Contents

1 Seven Steps To Receiving the Holy Spirit

2 Ten Reasons Why Every Believer Should Speak in Tongues

3 The Bible Way To Receive the Holy Spirit

Chapter 1

Seven Steps To Receiving the Holy Spirit

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

— John 14:16,17

This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.

— Acts 2:32,33

There are seven things we can do to help a person receive the Holy Spirit.

First, help the person see that God gave the gift of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. This gift has been available ever since. Help the individual know it is up to him or her to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. He is not to beg God to fill him with the Holy Spirit. Unbelief begs. Faith shouts the victory.

Second, lead the person to see that anyone who is saved is ready to receive the Holy Spirit.

ACTS 2:38

38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

We have incorporated many man-made traditions into our Full Gospel theology. People think they have to do certain things, or somehow clean up their lives before receiving the Holy Spirit. If we could clean up our lives ourselves, what would we need with the blood of Jesus Christ? I'm blood-washed—

blood-bought. If you're saved, you're clean, too.

But people get the idea that they must do something to receive this gift of the Holy Spirit. You can't do anything for a gift. It ceases to be a gift if you have to work for it.

I've heard people tell about what they did and what they gave up to receive the Holy Spirit. I didn't give up anything; I just became a child of God and didn't want to do wrong. I got my nature changed.

When you are born again, there is a change that comes inside. Your spirit is recreated. And if you're saved, you are ready to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You don't have to do anything but ask to receive.

Third, it is scriptural to tell the person to expect to receive the Holy Spirit when hands are laid on him.

Some are given the gift of laying on of hands for people to receive the Holy Spirit and healing. This gift is given by God, as we see from Acts 8:18-20.

Even if a Spirit-filled believer does not have this ministry of laying on of hands, it is all right for him to pray with the candidate, because it releases the candidate's faith. When the believer lays hands on the candidate, he cannot give the candidate the Holy Spirit. His prayers can bring God's power on people, but they must receive on their own.

Fourth, tell the person what to expect (people get every idea imaginable otherwise).

Tell the candidate he is to speak! The Holy Spirit will act on his vocal cords, lips, and tongue, and will put supernatural words on his lips, but the candidate must put the sound into action and speak out.

The Holy Spirit gives the utterance, but man does the speaking.

ACTS 2:4

4 And THEY were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and BEGAN TO SPEAK with other tongues, AS THE

SPIRIT GAVE THEM UTTERANCE.

"They" is the subject of the sentence. They did the talking.

The Holy Spirit gave them the utterance.

ACTS 10:44-46

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

45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.

46 For THEY HEARD THEM SPEAK WITH TONGUES, and magnify God.

ACTS 19:6

6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and THEY SPAKE WITH TONGUES, and prophesied.

Similar Scriptures are First Corinthians 14, where Paul said, "I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all" (v. 18);

"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" (v. 2); "If any man speak in an unknown tongue.... " (v. 27).

Acts 19:6 says, "And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. "

Therefore, it is to be expected that when the candidate receives the Holy Spirit, he will speak in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance.

The Holy Spirit does not speak in tongues. The Holy Spirit does not take our tongues and talk. We do the speaking in tongues.

Nowhere in the New Testament does it state that the Holy Spirit speaks in tongues. Always the individual does the speaking, but the Holy Spirit gives the utterance.

Many people say, "I'm afraid I'm going to receive in the flesh." You can't receive any other way! Speaking in tongues is men and women in the flesh worshiping God in the Spirit. God promised in Joel 2:28, "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all FLESH. ..."

In dealing with a candidate, be sure to use only Bible terms, not man's manufactured expressions. Otherwise, the instructions become confusing—and sometimes even frightening.

Fifth, tell the candidate to disregard all fears he got from foolish teachers who said that he might receive something counterfeit. Help him see that he will not receive a substitute for the Holy Spirit.

LUKE 11:11-13

11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Sixth, encourage the candidate to open his mouth wide—this can be an act of faith—breathe in, and tell God, "I am receiving the Holy Spirit right now by faith."

When Jesus said, "Come and drink," He was speaking of the Holy Spirit. When a person takes a drink of water, he opens his mouth and takes a breath. You can't take a drink of water with your mouth closed, and you can't receive the Holy Spirit with 8

Seven Vital Steps to Receiving the Holy Spirit your mouth closed.

Insist that the candidate not speak a single word in his native language (you can't speak two languages at once). The mind cannot enter into this experience; it comes from the heart.

Encourage the candidate to relax and then fearlessly, boldly, lift his voice and make those supernatural sounds that want to come, working his tongue and lips as he would if he were speaking his native language.

