Who is the Holy Spirit? When Jesus was on Earth, He said, And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him (John 14:16,17). The Holy Spirit came to be our Comforter, our Spirit of truth and so much more; but the world does not see Him or know Him. However, the members of the bridal company must be baptized in the Holy Spirit and know Him. Jesus said, But ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you (John 14:17). When the Spirit dwells in you, you will know that all of His ways are magnificent and that all of His works are astounding and done in perfection.

Know the Holy Spirit

The first thing you must know is that the Holy Spirit is a real person and not an “it” as some people refer to Him. The Bible speaks of Him with the personal pronoun “he.” Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come (John 16:13).

Many people have been to the Upper Room and received the baptism in the Holy Ghost, but they don’t really know Him. He lives and dwells on the inside of them; but they are not always conscious of Him being there, so He is a stranger to them. To get acquainted with the Holy Spirit, you must realize that He is an actual person living on the inside of you or you will not lean on Him, trust Him or pour out your heart to Him like you should.

The secret to the great outpouring of the Spirit in the beginning of the Church was that the disciples knew the Holy Spirit and relied on Him. Today, many Spirit-filled people only know and recognize Him part of the time, and that is why they fight some losing battles. They feel as if their prayers are going nowhere, and they do not hang onto the knowledge they have of Him. Thus saith the Lord, in this last hour, we cannot let the knowledge and the greatness of the personality of the Holy Spirit who lives and dwells inside of us slip away. We have to know Him all the time.

You must understand that the Holy Spirit came to Earth to be your helper in all things, to prepare the Bride to meet Jesus in the air and to take the Gospel of Christ to the world. You have to know how the Spirit will work with you and through you so you will be able to work with Him just like your left hand works with your right hand. They cooperate with each other and work together; and if they don’t, they cannot accomplish for you what they should.

You have to work with the Holy Spirit in the same way—in complete harmony and unity. You must know Him in the good times and in the bad times. You must know that in your hours of discouragement, sorrow, heartache and disappointment, all will not be lost because the Spirit will lift you up, not put you down; and He will give you all the help you need. You must know that the One who dwells in you is greater than all the demons and devils in the world.

Many people do not yield to the Holy Spirit any more than they do because they have never taken the time to get to know Him; and you cannot yield to Him if you don’t know how to please Him, how to work with Him, how much you can trust Him, what to expect from Him or what He will do for you. Not knowing the Spirit has brought doubt and frustration to the minds of many people who have the baptism, and it has hindered God’s work. Thus saith the Lord, it can no longer be in this last hour; the Bride must know the Holy Spirit completely.

The Comforter, Teacher and Guide

You must know the Holy Spirit as your Comforter. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever (John 14:16). When troubles come, the flutter of the Spirit within your bosom will let you know He is working; and you will feel His comfort. When your heart is about to break, you will feel His love, His help, His touch, His grace and His understanding. You must know that He is alive on the inside of you, and He must be a reality to you so He can give you the strength to unload your burdens at the feet of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit has picked me up and dried my tears many times. He has stood me on my feet and given me the strength I needed for my body and the serenity I needed for my mind. When a storm would be raging in my mind, the Holy Spirit would move it outside by throwing up His mighty hands of greatness and holding back the winds of tribulation and strife so I could enjoy serenity and peace.

The Holy Spirit has all the intelligence, the power and the greatness of God; and He will make Himself known to you, but you also must make yourself known to Him or there will be no connection. You must acknowledge that you know He is moving.

God made man and woman to live in His divine love, care and greatness; so we will never be able to function as we should without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. That is why He is always seeking to take you in the direction of truth, righteousness and grace. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth (John 16:13). He will guide you onto the same paths that Jesus walked and show you the footprints of your Master. Then He will magnify those footprints so you will have no trouble walking in them. Through the Holy Spirit, you will become a part of Jesus; and you will operate like He did when He was here. Then every step you take will move you closer to Heaven.

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you (John 14:26). You must study the Bible with the help of the Holy Spirit because He is your Teacher. He will guide you through the Scriptures and feed you only truth. He will serve you the Word, explain it to you and make it as simple as A-B-C or 1-2-3. Then you will not struggle in the dark saying, “I don’t understand.”

