Being Moved By The Holy Spirit

[Paul Christensen]

The early 20th Century Pentecostals had a different view on using the gifts of the Spirit, than what many modern Pentecostals and Charismatics do.

Modern Pentecostals use the Holy Spirit as a "vending machine" to produce results whenever the person decides He should. The problem is that much of the prayer for the sick, words of knowledge, discernment of spirits, and prophecy is self-motivated, which causes a "hit and miss" effect where sometimes a person is ministered to by the Holy Spirit, but often nothing happens, especially in ministry to the sick and disabled.

We see this "hit and miss" stuff in the number of recent prophecies "to the nation" which have proved to be false, the predictions not happening as expected. Sadly, the lack of verified results in the healing ministry has induced the practice of selecting people for healing lines who are not as totally sick or disabled as generally thought by the people. So, a partially deaf person is prayed for as if he is totally deaf, giving false results, or able bodied folk given wheelchairs and then transported to the healing line to make it appear that they were healed of lameness, or the use of the lengthening leg trick. Or the scandalous case of a "word of knowledge" preacher who had his wife interviewing candidates before the meeting, and then transmitting personal information into an ear-piece worn by the preacher! If a truly sick person appears in the healing line and is not healed, that person is accused of not having "enough faith".

The problem is that much of this type of ministry is self-motivated, and based on the erroneous view that it is the preacher who has the special gift, either of prophecy, words of knowledge, or healing. This view is totally wrong and deceptive, and it is so sad that multitudes of folk are tricked by it.

The truth is that it is the Holy Spirit and Him alone who manifests the gifts of the Spirit. He works through ministries HE chooses to work through. The early 20th Century Pentecostal pastors and preachers knew this, and they spent time waiting on God in prayer until the Holy Spirit made it abundantly clear that He was going to use them. A prominent healing preacher refused to pray for sick people unless he knew beyond doubt that the Holy Spirit was moving him to do it. Because he spent much personal time with the Lord, studying the Scriptures, praying in tongues and in his own understanding, he developed a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and knew when the Holy Spirit moved him. This meant that his healing ministry was genuine and many sick people all around the world were immediately healed as the result of his prayer of faith. In some difficult cases, he had to wait on God for the Holy Spirit to give him the gift of faith to be able to have faith over and above his own, to achieve the desired outcome.

The problem with modern so-called healing ministries and modern day "prophets" is that they have lost the art of spending extended times waiting on God in the Scriptures and in prayer to dissolve their self-ambition, and confidence, and to become sensitive to the moving of the Holy Spirit. They launch themselves out into ministry without the involvement of the Holy Spirit. The deceptive aspect is that they pretend that the Holy Spirit is motivating them, when He is doing nothing of the sort. They have ignored the principle of "I must decrease and He must increase".

In previous times, men spoke prophetically as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. In modern times, self-appointed "prophets" speak as they are moved by their own self-motivation. How we are motivated makes a lot of difference to the outcome achieved.

 

[marks]

A good call to spend more time in prayer, and waiting on God!

Much love!

 

[Hidden In Him]

A good call to spend more time in prayer, and waiting on God!

Much love!

Yes. The below in particular is an excellent quote, and at the very heart of the matter.

"The problem with modern so-called healing ministries and modern day "prophets" is that they have lost the art of spending extended times waiting on God in the Scriptures and in prayer to dissolve their self-ambition, and confidence, and to become sensitive to the moving of the Holy Spirit. They launch themselves out into ministry without the involvement of the Holy Spirit."

 

[Paul Christensen]

A good call to spend more time in prayer, and waiting on God!

Much love!

Quite right! God is no respecter of persons. There are no special people with gifts unavailable to ordinary believers. In one early 20th Century prophetic conference attended by some of the most prominent preachers and teachers, the only powerful prophetic word was given by a servant girl whose job was waiting on tables. She was the only person moved by the Holy Spirit that day to give a prophetic word.

The Scripture says that we need to pursue love and desire spiritual gifts. One effective healing preacher said that the first indication that the Holy Spirit was going to use him to heal someone was a deep sense of compassion toward the sick person. This is consistent with Matthew's Gospel, where there are many instances that Jesus was moved by compassion before He healed the sick.

That deep sense of compassion would cause a healing minister to wait on the Lord to ensure that the Holy Spirit was going to be involved in his ministry to the sick person and to give him that extra burst of faith to ensure that the person was going to be healed. What's the point of being a healing ministry if no one gets healed as the outcome?

