make as much sense as it would to say John 3:16 isn’t important. If we believe John 3:16 is important, we also must believe that all Scriptures are important and are for our instruction in walking with God. When you want to get an answer to your prayers, follow the teachings of the Word and pray to the Father in the Name of Jesus.

When many people pray, they conclude their prayer, “for Jesus’ sake.” However, we are not told in the Word to pray for Jesus’ sake. We are taught to pray in the Name of Jesus. What is the difference?

If you went to a bank to cash a check for a friend, the cashier would ask you if you had an account there with enough money to guarantee the check. If you didn’t, the cashier wouldn’t cash the check. But if you had a check from a man who had an account in that bank, you would be able to cash the check.

The same is true when we go to God and tell Him to do something for Jesus’ sake. We are asking it to be done to help Jesus on our credit. If I had a stomach ache, it would be foolish to ask God to heal me for Jesus’ sake. It is my stomach that hurts. I don’t want to be healed for Him. (We are the ones who need the help. He has the standing or credit, and we can come in His Name.)

It makes a lot of difference what our attitude is. The reason we fail many times in our praying is because our approach is all wrong. Sometimes we think God should answer our prayers because of our own merit or goodness.

When Peter and John ministered to the lame man at the Gate Beautiful, as recorded in the third chapter of Acts, the people who witnessed the miracle were amazed. They thought it was through some special power of these men that the lame man was healed. But Peter said, “. . . why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?” (Acts 3:12).

It isn’t by our own power or holiness that we get an answer to prayer. We don’t get our prayers answered because we are good; they’re answered because of Jesus. He has a standing in Heaven. He is the only approach to the Father. We can’t get there any other way. We come to the Father in His Name. Jesus gave us the right and the authority to use His Name. The key to seeing answers to our prayers is through the mighty Name of Jesus.

Memory Text:

“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.”

— John 16:23

Lesson 4

The Authority of Jesus’ Name

Bible Text: Mark 16:17,18

Central Truth: Jesus gave us the power of attorney, the right to use His Name.

God hears and answers prayer. We might as well settle that. It works. Too often people just make a stab in the dark at praying. They call it praying and let it go at that. They hope something works out some way or other.

But we need to take our stand on God’s Word and let Heaven, hell, and earth know that God’s Word is true and we believe it. We need to grow in prayer. Many times God condescends to meet us on an elementary level, but it is better that we grow spiritually and meet Him on His level.

The Bible teaches there is a similarity between physical growth and spiritual growth. “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2). No one is born a fully grown adult. We are born as babies and grow up. No one is born a fully grown Christian, either. Christians are newborn babes and grow up. As we mature in the Word, our prayer life should improve.

When I was a child I prayed, “Now I lay me down to sleep. . .” But I don’t pray that way anymore. I’ve grown beyond that. When we were spiritual babes we may have prayed certain ways, but God wants us to grow spiritually. God requires more of us now than He did a few years ago.

Believer’s Rights in the Name of Jesus

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.

Prayer should be addressed to the Father in Jesus’ Name. This is the key to seeing our prayers answered. In this lesson we will look at the rights we have in Jesus’ Name.

Jesus gave us the power of attorney, or the right to use His Name. We use His Name when we pray for our individual needs and when we deal with the devil. He said, “In my name shall they cast out devils. . . . ”

When Jesus appointed the seventy disciples and sent them forth, “The seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name” (Luke 10:17).

In Acts 16:16-18 we read where Paul cast an evil spirit out of a girl. “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” (v. 18).

I once knew of a woman whose daughter was in a mental institution. This mother decided to pray the prayer of faith for her daughter — exercising her authority in Jesus’ Name and casting out the devil that kept her daughter bound. She asked twelve women who were strong in faith to go with her to the mental institution.

When they arrived at the padded cell where the daughter was being kept, the mother said to the attendant, “I want you to open the door and let me in, because I want to pray for my daughter.”

“You can’t do that,” he answered. “She’ll kill you. She’s violently insane.”

He argued he couldn’t let her in because he would lose his job, but all the time he was unlocking the door. The mother stepped in and he locked the door again.

The insane daughter looked more like an animal than a human being. Her hair and nails had grown long, and she hissed and spat as an animal would.

While the twelve women outside prayed silently, the mother prayed out loud, commanding the devil to come out of her daughter in the Name of Jesus. She prayed like this for about ten minutes.

Suddenly the daughter relaxed, looked up, and said, “Momma! Is that you, Momma?” She threw her arms around her and hugged and kissed her. That day she was dismissed from the institution as being well. This mother knew her rights. She knew the authority that was hers to cast out devils in Jesus’ Name.

Jesus also said in Mark 16:17, “In my name . . . they shall speak with new tongues.” Every believer has the right to speak with tongues.

The next verse says that in Jesus’ Name “They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.”

This doesn’t mean, of course, we are to take up serpents and handle them just to try to prove something. It means that if we are accidentally bitten, as Paul was on the island of Melita, we can shake off the snake and claim immunity in the Name of Jesus.

We read in Acts 28:3-6 how Paul was shipwrecked. He picked up some sticks to build a fire and a viper came out and fastened on his hand. The people who saw this expected him to fall dead. When he didn’t die and his hand didn’t become swollen from the venom, the people knew they had witnessed a miracle.

I have heard of similar experiences in our day. A woman missionary in a foreign country was stung by a deadly scorpion. There was no antidote for the bite in those days; its sting always was fatal.

The missionary was shopping on the street when the scorpion stung her, and people watching expected her to swell up and die. But she just shook it off in Jesus’ Name and

didn’t even get sick to her stomach. As a result, many of those people were saved.

Again, Mark 16:18 says, “. . . and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.” Again, this doesn’t mean we can drink something poisonous to try to prove a point. It means if we do accidentally, we can claim immunity in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Using the Name of Jesus

A number of years ago a religious denomination was holding a convention in Corpus Christi, Texas. After the people began to gather at the grounds where they were having the convention, some of them began to fall ill. Soon about 20 or 30 people were desperately sick, and they began praying for one another.

As they prayed, someone had a revelation the water in one of the hotels was poisonous. This was in the days when they didn’t have running water. They had a pitcher and bowl on a washstand in each room. This person cautioned the rest of the people not to drink any more water. The Lord answered prayer and everyone was healed.

They took a sample of the water to a nearby naval station. Laboratory tests showed there was enough poison in the water to kill a regiment of men. Under such circumstances we have a right to claim immunity in Jesus’ Name.

Jesus said, “. . . they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (v. 18).

Don’t lay hands on someone and say, “If it be the Lord’s will. . .” Lay your hands on them and claim their deliverance in the Name of Jesus. You have solid ground to stand on.

Jesus said, “In my name. . . .” It is in His Name we can cast out devils. It is in His Name we can speak with new tongues. It is in His Name we can claim immunity if we accidentally are bitten by a poisonous snake or if we drink any deadly thing. It is in His Name we can lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. It is His Name that gives us authority to claim these things.

Notice He said we lay hands on the sick. We do the laying on of hands — not Jesus or the Holy Spirit. We lay hands on the sick person in Jesus’ Name.

We are the ones who talk in tongues. I have heard people say, “But I’m afraid that was just me.” Certainly that was you! You have the right to speak in tongues in Jesus’ Name. You do the talking just as much as you lay hands on the sick person. The Holy Spirit gives you the utterance; you do the talking.

This is our right in the Name of Jesus. It belongs to everyone, not just someone especially called. The ordinary child of God has as much right to use the Name of Jesus as anyone.

Let me call your attention to something else here. We do not have to struggle for faith. Some people think if they just had enough faith, they could do these things. But notice this passage of Scripture does not say a word about faith. Jesus didn’t say, “If they have enough faith. . . . “He said, “These signs shall follow them that believe; In my name they shall. . . .” He went on to enumerate our rights through His Name.

We do not have to struggle for faith. It is simply a matter of claiming our rights and boldly using what we know belongs to us.