When you do not understand the Word, it is because you don’t know the person of the Holy Spirit, your great Teacher. You don’t know all the knowledge that is available to you through the One who has come to live in you as your helper. You cannot just read or hear that the Holy Spirit is your Teacher; you must take great pride and strength in knowing He is and in knowing you have Him. He has come to serve you so you can serve the Lord in every way God wants you to. Thus saith the Lord, without the Holy Spirit and without knowing Him, you are not going to be able to serve the Lord in all capacities and do all that He wants of you.

The Spirit Changed the Disciples

After Jesus ascended back to Heaven, the disciples went to the Upper Room to discover who the Holy Ghost was. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4).

While Jesus was still on Earth, He healed multitudes of people. And great multitudes came unto him [Jesus], having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them: Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel (Matthew 15:30,31). Even after people had received all of those miracles, only about 120 of them went to the Upper Room. The number of names together were about an hundred and twenty (Acts 1:15). This shows that just receiving a miracle or a healing does not enable you to know the Holy Spirit. You may have been healed many times, and you may even be baptized in the Spirit and yet still not fully be acquainted with Him.

Once the disciples became 100 percent acquainted with the Holy Spirit, He was able to change them and their thinking completely and to give them all the determination and strength they needed. He gave them power to cast out devils and to trample them underfoot so they could take the ministry of Christ to the world. He gave them power to put on the shoes and spiritual robe of Jesus so they could talk like Him, act like Him, live like Him and be just like Him. Then they became great workers for the Lord all the time when before they had been only part-time workers for Him.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the disciples healed the sick and cast out devils. The Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name (Luke 10:1,17). They did all the works of Jesus in perfection, and they trampled the devil underfoot. To some people, it looked as if the devil was winning; but he was not.

When Jesus was on Earth, the disciples actually walked with Jesus and witnessed the miracles He performed. Today, we cannot physically see the Holy Spirit; but we can see the miracles He performs.

Paul Learned All about Jesus

Paul thought he knew all about that Jesus-Jew; but when the light of God shined down on Paul on the road to Damascus and he heard the voice of the Lord, he realized that he did not know Him. And as he [Paul] journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do (Acts 9:3-6)?

A few days later, the Lord sent Ananias to pray for Paul; and he was healed and received the Holy Ghost baptism. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized (Acts 9:18).

Then Paul went into the desert and stayed there for over three years as the Holy Spirit taught him all about Jesus. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem (Galatians 1:15-18). After that time, Paul knew more about Jesus than the disciples who had walked with Him in the flesh when He was on Earth.

Paul learned so much about Jesus that he would later say, That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death (Philippians 3:10).

Paul Came to Know the Holy Ghost

Paul also learned about the Holy Ghost as a supernatural person. In fact, Paul had such great knowledge about divinity that even Peter found some of the things Paul said hard to understand; but Paul had been determined to learn everything he could. Account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood (II Peter 3:15,16). Jesus and the Holy Ghost were paramount in all of Paul’s writings.

Paul knew the importance of the Holy Spirit, and he began to call down the Spirit upon others. And it came to pass…Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied (Acts 19:1,2,6).

We too must know the Holy Spirit’s power, His greatness, His love, His compassion and His patience; and we must know how He serves those things. Then we will always give Him the freedom He needs to move.

The Lord wants us to study and understand the personalities of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit just as Paul did. We study personalities of people we want to get to know, so why not divinity? Parents learn the personalities of their children even if they have a dozen of them; and any parent can tell you that no two children are exactly alike, even if they are twins.

Man’s Spirit vs. the Holy Spirit

Some of you who have the Holy Spirit may think you are yielding to Him when you are really yielding to your own human spirit. Just because your own spirit has been made pure and clean through the divine blood, you think, “I am yielding to the Lord; I am willing to work for Him, and I am doing everything I can.” But if you do not know the Holy Spirit, you really don’t know how to yield to Him.

Many of God’s people have been in the habit of yielding to self and are guilty of saying, to the Lord, “I will do it if I feel like it.” You may not feel like getting up in the morning, and you may feel like sleeping rather than eating; but those are human feelings. When you wake up, you should say, “Good morning, Heaven! Thank you, Lord, for another day!” If you don’t do that, you won’t recognize the Holy Spirit or get into His flow.

