Delightsome Agbabo

September 1 ALIVE For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. — HEBREWS 4:12 To be strong in faith, the first thing you must settle on is the integrity of the Word of God. You must know that the Bible is exactly what it declares itself to be — God’s Word — a revelation from God to us! It is God speaking to us now! It is not only a book of the past and the future; it is a book for now. It is a God-breathed, God-indwelt, God-inspired message. Moffatt’s translation of Hebrew 4:12 reads, “For the Logos [Word] of God is a living thing . . . .” Quick! Alive! Living! But it will come alive to you only as you accept it and act upon it. I’ve always maintained the following attitude toward the Word of God, and have acted upon it accordingly: The Word is just as though the Lord Jesus Christ were here in person spe...

August 31 OBEYING YOUR SPIRIT All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. — 2 TIMOTHY 3:16,17 Did you notice that meditating in the Word, practicing the Word, and giving the Word first place — the first three steps in training the human spirit — come before obeying your spirit? If your spirit has had the privilege of meditating in the Word, of practicing the Word, of putting the Word first, then your spirit is an authoritative guide. In the process of time, if you will follow the four steps we have just studied, you can know the will of God even in all the minor details of your life! But for this to happen, God’s Word, not human reasoning, must dominate your thinking. The Word has been given to us by the Holy Spirit. If the Word is dominating us, then the Holy Spirit is dominating our thinking! The written Word was...

August 30 GIVING THE WORD FIRST PLACE Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors. — PSALM 119:24 When the crises or tests come, too many Christians say, “What are we going to do now?” The crises of life come to us all. But if you are Word-oriented, the first thing you will think about is, “What does the Word say about it?” I pastored nearly twelve years, and I found that churches have problems just like families do. They have discipline problems, financial problems,and so forth. I never discussed church problems with the people, because the more you talk about problems, the bigger they seem to get. But sometimes my deacon board would talk about church problems, and sure enough, the more they talked about them, the bigger the problems seemed to get. Then one of the deacons would look at me and say, “Oh, Brother Hagin, what in the world are we going to do?” I’d smile and say, “We’re just going to act like the Bible is true!” Making that little statement would cause those deac...

August 29 DOING PHILIPPIANS 4:7,8 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. — PHILIPPIANS 4:7,8 Many people want what verse 7 talks about, but they don’t want to do what verse 6 says to do in order to get it. In order to get what verse 7 says, you have to practice verse 6, which we studied yesterday. People who worry and fret, continually think on the wrong side of life. They continually talk unbelief. If something isn’t true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of a good report, then don’t think about it. Make it meet all these qualifications. Some things you hear may be true, but they may not be pure and lovely — so don’t think about them. To do so i...

August 28 DOING PHILIPPIANS 4:6 Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. — PHILIPPIANS 4:6 (Amplified) A minister once came to me for advice. There were many storms in his life, and I felt sorry for him. He couldn’t eat or sleep. Just to sympathize with him wasn’t enough, so I had to read Philippians 4:6. “But everyone doesn’t have the faith you have,” he told me. “Yes, but they have the same Bible,” I replied, “and it’s a matter of practicing the Word.” Then I showed him how to practice the Word: I read a verse aloud and then told the Lord, “Your Word is true, and I believe it.” When I first started practicing this verse, I believed I could make my requests known to God, but it was hard for me to believe I could keep from fretting. However, God won’t ask us to do something we can’t do. So when God said not to fret, this means we c...

August 27 REFUSING TO FRET Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. — PHILIPPIANS 4:6 The Amplified translation of this verse begins, “Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything . . . .” Christians usually practice only part of this verse — the part that says to pray. But if we practice that part and not the part about not having anxiety, we’re not practicing the Word. We’re not being a doer of the Word. First, God’s Word says, “Do not fret . . . .” If you’re going to fret and be anxious, it won’t do you any good to make requests. Your prayers will not work. I read a story years ago about a man, his wife, and grown son, who were in a field chopping cotton. The son wasn’t quite right mentally. Storm clouds appeared, and it began to thunder, but the old man wanted to continue working. Then the lightning became bad. The family began to run for shelter. When it looked as though they weren’t going t...

