ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

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inward Transformation Before Outward Change

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Before I understood the dynamics of that internal war,

it was a great mystery to me why so many people,

although hungry for more of God and stirred up in

their spirits to pray much in the Holy Ghost, gave up

before any noticeable results had occurred. Then I

realized that most of those people had given up because

they were looking for their answers in the wrong place.

Let me give you an example. Suppose a believer gets all

excited about praying in tongues. He decides, Look out,

devil! I’m going to lock myself away somewhere and

pray in tongues an hour every day. And woe to the man

who tries to get in my way to stop me! He’ll have boot

marks on his back end!

So this man marches to his prayer closet with a ten-

pound Bible under his arm. Yes, sir,he’s going to pray in

tongues an hour every day. There’s just one problem.

He’s coming into this commitment as a manic-

depressive suffering from a terminal disease who is in

the process of filing bankruptcy!

this man doesn’t care, because he’s found the answer.

He thinks, I’ve found Someone who knows my weakness

and will pray for my problem. Everything is going to be

different now!

One month goes by. This believer prays in tongues one

hour every day. No change. Two months go by. He’s still

praying in tongues. No change. Three months go by.

Now he’s out watching the horizon.

“What are you looking for?”

“Oh, not much. But, you know, I put my time in. I’ve

been praying in tongues for three months! If anyone

should receive an answer, it’s me!”

I’ll tell you what that man is doing. He’s out looking for

the spectacular and missing the miraculous! In other

words, he’s expecting God to answer the mysteries he

has prayed out in tongues by changing his outward

circumstances in some magnificent way. Meanwhile, he

is oblivious to the miraculous work of the Holy Ghost

that is taking place inside of him.

Perhaps this believer imagines a big, white stallion with

flaming, red eyes riding over the horizon and

thundering down into the valley to his house. As the

stallion approaches, he recognizes who is in the saddle.

“Oh, boy, it’s Jesus! Wow, this praying in tongues stuff

really works!”

Jesus reins in His stallion next to the believer and says,

“First of all, give Me a list of every-one you owe money

to.” The man gives Him the list, and Jesus gallops off on

His horse, leaving a cloud of dust behind Him. Jesus is

back in a half an hour and tells the man, “Every bill is

paid off.”

Then Jesus says, “Excuse Me a minute,” and takes off

after the spirit of poverty that He has just spotted

slinking around in the shadows. The big stallion stomps

on that slimy devil until he’s just a miserable heap on

the floor — and instantly poverty is broken in the

believer’s life!

Jesus trots back on His stallion and dismounts. Then He

walks over to the believer and lays hands on him — and

the disease and manic depression immediately

disappear! The believer exclaims, “Oh, my! I’ve been

made a new person, and I only prayed for three

months! This stuff really does work!”

Jesus gets back on his horse and begins to ride off. All of

a sudden, He stops and rides back.He says, “By the way,

I forgot this.” He reaches into His pocket and pulls out

an envelope containing ten thousand dollars. “This is

for eating and fellow shipping in restaurants after

church services,” He informs the delighted man.

Then Jesus rides off toward the horizon. Silhouetted by

the setting sun, He rears up on his stallion, shouts, “Hi

ho, Holy Ghost, and away!” and gallops off. The believer

sighs, wipes his forehead with the back of his hand, and

says, “Now that was a real deliverance!”

Many people make the same mistake as that man did.

They pray in tongues, looking for their outward

circumstances to suddenly change. But they miss where

the supernatural trans-formation actually takes place

— in their spirit. And too often they give up before God

can finish working in them, the most important

changes of all. They look for the spectacular but miss

the miraculous.

Remember, praying in tongues is like any other prayer

— it is designed to be answered! But because it is our

human spirit doing the praying (1 Cor. 14:14), it is also

our spirit man receiving the answer to our prayers.

Now let me show you how the spirit man receives the

answer to the mysteries prayed out in the Holy Ghost.

Let’s just suppose that I hold a crusade where hundreds

of people get excited about praying in tongues. In fact,

they are so excited that even after I leave town, they

decide to spend a certain amount of time in prayer

every day.

But after a few weeks of seeing no apparent changes in

their circumstances, one by one they begin to drop

away. Finally, there is only one person left who is still

keeping his commitment to pray in tongues every day.

Let’s say this one man hangs on to his commitment for

several months, praying in the Holy Ghost and looking

for change. Gradually something very miraculous

begins to take place inside of him.

 

Something happens to his insight into the Word.

Scriptures he never understood before come alive. In

casual conversation with his friends, he can suddenly

explain verses that used to be a mystery to him. When

people come to him with their problems, he wonders,

Why don’t they do this and this?because it all seems so

clear to him.

This man is experiencing the effect that praying in

tongues has on his spirit. He is experiencing the way

God answers this kind of prayer.

In this same way, your spirit can begin to receive

wisdom and direction to fulfill God’s special plan for

you. You can develop a kind of “know-so” whereby you

just somehow know what God wants, even though at

times you don’t know how you know.

Now, all this doesn’t mean that noticeable results won’t

begin to show up in external circumstances. They will!

The most unexpected, incredible things will begin to

take place. God will work in your job, in your family,

and in your body. Friends and loved ones will notice the

difference in you as faith and assurance begin to

radiate and flow out from your life.

I have seen many miracles take place as a result of

perseverance in praying in the Holy Ghost. But, you see,

first faith must come by hearing and hearing by the

Word of God (Rom.10:17). And as insight into the Word

begins to increase, so does the purging process that

trans-forms a person from the inside out. Then,

according to God’s divine order, outward

circumstances begin to line up with the changes that

have already occurred in the hidden man of the heart.

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UNTIL NEXT TIME

LARRY