You have to learn how to yield to the Holy Spirit so that He can bless you and bless others through you. You must allow the power of the Spirit to flow within you, but that will not happen unless you know Him and recognize when His divine flow is available to you. You must know when He speaks, when He moves and when He is dealing with you. Only then will you know whether you are yielding to Him or to your own spirit.

You have to know when the Spirit is working, and it cannot be emotionalism; but that is all many churches have. There are no works of the Holy Spirit in their services, and the Holy Ghost is not recognized because the people are so busy with their own demonstrations of the flesh; and that is thus saith the Lord. Some people live like the devil, yet they go to church and sing with a lot of emotionalism. Then people who hear them and see them think that is the anointing of God; but it is not, and it fools many people.

When you sing godly songs from your heart, the Holy Spirit will join in and sweep you into the greatness of God; however, many people’s praises are just human praises and their shouts are human shouts. They have cut off divinity, so divinity has nothing to do with their praises. Some of you will watch a minister on television and not know whether he has the spirit of God, the spirit of man or the spirit of the devil; but you must know.

Never Yield to Self

Many people who have the baptism do not know what they have in the Holy Spirit, and they don’t let Him work for them. That is why they stay down and out and live in pools of doubt, fear, frustration and despair. They heard that He was wonderful and great and that He was promised to them, so they opened up their heart’s door and let Him in, For the promise [of the Holy Ghost] is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call (Acts 2:39). But they never took the time to get to know the Spirit, and that is why many of God’s people have been weak when they could have been strong.

How sad it is to have the Holy Spirit—your teacher, your guide and your helper—living in you, yet not know when He is moving. You must know yourself and know the difference between your spirit and the Holy Spirit. You must know when you are going into your own thinking, your own ways and your own opinions because at those times, you limit the Spirit working in your soul and in your mind. However, when you gladly yield your soul, mind and body to Him, they become His territory. You have given Him the power of control over you; and He is in the driver’s seat of wisdom, knowledge and greatness.

You can take control of yourself whenever you want to because you are a free, moral agent, and that has allowed the devil to rob people of so much. Even after you are baptized in the Spirit, you still have free choice to yield to Him or not to yield to Him.

The Lord wants you to cooperate with His plan; but thus saith the Lord, many of God’s Holy Ghost-filled people have been just part-time workers. That cannot be any longer because the Lord wants and needs full-time workers who will yield to the Spirit all the time. There are times when I cannot reason with people either because they will not yield to the Spirit or they will suddenly go into self and grieve the Spirit.

Many of you have had so many heartaches that you brought upon yourself because you yielded to your own spirit rather than the Holy Spirit. That brings distress, heartache, weakness, despair, weariness and discouragement because the spirit of man is weak and helpless without his God.

Never let your spirit of resentment and the fact that you want your own way take over. You must wait on God, but some of you run ahead and make many messes that the Holy Spirit has to try to clean up. Thus saith the Lord, that is why He cannot use you any more than what He does. The hour is now too late for the Holy Spirit to continue to clean up messes for children of God. The Bride will not be like that, and that is why the Holy Spirit will be able to use her to finish His work.

Know Yourself

The Holy Spirit is your helper, and He will help you more than any human being ever could. He will teach you more than any teacher, professor or instructor on Earth; and He will give you more wisdom and knowledge than you could ever get from any person or worldly institution. You can have everything you need in living reality today through the Holy Spirit.

It is not enough just to know yourself; you have to face yourself. Most of you know what you would do, what you would think and what you would say in a certain situation because you know yourself and your abilities quite well; but you have to know your inabilities, too.

You have to know what you can and cannot do, and then you have to know the Holy Spirit’s strength just as well as you know your own. In the human, you know what you can lift and what you can’t; and when your strength comes to an end, you have to know that the Holy Ghost, your helper, is there to lift whatever burdens you cannot bear on your own.

Thus saith the Lord, you must know your limitations. Until you do, you will not know when the Holy Spirit is taking over. You must know when He is speaking and giving you divine wisdom or a divine answer for your problem.

I know when the Spirit takes me over, and He takes over my mind again and again. I listen to what He is saying, and I even know what He is thinking. There is no guesswork about it; it is absolutely real and right. However, most people give over to their own feelings and actions, and they think that is the anointing when it is really self and the human spirit.

