The Bible and Life

Friday, June 20, 2025

Once Saved, Always Saved?

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

John Wesley on “Once Saved always Saved?”

“Calvinists, who deny that salvation can ever be lost, reason on the subject in a marvelous way...

They tell us, that somehow....

No virgin’s lamp can go out...(Matthew 25:8)

No promising harvest can be choked with thorns...(Matthew 13:7)

No branch in Christ can ever be cut off for unfruitfulness...(John 15:6)

No pardon can ever be forfeited...
(Matthew 18:32)

They say that no name can be blotted out of God’s book!
(Revelation 3:5; Exodus 32:33)

They insist that no salt can ever lose its savour...
(Matthew 5:13)

That nobody can ever...
“receive the grace of God in vain”... (2 Corinthians 6:1)

“bury his talents”...(Matthew 25:18)

“neglect such great salvation”... (Hebrews 2:3)

trifle away “a day of grace”... (James 5:5)

“look back” after putting his hand to the gospel plow...( and become unfit for the kingdom of God)
(Luke 9:62)

Nobody can “grieve the Spirit” till He is “quenched,”...
(Ephesians 4:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:19) and strives no more, (Romans 11:21,22)

nor “deny the Lord that BOUGHT them”...
(2 Peter 2:1)

nor “bring upon themselves swift destruction.”.. (2 Peter 2:1)

Nobody, or body of believers, can ever get so lukewarm that Jesus will spew them out of His mouth... (Revelation 3:16)

They use reams of paper to argue that if one ever got lost he was never found. (John 17:12)

that if one falls, he never stood. (Romans 11:16-22 and Hebrews 6:4-6)

if one was ever “cast forth,” he was never in, and “if one ever withered,” he was never attached to the vine and once green. (John 15:1-6)

and that “if any man draws back,” it proves that he never had anything to draw back from. (Hebrews 10:38,39)

that if one ever “falls away into spiritual darkness,” he was never enlightened. (Hebrews 6:4-6)

that if you “get entangled again in the pollutions of the world,” it shows that you had never escaped. (2 Peter 2:20)

that if you “put salvation away” you never had it to put away, (Hebrews 10:35; Psalms 51:11)

and if you make shipwreck of faith, there was no ship of faith there!! (1 Timothy 1:19)|

In short they say: If you get it, you can’t lose it; and if you lose it you never had it.

May God SAVE US...
from accepting a doctrine, that must be defended by such fallacious reasoning!”
~ John Wesley

William James Roop

My Author Page

Women In Ministry

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

What does the Bible say about women pastors?

By Ramesh C. Koundal

Wikipedia Commons

There is perhaps no more hotly debated issue in the church today than that of women serving as pastors. As a result, it is important to not see this issue as men versus women. There are women who believe women should not serve as pastors and that the Bible places restrictions on the ministry of women, and there are men who believe women can serve as pastors and that there are no restrictions on women in ministry. This is not a matter of chauvinism or discrimination. It is an issue of biblical interpretation.

The Word of God proclaims, “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man; but to be in silence” (1 Timothy 2:11–12). In the church, God assigns different roles to men and women. This is a result of the way mankind was created and the way in which sin entered the world (1 Timothy 2:13–14). God, through the apostle Paul, restricts women from serving in roles of teaching and/or having spiritual authority over men. This precludes women from serving as pastors over men, since pastoring definitely includes preaching, teaching publicly, and exercising spiritual authority.

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There are many objections to this view of women in pastoral ministry. A common one is that Paul restricts women from teaching because in the first century, women were typically uneducated. However, 1 Timothy 2:11–14 nowhere mentions educational status. If education were a qualification for ministry, then the majority of Jesus’ disciples would not have been qualified. A second common objection is that Paul only restricted the women of Ephesus from teaching men (1 Timothy was written to Timothy, the pastor of the church in Ephesus). Ephesus was known for its temple to Artemis, and women were the authorities in that branch of paganism—therefore, the theory goes, Paul was only reacting against the female-led customs of the Ephesian idolaters, and the church needed to be different. However, the book of 1 Timothy nowhere mentions Artemis, nor does Paul mention the standard practice of Artemis worshipers as a reason for the restrictions in 1 Timothy 2:11–12.

