Others like the gift of discerning of spirits Features >>
The Force Of Faith
The Price Of Spiritual Power
The Art Of War For Spiritual Battle
The Beginners Guide To Spiritual Gifts
The Release Of Spirit
Overcoming Familiar Spirits (Deliverance From Unseen Demonic Enemies And Spiritual Debt)
The Art Of Shepherding
The Gift Of Prophecy
Avoiding Foreign Spirits
The Spirit Within & The Spirit Upon
About the Book
"The Gift of Discerning of Spirits" by Norvel Hayes explores the spiritual gift of discernment, which allows believers to distinguish between various spiritual influences. The book offers practical guidance on how to recognize and respond to different spiritual forces, empowering readers to walk in greater discernment and wisdom in their daily lives. Hayes emphasizes the importance of cultivating this gift to navigate spiritual battles and protect oneself from deception.
Maria Woodworth-Etter
Maria Woodworth-Etterâs Early life
Mariaâs early life was plagued with tragedies. Her father died of sunstroke when she was 11 years old leaving her mother with eight children to provide for. She married at 16 but fought a continual battle with ill-health, losing five of her six children. During her sickness she had visions of children in heaven and the lost suffering in hell.
She promised God, that if He would heal her, she would serve Him completely. She asked God for same apostolic power He gave the disciples and was gloriously baptized in the Holy Spirit. âIt felt like liquid fire, and there were angels all around.â
The call to preach
Despite her personal struggles with âwomen in ministryâ and the prevailent hostile attitudes to female preachers, she felt compelled by God to accept the invitation to preach in the United Brethren in Christ (Friends) in 1876 and later associated with the Methodist Holiness church.
Evangelism with signs and wonders
Though simply evangelistic in the early days she was unusually successful and in 1885 supernatural signs began to accompany her ministry. Her ministry resurrected dead churches, brought salvation to thousands of unconverted and encouraged believers to seek a deeper walk with God.
She descibes one of her meetings
She described an 1883 meeting in Fairview, Ohio: âI felt impressed God was going to restore love and harmony in the church..⌠All present came to the altar, made a full consecration, and prayed for a baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. That night it came. Fifteen same to the altar screaming for mercy.
Men and women fell and lay like dead. I felt it was the work of God, but did not know how to explain it or what to say. I was a little frightened . . . after lying for two hours all, one after another, sprang to their feet as quick as a flash with shining faces and shouted all over the house. I had never seen such bright conversions or such shoutingâŚ.
The ministers and old saints wept and praised the Lord âŚ..they said it was the Pentecost power, that the Lord was visiting them in great mercy and power âŚ..(they) experienced visions of heaven and hell, collapsed on the floor as if theyâd been shot or had died.â Subsequently, thousands were healed of a wide variety of sicknesses and diseases and many believers, even ministers, received mighty baptisms of the Holy Spirit. She soon became a national phenomenon.
1,000 seater tent
In 1889, she purchased a tent that could seat eight thousand people and set it up in Oakland, California. âThe power of God was over all the congregation; and around in the city of Oakland. The Holy Ghost would fall on the people while we were preaching. The multitude would be held still, like as though death was in their midst.
Many of the most intelligent and best dressed men would fall back in their seats, with their hands held up to God. being held under the mighty power of God. Men and women fell, all over the tent, like trees in a storm; some would have visions of God. Most all of them came out shouting the praises of God.â
She declared that if 19th-century believers would meet Godâs conditions, as the 120 did on the Day of Pentecost, they would have the same results. âA mighty revival would break out that would shake the world, and thousands of souls would be saved. The displays of Godâs power on the Day of Pentecost were only a sample of what God designed should follow through the ages. Instead of looking back to Pentecost, let us always be expecting it to come, especially in these days.â
Her views of Pentecostalism
Initially she had grave concerns about the burgeoning Pentecostal movement, mainly because of some unbalanced teaching and reported extremism. Soon she came to believe it was an authentic move of the Holy Spirit and was enthusiastically welcomed within its ranks. She became both a model and a mentor for the fledgling movement. This association elicited another wave of revival between 1912 and her death in 1924 as she ministered throughout the country and her books were read across the world.
Etter Tabenacle
In 1918, she built Etter Tabernacle as her home church base and affiliated with the Assemblies of God. In her closing years she still ministered with a powerful anointing despite struggling with gastritis and dropsy. On occasion she would be carried to the podium, preach with extraordinary power, then be carried home again!
Her demise
Her health continued to decline and she died on September 16, 1924. She is buried in a grave in Indianapolis next to her daughter and son-in-law. Her inscription reads âThou showest unto thousands lovingkindness.â
In conclusion
Without doubt Maria Woodworth-Etter was an amazing woman blessed with an astonishing ministry. Rev. Stanley Smith â one of the famous âCambridge Sevenâ and for many years a worker with âThe China Inland Missionâ wrote this about her autobiography:
âI cannot let this opportunity go by without again bringing to the notice of my readers, âActs of the Holy Ghost,â or âLife and Experiences of Mrs. M. B. Woodworth-Etter.â It is a book I value next to the Bible. In special seasons of waiting on God I have found it helpful to have the New Testament on one side of me and Mrs. Etterâs book on the other; this latter is a present-day record of âthe Actsâ multiplied.