In this last hour, you must be so close to the Holy Spirit that you too will know what He is thinking. Thus saith the Lord, that is why you will be so different. You will know so much about Him, and you will know when you are anointed by Him.

If you want the reality of divine love, faith, grace and all of God’s greatness, you will only get it by yielding your spirit to the Holy Spirit. When you are not yielded to Him, you are living in your feelings and not in faith. The just shall live by faith (Galatians 3:11). Only when you live by faith is the Holy Spirit in the driver’s seat and doing the work that God planned for Him to do.

The Holy Spirit Will Supply

The Holy Spirit is 100 percent divine; there is no human spirit in Him. He did not come to Earth as a man and take on a body of clay as Jesus did, so the only body the Holy Spirit has to use is yours and mine. He wants to use our eyes and our tongues. He could have come down here in some kind of physical form and accomplished His work on His own, but the Lord planned for our bodies to be the temples of the Holy Ghost. He planned for the Holy Spirit to set up His office in us and do business with us and for us so He could bless others through us.

The Holy Spirit must be the strength and power of your life so that nothing can defeat you. That is why Paul was able to say, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us (Romans 8:35-37).

We are more than conquerors through the Holy Spirit, but many Spirit-filled Christians are down and out because they do not know the reality of Him. It is sad to have the precious Holy Spirit dwelling on the inside and only recognize Him once in a while or not at all. You know when your hands, feet, eyes or ears are working; so why can’t you recognize when the Holy Spirit is working?

The Holy Spirit is different from the human spirit, so you must learn to separate the two and know when self is taking over. You must know when you are not yielding completely to the Holy Spirit; and thus saith the Lord, the Bride will know. That is why she will be so faithful to God and turn many to righteousness. That is why she will have the joy of Heaven and all that goes with it with no shortage.

The Holy Spirit’s intelligence is divine; His strength is divine, and His wisdom and knowledge come from On High. All of that is available to you, but you cannot use things that you do not know about or recognize; and if you only recognize the Spirit at times, your life will not be as fruitful as God planned it to be.

Spend Time with the Spirit

The Holy Spirit must be your prayer partner. The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered (Romans 8:26). Nevertheless, some of you cannot seem to get anywhere in your prayer life because you don’t know the Holy Spirit. If you really knew Him and knew that He dwelt on the inside of you, you would turn everything over to Him whenever you feel that you are not able to pray. The Holy Spirit will take up where you stop and then take you beyond and make intercession for you. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:27).

You cannot jump up and run away from the presence of God; you have to get quiet and let the Holy Spirit work with you. He will spend all the time with you that you want; but how many hours do you waste each week in which He could be edifying you with more truth, more love and more grace? The Lord said, Be still, and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10). The Holy Spirit came to help us be still in His presence so He can teach us. His tender touch gives our spirit such peace that it gets quiet. Then He can get our mind’s attention, take over in a miraculous way and do wonders.

The Holy Spirit has worked with me for thousands of hours, so I know He can be your inspiration, too. Some of you look to yourself or others for your inspiration, but human inspiration is weak; and it cannot perform miracles for you. However, the Holy Spirit serves you divine, eternal inspiration.

Every word of the Bible was given through the divine inspiration of God. When the Holy Spirit speaks to you or prays through you, it is divine inspiration; but many of you don’t realize it or recognize it, so you are not edified and blessed. The devil tricks you to keep you down in the dumps when you should be on the mountaintop. But even in the valley, you should have great joy; and you will if you know the Holy Spirit is with you.

No Worries with the Spirit

You have so much going for you, yet many of you let fear take you over. You do not know the Holy Spirit or yield to Him, so He cannot get rid of the fear in your life. The enemy will taunt you from without or cause something that worries and torments you to turn over and over in your mind, and yet you just let it go on and on. The reason you can’t get rid of it is because you will not turn your mind over to the Holy Spirit and let Him stop it. Then you become a prisoner to your own spirit; and He cannot continually let you know the reality of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

Some of your minds are leeched; and that means a demon or a group of demons have attached themselves to one or more areas of your mind, and they are altering your thoughts and actions in those areas to their liking. Leeches are a handicap, a hindrance and a bondage; and they are destructive. You may think you can never be unleeched or stay unleeched, but that is because you don’t know the Holy Spirit. His power is sufficient to destroy every leech no matter what it is.

