I explained, "When I say something is wrong on the receiving end, I don't mean there is some
terrible sin. I just mean that somehow we have not gotten in a receptive 'mood,' so to speak,
for it is a matter of receiving the healing that is already yours.
"In other words," I continued, "your healing was already paid for on the Cross; therefore, we
don't have to talk God into the notion of healing you." After explaining a little more about her
redemptive rights in Christ, we began to pray.
The woman who was dying with cancer was saved, filled with the Holy Ghost, a pastor's wife,
and a Sunday school teacher. But we discovered she had much doubt and fear. In fact, doubt
and fear was hindering her from receiving the healing that God had already so graciously
provided for her in redemption.
When we prayed and believed God and dealt with the real problem, we got results. In this
case, God directed me to cast a spirit of doubt and fear out of the woman. (The evil spirit was
not in her spirit because she was a believer, but it was affecting her mind — her thinking.)
When I cast that evil spirit out of her mind, the woman immediately raised up in bed and began
to praise God. She got up and went into the living room and knelt down and praised and
thanked God. That afternoon she ate dinner with us.
The Holy Spirit Gives the Utterance
I said all that to say that the problem is never on the sending end — with God. If there is a
problem, it is always on the receiving end — with us. We must just learn to receive freely the
blessings God has so graciously bestowed upon us in our redemption, which includes the
infilling of the Holy Spirit.
So as I knelt in that Full Gospel parsonage in April 1937, I said to the Lord, "Lord, the Holy
Ghost is a Gift. I received salvation by faith. I received healing for my body three years ago by
faith. Now I receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by faith. And I want to thank You now, Heavenly
Father, because I receive the Holy Spirit."
Then I said to the Lord, "By faith I have now received the Holy Ghost. Thank God, He is in me,
because Jesus promised that in His Word. And I say it with my mouth because I believe in my
heart that I have received the Holy Ghost. Now I expect to speak with tongues because
believers spoke with tongues on the Day of Pentecost. And thank God, I will, too, as the Holy
Ghost gives me utterance."
After I had prayed that, because I was grateful for the Holy Ghost that I had just received and
for the speaking with tongues that God was going to give me, I said, "Hallelujah, hallelujah."
But I had never felt so "dry" in all my life saying that word.
Feelings and faith are far removed from each other; in fact, sometimes when you feel as if you
have the least faith, that is when you have the most faith because you do not base your faith
on feelings. So I said, "Hallelujah" about seven or eight times, even though it seemed as if that
word was going to choke me!
About the time I had said "Hallelujah" seven or eight times, way down inside of me, in my spirit,
I heard these strange words. It seemed as if they were just going around and around in there.