Instruct the candidate that speaking in tongues is actually cooperation between him and the Holy Spirit. Tell him to expect that the Holy Spirit will give him words; that his tongue will seem to want to say something. This is so in every case.

The Holy Spirit gives the utterance; the person must do the talking. The supernatural part is what is being said; it is not who is talking.

When you can see that the Holy Spirit is moving on the candidate's lips and tongue, tell him to speak any sounds it seems easy to speak, regardless of what they are. That's faith. He is lifting his voice and trusting God for guidance.

Tell him to go right on speaking, praising God with those supernatural words until a free, clear language comes and he has the inner assurance that he has received.

The word "inspiration" means breathing in the Spirit of God.

By having a candidate look to God and breathe Him in, he can thus relax and "drink in" or be filled with the Holy Spirit.

There are two ways the utterance comes.

Many people hear the supernatural words forming inside their inner being, and the words bubble up until they are spoken through the mouth.

Another way is by a fluttering of the lips. The candidate may feel a tightening of the jaw, and his tongue may feel thick. The Holy Spirit does this because the lips and the tongue are the organs we use to form words. This is the way He gives us utterance, or prompts us to speak. But we have to speak out the sounds ourselves.

You get full by drinking. Ephesians 5:18,19 says, "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." (The "spiritual songs" spoken of here do not mean songs out of songbooks, but songs given by the Holy Spirit.)

Seventh, never crowd around a person who has come to receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and never permit a crowd to gather around him.

There have been instances in Full Gospel meetings where people gathered around a candidate and offered conflicting instructions.

A person on his right would shout in his ear, "Hang on!" The person on his left would shout, "Turn loose!" Another person would pound him on the back and shout, "Die out!"

In spite of this, many candidates received the Holy Spirit.

Not because of it, but in spite of it! The ignorance of these people, bless their darling hearts, often cheated the candidates out of the blessing because it frightened them, and they went away without ever receiving the Holy Spirit.

Those present should pray in the Spirit if they pray out loud; otherwise, they should pray quietly in their natural language.

These seven steps are the steps I have used to get people filled with the Holy Spirit since 1938 without tarrying, without waiting—and almost without exception.

Chapter 2

Ten Reasons Why Every Believer Should Speak in Tongues

In First Corinthians 14:18, Paul says, "I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all. "

I want to go on record with Paul as saying, "I thank my God, I speak with tongues."

It seems that all some Corinthians wanted to do was speak in tongues. If Paul spoke in tongues more than the Corinthians, he must have awakened speaking in tongues, gone to bed speaking in tongues, and spoken in tongues between meals. He certainly did a tremendous amount of speaking in tongues!

I want to give you 10 reasons why every believer should speak in tongues:

Reason 1—Tongues is the initial sign.

The Word of God teaches that when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we speak with other tongues as the Spirit of God gives utterance. It is the initial evidence or sign of the Holy Spirit's indwelling us. Acts 2:4 says, "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."

Howard Carter, general superintendent of the Assemblies of God of Great Britain for 19 years, was the founder of the oldest Pentecostal Bible school in the world. He said that we must not forget that speaking with other tongues is not only the initial evidence of the Holy Spirit's indwelling; it is a continual experience for the rest of one's life.

For what purpose? To assist in the worship of God. Speaking in tongues is a flowing stream that never should dry up, for it will enrich a person's life spiritually. This agrees with Paul's saying that speaking in tongues will edify you.

Reason 2—Tongues is for spiritual edification. We find Paul, writing the Corinthian church, counseling them to continue their practice of speaking in tongues in their worship and prayer life. Paul stated in First Corinthians 14:4, "He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself." Speaking or praying in tongues is a means of spiritual edification, or building up the believer spiritually.

First Corinthians 14:2 says, "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. " One translation of the New Testament says, "he speaks divine secrets."

Paul is saying here that God has given the Church a supernatural means of communication with Himself. Praise the Lord! Paul stated in the 14th verse of this same chapter, "For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. "

Notice that he said, "My spirit prayeth. " The Amplified Bible adds, "my spirit [by the Holy Spirit within me] prays." Jesus said, "God is a Spirit." You see, when you pray in tongues, your spirit prays. When you pray in tongues, your spirit is in direct contact with God, who is a Spirit, and you are talking to Him in a divine, supernatural language. Praise God!

It is amazing how intelligent people can ask in the light of these Scriptures, "What is the value of speaking in tongues?"

Many people have asked me this question, knowing all the time what the Scriptures teach.