August 26 PRACTICING THE WORD But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. — JAMES 1:22 Your spirit can be developed by four things. We have just examined the first: meditation. Now we will look at the second: practicing the Word. Practicing the Word means being a doer of the Word. There are talkers about the Word. And even rejoicers about the Word. But we don’t have many doers of the Word. Begin to practice being a doer of the Word. Under allcircumstances, do what the Word of God tells you to do. Some think that being a doer of the Word is simply keeping the Ten Commandments. No, that’s not what James 1:22 means. After all, under the New Covenant, we have only one commandment — the commandment of love. If you love someone, you won’t steal from him. You won’t lie about him. Paul said that love is the fulfilling of the law. If you walk in love, you won’t break any law that was given to curb sin. So, if you’re a doer of the Word, you will walk in love. Bu...

August 25 MY MEDITATION O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. — PSALM 119:97 A minister told me how he’d been trying to make a success of his church. If he heard of a pastor who was doing well, he would visit him and see what kind of program he had. Then he would try to put that man’s program into action in his church — but it never worked. And he’d fly all over the country doing this. Then the pastor decided he would meditate in the Word the way he’d heard me teach. So he took a little time out each morning to meditate on the Word. He told me that after thirty days of meditating on the Word, one Sunday they had a landslide response. More people were saved than in the previous two or three years; his people were revived— and he began to have good success. The ministry was this pastor’s life. That’s where he needed to have good success. Your life calling may be different. But it is certainly true that your way can also be prosperous, and you can have good success. Take ...

August 24 DAY AND NIGHT But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 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. — PSALM 1:2,3 If you ever want to do anything great in life — if you ever want to amount to anything in life — take time to meditate in the Word of God. Start out with at least ten or fifteen minutes a day, and build up. For many years, I held two services a day while in the traveling ministry. And in earlier years of field ministry, I would teach in the mornings, pray aloud all afternoon, and preach and minister at night. Because I ate only one meal a day during my meetings, I would grow weak expending all this physical energy. Then the Lord spoke to me. He said, “Don’t spend all that time praying and wearing yourself out for the night service. Lie on the bed and meditate.” When I began to do that, m...

August 23 MEDITATING IN THE WORD 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. — JOSHUA 1:8 How can your spirit be educated and trained? How can your spirit be built up in strength? There are four steps: (1) Meditating in the Word; (2) Practicing the Word; (3) Giving theWord first place; and (4) Obeying your spirit. We will study these four steps in coming days. What God said to Joshua will work for everyone. If God didn’t want Joshua to be prosperous, why did He tell him how to prosper? If God didn’t want Joshua to be successful, why did He tell him how to have good success? But God wanted Joshua to be prosperous and successful. And He wants you to be prosperous and successful too! Furthermore, God has given us directions in today’s text. Paraphrasing this truth into New Tes...

August 22 SPIRIT GROWTH That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. — EPHESIANS 4:14,15 If it is true that the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, and if it is also true that God will enlighten and guide us through our spirits — and it is — then that part of us needs to grow. The spirit of man needs to be developed so it can be a safer guide. Your spirit can be educated and trained, just as your mind can be educated. And your spirit can be built up in strength, just as your body can be built up in strength. I am well convinced that if you will follow the steps I will give over the next few days, you can train your spirit to the point where eventually you will always get an instant “yes” or “no” on the inside, even in the minor details of l...

August 21 ABOVE ONLY The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath . . . .— DEUTERONOMY 28:12,13 The reason why Christians continually make mistakes and fail is because their spirits, which should guide them, are kept locked away in prison, so to speak. Even in our churches, the intellect has taken the throne. Any person who shuts his spirit away and never listens to it becomes crippled in life. He becomes an easy prey to selfish and designing people. But the person who listens to his spirit is the one who climbs to the top. Before I began to learn in 1959 how to follow the inward witness, it cost me financially. I had to borrow money to get out of a financial hole. Yet God had said I would have money to lo...

August 20 COUNSEL WITHIN Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out. — PROVERBS 20:5 Although God does lead through visions and other supernatural manifestations, I would encourage you not to seek a vision. Do not seek visions or similar experiences. Why? Because you might getbeyond the Word, where the devil can deceive you. (See Second Corinthians 11:14.) Sometimes we would prefer to have a more direct word of guidance. But we don’t always get it. So don’t try to manufacture one if it doesn’t happen. Nowhere does the Bible say that believers sought these experiences, or that they were seeking visions when they came. The visions just happened without people seeking for them. Be content if all you ever have is the inward witness. Be content to follow that witness. But educate, train, and develop your human spirit to the point where that witness becomes more and more real to you. Then, if God sees fit to give you supernatural visitations a...

