Welcome to From the Pulpit.
Each week we bring you a different message
from some of history's greatest speakers in the
Christian faith and powerful sermons from modern preachers
too.
This week we have Kenneth Hagin with his
message, The Will of God in Prayer.
I would like to direct your attention today
to the first epistle of John chapter 5
and we shall read verse 14 and 15.
The first epistle of John chapter 5 verses
14 and 15 and this is the confidence
that we have in him that if we
ask anything according to his will he heareth
us and if we know that he hear
us whatsoever we ask we know that we
have the petitions that we desired of him
now we want to talk about the will
of God in prayer another translation of this
verse says and this is the confidence instead
of saying confidence it uses the word boldness
this is the boldness we have toward him
that if we ask anything according to his
will he heareth us immediately our minds want
to fashion upon this portion according to thy
will and therefore when we pray we say
lord do this or that if it be
thy will other times we pray about things
on which we already have God's word so
we know his will concerning them to insert
that expression into our prayer when God's word
states that it is his will is confessing
that we doubt his word and don't believe
it that kind of praying will not work
some have supposed that you find the will
of God this way I remember a lady
member of my congregation years ago when I
pastored was ill she was one of my
Sunday school teachers and her husband called for
me in the night to come and pray
for her to anoint her with oil to
lay hands upon her now the Bible said
you know in James 5 14 is any
sick among you let him call for the
elders of the church and let them pray
over him anointing him with oil in the
name of the Lord and the prayer of
faith shall save the sick and the Lord
shall raise him up and if you have
committed sins they shall be forgiven him now
acting on James 5 14 we went to
this home knowing that you find out about
people but what they say and knowing that
faith must be expressed in confession you know
the Bible says with the mouth confession is
made unto I wanted to get a confession
from this woman and find what she believed
even though she was a member of my
congregation a Sunday school teacher and her husband
a deacon in my church I said to
her as I stood by the bedside about
to anoint her with oil and lay hands
upon her to pray sister will you be
healed now as I anoint you with oil
and lay hands upon you in Jesus name
she said well I will if it's his
will I said how are you going to
find out or know whether it is his
will to heal you or not well I
thought you would pray and if it's his
will he'd heal me now it's amazing to
me how people Sunday school teachers especially who
should be a little more Bible conscious than
others can sit in services week after week
and hear faith taught and not grasp it
I taught as a pastor something else besides
faith but I taught a great deal on
it still some didn't comprehend what the word
says the Bible much of the time just
runs off people like water off of a
duck's back they sit there and say oh
I enjoy good preaching and Bible teaching no
one enjoys it any more than I do
I sure love to go to church if
you should ask what did the teacher or
the preacher preach on that blank expression will
come on their faces and they say I
don't know but it certainly was good now
that makes as much sense as to say
I'll tell you I had the best meal
yesterday at such and such a restaurant they
had the best pie or have the best
pie of any place in town well what
did you have to eat I don't know
what kind of pie was it I don't
know now we would have reason to doubt
very seriously whether you'd ever eaten there or
not we get confused sometimes because we do
not give heed to the word of God
so let's give heed to God's word and
let's know that God's word is true and
know that God's word brings a blessing well
this Sunday school teacher in my church never
missed any of the services she enjoyed coming
she would testify testimony time how much good
she'd gotten out of it what a blessing
it was and yet if the word had
really meant much to her I don't know
it she surely would have known better than
that I said how are you going to
find out if it's the will of God
to hear you or not or to heal
you or not well I thought you'd anoint
me with oil and pray and if it's
God's will he'll heal me and if it's
not his will then he won't of course
I knew under those circumstances a woman was
not going to get healed I knew it
would actually do no good to anoint her
with oil or lay hands on her either
I don't mean to be sacrilegious about it
but it would do just as much good
to twiddle your thumbs over her and say
twinkle twinkle little star how I wonder what
you are that would do just as much
good because her unbelief is going to stop
the flow of God's healing power though she
is in pain and misery one can't just
stop and preach her a quick sermon I
intended to talk to her a little longer
and bring her attention to the word of
God but she said go ahead I'm in
so much pain and misery go ahead and
anoint me so I anointed her and prayed
knowing that she wouldn't receive anything because she
wasn't believing in line with the word I
stumbled through a prayer and had hardly gotten
out my amen until she said to her
husband call the doctor well now here's what