The Name of Jesus belongs to me as much as my hands and feet belong to me. When I awaken in the morning, I don’t pray for God to give me faith to get up and walk. I just get up and walk because I know my feet are there! The Name of Jesus is as much mine as my hands and feet are mine, and I can use His Name.

There are people who pray and pray, but the results do not prove their prayers are of any value. If you don’t get results when you pray, you need to reexamine your methods. If you aren’t expecting results when you pray, there is no need to pray.

The Business of Prayer

Just as businesses expect to make a profit, so we should expect to profit when we pray. If a business was not making a profit, its management immediately would begin to reevaluate its methods and make necessary changes. Industry demands the best technical education. It demands men trained to do their jobs. Christians, too, should make a business of prayer — the greatest business there is — God’s business.

Prayer is of the utmost importance. From a practical side, Christianity is a living faith in touch with the living God who hears and answers prayer.

Simply talking into the air is not prayer. Taking up 20 minutes on Sunday morning giving God a homily on what His duties are toward the Church is not prayer. Giving the congregation a lecture is not prayer.

We should pray for results. If we pray and we see no results, it shows we have the form without the power.

All things God has provided are offered to us through prayer, and if we do not have them, it is because we have not made our prayer connection.

If you are praying without seeing any results, seek to find the trouble. Is God untrue? No, He’s not! Is the day of prayer and miracles over? No! Have we been depending upon the promises of a God who has gone bankrupt? No! There is something wrong somewhere, isn’t there? Is it because we are not known in the Bank of Heaven?

Let’s seek to find the cause and uproot any doubt and unbelief. Let’s pray to the Father as Jesus taught us to pray — in Jesus’ Name — because Jesus stands behind His Word.

When we come according to God’s Word, our prayers cannot fail.

Memory Text:

“If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”

— John 14:14

Lesson 5

The Prayer of Agreement

Bible Texts: Matthew 18:18-20; Deuteronomy 32:30; Romans 8:26

Central Truth: There is tremendous power as two or more agree in prayer concerning anything they may need.

Of the many prayer promises in the Bible, perhaps none is more significant than Matthew 18:19. Yet many dedicated Christians go through life having a knowledge of the Word — having read and even studied Matthew 18:19 — without really appropriating it in their own lives.

God didn’t put all of the promises about prayer in the Bible just to fill up space. They are there for our benefit. They are there for us to act upon.

To get the full impact of what Jesus is saying in Matthew 18:19, let’s look at the verses preceding and following it.

MATTHEW 18:18-20

18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

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.

Notice the phrase in verse 19: “. . . it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” The strongest assertion one can make in the English language is to say “I shall.” In this scripture Jesus promised, “. . . it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” He also said, “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14).

P.C. Nelson was a Greek scholar who did all his personal Bible reading and private devotions from the Greek New Testament. He said the Greek translation is more beautiful than the English, but it has a number of idioms that cannot be translated into English and retain their full meaning.

Dr. Nelson said the literal Greek rendering of Jesus’ statement is, “If you shall ask anything in my name and I don’t have it, I will make it for you.”

Authority To Bind and Loose

Matthew 18:20 says, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” We usually apply this scripture to a church service. Of course, it can refer to this, but what Jesus really was saying here is wherever these two people are who agree, He is right there with them to make their prayer good.

Jesus was bringing out the fact that whatever we bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever we loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven. Heaven will back us up in what we do on earth. We have the authority to loose and to bind.

Instead of using this authority, however, too many people allow the devil to blind them. They think they can’t help it if they are defeated and depressed. They think there is nothing they can do about it. But they can do something about it by acting on this scripture: by agreeing in prayer with just one other believer.

During 1957, our nation experienced an economic recession. Oregon was a state which felt the recession quite desperately. At that time I was holding a revival in Salem, Oregon. As I preached on the subject of the prayer of agreement, a couple in the church decided to claim this promise and make it work for them.

They owned a piece of property which they had been trying to sell for two years with no success. With times so difficult, it seemed impossible to sell it, yet the couple agreed in prayer that they would be able to sell it with the Lord’s help.

When the man visited the real estate agent, he was told that since they hadn’t been able to sell the lot when times were good, there was little hope they could sell it now. The agent did suggest that the man talk to a client who previously had been interested in the lot. The agent wasn’t too optimistic, but he said if this client didn’t buy the lot, he would try once more to sell it.

Remembering Jesus’ promise concerning the prayer of agreement, the man approached the client, offering to sell the property at the same price they had discussed before. This time the client said he would take it.

For two years this couple had been in financial trouble, desperately needing to sell their lot. They could have had the money all the time if they had only exercised their authority by agreeing in prayer that “it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.”

Instead of believing with their hearts and saying with their mouths, the couple had been praying that God would do something about it. They now realized that they should have done something about it. (We have our part to play. When we make our move, God will then move.)

Multiplied Prayer Power

DEUTERONOMY 32:30

30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?

We may be mighty in prayer alone, but we can be mightier with someone joining us. We read in the above verse that one can chase a thousand, but two can put ten thousand to flight. With someone agreeing with us in prayer, we can do ten times as much as we can do by ourselves. A lot of people don’t need to be involved; just a husband and wife do — just two.

I once read a book by Dr. George W. Truett, who for many years was pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. One chapter of his book deals with this subject of agreeing in prayer.

He told that when he was a young seminary student, he would go out during the summer and conduct revival meetings. Once when he was preaching under a brush arbor in West Texas, a tall rancher came up to him after the sermon one night and asked if he believed the New Testament. Dr. Truett answered that he did. Then the rancher asked if he believed everything in it. Dr. Truett answered that he surely did. The rancher asked him if he believed Matthew 18:19. Dr. Truett said he didn’t know offhand what Matthew 18:19 said, but whatever it was, he believed it.

The rancher quoted this verse of Scripture to Dr. Truett and told him he was the first preacher they had ever had who really believed it. He asked Dr. Truett to agree with him that his ranch foreman and family would be saved the next night. He promised to have them in church. Dr. Truett said he would agree for their salvation.

This big fellow, who towered over him at about 6 feet 6 in cowboy boots, then grabbed his hand and shook it. He said, “Lord, I’ve finally found someone to agree with me. I’ve been looking for someone for years. This little preacher and I agree that John and his family will be saved tomorrow night.”

After a sleepless night of doing battle with the devil, Dr. Truett went to the meeting the next night. He saw the rancher come in, followed by the other man, his wife, and three children.

Dr. Truett preached a fiery, evangelistic message and gave the invitation, but he couldn’t seem to move the man toward the altar. Finally he told the Lord that he had done all he could do; he was going to sing one more verse and turn it over to Him.

On the next verse of the invitation hymn, the oldest child, a girl about 13, went forward. She knelt at the altar. Then one of the other children followed. Finally all three children were praying at the altar. Then the mother went forward and finally the father followed.

At the conclusion of the service, the rancher grabbed Dr. Truett and said he knew if only he could find someone to agree with him, it would work. He asked Dr. Truett to agree with him about his neighbor.

At this point, Dr. Truett said if the rancher had asked him to agree with him that the sun would rise in the West, he would have agreed. He was ready for anything He said he was young and didn’t know any better. He said we get our heads educated at the expense of our hearts, but simple people just believe God’s Word and receive results.

For two weeks the meetings continued. Every night the rancher asked Dr. Truett to agree with him for another family, and every night that family was saved. It works.

The Holy Spirit in the Ministry of Prayer

ROMANS 8:26

26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

The Greek translation of the last phrase of this verse reads, “with groanings which cannot be uttered in articulate speech.” Therefore, this verse includes groanings and praying in tongues.

In connection with this, Paul said, “For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful” (1 Cor. 14:14). The Amplified Bible reads, “. . . my spirit [by the Holy Spirit within me] prays. . . .”

Notice in Romans 8:26 that we don’t know what we should pray for. We can’t possibly know in our natural mind how to pray as we should because there are so many things known only to God, but “the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.” The Holy Spirit will help us and will make intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered in articulate speech.

