Science has spent millions of dollars to develop the physical body of man. Additional millions have been spent developing man’s intellectual processes, which are a part of his soul. But we know so little and have done so little about developing the spirit of man.
However, man’s spirit can be educated and improved just as his mind can be educated and improved. The spirit can be trained and built up just as the body can be built up. How? Through the study of God’s Word.
We cannot understand spiritual things with our natural minds. Our minds must be changed – renewed by God’s power – for us to fully understand the Word of God.
The Apostle Paul said, “But the natural man receiveth not [does not understand] the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned [under stood]” (1 Cor. 2:14).
The Word of God was given by the Spirit of God, because”…holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21). This is why the natural mind cannot understand God’s Word. The Bible can only be understood with the heart. We must get the revelation of it in our spirit.
Once a man is born again and becomes a child of God, he can understand the Bible and can learn spiritual things.
As Paul said, he has become a new creature in Christ Jesus: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).
This process of training the spirit – of building it up in spiritual things – is a daily task: “…though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16).
The “inward man” is the real man, the real you. When the body dies, the inward man still lives. Paul said, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).
This does away with the theory that when a man is dead that is the end of him; he is dead just as a dog is dead. There certainly wouldn’t be any gain to dying if man perishes and death is the end of everything.
It does away with the theory of “soul sleep,” which holds that when a person dies he just floats around like a cloud in the sky. There would be no gain in that.
It also does away with the theory of reincarnation, which teaches that after death a person can be born again in the world as a cow, a fly, a horse, a cat, and so forth. This could not be true, because there would be no gain in coming back as some lower form of animal life. We need to stay with God’s Word and not get off into foolish theories.
Why did Paul say that to die is gain? It surely is no gain to those of us who have lost loved ones, but it is gain for them. Paul went on to say, “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you” (Phil. 1:23-24).
The reason Paul said it was gain to die was because he would be with Christ!
Some people think that eternal life is the life they will have when they get to Heaven. Eternal life, however, is something we have right now! Eternal life is the life of God. It is the God-kind of life.
Eternal life is the nature of God, which comes into our spirit to recreate us and make us a new creature; to change our nature. Then we have within us the nature of God, which is love; “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35).
When we have been born again and have the nature of God abiding within us, we can develop our spirit to higher levels of worship and service to God.
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications
Rev. Hagin served in Christian ministry for nearly 70 years and was known as the "father of the modern faith movement." His teachings and books are filled with vivid stories that show God's power and truth working in his life and the lives of others.
Rev. Hagin was born on Aug. 20, 1917, in McKinney, Texas, a son of the late Lillie Viola Drake Hagin and Jess Hagin.
Rev. Hagin was sickly as a child, suffering from a deformed heart and an incurable blood disease. He was not expected to live and became bedfast at age 15. In April 1933 during a dramatic conversion experience, he reported dying three times in 10 minutes, each time seeing the horrors of hell and then returning to life.
In August of 1934, Rev. Hagin was miraculously healed, raised off a deathbed by the power of God and the revelation of faith in God's Word. Two years later, he preached his first sermon as pastor of a small community church in Roland, Texas.
In 1937, Rev. Hagin was baptized in the Holy Spirit and began ministering in Pentecostal churches. During the next 12 years he pastored five churches in Texas: in the cities of Tom Bean, Farmersville (twice), Talco, Greggton, and Van. In 1949, he began an itinerant ministry as a Bible teacher and evangelist.
During the next 14 years, Jesus appeared to Rev. Hagin eight times in visions that changed the course of his ministry. In 1966, he moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he opened a ministry office. That same year, he taught for the first time on radio—on KSKY in Dallas. In 1967, he began a regular radio broadcast that continues today as Faith Seminar of the Air. Teaching by his son, Rev. Kenneth W. Hagin, is also heard on the program.
In 1968, Rev. Hagin published the first issues of The Word of Faith magazine, which now has a monthly circulation of more than 250,000. The publishing outreach he founded, Faith Library Publications, has circulated more than 65 million copies of books by Rev. Hagin, Rev. Hagin Jr., and several other authors worldwide. Faith Library Publications also has produced more than 9 million audio teaching tapes and CDs.
Other outreaches of Kenneth Hagin Ministries include RHEMA Praise, a weekly television broadcast hosted by Rev. and Mrs. Kenneth W. Hagin; RHEMA Correspondence Bible School; RHEMA Alumni Association; RHEMA Ministerial Association International; RHEMA Supportive Ministries Association; the RHEMA Prayer and Healing Center; and a prison ministry.
In 1974, Rev. Hagin founded RHEMA Bible Training Center USA and in 1976 moved the school and ministry offices to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where they remain. To date, RHEMA Bible Training Center USA has 23,000 alumni, and RHEMA Bible Training Centers have opened in 13 other nations: Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Samoa, Singapore, South Africa, and Thailand. Together, the 14 schools have more than 28,000 graduates worldwide.
RHEMA Bible Church, pastored by Rev. Hagin Jr., began holding services in October of 1985 on the RHEMA campus in Broken Arrow and has since grown to become a thriving congregation with more than 8,000 members.
Rev. Hagin's daughter and son-in-law, Pat Harrison and the late Doyle "Buddy" Harrison, founded Harrison House Publishers in 1975 and Faith Christian Fellowship International Church in 1977. Both organizations are based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Until shortly before his death in September 2003, Rev. Hagin continued to travel and teach throughout the United States and into Canada conducting All Faiths' Crusades and other special meetings.