I couldn't understand she'd just gotten through saying
that if it was God's will that she
be well he would heal her and if
it wasn't he wouldn't she didn't get healed
therefore by her own admission it wasn't God's
will for her to be healed yet she's
calling the doctor and paying him to get
her out of the will of God now
can you see that it doesn't make sense
if I believe like that if it's God's
will you heal me and if it's not
God's will he won't heal me then I
would have to believe that it isn't God's
will that I be well then I would
be wrong and even wanting to get well
if it's not God's will for me to
be well I'd be wrong in trying to
get out of the will of God it
would be wrong then to go to the
doctor it would be wrong to take medicine
people would be spending money enlisting help to
get out of the will of God well
now you know just as well as I
know that sickness and disease not God's will
that's the reason we do everything we can
certainly we believe in doctors and believe in
medicine and believe in hospitals and thank God
for all that they're doing they're not getting
people out of the will of God it's
Satan that's bound people they're working against the
same devil I'm working against they're just using
different methods and means you see many times
we've taken a superficial view of some of
these verses and I'm not dug into them
to see what he's saying now then I'm
only using this as an illustration about the
will of God in prayer many times in
similar situations this is the conclusion to which
people come they try to find the will
of God by saying if it's his will
he'll do it and if it's not his
will he he won't we hear that all
the time now for instance when it comes
to the baptism of the Holy Ghost I
run into the same thing I say to
people before I pray with them to be
filled with the Holy Ghost because I want
to learn how they think will you be
filled with the Holy Ghost now as I
lay hands on you and pray I've had
people say well I will if it's his
will again I've said well how are you
going to find out how are you going
to know whether it's the will of God
or not I'm thinking of one lady right
now who just looked at me right in
the startle she said why I thought that
you would pray and if it was his
will he would fill me and if it
wasn't his will he wouldn't I said no
I can't pray under those circumstances because you
wouldn't be filled with the spirit then you
would leave and say well it's not God's
will because brother Hagen laid hands on me
and prayed for me and God didn't fill
me friends if the word of God says
that this promise of the Holy Ghost belongs
to you doesn't it belong to you and
I asked that woman that question she said
yes I said then let's read the Bible
let's read the will of God you know
some time ago a friend of mine's father
passed away and sometime after he had passed
away the family all gathered together because he
was a man of some means and they
gathered together to read his will they all
wanted to find out what belonged to them
and they found out well now if you
want to find out what belongs to you
read God's the word of God is his
will let's find out what his word says
I reached for my Bible and opened it
to Acts 2 39 handed it to her
and said you read that out loud she
read for the promises unto you and to
your children and all that are far off
even as many as the Lord our God
shall call I said what promise is that
she hesitated a moment and I said read
the last part of the 38th verse and
it will tell you what the promise is
and she read and he shall receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost she just simply
closed my Bible handed it back to him
and said yes it's for me yes I'll
be filled now just lay your hands on
me and pray now you see just a
few moments before she was questioning the will
of God and she thought now you pray
and if what we're asking here is his
will for me then he'll do it but
just as soon you see as she found
out what God's word said as she found
out the provision that was made in God's
word she began to believe because she knew
the will of God and I laid hands
upon her in fact I barely laid my
hands upon her head to pray until she
began speaking with other tongues and instantly received
the Holy Ghost now the thing that convinced
her was the word you see there shouldn't
be any problem about praying in line with
the will of God because it is his
will for us to have and to possess
and to enjoy all that he has made
provision for in his word I find the
answer for anything I might pray for in
the word and if I don't know then
I go to the word first I don't
just pray because I would waste my time
very often I couldn't pray in faith I
would be praying in unbelief and doubt and
it wouldn't work it would just be words
and you know that's the reason so many
people's prayers doesn't work it's just words they're
not walking really in fellowship with the word
of God but you know the believer walking
in fellowship with the word will never ask
for anything outside of the will of God
and if he's not walking in fellowship with
the word he's not going to have a
successful prayer life and get answers anyhow do
you remember what Jesus said in John's gospel
turn with me to the 15th chapter of
John's gospel in the seventh verse Jesus said
if ye abide in me and my words
abide in you ye shall ask what ye
will and it shall be done now you
know the same person is writing both of