Friend, there is a value in speaking in tongues—a great value. If a person cannot see this, something is wrong with his understanding. I don't mean that he should see it because he has spoken with tongues. As a Baptist minister, I began to see what the Word says before I ever spoke with tongues.

If God says speaking in tongues is of value, it is of value. If God says it edifies, it does edify. If God says it is a supernatural means of communication with Himself, it is a supernatural means of communication with Himself. If God says every believer should speak in tongues, then every believer should speak in tongues.

Jesus did not say that just a few should speak in tongues. He said, "And these signs shall follow them that believe. " "Them" is plural. It means all. One of these signs was, "They shall speak with new tongues" (Mark 16:17).

Reason 3—Tongues reminds us of the Spirit's indwelling presence.

Speaking in tongues is a supernatural evidence of the Holy Spirit's indwelling. In Acts 10, the six Jewish brethren who accompanied Peter to Cornelius' home were astonished because the gift of the Holy Spirit also was poured out on the Gentiles.

They thought it was only for the Jewish church.

How did they know the Gentiles had received the gift of the Holy Spirit? Acts 10:46 says, "For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. " In other words, that was the supernatural or initial evidence of the Holy Spirit's indwelling.

Continued practice of speaking and praying in tongues helps us be conscious of the Spirit's presence. If I am conscious of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit every day, it is certain to affect the way I live.

Someone will say, "Well, I know a person who has been saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, and they lose their temper and say things they should not." I do, too. But I can say one thing: They have not prayed in tongues and been in fellowship with God that day.

I know from my own experience how easy it is, when one is not conscious of His presence, to become aggravated and exasperated. But if you take time to fellowship with Him, speaking in tongues and praying, you can be conscious of His indwelling presence, and you will not do or say things you will regret later.

Reason 4—Praying in tongues is praying in line with God's perfect will.

Praying in tongues eliminates selfishness from entering our prayers. If I pray out of my own thinking, my prayers may be unscriptural and selfish.

Too frequently our prayers are like the old farmer's: "God bless me and my wife, my son John, his wife, us four, and no more." (We don't say it in just those words, but that is what it amounts to.)

Paul said in Romans 8:26, "for we know not what we should pray for as we ought. " He did not say we did not know how to pray, because we do know how to pray. We pray to the Father in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is how to pray.

But just because I know how to pray doesn't mean I know what to pray for. The verse in its entirety reads, "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. "

P. C. Nelson, founder of the Southwestern Bible Institute, was a Greek scholar. He told his young ministers that the Greek literally reads, "The Holy Spirit maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered in articulate speech"

(articulate speech is the ordinary kind of speech). He pointed out that the Greek bears out that this not only includes “groanings” in prayer, but also "other tongues."

That agrees with what Paul said in First Corinthians 14:14, “For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.”

People should be careful about making fun of speaking in tongues, because when a person prays in tongues, it is his spirit praying by the Holy Spirit who is within him. Thus, mockers actually are making fun of the Holy Spirit!

The Holy Spirit within you gives you the utterance; you speak it out of your spirit. By that method, the Holy Spirit is helping you pray according to the will of God for things that should be prayed for.

The Holy Spirit does not groan or speak in tongues apart from you. Those groanings come up from inside you and escape your lips. The Holy Spirit is not going to do your praying for you. He is sent to dwell in you. He is a helper—an intercessor—

but He does not intercede apart from you. He was sent to help you pray, but He is not responsible for your prayer life.

The way He helps us pray is by those groanings that escape our lips. They come out of our spirit, born of the Holy Spirit.

Thus, speaking in tongues is Spirit-directed prayer. It eliminates the possibility of selfish prayer. Many times when people's prayers are based on their own thoughts and desires, they will be given things that are actually not the will of God, and are not the best for them.

You don't believe that? Then you don't believe the Bible. If God's people want things a certain way, even though it is not best for them and it is not God's will, He will permit it. I can prove it to you.

God did not want Israel to have a king. He told them so, but they demanded a king, and He permitted them to have one. It was not His highest will for them; it was not His best for them.

Once I prayed in the spirit for about two and a half hours with one fist placed on top of the other. There seemed to be a pull that would tip my hands to one side. With all my strength, I tried to straighten up my fists, but invariably they would be pulled over to one side again. This happened three times.

Then the Spirit of God said to me, "People by their wrong praying pull things out of focus." ("For we know not what we should pray for as we ought.. . . ") By their own praying, by their own thinking, and out of their own mind, they pull things out of focus. This, then, gets God's plan out of focus many times, and His perfect will cannot be wrought.

