Contents

1    Develop the Spiritual Man

2    Above All, Seek Wisdom

3    Cooperate with God

4    Practice the Word

5    Be Guided by the Voice of God

A Sinner's Prayer To Receive Jesus as Savior

Chapter 1

DEVELOP THE SPIRITUAL MAN

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole SPIRIT and SOUL and BODY be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

—1 Thessalonians 5:23

We get a picture of the threefold man—body, soul, and spirit—from this text. We will study the spirit man—the real you—in this message.

Millions of dollars are spent every year to develop the physical man—and there's nothing wrong with that. I myself spend a certain amount every year on a health club membership to keep my physical body in shape.

Paul said, "bodily exercise profiteth little" (1 Tim. 4:8), but he didn't say it didn't profit. I have found that a physical body that is in shape produces a spirit that is more finely tuned. If you discipline the outward (or physical) man to run or work out, you can apply the same discipline on the spirit man, and he'll become just as much in shape as the natural man.

Millions of dollars also are spent every year to develop the intellect—and you should be spending money to develop your intellect. You may argue, "But I've already gone to school." Fine, but the bookstores are full of good materials you could purchase to read up on what is happening in the world. To be successful, you should be learning continually.

You should be involved in getting your physical man developed; your intellect educated; and your spirit trained.

I won't go into the development of the physical and intellectual man here, because most of you already have been taught that in school and elsewhere. In fact, in this day we're living in here in the United States, there is no excuse for anyone's being uneducated. Resources are available.

For example, some of the schools in our area sponsor community education programs. For a small fee per course, you can learn such subjects as auto mechanics, stained glass windows, woodworking, metal shop, drafting, music, sailing, and many others. Such programs are wonderful, but we need to develop the spirit of man, too.

There are four steps in the development of the spiritual man:

First: Meditate in the Word.

The way to feed information to the intellect is by studying books and other materials. The way to feed information into the spirit is by studying the Bible.

I don't mean grabbing it for five minutes and turning to the Proverbs and Psalms, either. That's what some people call reading and studying the Word. They think five minutes' reading and a quick prayer is all they need to do each day.

(You'll find they are very weak spiritually. They have a very weak spirit man. He follows every wind of doctrine that comes along instead of settling down in a good church somewhere and becoming part of the family of God.)

Yes, we're born into the family of God, but we need to be part of a local body, fellowship, and reach out to those who need to be helped.

Sometimes I get a little tired of preaching to those who are running after "the fire." It's good to preach to the sheep—the stable ones.

Chapter 2

ABOVE ALL, SEEK WISDOM

Joshua said, "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" (Josh. 1:8).

Another translation reads, "And then shalt thou be able to deal wisely with the affairs of life."

How can you be a success if you can't deal wisely with the issues of life? The thing most lacking among all the faith and charismatic people —and church people in general—is wisdom.

As a pastor friend said, "It's the easiest thing in the world to be involved with the Spirit, but the crux of the matter is in having the wisdom to know how to operate in the gifts."

People operate the gifts unwisely because they have not built up their spirit; they lack knowledge.

Wisdom is necessary in all areas of life; even

in the business world. If wisdom abounds, you will operate your business wisely. If you don't have any wisdom, you'll operate the business unwisely and it will fail.

If your first store is barely making it, do you go out and open three more? That would be unwise, wouldn't it? You need capital to carry the new stores until they get going.

But for some reason or other, people who get into spiritual things launch out without using any intelligence, saying, "Well, God will take care of me." Then they get so busy they dry up spiritually. They run out of anything to give out.

I'm not advocating not being busy for God, but I am advocating not running all over the place trying to be involved in too many things. Settle down into one church and get involved there; don't run all over the country.

I could slip into teaching about the family here —such as a wife running all over town to prayer meetings or spending all day shut up with a tape recorder, and when her husband comes home, her hair is still a mess, she still hasn't put her makeup on, she's still in her robe, and the house looks like a cyclone hit it—dirty dishes everywhere and no dinner prepared.

The minute her husband comes through the door, she starts hollering, "Brother So-and-so's over at such-and-such church. Get ready—we're going over there. We'll grab a hamburger on the way!" And her husband's already eaten hamburgers for dinner the past seven nights! That's not being wise. That's not dealing wisely, either spiritually or naturally.

