…God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
(Rom. 4:17)
When I was a Baptist minister, I had an interesting experience that will help you in your own faith. I went to bed one Sunday night after church feeling fine.
But I woke up on Monday morning, and the right side of my face was paralyzed. It was numb. I could reach up there and pinch it without feeling a thing. I tried to wrinkle up my forehead, but the right side wouldn’t wrinkle. The right side of my mouth wouldn’t move, either.
I said to myself, I know what I’ll do. I’ll go down to the Full Gospel Tabernacle on Wednesday night and have the pastor anoint me with oil. He can lay hands on me and I’ll be healed.
So on Wednesday night, I went down to the Full Gospel Tabernacle. They weren’t having a healing service, but when the service was over, I stood up in the back and said, “Pastor, I want you to pray for my healing before we go.”
Now when I opened my mouth to say that, the left side of my mouth sort of ran all the way around to my ear, but the right side of my mouth didn’t move!
The pastor told me to come down to the front and he would pray for me. I walked right down the aisle, stood in front of the pulpit, and he anointed me with oil on my forehead. He laid his hand on my head and prayed.
I don’t remember one word he said. I didn’t pay any attention. I was waiting to hear him say, “Amen.” That’s when I turned my faith loose. In other words, that’s when I started calling those things that be not as though they were.
Confession:
I turn my faith loose. I call those things in my body that be not as though they were. I call myself well. I call myself healed. I speak to every part of my body to function as it was designed to function.
Source: Health Food Devotions
by Kenneth E. Hagin. 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.