When I understood that, it was a revelation. I had known it before in a measure, but I had never seen the necessity of praying in tongues as I did then. One thing you can be sure of: Ten Reasons Why Every Believer Should Speak in Tongues 15

When you are praying in tongues, you can keep everything in focus, because you are praying according to the will of God and in the best interests of all involved.

Reason 5—Praying in tongues stimulates faith.

Speaking in tongues helps me to learn to trust God more fully. It helps my faith to speak in tongues. No, it will not give me faith; it helps my faith.

Jude 20 says, "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.. .." There is conclusive proof. Praying in tongues helps and stimulates my faith.

Because the Holy Spirit supernaturally directs the words I speak in tongues, faith must be exercised to speak them, for I do not know what the next word will be. I trust God for it. And trusting God in one area will help me trust God in another area.

As a young Baptist minister, I pastored the only church in the community, so it actually was a community church. People from all denominations came.

I stayed in the home of a dear Methodist couple. The wife had an ulcerated stomach, and doctors felt her condition surely would turn into cancer. I knew God could and would heal her, but somehow I never was able to lift her faith up to that point.

She ate only a little baby food and milk, and she never could seem to keep that on her stomach.

One day a wonderful thing happened: She received the infilling of the Holy Spirit! I came in and found her enjoying foods she had never been able to eat during her long illness.

I have seen many people who have had this type of experience. What is the connection? We know that being baptized in the Holy Spirit does not heal you, but speaking with tongues will help you learn to trust God more fully. When you speak in tongues, it helps you believe God for other things; it stimulates your faith.

Reason 6—Praying in tongues is a means of keeping free from worldly contamination.

Speaking in tongues is a means of keeping you free from contamination from ungodly, profane, and vulgar talk around you. You can speak in tongues quietly to yourself.

Regardless of where you may be, you can do as First Corinthians 14:28 says, "But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God. " If you can do that in the church, you can do it on the job.

You will not disturb anybody. I have prayed in tongues quietly to myself many times in a barber shop or elsewhere downtown where I heard things that do not help one's spiritual life.

No matter where you are, you can speak to yourself and to God. This will keep you from becoming con-taminated with the things of the world.

Reason 7—Praying in tongues enables us to pray for the unknown.

Speaking in tongues provides a way for situations to be prayed for that no one knows about or thinks about. The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, knows everything. The Word of God says, "But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered''' in articulate speech.

Included in that is speaking in tongues.

Two young Assemblies of God missionaries left their native England for Africa. Several years later, while one was home on furlough, a young woman asked him if he had kept a diary. He replied that he had.

About two years earlier, she recounted, she had been awakened during the night feeling an urgent need to pray. She had prayed in tongues for about an hour. Then she had a vision of a grass hut. She saw a young white man; the rest were natives.

She saw him die. The natives covered him up, and went outside.

Suddenly she saw him come out of the hut and stand in their midst. All the natives began to rejoice.

The young woman asked the missionary if he had ever had an experience like that. He had. While his partner was in another territory, he had contracted a deadly fever. After comparing dates and making allowances for differences in time, the missionary and the young woman discovered that she had been praying for him in exactly the hour of his need. The Spirit of God had provided a way for things to be prayed for that needed to be prayed for, because the Holy Spirit knows everything.

Another missionary to Africa whom I have heard on a number of occasions tells of a similar experience. He and a native worker hired a boat to take them to an island to preach.

On their return journey that night, a tropical storm suddenly came up.

The vessel's owner told them if they stayed out, the boat would overturn and all would drown, yet if they sailed close to shore, they would hit the reefs. He asked the missionary what he wanted to do. The missionary replied, "It is your boat. What do you want to do? What do you think would be best?"

The man answered that he would rather take a chance with the reefs. The missionary and the native worker had prayer and said, "All right, let's go." He related that as they neared the reefs, suddenly it felt as if the boat were lifted up and carried over the water.

The missionary said that he, the native worker, and two or three sinners, including the owner, witnessed this miraculous event. God literally lifted the sailboat up over the reefs and into safe water.

The following week, the missionary was visiting another mission station, and a woman missionary asked if he had been in trouble the previous Monday night about 10 o'clock. He asked why. She said she had gone to bed early that night, as she was planning to leave the following morning on a trip. But about 10 o'clock she was awakened with such a burden to pray that all she could do was pray in tongues and groan in the Spirit.

She said, "I did not know what it was, but I seemed to have the impression that you were in trouble, and I just had to pray for you." He told her what had been happening to him at exactly the same time she had been praying for him. Praise God! The Spirit knows.