these books this first epistle of John the
gospel of John are written by the apostle
John here he says here in this first
epistle of John our text for the series
of lessons here he said and this is
the confidence the boldness that we have in
him that if we ask anything according to
his will he heareth us now in John
the gospel John's gospel the 15th chapter 7
verse quoting Jesus said if he abided me
and my words abide in you ye shall
ask what ye will now we don't say
ye and thee and thou today we say
you and so he said you shall ask
what you will and it shall be done
unto you now one time John says something
about his will and here he says something
about your will or ask what you will
and it will be done you will have
what you will but under what circumstances if
you abide in him and his words abide
in you because when his words abide in
you then you will know his will his
word is his will and you are asking
according to his will then you don't have
to pray if it be thy will because
you know what his will is now for
instance we know that saving the lost is
his will don't we know that how do
we know that we know that because the
word of God tells us is true we
know that because the golden text of the
bible john 3 16 says for God so
loved the world that he gave his only
begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish but have everlasting life we know
that because the word of God says the
Lord is not willing that any should perish
but that all should come to repentance now
there are a host of other scriptures i'm
just citing these two here you do not
have to pray lord if it's your will
save my son or you don't have to
pray lord if it's your will save my
daughter or my husband or my wife or
this person or that person you know his
will for that ahead of time don't you
now hold that in your mind and let's
read this again this is the confidence the
bonus that we have in him that if
we ask anything according to his will he
heareth us now did you let that soak
in and this is the confidence that we
have in him that if we ask anything
according to his will he heareth us did
he hear you when you prayed for that
unsaved loved one is that his will that
they be saved well if it is did
you ask according to his will surely well
we have this confidence then that if we
ask anything according to his will he heareth
us then he heard you didn't he all
right now listen and we know if we
know that he hear us well we know
he heard us because it's according to his
will whatsoever we asked then we know that
we have the petitions that we desired of
him did he hear you then well yes
but they're not saved yet brother haggard well
you see what you're doing you're reciting in
against the word and saying it's a lie
so it won't work for you you see
unconsciously we give the lie to god's word
i don't know i know we don't mean
to but unconsciously we're taking sides against the
word and saying it isn't true by our
actions by a lot of things that we
say we're really saying no it doesn't work
no it isn't so now i want to
ask you a question what if you were
in need of a little extra money and
you do business with a certain bank you
have borrowed money there before like many of
us have so you say to your banker
i want to borrow 100 for 90 days
he says all right you say well i
don't want it today i just wanted to
get it arranged because there's something coming up
and if the money doesn't come in by
a certain time then i'll need this all
right when you need it just come and
get it you can have it the banker
says now you have your banker's word for
it but then you say to your wife
i'm afraid he won't do that well you're
going to have to act on what he
said believe what he said to get the
money you can't take sides against what he
said and not go down there go through
the transaction of signing the note to get
the money by the same token if you're
going to take sides against the word of
god and say no that's not going to
work that doesn't work it didn't work i
prayed but it didn't work then you're saying
that what god said isn't so you are
taking sides against the word and you're giving
the lie to his word and it certainly
isn't going to work for you and you're
taking sides against it side in with god's
word all right this is the confidence this
is the boldness thank god we can be
bold about it we can have confidence that
if we ask anything according to his will
he heareth us now i don't know about
you but i just believe that this word
is true i believe that i know he
hears me i know he has heard me
how do i know it because it's according
to his will then if it's according to
his will i know he heard me and
if he heard me then the text said
we have this confidence that if he we
know that he hear us whatever we ask
we know we have the petitions we have
them praise god that we desired off him
i know i have them how do i
know i have them because i know he
heard me how do i know he heard
me because it's his will how do i
know it's his will because his word says
so if he doesn't keep his word then
he is a liar if his words no
good then he is no good you know
that you and your word are one and
if your word is no good then you
are no good we are known by our
word now this is truth in the natural
if a person's word is of no value
when you quote that person people just laugh
at you accordingly if god's word is no
good when we quote his word we should
just laugh at god because there's nothing to
