What does JESUS say about the leading of the Holy Spirit, prophetic ministry and finances (Read and Share) Inward Witness The Spirit (Himself) beareth witness with our spirit. . . . —Romans 8:16 You will find that being led by an inward witness is the number one, or the primary way, that God leads all of His children. Let me go back—I said I would in the preface of this book—to what Jesus said to me in February of 1959 in El Paso, Texas. It was 6:30 in the afternoon. I was sitting up in bed studying. My eyes were wide open. (There are three types of visions. The highest type is an open vision. In an open vision ones physical senses are not suspended. His physical eyes are not closed. He possesses all his physical capabilities, yet sees into the realm of the spirit.) I heard footsteps. The door to my room was ajar 12 to 14 inches. So I looked to see who was coming into my room. I expected some literal physical person. But as I looked to see who it was, I saw Jesus. It seemed as if the hair on my neck and head stood straight up on end. Chill bumps popped out all over my body. I saw Him. He had on a white robe. He wore roman sandals. (Jesus has appeared to me eight times. Every time except this time His feet were bare. This time He had on sandals; thats what I had heard.) He seemed to be about 5 feet 11 inches tall. He looked to weigh about 180 pounds. He came through the door and pushed it back almost shut. He walked around the foot of my bed. I followed Him with my eyes—almost spellbound. He took hold of a straight chair and pushed it up close to my bed. Then He sat down in it, folded His hands, and began His conversation by saying, I said to you night before last in the automobile by my Spirit.. . . The automobile was full. My wife and I and others were driving along within two blocks from where I was as Jesus sat by my bedside. I heard the Spirit of God speak to me. I thought everyone in the car heard it. I said, Did you all hear that? They said, No, we didnt hear anything. In the Old Testament the prophets would say, And the Word of the Lord came unto me saying. . . . Did you ever wonder how it came? It could not have been literally audible. If it had been audible everyone present would have heard it—he would not have had to tell them what the Spirit said. The Word of the Lord came to the prophets spirit from the Spirit of God. It is so real that it seems audible at the time, for it was so real to me I thought everyone with me in the car had heard it too. Jesus said, as He sat at my bedside, I spoke to you night before last in the automobile and told you certain things. I told you, by my Spirit, that I would talk to you further later. So now I have come to talk to you about this . . . . It was concerning the ministry of the prophet. He sat there in that chair and talked to me for an hour and a half. And I talked to Him. I asked questions in reference to what He was saying. He answered them. I will not go into all He said about the prophets ministry; that is another message. But I will get into the edge of it. He said to me, The prophet of the New Testament is very similar to the prophet of the Old Testament in that the prophet of the Old Testament was called a seer because he saw and knew things supernaturally. The prophet of the New Testament will also see and know things supernaturally. But the prophet of the New Testament does not have the same status as the prophet of the Old, in that I did not set prophets in the Church to guide the Church. One under the New Testament need not seek guidance through prophets. He might receive guidance through prophets, but he should not seek it. It is unscriptural to do so. The ministry of the New Testament prophet in this area is only to confirm what people already have in their own spirits. Under the Old Covenant, only the priest, the prophet, and the king were anointed by the Holy Spirit to stand in those offices. What you would call the laity did not have the Spirit of God upon them or in them. Therefore, under the Old Covenant, they would seek guidance through the prophet because he had the Spirit. Under the New Testament, thanks be to God, we not only have the Spirit of God upon us—we have Him in us! Jesus said to me, Under the New Covenant, it does not say,. As many as are led by prophets, they are the sons of God. The New Testament says> As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.Then He said, The number one way, the primary way, that I lead all of my children is by the inward witness. I am going to show you how that works so you wont make the mistakes you have made in the past. He explained to me that to stand in the office of the prophet, one is first of all a minister of the Gospel separated and called to the ministry with the calling of God upon his life. Secondly, he has at least two of the revelation gifts—the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, the discerning of spirits—plus the gift of prophecy, operating in his ministry.Then He called my attention to something that had been happening the previous three days. For the past three days I had sat down to write a letter to a pastor confirming a date to hold a meeting for him. Somehow, the first day, I got about half a page written, then I tore it up and threw it into the wastebasket. The next day I did the same thing. The third day I did the same thing. Now the Lord is here. He said, You see me sitting here talking to you. This is a manifestation of the Spirit called discerning of spirits. (Dis-cerning of spirits is seeing into the spirit realm.) This is the prophets ministry in operation. You are seeing into the realm of the spirit. You see me. You hear me talking. I am bringing you through the vision a word of knowledge, and also a word of wisdom. I am telling you not to go to that church. The pastor would not accept the way you would minister when you got there. But I am never going to lead you this way again. (He never has. That has been 20 years ago.) From now on, Im going to lead you by the inward witness. You had the inward witness all the