Mrs. Etter is a woman who has had a ministry of healing since 1885, her call as an evangelist being some years previous to this. I venture to think that this ministry is unparalleled in the history of the Church, for which I give all the glory to the Lord Jesus Christ, as Mrs. Etter would, I know, wish me to do. This ministry should be made known, for the glory of the Triune God and the good of believers.â
We agree and pray that such an anointing will rest upon Godâs end-time people so that âthis Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world before the end comes!â Matthew 24:14
Tony Cauchi
my wedding was supposed to be today
I made a life plan when I was ten years old (yeah, I know, crazy). It included all the normal things: graduate high school, go to college, travel the world. With regard to romance, though, I always assumed I would get married at 23, because âWhy not?â and âSurely Iâll have met somebody by then.â So, in my late teens, I arbitrarily picked a date (today, April 22, 2017) as my likely wedding day because (a) itâs a few months before my 24th birthday and (b) Iâve always wanted a spring wedding. I added details about kids and jobs and travel along the way, but my plan has remained mostly unchanged. Pretty straightforward, right? Except the God I serve isnât always a straightforward God. He is straightforward in what he wants from me: to act justly, love kindness, and to walk humbly with him (Micah 6:8), and to set nothing above him in my heart, mind, or soul (Deuteronomy 6:5). But what about beyond that? What about my wedding day? âI have had to learn to battle the temptations that creep into unwanted waiting and unwanted singleness.â Much to the woe of my control-desiring heart, he leaves much of it a surprise and mystery. To those who do not know him or trust him, the way he makes us wait may seem like stinginess or even evil. But in truth, he wants something better for us: for our trust and joy in him to flourish. As a planner, I must learn to live day-by-day by faith, not by sight, knowing that whatever he gives me is truly, deeply good for me (Romans 8:28). No matter how much his plans diverge from mine, no matter how much heartbreak those plans bring, no matter how far out of my comfort zone he pushes or pulls me, he is not only ultimately good, but his plans for me are also always better. Three Ways to Wait So, here on my âwedding day,â Iâve been single for several years now, including all of my five years as a Christian. I wasnât asked out on a single date during college (and havenât been since), so I have had to learn to battle the temptations that creep into unwanted waiting and unwanted singleness. Here are three lessons I have picked up in the fight. 1. Trust God to give you every good gift at the perfect time. While we wait, we will be tempted to doubt Godâs love and ability. We are talking about the Lord who has built and leveled the nations throughout generations. He is the Lord who flooded the whole earth and held back the Red Sea long enough for his people to walk through on dry ground. Surely this great Lord of history can handle a small thing like the date of my wedding. And thatâs what a wedding is: one day of millions of days. Not to say it isnât important, but it also isnât anywhere near ultimate. âMy purity is not for me. My wedding is not for me. Marriage will not be for me. It is all for God.â Marriage is a gift. A gift isnât earned or bargained for, and neither is a spouse. Pursuing maturity in Christ should be a consistent theme in any believerâs life, but never as currency to spend on something else. We pursue Christ not to âearnâ a spouse, but in order to know Christ (Philippians 3:10). The gift isnât given because the gift-receiver is fit enough, or tall enough, or smart enough. It is freely given because the gift-Giver is good. You cannot âearnâ your way or âbehaveâ your way to a spouse. God must give him or her to you in his own way, and at his time. 2. Make God the treasure and anchor of your life. While we wait, we will be tempted to envy others. There are many people getting married today that are not following the Lord and have (sometimes flagrantly) disobeyed him in the process. Regardless, if Jesus is our greatest treasure, we do not obey in order to gain a husband or a wife, and we do not groan under the perceived unfairness of unrepentant people getting married. My purity is not for me. My wedding is not for me. Marriage (if it happens for me) will not be for me. All these things are for the Lord and for his glory, not for me so that my life turns out âfairly.â Instead of praying for fairness in this life, we pray with Jesus, âNot my will, but yours, be doneâ (Luke 22:42). I pray that all couples getting married today would know my Lord and Savior, but many wonât. They will not have my anchor and firm foundation when life and marriage are hard (and they will be). What is there to envy? If single people lived so assured of Godâs love that we were secure and satisfied in the absence of a spouse, perhaps the Lord would use us to witness to married men and women whose marriages have disappointed them or fallen apart. 3. Refuse to settle for someone who does not love Jesus. While we wait, we will be tempted to settle. We should not draw comfort from the assurance that God has someone for each of us to marry. He may not. Even if he doesnât, or even if that person comes into our lives ten years late (by our schedule), that does not give us the right to rebel, disobey, or run away. None of us is entitled to marriage. I am not entitled to marriage. âOur romantic lives should look strange to the world, and so should our joy in singleness.â Our only constraint in seeking a spouse is to marry someone within the body of believers (2 Corinthians 6:14). Itâs a simple guideline, and yet so easy to compromise. But if weâre to have marriages that glorify the eternal God at all, we cannot fall into the trap of setting aside faith, and basing our crushes and choices on temporal qualities like physical appearance or material wealth. I say âtrapâ because thatâs what a spouse not centered on Christ will undoubtedly become. Recall what happened to Solomon, touted the wisest man in history: For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. (1 Kings 11:4â6) Heartbreakingly, this lust-following idol-worshiper is the same man who, in his youth, âloved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his fatherâ (1 Kings 3:3). The difference a few decades and poor choices in romance can make, right? A man to whom God gave wisdom, and whose future in loving and serving the Lord started out as promising as his father Davidâs, ends up unabashedly worshiping abominations â gods that cannot see or hear, let alone give wisdom or deserve worship. Many of those wives were probably pretty physically attractive (he was a king, after all), but they helped turn his heart into something ugly and steer his path away from the Lord. Rather than chafe at our only restriction in romance, followers of Christ should rejoice in the blessing of not being enslaved in the search for financial security or good looks or athletic ability. Our romantic lives should look strange to the world, and so should our joy in singleness. The Spirit empowers us to be countercultural lights pointing forward to our one true Bridegroom and our one true wedding day (Revelation 19:7).