Fuentes primarias del corpus base

When I first read that the word "edifies" carries the meaning of "charging yourself up like a battery," I realized that in the past I'd prayed without really understanding everything I was doing.

I had "charged myself up" by praying in the Holy Ghost without knowing altogether what God's Word said about it. I just knew it was right to do it.

But as I looked back, I realized that before all of my greatest experiences in God—before the most spectacular healings, the most supernatural financial miracles, or the most outstanding experiences of casting out demons—I always seemed to be led to set aside time by myself to pray in tongues.

You see, the Lord knows what is ahead of you. You don't know what is out there, but He does.

I remember a particular example that happened on the first Saturday of May 1943, when my wife and I were pastors of a little Full Gospel church in the blacklands of north central Texas. Oretha and I had nothing planned that day except getting ready for the Sunday services.

As was our custom, I washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen while Oretha made the beds and cleaned the bedrooms.

As I went about my normal chores that morning, some way or another, I just couldn't get away from speaking with other tongues. I didn't pray loudly; I just stood washing dishes and praying quietly in other tongues.

Then I went over to the church next door to make sure everything was in order. We didn't have a paid janitor, so folks would volunteer to clean the church. Sometimes they didn't do a very thorough job, so I went over to check everything out and to clean what still needed to be cleaned. And while I did that, I kept on praying in tongues.

After I was satisfied that the church was ready for Sunday service, I stayed at the church another hour. I walked up and down the aisles of the church, praying in tongues. I knelt at the altar and prayed in tongues. I purposely stayed at the church longer than usual so I could put some extra time in, praying in other tongues.

Then I went to the post office to get our mail. Since it was springtime, I decided to walk through the city park to the post office, praying quietly in tongues all the way.

When I arrived at the post office, I had to wait in the lobby for a while until all the mail had been put in everyone's boxes. As I stood there waiting along with several other men, I continued to pray under my breath in tongues. (That's what's so wonderful about praying in other tongues. If you're around others, you don't have to pray loud at all. No matter how quietly you speak to the Lord, He hears you.) Finally, I got my mail. Then all the way back to the parsonage, I continued to pray in tongues.

I would say that from 8:00 in the morning until 2:30 in the afternoon, I was praying in other tongues 90 percent of the time—for almost six hours. But except for the extra hour I spent praying in church, I didn't stop doing the things I had to do.

As I prayed, it seemed like there was a great big spring on the inside of me—and the more I prayed in tongues, the tighter that spring wound up! I didn't know a whole lot about the purpose of tongues back then, but I sensed that I was building myself up. I was charging my spiritual battery.

I said to myself, God must be getting me ready for the service tomorrow. I guess we're going to have a real "stem-winder" on Sunday! (I meant that the service was going to be a good one!)

But then about 2:30 that afternoon, Oretha and I had unexpected visitors. A lady brought her sister to our home.

These two were also accompanied by another woman.

This sister was an inmate of a Texas mental institution. She'd been there for two and a half years in solitary confinement because she had been violently insane, trying to kill herself, and she was considered dangerous to herself and others.

For more than two years, this poor woman had been locked in a padded cell—no exercise, no sunshine—until her general health had just deteriorated. So the authorities of the institution wrote to her mother and father: "We believe it would be good for your daughter to come home on furlough for a couple of weeks. She is no longer violently insane, but she is still insane, and she will always need institutional care. However, we are short on help. We don't have the necessary staff to take her outside for sunshine and fresh air.

"Could you come and take her to your home for a few weeks? Watch her closely, but go to the city park. Keep her out all day long in the sunshine. Do your best to walk with her and let her get some exercise, because if the change of environment doesn't improve her appetite, she isn't going to live much longer."

So this woman went to the institution, picked up her insane sister, and brought her home. A few days later, the woman brought her insane sister to our parsonage on that Saturday afternoon.

Well, I'd never dealt with an insane person before. People had been healed in my ministry, but I simply did not know how to deal with this kind of situation. Of course, I knew that a person could be sick in his head, just like he can be sick in his stomach. In that case, I knew to pray and anoint that person with oil so he could be healed.

Yet on the other hand, I knew that at times an evil spirit can get ahold of a person's mind. In that case, that evil spirit has to be cast out, which means the one ministering to the person has to depend on the Spirit of God to lead him in each situation.

So the two women and their lady friend came to our door that afternoon, and we invited them all in. The lady said to her insane

sister, "This is Brother and Sister Hagin. This is the minister I told you about."

Immediately after the woman spoke those words, "This is the minister...," her insane sister started quoting scriptures. Whole passages from the Word flowed out of this insane woman's mouth just like water out of a faucet!

Well, I didn't know what to do. How was a person supposed to act around people like that? Then I opened my mouth and said the wrong thing. (I'm going to let anyone who's never opened his mouth and said the wrong thing throw the first rock at me!)

