There is a similarity between spiritual growth and physical growth. No one is born a full-grown human. In the natural, people are born babies and they grow up. No one is born a full-grown Christian. They are born babies. Then they are to grow up, spiritually.
The Bible says, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2).
These churches of Galatia were trying to get back under the law instead of walking on in grace. Paul was alarmed. So he was praying and travailing for them that they mature and grow.
Epaphras did the same thing for the Colossian Christians and those in Laodicea and Hierapolis. In Colossians 4:12-13 we read, “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salutes you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect, mature, and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis.”
The Centenary Translation of the New Testament translates verse 12 like this: “Epaphras, one of yourselves, salutes you, a slave of Christ who is always agonizing for you in his prayers, that you may stand firm, mature, and fully assured in all the will of God.”
I remember particularly the wonderful experience with God a young woman had when she came to the altar during a revival meeting I was holding. She was gloriously saved and gloriously baptized in the Holy Spirit. Oh! What a glow was upon her face.
Just a little less than a year later, I was back in the area and I inquired about her because of the very unusual and marvelous experience she’d had with God. “Oh,” they said, with their faces dark and frowning, “She’s backslidden.”
Then, just as plainly, the Spirit of God spoke up on the inside of me and said, “Yes, and the church is to blame for it. The church is responsible for it.” I couldn’t understand that for the longest time. How could the church be responsible for somebody’s backsliding?
Then I saw it in Galatians 4:19: “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.” You see, that church just saw her get saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit. Then they said, “Well, she’s got it made now.”
But she was a baby. They should have continued to hold her up in prayer. Because they did not, when Judgment Day comes, God will hold that church responsible. He is going to require of every church responsibility for the babies born at its altars. “What did you do with them? Did you teach them? Did you continue to pray for them?”
While people are babies spiritually, somebody has to carry them. Somebody has to feed them. Somebody has to care for them. This is one place where prayer comes in. Older believers need to hold them up in prayer as they’re learning to walk.
When my children or grandchildren fell as they were learning to walk, I didn’t slap them. I got hold of them and loved them and said, “Just keep at it, honey. You’ll learn.”
In many cases, in praying for Christians, such travail is not necessary, because they are not so tightly bound as the Galatian church seemed to be. Learn to listen to the Spirit of God and pray as He directs.
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.