The Smith Wigglesworth Blog

Apostle of Faith 9: Visits to Switzerland and Sweden.

2011-10-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

by Stanley Howard Frodsham.
Smith Wigglesworth: Apostle of Faith, 1924.

In the year 1920 our Greatheart labored for six months in different parts of Europe. He ministered for a short while in France and then went on to Switzerland. The following account of his labors is part of an address given by Madam Debat of Paris, who acted as his interpreter in France and in French Switzerland.

At Chatres in the French Alps we had a convention. Four ministers came to spy out the land in order to speak against this work of God. But all four are now convinced that this Pentecostal work is truly of God. One cried out, “I am under an open heaven.”

Continued…

Apostle of Faith 8: Miracles in Australia and New Zealand.

2011-09-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

by Stanley Howard Frodsham.
Smith Wigglesworth: Apostle of Faith, 1924.

It was in the early part of 1922 that our Greatheart made his first visit to Australia.

We quote from a letter (which appeared in the English paper, Confidence) written by Miss Winnie Andrews of Victoria:

Our dear Brother Wigglesworth arrived in Melbourne last Thursday, and he had a meeting that night—and although he made it quite plain and clear to his hearers that he would rather see one sinner saved than ten thousand people healed of bodily ailments, he invited any who were in pain to come forward for prayer—Among those who came forward were several who later declared they had received remarkable and instantaneous healings.

Continued…

Apostle of Faith 7: In labors more abundant.

2011-09-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

by Stanley Howard Frodsham.
Smith Wigglesworth: Apostle of Faith, 1924.

“I labored more abundantly than they all,” Paul declared, but he was quick to add, “yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” [1Co 15.10]

Our Greatheart’s life, like the apostle’s, was “in labors more abundant,” [2Co 11.23] but he was quick to acknowledge that it was all of grace and by faith that his labors were accomplished. To him the attitude of faith was not one of strain, of effort, nor of crying and moaning night and day, but just one of laying hold of God’s gracious provision, and trusting and resting. He knew God could not fail in His promises. He believed the record that God “hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,” [2Pe 1.3] and so he laid hold in living faith of the exceeding great and precious promises, and his expectation of an exhibition of God’s power was constantly fulfilled.

Continued…

Apostle of Faith 6: The ministry of healing.

2011-09-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

by Stanley Howard Frodsham.
Smith Wigglesworth: Apostle of Faith, 1924.

We have often heard Smith Wigglesworth say that it did not matter where he went in the Scripture for a text, he nearly always ended up preaching that the Lord not only forgives all sin but heals every disease.

His constant message was just “Christ.” He would say of Him: “There was never One who came into the world with such loving compassion and who entered into all the needs of the people as did the Lord Jesus. And He declares to us, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you he that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto My Father.’ [Jn 14.12] God wants us all to have an audacity of faith that dares to believe for all that is set forth in the Word.”

Continued…

Apostle of Faith 5: After receiving the Baptism.

2011-08-28T00:00:00.000-07:00

by Stanley Howard Frodsham.
Smith Wigglesworth: Apostle of Faith, 1924.

[Wigglesworth:] At the time I received the Baptism in the Spirit, a meeting was going on in the large vestry of the All Saints’ Clurch, and I went straight to it. The vicar of the church, Pastor Boddy, had charge and he was speaking. I knew that as yet he had not received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, and I interrupted him by saying, “Oh, please let me speak, Mr. Boddy; I have just received the Baptism in the Holy Ghost.”

Continued…

Apostle of Faith 4: Endued from on high.

2011-08-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

by Stanley Howard Frodsham.
Smith Wigglesworth: Apostle of Faith, 1924.

We continue the story in our Greatheart’s own words:

My wife was a great preacher, and although I had no ability to preach, she made up her mind to train me for the ministry. So she would continually make an announcement that I would be the speaker the next Sunday. She said she was sure I could preach if I only tried. When she announced me to speak, this would give me a week of labor and a good deal of sweating.

Continued…

Apostle of Faith 3: “Then the ear…”

2011-08-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

by Stanley Howard Frodsham.
Smith Wigglesworth: Apostle of Faith, 1924.

“My soul followeth hard after Thee” [Ps 63.8] is the intense expression of the man after God’s own heart. This was ever the attitude of Smith Wigglesworth from the early days of his Christian experience. No wonder the enemy of souls sought so hard to cause the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches to choke the Word in the two years mentioned in the last chapter.

Continued…

Apostle of Faith 2: An helpmeet for him.

2011-08-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

by Stanley Howard Frodsham.
Smith Wigglesworth: Apostle of Faith, 1924.

In the second part of the Pilgrim’s Progress, Bunyan introduces us to one Mr. Greatheart, who guided and guarded Christiana and her sons on their way to the Celestial City. The one whose story we are telling was a Mr. Greatheart. He surely had a great heart of love and loyalty to his Master, for so often we have heard him say, “Isn’t He a lovely Jesus!” And he also had a great heart of love for all his fellow pilgrims, especially the poor and needy, the sick and the suffering.

He once said to us, “All that I am today I owe, under God, to my precious wife. Oh, she was lovely!”

Continued…

Apostle of Faith 1: “First the blade…”

2011-07-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

by Stanley Howard Frodsham.
Smith Wigglesworth: Apostle of Faith, 1924.

Stanley Howard Frodsham (1882-1969) was an English-American editor who for years ran Gospel Publishing House, the publishing company of the Assemblies of God. Wigglesworth officiated at Frodsham’s wedding, and Frodsham published Smith Wigglesworth: Apostle of Faith through GPH in 1924.
Honestly, Frodsham’s biography is meant to be a hagiography: Wigglesworth is a saint and Frodsham wants you to know it. In parts he’s sentimental to the point of mawkishness. But he quotes Wigglesworth extensively; so much so it’s almost an autobiography, and Wigglesworth’s personal humility shows through. It’s great historical source material. —KWL

The year 1859 is known as that of the great Irish revival. Two years previously, a mighty awakening had come to the United States. Prayer meetings had been held in every large city, and were attended by thousands of people.

Continued…

Site update!

2011-07-27T19:30:00.000-07:00

by K.W. Leslie

Hi folks. It’s been quite some time since I’ve updated the Smith Wigglesworth Blog. I’ve been working on a few other things, in particular More Christ, which I invite you to visit.

Meanwhile I thought I’d let you know that I’m waking this site back up. It’s time to post a few more sermons by and about Wigglesworth, time to post the rest of his biography, and time to encourage one another through Wigglesworth’s startling and amazing faith. New content will come Sunday, and each Sunday thereafter, until I run out of it.

Thanks for your patience.

Be not afraid, only believe.

2010-09-28T14:12:00.000-07:00

by Smith Wigglesworth
Latter Rain Evangel, November 1924. Reported by M.B.D.
Preached at Convention Hall, Washington, D.C., 28 September 1924.

I believe that it is in the purpose and will of God that I read to you some verses out of the fifth chapter of Mark’s gospel from the 22nd verse, and will speak from the words, “Be not afraid, only believe.” [Mk 5.36]

This is one of those marvelous, glorious truths of the scripture that is written for our helpfulness, that we may believe as we see the Almightiness of God and also our possibility not only to enter in by faith, but to become partakers of the blessing He wants to give us. My message is on the lines of faith. Because some do not hear in faith it profits them nothing. There is a hearing of faith and a hearing which means nothing more than listening to words. I beseech you tonight that you shall see to it that everything that is done may bring not only blessing to you but strength and character, and that you may be able to see the wonderfulness and goodness of God in this meeting.

Continued…

Healings in Australia.

2009-04-26T08:21:00.000-07:00

By Winnie Andrews. Published in Confidence, April-June 1922.

To Rev. A.A. Boddy,

All Saints’ Vicarage,

Sunderland, England.

Our dear Brother Wigglesworth arrived in Melbourne last Thursday, February 16th, and he had a meeting that night, when many came to hear his blessed message, and—Glory to God!—many dear sick ones were delivered in answer to the prayer of faith. Some of those who attended the meeting had come many hundreds of miles for the purpose, and were addressed by the evangelist from the words of the Lord Jesus Christ: “Ye are my witnesses.”

“There is nothing so real as God,” he said, “and God wants men to be as real as He is; sons of God with power. God has never made us to be imitations, never made any of us to be ordinary creatures. He wants specialities, and wants every one of us to be specialities, with souls fixed in God, and working the works of God. When God is upon the smallest person in the place, He can make us mighty, and when we are simple enough to believe Him, the whole of our lives are changed, and the things which we have merely heard about begin to be realities in our own experiences.

Realities. “My theme tonight is that Jesus would not have us to be less than realities. My message is to Y-O-U, not to somebody else. It was hard for the disciples to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead, and there was something of remarkable order that took place to bring these men into the knowledge of this living fact. It is the power of this risen Christ that I am here tonight.”

Although Mr. Wigglesworth made it quite plain and clear to his hearers that be wouid rather see one sinner saved than 10,000 people healed of bodily ailments, he invited any who were in pain to come forward for prayer in the Name of Jesus, Who said, “All power is given onto Me in heaven and on earth,” at the same time taking much trouble to impress upon them the thought that by no power of his would any receive deliverance, but only through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who healed all who came unto Him.

Amongst those who came forward for prayer were several who declared that they had received remarkable and instantaneous healings. A few of those were as follows: One little girl, six years of age, was seen, after prayer by the evangelist, walking out of the front door of the building with her mother, who was delightedly exclaiming to all and sundry, “Look at her! She has never walked in her life before!” A man who had not walked for over four years owing to rheumatoid arthritis, was instantly healed, and after triumphantly passing his stick and crutch up to the platform, gave an impromptu exhibition of the power that had come into his legs by jumping and leaping and praising God.

Others suffering from weak spine, nerve and heart trouble, weak eyesight, asthma, kidney trouble, loss of voice, etc., claimed to have been wonderfully helped.

Since the first night there have been many other wonderful healings. Last night a dear woman who had been unable to walk for 6½ years was brought to be prayed for, and—glory be to God!—she got out of her chair and walked, and her husband pushed her chair along, with her walking behind. Praise our covenant-keeping God! Truly He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think.

There have also been many conversions—at one meeting alone 40 dear ones accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior—and we are believing for still greater things. The revival showers are falling and God is working. Bless His holy Name!

We also have some precious times of biessing in the morning meetings conducted by our dear Brother Wigglesworth, and many go away praising God for the feast they have had. Truly “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

Am enclosing newspaper cuttings, so you will see how the press are taking it up.

Just this morning a mother brought her little girl along, who had fallen on a pair of scissors, and cut her mouth so that she couid not close it. After the evangelist had laid his hands upon it and prayed, she was able to close her mouth and was quite well. Glory to God!

I must now close, praying that God will abundantly bless you in your labors of love for Him, and asking your prayers of behalf of Australia.

With Christian greetings,

Yours in Christ’s happy service,

SISTER WINNIE ANDREWS,

Secretary.

104 Queensberry Street,

North Melbourne,

Victoria, Australia

Feb. 23rd. 1922.

The active life of the Spirit-filled believer.

2009-04-19T18:28:00.000-07:00

Subtitled, “Ministration and operation of the gifts.”
Preached in Bradford, England.
Published in the Latter Rain Evangel, February 1923.