him but thank god his word is good
he keeps his word we know that healing
the sick is his will now don't we
know that how do we know that we
know that because the scripture tells us that
christ bore our infirmities and carried our disease
we know that because the word of god
said by whose stripes he were healed now
we need to get the word settled in
our hearts we particularly in full gospel circles
have divine healing as one of our fundamental
beliefs i've read most of the statements of
fundamental truths that full gospel churches believe and
supposedly preach whether they do or not and
they make the statement of healing and give
scripture to back it up such scriptures as
isaiah 53 4 and 5 which states surely
hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows
yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of
god and afflicted but he was wounded for
our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities
the chastisement of our peace was upon him
and with his stripes were healed and then
again matthew 8 17 himself took our infirmities
and by our sicknesses and first peter 2
24 who his own self by our sins
in his own body on the tree that
we being dead to sins should live unto
righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed then
i found this out and really it's quite
strange to me coming from a denominational background
that people would state that they believe one
thing and practice something else now i received
light on divine healing on the bed of
affliction just uh i tell folks all time
an old baptist boy reading grandma's methodist bible
and i received my healing i fellowship with
full gospel people because they believe in divine
healing and when i found out that they
taught the baptism the holy ghost i was
filled with the holy ghost and spoke with
other tongues then in preaching in full gospel
circles someone would come for healing after the
service very often now i have in mind
a young lady who came with a baby
in her arms the baby was sick and
she wanted the pastor me to pray for
the healing of this child now really she
came to the pastor and he said brother
hagen pray with me here for this child
well we laid hands on the baby i
began to pray in faith believing the word
that himself took that child's infirmities and bear
that child's diseases so that that baby would
not have to bear them i was appropriating
that promise but i heard the pastor say
lord heal this child if it is your
will well i'll tell you i wish for
the boldness of smith wigglesworth but you know
i'm just not of that nature you have
to be who you are you know but
wigglesworth was quite bold and he would just
yell right out loud stop him stop him
oh god stop him right now he's charging
the atmosphere with unbelief and you know that
needs to be done sometimes but i'm just
simply not that nature anyway a pastor uh
who knew wigglesworth personally for whom when he
was a young minister wigglesworth at priest a
meeting said they went out to eat together
and that wigglesworth asked him the pastor to
pray so he bowed his head in public
you know in a cafe and softly prayed
and he said wigglesworth just shouted right out
loud so that everyone all over the restaurant
could hear him my god young man if
you're going to pray pray don't just sit
there and mumble over your food he jumped
to his feet lifted both of his hands
and started praying atop of his voice right
there in the restaurant he was of the
nature that he believed if you were going
to do something do it and if you're
not then just shut up about it well
i don't know but what he's just about
right about it you know what i mean
he tells about one such incident in his
book ever increasing faith now if you don't
have one get it i've worn out four
or five of them i just keep reading
it over and over again because it feeds
me after all i keep going to the
table and eating i've had eggs for breakfast
the past uh number of years i'm not
going to quit eating them just because i've
had them last year are you going to
quit eating bacon because you had bacon last
year no i ate bacon for breakfast 20
years ago and i still eat it because
it's good do you see what i'm talking
about don't just read these books and lay
them down and forget them don't just read
these bible lessons and lay them down and
forget them it won't do you much good
you would starve to death if you just
had breaking the eggs 20 years ago and
never ate any more in since then or
or if you just had a meal last
week and said well i ate last week
and there's no use in my eating anymore
i'm going to wait until next year before
i eat again well you'd be dead before
next year got here keep feeding along these
lines that build your faith and build you
up well i was talking about wigglesworth smith
wigglesworth was talking in his book ever increasing
faith about going to pray for a sick
person there were two other ministers present beside
himself he said he had just received a
little light at the time on healing and
that really he he didn't know too much
about himself and he knew these other ministers
didn't even believe in it but anyway they
all went along to pray for this sick
lady he asked one of them to pray
and when he started praying he prayed all
around the world that's the way wigglesworth put
it he prayed for all of the missionaries
he prayed for all the offerings he prayed
for all the widows well they were in
that room for it they were there to