Christian school (Wikipedia Commons)

A third objection is that Paul is only referring to husbands and wives, not men and women in general. The Greek words for “woman” and “man” in 1 Timothy 2 could refer to husbands and wives; however, the basic meaning of the words is broader than that. Further, the same Greek words are used in verses 8–10. Are only husbands to lift up holy hands in prayer without anger and disputing (verse 8)? Are only wives to dress modestly, have good deeds, and worship God (verses 9–10)? Of course not. Verses 8–10 clearly refer to all men and women, not just husbands and wives. There is nothing in the context that would indicate a narrowing to husbands and wives in verses 11–14.

Yet another objection to this interpretation of women in pastoral ministry references women in positions of leadership in the Bible, specifically Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah in the Old Testament. It is true that these women were chosen by God for special service to Him and that they stand as models of faith, courage, and, yes, leadership. However, the authority of women in the Old Testament is not relevant to the issue of pastors in the church. The New Testament Epistles present a new paradigm for God’s people—the church, the body of Christ—and that paradigm involves an authority structure unique to the church, not for the nation of Israel or any other Old Testament entity.

Young Womens Christian Ass. (Wikipedia Commons)

Similar arguments are made using Priscilla and Phoebe in the New Testament. In Acts 18, Priscilla and Aquila are presented as faithful ministers for Christ. In verse 18, Priscilla’s name is mentioned first, suggesting to some that she was more prominent in ministry than her husband. (The detail of whose name comes first is probably inconsequential, because in verses 2 and 26 the order is reversed from that of verse 18.) Did Priscilla and her husband teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to Apollos? Yes, in their home they “explained to him the way of God more adequately” (Acts 18:26). Does the Bible ever say that Priscilla pastored a church or taught publicly or became the spiritual leader of a congregation of saints? No. As far as we know, Priscilla was not involved in ministry activity in contradiction to 1 Timothy 2:11–14.

In Romans 16:1, Phoebe is called a “deacon” (or “servant”) in the church and is highly commended by Paul. But, as with Priscilla, there is nothing in Scripture to indicate that Phoebe was a pastor or a teacher of men in the church. “Able to teach” is given as a qualification for elders, but not for deacons (1 Timothy 3:1–13; Titus 1:6–9).

Woman Missionaries (Wikipedia Commons)

The structure of 1 Timothy 2:11–14 makes the reason why women cannot be pastors perfectly clear. Verse 13 begins with “for,” giving the “cause” of Paul’s statement in verses 11–12. Why should women not teach or have authority over men? Because “Adam was created first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived” (verses 13–14). God created Adam first and then created Eve to be a “helper” for Adam. The order of creation has universal application in the family (Ephesians 5:22–33) and in the church.

The fact that Eve was deceived is also given as a reason for women not serving as pastors or having spiritual authority over men (1 Timothy 2:14). This does not mean that women are gullible or that they are all more easily deceived than men. If all women are more easily deceived, why would they be allowed to teach children (who are easily deceived) and other women (who are supposedly more easily deceived)? The text simply says that women are not to teach men or have spiritual authority over men because Eve was deceived. God has chosen to give men the primary teaching authority in the church.

Our Women's Workers (Wikipedia Commons)

Many women excel in gifts of hospitality, mercy, teaching, evangelism, and helping/serving. Much of the ministry of the local church depends on women. Women in the church are not restricted from public praying or prophesying (1 Corinthians 11:5), only from having spiritual teaching authority over men. The Bible nowhere restricts women from exercising the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12). Women, just as much as men, are called to minister to others, to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23), and to proclaim the gospel to the lost (Matthew 28:18–20; Acts 1:8; 1 Peter 3:15).