I want to talk from the twelfth chapter of 1st Corinthians.

These are the last days; the days of the falling away. These are days when Satan is having a great deal of power. But we must keep in mind that Satan has no power only as he is allowed. And we must never think that Satan has power over the believer. If I could get only the establishment of that fact in your hearts it would be something living all the time. Satan has no power over the believer. “The wicked one toucheth him not.” So we must understand that all things that fall to our lot are according to the mind and will of God. “All things work together for good to them that love God.” We may be chastised by God but it is only because He wants us to have His holiness. We may have any amount of correction, but it will only be the touch of the Lord to bring us nearer to Him, that we may be at all times more than conquerors.

I want you to clearly see that the day will come when the evil one will have great power. And you can imagine that just as that day draws near the believer is more greatly insulated with divine revelation and more power. You will find the saints will become more holy and will have more liberty and more power. As Satan is having power, the saints will have greater power. And just as the day comes for the saints to be caught away we shall have mighty power on all lines, and the last great power will take us out of the world. Know this fact that God is always revealing Himself on every line and thought to keep the believer at such a standard of victory that he is in the place where he never need be defeated.

There is nothing helping me so much in these days as the fact that God is loosing me. It is a great thing to know that God is loosing you from the world, loosing you from a thousand things. You have to have the mind of God on all things. If you don’t you will stop His working. I had to learn that as I was on the water enroute to Australia. We stopped at a place called Aden, where they were selling all kinds of ware. Amongst other things were some beautiful rugs and feathers, ostrich feathers in great quantities. They were very lovely for those who wanted feathers but I had no room for them at all. However, there was a gentleman in “first class” who wanted feathers and it appears that he had bought one lot and the next lot put up was too big; he did not want so many. He said to me, “Will you join me?” I knew I did not want feathers for I had no room or use for them and wouldn’t know what to do with them if I got them. However, he pleaded with me to join him. I perceived it was the Spirit as clearly as anything and I said, “Yes, I will.” So the feathers were knocked down for three pounds. Then I found the man had no money with him. He had plenty but of course it was on the boat. I perceived it !was the Spirit again so it fell to my lot to pay for the feathers. He said to me, “I will bring the money and give it to one of the stewards.” I replied: “No, that is not business. I am known all over the ship. You seek me out.”

The man came and brought the money. I said, “God wants me to talk to you. Now sit down.” So he sat down and in ten minutes’ time the whole of his life was unhinged, unravelled, broken up, so broken that like a great big baby he wept and cried for sa!vation. It was “feathers” that did it. But you know brothers, it seems to me we will never know the mind of God till we know the voice of God. The striking thing about Moses is that it took him forty years to learn human wisdom, forty years to know his helplessness, and forty years to live in the power of God. One hundred and twenty years it took to teach that man and sometimes it seems to me it will take many years to bring us just where we can tell the voice of God, the leadings of God, and the lines of God and all His will concerning us.

But I am speaking to people this morning who ought to know the mind of the Lord because God wants us thoroughly furnished unto all good works and always ready to give a good account of the hope that is within us. We must always be ready as the man in the counting-house is ready on the order lines, so we must be ready with all the mind of God, for the day is at hand and we must clearly see that nothing shall come against us but that which shall be on the line of profit. Everything we touch shall be definitely for the operation of God’s thought for a world’s need. It will be so.

Beloved, every one of us ought to know the mind of God on the gifts. I notice in particular that the manifestation of the Spirit of God is given “to profit withal.” I want you to know that my addresses from time to time cannot be in any way less than on the Baptism of the Spirit because I see in that all revelation, all illumination, everything that God in Christ was to be brought forth into perfect light that we might be able to see right into that holiness of His which was filled with all the fulness of God, and that we may he able to understand that He was the first fruits on every line in order that we may live the same, produce the same, and be in every activity a son of God with power. It must be so. We must not limit the Holy One. And we must clearly see that God brought us forth on natural lines to make us supernatural that we might be changed all the time on the line of supernatural basis, that we may every day live so in the Spirit, that all of the revelations of God are just like a great big canvas thrown hefore our eyes, and we see clearly step by step into all the divine will of God.

There are three things in particular that we must understand concerning the baptism of the Spirit. Any Assembly, I don’t care what it is, that puts its hand upon the working of the Spirit will surely bring trouble to that Assembly. The Assembly must be as free in the Spirit as possible, and you must allow a certain amount of extravagance when people are getting through to God. I notice that unless we are very wise, we can easily interfere and quench the power of God which is upon us. It is an evident fact that one man in a meeting, filled with unbelief, can make a place for the devil to have a seat. And it is very true to fact, that if we are not careful we may quench the Spirit of some person who is innocent and is incapable on the line of innocence to help himself. “And ye that are strong must bear the infirmities of the weak.” You must be careful in that. If you want an Assembly full of life you must have an Assembly in which the Spirit of God is manifested. And in order to keep at the boiling pitch of molted heat, of that blessed incarnation of the Spirit, you must be as simple as babies; you must be as harmless as doves and as wise as serpents.

In this I always ask God for a Ieading of grace. It takes grace to be in a meeting because it is so easy if you are not careful, to get on the natural side. The man who is a preacher, if he has lost the unction, will be well repaid if he will carefully, inwardly repent and get right with God and get the unction back. It never pays us to be less than always spiritual, and we must have a divine language always on the line, and the language must be of God. Beloved, if you come into real perfect line of the grace of God, one thing will certainly take place in your life. You will change from that old position of the world’s line where you were judging everybody, and where you were not trusting anyone, and come into a place where you will have a heart that will believe all things; where you will have a heart that under no circumstances reviles again when you are reviled.

I know many of you present this morning think many times before you speak once. Here is a great word: “For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf; but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.” Innocent. No inward corruption or defilement, that is full of distrusts, but just a holy, divine likeness of Jesus that dares believe that God Almighty will surely watch over all. Hallelujah! “There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For He shall give His angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways.” The child of God who is rocked in the bosom of the Father has the sweetest touch of heaven, and the honey of the word is always in it.

Oh if the saints only knew how precious they are in the sight of God they would be scarcely able to sleep for thought of His watchful, loving care. Oh He is a precious Jesus! He is a lovely Savior! He is divine in all His attitude toward us, and makes our hearts to burn. There is nothing like it. “Oh,” they said on the road to Emmaus, “did not our hearts burn within us as He walked with us and talked with us?” Oh beloved, it must be so today.

It will greatly help you to see three things: First, the ministration. The Holy Ghost is full of ministration. Then again, don’t forget about the operation of the Holy Ghost. And always keep in your mind the fact that the Holy Ghost must bring manifestation. Let us take the first thought now which is bearing on this great plan. We must understand that the Holy Ghost is breath, the Holy Ghost is Person, and it is the most marvelous thing to me to know that this Holy Ghost power can be in every part of your body. You can feel it from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet. Oh, it is lovely to be burning all over with the Holy Ghost! And when that takes place there is nothing but the operation of the tongue that must give forth the glory and the praise.

You must be in the place of magnifying the Lord. The Holy Ghost is the great Magnifier of Jesus, the great Illuminator of Jesus. And so after the Holy Ghost comes in it is impossible to keep your tongue still. Why, you would burst if you didn’t give Him utterance. Talk about a dumb baptized soul? Such a person is not to be found in the Scriptures. When the Holy Ghost comes He must be a power of ministry. That is His office. The power of ministry through the revelation of the great ideal of Jesus!

When the Holy Ghost becomes a ministry in the life, what will happen? Why, beloved, if we can get lost in God only once in a year, to be divinely imbued with this power, it will be worth a world to us. Talk about preaching! I would like to know how it will be possible for all the people filled with the Holy Ghost to stop preaching. Even the sons and daughters must prophesy. After the Holy Ghost comes in, after that operation by the Spirit, a man is in a new order in God. And you will find it so real that you cannot help it, you will want to sing, talk, laugh and shout. We are in a strange place when the Holy Ghost comes in.

If the incoming of the Spirit is lovely, what must be the onflow? The incoming is only to be an onflow. I am very interested in scenery. When I was in Switzerland I wouldn’t be satisfied till I went to the top of the mountain, though I like the valleys also. On the summit of the mountain the sun beats on the snow and sends the water trickling down the mountains right through to the meadows. Go there and see if you can stop it. Just so in the spiritual. God begins with the divine flow of His eternal power which is the Holy Ghost, and you cannot stop it.

We must always clearly see that the Baptism of the Spirit must make us ministering spirits.

The next thought then is that it must be on the line of operation. You will find that if you really get full of the Holy Ghost, two things must happen: ministry and operation. I want you to notice Peter and John had been baptized only a short time. Did they know what they had? No. I defy you to know what you have. No one knows what he has in the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. He has no conception of it. You cannot measure it by any measuring line of human standards. It is greater than any man has any idea of, and consequently those two disciples had no idea what they had. For the first time after they were baptized in the Holy Ghost with this order of the Spirit, they came down to the Gate Beautiful. There they saw the man sitting who for forty years had been lame. What was the first thing after they saw him? Ministration. What was the second? Operation. What was the third? Manifestation, of course. It could not be otherwise. You will always find that this order in the Scripture will be carried out in everybody. In these meetings we are having you must have one set purpose. I believe that God has me here for this purpose, to make you all actors. There are so few actors; therefore so little is done. I want you to notice that there is a great deal of difference between your acting and the acting upon the stage. On the stage in the theater they tell me that they take fiction and act it so it produces a fact before the people. We have a fact, let us not work as if it were fiction. If we do it will be very serious, but we must work out facts in the name of Jesus.

Here I am on the platform this morning. I had no idea what God had given me till I began to act. As I began to act then God began. You cannot have results, manifestations, operations, the truths of the Spirit, the working of the ministry and the gifts of the Holy Ghost, without you begin to act. I clearly see that we ought to have spiritual giants in the earth, mighty in apprehension, wonderful in activity, always having a wonderful report because of their activity in faith. I find out instead of that there are so many people who have perhaps better discernment than you, better knowledge of the Word than you, but they have failed to put it into practice, so these gifts lie dormant. I am here to help you begin on the sea of life with mighty acts in the power of God through the gifts of the Spirit. You will find that this which I am speaking on is out of knowledge, I can truly say, of a wonderful experience in many lands, having seen so many things that have wakened me up. The man who is filled with the Holy Ghost is always in an acting place. Jesus was always in the act. You read the first verse of the Acts of the Apostles, “Jesus began both to do and teach.” He began to do first, and so must we.

Beloved, we must see that the Baptism of the Holy Ghost is an activity with an outward manifestation. When I was in Norway God was mightily moving there, though I had to talk by interpretation. However, God always worked in a wonderful way. One day as we were going up a hill we met a man coming down who stopped the three men I was with, one being the interpreter. I was walking on but I saw he was in a dilemma so I turned back, and said to the interpreter, “What is up?” “This man.” he said, “is so full of neuralgia that he is almost blind and he is in a terrible state. He is asking us if we know the nearest help.” As soon as ever they finished the conversation I said to the spirit that was afflicting him, “Come out of him in the name of Jesus.” And the man said, “It is all gone! It is all gone! I am free.” Ah, brothers, we have no conception of what God has for us in the world!