A genuine healing ministry doesn't have to use gimmicks or tricks, nor does he have to tell people they don't have enough faith if they don't get healed. It has all to do with the calling, choosing, and faith of the healing ministry. A sick person is usually trying to cope with their sickness and often doesn't have much faith in the midst of his or her suffering. There is the event where a well-known healing preacher was travelling in a streetcar when he saw a young man lying on the sidewalk in agony. He got the streetcar stopped, jumped off, went to the young man, prayed the prayer of faith, and the young man jumped up, totally startled that the pain had suddenly disappeared, and ran off. This shows that the Holy Spirit doesn't need a "prepared" environment or atmosphere for healing to take place.

The early church Apostles had to organise the appointment of seven deacons because they needed to give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word. This shows the quality of the Apostles that are lacking in many modern healing ministries. Leonard Ravenhill said that instead of agonising in the upper room, they are organising in the supper room! Charles Spurgeon says that he needed to intercede for his congregation for two hours before preaching, and at least one hour afterwards. This was the attitude that made his ministry so effective in his days, and in ours when we read his printed sermons.

It is interesting that the most powerful international healing ministry, Smith Wigglesworth, had problems with sciatica and kidney stones, and his eldest daughter was profoundly deaf. This shows that it is not the person, but the Holy Spirit working through the person. Also, interestingly, he had no problem with healing preachers wearing eye glasses. He says that there is a big difference between sickness/disability and the effects of aging.

 

[Paul Christensen]

Another interesting feature of early 20th Century prophecy were the interpretation of tongues messages given as Smith Wigglesworth preached.

The were short and to the point, often just two sentences. The content was Christ-centred and described the power and wonderful works of God. What was absent was anything particularly man-centred, ie: increasing faith in God because of who He is, rather than what He can do for us.

Smith Wigglesworth said that the problem with many prophecies is that when God speaks He doesn't say much, and that the "prophet" tends to add his bit on the end, often extending the prophecy to lengths where listeners became weary and bored. He says that the first two or three sentences may have been of the Holy Spirit, and the extra minutes of the prophecy would have been self-motivated, diluting the effectiveness of the prophecy.

 

[Pathfinder7]

The early 20th Century Pentecostals had a different view on using the gifts of the Spirit, than what many modern Pentecostals and Charismatics do.

Modern Pentecostals use the Holy Spirit as a "vending machine" to produce results whenever the person decides He should. The problem is that much of the prayer for the sick, words of knowledge, discernment of spirits, and prophecy is self-motivated, which causes a "hit and miss" effect where sometimes a person is ministered to by the Holy Spirit, but often nothing happens, especially in ministry to the sick and disabled.

We see this "hit and miss" stuff in the number of recent prophecies "to the nation" which have proved to be false, the predictions not happening as expected. Sadly, the lack of verified results in the healing ministry has induced the practice of selecting people for healing lines who are not as totally sick or disabled as generally thought by the people. So, a partially deaf person is prayed for as if he is totally deaf, giving false results, or able bodied folk given wheelchairs and then transported to the healing line to make it appear that they were healed of lameness, or the use of the lengthening leg trick. Or the scandalous case of a "word of knowledge" preacher who had his wife interviewing candidates before the meeting, and then transmitting personal information into an ear-piece worn by the preacher! If a truly sick person appears in the healing line and is not healed, that person is accused of not having "enough faith".

The problem is that much of this type of ministry is self-motivated, and based on the erroneous view that it is the preacher who has the special gift, either of prophecy, words of knowledge, or healing. This view is totally wrong and deceptive, and it is so sad that multitudes of folk are tricked by it.

The truth is that it is the Holy Spirit and Him alone who manifests the gifts of the Spirit. He works through ministries HE chooses to work through. The early 20th Century Pentecostal pastors and preachers knew this, and they spent time waiting on God in prayer until the Holy Spirit made it abundantly clear that He was going to use them. A prominent healing preacher refused to pray for sick people unless he knew beyond doubt that the Holy Spirit was moving him to do it. Because he spent much personal time with the Lord, studying the Scriptures, praying in tongues and in his own understanding, he developed a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and knew when the Holy Spirit moved him. This meant that his healing ministry was genuine and many sick people all around the world were immediately healed as the result of his prayer of faith. In some difficult cases, he had to wait on God for the Holy Spirit to give him the gift of faith to be able to have faith over and above his own, to achieve the desired outcome.

The problem with modern so-called healing ministries and modern day "prophets" is that they have lost the art of spending extended times waiting on God in the Scriptures and in prayer to dissolve their self-ambition, and confidence, and to become sensitive to the moving of the Holy Spirit. They launch themselves out into ministry without the involvement of the Holy Spirit. The deceptive aspect is that they pretend that the Holy Spirit is motivating them, when He is doing nothing of the sort. They have ignored the principle of "I must decrease and He must increase".

In previous times, men spoke prophetically as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. In modern times, self-appointed "prophets" speak as they are moved by their own self-motivation. How we are motivated makes a lot of difference to the outcome achieved.

Good post/point.
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I like the stories..
- Early days of 'Pentecostal Movement.'