This doesn’t mean it is something the Holy Spirit does apart from you. That would make the Holy Spirit responsible for your prayer life, and He isn’t. You are responsible for your prayer life. Notice that this verse says that He “helpeth.” He isn’t sent to do your praying for you. He is sent to help you in every aspect of your life, and especially your prayer life.

There are some things that come out of your heart that can’t be expressed in words. It is the Holy Spirit helping you as these groanings come out of your spirit and escape your lips. It is the Holy Spirit in the ministry of prayer.

I do most of my praying in tongues. For example, my son might have problems I know nothing about. I tell the Lord I don’t know how to pray for him as I ought to, but I am looking to the Holy Spirit to give me utterance. I might pray for him an hour in tongues. I might have a revelation, or God might show me the answer. But whether there is a revelation or not, we can pray that way because we know it is biblical.

This kind of praying in the Spirit gets the job done when nothing else will. The Holy Spirit makes intercession through us to the throne of grace.

Memory Text:

“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.”

— Matt. 18:19

Lesson 6

Interpreting Our Prayers in the Spirit

Bible Text: 1 Corinthians 14:13-17,27,28

Central Truth: Every believer can interpret his prayers in the Spirit, thus gaining spiritual understanding of them.

Praying in the Spirit is not something that belongs only to ministers. It belongs to every believer.

Much has been accomplished through those who have yielded their prayer lives to the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to pray through them. But we would see even greater results if more Christians prayed in the Spirit.

1 CORINTHIANS 14:13-17

13 Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.

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

15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.

16 Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?

17 For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.

God, speaking through the Apostle Paul, said, “Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret” (v. 13). God certainly is not going to tell us to pray for something we can’t have.

I am convinced that every believer should be able to interpret his own prayers, even though he never may interpret a message in tongues publicly. I believe that a person can interpret without being an interpreter. (I will explain this point more fully later in this lesson.)

Would the Spirit of God tell us to pray for something we couldn’t have? The fact that He has told us to pray that we may interpret means He has made this available to every believer.

Therefore, every believer should be able to pray in tongues (pray in the Spirit), because we are encouraged to do so in the Bible. Likewise, we should pray that we also can interpret what we have prayed in tongues, because the Word encourages us to do this too.

Notice why God wants us to do this. In First Corinthians 14:13 we read that those who speak in an unknown tongue should pray that they may interpret. Two of the next verses begin with the conjunction “for.” A conjunction is a connecting word. That means Paul was continuing what he had said.

Verse 14 reads, “FOR if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.” If we could interpret our prayer in tongues, our understanding no longer would be unfruitful. It would be fruitful.

Sometimes it would be helpful for us to know what we are praying about when we pray in the Spirit. There are some things we pray about that we need to understand. It would help us if our minds were enlightened about them. However, I would never interpret prayers in which we edify and build ourselves up. Those are merely prayers of worship and praise, and they do not need to be interpreted.

Praying With the Spirit and With the Understanding

Verse 15 continues Paul’s teaching: “What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also. . . .” There is a further meaning to this verse than the one we have generally accepted.

First, it means we can pray both ways: with the Spirit (in tongues) and with the understanding (in our own language).

But it also means that if we pray to be given the interpretation of what we pray in tongues, we may pray in the Spirit and afterwards God may give us the interpretation. If this happens, we will understand what we have prayed about in tongues, and we can pray with our understanding in our native language.

I have prayed in this manner since 1938. In those days, we didn’t have any teaching along those lines. Some even thought that once a person was filled with the Spirit and spoke in tongues, it wasn’t necessary for him to speak in tongues ever again! (Sadly, many Christians still do not rise above this level today.)

After I was first filled with the Spirit, I would find myself praying in tongues when I was praying, and I would stop because I wasn’t sure if it was right or not. However, about a year later as I studied the Word, I saw that it was all right to pray in tongues; that this blessing is for us today.

Similarly, I interpreted my prayers long before I did any interpreting in public. I know from experience the difference it makes in one’s prayer life.

Some of my first experiences along this line came when I was a new believer. I was deeply in love with the Lord and would seek Him and wait on Him. While praying about my services and the sermons I was to preach, the Spirit of the Lord would move upon me and I would interpret what I had just prayed in tongues.

One day while praying in the Spirit, I began to interpret my prayer. I found out that I was praying about the girl I was to marry! I also learned that we would have two children, the older a boy and the younger a girl. I was not prophesying; I was interpreting my prayer in tongues. I would pray a few words in tongues and then pray the interpretation.

At that time I was a single man of 21 and I was so wrapped up in spiritual things that I didn’t have time for girls and dating.

The farthest thing from my mind was the thought of marriage! But everything came to pass just as the interpretation indicated. I got married that same year. When we were expecting our first child, I knew it would be a boy. In fact, we only picked out a boy’s name.

When we were expecting our second child, I knew it would be a girl, so we picked out only a girl’s name. Some of our relatives were skeptical and asked, “What if it isn’t a girl?” I said, “I’m not going by ‘what-ifs.’ ” When the baby was born, it was a lovely daughter.

Tongues and Interpretation: For Public or Private Use?

As was mentioned earlier, the fact that one may interpret tongues does not mean he is an interpreter. The two are related, but they are not the same thing.

To illustrate, an automobile, a truck, and a bus are totally different vehicles, yet they are all motorized forms of transportation. Just because a person owns an automobile and drives it does not mean he is a trucker. Even if he owned a truck, that would not necessarily mean he could drive it. And because a man is a bus driver does not mean he is a trucker. They are different yet related. The same is true of tongues and interpretation.

1 CORINTHIANS 14:27,28

27 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.

28 But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.

In verse 28 we read, “But if there be no interpreter . . . ,” or if no interpreter is present. This infers that there are those who are interpreters.

We make a great mistake by thinking that tongues and interpretation is just for public use. There is a public side to it under certain circumstances, but as we see from the passage of Scripture above, its main use is private.

As I said, I interpreted my own prayers long before I interpreted publicly. When I began to interpret my prayers in private, it was like driving that car. When I began to interpret publicly, it was like driving that truck: It was partly the same, but it was different. To interpret publicly, one stands in a different office, on a different plane, in a different area.

When I first interpreted my prayers, that was all I could interpret. I could not interpret anyone else’s prayers. I could not interpret a message in tongues. Later, however, I received the gift of interpretation.

Notice that the Scripture does not say, “Let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may have the gift of interpretation.” It says, “Let him . . . pray that he may interpret.” Interpret what? Interpret his prayer. Why? So he can “pray with the spirit, and . . . pray with the understanding also.” This would not make him an interpreter; it would make him one who prays in the Spirit.

Even after I received the gift of interpretation and became an interpreter, I still couldn’t interpret what people prayed in their private times of prayer, but I could interpret all public utterances. (I still can interpret public utterances, although I don’t always do it. Often there are several present who have the interpretation, and I allow someone else to give it forth.)

I have learned by experience that when someone speaks in tongues publicly, I can interpret their message in tongues if I respond to the Spirit. In First Corinthians 14:27,28, Paul infers that an interpreter can do this. He said, “If there be no interpreter . . . ,” inferring that some are interpreters, having the gift of interpretation, while others do not.

An interpreter might not be present in a meeting, and if no interpreter is present, the person giving the message in tongues should be silent. This implies that an interpreter always could interpret the messages.

In my own prayer life, I do not always interpret all the prayers I pray in tongues — only as the Lord wills and as it is necessary.

In Romans 8:26 we read, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

If you don’t know what to pray for as you ought, you can pray in the Spirit and then interpret. Then you will know what you prayed for. Then you will be praying “with the spirit and . . . with the understanding also.”

I am convinced that every believer should pray in the Spirit and “with the understanding” — not just pray a prayer out of his understanding, but pray the interpretation so he can understand his prayers in the Spirit.

Memory Text:

“Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.”