Some of you have the Holy Ghost living in you, and yet you are troubled to death. If an angel of God would touch you and say, “Everything is going to be all right; I have the Word of the Lord to deliver to you,” you would almost sprout wings and fly away. Well, the Holy Spirit is greater and has more power than all the angels put together because He has the ultimate power of the Godhead, yet you continue to struggle in your own little spirit. If the Lord intended for us to fight our own battles, then why did He send us the Holy Ghost and all of that power from On High?

If you want to receive that divine power, you have to use it. How much power does a gun have just sitting in the corner? Will it protect you from an intruder or a wild animal that is about to attack? No, not if you will not use it. Through the Holy Spirit, you have power over everything; but it cannot work for you unless you let Him use it through you.

The Spirit Works through Us

The Bible says that the Holy Ghost flows the love of God in your heart. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us (Romans 5:5), but you have to yield to Him. If you yield to your own spirit and your own way, He cannot give you Heaven’s divine way.

The Holy Spirit brought the nine divine fruits of the Spirit. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance (Galatians 5:22,23). There are no human weaknesses in those fruits; they are filled with divine strength, and they are all available to you.

When you know the Holy Ghost, you will know the fruits of the Spirit; but some of you do not recognize His fruits or let Him use them for you. You cannot use those fruits or any divinity within yourself because such things are beyond the human. You must have divinity living inside of you to operate the divine power of God within you. You must let the Holy Spirit produce the fruits of the Spirit in your life, and then you must let Him serve them through you.

I have the gifts of God in my life, but I cannot operate even one of them; I have to depend on the Spirit to do that because they are not my gifts but His. I do my part and make sure I am yielding to the Spirit through fastings and prayers, and then He puts His gifts into operation. When I go before people, I am ready for the Lord to use any one of the nine gifts or all of them. As I yield to Him, He may suddenly want to use my mind; and I have learned how to give it to Him so that He can think through it.

At times, the Spirit will take over my tongue; and I know that He is the one speaking and not me. Again and again when I am preaching, the Holy Spirit will say thus saith the Lord. I don’t say it; He says it, and I let Him speak as many times as He wants to and say whatever He wants to say.

Some of you have not received the Holy Spirit because you will not let Him say what He wants to say. You have to open up and say, “I am going to let the Holy Ghost take me over right now. I will let Him speak through me, sing through me and do whatever He wants through me.”

Some of you are afraid that you will get into the flesh, but that is where you have been living; so you have to come out of it and go into the Spirit to receive Him and to walk in Him. I wish we had all been that concerned about our tongues from the time we were born and had not given them over to the devil, but we were careless. When the devil would tell us to lie, we would spit one out; and when something would upset us, we would have angry fits.

The Spirit Knows You

The Bride must say to her Groom, Draw me, we will run after thee (Song of Solomon 1:4). The Bride cannot just imagine that the Lord is drawing her; she has to know, and then she will run after Jesus. However, if she does not know the Spirit well enough, she will not know when He is drawing her.

When you don’t know the Holy Spirit, it is easy to give over to the wrong spirit; and it will not even bother you. Both the Holy Spirit and the devil’s spirit are stronger than the human spirit; so if you don’t yield to the Holy Spirit, the devil’s spirit will begin to influence you in little ways and then later, in big ways. That is why it is so essential for you to recognize and yield to the drawing of the Spirit.

You have to let all of this become living reality to you, or you walk around in a fog. When you are driving along the road, fog can appear in patches. When you run into one of them, it seems as if you will never come out of it; but you finally do, only to soon run into another one. Some of your lives are the same way. When you run into the devil’s fog, you don’t know the Holy Spirit well enough to let Him clear it out. Paul did not walk around in the devil’s fog; so he could say, For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day (II Timothy 1:12). That is the Word.

You will never yield to the Word of God like you should until you yield to the Holy Spirit, the spirit of the Word; and that is why so many people have a hard time understanding the Bible. They only yield to the letter of the Word, so they might as well be reading a newspaper or a magazine; but that is not the way it should be. When you study the Word, you have to let the Holy Spirit feed you and direct you to the parts you really need. He knows what you need because He has all wisdom and knowledge about you. He knows about your battles, your despair, your heartaches, your weaknesses, your strengths and your spiritual health; and since He has all of that knowledge and power, why are you afraid to give over to Him? You won’t let Him encourage you; and instead, you listen to self and the devil.