Success is not measured by anybody else in the congregation. Success is not measured by your peers or by any other church. God once told me, "You're successful if you're doing what I told you to do, whether you've got 3 or 3,000 people in your church. If you're doing what I told you to do, then you're successful."

If you're doing what God told you to do, whether it's working with children, teaching a class, taking the offering, or otherwise helping in the church, then you are successful—no matter what friends, relatives, or neighbors say.

Some may ask you, "If you're going out in the ministry, why don't you get on out there?" Maybe you're not supposed to get out into the fivefold ministries yet; maybe you're supposed to stay in the church and help and teach.

God does not compare you with anybody else. I know that from studying the Word of God and from being a parent. Do you measure the success of one child by what another child is doing, or do you judge them on their own merits? Did you know God does the same? He judges our success on our own merits.

He doesn't even judge us by our wives, thank God. Maybe it should be the other way around, too: He doesn't judge you ladies by your husbands. When I've preached this, I've noticed some wives were afraid to laugh because their husbands were looking at them. That's why that husband is not successful; he's keeping her under too much. (You can't be successful by standing on other people.)

Another way to be successful is found in the first verse I memorized as a little boy: "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.. . . " (Ps. 1:1).

News commentators and financial analysts make their predictions through the media, telling you, "Now's the time to do this; now's the time to do something else. Buy, sell, borrow, lend.... "

Often we can follow their lead—unless God is speaking to us to do otherwise. If we disregard His leading at such times, we cannot be blessed, because we're taking the counsel of the ungodly. We've got to use wisdom in these circumstances.

I remember one time that God was speaking to this ministry to do a certain thing. We had a meeting with our business advisers, who are all Spirit-filled Christian businessmen.

Brother Hagin and I said to them, "We know what the economy says. We know what all of the business indicators say concerning the next few months. But God is saying something else to us about moving into a large project."

One of the men spoke up and said, "Brother Hagin, the Word of God that you teach says to move with God and not pay any attention to the counsel of the ungodly when God is speaking. I'm a businessman, and I've put these principles into practice. I pray about business decisions, and if God says do it—even if the business indicators say not to—I'll go ahead and do it. That's why I am where I am today."

He continued, "If I can't get an answer about something when I pray, I look to the indicators of my development business. If the indicators say 'Don't do it,' I don't do it."

That's using natural and spiritual wisdom together. I'm not talking about double-mindedness here, either; I'm talking about how to learn to use the natural and the supernatural together to become an explosive force for God.

Too many people throw intellect out the window when they start walking by faith, trying to be a success for God.

PSALM 1:1-3

1    Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2    But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3    And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

That sounds like Joshua 1:8; doesn't it? It means that when wintertime comes, that man or woman is not going to dry up when the sap goes down and the leaves fall off. That gives you a picture of what happens when hard times come to the tree.

In winter, when the sap's not running and goes back down into the roots of the tree, that tree— unless it's an evergreen—looks like it's dead. But the life is in the foundation or roots of the tree. There is a root system beneath that tree that's deep enough and strong enough to support its height. All of the life is there. That tree is just as much alive during winter as it is during any other time of the year; it just doesn't look like it.

It says here that the man who walks in the way of the Lord and meditates in the Word will bring forth fruit in his season, and his leaf shall not wither or fade away. And whatsoever he does will prosper.

Chapter 3

COOPERATE WITH GOD

The second step in being successful has to do with financial prosperity: Practice the Word.

A few years ago I was talking with my dad and I said, "All I have are the clothes on my back, our furniture, and one car. That's all the worldly goods I have—and I've got a family. I'm prospering, all right, but I want to build up something for my family. I've been claiming some things."

Dad said, "Well, here's your problem. It's the problem a lot of people have. They're always talking about prosperity, but they've never put their hand to anything."

I realized what he was talking about.

He said, "Son, you've got to get out and start doing something. You've got to do something for the Lord to prosper you."

I began to look for an area I could get involved in to prosper. I saved up a small amount of money and got involved in a real estate investment. I began to talk to it and pray about it. I said, "All right, I'm putting my hand to something. Now, Lord, I expect You to prosper it."

