To Believe (S. Wigglesworth)

A section on Smith Wigglesworth's On the Holy Spirit.

Pentecostal Power: What does it mean to believe?

And what is belief? Let me sum it up in a few sentences. To believe is to have the knowledge of Him in whom you believe. It is not to believe in the word Jesus, but to believe in the nature of Christ, to believe in the vision of Christ, for all power has been given unto Him, and greater is He who is within you in the revelation of faith than he who is in the world (see 1 John 4:4).

And so I say to you, do not be discouraged if every demon has not gone out. The very moment you have gone, do not think that is the end of it. What we have to do is see that if all it takes is using the name of Jesus, those evil powers would have gone out in that name by the sons of Sceva. It is not that. It is the power of the Holy Spirit with the revelation of the deity of our Christ of glory; it is knowing that all power is given unto Him. Through the knowledge of Christ, and through faith in who He is, demons must surrender, demons must go out. I say this reverently: these bodies of ours are so constructed by God that we may be filled with the divine revelation of the Son of God until it is manifest to the devils we confront, and they will have to go. The Master is in; they see the Master. "Jesus I know, and Paul I know" (Acts 19:15). The ministry of the Master! How we need to get to know Him until within us we are full of the manifestation of the King over all demons.

Brothers and sisters, my heart is full. The depths of my yearnings are for the Pentecostal people. My cry is that we will not miss the opportunity of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, that Christ may be manifested in our human frames (2 Cor. 4:10) until every power of evil will be subject to Christ who is manifested in us. The devils know Jesus.

Two important things are before me. First, to master the situation of myself. You are not going to oppose devils if you cannot master yourself, because you will soon find the devils to be bigger than yourself. It is only when you are conquered by Christ that He is enthroned. The the embodiment of the Spirit gloriously covers your life so that Jesus is glorified to the full. So first it is the losing of ourselves, and then it is the incoming of Another; it is the glorifying of Him that will fulfill all things and when He gets hold of lives, He can do it. When God gets hold of your life because you have yielded yourself to Him in this way, He will be delighted to allow Christ to be so manifested in you that it will be no difficulty for the Devil to know who you are.

I am satisfied that the purpose of Pentecost is to reestablish God in human flesh. Do I need to say it again? The power of the Holy Spirit has come to be enthroned in the human life so that it does not matter where we find ourselves. Christ is manifested in the place where devils are, the place where religious devils are, the place where false religion and unbelief are, the place where formal religion has taken the place of holiness and righteousness. You need to have holiness - the righteousness and Spirit of the Master - so that in every walk of life, everything that is not like our Lord Jesus will have to depart. That is what is needed today.

I ask you in the Holy Spirit to seek the place where He is in power. "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?" (Acts 19:15). May God stamp this sobering question upon us, for the Devil is not afraid of us. May the Holy Spirit make us terrors of evildoers today, for the Holy Spirit came into us to judge the world of sin, of unbelief, and of righteousness; that is the purpose of the Holy Spirit (see John 16:7-11). Then Jesus will know us, and the devils will know us.