THE SECRET OF SUCCESS (I) By Kenneth Hagin

A few years ago, I attended what was called an "Idea Exchange." Ministers from various churches and denominations across the country were invited to that meeting. At that meeting, some of those ministers asked me, "Brother Hagin, what is the secret of your success?" One minister said, "When I first knew you, nobody had ever heard of you. You were preaching in small churches and, once in a while, in a large church. But then, all of a sudden, you became not only a national figure, but in just a matter of a few years—an international figure. Now how did that all come about? What is the secret of your success?"

I answered, "The only secret of success I know is WALKING IN LINE WITH THE WORD OF GOD, and PRAYING AND LISTENING TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. I simply listen to what the Spirit of God says to do, and then do it." Actually, everything I'm doing today is the result of believing the Word, praying in other tongues, and being obedient to what God told me to do. Thank God for the value of praying in other tongues. Sometimes I interpreted my own prayers. In fact, that is how I first started interpreting—by interpreting my own prayers.

To tell you the real truth about the matter, praying in other tongues was instrumental even in showing me about my marriage and my children. I pastored a pentecostal church in Tom Bean, Texas, in 1938 where I met my lovely wife. I was a 21-year-old pastor and I needed a helpmeet.
I was praying up in a barn loft that belonged to one of my deacons. I had been going with Oretha for a while at that point. I began praying in other tongues about my future, and I prayed this all out in other tongues. Then I prayed the interpretation out: I saw in the Spirit that I would marry her and that we'd have two children, and that's what happened! I got that in prayer. I didn't get that because I was standing in the office of the prophet, because I wasn't at that time.

When you get down on your knees and find out for yourself what His plans are—because He will put His approval and His blessings on His plans—it works so much better. It will almost work like clockwork. I remember how God dealt with me before the beginning of what has come to be called the Charismatic Movement.

In December 1962, I was preaching in a Full Gospel church in Houston. Suddenly, I felt a wind blowing upon me. It came with such force that it knocked me flat on the floor and I fell into a trance. (In Acts 10:9,10, the Bible says that Peter went up on the housetop to pray and fell into a trance.) All my physical senses were suspended. I saw a beautiful flower garden surrounded with a white picket fence. In the middle of it was a pavilion or arbor. The garden was full of the most beautiful flowers of every kind. The arbor itself was made up of climbing flower plants. Each flower was in full bloom and was giving off a wonderful aroma. The perfume was visible as it rose into the air. I came up from the east to the gate of the fence. Jesus was standing just inside. When I got there, He unlatched the gate, and pushed it open. He reached out His hand, took my right hand, led me inside, and shut the gate. Then He took my right hand in both of His hands, and led me down the path to the arbor.

Two white marble benches were on either side of the arbor. He sat on the bench to the south and without saying a word, pulled me down beside Him. I looked around. From the west, I saw a river flowing into the garden. It was broad at its beginnings back up in the sky and it narrowed as it flowed into this little garden. As I looked, the river changed. It became people—people of every nationality, people of every dress and station of life. They were flowing into the garden. I said, "Lord, who are these people? What does all this mean?"
Jesus said to me, "These are people from what you call 'denominational' churches and even from other religions of the world. In this day, I am visiting hungry hearts everywhere. I will visit places you never would have thought I would visit—not only what you call 'denominational' churches, but I will visit other religions where hearts are hungry and open to Me. These are people who will come into the light of the new birth and the fullness of being filled with the Holy Spirit. They will flow as one. The aroma that goes up is the praise of these people ascending into heaven, even as the incense of old ascended unto Me.

"You must play a part in this," Jesus said. "I want you to minister to the whole Body." Jesus kept saying that: "I want you to minister to the whole Body," while I watched the following scene run off before me like you'd watch something on television. I saw myself ministering in Baptist churches. I saw myself ministering in Presbyterian churches, in Methodist churches, in Disciples of Christ churches, and even in Roman Catholic churches—and I've done it! I saw people falling under the power and lying all around the front of Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Catholic, and other denominational churches—and it has come to pass! That might not seem so amazing to you now, but it was shocking to Full Gospel circles in those days. I was a Pentecostal preacher who preached strictly in Pentecostal churches……………

Thanks for this blessing.