— 1 Cor. 14:13

Lesson 7

Tongues — A Flowing Stream of Praise

Bible Texts: 1 Corinthians 12:7-11; Ephesians 5:18,19; John 7:37-39

Central Truth: Speaking with tongues is a flowing stream that should never die out, but will enrich the life spiritually.

Having studied in the last lesson the necessity and value of praying in tongues, let us now take a closer look at the kinds and uses of tongues.

Tongues — One of the Nine Gifts of the Spirit

1 CORINTHIANS 12:7-11

7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;

9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;

10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:

11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

In these verses are listed the nine gifts, manifestations, or ways in which the Holy Spirit manifests Himself.

Three of these gifts are gifts of inspiration or utterance: prophecy, divers kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues. These vocal gifts are designed as an inspiration in public worship. Of them, the gift of tongues is the most prominent.

Tongues with interpretation is distinctive with this dispensation. All the other gifts of the Spirit were manifested in the Old Testament. Even in the life and ministry of Jesus, all the other gifts were manifested except tongues and interpretation.

Because tongues and interpretation is distinctive with this dispensation, it is manifested more frequently in the Church than the other gifts.

“Divers kinds of tongues” are supernatural utterances given by the Holy Spirit. They are languages never learned by the speaker, and they are not understood by him. Usually they are not understood by the hearers, although there are exceptions to this. There have been times when the words someone speaks in tongues have been understood by someone present.

A minister once told me of an experience he had had while preaching at a mission station in Mexico.

He said, “I preached for about five nights with the local missionary interpreting my sermons into Spanish. One night a Mexican woman came forward to receive the Holy Spirit after I had preached. The power of God fell on her and she began to speak in the most perfect English I had ever heard. I could understand everything she said. She had never been to school a day in her life, and her native tongue was Spanish.

“Hearing her speak in my language — English — a language she had never learned, was one of the most beautiful experiences I have ever had. It really did something for me. I never have been the same since.”

Another instance in which tongues was understood by a listener but not by the speaker involved a woman missionary to India.

While home on furlough, she attended a service at a Bible institute. One of the students gave a message in tongues, but no interpretation came. While everyone waited and wondered why there was no interpretation, the missionary stood and said, “That student was speaking one of the dialects of India. I understood every word that was said. The message was for me, and that is the reason no interpretation was given. Through this message God spoke to me, telling me He wanted me to go back to India and telling me what He wanted me to do there.”

Tongues — The Initial Evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit

Speaking in tongues always is manifested when people are baptized in the Holy Spirit: “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).

I do not argue, however, with those who claim to have the Holy Spirit even though they never have spoken in tongues. After all, the Holy Spirit does a work of regeneration when a person is born again, and the Bible tells us that “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Rom. 8:16).

Many years ago, as a young pastor hungry for the deeper things of God, I came to the conclusion while reading the New Testament that if I received the same Holy Spirit that the disciples did on the Day of Pentecost, I wanted the same accompanying sign. And if I didn’t have the same sign — speaking in tongues — I had no scriptural evidence that I was filled with the same Holy Spirit they were filled with.

Thank God, I did receive that same Holy Spirit and did speak with tongues as the Spirit gave utterance.

Smith Wigglesworth once argued that he already was filled and baptized with the Holy Spirit, even though at that time he had not spoken in other tongues.

When he heard that some people in an Episcopal (Anglican) church were speaking in tongues, he went to see about it. He found that the pastor, his wife, and many of their members had received the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

They asked Wigglesworth, “Do you have the Holy Ghost?”

Wigglesworth replied that he did.

“Well, have you spoken with tongues?” they asked.

“No, but I’m just as much filled with the Holy Ghost as you are!” he replied.

After a while, however, Wigglesworth began to see the necessity of speaking in tongues. He went to the Episcopal rectory to ask the pastor to pray for him, but he wasn’t home.

The pastor’s wife, however, said, “I’ll pray for you.”

Wigglesworth said, “Lay your hands on my head and pray that I’ll get the tongues.”

“You don’t want the tongues,” she said. “You want the Holy Ghost. The tongues will take care of themselves.”

Wigglesworth argued, “But I already have the Holy Spirit!”

“Never mind, just kneel down there,” the pastor’s wife said. She was tired of arguing with him.

Wigglesworth knelt, and as hands were laid upon him, the power of God came over him and he began to speak in other tongues. He later said, “The Holy Ghost settled all my arguments for me. I had been arguing and discussing the subject with them every day that I had the Holy Ghost just as much as they did. In a moment’s time I saw that I really never had been filled with the Holy Ghost. I had had some wonderful experiences as a minister as God blessed me and anointed me to preach, and many had been saved and even healed, but I never had been filled with the Holy Ghost until then.

“When you get an experience inside the Word of God, you have an experience outside the realm of argument. Before, I only had an argument, but now I have an experience with God.”

There are different purposes for ministering in tongues in a public assembly and speaking with tongues in your prayer life as a Spirit-baptized individual. However, the essence of tongues is the same, and the source of the tongues — the Holy Spirit — is the same in both cases.

Tongues in the Believer’s Prayer Life

The Spirit-baptized believer does not have to stop speaking in tongues after his initial experience. He can continue to use tongues in his private prayer and worship to God even though he may not be used to minister in tongues in public.

The late Howard Carter, who founded the oldest Pentecostal Bible school in the world in England, said, “We must not forget that the speaking with other tongues is not only an initial evidence or sign of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling, but it is a continual experience for the rest of one’s life to assist in the worship of God. Speaking with tongues is a flowing stream that should never die out, but will enrich the life spiritually.”

Sometimes we become satisfied and we feel we have “arrived” spiritually, so to speak, because we have been baptized in the Holy Spirit and have spoken in tongues for a while.

A pastor once told me about a young man in his church who had been seeking the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He attended the church’s revival services every night, and finally one night he received. After that he stopped attending the services. When the pastor asked him about it, he said, “Why, I finally got through!” But we don’t ever get through. That experience is just the beginning.

EPHESIANS 5:18,19

18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.

Paul wrote these verses to the born-again, Spirit filled believers in the Church at Ephesus. He told them to “be filled with the Spirit.” He told them to be drunk on the Spirit, not on wine. The Greek says, “be being filled”; in other words, maintain a constant experience. Keep drinking of the Spirit.

Then Paul gave the Ephesians the characteristic of the Spirit-filled life: “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (v. 19).

A psalm is a spiritual poem or an ode. It may or may not rhyme, but there is an element of poetry about it. It is given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit on the spur of the moment. It can come by tongues and interpretation or by prophecy.

JOHN 7-37-39

37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

Water is a type of the Holy Spirit. Jesus stood at the last day of the feast and told the people to drink of the Spirit. He was encouraging us to stay filled with the Spirit. By doing so, we can overcome the devil and the sins of this world, and we can live a life that is pleasing to Christ.

“. . . Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16).

Memory Text:

“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.”

— Eph. 5:18

Lesson 8

Prayer on a New Dimension

Bible Text: 1 Corinthians 14:2,4,18

Central Truth: As we pray in the Spirit, our spirit is not bound by human limitations.

Some people ask, “What is the use of speaking with tongues?” There also are those who have been filled with the Holy Spirit and have spoken in tongues but see no reason to continue to speak in tongues in their daily prayer life.

Evidently God thought that speaking in tongues is very important, because He inspired the Apostle Paul to devote an entire chapter in the Bible — First Corinthians 14 — to this subject.

Although all will agree on the utmost importance of prayer, where in the Bible can we find an entire chapter on prayer? The paying of tithes and offerings is another important subject; we could not carry on the work of God without money. But where in the Word of God do we see an entire chapter given to the subject? Water baptism also is important. But again we do not find an entire chapter devoted to the subject.

What I am saying is that God did not put unnecessary things in His Word. He has not filled the Bible with unimportant subjects. Therefore, the teachings on the subject of speaking in tongues are vital and necessary to every successful Christian.