I will tell you what happened in Sydney, Australia the other day. A man with a stick passed a friend and me. He had to get down and then twist over, and the tortures of his face made a deep impression on my soul. I asked myself, “Is it right to pass this man?” So I said to my friend, “There is a man in a terrible state, he is in awful distress and I cannot go further, I must speak to him.” I went over to this man and said to him, “You seem to be in great trouble.” “Yes,” he said, “I am no good and never will be.” I said, “You see that hotel. Be in front of that door in five minutes and I will pray for you, and you shall be as straight as any man in this place.” This is on the line of activity in the faith of Jesus. I came back after paving a bill, and he was there. It wasn’t a stick but an umbrella that he had. I will never forget him, wondering if he was going to be trapped, or what was up that a man should stop him in the street and tell him he should be made straight. I had said it, so it must be. If you say anything you must stand with God to make it so. Never say anything for bravado, without you have the right to say it. Always be sure of your ground, and that you are honoring God. If there is anything about it to make you anything, it will bring you sorrow. Your whole ministry will have to be on such a line of grace and blessing it will turn the whole thing. We helped him up the two steps, passed him through to the hoist and took him upstairs. It seemed difficult to get him from the hoist to my bedroom, as though Satan was making the last stroke for his life, but we got him there. Then in five minutes’ time this man walked out of that bedroom as straight as any man in this place. He walked perfectly and declared he hadn’t a pain in his body.

Olh brother, it is ministration, it is operation, it is manifestation! Those are three of the greatest leading principles of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. And we must see to it that God is producing through us these three. Beloved, I want you to notice this, that except you stand with God it is impossible for God to manifest His power.

The Bible is the Word of God, it has the truths and whatever people may say of them they stand stationary, unmoveable. Not one jot or tittle shall fail of all His good promises. His word will come forth. In heaven it is settled, on earth it must be made manifest that He is the God of an everlasting power. God wants manifestation and He wants His glory to be seen. And He wants us all to be filled with that line of thought that He can look upon us and delight in us in the world subduing the world unto Him. And so you are going to miss a great deal if you don’t begin to act. But once you begin to act in the order of God. you will find that God establishes your faith and from that day starts you on the line of the promises. When will you begin? In a place in England I was dealing on the lines of faith and what would take place if we believed God. Many things happened. But when I got away it appeared one man who worked in the colliery had heard me. He was in trouble with a stiff knee. It was the first time he had heard me, I think. He said to his wife, “I cannot help but think every day that that message of Wigglesworth’s was to stir us to do something. I cannot get away from it. All the men in the pit know how I walk with a stiff knee, and you know how you have wrapped it around with yards of flannel. Well, I am going to act. You have to be the congregation.” He got his wife in front of him, “I am going to act and do just like Wigglesworth did.” He got hold of his leg unmercifully saying, “Come out, you devils, come out! In the name of Jesus. Now Jesus help me. Come out you devils, come out.” Then he said, “Wife, they are gone! Wife, they are gone. This to too good. I am going to act now." So he went to his place of worship and all the collier boys were there. It was a prayer meeting. As he told them this story these men became delighted. They said, “Jack, come over here and help me.” And Jack went. As soon as he was through in one home he was invited to another, loosing these people of the pains they had gotten in the colliery.

Ah brothers and sisters, we have no idea what God has for us if we will only begin! But oh, the grace we need! We may make a mishap. If you do it outside of Him, if you do it for yourself, and if you want to be someone, it will be a failure. We shall only be able to do well as we do it in the name of Jesus. Oh the love and expression that God’s Son can put into us if we are only humble enough, weak enough, and helpless enough to know that except He does it, it will not be done! “What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive and ye shall have them.”

The first of the nine gifts which has to be made manifest is the gift of wisdom. I am positive this morning that there isn’t anything that an Assembly needs so much as wisdom, the possession of which will save us from many foolish things. When we are in a straight where two ways meet, and don’t know which way to go, concerning buildings or alterations, or otherwise, a word of wisdom for your Assembly would be such a manifestation of God’s love that you would never forget it. But you will always find that wisdom never comes on any lines but the lines of love. That is the first grace of the Spirit. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And perfect fear is joined up with that divine love. I want you to see clearly that if you are where the love of God is the very nature of your life, you have no place to live as it were, only in God. You can trust God to give you the “word of wisdom” because it is a needed word for us through our Pentecostal order. If we were not balanced by other qualities, we should jump over the traces, the Spirit of the life of Christ is so mighty within us. And so we need wisdom.

The word of wisdom from the Lord would save us from a lot of trouble. We all have to pay a big price for our learning; I have paid some big prices. I remember one time I was in great difficulty and needed help. I was walking on the road one day and met a man who lived opposite me who said, “Smith, I have been thinking about selling my house. I cannot think about anyone buying it but you.” “Strange thing,” I replied, “I have no money. But how much do you want for it?” He mentioned the price. “I will buy that house,” I said, “if you will just turn it over to me for the money without having to bother with the lawyers.“ “All right,” said he, “I will.” I had given my word without thought. That was a mistake. There were a thousand mistakes on this job, the thing I needed at that time was just one word of wisdom from God. It didn’t come because I was so active. You can be too active and if you act outside of God you will aways be in trouble. If we are not well balanced, and deep down in God, we make a thousand mistakes because we are too much in a hurry. I told my wife what I had promised. “How will you manage it?” she asked. “I have always managed it so far,” I said, “but I don’t know how to get through this.” I thought, “Can I take it out of the business?” No, I couldn’t. So I set on a human plan; I wasn’t in the divine plan on this. I was in God’s service but you can be in God’s service and can have a lot of God about you, and still get out of his plan. That is where we make a mistake, getting outside the plan of God.

Well, I had some rich relatives and thought I would tie them up but none of them seemed to have anything to spare; everybody was in difficulties. I had made a foolish go of it so after I had tried them all, I said to my wife, “It is strange, I have tried everybody about this business but it doesn’t seem to come off.” Then she said, “You have not been to God yet. When you go to God you will get it all.” I went to God, saying, “Father, I have been very foolish and I have gotten into a hole. If You will help me out I will never ask You on the same line again.” Here comes the word of wisdom. Oh that word of wisdom! God gave it. In two minutes the whole thing was settled on God’s side but not on mine. How could it be? So I came down to my wife saying, “What do you think He told me! ‘Go to Brother Webster.’ ” Brother Webster was about the poorest man I knew and yet he was about the richest man I knew for he knew God. Off I went early the next morning. “What brings you this morning?” Brother Webster asked. “Why,” I said, “I was talking to the Lord last night and so I came to see you the first chance I had.” “If it is a matter like that,” he said, “we will go down to the house and speak about it.” We went down to the house. “I promised to buy a house of a man,” I began, “three weeks ago and I am short 100 pounds. I have tried to get this money, I believe not in the Lord’s plan, and I have been tried about it.” “How is it,” he asked, “that you have only come to me now?” “Because I only went to the Lord about it last night.” “Well,” he said, “it is a strange thing. Three weeks ago I had a hundred pounds. I put it between the mattresses, I have put it in all sorts of places in the house. I could not have any rest so I took it to the bank. If it will be as great a blessing to you as a trouble to me, you shall have it.” So we went to the bank and he got the money and said, “Take it and be off.”

Oh to know God! Oh to go in the way that God would have us! Oh to cease from our own planning and our own arranging! Oh to have the word of God! The Word of wisdom! Oh to believe the Word and to enter into this treasury and hear Him say, “Do this,” and do it! When we get there God will surely, as divinely as we are human, have a divine plan for us and bring us right into line where there will be no trouble, no trial, and sorrows will be at an end when we get to know God.

Beloved, I pray that as we go forth into these gifts of the Spirit that God will show us there is a way for us, and that it is His way. If we turn to our way we shall surely make great mistakes and shall be filled with trouble. I desire to impress this thought upon you. Live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, walk in the communion of the Spirit, talk with God. Apart from this there is no security for you, but on these lines all else is for you. All leadings of the divine order are for you. I pray that if there are any who have turned to their own way and have made God second as I did in that matter, they will come to repentance on all lines. Separate yourself from every earthly touch and touch ideals. And God will bring you to an end of every order of yourself. Begin with God this moment.

Living epistles of the living Christ.

2009-04-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

Subtitled, “An Easter message by Smith Wigglesworth.”
Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, April 24, 1943.

Paul writes: “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.”

This is what the Lord does for us when we come to Him; He takes out the heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh. The Spirit of God will write in both our hearts and minds the law of Christ. He cleanses us from all iniquity, takes away the old order and brings in the new, and He gives us His blessed Holy Spirit who causes us to walk in a way that is pleasing to Him.

The old life is brought to the cross of Calvary. Our old nature is crucified there and we are brought into the position that Paul speaks of when he says, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”

Beloved, God would have us see that no man is perfected on any line only as Christ the living Word abides in him.

In this new life we must have the Word of God dwelling richly in us. This Word is living and powerful and effective. It is the sword of the Spirit that will prove an effective weapon in the hands of the Spirit-filled warrior. By it we get complete victory over all the power of the enemy. But we need the power of the Spirit within to enable us to wield the sword of the Spirit effectively.

When Christ dwells in us, our life will be like that life which is described of Him in the Gospels, a life of constant communion with the Father. Ours will be a life of dependence on the Spirit of God, for we do not know how to pray as we ought. It is only as the Spirit prays through us that things will be accomplished for God. But as we yield ourselves wholly to God and ask for the Spirit, He will graciously give the Spirit so that we can pray in the Holy Ghost. And as we pray in the Holy Ghost we shall see signs and wonders wrought in the name of the holy child Jesus. We can have a ministry of the miraculous even as the early apostles had, if we give ourselves to prayer, for in response to prayer God will send the Pentecostal power as at the beginning. Nothing is so sweet as to have our hearts yearning with compassion, moved with compassion for the poor and needy. As the Lord fills your heart with love and compassion, you will find the inward cry from the depths of your need is met by the depth of God’s love. When God gets into the depths of our hearts He purifies every intention and He fills us with His own joy.

When Moses received the tables of stone and he returned to the people, God made his face to shine. There was a glory in the giving of the law. But there is a more wonderful glory in the giving of the Spirit. Much more wonderful than the shine on Moses’ face is the moving of the Spirit to write His commandments on our hearts, the deep movings of the God of eternity as He writes His law of love and compassion into our inner beings. O beloved, let us let the Holy Spirit have His way in our lives to unfold to us the grandeur of Christ’s glory.

The Lord will bring us into a life of humility where we have no confidence in ourselves, but our whole trust rests upon the authority of the mighty God who has promised to be with us at all times. He has made us able ministers of the New Testament, ministers of the Spirit that giveth life. Rivers of living water will flow from us as our confidence rests in Him. As we constantly partake of the living Christ within, He will give us a message direct from heaven, hot, burning, living. Just as the old prophets said, “Thus saith the Lord,” speaking as the Spirit gave them utterance, so we shall go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit, our whole minds illuminated by the blessed Holy Spirit. He will elevate our minds until we have heavenly minds. We will be able to bring the vision of heavenly things to the people until they will want more of God and more of the Spirit, till they long to be filled with Spirit that they may be fruitful on every line.