God has ordained that only men are to serve in positions of spiritual teaching authority in the church. This does not imply men are better teachers or that women are inferior or less intelligent. It is simply the way God designed the church to function. Men are to set the example in spiritual leadership—in their lives and through their words. Women are also to set an example in their lives, but in a different way (1 Peter 3:1-6). Women are encouraged to teach other women (Titus 2:3–5). The Bible also does not restrict women from teaching children. The only activity women are restricted from is teaching or having spiritual authority over men. This bars women from serving as pastors to men. This does not make women less important, by any means; rather, it gives them a ministry focus more in agreement with God’s design.

1913 revival (Wikipedia Commons)

William James Roop

Tuesday, June 17, 2025

God Had Captured His Soul

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

SALVATION THROUGH GRACE.

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Over the years, David worked hard to maintain a “proper religious life.” He wanted to do the right thing, but he really didn’t understand salvation by grace alone. Instead, he worked diligently to be “good enough,” reading the Scriptures, memorizing sermons, and separating himself from “youthful foolishness.” “I proceeded on a self-righteous foundation,” he admitted later, “and should have been entirely lost and undone had not the mere mercy of God prevented it!”

“God Swallowed Me”

Deep in his soul, David Brainerd longed to know the power and presence of God. He poured out his heart in prayer on long walks through the Connecticut countryside. Speaking to an

“unseen audience,” he wrestled with the demons within his own soul, struggling to find the way to salvation. In the spring of 1739, as David approached his twenty-first birthday, the Holy Spirit began to convict him of the sin of trying to earn his way to God.

“Sometime in February 1739, I set apart a day for fasting and prayer, and spent the day in almost incessant cries to God for mercy to see...the way of life by Jesus Christ.”

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His struggle was with God’s grace; he wanted God to accept all of his hard-earned works as a way to earn salvation. “All this time,” David wrote, “the Spirit of God was powerfully at work within me; and I was inwardly pressed to relinquish all self-confidence, all hopes of ever helping myself by any means whatsoever.”

David Brainerd was surrendering his heart and will to God. While walking briskly through the fields near Haddam that July, the heavens appeared to open, and the Holy Spirit fell upon Brainerd with His revelatory power!

As I was walking in a dark, thick grove, unspeakable glory seemed to open to the view and apprehension of my soul...a new view that I had of God...I stood still, wondered and admired!

My soul rejoiced with joy unspeakable, to see such a God, such a glorious Divine Being; and I was inwardly pleased and satisfied that He should be God over all forever and ever. My soul was so captivated and delighted with the excellency, loveliness, greatness and other perfections of God, that I was swallowed up in Him!”

God had captured his soul!

The Holy Spirit enveloped David Brainerd with both the majesty and the mercy of God, and he accepted his salvation in Christ based on grace alone. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9 nasb).

Brainerd had turned to the living God with his whole heart, and God had answered his prayer with His glorious salvation. David was exited to begin studying tor the ministry.

- God’s Generals ( The Revivalists )

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William James Roop

Friday, June 13, 2025

Smith Wigglesworth Spirit Baptism

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

AFTER SMITH WIGGLESWORTH WAS BAPTIZED IN THE HOLY GHOST ….

My wife said to me, “So you’ve been speaking with tongues, have you?” I replied, “Yes.” “Well,” she said, “I want you to understand that I am as much baptized as you are and I don’t speak in tongues.” I saw that the contest was beginning right at home. “I have been preaching for twenty years,” she continued, “and you have sat beside me on the platform, but on Sunday you will preach yourself, and I’ll see what there is in it.”

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She kept her word. On Sunday she took a seat at the back of the building. We had always sat together on the platform until that day. So the contest had begun right in the church.

There were three steps up to the platform, and as I went up those three steps the Lord gave me Isaiah 61:1, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.”

I was no preacher, but hearing the voice of my Lord speaking those words to me, I began. I cannot now remember what I said, but my wife was terribly disturbed. The bench on which she sat would seat nine people and she moved about on it until she had sat on every part of it. Then she said in a voice that all around her could hear, “That’s not my Smith, Lord, that’s not my Smith!”