Speaking Secrets to God

1 CORINTHIANS 14:2,4,18

2 For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.

4 He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself. . . .

18 I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all.

In verse two, when Paul said, “For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God,” he was not referring to ministering in tongues in a public assembly; he was talking about a Spirit-filled believer talking in tongues in his private prayer life. (This also includes praying in tongues during prayer services at the altar in church, because we go there to talk to God.)

Paul continued, “. . . howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.” Moffatt’s translation of this verse says, “. . . he is talking of divine secrets in the Spirit.” God has devised a way whereby we may speak to Him supernaturally! In the Spirit, we speak divine secrets to God!

While I was holding a meeting in Mesa, Arizona, the pastor told me the story of a young Jewish boy. He didn’t have too many friends, so one of the boys in the church befriended him and invited him to go to church with him.

At first the Jewish boy refused, saying that he didn’t believe in Christ. However, he began thinking that maybe he shouldn’t be so obstinate, because this Christian boy was the only one who had been kind to him. So he agreed to go with him.

During the service, a woman stood and gave a message in tongues. No interpretation was given. The pastor told me, “I waited for a few minutes, but finally when there was no interpretation to the message in tongues, we went on with the service. As I was shaking hands with the people at the conclusion of the service, the Jewish boy asked me, ‘Who was that lady who was talking to me?’

“At first I didn’t understand what he meant. He went on to explain, ‘That lady who got up in the service and talked to me spoke my language [Hebrew] and even called my name. She told me what I had been thinking. She told me that Christ was the Messiah and that I should believe on Him.’

“He seemed to resent her talking directly to him in front of the crowd. I said to him, ‘That dear lady is a widow who has only about a fifth grade education. She takes in washings for a living. She speaks no language but English.’

“Then I called the woman over and introduced her to him so he could see for himself that she was a very uneducated woman.

“The following Sunday night the Jewish boy was back in our services again, and that night he gave his heart to Christ.”

This young Jewish boy received Christ as his Messiah and Savior as a result of a humble widow who yielded to the Spirit’s operation through her to speak to a lost boy.

Spiritual Edification

First Corinthians 14:4 says, “He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself. . . .” This means that he builds himself up spiritually. Jude 20 says, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.”

This does not say that praying in the Holy Spirit will give you faith; it says it builds you up “on your most holy faith.” It is a means of spiritual edification.

While I was a young pastor of a community church out in the country, I stayed with one of the couples in the church. The wife was desperately ill with an ulcerated stomach and could eat nothing but baby food and a few raw eggs mixed in milk. She even had trouble keeping that on her stomach.

Then she received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I was not present, but she told me about her experience of being filled with the Spirit and speaking in other tongues.

No one laid hands on her to pray for her healing, but from the moment she received the Holy Spirit, she was instantly healed and could eat anything she wanted.

Surely no one could find fault with an experience that can bring both healing and blessing. This woman was a believer, a wonderful child of God, a dedicated Christian. By praying in tongues, she built herself up on her most holy faith, and her faith began to operate.

I have seen this happen many times. I have seen people with incurable conditions receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, speak with tongues, and become healed instantly. We had prayed for some of these same people with the laying on of hands before, but they had failed to receive their healing.

We know that speaking with tongues is a real spiritual boost to a person. It edifies him — it builds him up.

New Dimensions in Praise

Speaking with tongues is a way we can magnify God. We read in Acts 10:46 concerning Cornelius and his household, “For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. . . .”

I ministered for several years before receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit. During those years, I had some wonderful times in prayer, but often I went away from my place of prayer disappointed, even though I was blessed. I felt as if something were missing.

I would try to tell God how much I loved Him, using all the descriptive adjectives at my disposal. But I would exhaust my vocabulary. In my spirit I felt I had not said what I wanted to say. This was because my spirit wanted to pray apart from my understanding: “For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful” (1 Cor. 14:14).

All this changed after I received the Holy Spirit and prayed in tongues. I can now communicate with God on a new dimension. My spirit is no longer bound by earthly vocabularies; it can soar beyond the limitations of human speech. My spirit is enabled by the indwelling Holy Spirit to say what it wants to say.

I cannot begin to estimate the worth of praying in the Spirit in my life. For many years, I traveled on the evangelistic field, having to spend much time away from my family. Again and again the Holy Spirit alerted me to needs in my family. I would be awakened in the night by the Spirit’s urging me to pray concerning a problem that had arisen at home. I immediately would go to prayer, saying, “I don’t know what is wrong — I don’t know the source of the trouble — but You know everything.”

I would ask the Holy Spirit within me, who is my Helper, to help me pray about this situation, whatever it might be, in the way it should be prayed for. Then I began praying in tongues.

I have prayed as much as six hours in tongues. Often the Lord let me know what I was praying about and what the answer to it was. Whether or not He did, I knew my praying was right, and in a few days I would see how it worked out.

Praying in the Spirit has been such a blessing to my life that I want to encourage Christians everywhere to make it a part of their prayer life, too.

I want you to know the joy of fellowshipping with the Lord in the Holy Spirit. I want you to allow the Spirit to help you with your praying. I want to invite you to come on in and communicate with God supernaturally.

God wants to do so much more for you. He wants to communicate with you in a better way.

Memory Text:

“For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth. . . .”

— 1 Cor. 14:14

Lesson 9

The Prayers of Petition and Consecration

Bible Texts: Matthew 21:22; Mark 11:24; Luke 22:42

Central Truth: God is concerned about everything that touches us, and He has made a provision to meet our needs through prayer.

In the King James Version, Ephesians 6:18 reads, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. . . .” Moffatt’s translation reads, “Praying.... with all manner of prayer.” Yet another translation says, “Praying with all kinds of prayer. . . .”

In today’s lesson we will look at some of the different kinds of prayer in the New Testament.

Just as numerous games are classified as “sports,” different kinds of prayer often are lumped together under the general category of “prayer.”

We need to realize that just as different rules govern each game, different principles, rules, or spiritual laws also govern different kinds of prayer. In sports, the rules that apply to baseball do not apply to football.

A visitor from Europe was taken by his host to see an American baseball game in New York City. He didn’t know much about the game, because it is not played in his country, and he had to ask a number of questions because he didn’t understand the terminology. He was accustomed to sports that were quite different and he knew the same rules didn’t apply in all cases.

Likewise, spiritually, the principles that apply to one kind of prayer may not apply to another, and you can become terribly confused if you try to apply the wrong rule to a certain kind of prayer.

The first kind of prayer we will study in this lesson is the prayer of petition.

The Prayer of Petition

MATTHEW 21:22

22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

MARK 11:24

24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

By far the most frequent prayer of Christians is the prayer of petition. We always are petitioning or asking God to do something for us. This is scriptural, of course, because He told us in Matthew 21:22, “. . . ask in prayer, believing. . . .”

The prayer of petition must be a prayer of faith. It primarily concerns an individual’s desires, needs, and problems. It is you praying for yourself, not someone else praying for you or agreeing with you in prayer.

When you pray the prayer of petition, believe that you receive. If you will do that, you will have what you ask for. God is concerned about our needs and He wants to meet them for us.

Notice that in the Old Testament, God promised His people more than spiritual blessings; He promised them that they would prosper financially and materially. He told them He would take sickness away from their midst, and He would give them long life: “. . . the number of thy days I will fulfil” (Exod. 23:26). God also told them that if they would keep His commandments, they would eat the good the land (Isa. 1:19).

God is just as interested in His people today as He was then. He is concerned about everything that touches our lives. He promised us in Third John 2, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”

Jesus said, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matt. 7:11). We must realize that it is God’s will that our needs — spiritual, physical, and material — be met.

Some people think they should conclude every prayer with the words “If it be thy will.” They claim this is the way Jesus prayed. However, Jesus prayed this way on only one occasion, when He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane.

By contrast, when He stood at Lazarus’ tomb, He didn’t say, “If it be thy will.” Instead, He said, “I thank You because You hear me always” (John 11:41-43). Then He commanded Lazarus to come forth.

