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Almost 40 years ago, I was born again and called to preach the Gospel, and for the next 17 years I really struggled in the Christian life. I had my ups and downs, but they were mostly downs.

When I would read the book of Acts, it would stick in my craw; it bothered me. I was not seeing the manifestation of the signs and wonders of Acts in my ministry, and I knew of very few other ministries where there were supernatural manifestations.

I began to cry out to God. I knew that He had called me, but I was ready to give up the ministry, because there was no power in me. I was dissatisfied. My own life was a wreck—an absolute shambles—when someone gave me a copy of Kathryn Kuhlman's book, "I Believe in Miracles" (1).

Then I knew that the signs and wonders were a reality; I knew that what the Bible said was alive today. So in 1970, I was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Books Which Changed My Life
Shortly thereafter, someone gave me some books by a man named Kenneth Hagin that forever transformed my life. I read "What Faith Is," "Right and Wrong Thinking," "The Authority of the Believer" (2). and several other books. I had received the power in the Spirit of God, but I did not know how to harness that power to my life.

Over the years, I have seen many who were truly filled with the Spirit and had the power of God in their lives, but that power was not really transforming and changing their lives.

You can compare it to an automobile. You can have one of the most powerful engines in the world, capable of speeding a car down the road at two hundred miles per hour. But if you do not have a gearbox and drive train to transfer the power of that engine to the wheels of the car, it will not go anywhere.

So you can have the power, be full of the Spirit of God, and speak with tongues, yet still abuse your spouse and family. You can be bound by everything you can think of until you learn how to harness that power to the wheels of your life.

Two-Fold Purpose
I believe in the signs and wonders, and they are manifested in my ministry as the Spirit of God directs and as He wills. But whether you realize it or not, signs and wonders are not primarily for Christians. God has a two-fold purpose for the gifts and the power of the Spirit.
  • First, they are to empower the ministry gifts—the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. They will operate in any Spirit-filled believer as the Holy Spirit wills, but mostly they are the tools of the trade for the ministry.
  • Second, they are God's method of advertising—not for Christians, but for sinners. The signs and wonders are so the world will know the reality and the power of Almighty God.
The Bible does not say that without the gifts of the Spirit it is impossible to please God. It says without faith it is impossible to please him (Heb. 11:6). God does not require sinners to exercise faith; it is impossible for them to do so. They are spiritually dead, and there is no way they can have the faith of God. But God expects His children to operate by faith.

We are not supposed to walk day by day by the gifts of the Spirit. We are supposed to walk day by day by faith. Do not think that sunrise to sunset is going to be one miracle after another, one supernatural manifestation after another, because it is not.

I expect the gifts of the Spirit to operate in my ministry, and they do. But for me, personally, to walk with God, I have to walk by faith. And so do you.

(1) Published by Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1962.
(2) Published by Kenneth Hagin Ministries, Tulsa, Oklahoma.


Source: Living in the Realm of the Spirit by Frederick K.C. Price
Excerpt permission granted by Faith One Publishing

Author Biography

Frederick K.C. Price
Web site: Ever Increasing Faith Ministries
 
Dr. Frederick K. C. Price received an honorary diploma from the Rhema Bible Training Center in 1976 and an honorary Doctorate of Divinity Degree from Oral Roberts University in 1982; both institutions are based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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