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I was giving out the last hymn when the secretary of the mission stood up and said, “I want what our leader has received.” The strange thing was that when he was about to sit down he missed his seat and went right down on the floor. Then my oldest son arose and said he wanted what his father had, and he, too, took his seat right down on the floor. In a short while there were eleven people right on the floor of that mission. The strangest thing was that they were all laughing in the Spirit and laughing at one another. The Lord had really turned again the captivity of Zion and the mouth of His children was being filled with laughter according to the word of the Lord in Psalm 126:1, 2.

That was the beginning of a great outpouring of the Spirit where hundreds received the baptism in the Holy Ghost and everyone of them spoke in tongues as the Spirit of God gave utterance.

God knew that I should have to go all over the world and proclaim this glorious truth, that all could receive the baptism in the Holy Ghost in exactly the same way as they received on the Day of Pentecost with the speaking on other tongues as the Spirit of God gives utterance.

- Smith Wigglesworth ( Apostle of Faith )

William James Roop

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

The Love Of God

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

PUT GOD’S LOVE TO WORK.

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Believers who are mature in God's love know how to let the love of God dominate them. They know how to let the love of God work for them.

I remember when Dub ( Kenneth Hagin’s senior brother) was still a baby Christian, he went into town one day to take care of some business for Mamma. When he was in town, he had some problems with some relatives and almost got into a fight with them, so I had to go attend to the business myself.

Dub said, "You'd better not go there. They'll fight you." I just said, "No, they won't. You just don't know how to exercise the love of God and put it to work for you." Think about it a minute. How do you put God to work? The Bible said, "God is love." So if you put God's love to work, you're putting God to work in the situation.

The Bible says, "greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4). Well, who is in you? The Holy Ghost is in you if you've been born again. The Holy Ghost has shed the love of God abroad in your heart. That love in you is bigger than the devil that is in someone who is unsaved and walking in darkness.

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So I went to see one of the relatives who had given Dub such a problem, and she just started ranting and raving. I never said a word. I just looked at her, and I felt so sorry for her. I thought to myself, She can't help but act that way because she's got the nature of the devil in her. She cant help but be selfish. But on the inside of me, I just kept saying, "Thank God, the love of God is in me. The love of God in me is bigger than the hatred that is in her. Greater is He who is in me than he that is in her." I just stood there and looked at her in love.

Suddenly she looked at me. Her mouth moved in anger, but nothing came out! She couldn't say one word to me. She must have seen the expression of love on my face, because all of a sudden, she knelt down on the ground, grabbed my hand and kissed it, and laid it on her head, and said, "Ken, pray for me. You know we all need prayer." So I started praying for her.

Then she called her husband. He said to me, "Some of the relatives are going to try to take everything away from your poor ole Mamma. What are you going to do about it?" I knew he was the one trying to do it!

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So I just stepped closer to him, and said, "I want you to know something. I'm ready for any situation. In fact," and I stepped a little closer and dropped my voice and said, "I've got some inside information. And I want you to know that I am ready for them." His countenance changed entirely. He said, "I'll tell you one thing. I'm going to make sure your Mamma gets her share and is provided for." And he did too.

The inside information I had was information inside the Bible. The inside information was "Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in them. Greater is the love of God that is in me than the hatred that is in the world." Love always wins, because the God- kind of love is the way of the New Covenant, and it never fails.

Get inside this Book, the Bible, and get the Bible inside you, and you're ready for anything. You don't have to get ready; you are ready. God's love never fails!

- Kenneth E Hagin ( Love The Way To Victory )

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William James Roop

Friday, June 6, 2025

William Carey

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

God of All Peoples - WILLIAM CAREY

When God issues a call on a man or woman’s heart, it might come in the roar of a thunderstorm or in the quiet of the night, but he or she hears His voice distinctly.

William Carey (Google Commons)

William had a growing conviction that God wanted to send Christian missionaries into a hopeless world. As he walked the English countryside in prayer, God brought Isaiah 54 to your remembrance: “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations....thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the LORD has called thee...” (Isaiah 54:2, 5–6 KJV).