The prayer to raise Lazarus was a prayer to change something. Anytime we pray to change something, we do not need to put an “if” in our prayer. If we do, we are using the wrong rule, and the prayer won’t work. Instead, we need to claim God’s promise for our petition and believe that we receive it.

Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane —the prayer in which He put an “if” —was a prayer of consecration.

The Prayer of Consecration

LUKE 22:42

42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

In the Garden of Gethsemane Christ prayed the prayer of submission, consecration, and dedication: “. . . if thou be willing . . . nevertheless not my will . . .” He wanted to do what the Father wanted Him to do.

It was not a prayer of petition. It was not a prayer to get something or to change something. It was a prayer of consecration.

When we consecrate our lives for God’s use, to go anywhere and do anything He wants us to do, we pray this kind of prayer. In a prayer of consecration and dedication we pray, “If it be thy will.”

When it comes to changing things or getting something from God, however, we do not pray, “If it be thy will,” because we already have God’s Word concerning it. We know it is His will that our needs be met.

Memory Text:

“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”

— Eph. 6:18

Lesson 10

The Prayer of Worship (Part 1)

Bible Text: Acts 13:1-4

Central Truth: As yielded hearts pour out praises to God, the Holy Spirit will manifest Himself in their midst.

As we noted in the last lesson, most of our prayers are the petition type of prayer.

Too many of us are like the little boy who prayed, “Lord, my name is Jimmy, and I’ll take all You’ll gimme!” This seems to be the only kind of prayer we know anything about. And if it is the only type of prayer we are praying, I wonder if the Lord sometimes doesn’t get a bit tired of hearing just “give me” prayers.

We need to take time to wait on God and to minister to Him — time when we are not asking Him for anything — time when we are not petitioning Him.

Not only do we need to minister to the Lord in our individual prayer lives, but we also need to do it as a group. We read of a group in the New Testament who held such a service:

ACTS 13:1-4

1 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

3 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

4 So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.

Today when Christians gather for a church service, we usually minister to one another. Our services are designed that way. Few of our songs minister to the Lord; we minister to one another in song. Even when we sing special solo numbers, we are not ministering to the Lord; we are ministering to one another.

Our prayers are primarily petitions. We petition the Lord to move in our midst, to manifest Himself among us, and to meet our individual needs.

When the minister stands to speak, he doesn’t minister to the Lord; he ministers to the congregation. When the service is over, if we do have a time of waiting on God in prayer, this usually consists of petitioning prayer again.

Thus, we don’t go to church necessarily to minister to the Lord, but to pray and seek God on our own behalf.

The Christians we just read about in Acts 13, however, came together and “. . . ministered to the Lord, and fasted.” More than one person was involved in this account, because it says, “As THEY ministered to the Lord, and fasted. . . .” This is the true prayer of worship.

God’s Desire for Man’s Praise

God made man so He would have someone to have fellowship with. He made man for His own pleasure. It is true that God is concerned about us and wants to meet our every need, but even more than that, He wants our love, worship, and fellowship.

We are born of God. He is our Father. No earthly parent ever enjoyed the fellowship of his children more than God enjoys the fellowship of His sons and daughters.

In one revival meeting we held I decided to do something different. After about six weeks of meetings, I announced to the congregation one night, “Let’s have some different kinds of services. For three nights out of these remaining two weeks, I want us to come together to minister to the Lord.”

I explained, “I may read from the Word a little and make a few comments, but I am not going to do any preaching. We are not going to petition God to do anything. We are coming as a group to wait on the Lord — to minister to Him and to worship Him. If you don’t want to pray this way, do not come on these particular nights.”

I added, “I don’t want us to come and wait on Him for just ten minutes. I want us to come with the thought in mind that we will wait at least an hour in prayer, and perhaps longer. We will minister to the Lord, praise Him, tell Him how much we love Him, and thank Him for His goodness and mercy.”

One might have expected the crowds to have fallen off on those nights, but they didn’t. Just as many people came to praise and worship the Lord as came on the other nights. I found that the people wanted to wait on God. And in that kind of atmosphere, God ministered to us in unusual ways. I am convinced that we miss out on many blessings because we don’t take time to get into the right attitude of worship and to minister to the Lord.

The Power of Praise

Let me call your attention to the fact that this is the kind of atmosphere God can move in. We read in Acts 13:2, “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, THE HOLY GHOST SAID. . . .” With hearts full of love and praise, yielded to the Lord, the Holy Spirit can manifest Himself and make known God’s will and leading for His children’s lives.

A minister told me of an experience he once had which illustrates this power of praise. Early in his ministry, while he was still a young evangelist, he was staying at a pastor’s home during one of his revival meetings.

During the night a call came for the pastor to go pray for a baby who was having convulsions. The pastor had been called out of town to preach a funeral, but the pastor’s wife asked this young evangelist to go with her and a few other faithful Christians to pray for the child.

Relating the experience to me, he said, “We rebuked the devil, prayed at the top of our voices, and went through all the motions we sometimes feel are necessary to get God to hear our prayers. After about forty minutes of such rigorous praying, the child was no better, but continued having convulsions.

“I had done about all I knew to do — I’d done everything I’d ever seen anybody else do — but nothing happened. Then the group gradually became quiet and the pastor’s wife began to say softly, ‘Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,’ and praises began rolling from her lips. She continued in this spirit of praise for about ten minutes. Finally, one by one, all of us picked it up until we were all praising God. In the midst of that atmosphere, the child’s convulsions ceased and he fell asleep.

“We stood around rejoicing, but while we were talking, the child awakened and went back into convulsions. We became alarmed and started to pray and rebuke the devil. We anointed the child with oil and laid hands on him. We went through all the usual maneuvers again, but nothing seemed to help.

“Then when we settled down again, the pastor’s wife began to praise the Lord, ministering to the Lord, and telling Him how much she loved Him. We all joined in, and soon the child’s convulsions stopped and he went to sleep, permanently healed. That night I witnessed the power of praise.”

This was an instance when the prayer of worship worked when nothing else would. As these believers, like those in the Early Church, “ministered to the Lord,” the Holy Spirit moved and manifested the mighty power of God.

Memory Text:

“And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.”

— Luke 24:52,53

Lesson 11

The Prayer of Worship (Part 2)

Bible Texts: Acts 16:22-25; 2 Chronicles 20:15,17-19,21,22; Luke 24:50-53

Central Truth: Praise was a characteristic of the Early Church.

In the sixteenth chapter of Acts we have the story of Paul and Silas in Philippi. We read of their arrest, how they were beaten with many stripes, and how they were cast into prison.

ACTS 16:22-25

22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded them to beat them.

23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely:

24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

A Song at Midnight

I want to call special attention to verse 25: “. . . Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God . . .” What did they have to be so happy about that they felt like singing? Surely nothing was going right for them.

They had been preaching the Good News of the Gospel and what did they get for it? They were brought before the rulers, charged and beaten, and then cast into prison with their feet placed in stocks.

Their backs were sore and bleeding. Every part of their bodies ached. But did they sit there moaning and complaining, crying, “Why did this have to happen to us?” No. The Bible says they “sang praises unto God.”

If they had been like some of us today, the scripture might have read, “And at midnight Paul and Silas griped and complained, whined and whimpered, wondering why God had allowed this to come upon them.” Their conversation might have followed this line:

“Paul, you still there?”

“Sure, I’m still here. Where else could I be?”

“I tell you, my poor back is really hurting me. I just don’t understand why God ever sent this on us. He knows that I’ve tried to serve Him and have done my best.”

That kind of attitude would have just gotten them further into trouble instead of out of it!

We can learn something here from Paul and Silas. After all, they were in trouble. They were in pain. They were in jail. All in all, it was a bleak situation. One could hardly blame them for being discouraged. However, as someone has said, Paul and Silas got in jail, but they didn’t let the jail get in them.

This is the reason many people are defeated. Trouble comes to everyone, but our attitude toward it is what makes the difference between victory and defeat. How we look at the situation makes the difference in whether we get out at all.