In May 1956 I was traveling in California with my family.

We had a three-bedroom house trailer then, because our teenage son and daughter were with us.

One night I was awakened in the middle of the night. It seemed as if someone had laid hands on me. I wondered if someone were in the room. I looked at my wife, but she was sleeping soundly. Everything was fine, yet my heart was beating wildly, as if I were scared.

I said, "Lord, what is the matter? There is something wrong somewhere. What is it? O Holy Spirit, You are everywhere, and You know everything, so give me the utterance."

I began to pray with tongues. I prayed for about an hour.

Then I began to laugh and sing a little in tongues. (When you pray in this manner, always continue until you have a note of praise, which means you have reached victory for whatever it is you are praying about. You will either laugh, be joyous, or sing.) I knew whatever I was praying about had come to pass; I had the answer. I went back to sleep and had a dream.

In this dream, I saw my younger brother in a hotel room in Louisiana. (No one told me he was in Louisiana, but I knew he was there.) I saw him awaken shortly after midnight feeling very ill. I saw them summon a doctor. I saw him being carried away in an ambulance. I saw the red light flashing as they took him to the hospital.

In the dream, I stood in the corridor outside his room. The door was shut. A doctor came out, shook my hand, and said, "He is dead. He is dead."

I replied, "No, doctor, he is not dead."

He asked, "What do you mean, he is not dead?"

"The Lord told me he would live and not die."

The doctor became angry and said, "Well, smart aleck, come with me, and I will show you he is dead. I have pronounced too many people dead not to know when someone is dead!"

He took me by the arm and led me into my brother's room.

He walked over to the bed and jerked the sheet back. When he did, my brother's eyes opened, and the doctor saw that he was breathing. The doctor began to stutter, "Why, you know something I did not know." He was astonished, and he kept saying over and over, "He is alive, isn't he?"

In my dream, I saw my brother rise from the bed, and he was well. That, you see, was what I had been praying about.

In August, we returned to Texas. Just as I finished parking the trailer, my brother came up to me. He said, "I almost died while you were gone."

I answered, "Yes, I know."

He asked if Mother had told me. I told him I had not talked to anyone—I had just come in—and no one had written me anything.

Then he asked, "How did you know I nearly died?" I told him how he had taken sick in the night and all about it. He assured me it had happened just as I said. He said he had been unconscious for about 40 minutes, and the doctors thought he was dead. In fact, they had pronounced him dead.

Friends, I had no means of communication in my trailer—not even a telephone. But, praise God, this is God's original communications system! Yes, it is scriptural, and it is biblical.

All of us should pray in tongues, because then we can pray for things we know nothing about.

Reason 8—Praying in tongues gives spiritual refreshing.

Isaiah 28:11,12 says, "For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear."

What is the rest? What is the refreshing? Speaking with 20

Seven Vital Steps to Receiving the Holy Spirit other tongues, God's Word says. "This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing. ..."

Sometimes the doctor says you need a rest cure. Well, I'll tell you the best one in the world: praying in other tongues. You can take this rest cure every day, praise God! In these days of turmoil, insecurity, and perplexity, we need this rest and refreshing—and it comes by speaking with other tongues.

Reason 9—By praying in tongues, you give thanks perfectly.

1 CORINTHIANS 14:15-17

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.

Suppose you invite me to eat with you, and you say, "Brother Hagin, please give thanks." Paul said that people unlearned in spiritual matters would not be edified if I prayed in tongues, because they would not understand me. He said it would be better to pray with my understanding then; but if I did pray in tongues, I should interpret, so they would know what I had said.

Notice, however, that Paul said speaking with tongues provides the most perfect way to pray and give thanks, because "thou verily givest thanks well. "

Reason 10—Speaking in tongues brings the tongue under subjection.

James 3:8 says, "But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. " Yielding your tongue to the Holy Spirit as you speak with other tongues is a long step toward Ten Reasons Why Every Believer Should Speak in Tongues 21

fully yielding all of your body to God. If you can yield your tongue, you can yield any member of your body. That's what the Scriptures teach.

The Public Side of Tongues

Realize that there also is a "public side" to tongues.

First, people speak with other tongues when they receive the Holy Spirit in public. (Those around Peter and the 120 heard them speak with tongues on the Day of Pentecost.)

Second, the church is edified when someone speaks with other tongues (with interpretation) in a public assembly.

Paul plainly states that to prophesy is to speak to edification, exhortation, and comfort. He said greater is he who prophesies than he who speaks with tongues, except he interprets (1 Cor. 14:5).

He is saying that tongues with interpretation is equal to prophecy.