To God be the glory, in one year's time, my financial statement showed an enormous return on that small investment. Then the group of people I had gone in with moved on to other investments. Notice I did not go into business with people who were not Christians. We use that Scripture about not being unequally yoked together to refer to marriage, but that Scripture also can mean Christians not being unequally yoked with unsaved business partners.

One man preaches about "faith, foolishness, or presumption." I call it faith, foolishness, or stupidity. I'm telling you, the way to be prosperous is to put your hand to something, but don't be stupid when you do it.

Some people think that being strong in faith is driving a new Cadillac. That doesn't have anything to do with faith. I could think of many people who drive Cadillacs, but they don't know a thing about faith.

Being strong in faith is not what you drive, where you live, or what you wear. Some people go on the road to minister and think they're not in faith unless they stay in lavish and expensive hotel rooms or suites.

When I go on a crusade, I stay in a nice but cheap room, because I'm not going to be living there. All I'm doing is sleeping in that room. When you're running four or five services a day in crusades, you hardly ever see that room, so why pay $200 or $300 a day?

You see, you've got to have enough wisdom to know how to spend your money after you get it. And you've got to realize something else: The money that comes to you is God's money. You're the steward of it, so learn how to spend it correctly. Yes, God wants you to have the best, but He also wants you to learn to deal wisely. This is one of the most important aspects of being successful.

Another important point to consider is that God's Word does not change. It's the same today as it was yesterday. It will be the same tomorrow as it is today. It never changes.

Because God's Word never changes, we must practice the Word—meditate in the Word. Meditating in the Word is easy. Putting what you've learned into practice is a different story!

For example, if you don't want your conscience pricked, don't study James. It seems that every time I start reading in the Book of James, I come away with my ears red and burning, because he has turned me every way but loose. I have to take an inventory and straighten up. I tell you, James is written for strong Christians. Furthermore, most people never get involved in reading James.

You can look in most people's Bibles and find Hebrews, Romans, and Corinthians all marked up, along with some passages in First and Second Peter and First, Second, and Third John and all the Gospels. But if you ever look over in James and Jude, you won't find much marked up, because most people don't get in there very often.

Jude is the shortest book in the Bible, but it also is one of the most powerful. Every word in it is powerful.

James says to do the Word. James says, "shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works" (James 2:18).

If you're going to have faith, it's got to have some legs, some arms, some muscle. You've got to do something; you can't just sit around.

A lot of people sit around, hollering that they want this, that, and the other, but they're not doing anything. They say, "I'm believing God for finances," but when the offering plate comes around, they turn up their nose and don't give.

Another fellow is believing God, saying, "Oh, thank God for meeting my finances. Lord, I've only got 50 cents, but here it is." That fellow will start climbing and climbing, and soon he'll be on top. The man who's not giving will still be hollering, "Oh, I'm confessing that God's going to meet my needs." By this time he has even less. Why? Because he's not doing anything God can bless.

Brother Hagin has told our students many times, "A lot of you come here to RHEMA and think you are going to live by faith while you go to school, yet you're not doing anything that He can bless for you to live by faith."

When a man enters the fivefold ministry and he's out every day ministering, doing what God's told him to do, God has something to work with to bless him.

Chapter 4

PRACTICE THE WORD

I'm tired of people who are sitting around doing nothing, getting spiritually fat and lazy until they become stagnant, sleeping on the church pew, hollering "Amen" every so often.

As I state in my book Itching Ears, we have come to the place where people won't listen to anything except what their ears want to hear—and all they want to hear is faith. They don't want to hear anything about judgment, right living, the Second Coming, or other things in the Word of God. All they want to hear about is faith so they can live on some kind of an excited high that is false.

There are many people talking about faith who don't know what they're talking about, because they've never experienced it. They're mouthing words they heard somebody else say.

They'll hear somebody give a good testimony about how God gave them a new house, so they'll immediately say, "Oh, I confess one for me, too."

They're starting out wrong. They're basing their confession on somebody's testimony, not on the Word of God, so it isn't going to work. In other words, their confession of faith is based on somebody's experience that got them emotionally high; it's not based on the Word of God.