I have found that the Baptism in the Holy Ghost infuses into us an intensity of zeal. You will remember it is written of Him, “The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up,” and we too, like our Lord, will be eaten up of holy zeal. He will fill us with a passion for the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The Spirit of God will bring us to the place called Calvary, to the place where we are dead unto sin; but alive unto God, and filled with the resurrection life and power of the living Christ. Oh, beloved, we must live in the Spirit. We must grow into the likeness of our Master. We must be continually changed from glory to glory as we behold His face, until we are changed into the same image by the Spirit of God.

Have you failed God? He has mercy for you. Out of the depth of your sins and failures you can cry to God for all unrighteousness to be cast out and for His righteousness to be revealed within. Christ was made sin for you and took your sin, that you might become the righteousness of God in Him, that you might receive His righteousness. But it means a constant going to the cross of Calvary for the bringing to death of the old natural order, that you may come into the supernatural plan of God which He has for you.

God wants each one of us to be indeed an epistle of Christ, an epistle that recommends Christ to men. We can only be this as the Spirit of God writes into our hearts and minds the Word. He will make the Word of God life within. Now out of the abundance of a heart steeped in the Word of God there will come forth that which will bring blessing to all those with whom you come in contact. Let your heart cry go up to Him, “O God, lead me step by step in this divine life, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.”

Power from on high.

2009-04-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, May 27, 1944.

We have a remarkable word in Matthew 3:11, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” This was the word of one who was filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother’s womb, who was so filled with the power of the Spirit of God that they came from east and west and from north and south to the banks of the Jordan to hear him.

You have seen water baptism, and you know what it means. This later baptism taught by this wilderness preacher means that we shall be so immersed, covered and flooded with the blessed Holy Ghost, that He fills our whole body.

Now turn to John 7:37-39: “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)”

Jesus saw that the people who had come to the feast, expecting blessing, were going back dissatisfied. He had come to help the needy, to bring satisfaction to the unsatisfied. He does not want any of us to be thirsty, famished, naked, full of discord, full of disorder, full of evil, full of carnality, full of sensuality. And so He sends out in His own blessed way the old prophetic cry: “Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat.”

The Master can give you that which will satisfy. He has in Himself just what you need at this hour. He knows your greatest need. You need the blessed Holy Ghost, not merely to satisfy your thirst, but to satisfy the needs of thirsty ones everywhere; for as the blessed Holy Spirit flows through you like rivers of living water, these floods will break what needs to be broken, they will bring to death that which should be brought to death, but they will bring life and fruitage where there is none.

What do you have? A well of water? That is good as far at it goes. But Christ wants to see a plentiful supply of the river of the Holy Ghost flowing through you. Here, on this last day of the feast, we find Him preparing them for the Pentecostal fullness that was to come, the fullness that He should shed forth from the glory after His ascension.

Note the condition necessary—“He that believeth on Me” This is the root of the matter. Believe on Him. Believing on Him will bring forth this river of blessedness. Abraham believed God, and we are all blessed through faithful Abraham. As we believe God, many will be blessed through our faith. Abraham was an extraordinary man of faith. He believed God in the face of everything. God wants to bring us to the place of believing, where, despite all contradictions around, we are strong in faith, giving God glory. As we fully believe God, He will be glorified, and we will prove a blessing to the whole world as was our father Abraham.

Turn to John 14. Here we see the promise that ignorant and unlearned fishermen were to be clothed with the Spirit, anointed with power from on high, and endued with the Spirit of wisdom and knowledge. As He imparts divine wisdom, you will not act foolishly. The Spirit of God will give you a sound mind, and He will impart to you the divine nature.

How could these weak and helpless fishermen, poor and needy, ignorant and unlearned, do the works of Christ and greater works than He had done? They were incapable. None of us is able. But our emptiness has to be clothed with divine fullness, and our helplessness has to be filled with the power of His helpfulness. Paul knew this when he gloried in all that brought him down in weakness, for flowing into his weakness came a mighty deluge of divine power.

Christ knew that His going away would leave His disciples like a family of orphans. But He told them it was expedient, it was best, for after His return to the Father He would send the Comforter, and He Himself would come to indwell them. “Ye in Me, and I in you.”

Christ said, “And I will pray the Father, and He shall send you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth.” What a fitting name for the One who was coming to them at the time they were bereft—Comforter. After Christ had left them there was a great need, but that need was met on the day of Pentecost when the Comforter came.

You will always find that in the moment of need the Holy Spirit is a comforter. When my dear wife was lying dead, the doctors could do nothing. They said to me, “She’s gone; we cannot help you.” My heart was so moved that I said, “O God, I cannot spare her!” I went up to her and said, “Oh, come back, come back, and speak to me! Come back, come back!” The Spirit of the Lord moved, and she came back and smiled again. But then the Holy Ghost said to me, “She’s mine. Her work is done. She is mine.”

Oh, that comforting word! No one else could have spoken it. The Comforter came. From that moment my dear wife passed out. And in this day the Comforter has a word for every bereaved one.

Christ further said, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” How true this is. From time to time He takes of the words of Christ and makes them life to us. And, empowered with this blessed Comforter, the words that we spake under the anointing are spirit and life.

There are some who come to our meetings who, when you ask them whether they are seekers, reply, “Oh, I am ready for anything.” I tell them, “You will never get anything.” It’s necessary to have the purpose that the Psalmist had when he said, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after.” When the Lord reveals to you that you must be filled with the Holy Ghost, seek that one thing until God gives you that gift.

I spoke to two young men in a meeting one day. They were preachers. They had received their degrees. I said to them, “Young men, what about it?”

“Oh,” they said, “we do not believe in receiving the Holy Ghost in the same way as you people do.”

I said to them, “You are dressed up like preachers, and it is a pity having to have the dress without the Presence.”

“Well, we do not believe it the way you do,” they said.

“But look,” I said, “the apostles believed it that way. Wouldn’t you like to be like the apostles? You have read how they received at the beginning, haven’t you?”

Always remember this, that the Baptism will always be as at the beginning. It has not changed. If you want a real Baptism, expect it just the same way as they had it at the beginning.

These preachers asked, “What had they at the beginning?”

I quoted from the tenth chapter of Acts where it says, “On the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.” The Jews knew that these Gentiles had the same kind of experience as they themselves had at the beginning on the day of Pentecost. The experience has not changed, it is stiIl the same as at the beginning.

When these two young men realized that Peter and John and the rest of the disciples had received the mighty enduement at the beginning, and that it was for them, they walked up to the front where folk were tarrying. They were finely dressed, but in about half an hour they looked different. They had been prostrated. I had not caused them to do it. But they had been so lost and so controlled by the power of God, and were so filled with the glory of God, that they just rolled over, and their fine clothes were soiled—but their faces wete radiant. What caused the change? They had received what the hundred and twenty received at the beginning.

These young preachers had been ordained by men. Now they received an ordination that was better. The Lord had ordained them that they should go and bring forth much fruit. The person that receives this ordination goes forth with fresh feet—his feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; he goes forth with a fresh voice—it speaks as the Spirit gives utterance; he goes forth with a fresh mind—a mind illuminated by the power of God; he goes forth with a fresh vision, and sees all things new.

When I was in Switzerland, a woman came to me and said, “Now that I am healed and have been delivered from that terrible carnal oppression that bound and fettered me, I feel that I have a new mind. I should like to receive the Holy Ghost; but when I hear these people at the altar making so much noise, I feel like running away.”

Shortly after this we were in another place in Switzerland where there was a great hotel joined to the building where we were ministering. At the close of one of the morning services, the power of God fell. That is the only way I can describe it—the power of God fell. This poor, timid creature, who could not bear to hear any noise, screamed so loud that all the waiters in this big hotel came out, with their aprons on and their trays, to see what was up. Nothing especially was “up,” something had come down, and it so altered the situation that this woman could stand anythIng after that.

When you receive the Baptism, remember the words in 1 John 2:20, “Ye have an unction from the Holy One.” God grant that we may not forget that. Many people, instead of standing on the rock of faith to believe that they have received this unction, say, “Oh, if I could only feel the unction!”

Brother, your feeling robs you of your greatest unction. Your feelings are often on the line of discouragement. You have to get away from the walk by sense, for God has said, “The just shall live by his faith.” Believe what God says, “Ye have an unction from the Holy One,” an unction from above. All thoughts of holiness, all thoughts of purity, all thoughts of power are from above.

Frequently I see a condition of emergency. Here is a woman, dying; here is a man who has lost all the powers of his faculties; here is a person apparently in death. God does not want me to be filled with anxiety. What does He want me to do? To believe only. After you have received, only believe. Dare to believe the One who has declared, “I will do it.” Christ says, “Verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; 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.” God declares, “Ye have an unction.” Believe God, and you will see this happen. What you say will come to pass. Speak the word, and the bound shall be free, the sick shall be healed. “He shall have whatsoever he saith.” “Ye have an unction.” The unction has come, the unction abides, the unction is with us.

But what about it, if you have not lived in the place where the unction can be increased? What is the matter? There is something between you and the Holy One—some uncleanness, some impurity, some desire that is not of Him; something that has come in the way? Then the Spirit is grieved. Has the unction left? No. When He comes in, He comes to abide. Make confession of your sin, of your failure, and once more the precious blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse, and the grieved Spirit will once more manifest Himself.

John further says, “The anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you.” We have an anointing, the same anointing which Jesus Christ Himself received. For “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; who went about doing good.” The same anointing is for us.

It means much to have a continuous faith for tho manifestation of the anointing. At the death of Lazarus, when it seemed that Mary and Martha and all around them had lost faith, Jesus turned to the Father and said, “Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me. And I knew that Thou hearest Me always.” Before that supreme faith that counted on God, that counted on His anointing, death had to give up Lazarus.

Through a constant felIowship with the Father, through bold faith in the Son, through a mighty unction of the blessed Holy Spirit, there will come a right of way for God to be enthroned in our hearts, purifying us so thoroughly that there is no room for anything but the divine Presence within. And through the manifestation of this Presence, the works of Christ and greater works shall be accomplished for the glory of our Triune God.

Here and there, 6/5/26.

2009-03-29T14:12:00.000-07:00

An excerpt, published in the Pentecostal Evangel, June 5, 1926.

Good results in Switzerland. Miss Nell Ruff writes of a meeting held recently by Brother Smith Wigglesworth in Zurich. “Mr. Wigglesworth was full of the Spirit in declaring the full gospel. After the meetings, people would crowd into a vestry to be prayed for. It was heart breaking to see them throng around us, some halting, others bearing on their pale, weary faces the cruel marks of sin and suffering—all eager to hear how they could approach God and claim deliverance. Oh, the expressions of their eyes! how they changed! Scores of those sick ones went away praising God that He had healed them and saved their souls from destruction. Hallelujah! Zurich has been stirred up during this two weeks. My father is keeping the hall for Sunday afternoons for gospel meetings.” In a later letter she writes, “Our meeting has greatly increased. Thank God the tide is rising. We have not had a meeting since Mr. Wigglesworth’s visit in which there has been no healing nor decision for the Lord. We have also reports from people who have used handkerchiefs that have been prayed over. Prayer is being answered.”