The Redeemer was not just the God of England or the God of Europe! He was “the God of the whole earth,” and Carey was determined to proclaim this missionary truth! Because of Zinzendorf’s earlier missionary success, at a meeting with a small group of Baptist pastors in Kettering, England, William Carey threw down copies of the Moravian newsletter Periodical Accounts before the men and declared, “See what the Moravians have done! Can’t we Baptists at least attempt something in fealty to the same Lord?”

Yet, every time he broached the subject with Christian leaders, the reaction was always the same. “You are a miserable enthusiast,” he was rebuked. “If God wanted the heathen of the world to be saved, He would take care of it Himself. There are enough unsaved people in our own midst.”

Carey responded, “Surely God means what He says. Surely He means for us who know Him to carry the message of redemption to all men everywhere!”

William Carey (Google Commons)

In spite of the church’s objections, William sat down to write out his missionary vision. His writings grew into a booklet that he entitled, "An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens." It became known simply as "The Enquiry." In it, William asserted, “If it be the duty of all men, when the gospel comes, to believe unto salvation, then it is the duty of those who are entrusted with the gospel to endeavor to make it known among all nations for the obedience of faith!”

Carey skillfully presented his argument for world missions in five powerful sections. It was an astounding proclamation of God’s call to reach the lost.

Section One of The Enquiry focused on Jesus’ Great Commission: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them...” (Matthew 28:19 KJV). Carey insisted Jesus’ command to evangelize could not be restricted to the early apostles, or else baptizing believers should be restricted as well. “No!” Carey declared. As long as the majority of the world was covered in “heathen darkness,” Christians had an obligation to bring them the message of Christ’s salvation.

“If the English have been blessed to know and live in the grace of God’s salvation for a long while,” he argued, “how could they withhold such a great salvation from those in foreign lands who died without the knowledge of God’s saving grace?”

William Carey (Google Commons)

Section Two of The Enquiry retold the powerful move of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts, as thousands of Christians were added to the church daily. (See Acts 2:47.) Carey reminded his readers that it was the missionaries of the first and second centuries who had spread Christianity to England, Germany, Spain, France, Egypt, and Libya.

Section Three, entitled “A Survey of the Present State of the World,” was a comprehensive account of the populations, religious beliefs, and locations of all the people of the known world, based on Carey’s eight years of study. British scholars were astounded at its detail; nothing like it had been written before!

Most importantly, Carey pointed out that most countries had “no written language and consequently no Bible, and were only led by the most childish customs and traditions.” With his gift for languages, Carey’s heart burned to provide written Bibles to the lost. Even the most cynical opponents of foreign missions were convicted by the fervor of Carey’s call.

Sections Four and Five of The Enquiry were practical applications of missionary work: the transportation of missionaries to their destinations, survival in foreign lands, and financial provision. He challenged his Christian brothers, “I question whether we are justified in staying here, while so many are perishing without means of grace in other lands!”

William Carey (Google Commons)

In describing the role of the missionary, Carey actually described himself:

The missionary must take every opportunity of doing them [the lost] good, and laboring, and travelling, night and day, they must instruct, exhort, and rebuke, with all longsuffering and anxious desire for them, and above all, must be instant in prayer for the effusion of the Holy Spirit upon the people of their charge.

Carey ended the booklet with a stirring challenge: “Surely it is worthwhile to lay ourselves out with all our might, in promoting the cause and kingdom of Christ!”

- God’s Generals' ( The Missionaries )

(Google Commons)

William James Roop

Tuesday, June 3, 2025

Tribulation In The Will Of God

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

BEING IN THE WILL OF GOD DOESN’T GUARANTEE EASY CIRCUMSTANCES.

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Remember, Paul and Silas weren’t in Philippi on a vacation. They were there to do the Lord’s work. They weren’t out of the will of God. Sometimes when things don’t go right, people think, Well, I must be out of the will of God!

