LOOKING FOR THE SPECTACULAR AND MISSING THE SUPERNATURAL

Too many believers are wanting someone to come along and prophesy to them and tell them what to do, when they are supposed to be led by their own spirit.

One time the Holy Spirit said to me, "My people are waiting for the spectacular and missing the supernatural." God does not often lead His people by the spectacular supernatural move of His Spirit. But the inward witness is supernatural because it's the Holy Ghost, and that is the number one way God leads His people.

God didn't put prophets and the gift of prophecy in the Church to guide our personal affairs. Tragedy very often happens to folks when they try to be guided by the prophet. They get their lives in a mess.

I told you about the wealthy businessman who lost everything he had because he listened to a so-called prophetess.

Now I'll tell you about a businessman who never lost a penny because he learned how to listen to the inward witness — to his spirit. He wasn't led by prophecy or the office of the prophet; he was led just by the Holy Spirit in his own spirit.

I knew this man years ago. He lived in a mansion and drove expensive new cars. This was in the Depression Days. The streets were full of people out of work, but there was no work. I
worked myself from sunup to sundown for one dollar and was glad to get it. This man took ten thousand dollars in those days when money was worth more than it is today and turned it into one million dollars. He didn't do that by listening to some "prophet"!

When a person was a millionaire in those days, it was like being a billionaire today. This man said, "I've never lost a penny in any investment. People know I invest, so they come to me with their business deals. I'll listen to their projects, and many times my head will say, 'That's a good deal. You ought to get in on that.' Or someone else will come along with a deal, and my head says, You'd better not get in on that. You'll lose your shirt.'

"But I always say the same thing to everyone who comes to me with an investment, regardless what my head says. I always say, 'Give me two or three days to pray about it.' "I have what I call my prayer closet. It's a closet off the master bedroom. I know God didn't mean we are literally to get into a closet to pray, but that's where I go to pray. I get in there with my Bible, and I may eat one meal a day, or I may not. I may fast. But I pray about the business deal. I ask the Lord, 'Should I or shouldn't I invest in this business deal?'"

He said, "I pray and seek the Lord until I get a yes or a no in my spirit. I spend most of the time seeking God, getting my mind quiet before God. Sometimes I have to get my mind quiet to get an answer. And sometimes it takes time to get my mind shut off; it took me time to learn how to do that. But I always get my answer within three days, sometimes in less than three days.

"Sometimes the very business deals my head said not to get involved in, my spirit also says, 'Don't do it.' Or sometimes the deal my head told me, 'You'd better not get in on that. You'll lose your shirt if you do,' my spirit says, 'Do it!' So I do." He said, "I've never lost a dime in all these years." This man never consulted any prophet; he just followed the inward witness.

I was teaching in a certain place about the inward witness and what it means to be led by the Spirit, and a man came up to me after the service. He said, "Brother Hagin, if I had heard you two years ago, it would have saved me thousands upon thousands of dollars." And he went on to explain.

He told me that two years before, he'd owned all the buildings on a certain city block, which included four or five stores. Then across town, he owned another store, which was full of merchandise. All the merchandise inside the store was paid for, which included much furniture, appliances, and hardware. He said, "I had a good cash flow and the business was in good shape financially. Then a fellow came along one day with a business deal he wanted me to invest in. I told him I'd have to pray about it. He told me that he needed his answer within three days. After that it would be too late.

"I'd heard people talk about putting out fleeces," the man said, "so I put out a fleece. According to the fleece, it looked like I should invest my money in the man's business deal, so I went to the bank and mortgaged everything I had. I put all my money in that enterprise and lost every dime of it! For the last two years I have just been paying on the interest I owe, and I still owe thousands of dollars."

He said, "If I had heard this teaching about following the inward witness, I wouldn't have lost all my money. Something on the inside of me kept telling me not to invest in his business deal, but the fleece said to do it." Nowhere in the New Testament does it say, "As many as are led by fleeces, they are the sons of God."

One year at RHEMA, one of our students asked me about a fellow who was supposed to be a prophet. In the first place, if a person has to advertise to everyone he is a prophet, I wonder about his calling. In the second place, people make a mistake running around listening to every so-called prophet. The Bible says a man's gift makes room for him (Prov. 18:16). If a person is called to the office of the prophet, he shouldn't have to advertise it. People will know it sooner or later by the spiritual equipment that goes along with that office.

Anyway, this student said, "This prophet called me out of the crowd and prophesied over me that God had called me to Africa. He said that in so many months I'd be in Africa." The student said, "But the thought has never entered my mind, nor have I ever had it in my spirit about going to Africa." I asked him, "In your spirit what do you sense God wants you to do?" He said, "I know exactly what God wants me to do. I settled all that through prayer and waiting before God." I said, "Does it have anything to do with Africa?" He answered, "No." "Forget what that man told you then," I said.

"Yes, but that fellow said he was a prophet." I said, "Just because he said he's a prophet doesn't make him one. Don't pay a bit of attention to what he said. You do what God told you in your own heart to do." When you are grounded in the Word, you are not going to be moved by so-called prophets or their so-called prophecies. If you are moved by them, you are still a spiritual child tossed about with every wind of doctrine (Eph. 4:14). You need to learn to be led by the inward witness of the Holy Spirit in your spirit man. (Kenneth Hagin)

@op,could you please give me the title of this book, i would like to read it.

God bless you.
God2man.

God2man: @op,could please give me the title of this book, i would like to read it.

God bless you.
God2man.

The title is, 'He Gave Gifts Unto Men' by Kenneth E. Hagin. U sure will like it

"He gave gifts unto men" by kenneth hagin. Thank you very much, God bless you. God2man.