Since writing the above, a long distance call has come from Eureka Springs from Brother E.J. Burton, who tells us that he has received a letter from Brother Wigglesworth, sent from Jerusalem, agreeing to accept the invitation of the brethren to be a speaker at the Interstate Camp Meeting to be held in Eureka Springs, Ark., from August 29 to September 12.

Brother Wigglesworth in Ceylon.

2009-03-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

By Walter H. Clifford, Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, May 29, 1926.

The campaign began March 5th in a hall capable of holding a thousand people. From the first night it was a great success, hundreds being saved. Not a night passed without many standing up and reaching out their hands to heaven, calling out, “Jesus save me! Jesus deliver me!” Each night the evangelist would single out people in the audience who were in pain, and would pray for them. Immediately after prayer was offered the suffering ones would testify that they were free from pain. If it was a case of stiff limbs, they were made to exercise them by walking up and down, running, stamping their feet, or waving their arms about in order to test whether the pain had actually gone.

One night a woman came up the aisle, walking in pain, her body all doubled up, and she finally fell on the floor in front of the platform, the pain was so great. Brother Wigglesworth jumped off the platform and put his hands upon her, and said, “In the name of Jesus I bind this pain and loose this woman.” Immediately she ran up and down the aisle, free from pain, and then went and sat down to listen to the message. She was perfectly whole. This demonstration had a great effect upon the crowd.

Some nights the evangelist prayed for over five hundred people, many of them coming hundreds of miles bringing their sick with them—the blind, deaf, dumb, lame, palsied, consumptive, eaten up with cancer, tumors, epilepsy, weak-minded, deranged, crippled. God worked mighty miracles: blind eyes were opened, deaf ears unstopped. stammering tongues spoke, men on crutches put them over their shoulder and went away, stiff joints were made supple, headaches and fevers vanished, asthma was treated as an evil power and cast out in the name of Jesus.

Handkerchiefs were brought in an ever increasing number and piled high upon the platform. So many were brought (quite 500 some nights) that a fairly large suitcase was neccesary to hold them all. One night, while our attention was diverted, a boy stole six new handkerchiefs that had been brought. Two nights later he came back with them, confessing that he had not been able to sleep since he had taken them. Many wonderful cures were wrought through this means. One was taken to a sanatorium and placed on a consumptive boy. The boy is wonderfully better, is putting on flesh and looking healthy.

Many people were helped by rising from their seats in faith and saying, “Jesus heal me,” without the prayers of the evangelist at all. One woman, who had eruptions on her arms and burning sensations caused by these eruptions, was healed as she sat in her seat. Truly these were wonderful days. God’s Spirit was poured out and Jesus was glorified.

Brother Wigglesworth in India and Ceylon.

2009-03-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

By Walter H.C. Clifford, Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, May 22, 1926.

Brother Wigglesworth has been with us in Colombo, ministering for two weeks. He came very late in the season and found the heat very trying, and in consequence did not visit India. In Madras we had one meeting as we passed through Bombay to Colombo. I went to Bombay to meet him. The meetings were wonderfully attended here. There were over a thousand listening to the Word nearly every night. It was a joy to see hundreds of people standing up with hands outstretched to heaven, asking Jesus to save them. Hundreds were healed of all kinds of diseases. Owing to the heat and the strenuous night meetings (some nights praying for 500 people), he was unable to have meetings for believers as we should have liked. However, the visit was a great success and has brought blessing to nlany homes. He has left us now for Palestine, where he expects to stay about a month, reaching England in time for the Whitsuntide Convention in London.

The follow-on meetings have been wonderfully blessed. One woman in the Sunday morning meeting, after Brother Wigglesworth had left, was healed of three diseases. She came on the following Wednesday bringing fifteen friends with her, eleven of whom were saved that night as we gave the altar call. I had the joy of immersing eight in water while Brother Wigglesworth was here, the youngest being a Singhalese girl seven years old. She had a wonderful testimony, and on the morning of her baptism, she had a vision of Jesus. It was a joy to my soul to take her in my arms and bury her with Christ in the water.

The Lord has given us another little son, born on Feb. 9. This makes us four children now. All is well, for which we praise the Lord. Brother May from Travancore is here helping me for a little while and I am very grateful for his help. We have had strenuous times since Christmas with two conventions and nine meetings a week in between. Oh, for some men to come and stand in the gap.

Here and there, 1/5/24.

2009-03-08T13:31:00.000-07:00

An excerpt, published in the Pentecostal Evangel, January 5, 1924.

Blessing in New Zealand. Brother Smith Wigglesworth writes that he has received a great welcome on his return visit to New Zealand. Writing of his first visit eighteen months ago, Mr. E.E. Pennington, Chairman of the New Zealand Evangelical Mission of Wellington writes, “In June 1922, Brother Smith Wigglesworth came to Wellington little known to any of us. There was no flourishing of trumpets to herald his advent—a few small advertisements in the local press announced his meetings. About one thousand attended his first meeting on a Sunday evening, and the night following this number was increased by about five hundred to six hundred. From then on it was impossible to secure buildings large enough to accommodate the crowds, and the large Town Hall, seating three thousand, was packed every evening. On some occasions the crowd waited for hours about the doors before the commencement of the meetings rather than be denied the opportunity of hearing the man and his message. Never had the writer witnessed such scenes as followed the presentation of the Word of God by this Spirit-filled man, although being associated with such mighty evangelists as Drs. Torrey, Henry, Chapman and others in part of their New Zealand campaigns. On every occasion when an appeal was made for the unconverted to decide for Christ, the response was immediate and great, sometimes as many as four hundred to five hundred responding in a meeting—over two thousand made the great decision during the mission in Wellington—in some cases whole families entered the kingdom of God.”

Many healed. We have received a few testimonies of those healed in this meeting. Mrs. E. Curtis of Christchurch, New Zealand, was suffering with septic poisoning. She had become only a skeleton and the doctors could do nothing for her. She had agonizing pains all day and all night. She was healed immediately [after] prayer was made for her. She states that for the past sixteen years she has been a martyr to pain but is now wonderfully well. Another testified to healing of deafness, goiter, adenoids and bad eyesight. Another testified to healing of double curvature of the spine from infancy, hip disease, weak heart, leg lengthened three inches, which grew normal like the other leg. It was also three inches less in circumference. She wore a large boot but now walks on even feet, the large boot having been discarded. Another was healed from goiter through handkerchief.

Blessing in Melbourne, Australia. Mr. W. Buchanan, a leading Christian worker of Melbourne, writes of the Wigglesworth campaign in that city. “We had three glorious weeks of triumphant victory in the Melbourne meetings. Fully one thousand souls were converted to the Lord Jesus Christ, and many scores were healed: in fact, the testimonies of those healed are still continuing to come in.”

Healed by the power of God.

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Subtitled, “The ministry of Bro. Wigglesworth and his future movements.”
Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, September 16, 1922.

A number of letters have come to this office asking if Bro. Smith Wlgglesworth can hold meetings at different assemblies. He is waiting on the Lord about these calls and is praying about his future movements. He writes us that he expects to hold meetings in San Jose and Oakland, Cal., during the latter part of September and the early part of October, and he hopes that he will be able to start a campaign in Springfield, Mo., on October 15th. We hope to insert fuller announcement concerning this last meeting in the next Evangel.

A correspondent. Mrs. F.E. Braithwaite, sends us a large number of testimonies of healing from Australia, where Bro. Wigglesworth has lately been ministering.

Kathleen Gay, 107 Browe St., North Fitzroy, testifies, “I feel I must express my deep gratitude for blessing received. Only those who have been in the furnace of affliction can realize the joy of deliverance. It seems even now too wonderful after 14 years of anguish, sleeplessness, and spiritual depression caused by the bondage of the adversary that these are things of the past. As you say, consumption is of the devil and only the Lion of Judah could have delivered me from this scourge which has made my body a mass of corruption. Now I am free. Hallelujah!”

Mrs. J. Simcock, of Horshom, Victoria, writes, “I was prayed for in Melbourne and the evil spirit commanded to come out. I had a polypous growth in my nose. It had been there 18 years. When I came home from Melbourne the growth all broke up and came away, for which I praise God. I had also a pain under my left breast which had troubled me 12 years. I think it was leakage of the heart, as sorrow had caused it in the first place. At times I used to vomit blood. I have deliverance from that also. All praise to our wonder-working Jesus.”

Catherine Rutherford, of 32 Emerald St., Collingwood, writes, “I have had liver complaint all my life. When quite a young girl I was treated by the best doctors, but it always returned. At times I was unable to turn over in bed without help. The last 12 months my kidneys were bad and my legs swollen with much cramp. I had varicose veins with lumps larger than an egg. Now, glory to God, all has gone—disappeared as soon as hands were laid on me in the name of Jesus.”

L.M. Buchanan writes of the meetings held in Sydney:

“A woman who was to have undergone an operation yesterday went to the doctor, who said that there was neither misplacement nor inflammation. When she told him the reason he said that she would soon be worse. Another who was to have undergone several operations because the work could not be done in one, testifies that she was free, and that the Lord had lengthened her leg two inches and that instead of limping she is now walking perfectly. Another mother brought her little boy who had fits all day long. He was prayed for at the meeting and after the evangelist had gone he had a fit worse than before. The unbelievers’ sarcasm was to be heard all over the building. Two days later the mother returned to say that the child had not had another fit. A little girl aged five years old, who had been stone deaf three years, received her healing at once. The healings have been too numerous to mention and the preaching of the Word was wonderful.”

At the meeting at Geelong, one testified, “I had a withered hand for 14 years. When Mr. Wigglesworth was here a month ago it was cured.”

At Parkes a quarter of the population tried to get into the theater. The preaching was wonderful and also the healings. A little girl, deaf for six years, ear drums burst and bleeding, was instantly healed. Her brother, blind in one eye, received his sight immediately [after] he was prayed for. The daily papers say that no meetings on a religious line equal to these had ever been experienced in Parkes.

A teacher at Bunibank Methodist Sunday School testifies to healing of rheumatoid arthritis. “A doctor examined me in the beginning of December, 1911. and told me I would need new joints to walk. He said he would defy anyone to cure me, and although I improved in health I dld not walk better. On April 4th I went to be prayed with, and believed God would heal me. As hands were placed on my head in the name of Jesus, I felt the power of God go right through me. After the meeting I walked down three flights of stairs without a stick for the first time for sixteen years, and I have no use for a stick since. I have always tried to impress upon the juniors the power of prayer, but I had not realized I would have to demonstrate it in my own life. After testifying in the Sunday School, I asked all who were Christians or who would became so to stand. Every teacher and every scholar stood, and so we sang the Doxology. Men of the world have told me ‘It has set them thinking.’ There is no evidence now that I had ever rheumatoid arthritis. Praise God!”

Bro. Wigglesworth writes of his meeting in Wellington, New Zealand. “The New Zealand visit as been the best I have had on the lines of moving a city toward holiness and godly fear. Thirty of the principal men pleaded with me that I would stay longer. There has been a harvest of souls and over 2,000 were prayed for for healing. About 2,000 came down to the quay, singing and testifying and I spoke to them. A dally paper quotes the following healings, saying that any one can secure the names and addresses at the Dominion offices.”

