This woman began to talk to her former pastor about becoming personally acquainted with
Jesus Christ and having the peace of God in his heart through the new birth.
He asked, "Can I really have that?" She assured him he could. Then she prayed with him to
receive Jesus Christ as his Savior. The doctrines of his particular church stated a belief in a
born-again experience, yet here was a pastor who had never experienced it!
I spoke to a prominent minister years ago who had retired from the ministry. He was about
seventy-two years old at the time, but he was doing more for God than he had ever done in his
life in the ministry. He told me that since he had retired, he had gotten saved. He had spent his
whole life in the ministry and had never been saved!
Although Full Gospel people sometimes criticize other churches for their failure to put into
practice what they have on paper as doctrinal tenets, Full Gospel churches can be guilty of the
same fault. Many Full Gospel churches that claim to believe in the gifts of the Spirit don't have
them in operation in their churches. We not only need to believe in the gifts of the Spirit, but we
need to have them in manifestation in our churches too.
Desire Earnestly Spiritual Gifts
Why don't we have more manifestations of spiritual gifts then? Because we are not meeting
God's conditions. God said, ". . . covet earnestly the best gifts . . ." (1 Cor. 12:31). If we as a
local church, for example, don't have spiritual gifts in manifestation among us, it is because we
are not coveting and desiring these things as we should.
I am thoroughly convinced that as we covet spiritual gifts and earnestly desire them, they will
be more in manifestation than they have ever been. But it is not going to come just because
we sit around and talk about it and just wish we could see them in demonstration.
God said to desire spiritual gifts. If someone really desires something, he is going to make
some effort in that direction in order to see what he desires come F