For example, it takes two nickels to make a dime, but you know that two nickels are not a 10-cent piece. What Paul is saying is that prophecy is more valuable, as is the 10-cent piece.

Let me state right here, however, that prophesying is not preaching, regardless of what anyone tells you. If prophesying were preaching, you would not have to make any preparation to preach.

But you do have to study to preach. Paul said to study to show yourself approved unto God. You do not have to study to speak with tongues and to interpret; nor do you have to study to prophesy. It comes by inspiration of the Spirit. Of course, when one is preaching under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and he suddenly says things he never thought of, then—it is true—this is inspiration, and this is an element of prophecy.

Prophecy, then, is inspirational, supernatural utterance in a known tongue—in other words, the equivalent of tongues with 22

Seven Vital Steps to Receiving the Holy Spirit interpretation.

Interpretation is inspirational, supernatural speech in a known tongue that tells what has been said in speaking with other tongues.

Tongues is a supernatural utterance in an unknown tongue.

Third, when used in line with the Word, speaking with tongues with interpretation convinces the unbeliever of the reality of the presence of God, and often causes him to turn to God to be saved. I have seen this many times.

Fourth, Jesus said, "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name, shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover" (Mark 16:17,18). Praise God!

Of course, you do not want only prolonged praying in tongues in a service, because without interpretation the congregation does not know what is being said, and it is not edified. But when you come to the altar after the service, you may pray with tongues all you want, because you came to the altar to get edified.

If everyone is lifting their hands and praying in the regular service, it is all right to pray in tongues. But when the congregation stops praying, you should stop, too. (Know how to use what you have to the greatest advantage.) Many say you do not have to tell anyone how to speak with tongues because the Holy Spirit speaks. No, the Holy Spirit does not. The Holy Spirit merely gives you the words—you do the speaking.

In the church world, we have a "language" or terminology all our own which is confusing to the person just entering our circles. Maybe we know what we mean, and maybe we don't, but we confuse others. We should be careful how we instruct a person to receive the Holy Spirit. I think it is best to go back to the Bible and say things as the Bible says them.

I know you have heard someone say, "Just let the Holy Ghost speak." But the Holy Spirit does not do the talking; you do. The Holy Spirit gives you the utterance; you are the one who speaks it forth.

I was holding a meeting in a large church, and after services, my wife and I would go out to eat with the pastor and his wife.

One night the pastor's wife said, "Brother Hagin, I do not agree with you."

I told her I always was open to anyone's helping me with the Word of God. Anyone teaching should be open and have a teachable spirit, or they should not be teaching.

I mean open to the Word of God, not open to a person's opinion. We are to preach the Word, not opinions or convictions.

I have no time for those who think they know everything, when actually they do not know anything. I do not know everything, but I praise God for what I do know. The Bible says, "We know in part, and we prophesy in part" (1 Cor. 13:9). (Thank God for the part I do know.)

I asked, "What is it you do not agree with me about?"

She answered, "I disagree with your saying that the Holy Spirit does not speak in tongues."

"That is what the Word of God teaches," I told her.

She said, "I believe it just like the Bible said it."

I asked her how the Bible said it. She replied, "The Bible says, 'for when he is come, he shall speak for himself.'"

I said, "I would believe that, too, if it were in the Bible."

"Why, Brother Hagin, I am an ordained minister, and I know what the Bible says! I have preached that for 25 years!"

I told her, "You have preached something that is not so for 25 years."

She said, "I have heard that preached and quoted it for 25 years."

I said, "That still does not make it so. There are many things preached and quoted that are not so." I asked her to show it to me in the Bible. She said she did not have her Bible with her; she would have to find that Scripture. I told her to call me when she found it, as we were staying in a certain hotel there in town.

She agreed. I told her I would give her $300 if she found it in the Bible.

More than 20 years have come and gone, and she has not called me yet. Why? Because there is no Scripture in the Bible that says, "When the Holy Spirit is come, he shall speak for himself." The closest thing to a Scripture like that is the statement Jesus made in John 16:13: "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, ...he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak.''

No, the Holy Spirit does not speak with other tongues. Man does the speaking, but the Holy Spirit supernaturally directs it.

Acts 2:4 says, "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." They began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. He gave them utterance, and they did the talking.

Weymouth's translation of Acts 2:4 reads, they began to speak "according as the Spirit gave them words to utter."

Another translation reads, "They began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit prompted them to speak." Moffatt's translation reads, "They began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit enabled them to express themselves." They (the believers) were doing it; the Spirit gave it to them.

Speaking with tongues is based on an act of the human will.