A dairyman had for 3 years suffered with chronic gastritis and paralysis of both legs from the hips downward and could only drag along with crutches. He testifies, “On June 4th I attended the Town Hall. I was anointed, hands were laid upon me, and Mr. Wigglesworth told me to walk. I handed him my crutches and walked home. For 14 years I have had a cyst on the back of my neck. It increased in size to the size of an egg. The next morning I found it had completely disappeared.”

A lady testifies, “Over 3 years ago varicose veins in my legs broke. I was twice in hospital, but when I used the legs the veins burst open. The last time they were cut and an ulcer formed. I had to walk with a stick and could only limp. I went to the Town Hall. I had faith that Jesus would heal me. The pain ceased and I was able to leave my stick and walk to the car. My leg is sound and the ulcer is daily healing. I am now able to wash and do my housework.”

Another Wellington lady says that her son (age 11) 6 years ago broke his arm. It was badly set and he could not bend it properly. It was massaged for 12 months without any benefit. It is healed. Also her daughter, who suffered from adenoids, was healed.

A lady from Ngaio, aged 20, has suffered from double curvature of the spine from infancy. She could not walk until 4 years of age and could only rise from the floor by pulling herself up with both hands. One leg was 3 inches shorter and less in circumference. She went to many hospitals and was sent home incurable. She states, “As soon as hands were laid upon me I was healed, my spine was straightened; in a few days my leg lengthened, and my hip, which was diseased, was healed.”

The following testimonies appeared in the “Good News” of Melbourne:

For many years I suffered from bronchitis and asthma. I had pains in my chest and was very short of breath. I went to the meetings at the Olympia and Mr. Wigglesworth laid hands on me, and rebuked the evil spirit. I felt the power of God go right through me. I was immediately healed, and have not had a pain since. I was on Feb. 4th, 1922, dressing my little girls when Thelma, aged 4, fell. I picked her up and found her bleeding at the mouth. The scissors were in her hand, and she ran the point through her lips. Her mouth began to swell, and I said. “Dear Jesus, don’t let her go any further.” I hurried to the Good News Hall and the secretary carried her to Mr. Wigglesworth, who was at breakfast. In a few minutes the lady brought her hack, with her mouth closed, and perfectly healed. The child told me that the gentleman had laid his hands on her lips and prayed, and that Jesus had made her better —J.M. Henderson.

I was born with a weak, crooked ankle. I was anointed at the Olympia and it was immediately straightened and made strong. I had to wear a specially formed boot and straps, these are no use to me now, I have bought ordinary boots. Medical men had attended me and could do nothing. —Lily Ward.

Mr. Wigglesworth at the Antipodes.

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Published in Confidence, July-September 1922.

He writes: “God is doing wonders. We have the meetings in a picture house, and crowds are being saved night by night. This morning a girl 16 years old, who had been stone deaf eight years was instantiy healed, and similar mercies are going on all the time. I spent Easter in Melbourne, and enclose a few testimonies from those helped there.

“I began in Sydney on April 30th. I am well, but need a rest, and (D.V.) I shall have one week on the sea (to New Zealand), and three weeks to America.”

Later at Sydney. “This has been a great week of soul saving. Crowds are being stirred up. Ministers and preachers, many have begun a new life. The presence of God has been mighty.”

May 24th. “God is keeping me on fire. Hundreds are catching the flame. Several young men have left all, and have struck out on new lines. There has been much opposition and controversy, but I have left hundreds saved and healed in Sydney. Australia has been moved. A man and his wife and another brother who have caught the fire are traveling with me to New Zealand. My first mission is at Wellington, then Christchurch, then three weeks on the sea to Beulah Heights, near Oakland (Mr. Montgomery). Then to San Francisco, and on, as the Lord leads.”

Some Testimonies from Australians.

107 Rowe Street,
North Fitzroy.
I feel I must express my deep gratitude for blessing received. Only those who have been in the furnace of affliction can reallze the joy of deliverance. It seems too wonderful. After fourteen years of anguish, sleeplessness, and spiritual depression, caused by the bondage of the adversary, these are things of the pasts. As Bro. Wigglesworth says, consumption Is of the devil, and only the Lion of Judah could have delivered me from this dread scourge, which had made my body a mass of corruption. Hallelujah!
KATHLEEN GAY.

Baille Street,
Horsham, Victoria.
I was prayed for in Me!bourne, and the evil spirit was commanded to come out. I had a polypous growth in my nose. It had been there eighteen years. When I came home from Melbourne the growth all broke up and came away, for which I praise God. I had also a pain under my left breast which had troubled me twelve years. I think it was leakage of the heart, as sorrow had caused it in the first place. At times I used to vomit blood. I have deliverance from that also. All praise to our wonder-working Jesus!
MRS. T. SINCOCK.

32, Emerald Street,
Collingwood.
I have had liver complaint all my life. When quite a girl I was treated by the best doctors, but it always returned, and at times I was unable to turn in bed without help. The last twelve months my kidneys were bad, and my legs swollen much with cramp. I had also varicose veins, with lumps larger than an egg. Now, glory to God, all has gone—disappeared—as soon as hands were laid upon me in the name of Jesus. I am hungering and thirsting after the Baptism. Please pray for me!
CATHERINE RUTHERFORD.

Bro. Wigglesworth concludes his letter with an earnest appeal for our prayers. “Pray! pray! pray! that God may be glorified in all.”

Lives controlled by the spirit of Christ.

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Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, April 26, 1941.

Read 1 John 3:1-10.

God does not dwell in temples made by hands but in poor and contrite hearts. God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. The Church is the body of Christ, its worship is a heart worship, a longing to come into the Presence of God. He wants us to come to a place of undisturbed rest and peace; only simplicity will bring us there. Jesus said, when He uplifted the baby, “Except you become as little children, you shall in no wise enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” It is not to have the child’s mind, but the child’s spirit—meekness, gentleness; it is the only place to meet God. He will give us that place of worship.

How my heart cries out for a deep vision of God. The world cannot produce it. A place where we see the Lord—that when we pray, we know God hears. Asking God and believing for the answer, having no fear but a living faith to come into the Presence of God. “In His Presence is fullness of joy, and at His right hand are pleasures for evermore.” God is looking for a people in whom He can reveal Himself.

I used to have a tremendous temper, going white with passion. My whole nature was outside God that way. God knew His child could never be of service to the world unless he was wholly sanctified. I was difficult to please at the table. My wife was a good cook, but there was always something wrong. After God sanctified me, however, I heard her testify in a meeting that from that time I was pleased with everything. I had men working for me. I wanted to be a good testimony to them. One day they waited after work was over and said, “We would like that spirit you have.” It is our human spirit that has to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. There is a place where Christ reigns in the body, then all is well.

This word is full of stimulation—brought by faith into a place of grace where all may see us made anew. If you believe, you can be sons of God—in likeness, character, spirit, longings, acts, until all will know you are a son of God. The Spirit of God can change our nature. God is Creator. His Word is creative, and as you believe, a creative power is changing your whole nature. You can reach this altitude only by faith. No man can keep himself. The God of almightiness spreads His covering over you, saying, “I am able to do all things; and all things are possible to him that believeth.”

The old nature is so difficult to manage. You have been ashamed of it many a time, but the Lord Himself will come. He says, “Come unto Me, and I will give thee rest, peace, strength. I will change you, I will operate upon you by My power making you a new creation, if you will believe.”

Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. “Learn of Me for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” The world has no rest, it is full of trouble; but in Him is peace which passeth understanding, with an inward flow of divine power changing your nature until you can live, move and act in the power of God.

“Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew Him not.” What does it mean? I have lived in one house over fifty years. I have preached from my own doorstep, and all around know me. They know. me when they need someone to pray, when there is trouble, when they need help. But at Christmas time, when they call their friends, would they call me? No! Why? They would say, “He is sure to want a prayer meeting, but we want to finish up with a dance.”

Wherever Jesus came sin was revealed and men don’t like sin revealed. Sin, separates from God for ever. You are in a good place when you weep before God, repenting over the least thing. If you have spoken unkindly, you realize it was not like the Lord. Your keen conscience has taken you to prayer. It is a wonderful thing to have a keen conscience. It is when we are close to God that our hearts are revealed. God intends us to live in purity—seeing Him all the time.

“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is; and everyone that hath this hope purifieth himself even as He is pure.” It is the hope of the Church, the Bridegroom coming for the bride. He has suffered for us, been buried for us, risen for us, is jealous for us. How we should love Him! He is coming again and He wants us to be ready.

When I am leaving anywhere by train or ship, people come to see me off, and I preach to them. The Captain hears, the stewards hear. “Oh,” they said, “another on board!” The world thinks there is something wrong with you if you are full of zeal for God.

A young man came and asked me to take part in a sweepstake. I said, “I am preaching on Sunday—would you come if I did?” He said, “No.” Later, there was an entertainment. I said I would take a part. It was the strangest thing for me. I said I would sing. I saw men dressed as clergy entertaining the people with foolishness. I was troubled. I cried to God. Then came my turn just before the dance. A young woman came to take my book—she was half dressed. She said, “I cannot play that.” I said, “Never worry.” I sang, “Oh, if I could only tell you how I love Him, I am sure that you would make Him yours today.” There was no dance! They began weeping, and six young men gave their hearts to God in my cabin.

The world does not know us, but we are sons of God with power. No man that sins has power. Sin makes a man weak. Remember this—sin dethrones, but purity strengthens. Temptation is not sin; but the devil is a liar and tries to take away our peace. You must live in the Word of God. There is now no condemnation. Who is he that can condemn you? Christ has died. He won’t condemn you. He died to save you. Don’t condemn yourself. If there is anything wrong, come to the Blood. “If we walk in the light as He is in the Light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” Jesus was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. You can come into a new experience of God where God creates in our hearts such a love for Jesus that we are living in a new realm—Sons of God with power, filled with all the fullness of God.

Before leaving home I received a wire—would I go to Liverpool. There was a woman with cancer and gall stones. If I know God is sending me, my faith rises. The woman said, “I have no hope.” God said to me, “Establish her in the fact of the New Birth.” When she had the assurance that her sin was gone and she was born again, she said, “That is everything to me. Cancer is nothing now I have Jesus.” The battle was won. God delivered her and she was free and soon up and dressed, and happy in Jesus. Life and immortality are ours in the Gospel. This is our inheritance through the blood of Jesus—life for evermore. Believe and the Lord will transmit life through you, that you may be waiting for His coming and witnessing unto Him.

The very same Jesus.

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By Anna Lewini, of Stoke Newington, London. Subtitled, “Divine healing in Scandinavia, etc.” Published in Confidence, April-June 1922.

“That, which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you.” 1 John 1:3.

The Writer (whose personal testimony was in the last issue of “Confidence”) had the privilege for three months last year to be in the center of Mr. Smith Wigglesworth’s meetings in both Sweden and Denmark. It was a time of visitation from on high: I dare to say that hundreds of people received Jesus as their Savior, thousands were healed from all kinds of diseases, also thousands of believers awoke to a new life, and many, many received the Baptism of the Holy Ghost as on the day of Pentecost. For all this we give glory to Jesus. Here are a few examples of miracles my eyes have seen.