James says, "For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was" (James 1:23,24).

That's a good description of a man who's not practicing the Word.

Some people are trying to get by on the Word they learned 20 years ago; they haven't studied lately. I'm not interested in the "good old days" or the future. I'm interested in the here and now. I need help for my hurts now. I need something now —not future "pie in the sky," and I'm not interested in what happened to somebody 20 years ago. I want to know what can happen to me now.

Jesus Christ said that if we'd get into the Word, we could have success in our lives now.

The principal thing you must learn in order to be successful is the one commandment of the New Testament. It's spelled l-o-v-e. LOVE. Love thy neighbor as thyself.

Did you know you can't love anybody else until you love yourself? That's what's wrong with the world today. People place no value on their own life, so they have no value on anybody else's life. The Word says I'm to first love myself and then I can love my neighbor. I want myself to eat good, dress good, feel good, and have the best there is. If I love myself this way, I'll love the world this way.

The Word of God says when you see a brother in need, you're in trouble if you have the means to help him and don't. I'm not referring to the "giving to get" philosophy; I'm talking about ministering to somebody when you have the means. How can we expect God to bless us and give us good success in life when we aren't blessing anybody else; when we aren't practicing the Word?

Another aspect of walking in love concerns grudges. Never hold a grudge against anybody. You cannot be successful if you hold grudges, because that's not walking in love.

Some will grumble, "Well, I'll forgive them, but I'm not going to forget it." Save your breath.

I never allow negative words or anything said to me or about me to lodge in my heart. I never allow myself to think about it. If I would, it would interfere with my own flow from God and I'm not going to allow it to hinder my ministry. I'll pray for the people involved and let them handle it their own way; I'm not going to hold a grudge against anybody. You can say what you want to about me; I'll even pray for you that you'll get some sense and wisdom in your spiritual man so you won't be in trouble all the time!

In his epistle, James also talks about the tongue (chapter 3). Some people hear something about somebody and the first thing they do is run for the phone. "Did you hear about So-and-so?"

Galatians says, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted" (Gal. 6:1).

Does that sound like you're supposed to get on the phone and talk about it? It says if you're spiritual, you're going to pray, restore them, and forget about it. (I'm telling you what the Bible says; not something I made up.)

How many people have been ruined because somebody saw a brother do something and they started spreading the tale all over. Perhaps that person realized his mistake, prayed, and asked God to forgive him, but he never could live down the gossip that people started about him.

I know of a man who was headed to hold an evangelistic meeting and en route stopped about 70 miles away in a little town. He was seen entering a bar. Before he got to his destination, word had traveled ahead.

The pastor of the church met him and demanded, "What were you doing in a bar?"

The evangelist answered, "Now, wait a minute, brother. Why are you jumping to conclusions? My dad, who left us when I was about 10 years old, happens to own that bar. I found out about it several years ago. We've been in contact, and this was the first time since I was 10 that I've seen the man. He has an office in the back. It was 10 o'clock in the morning—the place wasn't even open. I had lunch with him in his office, talked to him, and prayed with him. And here you are wanting to close the meeting. If that's the kind of attitude you've got, I'm not even going to preach for you."

Those people were accusing him before they heard the facts. There are many people who have never been overtaken in a fault—they've just been falsely accused—but they've never been able to live it down.

You'll never have success if you're always running around pointing a finger at somebody else.

The third step to being a success in life is: Put the Word first in your life. Become Wordconscious. Let the Word reign supreme in your life. No matter what comes, think about the Word first.

We all face tests and trials. When these crises and emergencies come in the natural—and they will come, whether your name is Hagin, Smith, or Jingleheimer—the person who is well versed in the Word will start recalling pertinent Scriptures. They'll start ringing in his head like a drum. If he faces illness, he'll immediately hear Scriptures like First Peter 2:24.

If he faces an ugly situation, Scriptures on love will start to roll over on the inside of him.

I believe we can be so saturated with God's Word that the first thing that comes to mind in any emergency is not "What are we going to do now?" but what the Word says. Very few people have reached that point.