The fact that you speak is not supernatural. The supernatural part is what is being said and where it is coming from.

Notice Paul says in First Corinthians 14:14,15, "If I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit [that is, with tongues] , and I will pray with the understanding also...."

If I ask you, "Can you stay and pray at the altar?" and you reply, "I will stay and pray," that means you can pray with your understanding, because you have said, "I will." The Spirit-filled believer also can say, "I will pray with the spirit." Your will enters into your decision to pray with the spirit just as much as it does when you pray with your understanding. That is biblical.

Paul also says, "I thank my God, I speak with tongues. " He did not say, "The Holy Spirit speaks through me." You do not find such expressions anywhere in the New Testament. Paul said, " I speak with tongues."

Some will say, "I do not want to get 'in the flesh' when I receive the Holy Spirit." Well, you have to be in the flesh when you receive the Holy Spirit, because Peter said on the day of Pentecost, "But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams" (Acts 2:16,17).

The Holy Spirit is poured out on men and women in the flesh, worshiping God in the spirit, praise God!

Chapter 3

The Bible Way To Receive the Holy Spirit

And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

— Luke 24:49

I want to say at the outset that I certainly do believe in tarrying. I certainly do believe in waiting on God. The word

"tarry" means wait, and the Bible teaches us to wait on the Lord.

The Bible says those who "wait upon the Lord" shall renew their strength (Isa. 40:31).

Just because we are filled with the Holy Spirit is no sign that we shouldn't wait upon God. In fact, that is when one ought to begin to wait upon God— after he is filled with the Holy Spirit.

As you wait upon the Lord, the Spirit of God can teach, illuminate, and guide you into all truth.

I not only believe it, but I practice what I preach. I endeavor to practice waiting on God. In my meetings, there have been times when I waited on God four, five, or six hours. None of us will ever get to the place where we do not need to wait on God.

When it comes to being filled with the Holy Spirit, however, it breaks my heart to see people who are waiting, praying, weeping, and agonizing. I know they actually don't need to do that.

Someone may ask, "Didn't Jesus say to tarry in Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high?"

Yes, He said that. But remember that Jesus said it to the disciples before the Day of Pentecost. If that is the divine pattern, why not take all of it? He said, "Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem. " If that is the divine formula, you would have to exhort candidates to go to Jerusalem to receive!

The 120 in the Upper Room in Jerusalem were not just waiting or tarrying for the Holy Spirit. They were waiting for the Day of Pentecost. After the Day of Pentecost, there is no other instance in the Book of Acts where people tarried for the Holy Spirit!

Eight years after Pentecost, Philip went down to Samaria (Acts 8). As a result of his preaching, the people were saved and baptized in water. Then Peter and John went down from Jerusalem and laid hands on these Samaritans, "and they received the Holy Ghost" (v. 17). Without agonizing, without tarrying, without disappointment, without exception, they all were filled with the Holy Spirit!

Ten years after Pentecost, Peter went to the house of Cornelius in Caesarea (Acts 10). (Remember that "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. ") He began to preach.

"While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word" (v. 44), for "they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God" (v. 46). Cornelius and his household were filled with the Holy Spirit without praying, without waiting, and without exception.

Twenty years after Pentecost, the Word of God tells us that Paul passed through Ephesus and found certain disciples who had not heard "whether there be any Holy Ghost" (Acts 19). Paul laid hands on them, and "the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied" (v. 6). And the number of men "were about twelve" (v. 7). (It does not list how many women and children were there.)

Notice this: Every one of them was filled with the Holy Spirit without waiting, without praying, and without singing.

Paul, the great apostle, received the Holy Spirit when Ananias laid hands on him (Acts 9:17). Although it does not state in that chapter that he spoke with tongues, we know he did, because Paul said later in First Corinthians 14:18, "I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all. "

In every instance in Scripture when there was a group of people who wanted to receive the Holy Spirit, every person was filled. Not one went away disappointed. If we taught our people the same thing in this day, they, too, would receive right away.

God does not have any trial-and-error method. God does not have any method of coming, seeking and not finding, and then going away empty.

People are generally so responsive, bless their dear hearts, that they believe what we tell them. It should be that way. But we should be careful to be thoroughly scriptural. I weigh with all earnestness what I say. When it comes to receiving the Holy Spirit, many have been too indefinite in instructing people.

When a Baptist minister in the state of Texas wanted to receive the Holy Spirit, some well-meaning folks told him to say, "Glory, glory." Others advised him, "Say it faster." He got disgusted and quit, because he couldn't find anything like those instructions in the Word of God.