I will begin with the first meeting I attended. It was in Orebro (Sweden) where at that time there was held a Pentecostal Convention. I came to seek help myself, being worn out with long unbroken service in the Lord’s work. I had not heard of Mr. Wigglesworth before, but I knew that Pastor Barratt, my spiritual father, was there. The next day there was a meeting for healing. After the preaching service I went forward into the other hall and I was surprised to find in a few minutes a crowd following. The hall was full with a queue of hundreds of men and women patiently waiting for a touch of God through His servant, and, glory to God, we we were not disappointed. As hands were laid upon me, the power of God went through me in a mighty way. I was immediately well.

It was wonderful to notice, as the ministry continued, the effect upon the people as the power of the Lord came over them. Some lifted their hands, crying, “I am healed! I am healed!” Some fell on the the platform overpowered by the power of the Spirit, having to be helped down. Others walked away as in a dream; others as drunk with new wine, lost to everything but God; but all had faces as transfigured with the glory of the Lord and magnifying Jesus. A young biind girl, as she was ministered to, cried out, “Oh, how many windows there are in this hall!” ‘During the three weeks the meetings continued the great chapel was crowded daily, multitudes being healed and many saved. The testimony meetings were wonderful. One said, “I was deaf, they prayed, and Jesus heaied me.” Another, “I had consumption, and I am free,” and so on.

At Skofde. In the smaiier hall, set apart for those seeking the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, I shall never forget the sight, how the people with eyes closed and hearts uplifted to God waited. Did the Holy Spirit fall upon them? Of course He did. Here also many were healed. At another place there was a young man whose body was spoiled because of sin, but the Lord is merciful with sinners. He was anointed, and when hands were laid on, the power of God went mightily over him. He said, “I am healed,” but being broken down, he cried as a little child confessing his sin; at the same moment the Lord saved him. Glory to God! He went into the large hall and testified to salvation and healing.

Stockholm. Here long queues waited for hours to get in. The hall held 1,800 people. At nearly every meeting crowds were unable to enter the building, but they waited on often hours and hours for the chance, if any left the building, to step into the place. Here a man with two crutches, his whole body shaking with palsy, is lifted on to the platform. (Behind him five or six hundred more are waiting for help.) This man is anointed and hands laid upon him in the Name of Jesus. He is still shaking. Then he drops one crutch, and after a short time the other one. His body is still shaking, but he takes the first step out in faith! Will it be? He lifts oue foot and then the other, walks round the platform. The onlookers rejoice with him. Now he walks around the auditorium. Hallelujah!

During this meeting a woman began to shout and shout. The preacher told her to be quiet, but instead she jumped up on a chair, flourishing her arms about, and crying, “I am healed! I am healed! I had cancer in my mouth, and I was unsaved; but during the meeting, as I listened to the word of God, the Lord has saved me and healed me of cancer in my mouth.” She shouts again, “I am saved! I am saved! I am healed of cancer!” She was quite beside herself. The people laughed and cried together.

Here was another woman unable to walk, sitting on a chair as she was ministered to. Her experience was the same as hundreds of the others. She rose up, looking around, wondering if after all it was a dream. Suddenly she laughed and said, “My leg is healed.” Afterwards she said, “I am not saved,” and streams of tears ran down her face. They prayed for her, and later she left the meeting healed and saved and full of joy. We have a wonderful Savior; glory to His Holy Name!

Miracles in Norway. Out of many, many, I quote two taken from Pastor Barratt’s paper, “Korsets Seir” (the Victory of the Cross). A man and his son came in a taxi to a meeting. Both had crutches. The father had been in bed two years and was unable to put his leg to the ground. He was ministered to. He dropped both crutches, walking and praising God. When the son saw this he cried out, “Help me too,” and after a little while father and son, without crutches and without taxi, walked away from the hall together. That word again is manifested; the same Jesus, the wonder-working Jesus is just the same today.

Now Copenhagen, my homeland! During three weeks thousands daily attended the meetings. Each morning, two or three hundred were ministered to for healing. Each evening the platform was surrounded. Again and again, as each throng retired another company came forward seeking salvation. Here many were baptized in the Holy Ghost. The testimony meetings were wonderful.

Now I will close with a vision a brother had who attended these meetings. He was lost in intercession for the hundreds of sick waiting to be ministered to for healing. He saw an opening from the platform, where the sick were, right into the glory. He saw wonderful beings in the form of men resting who, with interest, looked on. Again he looked at the platform and saw a heavenly Being clothed in white, who all the time was more active than any other in helping the sick, and when He touched them the effect was wonderful. Bent forms were made straight, their eyes shone, they began to glorify and praise the Lord. A Voice said: “Healings are the smallest of all gifts; it is but a drop in the bucket in view of what God has in store for His children. Ye shall do greater works than these.”

I pray that the Lord may be magnified by this attestation to signs, wonders, and mighty deeds, and that there may be a multiplication in every land that shall redound to the glory of God.

The way of faith.

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Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, June 15, 1935.

In Romans 4:16 we read, “It is of faith, that it might be by grace,” meaning that we can open the door and God will come in. What will happen if we really open the door by faith? God is greater than our thoughts. He puts it to us, “Exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” When we ask a lot, God says “more.” Are we ready for the “more”? And then the “much more”? We may be, or we may miss it. We may be so endued by the Spirit of the Lord in the morning that it shall be a tonic for the whole day. God can so thrill us with new life that nothing ordinary or small will satisfy us after that. There is a great place for us in God where we won’t be satisfied with small things. We won’t have any satisfaction unless the fire falls, and whenever we pray we will have the assurance that what we have prayed for is going to follow the moment we open our mouth. Oh this praying in the Spirit! This great plan of God for us! In a moment we can go right in. In where? Into His will. Then all things will be well.

You can’t get anything asleep these days. The world is always awake, and we should always be awake to what God has for us. Awake to take! Awake to hold it after we get it! How much can you take? We know that God is more willing to give than we are to receive. How shall we dare to be asleep when the Spirit commands us to take everything on the table. It is the greatest banquet that ever was and ever will be—the table where all you take only leaves more behind. A fullness that cannot be exhausted! How many are prepared for a lot?

“And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve. And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: and seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.” Mark 11:11-14.

Jesus was sent from God to meet the world’s need. Jesus lived to minister life by the words He spoke. He said to Philip, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father… the words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me.” I am persuaded that if we are filled with His words of life and the Holy Ghost, and Christ is made manifest in our mortal flesh, then the Holy Ghost can really move us with His life, His words, till as He was, so are we in the world. We are receiving our life from God, and it is always kept in tremendous activity, working in our whole nature as we live in perfect contact with God.

Jesus spoke, and everything He said must come to pass. That is the great plan. When we are filled only with the Holy Spirit, and we won’t allow the Word of God to be detracted by what we hear or by what we read, then comes the inspiration, then the life, then the activity, then the glory! Oh to live in it! To live in it is to be moved by it. To live in it is to be moved so that we will have God’s life, God’s personality in the human body.

By the grace of God I want to impart the Word, and bring you into a place where you will dare to act upon the plan of the Word, to so breathe life by the power of the Word that it is impossible for you to go on under any circumstances without His provision. The most difficult things that come to us are to our advantage from God’s side. When we come to the place of impossibilities it is the grandest place for us to see the possibilities of God. Put this right in your mind and never forget it. You will never be of any importance to God till you venture in the impossible. God wants people on the daring line. I do not mean foolish daring. “Be filled with the Spirit,” and when we are filled with the Spirit we are not so much concerned about the secondary thing. It is the first with God.

Everything of evil, everything unclean, everything Satanic in any way is an objectionable thing to God, and we are to live above it, destroy it, not to allow it to have any place. Jesus didn’t let the devil answer back. We must reach the place where we will not allow anything to interfere with the plan of God.

Jesus and His disciples came to the tree. It looked beautiful. It had the appearance of fruit, but when He came to it He found nothing but leaves. He was very disappointed. Looking at the tree, He spoke to it: Here is shown forth His destructive power, “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever.” The next day they were passing by the same way and the disciples saw the tree “dried up from the roots.” They said to Jesus, “Behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.” And Jesus said, “Have faith in God.”

There isn’t a person that has ever seen a tree dried from the root. Trees always show the first signs of death right at the top. But the Master had spoken. The Master dealt with a natural thing to reveal to these disciples a supernatural plan. If He spoke it would have to obey. And, God, the Holy Ghost, wants us to understand clearly that we are the mouthpiece of God and are here for His divine plan. We may allow the natural mind to dethrone that, but in the measure we do, we won’t come into the treasure which God has for us. The Word of God must have first place. It must not have a second place. In any measure that we doubt the Word of God, from that moment we have ceased to thrive spiritually and actively. The Word of God is not only to be looked at and read, but received as the Word of God to become life right within our life. “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.”

“I give unto you power… over all the power of the enemy.” Luke 10:19. There it is. We can accept or reject it. I accept and believe it. It is a word beyond all human calculation: “Have faith in God.” These disciples were in the Master’s schooL They were the men who were to turn the world upside down. As we receive the Word we will never be the same; if we dare to act as the Word goes forth and not be afraid, then God will honor us. “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” Jacob was the weakest of all, in any way you like to take it. He is the God of Jacob, and He is our God. So we may likewise have our names changed to Israel.

As the Lord Jesus injected this wonderful word, “Have faith in God,” into the disciples, He began to show how it was to be. Looking around about Him He saw the mountains, and He began to bring a practical application. A truth means nothing unless it moves us. We can have our minds filled a thousand times, but it must get into our hearts if there are to be any results. All inspiration is in the heart. All compassion is in the heart.

Looking at the mountains He said, “Shall not doubt in his heart.” That is the barometer. You know exactly where you are. The man knows when he prays. If his heart is right how it leaps. No man is any good for God and never makes progress in God who does not hate sin. You are never safe. But there is a place in God where you can love righteousness and where you can hate iniquity till the Word of God is a light in your bosom, quickening every fiber of your body, thrilling your whole nature. The pure in heart see God. Believe in the heart! What a word! If I believe in my heart God says I can begin to speak, and “whatsoever” I say shall come to pass.

Here is an act of believing in the heart. I was called to Halifax, England, to pray for a lady missionary. I found it an urgent call. I could see there was an absence of faith, and I could see there was death: Death is a terrible thing, and God wants to keep us alive. I know it is appointed unto man once to die, but I believe in a rapturous death. I said to the woman, “How are you?” She said, “I have faith,” in a very weak tone of voice. “Faith? Why you are dying? Brother Walshaw, is she dying?” “Yes.” “Nurse, is she dying?” “Yes.” To a friend standing by, “Is she dying?” “Yes.”

Now I believe there is something in a heart that is against defeat, and this is the faith which God hath given to us. I said to her, “In the name of Jesus, now believe and you’ll live.” She said, “I believe,” and God sent life from her head to her feet. They dressed her and she lived.

“Have faith.” It isn’t saying you have faith. It is he that believeth in his heart. It is a grasping of the eternal God. Faith is God in the human vessel. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” 1 John 5:4. He that believeth overcomes the world. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” He that believeth in his heart! Can you imagine anything easier than that? He that believeth in his heart! What is the process? Death! No one can live who believes in his heart. He dies to everything worldly. He that loves the world is not of God. You can measure the whole thing up, and examine yourself to see if you have faith. Faith is a life. Faith enables you to lay hold of that which is and get it out of the way for God to bring in something that is not.