August 19 CHARGED TO KEEP For he [God] shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. — PSALM 91:11 I heard a pioneer Pentecostal missionary tell this experience. A neighboring tribe kidnapped a little girl from the tribe where he was a missionary. The people in her tribe knew that if they didn’t recover her before nightfall, they would never see her again. So the missionary and a native interpreter made their way through the jungle to the kidnappers’ village. They took trinkets and bargained with the chief for the child’s return, but night overtook them. Because they couldn’t travel at night in the jungle, they were forced to stay at the kidnappers’ village. Sleeping on the floor of a thatched hut, they were awakened by the sound of drums. The interpreter said that the drumsmeant they were to be killed: The chief had decided to kill them and keep both the trinkets and the girl. Then they heard the hostile natives coming for them. The missionary and the interpret...

August 18 GUIDANCE BY ANGELS Are they [angels] not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?  HEBREWS1:14 Even as Jesus talked with me, I would glance at the angel. When I did, I could see he would start to say something. Jesus said, “He’s got a message for you.” I said to Jesus, “You’re talking to me. Why don’t You give me the message? Besides, the Word says, ‘As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.’ I’ve got the Holy Ghost; why couldn’t He talk to me?” Jesus had mercy and was patient. He said, “Did you read in My Word where the angel of the Lord told Philip to go down the way unto Gaza? Wasn’t that guidance? Didn’t an angel give Cornelius directions?” Then He gave me several more New Testament illustrations of angels giving guidance. Finally I said, “That’s enough. I’ll listen.” The angel started by saying, “I am sent from the Presence of Almighty God to tell you . . . (and he spoke to me about a certain d...

August 17 GUARDIAN ANGELS Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. — MATTHEW 18:10 Years ago, a group of us were ministering to the Lord in prayer, such as is described in Acts 13:1 and 2. I had just gotten up off my knees and had sat down on the platform by a folding chair, still praying in other tongues, when suddenly Jesus stood right in front of me! And standing right behind Jesus, about twofeet to Jesus’ right and three feet behind Him was a large angel! The angel must have been eight feet tall — a big fellow. Jesus talked to me about some things (and everything He said later came to pass). When He finished what He was telling me, I asked Him, “Who is that fellow? What does he represent?” Jesus answered, “That’s your angel.” I said, “My angel?” “Yes,” He said. “You remember when I was on earth I said of little children that their angel is ever before My Father’...

August 16 HIS GUIDING WORD Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. — PSALM 119:105 Don’t seek guidance when the Bible has already told you what to do. Just go ahead and do it! The Bible tells you how to act under every circumstance in life. It tells the husband how to treat his wife. It tells the wife how to treat her husband. It tells parents how to treat their children. It tells children how to respond to their parents. It tells all of us to walk in divine love. Divine love seeks not its own. It’s not out for what “I” can get, but what “I” can give. We have God’s Word, and we can walk in the light of it. I go as much by what God doesn’t say to me by the Spirit as by what He does say. If He doesn’t say anything, I just keep going in the direction I have been going. I just keep doing what I have been doing. I know God will tell me when to change. If He doesn’t give me new directions, I don’t worry about it. I don’t “seek” anything. I just keep going. Confession Lord,...

August 13 EDIFICATION, EXHORTATION, COMFORT But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. — 1 CORINTHIANS 14:3 The following is a word of prophecy that came during a seminar I taught on being led by the Spirit: Look inside, inside your spirit. For your spirit is the candle, the lamp of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly. And so ye shall know, and ye shall walk in the light of that which ye know. No one will be able to gainsay thee, for thou wilt say, “There is light in my dwelling. I am the temple of the Holy Spirit. He dwells in me. He enlightens my spirit. Yea, I walk in that witness that’s within my spirit. I do that which I know by an inward intuition. I follow that deep premonition in my innermost being. And so I am being led by the Spirit. I am rejoicing and I’m glad. Yea, I sound forth His praises evermore. I look to that which in me does reside. For residing in me is the potential of all that God has and is. All the a...