The Spirit Brings Miracles

Some of you are so busy thinking about how sick you are or that you are going to die that you cannot hear the Holy Spirit saying, “You are going to be well and live!” Why?—because you really don’t want to hear it. You are not hearing Jesus say that with His stripes, you are healed. His own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed (I Peter 2:24).

I believe in good doctors, good hospitals and good medicines; but I believe in giving God a chance first. Doctors cannot raise people from the dead, but the Lord can. Before I run to a doctor, I first get quiet with the Holy Spirit to see all that He will do for me. Then if He wants to use a doctor to help me, that is all right.

The Spirit carries miracle power, healing and all the light of Heaven for us. With all of that power in His Spirit, just think about the miracles and healings He can serve us if we will only let Him. He can reveal what is wrong with us and give us understanding. We don’t have to walk in the night; we can know our way. Thus saith the Lord, we can know, and we must know in this last hour.

Your faith is going to be severely tried in the days to come. That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ (I Peter 1:7). My mama had great faith, and that faith has marked my life. She depended completely on the Holy Ghost and on the Word; and she taught us that if the Word said something, it could not be any other way.

Let the Spirit Take Over

You have to learn to give the Holy Spirit the right-of-way in your life; but just as some drivers will cut others off, people do the same thing with the Holy Spirit. Giving the Holy Spirit the right-of-way begins when you are seeking Him, but many people battle so much when they are trying to get the Holy Ghost because they don’t know how to surrender themselves completely to Him. And others never receive Him because they will not give their whole being to Him.

I didn’t know how to do that when I was seeking, and I thought it was the hardest thing I had ever tried in my life. How could the Holy Ghost take over my tongue? If He had wanted my hands or my feet, I would have said, “Here they are, Lord”; and I could have believed He would use them. But to have Him take over my tongue seemed millions of miles away from me. I believed He could take over my mama’s and my sisters’ tongues and those of all the others I had seen receive the Holy Ghost, but I could not believe it would happen to me. However, I knew the Holy Ghost was real; so I told the Lord that I would never give up seeking His face and that I would never miss an altar call. I would open my Bible to the second chapter of Acts where it tells of the Day of Pentecost and say, “Lord, this is what I want.”

Then one night, the Holy Spirit actually came in and took over my tongue in a beautiful way. At first, my praise no longer sounded just right. Then the Holy Spirit got a little plainer and a little plainer until all of a sudden, I gave over to Him. I finally was convinced He could do it, and He began to speak out loud in another tongue. When I yielded my all, it was so simple. The Holy Spirit became a living reality to me, and I will never let Him be anything else.

Receiving Is Just the Beginning

After that night, I wanted to know everything I could about the Holy Spirit and about how He would operate in me. When I was alone with Him, He would sing through me and pray through me; and then He showed me that He could preach through me. He would take me into a cloud of glory, and the faces of the people I was ministering to would swim before me; and then the Lord’s message would roll out through me.

These things could happen because I was completely yielded to the Holy Spirit, and I loved being with Him. I begrudged the hours I had to be away from my room, and I just wanted to get home and be with the Lord. I knew the Holy Ghost lived within me, and I wanted Him to reveal Himself and take me over completely. I did not know all that He would do through me, but I knew He was great and mighty within me.

Some people speak in tongues at will—meaning they just do it themselves or it is actually the devil speaking through them—but that is not the real Holy Ghost. You have to give yourself completely over to the Spirit, and that is one reason why God chose speaking in tongues as the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. He did not choose a manifestation of love or joy because those things come through regeneration and sanctification.

God knew man; and in all of His great wisdom, He knew there would have to be a miraculous sign that would be recognized at once. He knew that when the Spirit would take over your tongue, it would signify that you had given yourself completely to Him. Unfortunately, that does not mean you will always stay yielded to Him; but in the moment you are baptized, you have given yourself 100 percent over to the Spirit of God.

Do Not Quench the Spirit

Once you receive the baptism, you have to give the Holy Spirit the right-of-way in your life all the time; but how much of your life have you actually given to Him? Once you know the Spirit and give Him the right-of-way, He will take it; but He will never force you to give it to Him. You have to willingly give Him the right-of-way with your personality, your spirit and the whole you; but you are the only one who can make that choice—no man can do it for you, and God can’t do it for you.

