DANCING IN THE FLESH VS IN THE SPIRIT

I can illustrate the difference that dancing in the Spirit will have upon a service as opposed to dancing in the flesh by sharing some true stories with you.

Years ago when I was pastoring the church in Farmersville, Texas, we saw a woman from another church virtually raised up from a deathbed in one of our Thursday night services. Doctors had said she would be dead in a matter of a few days, but God healed her. The following Sunday, she attended our church.

I had this sister testify in the Sunday morning service and tell about her miraculous healing. That Sunday night during our evangelistic service, she was back again and there were outsiders and sinners present. I wanted them to hear her testimony, so I said, "Sister, stand up and give us your testimony."

She was sitting over to one side in the congregation, so she stood up and told how her husband had admitted her to three different clinics, but every doctor said the same thing: "We can't do a thing for you. You'll be dead in a matter of a few days." Then she told how God raised her up on Thursday. When she said that, she started dancing. You talk about dancing in the Spirit! I got up and went to the pulpit and preached my sermon. She danced all the way through my sermon. I gave the altar call, and she danced all through the altar call. We didn't have any rugs on the floor—we didn't even have enough money to buy rugs in those days—we just had wooden floors. But that little lady never made a sound as she danced! Sinners who had come to that meeting talked about it for months.

The next Saturday, she told us that she'd had to buy a new pair of shoes, and she showed us the pair of shoes she'd worn when she danced in the church. These shoes had just been bought the day before. She'd danced the 1/4-inch leather heel right off, yet no one ever heard a sound, and she never interrupted the service! I kept right on preaching. I couldn't even tell that she was dancing unless I looked over at her. That's a miracle in itself!

More recently, in one of our crusades, some people in the congregation got up and started what looked like a square dance right in the middle of a special song by the RHEMA singers! It quenched the move of the Holy Spirit immediately. God's Spirit was grieved. He had been moving in a marvelous way in the service, but when those people started square dancing, the congregation quit worshiping God or even listening to the singing. It just threw a damper on the whole service.
The Holy Spirit moved on one of our singers and he began to exhort the crowd that square dancing is not in the Spirit. Then the Holy Spirit came on him and he started dancing in the Spirit, and it brought the anointing back. Again, you see, the people brought brass into the temple of the Lord instead of gold. They substituted brass for gold!

When you look at the two—brass and gold—you can hardly tell the difference, can you? You've got to examine them closely to be able to tell the difference. But God wants pure gold!

During the visitation before Campmeeting when Jesus and I were standing above the crowd, I looked down and saw what would be the Wednesday night service of Campmeeting. I saw Buddy, my son-in-law, dancing in the Spirit, and I saw myself dancing in the Spirit. I also saw someone out of the crowd dancing in the Spirit. I didn't know who it was, except that it was someone who had never danced in the Spirit before but had always wanted to.

The next week at Campmeeting all this came to pass! Buddy danced in the Spirit just like I saw him doing! I simply acted out what I had already seen myself do. Then because I had seen it come to pass in the Spirit, I said to the people, "There's someone who has never danced in the Spirit, but you've always wanted to," and I pointed to the section where I'd seen someone dancing in that visitation.

A young man stood up and I said to him, "When I point my finger at you, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. Just go ahead and yield to Him. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you—you'll dance in the Spirit." I pointed my finger at him, the Holy Spirit came upon him, and he took off dancing in the Spirit!

There is a difference between dancing in the flesh just because you decide to and dancing in the Spirit under His unction. I'm just telling you what the Lord said to me; you can do with it what you want. What you do with it is up to you. Don't come fussing to me about it; all I know is what Jesus, the Head of the Church, said to me: "It is unscriptural to dance before the Lord in the New Testament. But it is scriptural to dance in the Spirit."

I'm speaking by the Spirit of God when I say that bringing brass into the temple grieves Him. Jesus said to me as we watched some people in the Campmeeting services dancing in the flesh, "I'LL BLESS THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE MY CHILDREN AND I LOVE THEM. BUT I CAN ONLY BLESS THEM SO FAR—THEY CANNOT HAVE THE FULL MEASURE OF MY BLESSING.”
I don't know about you, but I'm not satisfied with settling for second best from God! I want the best God has in every service. I want the FULL MEASURE of His blessing. I want the full flow of God's Holy Spirit to be in manifestation, don't you? (Kenneth Hagin)