August 12 BORN OF GOD Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. — 1 JOHN 3:9 People sometimes ask me, “How can I tell whether it is my own spirit or the Holy Spirit telling me to do something? It may just be me wanting to do it.” When you say “me,” what are you talking about? If it is the real you — the man on the inside that’s a new creature, with the life and nature of God in him, indwelt by the Holy Spirit — then it is right. If you mean “me,” talking about the flesh, that’s a different thing entirely. Learn to differentiate between the two. A Christian’s inward man isn’t the one who wants to do wrong. If the inward man wants to do wrong, that person has never been born again. First John 3:9 has bothered some Christians. They have made mistakes and failed, and they’ve thought, If I were born of God, according to the Bible I wouldn’t sin. But this verse is talking about the inward man who doesn’t sin. I’...

August 11 PROPHETS But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. — JEREMIAH 31:33 When Jesus appeared to me and told me to teach His people how to be led by the Spirit, He stated, “I didn’t set prophets in the Church to guide people. The New Testament does not say, ‘As many as are led by prophets, they are the sons of God.’ “New Testament believers,” Jesus told me, “should not seek guidance through prophets. The prophets of the Old and the New Testaments are similar in some ways. Both see and know things supernaturally. But in the Old Testament, the people did not have the Spirit of God in them, or on them. They had a promise of the New Birth, but they didn’t have it. So, if they were to be led by the Spirit, they had to go to someone who was anointed with the Spirit. But under the New Covenant, every be...

August 10 WHAT MY HEART SAYS But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth . . . . — DEUTERONOMY 8:18 I knew a man down in East Texas whose family was so poor that he didn’t have a pair of shoes until he was twelve years old. He had only a fifth grade education. But way back when money was money, he had two million dollars. He made his money in investments. Two people who had been frequent guests in his home told me that he had said, “In many years of investing, I’ve never lost a dime.” Here’s how he did it. He told my friend, “When someone comes with an idea and wants me to invest in something, my first reaction is mental. So I have a big closet I go into and pray about it. I wait long enough to hear what my spirit says. “My head may say, ‘You’d be a fool to invest in that,’ but if my heart says, ‘Go ahead,’ I do. Or, my head may say, ‘You’d better get in on this one,’ while my heart tells me, ‘Don’t do it.’ So I don’t. I don’t pay any att...

August 9 WAITING ON GOD But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. — ISAIAH 40:31 Except for that one time when I got fleeced, I never missed it when I made a change in churches or ministry.“What did you go by — a fleece?” No, I went by what the inward witness said. If I had to, I would wait awhile before God. If I had to, I would wait all night long or I might fast a day or so — not that fasting will change God. It won’t. God never changes. He’s the same before I fast, while I fast, and after I fast. But fasting changes me. The time I would have spent eating, I prayed and waited on God. I would spend more time in the Word. Then my spirit man would become dominant. So I waited until I knew on the inside of me what God wanted me to do. And I never got fleeced again. Confession : My spirit is the candle of the Lord. He guides me. He enlightens me. He leads me ...

August 8 YOUR OWN WORDS . . . He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. — PSALM 15:4 Even though I missed God’s perfect will by putting out a fleece, I stayed with that church one year, because I hadpromised them I would. I toughed it out. I’m a man of my word. One of the characteristics of a spiritual pilgrim is that he “sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.” In other words, he keeps his word. If you don’t learn to be a person of your word, your faith will never amount to anything. Why? Because to get faith to work for you, you have to believe in your words as well as believe in your heart: “. . . whosoever shall SAY . . . and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he SAITH shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he SAITH” (Mark 11:23). The things that you say are your words. And you’re certainly not going to believe your word will come to pass when you know you’re not a person of your word! I’m going to keep my word. If I don’t, i...