I’ve had people say to me, “What awful sin have I committed to cause God to put this on me?” I tell them that God didn’t send the test or trial they are facing; the devil sent it: “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy . . .” (John 10:10). It wasn’t God who whipped Paul and Silas. It was ungodly men who did it. God didn’t stir up these ungodly fellows. It was the devil who stirred them up. Some say, “Well, God permitted it. What awful sin have I committed to cause God to permit this to happen to me?”

But if you think you’re going to determine whether you are in the will of God by whether or not everything runs smoothly in your life, then you are mistaken. A life of ease, with no rough or difficult places to endure and no sacrifices to make, does not indicate whether or not a person is in God’s will. If it did, then Paul never did get in the will of God in his entire ministry! He missed it from beginning to end. No, you can’t judge being in the will of God by whether or not you have tests and trials in life and obstacles to overcome.

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I was on the field as an evangelist for many years, and I would sometimes get amused at pastors. I have had them tell me, “I tell you one thing! If I can just get my Sunday school attendance back up where it was at its highest point, I am leaving!” Some pastors were upset because the Sunday school was down and things weren’t going right. Well, you don’t judge whether or not you’re in the will of God just because the Sunday school isn’t what you think it should be. That kind of thinking would be funny if it weren’t so sad.

I have also had pastors say to me, “If I can just get the finances of this church to the place they were when I came here, then I’m going to resign and leave.” They felt that because the finances had fallen off it indicated they weren’t in the will of God. But a church is made up of individual people, and just as individual people go through phases in their lives, so do churches. A pastor can’t determine that he is out of the will of God just because his church is experiencing some difficult circumstances.

When I pastored, I never did try to ascertain whether I was in the will of God by whether or not things ran smoothly. I would determine the will of God by listening to my own spirit, and by doing just what they did in Acts 13:2. I would wait upon the Lord and minister to Him until I knew in my spirit what God wanted me to do.

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I only missed it one time, as far as pastoring the right church was concerned. I missed God concerning this particular church because I put out a fleece. You see, I hadn’t been in Pentecostal circles very long. It had only been about three years since I’d received the baptism of the Holy Ghost and had become Pentecostal.

I never had heard anything about fleeces before then. I had never heard anyone in my former church say anything about putting out a fleece. But I began to hear certain preachers and others talk about putting out a fleece, so I decided to put out a fleece too. I decided

maybe I’d like to change churches and pastor another church. So I put out a fleece about whether or not I should take another church.

A certain church opened up, and I was invited to preach, so I went. Before I left, I put out a fleece. I told the Lord if a certain “sign” occurred, I would accept it as His confirmation that I should accept this new pastorate. And according to my fleece or “sign” I had asked for, I was to change churches. I did, and I got fleeced!

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When I was finally able to leave that church, I was never so glad to get away from a place in all my life as I was that place! I should have left that church a long time before I did, but sometimes when you miss it, it’s hard to get back on the right track again. And yet, I went back there afterwards to hold a revival meeting and had one of the greatest meetings they had ever had in the history of the church. But I went that time in the will of God, when God said, “Go.” I missed it

previously even when I followed the fleece instead of following God, waiting on God, and ministering to Him, until I knew what to do.

However, as I said, just because I was in the will of God pastoring those other churches doesn’t mean everything always ran smoothly. It doesn’t mean we broke the Sunday school record every Sunday. And it doesn’t mean the finances topped out every Sunday above anything that we had ever received before.Yet in pastoring those churches, I knew in my spirit, in my heart, that it was the right thing to do because I had taken time to minister to the Lord and to wait upon Him.

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I knew that was where He wanted me to be. At different times I’d say to the Lord, “Lord, things are not running just right, but I’m not going to worry about it. I’m going to trust You to work it out.” The devil will just try to aggravate you to death with circumstances, if you’ll listen to him. But if you’ll learn how to deal with the devil, you’ll be alright. And if you don’t, then the circumstances of life will overwhelm you.

Because if Satan can get the least edge on you, he’ll just hound you and try to worry you to death. But believers don’t need to be easy prey for the devil. Rather, we need to spend our time ministering to the Lord.

Kenneth E. Hagin

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William James Roop