pray for the woman on the bed that's
why we're not effective in our praying a
lot of times because we pray all around
the world and never get to the thing
about which we should be praying and it's
all right to pray for the missionary and
it's all right to pray for the orphans
it's all right to pray for the widows
but there's a time for that well this
lady who was sick was one of these
preachers the wife of one of the preachers
that was there that day the doctor said
she would never regain consciousness she was unconscious
and that she would die so finally this
fellow said now lord here's our fellow minister
his wife's gonna die you see he just
accepted his final what the doctor said now
pray that you would comfort him in this
hour of bereavement give him grace for this
dark hour ahead of him and he closed
his prayer then wigglesworth said he asked the
woman's husband who was a minister too to
pray and he started praying oh yes lord
answer our brother's prayer help me my wife's
gonna die help me in this hour and
wigglesworth said i just shouted right out loud
stop him stop him lord stop him he's
charging the atmosphere with unbelief well you know
that's what he was doing they had her
dead if you listen to some preachers and
some people they will never get anything from
god you'll never get anything from god they
will have you dead before you are they
will have everything just piled in on you
and bury you alive wigglesworth said that he
had never anointed anyone with oil for healing
in his life but they knew the bible
said do it so in his hip pocket
he had a whole pint bottle of oil
he didn't know how to anoint her so
he just took the cork out poured the
whole thing on her the bedclothes and all
it wasn't that which healed her but it
was his faith and belief in god and
so he said oh lord heal her now
just a short prayer that's all he said
when i said that he said jesus appeared
at the foot of the bed i saw
him the other two preachers didn't see anything
no wonder they didn't see him they were
too far down the well of unbelief to
see anything they couldn't even look up and
see the light all they could see was
the darkness this woman who was unconscious came
to and she saw jesus she said there's
jesus there's jesus then the lord disappeared she
rose up well now that was the denomination
of minister's wife who rose up well it
wasn't her husband's faith because he was he
was saying dear lord help me she's going
to die help me in this hour it
wasn't the other preacher's faith because he said
now this pastor's wife's going to die help
him in this hour no it was wigglesworth's
faith as he believed god god manifest himself
he didn't pray if it's your will he
just said oh lord heal her now and
it happened now i made mention about a
lady young lady a young mother who came
with a baby in her arms the baby
was sick and she wanted the pastor and
me to pray for the healing of this
child now then we laid hands on that
child the baby and we began to pray
and i began to pray in faith believing
the word that himself took that child's infirmities
and bear that child's diseases so that that
baby would not have to bear them i
was appropriating that promise but i heard the
pastor say lord heal this child if it's
your will now then notice this we said
to you that we know it's his will
to heal the sick because his word says
so and so when this young woman came
with her baby for prayer i thought to
myself when the pastor said lord heal this
baby if it's your will i said to
myself i hope she didn't listen to that
pastor's prayer i didn't have the boldness to
call him down and correct him and yet
i suppose he should have i should have
done that that however would have to be
done in love because if it weren't it
would do more harm than good so i
said to myself i trust that she didn't
listen to his prayer because if she did
he injected doubt into her mind he told
her through that prayer that this healing of
her child might not be god's will because
he said lord heal the child if it
be your will again we may want to
relieve herself of all responsibility we want to
put all of the responsibility on god then
we can say well that must not have
been his will because i prayed if it
be thy will you do this and he
didn't do it therefore it must not be
as well in other words we're putting all
the responsibility on god we don't get out
that easy even if we want to most
of us do not want to accept any
responsibility we'd rather put it up to god
that's the truth but friends god has given
us his word and so you see if
that pastor had really known god's word as
he should he would have joined right in
with me in faith and the prayer of
faith would have saved the sick the lord
raised the child up and would have been
healed but instead of that he acted in
unbelief so we weren't in agreement and there's
no doubt that the young mother followed her
pastor and so you see they thought they
were being humble by saying lord heal this
child if it's your will and really didn't
know that they were being stupid people often
come to me and say brother hagan why
won't the lord heal me then they will
give me all of their qualifications sometimes for
being healed but you know friends people don't
get healed on their qualifications i know i
had one lady come to a meeting number
of years ago a denominational lady who had
come into the services for the very first
time never been into a full gospel service