August 7 HIS WILL . . . That ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. — COLOSSIANS 1:9,10 It is dangerous for Spirit-filled Christians living under the New Covenant to put out fleeces. This fleece business is in the realm where Satan is god (2 Cor. 4:4). When people pray, “God, if You want me to do this, then have this happen,” that’s a fleece. And Satan can move in the sense realm. But God has a better way of leading His children than by this hit-and-miss method of fleeces! It was only after I came over into Pentecostal circles that I heard about fleeces. While I was pastoring one church, the board of another church asked me to try out to be their pastor. I preached for them, and driving back home, I put out a fleece. I said, “Lord, I’m going to put out a fleece. Here it is: If that church elects me one ...

August 6 FLEECES? A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you . . . . — EZEKIEL 36:26,27 To receive guidance, some people put out what they call a “fleece” before the Lord. The New Testament, however, does not say, “As many as are led by fleeces, they are the sons of God.” “Yes,” someone may say, “but Gideon put out a fleece back in the Old Testament.” Why go back under the Old Covenant? We’ve got something better under the New Covenant. The Old Covenant was for spiritually dead people. I’m not spiritually dead — I’m alive! I’ve got the Spirit of God in me! Remember, Gideon was not a prophet, priest, or king. Only men who stood in those three offices, under the Old Covenant, were anointed by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God was not personally present with the rest of the people. That is why every male had to present himself...

August 5 DIRECTION Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. — PROVERBS 3:5,6 It is not for us to tell the Lord how to lead us. We are to let Him lead us any way He wants to! But it is for us to find out from the Word of God how He doeslead. And He leads, first of all, by the inward witness. We can also see in the Book of Acts and elsewhere how at times some believers received guidance through a vision; others received guidance from an angel who appeared to them and told them certain things. Such phenomena, however, didn’t happen every day in these people’s lives. They occurred once or twice in the entire lifetime of some of them. So that’s not the ordinary way God leads — but He can if He wants to. Often God is trying to bear witness with our spirit — trying to guide us — but we won’t listen, because we want something spectacular, such as a vision, or an angel. But we must remember...

August 4 EXAMINE YOUR LEADING Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. — 2 PETER 1:20,21 The Word and the Spirit agree. How can you tell if it is the Spirit of God? If it is in line with the Word, then it is of the Spirit. If it is not in line with the Word, then it is not the Spirit. I’ve had people tell me God was leading them to do something, and when I heard what it was, I said, “No, that’s not the Spirit of God.” This is an extreme case, but it’s true. A man told me he thought the Spirit of God was leading him and another woman to leave their spouses and marry one another. No! That is out of line with the Word! The Holy Spirit does not break up homes. The Spirit and the Word agree! The Bible is inspired by the Spirit of God. Examine your leading in the light of the Word. Confession: I am led by the Spirit of God. I...

August 3 FAITH — NOT SIGHT For we walk by faith, not by sight. — 2 CORINTHIANS 5:7 Smith Wigglesworth said something that blessed me when I first read it way back in the late thirties, because it was so in line with my own experience. He said: “ I am not moved by what I feel. I am not moved by what I see. I am moved only by what I believe.” Then he went on to say: “I can’t understand God by feelings. I can’t understand the Lord Jesus Christ by feelings. I understand God by what the Word says about Him. I understand the Lord Jesus Christ by what the Word says about Him. He is everything the Word says He is.” You will not be able to understand yourself by feelings. Instead, understand yourself as a born again, Spirit-filled Christian, by what the Word of God says about you. And when you read what the Word says about you, whether you feel like it or not, say, “Yes, that’s me. I have that. The Word says I have that. I can do what the Word says I can do. I amwhat the Word says I am.” As you...

August 2 STIRRED UP Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee . . . . — 2 TIMOTHY 1:6 A woman got us out of bed at 2 o’clock one morning, crying, “If I could just get back to where I was with God.” I assumed she had committed some terrible sin, so I said, “Kneel down here and tell the Lord about it. He will forgive you.” She said, “I have searched my heart and as far as I know, I haven’t done anything wrong.” I said, “Then what makes you think you have to get back to God?” “Well,” she said, “I justdon’t feel like I used to.” I was visibly aggravated with her. I told her if I went by my feelings right then, she’d have to pray for me! But I showed her what to do: I told her to watch and listen as I prayed. Then I said, “Dear Lord, I’m so glad I’m a child of God. I’m so glad I’ve been born again. I don’t feel anything, but that doesn’t have anything to do with it. My inward man is a new man. I want to thank You that I’m filled with the Holy Sp...