In the example of Paul and Silas we can find help for our midnight hour — our time of testing — when the storms of life threaten to sweep us overboard.

Paul and Silas weren’t in Philippi on a vacation. They were there to do the Lord’s work. They weren’t out of the will of God.

The first thing that some people think when adversity strikes is that they surely must be out of the Lord’s will or such a thing wouldn’t have happened. But Paul and Silas were right in the middle of God’s will.

If we were meant to measure if we are in God’s will by whether or not everything runs smoothly, with no hard places and no sacrifices, then Paul never got in the will of God in his entire ministry — he missed it from beginning to end!

Let us notice something else in verse 25: “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: AND THE PRISONERS HEARD THEM.” They weren’t quiet about it. They were praising God out loud right there in jail.

Not only did the prisoners hear them, but God heard them! “And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed” (v. 26).

Deliverance came while they were praising God.

A Song in Battle

Let us look at an Old Testament counterpart to this story. During the reign of King Jehoshaphat, the Ammonites and Moabites came against the Israelites. Jehoshaphat cried out to the Lord in prayer and He answered him.

2 CHRONICLES 20:15,17-19,21,22

15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. . . .

17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.

18 And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshipping the Lord.

19 And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high. . . .

21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever.

22 And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.

Jehoshaphat knew his army was no match for those of the countries banded against him, but he knew his God was more than a match for them. He called a prayer meeting and the people fasted and prayed. The Spirit of God moved upon a young man in the congregation and he stood and prophesied. The Lord told them not to fear, for the battle was the Lord’s.

The next morning when they went out against the enemy’s powerful armies, they did not go against them with swords and spears but with songs of praise (v. 21). They marched and chanted, “Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever.” In their hour of trial, instead of cowering in fear, the children of Israel sang praises to God just as Paul and Silas did in jail.

And what was the outcome of this battle? Look at verse 22: “And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.” When they began to sing praises to God, He did something. They witnessed a manifestation of God’s power.

Praise, a Characteristic of the Early Church

A spirit of praise and rejoicing was a characteristic of the Early Church.

LUKE 24:50-53

50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.

51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.

52 And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:

53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

After the disciples watched Jesus return to heaven, they went back to Jerusalem with hearts filled with praise and thanksgiving to God.

Then we read about them in Acts 2:46,47: “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”

Notice the expression, “They, continuing DAILY with one accord . . . eat their meat with gladness . . . praising God. . . .” With these early Christians, this wasn’t a spasmodic occurrence — something that happened once in a great while. The Bible uses the words “continually” and “daily.”

Too many Christians today get “prayed through” about every six months and have a time of praising and blessing God. If we were writing about their experience, we would have to use the words “occasionally” or perhaps even “semi-annually.” But the Bible records that the early Christians “were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.”

If we want to see the same manifestation of power the Early Church had, we are going to have to see the same manifestations of praise they had.

Memory Text:

“And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.”

— Luke 24:52,53

Lesson 12

United Prayer

Bible Text: Acts 4:23-31

Central Truth: There is power in united prayer.

In the third chapter of Acts we read that as Peter and John entered the Temple through the Gate Beautiful, they saw a man begging alms.

Peter told the man to look at them. Expecting to receive a coin, he looked, and Peter told him, “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 3:6). Peter took the man by the hand, lifted him up, and the man started walking. He entered the Temple praising God.

This raised a stir among the people, and Peter and John were taken before the priests and elders. They were cast into prison, and the next day were taken before the rulers. Unable to deny that a true miracle had taken place, the priests were forced to let them go. However, they commanded them not to preach or teach in the Name of Jesus anymore. Then we read:

ACTS 4:23-30

23 And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.

24 And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:

25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?

26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,

28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

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.

From Prison to Prayer Group

Notice the first thing Peter and John did when they were released from the prison: “And being let go, they went to their own company. . . .” A good place to be when in trouble is with your “own company” — people of like faith! It is good to be around people who know how to pray.

I often have thought that if this group had been like some Christians today, the first thing they would have done would have been to organize a committee to go talk to those leaders and make a deal whereby everyone could get along. After all, these leaders were religious men too. They believed in God and prayer. The only difference was that they didn’t accept Jesus as being the Messiah, the Son of God.

However, the Bible does not say they appointed a committee for compromise. It says, “. . . they lifted up their voice to God with one accord.” They knew the value of united prayer.

I was raised in a Southern Baptist church, and in my youth I never heard people praying aloud in united prayer. In our church someone usually led in prayer. We never lifted our voices as a group in prayer.

When I started attending some Full Gospel services, their praying all at once disturbed me. I would go down to the altar to pray with them, but I prayed quietly. It bothered me because they prayed aloud. Their services stimulated my faith, but when I prayed at the altar, I would get at the far end, away from them, so I wouldn’t be close to their noise.

One time I ventured to say something about it. I told them that God wasn’t hard of hearing. They responded, “He isn’t nervous, either.”

I decided to search my Bible for the scriptural answer to this question. I wanted to see how the Early Church had prayed. (We claim to be preaching the same New Birth they preached, so we might as well be following them in prayer.)

As I read through the Book of Acts, I underlined in red pencil every verse where it said the people prayed in a group. I couldn’t find one place where they called on one person to lead in prayer! Nor did they have any kind of “sentence prayers.” The Bible said they lifted their voices. They all prayed at once, and they all prayed out loud.

After reading this, the next time I went to a Full Gospel service I got right in the middle of where they were praying. My mind had been renewed with the Word, and I got a blessing I never had received when praying alone quietly. I saw for the first time the blessing of united prayer.

Results of United Prayer

What was the result of the united prayer of the believers in this fourth chapter of Acts? Was their united prayer answered?

Let’s look at verse 31:

ACTS 4:31

31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

In verse 29 we read that they had prayed, “And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word.”

They had not asked the Lord to remove the persecution or to strike down their enemies. They had not asked the Lord to make their way easy. Instead they had prayed that in the midst of persecution they might preach the Word with boldness. And the Lord had answered their prayer.

Verse 31 says that “. . . the place was shaken where they were assembled together. . . .” Do you know of any group of people who are praying and shaking anything today? If Christians today would get together and pray “with one accord,” they would shake the world for Jesus. There is power in united prayer!

Notice, too, that their prayer was for something specific. They were definite in their praying. They were not praying some generalized prayer; they were praying about the need that faced them. And they all prayed at once. As they lifted their voices to God in fervent prayer, “the place was shaken.”

In our last lesson we studied about a similar incident. Paul and Silas had been thrown in jail in Philippi for preaching the Gospel.

Instead of complaining to the Lord about what had happened to them, they lifted their voices to the Lord in songs of praise. “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them” (Acts 16:25). They, too, were praying aloud, for “the prisoners heard them.” They weren’t off in some corner mumbling quiet, forlorn pleas to God. The prisoners heard them as they sang praises unto God.

Some people say they want to pray quietly because the Lord knows they have a song in their heart. But if it is there, it is going to come out, “. . . for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matt. 12:34).

Did God answer the united prayer of Paul and Silas? Acts 16:26 says, “And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened and every one’s bands were loosed.” Again the place was shaken as a result of united prayer!

When Paul and Silas joined forces in prayer and praise to God, the very foundations of the prison were shaken! The stocks came off their feet, and they were free.

The jailer, awakened by the earthquake, saw the prison doors standing open and assumed the prisoners had fled. He knew he would be held responsible for their escape, and he became so frightened that he was going to kill himself. Just then Paul cried out, “. . . Do thyself no harm: for we are all here (v. 28).

The jailer knew he had witnessed the supernatural that night. He knew Paul and Silas were no ordinary men, and he “. . . came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (vv. 29-31). As a result of Paul and Silas’ united prayer that night, the jailer and his entire family accepted Christ as Savior and all were baptized.

There is supernatural power in in prayer!

Memory Text:

“These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication. . . .”

