Voices

"His anointing remains in their voices."

MINISTER KENNETH E. HAGIN had a vision of Jesus in which the Savior explained to him the meaning of Ephesians 6:12. Often quoted, the first phrase of this familiar verse must be considered with the portion which follows. Here we find two opposites. First, it tells us what we do not wrestle against. Then it tells us what we do. We DO NOT wrestle against flesh and blood. We DO wrestle against “principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places.” In his vision, Minister Hagin received the revelation that these we DO wrestle against are increasing ranks of demonic powers. The B.W. Johnson commentary makes the same statement: “These terms designate different rank of evil spirits.”

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

It is of utmost importance that we do not turn loose of revelations spoken by previous generations. What was learned by those seeking the Spirit’s instruction is meant to put us ahead. We do not have to start over from scratch. Another such minister with great wisdom, who is now in heaven, is George Muller. No man, in my eyes, walked by faith more consistently than he did. With thousands of orphans in his care, he raised not one dime by advertisement but relied on God to send him what was required without his ever speaking to anyone. He was a great man of prayer.

“Through reading of the word of God, and especially through meditation on the word of God, the believer becomes more and more acquainted with the nature and character of God, and thus sees more and more, besides His holiness and justice, what a kind, loving, gracious, merciful, mighty, wise, and faithful Being He is, and, therefore, in poverty, affliction of body, bereavement in his family, difficulty in his service, want of a situation or employment, he will repose upon the ability of God to help him, because he has not only learned from His word that He is of almighty power and infinite wisdom, but he has also seen instance upon instance in the Holy Scriptures in which His almighty power and infinite wisdom have been actually exercised in helping and delivering His people; and he will repose upon the willingness of God to help him, because he has not only learned from the Scriptures what a kind, good, merciful, gracious, and faithful being God is, but because he has also seen in the word of God how, in a great variety of instances He has proved Himself to be so.” | George Müller. Answers to Prayer

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We are given to hear the wisdom of those experienced in war, in survival, in craftsmanship, and education. We study those who have painted well and written well. Of greater importance to believers are those who have stood the test of faith. Those like the apostle Paul, who wrote of the great distances he traveled, the great depths of the Spirit he walked, and also the words of those other apostles whose hands handled the Word of Life and saw His glory: Peter, James, and John, to name three. The glory of the Lord is not limited to the early church but has fallen upon many over different ages of time. From their witness of Him, from their testimonies, we can grow and mature and, importantly, avoid errors in doctrine. One morning the Spirit spoke a man’s name to me, a name I was unfamiliar with, and an unusual name, yet I knew how to spell it. A search online found videos of him preaching. He was not of a denomination I knew yet I learned amazing things from him in some areas. We must be able to hear the Spirit through these and know what is truth. This is important. By turning off our criticism and setting aside what we do not agree with, we can love their teaching for what God would have us to hear.

”He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.” (Matthew 10:41)

Minister Hagin’s vision of Jesus and the revelation he was given of Ephesians 6 and the ranks of demonic spirits helps us to pray effectively for people, nations, and governments. It teaches us about the spiritual world and the kingdoms of light and darkness that we cannot physically see. Without it, we can get into error. What was the Spirit trying to say in this passage? we must ask and neither assume we know, nor make inferences from our reasoning. We can respect that Minister Hagin had the vision and our Lord spoke to him as He did. Our heart should be to experience the same. Our heart should be faith such as George Muller’s. He once had no food for the orphans nor money to purchase it, so in faith, he had the children sit at the table as if it were prepared. Within a short time of being seated, someone came to the door of the orphanage with a meal ready and said God had told them to bring it. What an amazing example to build our trust in a faithful, generous God. Another minister of past generations, Minister John G. Lake believed so strongly in God’s protection for the human body that he had scientists put viral germs on his hands then had them studied under the microscope, and all the germs had died. We can also have such great belief in God’s goodness to us, in His abundant salvation. There is no need to leave home and accept sickness from any physical surface or passerby.

There is, too, that these men and many others were called by God into the positions they held, and their calling has never been rescinded. What God laid upon them still holds authority. Minister Dutch Sheets tells of a dream given to him in which children of God from past generations were assembled in the same room. How much this makes us long for heaven, where there are peoples of all cultures and ethnicity, of all beliefs upon the earth, who now walk in the fullness of truth. Their stories remain to us here, and in this thought, I hear the Savior’s heartbeat. How much they were loved, how much they were given, and how much they opened up themselves to give to us His words. Just as the words of the Scriptures do not die, for God’s anointing is upon them. His anointing remains in their voices. Rather than say they are gone and we are left with our own work to do, it is that we are one body with one Lord and one baptism and one Father of all, who has not changed since everlasting, and how much greater we are for it.

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” (Hebrews 12:1)

“The entire body of believers is joined together with Christ: each member draws their strength from him and then ministers in love to the needs of the rest of the body as each part does its assigned task.” (Ephesians 4:16, Remedy)

Images:
John G. Lake
George Muller
Kenneth E. Hagin
*Wikimedia Commons


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com