Building the Word of God into ourselves like this will do away with worry and anxiety. We'll become overcomers—conquerors.

Chapter 5

BE GUIDED BY THE VOICE OF GOD

The fourth step toward being a success in life is: Instantly obey the voice of God.

The education and development of our human spirit comes by instantly obeying the voice of the Spirit. Proverbs 20:27 says, "The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord." Romans 8:14 says, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."

God leads us by our spirit, not our head. God informs our spirit, and our spirit informs our head.

If you're going to be successful in life, you've got to learn how to be guided by the voice of God. However, not everybody who is running around saying, "God told me to do this " really heard from God. God is getting blamed for a lot of things He never did—and even the devil's getting blamed for things he wasn't directly responsible for!

Unfortunately, there are many in charismatic circles saying, "God told me to do this," and God really hasn't told them to do it. They're doing it because it's what they want to do, so they say God told them.

I've never done anything God told me to do that's ever failed. But I've seen a lot of other people get into a mess over what they said God told them to do. Actually, it was what they wanted to do. They decided God was involved in the project with them, so they said God told them to do it.

Others say, "God told me to do it" because they think it will carry more importance that way and make people submit to their leadership.

You'd better be careful saying God told you to do something unless you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God said to do it. You can get yourself in trouble saying that. You'd better be sure it was God.

Some people say, "The devil made me do it." No, the devil didn't make you do it; you did it because you willed to do it. You've got a will of your own. You can control yourself if you want to.

Name-dropping is another ruse people use— and they use the biggest names they can. People come in my office all the time and start name-dropping.

One man called some pastors, asking for meetings. He told them, "I was with the Kenneth Hagin evangelistic team," and then he named two other well-known ministry teams. He indicated that he had worked for us. Although he never said so outright, he implied it by saying he was "with" us.

The truth is that he followed us around the country at his own expense in his own car, attending all the services and always asking if there was anything he could do. Some of the fellows would let him help them load boxes into the truck when we needed extra help. He said he was "with" the team. Well, he was, in that one sense.

There's a fine line to follow here. Be careful when you say God told you to do something. But on the other hand, learn to follow that inward voice immediately—not tomorrow—not next week— immediately. This is true in a service, too. When God speaks to you, you'd better act immediately, even if you've got something else planned.

Do you want to be wise and have good success in life?

Find out what the Word of God has to say. Practice it.

Do it.

Live by it.

Then get involved with it immediately as the Lord speaks.

A Sinner's Prayer To Receive Jesus as Savior

Dear Heavenly Father ...

I come to You in the Name of Jesus.

Your Word says, "... him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37), so I know You won't cast me out, but You take me in and I thank You for it.

You said in Your Word, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Rom. 10:13). I am calling on Your Name, so I know You have saved me now.

You also said "if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Rom. 10:9,10). I believe in my heart Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe that He was raised from the dead for my justification, and I confess Him now as my Lord. Because Your Word says, "... with the heart man believeth unto righteousness ..." and I do believe with my heart, I have now become the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21)... And I am saved!

Thank You, Lord!

Signed_

Date_

About the Author

Rev. Kenneth Hagin Jr., president of Kenneth Hagin Ministries and pastor of RHEMA Bible Church, seizes every ministry opportunity to impart the attitude of “I cannot be defeated, and I will not quit.” He has ministered for 45 years, beginning as an associate pastor and traveling evangelist. He has organized and developed 15 RHEMA Bible Training Centers around the world and is the founding pastor of RHEMA Bible Church. Rev. Hagin Jr. can be heard on Rhema for Today, a weekday radio program broadcast throughout the United States, and he and his wife, Lynette, co-host RHEMA Praise, a weekly television broadcast.

To fulfill the urgent call of God to prepare the Church for a deeper experience of His Presence, Rev. Hagin Jr. emphasizes key spiritual truths about faith, healing, and other vital subjects. He often ministers with a strong healing anointing, leading the Body of Christ into a greater experience of the glory of God.

Table of Contents

1 Develop the Spiritual Man

2 Above All, Seek Wisdom

3 Cooperate with God

4 Practice the Word

5 Be Guided by the Voice of God

A Sinner's Prayer To Receive Jesus as Savior