before or a meeting before where they were
praying for the sick never in her life
she and her husband heard me teaching on
the radio on the subject of divine healing
so he brought her given up to die
by the doctors with only a few months
to live at the best and she was
gloriously healed then the following sunday night these
folks came back and brought the husband's mother
she had had a couple of strokes of
paralysis and was confined to a wheelchair now
this son and daughter had come a night
or two before two nights before this was
only second time for them and the first
time that the mother had ever been in
the full gospel church when we laid hands
on her and prayed she got up out
the wheelchair healed walked was all right they
folded the wheelchair up carried it out she
walked out to the car now as soon
as the service was over a lady who
was a member of the church where we
were holding the meeting made a beeline at
me with tears in her eyes now i'm
not making fun of her god knows that
i feel sorry for her with tears in
her eyes and falling off of her face
she said i wish you'd tell me something
if you can well i said i will
if i can but i don't know whether
i can or not but if i can
i'll tell you now she said how come
god heal those denominational women and i'm full
of gospel well now you see people can
be wrong in their thinking to begin with
god loves one of them just as much
as he loves the other this is the
reason some don't get an answer from god
they're too self-centered and too selfish and
too ignorant i mean bible ignorant in thinking
that god is obligated to them because they're
full gospel but he's not obligated to you
just because you're anything but he will meet
you if you will come on the right
grounds and because of jesus he'll meet you
this lady said why they don't even have
the baptism of the holy ghost well friends
the baptism of the holy ghost is right
and fine and wonderful but the baptism of
the holy ghost is not a prerequisite for
healing you can be healed before you're baptized
with the holy ghost and you can be
healed afterwards i know that because i was
healed four years before i was baptized with
the holy ghost i was raised up from
the deathbed and healed of almost total paralysis
and two serious organic heart troubles bed fast
16 months i had never spoken with tongues
not only that but i got other people
healed when i began preaching that jesus heals
i laid hands on people as a denominational
minister and saw some of my sunday school
teachers who were slated for major surgery just
jump out of bed instantly healed the baptism
of the holy ghost isn't the prerequisite for
healing it's believing god's word and faith that's
the thing that counts and this woman said
why they don't talking about these two ladies
who had been healed they don't even have
the baptism the holy ghost and i have
the holy ghost i'm a member of this
full gospel church but i didn't tell her
but i thought my own mind sometimes that
is a detriment instead of an asset i
don't mean to be disrespectful but tell you
the truth about it some of these places
talk doubt and unbelief i held a meeting
in this church and the pastor himself would
talk doubt and unbelief to me all day
long well i know he was bound to
preach it to his congregation so her membership
could have been a a deficit instead of
an asset to her anyway five years later
i preached a meeting of several weeks in
that same church with the same pastor and
he said to me brother hagen i don't
know whether you're improving or whether i'm growing
but i'm beginning to grasp what you're saying
in other words i didn't get it five
years ago though i heard you for several
weeks every single day i said well i
think it's both brother i'm growing myself and
i'm able to take the same subject and
handle it a little more adequately but then
you're growing enough spiritually that you can get
a hold of what i'm saying well i'm
beginning to see that he said all of
us friends preachers and all are at various
stages of spiritual growth just because someone's a
minister doesn't make him a full-grown christian
he can still be a baby spiritually the
calling of god on a man's life doesn't
mature him spiritually and make him a full
-grown christian instantly we need more patience with
one another don't we anyway this woman said
how come god healed these women and he
won't heal me now she's confessing he won't
heal me i don't know why he won't
but he won't i'm full gospel and i've
got the baptism and they don't even have
the baptism how come she could get healed
without the baptism and i with the baptism
can't get healed well one can't just stop
and answer all those questions but sometimes we
have to bring people to the spiritual senses
so to speak just as we do physically
if an emergency arose and the house was
on fire you would have to get them
awake any way you could if you had
to snap their face or grab them or
pull them out of bed so sometimes spiritually
we have to shake people awake i did
shake this woman some anyway when i said
their sister god has done all he's ever
going to do about healing you now she
was saying why won't he do something about
it why won't god heal me i said
god's done all he's ever going to do
about healing you she looked at me startled
and said you mean that he isn't going
to heal me i said i didn't say
that i said he's done all he's gonna
do about healing you do you mean he
won't heal me i said no i didn't