I said, "Anyone who knows the Scriptures like that must really know God."

Immediately the woman reached up and started pulling her hair, her eyes flashing fire as she screamed, "Oh, no, no, no! I can't know God. No, no, I can't know God. I've committed the unpardonable sin!"

The other woman grabbed her insane sister's shoulders, shook her, and finally slapped her across the face. Later the lady shared with us, "I hated to do that, but that's what the doctor told me to do to bring my sister out of those fits."

After that the insane woman settled down, and we were able to get her seated in a living room chair. There she sat like a statue, never blinking an eye, looking straight ahead of her, never moving.

I realized we were going to need some help, so I said to the sister of the insane woman, "You stay right here. My wife and I will go get Sister Sylvia."

Sister Sylvia was a little red-headed woman in our church who could pray Heaven and earth together. Do you know what I mean by that?

She knew how to really get ahold of God and change things! Not many folks can do that, but she was one of those who could. (I would to God that others would learn to do the same!)

So my wife and I went to Sister Sylvias house, and I said to Oretha,

"You go and tell Sister Sylvia why we need her. I'll just wait out here in the car."

While I sat there waiting, I took out my New Testament and read a little. Then I prayed, "Lord, I'll just have to depend on You."

After all, that's all any of us can do anyway! We have to depend on Him because in ourselves, we can do nothing. Thank God, the Holy Ghost who lives in us gets us ready for things to come. And one means by which He does this is when we pray in other tongues!

So I said to the Lord, "I know if this woman just needs healing, I can anoint her with oil, lay hands on her, and expect You to heal her. But if an evil spirit is involved here, You'll have to help me deal with that. I won't know what to do unless You show me."

My wife came back to the car with Sister Sylvia, and the three of us returned to the parsonage. The insane woman was still sitting in a straight chair in the center of the living room. She hadn't moved an inch since my wife and I had left. She just sat there like a statue, staring straight ahead.

My wife, Sister Sylvia, the insane woman's sister, and the other lady who had accompanied the two women all knelt across the room to the west. I knelt in the east corner of the room, and we all began to pray. I don't know exactly how long we prayed, but we prayed quite a while.

Then the Spirit of God said to me, "Go stand in front of her and say, 'Come out, thine unclean spirit, in the Name of Jesus!'"

I'd never done anything like that before in my life. To make a long story short, I argued a while with the Lord about what He'd asked me to do, but finally I obeyed. I walked over to the insane woman, stood in front of her, and said, "Come out, thine unclean spirit, in the Name of Jesus!"

You might ask, "What happened when you did that?" It didn't look like anything happened. The woman looked and acted just as insane as she had before!

But I knew this much: The anointing had come on me when I said those words. I knew that under the anointing, I'd spoken the word of faith.

So the insane woman's sister bundled her up and took her home. That was Saturday afternoon. On Monday afternoon, the other lady who had accompanied the insane woman and her sister that day came to our house all upset and said, "Brother and Sister Hagin, pray, pray, pray!"

I asked, "What for?"

"That insane woman is having another attack like she did when she first lost her mind!"

To my utter astonishment, I opened my mouth to say something else, but this came out of my mouth instead: "What of it? Didn't you ever read in the Bible what happened when Jesus told an evil spirit to leave the young lad? The Scripture says that before the spirit left, it threw the boy down and tore him" (Mark 9:17-29).

Then I declared, "That will be the last attack she will ever have! You see, I spoke the command of faith on Saturday afternoon for that evil spirit to leave. And it had to obey!"

And that is exactly what happened! The insane woman was perfectly delivered that day. The doctors ran all the tests, pronounced her well, and sent her home for good!

Nineteen years later, my wife and I were preaching in a certain city where the sister of this formerly insane woman lived, and we went out to lunch with her. We asked how her sister had fared over the past 19 years. The woman said, "Oh, my sister's just fine! Her mind is perfectly normal and has been all these 19 years. She works in a place of business, teaches a Sunday school class in church, and she's on fire for God!"

The point I wanted to make with this account is this: The Holy Spirit got me ready for my encounter with this insane woman by prompting me to pray in tongues more than usual. I really didn't understand what was happening at the time. But now I can look back and realize that He was preparing me for what was to come. The Holy Spirit knew what was coming, even if I didn't. He knew I needed to utilize the divine means of spiritual edification He'd provided for me through praying in tongues!

As I said earlier, the greatest things that have ever happened to me in my walk with God—the greatest healing miracles, financial breakthroughs, and deliverances—came after I had spent a prolonged length of time praying in other tongues.

Thank God for the privilege of praying in the Spirit! Thank God for this supernatural means of building ourselves up on our most holy faith! Yes, we can be built up by reading the Bible.

Yes, we can be greatly helped by praying other kinds of prayer too.² Yet this is one primary way God has given us to edify and build up our spirits, and nothing else will ever take its place!