The Holy Spirit comes into your soul with the understanding that He will have the final authority over your spirit. He comes in with the understanding that you want Him more than you want anyone or anything else; but when you fail to meet your obligation to Him, He is grieved. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30).

Do you make the Spirit happy or sad? Do you make Him laugh or cry? When you have days in which you wonder why you feel sad, depressed or full of despair, you may want to check and see if it is because you have grieved the Holy Spirit. Have you quenched His flow of greatness from Heaven to you? Have you hindered Him from moving for you or serving you?

The Bible says, Quench not the Spirit (I Thessalonians 5:19). “Quench” means to put out or to extinguish, and you cannot do that to the Spirit. You cannot put out His inner light of love and grace one moment and expect Him to come in the next. When you go against the Holy Spirit, you are putting yourself in jeopardy because He can no longer guide you on the paths you should be on or lead you down the roads of righteousness and love.

If a person who has authority over you or a person you love asks you to do something, do you respond? Likewise, does the Holy Spirit have trouble getting you to respond to the things He wants you to do? It is pathetic when people refuse to give over to Him.

Serve from Your Heart

The Holy Spirit wants to serve through you, but some of you will not let Him do that. He may want to serve a Jesus smile through you, but some of you will say, “I don’t see anything to smile about,” or “Lord, that person needs a kick, not a smile.” That is not the Holy Spirit’s way. He is trying to make you a blessing to others. The Holy Spirit loves Jesus, and He wants to serve Jesus through you; so when you are yielded to Him, you will give someone a Jesus smile at the proper time. Then the Holy Ghost can serve that person so much.

When you speak, you should give over to the Holy Spirit because He wants to speak through you and bless those who may be listening. The Holy Spirit comes in using your tongue, and He wants to continue to use it; and that does not include just speaking in other languages.

When you are making melody unto the Lord, don’t just sing words; let the Holy Spirit help you to put your whole heart into it and really mean it. When you sing about the power in the blood of Jesus, you must experience what you are singing and realize that the divine blood gives you power over all demonic spirits. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you (Luke 10:19).

The Spirit wants you to depend on Him as your source of wisdom and knowledge; but some of you are always seeking human wisdom and knowledge, and that is why you don’t have any from On High. That hinders you; and then you wonder, “God, why did this happen?” It was because you did not let the Holy Spirit serve you what you needed. You looked to another source for your supply, and He will let you do that; but you will not have the divine joy, divine peace or any of the other things He supplies.

You have to know your way from a spiritual standpoint. In the natural, most people hate to walk on a strange path in the dark and not know where they are going; yet you will travel spiritual paths without knowing where your feet are going to land. You are not aware of the danger that may be ahead or the fact that you are not giving over to the Holy Spirit.

How sad it is for Spirit-filled people not to know the Holy Spirit when He is a person who lives on the inside of them. Some of you know your neighbors, friends and family members better than you know the Holy Ghost who lives within. Thus saith the Lord, you have to become acquainted with the Holy Spirit.

If you have the Holy Ghost, are you now anxious to get more acquainted with Him? You must want to get off to yourself and say, “Holy Ghost, I want to learn all about you. I want to know how to discern between my spirit and your Spirit at all times, and I want to recognize the difference between when you are speaking and when I am speaking.” If that is your desire, then you will have to spend time with Him.

The Heavenly Dove

The Holy Spirit is the Heavenly Dove. When Jesus was baptized in the Holy Ghost, John saw the Spirit descend on Him in the form of a dove. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him (Matthew 3:16). A dove is a meek and humble bird, and it does not fight and make loud noises like some other birds do. It makes a beautiful coo and has a gentle spirit just like that of the Holy Spirit.

In Bible days, the dove was considered to be a clean bird; so it was used in sacrificial offerings, and the Lord accepted it. God then used the dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit and of peace, and anyone who has the real Holy Ghost and yields to that Spirit of God has peace and serves it to others.

When a person is described as being like a dove, he is gentle, innocent and beloved; and those who are completely yielded to the Holy Spirit are gentle and kind. They are innocent before God because they have been washed in the divine blood, and they speak with innocence because they are filled with the Holy Spirit and no longer a part of this sinful world. They are so loved by the Father because they are just like His beloved Son was when He walked on Earth so many years ago.