say that you said it you said why
won't he heal me you see sister he's
already done something about your healing all that
is necessary to do about it he's already
done it he laid your sicknesses and diseases
on jesus for it is written in matthew
8 17 himself jesus took our infirmities and
bear our sicknesses and so he's done already
done something about it that means himself jesus
took your infirmities i said to her and
bear your sicknesses he's already done something about
your healing and it says the scripture said
and by whose stripes you were healed but
you see friends the word didn't mean a
thing in the world to this woman she
said well i'm going to keep on praying
i'll tell you what i believe about it
but you know that's the thing that has
her defeated she's going by what she believes
instead of what the bible says i'm going
to keep on praying seeking god and sometime
somewhere in his own way if it's his
will he'll heal me but you see friends
it is his will because the word says
it is well she should have come with
confidence and boldness because the text said and
this is the confidence this is the boldness
that we have in him that if we
ask anything according to his will he heareth
us and this is according to his will
because he's heard us well i don't have
to tell you that when i went back
five years later to that same church this
woman was still sick now why because she's
not believing the bible she's not trying to
find god's will in line with his word
i said he has made provision for us
in conclusion i want to read let's turn
right now to ephesians the first chapter in
the third verse and read this verse it
will help us in knowing the will of
god in prayer ephesians chapter one verse three
blessed be the god and father of our
lord jesus christ who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in christ
now who has blessed us with what well
blessed be god and the father god the
father of our lord jesus christ blessed us
with what all all all another translation says
every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in christ
now who is going to bless us no
not who's going to who hath blessed us
who hath he's already done it we would
say in modern usage who has blessed us
with all our every spiritual blessing that means
everyone there is in heavenly places in christ
now that means this that in this great
plan of salvation that god planned and sent
christ to consummate in him all that we'll
ever need has already been provided for ever
need that you'll ever have from the time
you are born again until you step off
into eternity has already been provided for him
when we know that we can appropriate his
promises we can come with boldness and confidence
we know then that he is his will
that ever need be met because it says
with all he hath blessed us with all
that that means that they're not anymore all
our every spiritual blessing so we can come
with confidence notice the text again first john
5 14 this is the confidence or another
translation said this is the boldness that we
have in him that if we ask anything
according to his will he heareth us now
it must be his will that we be
blessed with all the blessings that there are
now why because he's made provision for us
in christ ephesians 1 3 said it has
to be his will for us to have
what he's provided for us and i made
the statement he hath made provision for us
his word is his will we read the
will of god which is the word of
god and find out what has been provided
for us and find out what belongs to
us and then you see we're not in
the darkness but we're in the light you
know too many times when we come to
pray we pray in darkness now you know
what i mean when i say that don't
you i'm not talking about praying literally in
the night time in the literal darkness but
i mean in the darkness of the subject
or about the situation too many times we
don't know what god's will is the reason
we don't because we don't know what god's
word says we're praying in the dark we
don't come with confidence we we don't come
with boldness we come trembling and somewhat fearful
yet hoping but that won't work but friends
we can go to the word and we
can find out that practically everything and anything
that we may need or about which we
need to pray is already covered in his
word praise god for the word of god
you know the psalmist of old says the
entrance of thy words giveth light again the
psalmist said you know thy word is a
lamp under my feet and a light under
my path when we walk in the light
of the word we are not walking in
darkness we are not praying in darkness we
know the will of god because his word
is his will and what he has provided
in his word belongs to us there there
is no question about it we don't have
to question it we don't have to ask
why we just simply ask what that is
what's provided for us what does his word
say and if his word says it's ours
then it belongs to us and we can
receive according to his word remember this his
word is his will it is god's will
that i have what his word has promised
me it is god's will that i have
what his word says he has provided for
me so then with what boldness this is
the boldness the confidence that we have in
him praise the lord you've been listening to
from the pulpit this week you heard kenneth
hagan with his message the will of god
in prayer tune in next week for another
powerful message from god's word on from the
pulpit