— Acts 1:14

Lesson 13

The Prayer of Commitment

Bible Texts: Matthew 6:25-27; Philippians 4:6

Central Truth: When the winds of adversity blow, we can do exactly as the Word of God says. We do not have to fret or worry; we can cast our burdens on the Lord.

Do you sometimes pray about a problem with seemingly no results? Unanswered prayers usually are due to our not praying in line with the Word of God.

Often there are times when we need to pray the prayer of commitment. Peter talked about this kind of prayer when he said, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7). I believe The Amplified Bible translation of this verse is most illuminating and enlightening. It says, “Casting the whole of your care — all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all — on Him; for He cares for you affectionately, and cares about you watchfully.”

How wonderful that we can cast our cares upon the Lord in prayer!

Pray According to Laws Governing Prayer

If people would just pray this prayer of commitment, it would eliminate some of the things they are praying about!

Some people’s prayers are not answered because they are not doing what God said to do about cares, anxieties, worries, and concerns.

Other Christians seem satisfied to think that God knows and understands all about their problems — but they still cling to these cares. Therefore, they don’t get their prayers answered. It is not enough to know that God understands and is concerned. We must do what He said to do if we want to be delivered from our problems.

Cast all your cares, all your anxieties, all your worries upon Him, for He cares for you. This is the prayer of commitment — the prayer of casting or rolling our cares and burdens upon Him.

A scripture in the Psalms may help us see more clearly what Peter is talking about here: “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass” (Ps. 37:5). A reference in the King James Version says, “Roll thy way upon the Lord.”

Commit, cast, roll your burden on the Lord. He is not going to take it away from you. Some request, “Pray that the Lord will lighten this load.” He’s not going to do that. He doesn’t want to just lighten your load; He wants to carry it all. But there is a vital part that we must play in this. It is the prayer of commitment.

God does not want His children to worry, to be full of anxiety, or to be burdened down with the cares of life. But there is something you must do.

In imperative sentences, such as those in First Peter 5:7 and Psalm 37:5, the subject of the sentence is understood to be “you.” The Lord said, “You cast all your care upon him.” “You commit your way unto the Lord.”

We must do our part — we must obey the Lord before He can come to our aid. We must turn loose of our problem before He can take over.

This is a once-and-for-all proposition; it isn’t something you do every day. When we really cast our cares upon Him, we don’t have them anymore. We are rid of them. They are no longer in our hands, but in His.

There is so much that the Lord would have done for us, but we wouldn’t let Him. We may have been honest and sincere in our praying, but we saw no answers to our prayers because we did not come according to His rules, His laws, that govern the operation of prayer. We did not do what He told us to do, and we wondered why He didn’t work certain things out for us.

Sometimes we have brought our burden to the altar of prayer. We have prayed and prayed and prayed about it. Then when we got up to leave, we picked up our burden off the altar and took it home with us!

Then there are those who do not really want to get rid of their problems. Oh, they claim — sometimes rather loudly — that they do. But they don’t — not really — because if they did, they wouldn’t have anything to get people’s sympathy with. They wouldn’t have anything to complain about. They would almost have to close down conversation!

The Futility of Worry

MATTHEW 6:25-27

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

Jesus was simply saying in this passage, “Which of you by worrying and being over-anxious is going to change anything?” We all know that worry is like a rocking chair: It keeps you busy, but it doesn’t get you anywhere.

Luke’s Gospel records the same teaching and says, “And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life . . .” (Luke 12:22). Another translation of this verse reads, “Be not anxious about tomorrow.”

Of course, we have to plan and prepare for tomorrow. We have to make certain provisions for the future. But what the Lord was teaching us here is that He doesn’t want us to be filled with anxiety and worry about tomorrow. We can say with the Gospel songwriter, “I don’t know about tomorrow, but I know Who holds my hand.” That’s all that is important.

Worry Nullifies Prayer

PHILIPPIANS 4:6

6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

The Amplified translation of this verse will help us. It says, “Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything.” Again, “you” is the understood subject of the sentence. When the Lord said, “Be careful (anxious) for nothing,” He was saying, “[You] be careful for nothing. . . .” In other words, “Don’t you fret or have any anxiety about anything.”

As long as you fret and have anxiety concerning the thing you are praying about, you are nullifying the effects of your praying. You haven’t cast it on the Lord; you still have it. If you have it, He doesn’t have it. If He has it, you don’t have it.

As long as you are still worrying about your problem, lying awake at night, tossing from one side of the bed to the other, trying to figure it out, He doesn’t have it. As long as your stomach churns every time you think about it, as long as you can’t eat for worrying about it, He doesn’t have it. You do. And really, all of your praying about it will not work, because you have not done as He has commanded. He has promised to bring it to pass, but only after you have committed your “way unto the Lord.”

When we cast our cares on the Lord, we no longer have them. To illustrate, if I took the last five dollars out of my billfold and gave it to you, I wouldn’t have it any longer; you would. Then if someone came along and asked to borrow a dollar, promising to pay it back the next day, I would have to say, “I don’t have a dollar.”

I pastored for about twelve years. Occasionally during that time, problems arose, and I would be tempted to worry about them. When I would find myself becoming anxious about something, I would start talking to myself. “Now, Kenneth,” I would say, “you know better than this. You are beginning to fret. Don’t do it. It’s not right.”

Many times during the night I would awaken and the devil would bring to my mind a picture of certain conditions which existed in the church. I would be tempted to worry, but instead of worrying, I’d start laughing right out loud and say, “I don’t have that problem. Praise the Lord, I’m carefree. I don’t have it, devil. You can show me a picture of it if you want, but I don’t have it. The Lord has it.”

It’s amazing what God can do with your problems when He has them! But as long as you hold onto them — as long as you try to figure them out for Him and try to help Him work them out — He doesn’t have any of them. You have them all.

When the winds of adversity blow, we can do exactly as the Word of God says. We do not have to fret or worry; we can cast our burdens on the Lord.

If you haven’t done it yet, there is no better time than now to turn loose of your problems and sleep peacefully tonight. If the devil tries to bring a picture of them before you, put them out of your mind immediately and say, “No, I don’t have that, devil. I don’t have a care, I have turned them over to the Lord and He has them.”

He’ll work on it while you are sleeping. He never slumbers or sleeps (Ps. 121:4). You need sleep, but He doesn’t. “. . . he giveth his beloved sleep” (Ps. 127:2). You are His beloved because you are accepted in the Beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:6). Therefore, you can sleep peacefully.

If we really believe the Bible and practice God’s Word, we never should worry. If we really believe what Jesus said — “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14) — we wouldn’t worry even if our house burned down while we were away. We wouldn’t worry or fret about it. We would say, “Praise God, we’ll get a better one.” This is the attitude God wants us to have. Purpose in your heart today to practice God’s Word; to practice faith.

Memory Text:

“Casting all your care upon hill for he careth for you.”

— 1 Peter 5:7

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

Steps to Answered Prayer

Seven Steps to Answered Prayer (Part 1)

Seven Steps to Answered Prayer (Part 2)

The Prayer That Unlocks Heaven

The Authority of Jesus’ Name

The Prayer of Agreement

Interpreting Our Prayers in the Spirit

Tongues — A Flowing Stream of Praise

Prayer on a New Dimension

The Prayers of Petition and Consecration

The Prayer of Worship (Part 1)

The Prayer of Worship (Part 2)

United Prayer

The Prayer of Commitment

About the Author

More Information from KHM

Table of Contents

Steps to Answered Prayer

Seven Steps to Answered Prayer (Part 1)

Seven Steps to Answered Prayer (Part 2)

The Prayer That Unlocks Heaven

The Authority of Jesus’ Name

The Prayer of Agreement

Interpreting Our Prayers in the Spirit

Tongues — A Flowing Stream of Praise

Prayer on a New Dimension

The Prayers of Petition and Consecration

The Prayer of Worship (Part 1)

The Prayer of Worship (Part 2)

United Prayer

The Prayer of Commitment

About the Author

More Information from KHM