When he saw what was preached was in the Word of God, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in other tongues. He brought a minister friend, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

A Methodist minister received next. The Acts of the Apostles-style revival was on! The Methodist went back to his church, preached a two-week revival, and his people received the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink " (John 7:37). Just because you have been filled is no sign that you are not supposed to get thirsty any-more.

In the natural, I am hungry and thirsty every day, and it is so in the spiritual realm. I feed on what I preach to you. What would you think of a cook who wouldn't eat her own cooking?

The Word of God will feed your spirit. (''Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," Matt. 4:4.)

The Holy Spirit will quench your thirst. ( "Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, " John 7:38.) Jesus did not say, "Let him come and shout." He didn't even say, "Let him come pray, sweat, praise, prostrate himself, and go away empty." He said, "Let him come and drink." We can drink every day and stay filled.

Paul said in First Corinthians 14:15, "I will pray with the spirit... I will sing with the spirit...." Every Spirit-filled believer should be doing that every day in his private prayer life. Unless we are doing it, we are not keeping filled with the Spirit. If everyone did it, the atmosphere would be charged when we came to church.

How long does it take you to drink? How long do you have to pray before you can drink? How long do you have to sing before you can drink? If you can drink water, you can drink in the Spirit right now. Right now!

Some of us preachers testify and preach for 45 minutes about the Holy Spirit's being here. Then, after we get people to the altar, we say, "He isn't here. Lord, send Him." And we sing, "O Lord, send the power just now." There is no use singing that anymore! The Holy Spirit is here! The baptism of the Holy Spirit isn't a reward; it is a gift.

One preacher said, “What you are preaching is scriptural, but it is hard on some of us old fellows. I've been going one way so long, it's hard for me to change. I know I am wrong. I preached it as a reward. If it is a gift, then it is not a reward—and it is received by faith.”

Someone asked, "Don't you think a person ought to straighten up his life before he gets filled with the Holy Spirit?"

Bless God, if he's saved—born again—he's straight.

One fellow said, "I had to take a pig back I'd stolen before I could get the Holy Spirit."

We have so many foolish ideas. You can't buy the Holy Spirit baptism with good works. It is a gift. Besides that, doesn't the Bible say that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin? If a man is cleansed from all sin and is walking in the light, he is ready to be filled with the Holy Spirit right now!

Back in 1939 a sister was praying for the Holy Spirit. She was at the altar, and the Lord baptized her. She spoke in other tongues. Later that evening, as she had her hands raised and was praising God in English, a man ran up to her and said, "Sister, pull your wedding ring off, and the Lord will fill you with the Holy Ghost." (That's what some people mean by "straightening up.")

I answered him, "Brother, you're too late. He's already filled her—wedding band and all, praise God!"

Some say, "Brother Hagin, you make it too easy." I always tell them it wasn't I who did it. Thank God, it was God who did it.

Others say, "Yes, but I don't believe in railroading them through." Well, do you believe in "railroading" people through to healing or salvation? Certainly you do.

If they don't get saved today, tomorrow may be too late.

"Today is the day of salvation."

Salvation is a gift. Healing is a gift. The Holy Spirit baptism is a gift. If all are gifts received by faith, why tell a person he has to wait?

One preacher remarked, "There's a lot of these 'newfangled'

methods, a lot of new shortcuts. I believe in the old-fashioned way."

Why, Mend, you can't get any more old-fashioned than the Acts way—the old-time Bible way!

Another minister said, "I waited for three years to get the Holy Spirit. It means more to me than it would if I had received quickly."

I answered, "Poor old Paul. I wish you could have gotten to him. I feel so sorry for poor old Paul. You say the Holy Spirit doesn't mean as much to those who receive quickly. But Paul received quickly. Ananias laid hands on him, and Paul received immediately.

"It didn't mean anything to Paul? All he ever did was write most of the New Testament. All he did was preach for 38 years where no one else had preached. He did more in those 38 years than most denominations have done in 500. If you could have gotten to Paul, he could have waited to be filled, and then maybe pastored a church that runs 28 in Sunday School like yours." (I said that in love.)

Does it last? Whether you received quickly or prayed a long time, it will last if you stay filled. Many of you were filled with the Holy Spirit five years ago. Well, if it lasts five years, it ought to be good for 50!

Someone said, "I remember those glorious times of waiting on the Lord to be filled."

Have you given up those times of waiting? I have an up-to-date experience. I remember the precious time I had waiting on the Lord last night. Glory!

The baptism in the Holy Spirit is a gift. Friends, now is the time to receive the water of the Spirit freely!

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