I love the humility and the tender care of the holy Dove, and He descends on people with gentleness and wondrous, heavenly grace. He is a mighty revelation within of God’s grace for us daily through Jesus Christ, and that is why Jesus should be real to everyone who has the Holy Spirit.

You cannot have the Spirit without having heavenly love, heavenly grace, heavenly peace and heavenly joy. When He lives within people, He possesses them with so much love that at times they almost feel as if they are going to explode. Then praises roll forth from them because they cannot possibly keep all of that love bottled up inside.

When Jesus was baptized in the Holy Spirit, God said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17). God was not just pleased; He was well-pleased. The Bible also tells us that Enoch pleased God, and he was a type of the Bride. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God (Hebrews 11:5). The Lord is going to be well-pleased with the Bride in this final hour, too, because she will walk like Him, talk like Him, love like Him and serve like Him.

Are you a member of the bridal company? Have you really come out of the wilderness of this old world, and are you living in Canaan? Some people have lived in spiritual Canaan for only a short time and then let self take them back into the wilderness. That is so sad to see people go back to their old habits, their old ways and their old spirit when the land of Canaan is flowing with the milk and honey of Heaven.

Receive Jesus

The Holy Spirit’s mission is to see that this Gospel goes to the whole world. Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). He has come to make the Bride holy and without spot so she will be able to help Him fulfill His mission and be ready when Jesus comes. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:27).

If you want to be a member of the bridal company and get to know the Holy Spirit, you must first get right with God. Sinner, Backslider, say this prayer right now. Oh, God, save my soul! I have sinned against you, and I am unclean and unfit for Heaven. I don’t want to go to hell. Jesus, I know you died for me, and I know there is power in your blood to wash away all of my sins! Come into my heart, Jesus! Come on in!

Receive a Miracle

If you meant that prayer, Jesus has come; and He is yours. Now, you can have the good Holy Ghost and be healed. Let the fire of the Spirit fall, and let the Lord baptize you and heal you at the same time. In our mighty crusade services, we have seen many people receive the fire of the Holy Ghost and get healed of all kinds of diseases and afflictions; and it is wonderful.

Lord, here the people are. You are the healer; and you will heal them of AIDS, diabetes, cancer, heart trouble, lung trouble, leprosy, strokes and all deformities. Lord, give little babies who have been born with just a part of a brain a whole brain, and re-create the brain cells for the elderly. Some of their minds are completely gone, but you have given me power to pray for them; and you will give them a good mind. Heal! in the all-powerful, blood name of Jesus. Heal! Oh, we thank you, Lord!

Rejoice in the Lord and serve and worship Him; then write and tell me how you were blessed and healed by this message today. I love you, and Jesus loves you. I will see you in the Rapture, so don’t miss it because it will soon take place.

Thus Saith the Lord

Thus saith the Lord, the Bride will be under subjection to the Holy Spirit at all times. She will keep her spirit under control through the blood and the Holy Spirit. She will delight in doing His will, not her will. She will delight in doing His work, and she will do it with all of her heart.

She will indeed be tender and kind and gentle. She will walk softly before her God, but with great strength she will trample devils underfoot. She will tear down the strongholds of the enemy, and all power will be given unto her in this last and final hour. She will be the hand of God; she will be the instrument of God, and she will defeat the enemies of God for all who want to be delivered and set free.

She will live in gladness, and she will have a peace that the devil will not be able to take from her. She will be able to see and behold the hand of the Lord. She will recognize His greatness; she will recognize all of His moves. She will know Him and the power of Him. She will know His will because she will want only His will. She will walk His paths, saith the Lord, because she will desire no other paths; and she will do the mighty work that has been willed for her, and she will bring in the lost. She will turn multitudes to righteousness before go-home time. She will lift up her eyes daily unto the Lord, and she will know the Lord God is her help and her strength.

I reach to you, saith the Lord. I gave my servant this message of love, tenderness and kindness for you. I love you with an unending love; obey me in all things. Do not disobey me in anything in this last hour. The darkness is coming upon the Earth, oh, Child of mine! The light shineth now, but it will grow so dim one day until there will be such darkness upon the Earth. While the light shineth, souls will be brought into the Kingdom; but the night cometh, saith the Lord. Reach to me, and you will find me.