time. You had a check in your spirit. Thats the reason you tore up the letter three times. You had a something on the inside, a check, a red light, a stop signal. It wasnt even a voice that said, Dont go. It was just an inward intuition. Then He reminded me of another invitation. I had preached a convention for one of the Full Gospel denominations the previous year. Nearly every pastor there asked if I would come and hold a meeting. I had hundreds of calls, I suppose. One fellow came up to me and said, Brother Hagin, do you ever go to small churches? I said, I go anywhere the Lord says to go. Well, we only run 70 to 90 in Sunday School. But if God ever speaks to you, we want you to come. I dismissed that along with hundreds of others. Several months later, however, while praying in the church one day about my services that night, that conversation came back to me. Then every day it continued to come back to me. Finally, after about 30 or 40 days, I said, Lord, do You want me to go to that little church for a meeting? The more I would pray about it, the more I would think about it, as we say, the better I would feel on the inside of me. It wasnt a physical feeling, but one in my spirit. Sitting by my bedside, Jesus referred to this, The more you thought about it, the better you felt about it. You had a velvety-like feeling in your spirit. Thats the green light. Thats the go-ahead signal. Thats the witness of the Spirit to go. Now you see me sitting here, you hear me talking to you, and I am telling you to go to that church. But I am never going to lead you to go anywhere again like this. (He never has.) From now on, I am going to lead you just like I do every other Christian—by the inward witness. Then the Lord said this to me, which is not just for my benefit, but for yours, If you will learn to follow that inward witness I will make you rich. I will guide you in all the affairs of life, financial as well as spiritual. (Some think Hes only interested in their spiritual atmosphere, and nothing else. But Hes interested in everything we are interested in.) I am not opposed to my children being rich. I am opposed to their being covetous. I have followed that inward witness and He has done just what He said He would. He has made me rich. Somebody asked, Are you a millionaire? I didnt say that. They failed to realize what the word rich means. It means a full supply. It means abundant provision. I have more than a full supply. I have more than an abundant provision. It is because I learned to follow the leading of the Spirit by the inward witness. What He did for me, He will do for you. It wont come overnight, or by next Saturday night. But as you learn to develop your spirit and follow that inward witness, He will guide you in every area of your life. I knew a man down in Texas. At the age of 12 he had never had on a pair of shoes. He had only a 5th grade education. way back when money was money, he was a millionaire. Two different people, one from California, the other from Minnesota, who had been frequent house guests in his home, told me this man told each of them the same thing. He said to them both, In all these years and investments (thats how he made his money), I have never lost a dime. That beats my record. How about yours? I have never invested in anything but what made it, he told each of them on different occasions. Then he told them how he did it. I always do this. When someone comes along with an idea wanting me to invest in something, my first reaction is mental. Now I know when Jesus said, When you pray, enter into your closet, that He didnt necessarily mean you have to get into a closet to pray. I know He meant for us to shut things out. But I have a large closet off my bedroom which I go into and pray about it. I wait long enough until I hear what my spirit says. Sometimes I wait three days. Now I dont mean that I stay in there 24 hours a day. I might come out and eat one meal. Usually I miss a few. I come out and sleep a little bit. But the majority of the time I am waiting, just by myself, until I know inside by an inward witness. Sometimes my head says, Boy, you would be a fool to put your money in that. Youll lose your shirt. But my heart says, Go ahead and invest in it. So I do. And in all these years, I have never lost a dime.Then again, somebody comes along with a deal and my head says, Boy, you had better get in there. But I dont pay any attention to my head. I get into that closet and wait. Sometimes all night long I wait. Ill pray and read my Bible, but a lot of the time I just wait. I just get quiet until I can hear inside what my heart says. When my heart says, No, dont do it, and my head says, Yes, youd better get in on it, I dont get into it. What had he done? He had learned to follow the inward witness and God had guided him in his business until in the late 30s and the early 40s he was already worth two million. That doesnt sound so big now, but it was big then. Do you think God loved him more than He loves you? No, he took time to listen to God. He took steps and means and measures to wait. A group of we ministers were talking personally, conversing with one another. Someone asked a certain individual, I wont mention his name, but he is a very successful minister, Now we know that God called you and that the anointing of Gods Spirit is upon you. But from your standpoint, is there any one thing you do that you would say contributed more to your success than any other one thing? That man said, I always follow my deepest premonitions. What was he saying? He was simply saying, I always listen to my spirit. I do what my spirit tells me to do. I follow that inward witness.The inward witness is just as supernatural as guidance through visions and so on; it is just not as spectacular. Many people are looking for the spectacular and missing the supernatural that is right there all the time. Kenneth E Hagin; How to be led by the Spirit of God.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 14:58:50 +0000
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