Just before I left home I was in Norway. A woman wrote to me from England saying she had been operated on for cancer three years before, but that it was now coming back. She was living in constant dread of the whole thing as the operation was so painful. Would it be possible to see me when I returned to England? I wrote that I would be passing through London on the 20th of June last year. If she would like to meet me at the hotel I would pray for her. She replied that she would be going to London to be there to meet me. When I met this woman I saw she was in great pain, and I have great sympathy for people who have tried to get relief and have failed. If you preachers lose your compassion you can stop preaching, fof it won’t be any good. You will only be successful as a preacher as you let your heart become filled with the compassion of Jesus. As soon as I saw her I entered into the state of her mind. I saw how distressed she was. She came to me in a mournful spirit, and her whole face was downcast. I said to her, “There are two things going to happen today. One is that you are to know that you are sayed.” “Oh, if I could only know I was saved,” she said. “There is another thing. You have to go out of this hotel without a pain, without a trace of the cancer.”

Then I began with the Word. Oh this wonderful Word! We do not have to go up to bring Him down; neither do we have to go down to bring Him up. “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach.” Romans 10:8. I said, “Believe that He took your sins when He died at the cross. Believe that when He was buried, it was for you. Believe that when He arose, it was for you. And now at God’s right hand He is sitting for you. If you can believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, you shall be saved.” She looked at me saying, “Oh, it is going all through my body. I know I am saved now. If He comes today, I’ll go. How I have dreaded, the thought of His coming all my life! But if He comes today, I know I shall be ready.”

The first thing was finished. Now for the second. I laid my hands upon her in the name of Jesus, believing in my heart that I could say what I wanted and it should be done. I said, “In the name of Jesus, I cast this out.” She jumped up. “Two things have happened,” she said. “I am saved and now the cancer is gone.”

Faith will stand amid the wrecks of time,
Faith unto eternal glories climb;
Only count the promise true,
And the Lord will stand by you—
Faith will win the victory every time!

So many people have nervous trouble. I’ll tell you how to get rid of your nervous trouble. I have something in my bag, one dose of which will cure you. “I am the Lord that healeth thee.” How this wonderful Word of God changes the situation. “Perfect love casteth out fear.” “There is no fear in love.” I have tested that so often, casting out the whole condition of fear and the whole situation has been changed. We have a big God, only He has to be absolutely and only trusted. The people who really do believe God are strong, and “he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.”

At the close of a certain meeting a man said to me, “You have helped everybody but me. I wish you would help me.” “What’s the trouble with you?” “I cannot sleep because of nervous trouble. My wife says she has not known me to have a full night’s sleep for three years. I am just shattered.” Anybody could tell he was. I put my hands upon him and said, “Brother I believe in my heart. Go home and sleep in the name of Jesus.” “I can’t sleep.” “Go home and sleep in the name of Jesus.” “I can’t sleep.” The lights were being put out, and I took the man by the coat collar and said, “Don’t talk to me any more.” That was sufficient. He went after that, When he got home his mother and wife said to him, “What has happened?” “Nothing. He helped everybody but me.” “Surely he said something to you.” “He told me to come home and sleep in the name of Jesus, but you know I can’t sleep in anything.”

His wife urged him to do what I had said, and he had scarcely got his head on the pillow before the Lord put him to sleep. The next morning he was still asleep. The next morning he was still asleep. She began to make a noise in the bedroom to awaken him, but he did not waken. Sunday morning he was still asleep. She did what every good wife would do. She decided to make a good Sunday dinner, and then awaken him. After the dinner was prepared she went up to him and put her hand on his shoulder and shook him, saying, “Are you never going to wake up?” From that night that man never had any more nervousness.

A man came to me for whom I prayed. Then I asked, “Are you sure you are perfectly healed?” “Well,” he said, “there is just a little pain in my shoulder.” “Do you know what that is?” I asked him. “That is unbelief. Were you saved before you believed or after?” “After.” “You will be healed after.” “It is all right now,” he said, It was all right before, but he hadn’t believed.

The Word of God is for us. It is by faith that it might be by grace.

The power of Christ’s resurrection.

2009-01-25T17:45:00.000-08:00

Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, November 10, 1934.

“That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death… I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:10-14.

What a wonderful word! This surely means to press on to be filled with all the fullness of God. If we leak out here we shall surely miss God, and shall fail in fulfilling the ministry He would give us.

The Lord would have us preach by life, and by deed, always abounding in service; living epistles, bringing forth to men the knowledge of God. If we went all the way with God, what would happen? What should we see if we would only seek to bring honor to the name of our God? Here we see Paul pressing in for this. There is no standing still. We must move on to a fuller power of the Spirit, never satisfied that we have apprehended all, but filled with the assurance that God will take us on to the goal we desire to reach, as we press on for the prize ahead.

Abraham came out from Ur of the Chaldees. We never get into a new place until we come out from the old one. There is a place where we leave the old life behind, and where the life in Christ fills us and we are filled with His glorious personality.

On the road to Damascus, Saul of Tarsus was apprehended by Christ. From the first he sent up a cry, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” He desired always to do the will of God, but here he realized a place of closer intimacy, a place of fuller power, of deeper crucifixion. He sees a prize ahead and every fiber of his being is intent on securing that prize. Jesus Christ came to be the firstfruits; the firstfruits of a great harvest of like fruit, like unto Himself. How zealous is the farmer as he watches his crops and sees the first shoots and blades. They are the earnest of the great harvest that is coming. Paul here is longing that the Father’s heart shall be satisfied, for in that first resurrection the Heavenly Husbandman will see a firstfruits harvest, firstfruits like unto Christ, sons of God made conformable to the only begotten Son of God

You say, “I am in a needy place.” It is in needy places that God delights to work. For three days the people that were with Christ were without food, and He asked Philip, “From whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?” That was a hard place for Philip, but not for Jesus, for He knew perfectly what He would do. The hard place is where He delights to show forth His miraculous power. And haw fully was the need provided for. Bread enough and to spare!

Two troubled, baffled travelers are on the road to Emmaus. As they communed together and reasoned, Jesus Himself drew near, and He opened up the Word to them in such a way that they saw light in His light. Their eyes were holden that they could not recognize who it was talking with them. But, o how their hearts burned within as He opened up the Scripture to them. And at the breaking of bread He was made known to them. Always seek to be found in the place where He manifests His presence and power.

The resurrected Christ appeared to Peter and a few more of them early one morning on the shore of the lake. He prepared a meal for the tired, tried disciples. That is just like Him. Count on His presence. Count on His power. Count on His provision. He is always there just where you need Him.

Have you received Him? Are you to be found “in Him”? Have you received His righteousness, which is by faith? Abraham got to this place, for God gave this righteousness to him because he believed, and as you believe God He puts HIs righteousness to your account. He will put His righteousness right within you. He will keep you in perfect peace as you stay your mind upon Him and trust in Him. He will bring you to a rest of faith, to a place of blessed assurance that all that happens is working for your eternal good.

Here is the widow’s son on the road to burial. Jesus meets that unhappy procession. He has compassion on that poor woman who is taking her only son to the cemetery. His great heart had such compassion that death had no power—it could no longer hold its prey. Compassion is greater than suffering. Compassion is greater than death. O God, give us this compassion! In His infinite compassion Jesus stopped that funeral procession and cried to that widow’s son, “Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.” And he who was dead sat up, and Jesus delivered him to his mother.

Paul got a vision and revelation of the resurrection power of Christ, and so he was saying, “I will not stop until I have laid hold of what God has laid hold of me for.” For what purpose has God laid hold of us? To be channels for His power. He wants to manifest the power of the Son of God through you and me. God help us to manifest the faith of Christ, the compassion of Christ, the resurrection power of Christ.

One morning about eleven o’clock I saw a woman who was suffering with tumor. She could not live through the day. A little blind girl led me to the bedside. Compassion broke me up and I wanted that woman to live for the child’s sake. I said to the woman, “Do you want to live?” She could not speak. She just moved her finger. I anointed her with oil and said, “In the name of Jesus.” There was a stillness of death that followed; and the pastor, looking at the woman, said to me, “She is gone.”

When God pours in His compassion it has resurrection power in it. I carried that woman across the room, put her against a wardrobe and held her there. I said, “In the name of Jesus, death come out.” And soon her body began to tremble like a leaf. “In Jesus’ name, walk,” I said. She did and went back to bed.

I told this story in the assembly. There was a doctor there and he said, “I’ll prove that.” He went to the woman and she told him it was perfectly true. She said, “I was in heaven, and I saw countless numbers all like Jesus. Then I heard a voice saying, ‘Walk, in the name of Jesus.’ ”

There is power in the name of Jesus. Let us apprehend it, the power of His resurrection, the power of His compassion, the power of His love. Love will break the hardest thing—there is nothing it will not break.

The Smith Wigglesworth Blog

Apostle of Faith 9: Visits to Switzerland and Sweden.

Apostle of Faith 8: Miracles in Australia and New Zealand.

Apostle of Faith 7: In labors more abundant.

Apostle of Faith 6: The ministry of healing.

Apostle of Faith 5: After receiving the Baptism.

Apostle of Faith 4: Endued from on high.

Apostle of Faith 3: “Then the ear…”

Apostle of Faith 2: An helpmeet for him.

Apostle of Faith 1: “First the blade…”

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Be not afraid, only believe.

Healings in Australia.

By Winnie Andrews. Published in Confidence, April-June 1922.

The active life of the Spirit-filled believer.

Subtitled, “Ministration and operation of the gifts.” Preached in Bradford, England. Published in the Latter Rain Evangel, February 1923.

Living epistles of the living Christ.

Subtitled, “An Easter message by Smith Wigglesworth.”Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, April 24, 1943.

Power from on high.

Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, May 27, 1944.

Here and there, 6/5/26.

An excerpt, published in the Pentecostal Evangel, June 5, 1926.

Brother Wigglesworth in Ceylon.

By Walter H. Clifford, Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, May 29, 1926.

Brother Wigglesworth in India and Ceylon.

By Walter H.C. Clifford, Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, May 22, 1926.

Here and there, 1/5/24.

An excerpt, published in the Pentecostal Evangel, January 5, 1924.

Healed by the power of God.

Subtitled, “The ministry of Bro. Wigglesworth and his future movements.” Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, September 16, 1922.

Mr. Wigglesworth at the Antipodes.

Published in Confidence, July-September 1922.

Lives controlled by the spirit of Christ.

Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, April 26, 1941.

The very same Jesus.

By Anna Lewini, of Stoke Newington, London. Subtitled, “Divine healing in Scandinavia, etc.” Published in Confidence, April-June 1922.

The way of faith.

Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, June 15, 1935.

The power of Christ’s resurrection.

Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, November 10, 1934.

Subtitled, “Ministration and operation of the gifts.”
Preached in Bradford, England.
Published in the Latter Rain Evangel, February 1923.

Subtitled, “An Easter message by Smith Wigglesworth.”
Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, April 24, 1943.

By Walter H. Clifford, Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, May 29, 1926.

By Walter H.C. Clifford, Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, May 22, 1926.

Subtitled, “The ministry of Bro. Wigglesworth and his future movements.”
Published in the Pentecostal Evangel, September 16, 1922.